Trends in Library automation and digital libraries Marshall Breeding Director for Innovative Technologies and Research Vanderbilt University Redefining Libraries: Web 2.0 and other Challenges May 2007 Xiamen, China

Business Landscape Library Journal Automated System Marketplace: An Industry redefined (April 1, 2007) An increasingly consolidated industry VC and Private Equity playing a stronger role then ever before Moving out of a previous phase of fragmentation where many companies expend energies producing decreasingly differentiated systems in a limited marketplace Narrowing of product options Open Source opportunities rise to challenge stranglehold of traditional commercial model

Library Automation M&A History

Consolidation among Libraries for automation More libraries banding together to share automation environment Reduce overhead for maintaining systems that have decreasing strategic importance Need to focus technical talent on activities that have more of an impact on the mission of the library Pooled resources for technical processing Single library ILS implementations becoming less defensible Essential for libraries to gain increased leverage relative to large companies

Diverse Business Activities Many ways to expand business in ways that leverage library automation expertise: Non-ILS software Retrospective conversion services RFID or AMH Network Consulting Services Content products

Key Business Perspective Given the relative parity of library automation systems, choosing the right automation partner is more important than splitting hairs over functionality. Understanding of library issues Vision and forward-looking development

Product and Technology Trends

Current state of the Integrated Library System The core ILS focused mostly on print resources and traditional library workflow processes. Add-ons available for dealing with electronic content: Link resolvers Metasearch environments Electronic Resource Management A loosely integrated environment Labor-intensive implementation and maintenance Most are “ must have ” products for academic libraries with significant collections of e-content

Library OPAC Evolved from card catalogs and continues to be bound by the constraints of that legacy. Complex and rich in features Interfaces often do not compare favorably with alternatives available on the Web Print materials becoming a smaller component of the library ’ s overall collections.

State of the Library OPAC?

Comprehensive Automation The goal of the Integrated Library Systems involves the automation of all aspects of the library ’ s internal operations and to provide key services to library users.

ILS – Broad Overview Business automation system Automates each aspect of a library ’ s operations Smaller libraries may implement only selected modules Tightly integrated modules

ILS characteristics Shared bibliographic database Holdings records Copy records Circulation transaction file Patron database Acquisitions: vendor database, financial transaction files Serials – volume holdings records; issue check-in records; summary holdings, routing, etc

OpenURL Link Resolver Context-sensitive Linking Links to resources built dynamically

Benefits for library users A more seamless and unified interface to assist users with their research using library resources Need to present the user with the appropriate copy Ability to offer other services and options Multiple copies available for any given document or resource

Benefits for Library Staff Static URL ’ s becoming untenable in electronic publishing environment Placing static links in 856 fields increasingly untenable URL ’ s change – direct deep linking unstable Libraries change sources for content Single point of management for article databases and e-journal holdings Can be populated and updated by providers such as Serial Solutions

More than linking citation to full text Holdings look-up in OPACS Requests for document delivery Interlibrary Loan request Related works – more by this author

The down side of dynamic reference linking More options, more complexity No guarantee that links created by a resolving application will be successful Eg: TOC instead of full text Users may not always understand what is happening Maintaining the Link Resolver database

Reference linking framework A database populated with data about the library ’ s electronic resources What aggregations the library owns Which titles available in each aggregation What years available for each title Which stand-alone e-journals? A&I databases Metadata harvested from a citation and passed through the OpenURL syntax A resolver that turns metadata into a specific link to the appropriate link Resolver can provide links to other services ILL/Document Delivery request Holdings Look-up in library catalog Web search

OpenURL Framework Linking Products – Applications that rely on the OpenURL specification Sources -- a resource capable of generating an OpenURL Targets – Web-based resources capable of being linked to in an OpenURL environment

Link Server or Resolver A server that resolves an OpenURL into one or more services. Takes into consideration the local context of the user What content is available through subscriptions provided by the institution? What content is available within each database or full-text aggregation Other services available: print holdings; document delivery; bookstore purchase;

OpenURL A de facto standard for reference linking A syntax to create web-transportable packages of metadata or identifiers about an information object Not a static link Transports metadata Relies on a local resolver, which makes use of data carried on the OpenURL to perform services

Linking Products SFX -- Ex Libris WebBridge -- Innovative 360 Link -- Serials Solutions LinkSource -- EBSCO 1Cate -- Openly Informatics / OCLC

Digital asset management Products for creating and managing collections of digital content Utility for creating metadata Dublin Core VRA Other library / discipline-specific formats

Library-specific products CONTENTdm – OCLC Digitool – Ex Libris Hyperion – SirsiDynix Luna Imaging

Metasearching / Federated Searching Allows the user to enter a search once to search multiple databases All selected resources searched simultaneously Single user interface Results presented through the metasearch application not in their native interface

Metasearch groupings Resources organized by the library into groups Typically subject based Relieves the users from having to know what products cover what topics Generally impractical to search all products in each query

Common metaserach features Presents common interface for formulating query Keyword combinations and options Boolean operators Results interfiled or separated by source Deduplication of results Sort and relevancy options Customization to blend with library ’ s Web site – color scheme, fonts, layout, banner, logo, etc.

Authentication Needs to work for remote users Interface with campus authentication environment Interacts with proxy servers

Other Features General tool for managing access to electronic resources Links to native interfaces Select resources by subject Link to native interfaces Detailed information about each resource

Technical challenge How to perform search and retrieval among many separate information resources that operate in fundamentally different ways Target resources vary significantly Abstract and Indexing (A&I) databases Full Text resources Library Catalogs Specialized databases No single search and retrieval protocol used among the common library information resources

Limitations Not all resources can participate in metasearch environment Shallow result sets returned from each target Difficult to achieve true relevancy Slow Performance

Architecture and Technology Components Take advantage of search and retrieval protocols when possible Z39.50 (mostly library catalogs) Web services XML gateways SQL interfaces Proprietary API (Applications Programming Interface) HTML Parsing

Technology … Connectors or source packages that understand how to send queries to and receive results from each resource All results converted into a unified record structure Application component for managing results Web interface for presenting results

Moving forward: Transition to an era of next- generation library interfaces

Traditional Library Search Model Provide a full featured OPAC Give the user a screen full of search options Assume that researchers will begin with library resources Reliance on Bibliographic Instruction

Troubling statistic Where do you typically begin your search for information on a particular topic? College Students Response: 89%Search engines (Google 62%) 2%Library Web Site (total respondents -> 1%) 2%Online Database 1% 1% Online News 1% Online bookstores 0% Instant Messaging / Online Chat OCLC. Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005) p

New Library Search Model Don ’ t count on users beginning their research with library catalogs or Web site Consider the library ’ s Web site as a destination Make it a compelling and attractive destination that uses will want to explore more. Web users have a low tolerance for ineffective and clunky interfaces

Library Discovery Model A Library Web Site / Catalog Web Library as search Destination

Library Discovery Model B Do not give up on library search technologies! Libraries must also build their own discovery, search, and access services Effective, elegant, powerful Once users discover your library, give them outstanding services: Catalog search, federated search, context- sensitive linking, etc.

Library Discovery Model C Expose library content and services through non- library interfaces Campus portals, courseware systems, e-learning environments County and municipal portals and e-government Other external content aggregators: RSS, etc Web services is the essential enabling technology for the delivery of library content and services to external applications. Library community lags years behind other IT industries in adoption of SOA and Web services.

Working toward next generation library interfaces Redefinition of the library catalog More comprehensive information discovery environments Better information delivery tools More powerful search capabilities More elegant presentation

Comprehensive Search Service More like OAI Problems of scale diminished Problems of cooperation persist

Replacement Search Interfaces: Endeca Guided Search AquaBrowser Library Are library users satisfied with native ILS interfaces?

Replacement OPACs Endeca Guided Navigation AquaBrowser Library Common thread: Decoupled interface Mass export of catalog data Alternative search engine Alternative interface

Expanded discovery and delivery tools Ex Libris Primo (in development) Encore from Innovative Interfaces (in development) Common threads: Decoupled interface Comprehensive indexes that span multiple and diverse information resources Alternative interface

Library-developed solutions eXtensible Catalog University of Rochester – River Campus Libraries Financial support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Redefinition of library catalogs and interfaces Traditional notions of the library catalog are being questioned It ’ s no longer enough to provide a catalog limited to print resources Digital resources cannot be an afterthought Forcing users to use different interfaces depending on type of content becoming less tenable Libraries working toward consolidated search environments that give equal footing to digital and print resources

Interface expectations Millennial gen library users are well acclimated to the Web and like it. Used to relevancy ranking The “ good stuff ” should be listed first Users tend not to delve deep into a result list Good relevancy requires a sophisticated approach, including objective matching criteria supplemented by popularity and relatedness factors.

Interface expectations (cont … ) Very rapid response. Users have a low tolerance for slow systems Rich visual information: book jacket images, rating scores, etc. Let users drill down through the result set incrementally narrowing the field Faceted Browsing Drill-down vs up-front Boolean or “ Advanced Search ” gives the users clues about the number of hits in each sub topic. Navigational Bread crumbs Ratings and rankings

Global vs Local How do library collections relate to the global realm Will mass digitization replace local library collections? The global arena excels at discovery The local arena focuses on content delivery All the global content discovery tools point to locally managed content.

Multi-layered information discovery Global : Google Institutional / Regional : Primo Granular: Individual catalogs and repositories Broad -> Precise Offer both the ability to “ find a few good things ” and to “ find exactly the right things (and all of them) ” Appropriate avenues for both the undergraduate learner and the serious scholar.

Questions and Discussion