ukoln is supported by: library hacks andy powell, ukoln, university of bath [email protected]...

UKOLN is supported by:

Library hacks

Andy Powell, UKOLN, University of Bath

[email protected]

Public Library Web Managers Workshop 2004, Bath

www.bath.ac.uk

a centre of expertise in digital information management

www.ukoln.ac.uk

Public Library Web Managers Workshop, 2004 2

This talk isn’t about…


…and it’s not about


O’Reilly ‘hacks’ series

“O'Reilly's Hacks Series reclaims the termhacking for the good guys—innovatorswho explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts,create useful tools, and come up with funthings to try on their own.”

“O'Reilly's Hacks Series reclaims the termhacking for the good guys—innovatorswho explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts,create useful tools, and come up with funthings to try on their own.”


Library hacks

• encouraging public library Web sites as places to ‘hack’ and ‘be hacked’…

• pulling other people’s sites and services into the library Web site

• pushing the library Web site and services out into other people’s sites

• interoperability• openness• standards

hack ourlibraries

hack

publiclibraries

now


Contents

• searching…– Web services– …and the Google and Amazon APIs

• deep linking– OpenURL

• a selection of case studies as we go• impact on public library Web sites• whistle-stop tour• technical – but not too technical I hope


Z39.50 and all that…

• libraries have a long tradition of creating and using ‘open’ standards

• notably Z39.50 – search and retrieve

end-user’smachine

librarycatalogue

search request

results


Z39.50 and all that…

• libraries have a long tradition of setting and using ‘open’ standards

• notably Z39.50 – search and retrieve

librarycatalogue 2

librarycatalogue 1

librarycatalogue 3

end-user’smachine


Libraries at the cutting edge?

• Z39.50 offers a powerful distributed search mechanism

• targets (catalogues) potentially open to use from outside the library

• …not just through a Web browser but in a way that allowed people to write their own search software

• academic libraries now see growing interest in ‘library portals’ that use Z39.50 (and other technologies) to cross-search many remote targets


if cataloguesearch fails…

try a cross-searchof multiple catalogues

in the region


But…

• …the rest of the world didn’t implement Z39.50

• in fact, much of the library world still doesn’t support it– too hard to develop software

– too complex to configure target

– focus of interest shifted to the ‘Web site’

• meanwhile, on other part of the planet– the Web world recognised that focussing on the

Web browser wasn’t always enough

– developed “Web services”


What are Web services?“Automated resources accessed via the Internet. Web services are software-powered resources or functional components whose capabilities can be accessed at an internet URI. Standards-based web services use XML to interact with each other…”

“Automated resources accessed via the Internet. Web services are software-powered resources or functional components whose capabilities can be accessed at an internet URI. Standards-based web services use XML to interact with each other…”

“The term Web services describes a standardized way of integrating Web-based applications using the XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI open standards over an Internet protocol backbone. XML is used to tag the data, SOAP is used to transfer the data, WSDL is used for describing the services available and UDDI is used for listing what services are available. Used primarily as a means for businesses to communicate with each other and with clients, Web services allow organizations to communicate data without intimate knowledge of each other's IT systems…”

“The term Web services describes a standardized way of integrating Web-based applications using the XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI open standards over an Internet protocol backbone. XML is used to tag the data, SOAP is used to transfer the data, WSDL is used for describing the services available and UDDI is used for listing what services are available. Used primarily as a means for businesses to communicate with each other and with clients, Web services allow organizations to communicate data without intimate knowledge of each other's IT systems…”


Web services - summary

• machine (m2m) interfaces between functional components on the Web

• underpin many e-commerce activities• a whole new set of acronyms – SOAP, WSDL,

UDDI, WSRP• based on HTTP and XML (i.e. mainstream Web

pedigree)• support both informational (e.g. search) and

transactional (e.g. billing) types of service• Google and Amazon “Web APIs”…


Google and Amazon APIs

• Google and Amazon both make some of their functionality available thru APIs

• API = Application Programming Interface• Web services using SOAP• to use them you must

– register– agree to their terms and conditions– be prepared to program dynamic Web pages

(using Java, ASP, Perl, etc.)

http://www.google.com/apis/http://www.google.com/apis/

http://www.amazon.com/apis/http://www.amazon.com/apis/


What do the APIs offer?

• Google– perform searches and get back results (XML)– get cached-copy of page– spell-check (“did you mean?”)

• Amazon– title searches (all products, not just books)– ISBN searches– author searches– transaction creation (shopping carts)– transaction monitoring– (note: book results include metadata with cover image)


Example: RDN/Google spell


Libraries, Google & Amazon

• new cross-searching possibilities…• mixing SOAP (Web services) and Z39.50

end-user

librarycatalogue

Google

Amazon

SOAP

SOAP

Z39.50


Libraries, Google & Amazon

• new cross-searching possibilities…• or using ‘new’ SRW (Search and

Retrieve Web service) protocol

end-user

librarycatalogue

Google

Amazon

SOAP

SOAP

SRW (SOAP)


Embedded into library site?

end-user

librarycatalogue

Google

Amazon

SOAP

SOAP

SOAP

RDNSOAP


Linking and OpenURLs


OpenURL roots

• the context– distributed information environment– multiple A&I and other discovery services– rapidly growing e-journal collection– need to interlink available resources

• the problem– links controlled by external info services– links not sensitive to user’s context (appropriate

copy problem)– links dependent on vendor agreements– links don’t cover complete collection

an academic library

perspective?


The problem

• the context– distributed information environment– multiple A&I and other discovery services– rapidly growing e-journal collection– need to interlink available resources

• the REAL problem– libraries have no say in linking– libraries losing core part of ‘organising

information’ task– expensive collection not used optimally– users not well served

an academic library

perspective?


The solution…

• do NOT hardwire a link to a single service on the referenced item (e.g. a link from an A&I service to the corresponding full-text)

• BUT rather– provide a link that transports metadata

about the referenced item– to another service that is better placed

to provide service links

OpenURL

OpenURLresolver

(link server)


Non-OpenURL linking

link destination

resolution of metadata into a link(typically a URL)

A&I servicedocument delivery

service

link source

link to referenced work .reference


OpenURL linking

link source.

user-specific

resolution of metadata &identifiers into services

reference OpenURLOpenURL

resolver

provision of OpenURL

linklink

destination

linklink

destinationlink

linkdestination

linklink

destination

transportation of metadata & identifiers

context-sensitive

A&I servicedocument delivery

service


Example 1

• journal article• from Web of Science to ingenta Journals


button indicatingOpenURL ‘link’

is available


OpenURL resolver offeringcontext-sensitive links,including link to ingenta


also links to other servicessuch as Google search for

related information


Example 2

• book• from University of Bath OPAC to Amazon


button indicatingOpenURL ‘link’

is available


OpenURL resolver offeringcontext-sensitive links,

including link to Amazon


also links to other servicessuch as Google search for

related information


Summary…ISI Web of Science

University of Bath OPAC

OpenURL resolver

ingenta

Google

Amazon

OpenURL SourceOpenURLResolver

OpenURL Target

deeplinks


Is this relevant to PLs?

“It's probably safe to predict that, within another year/acquisition cycleor so, *lack* of OpenURL support will be the exception for any academiclibrary/consortium that licenses full-text resources (that is, OpenURLsupport will be the rule), and there will be growing penetration of OpenURLresolvers within public libraries that license full-text resources.”

“It's probably safe to predict that, within another year/acquisition cycleor so, *lack* of OpenURL support will be the exception for any academiclibrary/consortium that licenses full-text resources (that is, OpenURLsupport will be the rule), and there will be growing penetration of OpenURLresolvers within public libraries that license full-text resources.”Walt Crawford, RLG


OpenURL & PLsA&I services

Universitylibrary catalogues

OpenURLresolver

Publiclibrary

catalogues

Google

Amazon

Document supplyservices


Case study 1

• Stories from the Web• a children’s book-related Web site• deep linking to public library catalogue

http://www.storiesfromtheweb.org/http://www.storiesfromtheweb.org/


potentiallink to book

in public librarycatalogue

(or Amazon)

link tomore info

potentiallink to author search

in public librarycatalogue

(or Amazon)

note: SfW subscription bylibrary authority so someknowledge about where tolink to


potential forpulling in

metadata andcover art

via AmazonAPI

…and formaking into

link toAmazon or

PL catalogue


Case study 2

• a “book group”• deep linking into library catalogues from

a book group Web page


link toAmazon

…potential

link to bookin public library

catalogue


Case study 3

• LibraryLookup• deep linking into library catalogues using

a browser ‘bookmarklet’


http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/stories/2002/12/11/librarylookup.htmlhttp://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/stories/2002/12/11/librarylookup.html

select linkto findnearest

library catalogue


drag thislink to your

browsertoolbar


note that theISBN is

embeddedinto the URL

click‘bookmarklet’

to link tolibrary catalogue


Case study 4

• blogs, books and libraries• deep linking into library catalogues from

a book-related blog


many blogscontain

referencesto favorite

books or currentreading material

…typically withlinks thru to

Amazon


the Bookwatchservice analyses

hundreds of blogsand counts links

to particularbooks at Amazon,based on the ISBN

…then provides

ranked lists, pullingin ‘book’ metadata

and cover artusing the Amazon

Web services


Deep linking into libraries

• all these case studies demonstrate a potential desire to deep link into the library catalogue

• using http: URL links• typically based on the ISBN for a book (or the

ISSN for a serial?)• but… all are faced with the same “link

problem”…– a hardwired link to one particular library or bookstore

may not be the ‘best’ link for everyone who clicks on the URL

– therefore, OpenURLs might be a good solution


Does deep linking work?


Hmmm… not always

http://www.foursite.somerset.gov.uk/cgi-bin/viewpoint_server.sh?enqtype=SECOND&enqpara1=RESULT&rcn=0002180472&media_code=1&sec_code=&authorlist=&filename=&page=&no_of_results=14&type=ISBN&sec_stng=&media_stng=&authorpage=&subsearch=&searchtype=&hitcount=

http://www.foursite.somerset.gov.uk/cgi-bin/viewpoint_server.sh?enqtype=SECOND&enqpara1=RESULT&rcn=0002180472&media_code=1&sec_code=&authorlist=&filename=&page=&no_of_results=14&type=ISBN&sec_stng=&media_stng=&authorpage=&subsearch=&searchtype=&hitcount=


Conclusions

• having a successful Web presence is about more than having a successful Web site

• need to embed your services into other people’s sites

• the key technologies for doing this are:– Web services (SOAP)– blogs and RSS (not talked about today)– deep linking– OpenURL


Recommendations

• public library Web sites need to embed and be embedded

• the space where books and catalogues meet blogs (and RSS) and ‘search engines’ appears to be very fertile – public libraries need to be in that space or users will go elsewhere

• maintain a watching brief on OpenURLs and their potential impact


Questions?

ukoln is supported by: library hacks andy powell, ukoln, university of bath [email protected]...

Documents

public library web sites

web world

term web services

developed web services

library world

amazon web apis slide

library portals

standardsbased web services