Going 'On-Web‘ Google, Yahoo, Open WorldCat and Library Services Chip Nilges Lorcan Dempsey OCLC

Overview

Overview Environment Open WorldCat Issues/opportunities

The Amazoogle user environment Four perceived user attributes? Comprehensive Accessible Immediate gratification (but see Google Scholar) ‘Followability’ of data For many, the first and last resort of research Available at the point of need

The Amazoogle platform Creating network application platforms Massive data and computational hubs in a loosely coupled world E-bay, Google, Amazon, …

Open WorldCat on web Connect library users to library services on the open web … … by leveraging the WorldCat platform … … which has been co-created by member libraries and OCLC.

Open WorldCat Background Demonstration Experience to date

History of Open WorldCat Rationale Research Pilot Service Rationale 2000 corporate strategy – weave libraries into the web . . . Help members make collections visible and available wherever their patrons are looking for information This included licensed resources that libraries make available from w/in their portals as well as open Web resource, such as search engines Supported by research we did and elsewhere, showing that researchers and students increasingly beginning their research in search engines, etc Also discussed with OCLC advisory groups and library directors around the country Value proposition for membership – solve many to many problem through the use of a shared infrastructure Value proposition for search engines – holdings of 9000 libraries in your service Began with pilot in fall 2002, with selected book vendors, to test value proposition – known item linking from book catalogs (ABAA, Alibris) Based on this decided to make subset of 2 million most widely held records available for harvesting by search engines Partial records Spring of 2003 discussed with Google, which was receptive, and signed contract SU 2003 Fall of 2003 put up records, which Google began harvesting in December WI of 2004 Yahoo! Approach us and we formed partnership Yahoo! Ingested 2 million records in May Traffic grew, and the membership responded positively to the program In SU 2004, based on success of the pilot, made decision to evolve the pilot into a service All 57 million records Usage states for libraries to track activity Incorporated into WorldCat subscription as of July 2005 (paid inclusion model – subscription to WorldCat = holdings display)

Discovery Fulfillment Public Web Private Web Open WorldCat WorldCat Library lookup OPAC link Public Web Open WorldCat is evolutionary for OCLC, not revolutionary. As this slide shows We have come to thing of WorldCat as a library search cooperative – a cooperatively built and managed service that connects library users with the collections of the OCLC membership . . . Compliments our cataloging and resource sharing cooperatives. Leverages library cooperation to build shared infrastructure that lowers local library costs and improves local servic. Quandrants represent the universe of Web search, which includes public and private web services (open/dark) Also includes discovery – searching an engine or sifting through a Web site – and fulfillment – getting to the item described Our starting point: End-user access to OCLC member collections - 50 million searches/year 20k institutions with access Services available include those listed From there, remaining in private Web, we added WC linking program Surfaces member collections collections in licensed services – 12 partners, 20,000+ links in March Grolier for fee model From there, in early FY05, we launched the WC group catalog service Union catalog based on holdings Includes public view of consortial holdings – first production foray into open Web Common infrastructure for union catalogs 5 installed – including two states -- with a number in the pipeline 30k searches in March Next, Open WorldCat Common infrastructure for surfacing member collections Two models – known item link to holdings/seeding search engines Currently in pilot Required developing new services – library lookup, OPAC linking, gateway to authenticated services Looking at this in total shows the progression in our efforts to use WC to broaden library access I’m going to focus on open worldcat From A monolithic reference database Expensive search Staff orientation Private resource All services bundled content, holdings, fulfillment options Single funding model To A library “search” cooperative Lightweight search End-user orientation Public and private service Modular service model All or some content All or some services (eg, holdings only) Self-service for patrons, libraries, partners Multi-source funding Authentication WorldCat Group Catalog OpenURL services Resource sharing Circulation E-licensed resource WorldCat linking: Outbound & Inbound Private Web Patron View of WorldCat

Demonstration

Compare to search in oregan state university (89 hits in OSU catalog vs 59 in OHIO su vs 302 on yahoo library site)

Subject bibliography Compare to search in oregan state university (89 hits in OSU catalog vs 59 in OHIO su vs 302 on yahoo library site)

IP Authenticated Services Open URL FirstSearch Patron ILL NetLibrary ebooks JSTOR OpenURL server Detailed WorldCat record in FirstSearch Edinburgh’s catalogue In this example, we search “wandering samaritan” in Google, See the Find in a Library record, Click it………….note: because our system recognizes the IP address of this user, and sees that it maps to an Edinburgh University FirstSearch account, we show certain fulfillment option links in the Open WorldCat interface that are active for this account – an openURL server they’ve configured within FirstSearch Admin, as well as a link to FirstSearch WorldCat where the user could get the detailed record. Obviously they can connect to the catalog too.

DSpace records

Exposing special collections

Yahoo! toolbar Yahoo! Toolbar

How libraries participate Set holdings in WorldCat Configure access to their system Monitor statistics All library holdings display through June 2005; thereafter, holdings display for WorldCat subscribers

Open WorldCat traffic This shows the number of times users come from search engines and connect to the Open WorldCat interface. We anticipate close to 4 million inbound links for the month of Oct’04. We expect this graph to continue showing growth in the future. These are not “searches” in the traditional sense, because users out on the public Web are not searching WorldCat. They’re searching within Search Engines, and then finding and clicking “Find in a Library” links which takes them to Open WorldCat’s interface. Searches are predominately simple subject searches

Links to libraries This is a typical distribution of traffic: once a user comes to the Open WorldCat interface and generates a display of holdings, we track whether they proceed with linking to a library resource – such as catalog, information page, or a variety of FirstSearch fulfillment links that we’ll show in the interface, if we recognize the IP address of the user as associated with a FirstSearch account. (we’ll check to see if certain FS fulfillment options are activated, and then show the ones that are) We are working on a stats reporting capability for libraries (with plans to release by end of 2004) to let libraries track this data for themselves, to see how much add’l. traffic Open WorldCat is generating for them, thanks to the visibility afforded them via the Open WC interface. Currently, about 8% to 9% of inbound-linking will result in continued linking to library resources, on a monthly basis. So e.g. for the month of Sept., with its 3.4 million inbound links, 8% of that is 272,000 additional links into library resources, enabled through the Open WorldCat interface. This is a key measurement of value of the Open WorldCat Program.

User Feedback "This is an awesome project. This is the right direction to take. We want to be fully involved." [member] “I'm glad that [our library] is part of this as it will help us to promote our collections to a wider audience. We are in the process of converting 750,000 records, which should be available in WorldCat over the next 3-4 years.” [member] “[This] site…let me know about a book that I never would have found out about otherwise, and let me know exactly where to tell the local county library to request an interlibrary loan. I'm a botanist for the US National Park Service, and this is an INCREDIBLE resource for those of us in isolated areas hours away from a university caliber library. If you need a testimonial for funding or convincing libraries to join, I'd be happy to provide one.” [end-user] Just a few examples of the kind of positive feedback that Open WorldCat received during the pilot phase of the project. The 3rd one down (US Nat’l Park Service) is from a user who will be featured in OCLC’s Annual Report. "I am absolutely DELIGHTED to be able to access WorldCat through Google! As an independent researcher and author…not associated with an institution…being able to easily find the local locations for books I need is WONDERFUL. Please continue to make this program available to the public. Many thanks indeed!" [end-user]

This slide shows system view of OWC Beginning with WorldCat in the center, OCLC carved off 2 million abbreviated records (items held by 100 or more institutions) which were made available to search engines for harvest. Continuing to follow this loop, as results come up in Search engines and users click the “Find in a Library” records, they come to the Open WorldCat interface, which populates itself with data from the subset (bib data and holdings information). If they generate a list of holdings (by entering a postal code, country, etc.), they they see libraries owning the item, and can connect to those libraries if we have the URLs in our system. Starting from the upper-left, if a user begins from a book site, e.g., Alibris.com or BookPage.com, and they see/follow a link to Open WorldCat, they’ll actually connect into “production WorldCat” to get the same kind of bib/holdings information. But since they connect to production WorldCat, and not the 2m record subset, users from these sites have a far greater chance of finding a desired item, given production WorldCat’s 56+ million record set, as opposed to the only 2 million records currently indexed in Google and Yahoo.

Issues/Opportunities General Usability Placement Ranking FRBR Subject access Published content OPAC linking & delivery Licensed content Rights & authentication OpenURL linking Special collections/Institutional repositories

Questions?