Pathway to the Future: Library Bibliographic Services for the 21

st

Century

Amy Kautzman UCB Terry Ryan UCLA

University of California Overview

• 10 Campuses • 10 ILS (Endeavor, ExLibris, III, home grown) • Melvyl (UC union catalog) • Shared Cataloging Program

A Wake-Up Call

“Our users expect simplicity and immediate reward and Amazon, Google, and iTunes are the standards against which we are judged.”

Things are not ok

“The current Library catalog is poorly designed for the tasks of finding, discovering, and selecting the growing set of resources available in our libraries …” “We offer a fragmented set of systems to search for published information …”

Increased recognition that:

• Bibliographic systems are the foundation of library services • Metadata is valuable and strategic • Libraries are filled with undiscoverable yet extremely valuable material • Examples to learn from: OCLC WorldCat, RedLightGreen, NCSU’s new catalog, etc.

The Time is Right

“The combined effect of these pressures suggests that the time has come to thoroughly review library bibliographic services and practices, workflows, and technologies” UC University Librarians appoint Bibliographic Services Task Force, April 2005

The Charge

• Inventory the middleware, workflow and processes involved • Identify the problems that need to be solved • Develop a vision and design principles for a new bibliographic services environment • Identify potential actions • Deliver a report with recommendations and priorities

Bibliographic Services Task Force

• John Riemer, (Chair, UCLA) Head, Cataloging and Metadata Center • Luc Declerck (UCSD) Associate Univ. Librarian, Technology and Technical Services • Amy Kautzman (UCB) Head of Research and Collections: Doe/Moffitt Libraries • Patti Martin (CDL) Bibliographic Services Manager • Terry Ryan (UCLA) Associate University Librarian for the UCLA Electronic Library

In the (almost) Beginning

Thanks to MARC

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The Library ILS

Non-ILS Metadata Systems Electronic research databases

Silos Everywhere!

Institutional Repositories Library Collections

Course Management Systems

Examples of Libraries Moving into the Future

And now, looking behind the curtain …

Resuscitate Metadata

• Metadata matters • Make metadata work harder • Avoid complexity that doesn’t add value • Add more metadata to support better services

Metadata is more than MARC

• MARC, Dublin Core, VRA Core, METS • TOCs, book reviews, abstracts • User comments, folksonomies, added information • Data mining of full text, records of use, relationships

Make Metadata Work Together

ONIX & MARC DUBLIN CORE & VRA MARC & User Tags

Work Smarter

• Adopt metadata created elsewhere • Create and maintain records in one place • Move from shared cataloging to collaborative cataloging • Focus on being good enough instead of perfect • Generate more management information

The Report Strikes a Chord

• Strong interest within the University of California • Immediate community reaction – Report hit the blogs – Interviews by the Library press – Invitations to present at conferences – Guest lectures at library schools

Lita Blog: January 26 2006 KG Schneider “ If there is one meta-trend I am seeing right now, it is this: librarians are getting frisky. We’re talking back, questioning authority, and in some cases taking names and kicking booty, as Andrew Pace did recently with the NCSU catalog (Andrew, can we call your OPAC “Miss Piggy”?) and as the UC system did with its must-read, put-this-under-your-pillow, OMG-this-is-hot BSTF Report .

Why the Buzz?

Report gives voice to some popular opinions – Our services must be user driven – Our services need to be delivered where the users are – Libraries need to act boldly if we are to reclaim our role in the information space – Libraries still have a unique value-add to offer

Why the Buzz?

Report gives voice to some controversial perspectives – Our assumptions about metadata should be re-examined – Metadata practices need to have proven value – An intuitive interface is not by definition “dumbed down” or anti-scholarly

Why the buzz?

Report challenges current practices – Our catalogs are poorly designed – Our bibliographic systems are fragmented – Our bibliographic data dispersed – Our workflows are cumbersome – Work is duplicated

What Next?

Campuses and UC committee feedback due March 31, 2006 Four questions – Which 3-5 recommendations are most important?

– Which specific recommendations should we do first?

– Are there any recommendations to add?

– Are there any recommendations we should NOT pursue?

Preliminary UC Feedback: Popular recommendations

I. Enhancing Search and Retrieval – I.1 Direct access to item – I.4 Offer alternatives for failed searches – I.5 Better navigation of large result sets – I.6 Deliver services where the users are – I.8 Better searching for non-Roman

Preliminary UC Feedback: Popular recommendations

II. Re-architecting the OPAC – II.1 Single catalog interface for all of UC – II.2 Search across the entire info space III. Adopting New Cataloging Practices – III.1 Re-architect cataloging workflow

Preliminary UC Feedback: Recommendations we love to hate

– III.2.c Consider abandoning controlled vocabulary for topical subjects – III.1.a Option 2: consolidate cataloging into one or two centers across the state

Surprises? Not really

Intelligent & well-intentioned people can disagree – Not all agree that change is urgent or we’re doomed – All agree that we need to preserve our values while changing practices, but not all agree on what is a value and what is a practice

Surprises? Not really

Recommendations are difficult to discuss in the abstract – Many of the underlying concepts are not well understood without explanation – Many can’t endorse a recommendation if they don’t know how it will be funded – Many are skeptical about the feasibility of accomplishing the recommendations

Surprises? Not really

People have trouble moving beyond their expectations of current systems – Many look at the examples that illustrate concepts and think the change will look the same – Many assume we will implement with the same technology and/or the same organization

Surprises!

• Fear of making the system “too easy” – “If they don’t need to ask us how to use it, we lose a teachable moment” – “If the system looks like Google, the rich diversity of our collections is lost” • Belief that only undergraduates are demanding change – “Undergraduates need an easy system but true scholars like to see the complexity”

Next Steps: Moving from vision to decision

Apr 06 Analyze feedback and provide report to the University Librarians Jun 06 - University Librarians decide on actions Jul 06 - Task Force reconvenes to develop action plans

http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/sopag/BSTF/Final.pdf