OCLC Programs & Research Prospecting in the library data mines Brian Lavoie Consulting Research Scientist OCLC Programs & Research Annual Partners Meeting Washington, DC June 4, 2007

OCLC Programs & Research Prospecting the library data mines Annual Partners Meeting 2 Making data work harder  Data is an asset  Informs planning and decision-making  Drives new forms of services  Libraries have many data assets  Bibliographic, holdings, usage, reference inquiries, …  Opportunities to collect data increase in network spaces …  Web site traffic, click-through patterns, e-usage, …  Make data work harder  Use library data in innovative ways to create value

OCLC Programs & Research Prospecting the library data mines Annual Partners Meeting 3 Data mining & OCLC Research  Networks of collaboration and coordination  Decisions taken in “system-wide context”  Focus on resources of “system”  Mass digitization, cooperative print storage, shared discovery environments, …  As library networks develop and expand, opportunities arise to create value through:  Collective action  Aligning local collections with system-wide environment  Data is context  Research area focused on data mining activities  Aggregate collections  “System-wide collection” (as represented in WorldCat)

OCLC Programs & Research Prospecting the library data mines Annual Partners Meeting 4 Managing the collective collection  Mass digitization  “Last copies”  Long tail

OCLC Programs & Research Prospecting the library data mines Annual Partners Meeting 5 Mass digitization Google Book Search (aka Google Print for Libraries) Aggregate collection of digitized print books (combined holdings of Harvard, Michigan, Oxford, NYPL, and Stanford) Data-mining to provide empirical context to inform community- wide dialog

OCLC Programs & Research Prospecting the library data mines Annual Partners Meeting 6 “Rareness is common” System-wide print book collection: ~32 million print books 37% Held by 1 5% Held by > 100 3% Held by % Held by % Held by % Held by Data-mining to better understand nature of the “collective collection” Identify rare & unique materials in system-wide collection (“last copies”)

OCLC Programs & Research Prospecting the library data mines Annual Partners Meeting 7 The Library Long Tail (using holdings as measure of popularity) Number of Holdings Items ranked by system-wide popularity HEAD: Top 10% of WorldCat records (ranked by holdings) account for 80% of total WorldCat holdings LONG TAIL: Bottom 90% of WorldCat records (ranked by holdings) account for 20% of total WorldCat holdings HEAD: Small proportion of items account for lion’s share of collecting activity LONG TAIL: Everything else spread out across Long Tail of diffuse collecting activity Data-mining to inform strategies/policies aimed at optimizing system-wide supply & demand for library materials

OCLC Programs & Research Prospecting the library data mines Annual Partners Meeting 8 Others …  Registry of Copyright Evidence  New York Art Museum study

OCLC Programs & Research Prospecting the library data mines Annual Partners Meeting 9 Shared print storage  Use library data to inform decision-making:  Data about library assets (bibliographic)  Data about choices involving these assets (holdings, circ., ILL)  System-wide aggregation (larger aggregation = richer context)  Shared print storage decision-making:  Data about assets (local inventories of print materials)  Data about system-wide availability (holdings)  Data about usage (local & system-wide)  Role of Research:  Data collection  Data-mining analysis in support of project needs  Inform community dialog on shared print storage issues  Analyze “collective collection” in shared print context  Support development of effective print storage strategies  Standardize analysis to maximize applicability/re-use