Transcript Consuls Presentation - Library Technology Guides

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
MEET THE CHALLENGE OF
TRANSFORMED LIBRARIES
Marshall Breeding
Independent Consult, Author,
Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides
http://www.librarytechnology.org/
http://twitter.com/mbreeding
Feb 21, 2013
Academic Library Directors Symposium
Summary
Major trends are in play that contribute to major
transformations underway in libraries. In the broader
publishing and information arena, the explosion of interest
in e-books represents another wave in the shift toward
electronic content that in previous times saw the near
complete transition of journal articles to electronic
form. Web-based and cloud computing stands to bring
fundamental changes in the ways that libraries use
technology in support of their internal operations and in
providing access to their collections and services. In this
keynote presentation, Breeding will help library decision
makers explore how to harness these trends and
technologies to meet the strategic missions.
Role of Academic Libraries in Motion
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Transitions complete
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Print > electronic journals
Transitions Underway
E-books
 Open access publishing
 Metadata management
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Uncertain trends
New models of collaboration
 Defining new roles with the academic institution
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Observation: technology infrastructure created in
earlier times unlikely to help libraries today succeed
Reshaped collections
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Journal content: mostly delivered electronically
Monographs: transition to e-books underway
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E-books now largely delivered through database
aggregations
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Ebrary, E-books on EBSCOhost, etc.
Academic libraries not yet that involved with downloadable
e-book lending services (OverDrive 3M Cloud Library, etc)
Legacy print collections will remain indefinitely
Digital collections
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Locally digitized materials
Fulfillment activities
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Print circulation slowing
Interlibrary loan activity rising
Increased pressure for resource sharing
Traditional models of service blurring together
Circulation
 Interlibrary Loan
 Course Reserves
 Consortial borrowing
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Avoid placing the burden on the patron to determine
the appropriate service
Allocation of resources
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Collection funds devoted mostly to e-content
If true:
 How
does allocation of efforts for personnel compare
to collection expenditures?
 Does the technology and automation infrastructure
provide the flexibility needed for proportional resource
allocation?
Additional academic library roles
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Deeper involvement in research process
Ready reference > in-depth research support
Embedded librarian initiatives
Library involvement in research data
 NSF
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data management plans (example)
What technology infrastructure do academic
libraries need to support these new activities?
Cumulative effect
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Library collections more complex than ever
Library services move diverse
Managing electronic and digital content harder
than managing print
What technology infrastructure needed to support
libraries in this new phase of complexity?
Technology in transition
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New era of cloud computing
Client/server architecture becoming obsolete
Any new development:
 Web-based
applications
 Designed for delivery through software as a service
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Mobile first strategies for end-user applications
Fundamental technology shift
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Mainframe computing
Client/Server
Cloud Computing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrick/61952845/
http://soacloudcomputing.blogspot.com/2008/10/cloud-computing.html
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-10-2001/jw-1019-jxta.html
Computer infrastructure transitions
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Campus mainframes
Distributed / Departmental computing
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Enterprise computing
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Library ILS
E-mail
Consolidated university services
Campus wide e-mail
File storage
Server management
Cloud-based services
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Outsourced student e-mail
Selected business services
Cloud Computing
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Major trend in broader IT sector
Few organizations have core competence in large-scale
computer infrastructure management
Essentially outsourcing of server housing and
management
Usually based on a consumption-based business model
Most new software products delivered through some
flavor of cloud computing
Many flavors to suit business needs: public, private,
hybrid
Infrastructure-as-a-service
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Provisioning of computing and storage equipment
Servers, storage
 Virtual
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server provisioning
Examples:
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Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)
Rackspace Cloud www.rackspacecloud.com/)
EMC2 Atmos (www.atmosonline.com/)
Software as a Service

Multi Tennant SaaS is the modern approach
 One
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Software functionality delivered entirely through
Web interfaces
 No

copy of the code base serves multiple sites
workstation clients
Upgrades and fixes deployed universally
 Usually
in small increments
Data as a service
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SaaS provides opportunity for highly shared data
models
Shared knowledge bases for OpenURL linking and
electronic resource management
Indexes of article-level content to support discovery
services
Shared bibliographic data
General opportunity to move away from library-bylibrary metadata management to globally shared
workflows
Library automation increasingly driven by knowledge
bases
Library Automation in the Cloud
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Almost all library automation vendors offer some
form of “cloud-based” services
Server management moves from library to Vendor
Subscription-based business model
Comprehensive annual subscription payment
 Offsets
local server purchase and maintenance
 Offsets some local technology support
Leveraging the Cloud
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Moving legacy systems to hosted services provides
savings to individual institutions while preserving
existing workflow and functionality
New systems designed for software-as-a-service may
enable libraries to reimagine workflows and
functionality
Shared data and metadata models have the potential
to achieve new levels of operational efficiencies and
more powerful discovery and automation scenarios that
improve the position of libraries overall
Transition away from local computing
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Local computing increasingly less appropriate for
libraries
Managing low-level technical infrastructure not a
core area of expertise for libraries
Security requirements increasingly challenging
Opportunity to redirect library technologists to
high-value activities
 May
meet cultural resistance
Open Systems
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Achieving openness has risen as the key driver behind
library technology strategies
Libraries need to do more with their data
Ability to improve customer experience and operational
efficiencies
Demand for Interoperability
Open source – full access to internal program of the
application
Open API’s – expose programmatic interfaces to data
and functionality
Mobile Computing
Social Computing
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Web 2.0 as a separate activity largely a
distraction
Important to have social orientation built directly
into the software and services that comprise library
infrastructure
Avoid jettisoning patrons out of the library’s Web
presence
Find ways to effectively connect with users, connect
users to each other, and especially to connect users
to library content and services
Academic Libraries as part of the
Campus Enterprise
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Academic libraries tend to be well integrated
organizationally
Increasingly important for the library to integrate into the
technical fabric of its parent institution
Interoperate with other business applications
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Financial / ERP systems
Student records management
Learning Management Systems
Authentication services
Move beyond batch data exchange to real-time
interoperability
Web services and APIs
A new world for Metadata
Management
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Traditional Cataloging vs Metadata support for
new collection realities
How to maintain quality as priorities shift
Original and Copy Cataloging based on onerecord-at-a-time workflows
Increased need to manage metadata in bulk
 E-content
packages
 E-book collections
Cataloging rules and standards
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FRBR: hierarchies and groupings
RDA: Next generation of AACR2, but with an eye
toward the semantic web
 Tiny
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step
Library of Congress Initiative for Bibliographic
Transition
 See:
bibframe.org
 Replacement for MARC as the carrier for bibliographic
data
 A much more radical change
Metadata Management Workflows
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Less emphasis on record-by-record processing
Knowledge-base approach
 Given
model for e-resource management
 Comprehensive
knowledge base of what content is
associated with content packages
 Matched against profile of library subscriptions
 Useful
for e-book collections
 Applicable to individual monograph acquisitions?
Automation priorities
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Current ILS model focuses on technical services
Discovery interfaces and catalog address patron
self-service
General absence of customer relationship
management
 How
can new generations of technology infrastructure
provide tools to facilitate research support, reference,
and other public services
 Need to generate performance metrics for these critical
library services
Data-driven management
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Business systems generate high volume of use data
Traditional ILS products have not been strong in
generating actionable use data
Increased emphasis on mining use data and providing
analytical tools to support operational decisions
Collection development
 Personnel allocation
 Service definition
 Resource allocation
 Provide evidence to defend budget proposals
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Cooperation and Resource sharing
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Efforts on many fronts to cooperate and consolidate
Many regional consortia merging (Example:
suburban Chicago systems)
State-wide or national implementations
Software-as-a-service or “cloud” based
implementations
 Many
libraries share computing infrastructure and data
resources
Strategic Cooperation
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Shared infrastructure in support of strategic
collaborative relationships
Opportunities to share infrastructure
Examples:
2CUL
 Orbis Cascade Alliance
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Opportunities to reconsider automation implementation
strategies
One library = 1 ILS?
 Ability to share infrastructure across organizational
boundaries?
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Technology Support for Academic
Libraries
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Greater concern with electronic scholarly articles
Management: Need for consolidated approach that
balances print, digital, and electronic workflows
Access: discovery interfaces that maximize the value
of investments in subscriptions to scholarly articles
and research materials
Appropriate Automation Infrastructure
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Automation infrastructure must be in step with
current realities
Allow administrators to allocate personnel easily
among collection management priorities
Adequate data and analytics for administrative
decision support
Discovery solutions that fully expose library
collections
Library users expect more engaging socially aware
interfaces for Web and mobile
Disjointed approach to information and
service delivery
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Library Web sites offer a menu of unconnected silos:
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Books: Library OPAC (ILS online catalog module)
Articles: Aggregated content products, e-journal collections
OpenURL linking services
E-journal finding aids (Often managed by link resolver)
Subject guides
Local digital collections
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ETDs, photos, rich media collections
Metasearch engines
Discovery Services – often just another choice among many
All searched separately
Online Catalog
ILS Data
Search:
Scope of Search
Search Results
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Books, Journals, and
Media at the Title Level
Not in scope:
Articles
 Book Chapters
 Digital objects
 Web site content
 Etc.
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Web-scale Index-based Discovery
(2009- present)
Digital
Collections
Search:
Consolidated Index
Search Results
ILS Data
Web Site
Content
Institutional
Repositories
Aggregated
Content
packages
…
E-Journals
Reference
Sources
Pre-built harvesting and
indexing
Integrating e-Books into Library
Automation Infrastructure
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Current approach involves mostly outsourced
arrangements
Collections licensed wholesale from single provider
Hand-off to DRM and delivery systems of providers
Loading of MARC records into local catalog with
linking mechanisms
No ability to see availability status of e-books from
the library’s online catalog or discovery interface
Proliferation of library automation
components
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ILS for management of (mostly) print
Duplicative financial systems between library and campus
Electronic Resource Management (non-integrated with ILS)
OpenURL Link Resolver w/ knowledge base for access to
full-text electronic articles
Digital Collections Management platforms (CONTENTdm,
DigiTool, etc.)
Institutional Repositories (DSpace, Fedora, etc.)
Discovery-layer services for broader access to library
collections
No effective integration services / interoperability among
disconnected systems, non-aligned metadata schemes
Comprehensive Resource Management
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No longer sensible to use different software
platforms for managing different types of library
materials
ILS + ERM + OpenURL Resolver + Digital Asset
management, etc. very inefficient model
Flexible platform capable of managing multiple
type of library materials, multiple metadata
formats, with appropriate workflows
Libraries need a new model of library
automation
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Not an Integrated Library System or Library
Management System
The ILS was designed to help libraries manage print
collections
Generally did not evolve to manage electronic
collections
Other library automation products evolved:
 Electronic
Resource Management Systems – OpenURL
Link Resolvers – Digital Library Management Systems -Institutional Repositories
Library Services Platform
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Library-specific software. Designed to help libraries
automate their internal operations, manage collections, fulfill
requests, and deliver services
Services
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Service oriented architecture
Exposes Web services and other API’s
Facilitates the services libraries offer to their users
Platform
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General infrastructure for library automation
Consistent with the concept of Platform as a Service
Library programmers address the APIs of the platform to extend
functionality, create connections with other systems, dynamically
interact with data
Library Services Platform
Characteristics
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Highly Shared data models
Knowledgebase architecture
 Some may take hybrid approach to accommodate local
data stores
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Delivered through software as a service
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Multi-tenant
Unified workflows across formats and media
Flexible metadata management
MARC – Dublin Core – VRA – MODS – ONIX
 New structures not yet invented
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Open APIs for extensibility and interoperability
New Library Management Model
Search:
Unified Presentation Layer
Library Services
Platform
API Layer
`
Digital
Coll
Consolidated index
Self-Check /
Automated
Return
ProQuest
EBSCO
…
JSTOR
Stock
Management
Enterprise
Resource
Planning
Learning
Management
Other
Resources
Smart Cad /
Payment
systems
Authentication
Service
Challenge:
How to Harness new technology to
meet the needs of Transformed
academic libraries?
Reassess expectations of Technology

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Many previous assumptions no longer apply
Technology platforms scale infinitely
No technical limits on how libraries share technical
infrastructure
Cloud technologies enable new ways of sharing
metadata
Build flexible systems not hardwired to any given
set of workflows
Reassess workflow and organizational
options
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ILS model shaped library organizations
New Library Services Platforms may enable new
ways to organize how resource management and
service delivery are performed
New technologies more able to support strategic
priorities and initiatives
Reassess the role of library
technologists
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Cloud-based services allow libraries to re-focus technology
personnel
Less emphasis on routine infrastructure
Technologists can focus on higher-level services
Reassess how to shape software to
local needs

Shift from customization and enhancements to open
APIs
 Less
encumbered by vendor priorities
 More empowered to create local value-added services
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From monolithic closed system to flexible platform
Opportunities to build more unified virtual services
for patrons
Time to engage
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Transition to new technology models just underway
More transformative development than in previous
phases of library automation
Opportunities to partner and collaborate
 Vendors
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want to create systems with long-term value
Question previously held assumptions regarding the
shape of technology infrastructure and services
Provide leadership in defining expectations
Questions and discussion