The world’s libraries. Connected. Beyond surveys towards practical next steps Making Unique & Distinctive Collections Work Exeter, 22 March 2013 Titia van der Werf Senior Program Officer OCLC Research

The world’s libraries. Connected. Some context: OCLC Research in Europe and in the UK Identifying shared interest areas between RLUK and OCLC Research Addressing challenges jointly in the area of special collections Content

The world’s libraries. Connected. Goal: to become a trusted partner in Europe Strategy: 1.Continue to engage individual institutions (The OCLC Research Library Partnership) 2.Shape liaison partnerships with consortia (at national and European levels) 3.Create collaboration opportunities with relevant agencies (data aggregations, shared service providers, etc.) OCLC Research in Europe

The world’s libraries. Connected. The OCLC Research Library Partners in the UK Aberdeen, British Library, Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial College, Kings College, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London School of Economics, Manchester, National Library of Scotland, Natural History Museum, Oxford, St Andrews, Tate Gallery Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, Warwick, Wellcome Library, York out of 33 RLUK members are ORLP members OCLC Research in the UK

The world’s libraries. Connected. A list of ORLP activities with UK-partners: SHARES – promotes the sharing of access to participant’s collections via lending and inter-library loan; enables participating institutions to agree on prices, procedures and policies; to monitor their own performance and manage workflows to support increased lending. SHARES institutions in the UK include: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, WarwickSHARES OCLC Research in the UK

The world’s libraries. Connected. A list of ORLP activities with UK-partners Open linked data project (CoMET - Cambridge) – enriching bibliographic data with VIAF and FAST links.Open linked data project Good enough-cataloguing (Cambridge) - MARC metadata creation practices: analysis of tag usage in WorldCat.Good enough-cataloguing Digital Visitors and Residents (Oxford): JISC funded project.Digital Visitors and Residents Registering Researchers in Authority Files (Task Group members from UK: Manchester, Oxford, British Library, Cambridge, Symplectic).Registering Researchers in Authority Files OCLC Research in the UK

The world’s libraries. Connected. A list of ORLP activities with UK-partners Beyond the Silos of the LAMS: Collaboration between Libraries, Archives & Museums (Edinburgh)Beyond the Silos of the LAMS Beta test WorldCat Identities Project (British Library)Beta test WorldCat Identities Project Sharing and aggregating Social Metadata (British Library)Sharing and aggregating Social Metadata User-centered design of a recommender system (Sheffield)User-centered design of a recommender system OCLC Research in the UK

The world’s libraries. Connected. Shaping closer liaison with RLUK Existing liaison between OCLC Research and RLUK staff; attending RLUK member meetings Existing joint activities: OCLC Research – RLUK Survey on special collections OCLC Proposal to the RLUK Board (November 2012) towards a more formal liaison partnership OCLC Research in the UK

The world’s libraries. Connected. Shaping closer liaison with RLUK identify common areas of shared interest: overlap RLUK strategic agenda and OCLC research agenda; invest sustained effort over time and ensure continuity leading to effective results; address RLUK as a whole: outcomes should be relevant to RLUK membership as a whole/national relevancy; and leverage member capacities. OCLC Research in the UK

The world’s libraries. Connected. Creating collaboration opportunities with relevant UK agencies if/when opportune: JISC iSchool (Sheffield) MIMAS etc. OCLC Research in the UK

The world’s libraries. Connected. RLUK agendaOCLC research agenda Redefining the library model Supporting researchers Use of space Scholarly communication Workforce development Advancing the research mission Support for research workflows MacColl & Jubb Report based on studies of the US (2010) and of the UK (2010) Changes in scholarly communications Sustainability of disciplinary repositories (R. Erway) Role of libraries in data curation (orientation stage) Shaping ethical and effective publishing Reducing journal costs/other models Open access to research outputs Modelling the library role in research data management Library role and policy in RDM; Workforce development Shared interest areas RLUK and OCLC Research

The world’s libraries. Connected. RLUK agendaOCLC research agenda Collaborating to reduce costs and improve quality UKRR, COPAC, shared collection management, discovery infrastructure System-wide Organisation Managing shared print collections Cloud-sourcing shared research collections Metadata Management Network-level discovery (Schema.org; Wikipedia) Discovery of digitised collections (Europeana Pilots) Reuse/Linked data Enrichment (VIAF, FAST, NER) Registering Researchers in Authority Files Shared interest areas RLUK and OCLC Research

The world’s libraries. Connected. RLUK agendaOCLC research agenda Promoting Unique and Distinctive Collections Maximising the potential of UDCs through public engagement, fundraising, discovery, digitisation, impact, staff skills Business models for large-scale collaborative digitisation Digital/physical preservation Digital humanities Archives Hub Mobilizing Unique Materials US and UK/Ireland Surveys Outreach Born-digital (You’ve got to walk Report; Swatting the long tail) Sharing special collections Rough and ready Report (putting finding aids online) Rapid capture Report Digital Humanities (orientation stage) ArchiveGrid (discovery) Shared interest areas RLUK and OCLC Research

The world’s libraries. Connected. 1.outreach 2.space/facilities 3.born-digital 4.collection care 5.cataloguing & archival processing 6.digitisation 7.access 8.staff development Challenges in special collections Most challenging issues (according to the RLUK- OCLC-Survey):

The world’s libraries. Connected. Related challenges coming out of other UK-reports: BLPAC Report: UDCs are broader than special collections: bulk of UDCs from ; special formats; foreign languages. => preserving the “collective collection” = a national collaborative effort for the shared print collection; => balance the need to mainstream the special collections and the need to put the special in the collective collection Knowing the Need Report: promote surrogacy as a preservation strategy => importance of a national digitisation strategy Challenges in special collections

The world’s libraries. Connected. Regrouping the issues and taking out space/facilities (out-of- scope for OCLC Research) : 1.outreach / staff development 2.born-digital / staff development 3.collection care, cataloguing & archival processing / staff development 4.extending access (through digitisation, inter-lending, improved discovery) and introducing a new dimension to access: the needs of digital humanities / staff development Challenges in special collections

The world’s libraries. Connected. Outreach: Survey outcomes: skills development, including becoming more comfortable with classroom teaching. Look for success stories: showcase UK / US / European examples ORLP Outreach Workshop on Monday June 3rd (Past Forward event at Yale)ORLP Outreach Workshop Possible RLUK-OCLC Research activity: Repeat similar workshop in UK? Addressing challenges jointly

The world’s libraries. Connected. Born-digital: Survey outcomes: under collected, undermanaged, no support from management (25%), unprocessed born- digital materials added to the (print) backlogs. ORLP activity: demystifying born-digitalORLP activity Other players in this area (DCC, DPC, etc.) Possible RLUK-OCLC Research activity: Awareness- raising at RLUK higher management level? Extending ORLP activity? Addressing challenges jointly

The world’s libraries. Connected. Collection care, cataloguing & archival processing Possible RLUK-OCLC Research activity: Promote earlier work by OCLC Research and make it relevant to the UK context? Managing shared print collections Cloud-sourcing shared research collections Analyzing archival descriptive practice More product, less process; quick and clean; etc. Barriers to use of EAD; disseminate use of EAC; etc. Addressing challenges jointly

The world’s libraries. Connected. Extending access through digitisation Survey recommendation: a national gateway for discovery of digitised content; In the past “massive amounts” of (small) digitisation/microfilming projects – most of the outcomes are not available online. Possible RLUK-OCLC Research activity: What are the barriers to make digitised collections available? Learn from similar situation in other countries. Input for an action plan to set-up a national gateway. Addressing challenges jointly

The world’s libraries. Connected. Extending access through inter-lending: Survey outcomes: huge concerns about usage. 81% non-circulating materials and only 16% reproductions; average for a digital scan: £3 – £15 ORLP Sharing Special Collections Report coming out soon – trust is central issueORLP Sharing Special Collections Report Possible RLUK-OCLC Research activity: Promote ORLP SHARES activity in the UK? Addressing challenges jointly

The world’s libraries. Connected. Extending access through improved discovery Survey outcomes: user expectations, single search, access systems, find aid-related access, tracing use, discovery and related information technology issues Possible RLUK-OCLC Research activity: how can special collections best be integrated in mainstream web-based discovery services? Addressing challenges jointly

The world’s libraries. Connected. Extending access to Digital Humanities Possible RLUK-OCLC Research activity: What are DH requirements for access/re-use of digitised UDCs? Digitised collections as datasets: what is the demand for analytical access to corpora for research? Loss of information during digitisation: image versus full-text; OCR-quality; analogue structures get lost; etc. How much of the physical artefact needs to be reconstructed digitally to facilitate research? Basic enrichment needs? etc. Addressing challenges jointly

The world’s libraries. Connected. Questions? Titia van der Werf