Next generation library catalogs and the integration of gazetteer information for geographical research Julie Sweetkind-Singer Assistant Director of Geospatial, Cartographic and Scientific Data & Services April 14, 2011

Agenda Standard library catalogs and cataloging standards Next generation library catalogs and what’s now possible Then what? Prediction of user wants.

Typical Library Catalog

MARC cataloging Scale and cartographic extent given twice. Geographic subjects combined with thematic information.

Authority file subject names – Library of Congress 451 fields trace back to the 151 field. No context is provided for the names.

Authority file subject names

Linking to other resources Linking through authorized subject headings to results potentially (or not) relevant.

If you know what you are looking for, why are you looking? And if you do not know what you are looking for, how can you find it? - “Old Russian Proverb” Discovery

Next Generation Discovery Environment Overarching Objective: To make it easier for patrons to discover and use the wealth of information resources held by providing a comprehensive place to search and browse. Specifically: 1.create a unified discovery interface to all library resources –OPAC, full text, finding aids, databases, web sites 2.create a feature-rich, highly interactive tool for searchers –search, browse, visualize, refine, expand, extract, one click access 3.create a highly usable interface that achieves specific discovery tasks –Using user-centered design, user research and testing, use metrics 4.create an extensible platform that be enriched over time with both more resources and more functionality –personalization, alerts, integration with other tools Slide courtesy Tom Cramer, SULAIR

SearchWorks Released in September, ’08http://searchworks.stanford.edu Advantages: 1.Faceted navigation of results 3. Relevance ranking 2.Ability to add new indexes 4. Ability to integrate new services (browse by call #, e.g) 5. Web 2.0 features Slide courtesy Tom Cramer, SULAIR

Features: facets, relevancy rankings, covers

Next generation catalog with subject facets.

Searching Beethoven in the Music tab, Uva Virgo

Searching Digital Collections, U Wisconsin Forward

Combining content Instead of Wikipedia or Freebase, add gazetteer information to the record. Pull geographic terms out and link to maps, databases, books, etc. Geolocate pictures in space by linking them to geographic information.

Future directions You like this? Maybe you’ll want this. Predictive model like Amazon or clothing sites. Like-type items: Rome: city-scale object in Italy – Here are more like that. Rome: 1 st Century CE – More in that same time? Rome: 16 th Century – There are 15 maps in the catalog of Italy at that time. How do catalogs predict what users want?

Contact information Julie Sweetkind-Singer