Transcript ILS, the Next Generation: Modularity and Outward Integration Karen Calhoun OLA Super Conference Session 1412 February 2, 2007

ILS, the Next Generation:
Modularity and Outward Integration
Karen Calhoun
OLA Super Conference
Session 1412
February 2, 2007
Next Generation: Modularity
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“ILSes should think in
terms of linking rather
than building”
Decoupling discovery
and inventory
management
functions
Standards
E-resource
management systems
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What Did Users Say They Want?
(2002)
•Faculty and students do more work
and study away from campus
Do you use electronic sources all of the time,
most of the time, some of the time, or none of the
time?
•Print still important, but almost
half of undergraduates say they rely
exclusively or almost exclusively on
electronic materials
•Seamless linking from one
information object to another is
expected
Percent
•Loyal to the library, but library is
only one element in complex
information structure
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Faculty/Graduate
Undergrad
All of the
time/most of
the time
Some of the
time
None of the
time
Responses
•Fast forward to 2007: these
trends many times stronger!
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Toward a New Library
Information Space
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Objectives
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Integrate access to all
library resources (print,
archives, digital, e-)
Simplify digital and eresource management
(lower costs AND improve
service)
Become visible in the
user’s environment (i.e.,
on open Web, on course
pages, etc.)
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Methods and
tools
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Web-accessible lists +
catalogs
Federated searching
Reference linking
(OpenURL)
Portals
E-resource management
systems
Digital asset management
systems
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Levels of Access
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Web-accessible lists
Browsing
 Searching
 Both
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Online catalog (morphing)
 Federated searching
 Reference linking
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Web-Accessible Lists (Database
Driven, Searchable)
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Catalog Records for EResources
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What’s Federated Searching
(Metasearch)?
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Helps users more easily discover what
resources are available
Provides searching of many resources at
the same time
Unifies search results
Links search results to full text
Authenticates and authorizes or blocks
user access
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Metasearch: what’s missing
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Response time comparatively slow
Practical limits to number of databases that can be:
 Configured for searching
 Searched at once
Incomplete search results (also due to practical limits)
Lack of control over what is returned in search result sets
Order of search results displays not as useful as they
should be
Other limitations on what can (or can’t) be displayed
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Hope for Metasearch
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NISO Metasearch Initiative:
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http://www.niso.org/committees/MS_initiative.html
“Metasearch services rely on a variety of
approaches to search and retrieval including
open standards (such as NISO's Z39.50),
proprietary API's, and screen scraping. However,
the absence of widely supported standards, best
practices, and tools makes the metasearch
environment less efficient for the system
provider, the content provider, and ultimately the
end-user.”
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Google Scholar: Forget
Metasearch?
Find It At
Cornell
You can do this for articles too
Reference Linking
Users expect fully linked information
environment
 Partnerships between content providers,
database producers, and library system
vendors, utilities …
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Limitations of Reference
Linking
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Incomplete or inaccurate metadata from source; can’t
match knowledge base
Knowledge base is incorrect or out of date
Metadata alright but doesn’t match target
Varied application of citation standards; non-use of citation
standards
Library has full text for journal but not the volume/issue
the user wants
Full text availability lags behind citation availability
And on and on
Blake, Miriam and Frances Knudson. 2002.
Metadata and reference linking. LCATS 26 (3): 219-230.
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Prediction
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Of the two,
OpenURL will be
the core
technology, not
metasearch
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The Portal Dream, Version
1: A Unifying System Model
Unified Web Interface (“Google-like”)
Authentication layer
Federated searching (metasearch)
Other Libraries
Catalogs
Local Library
Catalog
Digital
Collections
Licensed
Databases
Many diverse, separate interfaces
Other
(e.g.,DSpace)
But…Look From a Distance!
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Outward Integration
“Integration should be outward rather
than inward, with libraries seeking to use
their components in new ways”
--Interviewee for LC report on future of
the catalog
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Longer Term Vision
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Switch users from where they find things to librarymanaged collections of all kinds
Local catalog one link in a chain of services, one repository
managed by the library
More coherent and comprehensive scholarly information
systems, perhaps by discipline
Infrastructure to permit global discovery and delivery of
information among open, loosely-coupled systems
Critical mass of digitized publications and special
collections online
Many starting points on the Web leading to many types of
scholarly information objects
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Find It on Google,* Get It
from My Library
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Open WorldCat,
worldcat.org
Google Scholar, Book
Search
Google Library Project
Million Book Project
Microsoft Live Search
Books
Open Content Alliance
Amazon
*The word "google" was first used in the 1927 Little Rascals silent film
"Dog Heaven", used to refer to a having a drink of water.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_(verb)
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Live Search Books
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Cornell
University
Library
Digital
Collections
Amazon/
BookSurge
Acquisition
“The acquisition will allow Amazon to profitably market hard-to-find books
which can now be produced by BookSurge in quantities as low as one.”—press release
Intermediate Vision
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Shared OPACs: begin to aggregate
discovery function for books, serials, and
their e-counterparts
Metasearch for e-journal articles
Reference linking ubiquitous
Draw on the local catalog’s strongest suit:
support for inventory control and delivery
Larger scale collaboration on collection
development/resource sharing, storage,
preservation
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Intermediate Vision, 2
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Greater use of Web services to link in and
out, tie applications together
Start to build bigger scholarly information
environments—with libraries playing a
role—to aggregate more of the expanding
universe of scholarly digital assets
Metadata and outreach skills = strategic
assets
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Intermediate Vision, 3
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Beginning of the era of special collections
Aggregate discovery of digital collections
More emphasis on visual resources
More collaboration with faculty on digital
assets
Rise of best practices for digital asset
management
Digital collection delivery platforms will
continue to proliferate
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Digital Collections
Ralph,
Julian.
Canada’s
El Dorado.
Harper’s,
Jan. 1891.
Making of
America
Collection
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Google It and Get It
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Good Advice for Digital
Librarians
At this stage, no new effort should be
undertaken without a sense of how it will
be merged with other existing collections
and where the resources for long-term
maintenance will come from.
—A CUL digital projects librarian
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Aquifer
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Bridging Digital Islands
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Teaching, Learning, and Research,
the Next Generation
Thank You!
Karen Calhoun,
Cornell University
[email protected]
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