The ZLOT Project An Overview of Activities and Results William E. Moen, Ph.D. Principal Investigator University of North Texas ZLOT Special Meeting December 16, 2002

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Library of Texas A Virtual Library Reaching Across Boundaries to Extend Access to A Range of Information Resources Collection Boundaries Organizational Boundaries Format Boundaries

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Virtual library facets Collections of resources – local and distributed Collaborative services and activities –Services for users –Services for librarians Tools that assist users in networked information resource discovery and access A management structure that allocates resources, determines policies, agrees on standards, etc.

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Characterizing the VL An environment for provision of –Services –Resources Not a digital library –Not all resources available are in digital/electronic form An evolving product that responds to –Users’ needs –Available resources –Current and emerging technologies

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, ZLOT within LOT ZLOT Project Resource discovery service Search/retrieval interface Virtual catalog TIF Board Library of Texas Resource discovery service Commercial online databases Preserving electronic government documents Training librarians TSLAC FY TXCDK FY

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, ZLOT project Z Implementation Component of the Library of Texas Developing a standards-based approach for the virtual library Project Focus Identifying requirements for resource discovery across library catalogs and online databases Demonstrating feasibility and utility of resource discovery tools

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, ZLOT components Functional Requirements Technology Inventory Assessment Proof of Concept Evaluation Service-Based Architecture Technical Requirements & Specifications

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Functional requirements Key Players –Advisory Group –Focus Groups Requirements –Virtual Catalog –Search and Retrieval Interface –Search Interface –Retrieval Interface Resource Discovery Service Virtual Catalog Search & Retrieval Interface

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Resource discovery

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Finding / exposing Finding: Users can find only what’s been exposed Exposing: How content is exposed determines how and if user can find it Goal: Connect users to information Strategy: Interoperability on multiple levels Tactic: Common agreements for exposing and finding –Protocols –Syntaxes –Semantics

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Exposing / finding #1

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Exposing / finding #2

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Exposing / finding #3

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Exposing / finding #4

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Consensus on requirements for resource discovery Four areas of requirements: –Virtual catalog (Texas libraries): 6 –Search and retrieval interface: 17 –Search interface: 19 –Retrieval interface: 11 Prioritization of requirements –Must have –Should have –Nice to have

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Public and smaller academic libraries A common interface for simple and advanced searching across resources Common interface yet customizable for local library presence Tools to help users select resources to search Multilingual interfaces Well-organized results (by topic, by type of resource) Indications of availability and “how to get”

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Common interface … Diverse resources

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, ZLOT components Functional Requirements Proof of Concept Evaluation Service-Based Architecture Technical Requirements & Specifications Technology Inventory Assessment

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Texas library landscape Libraries: –150 academic libraries –550 public libraries Technology: What is out there? –Hardware –Systems –Connectivity Perceptions of the Library of Texas

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Technology inventory & assessment I.Technology capabilities II.Proof of concept candidates III.Challenges to LOT participation TypeInvitedParticipated% Academic % Public % Total % Representative of Texas Libraries by Size and Geographic Distribution

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Public libraries CategoryPopulation Served Total #PercentResponsesPercent Small0 – 10, Medium10, , Large100,001 or more TOTAL %293100%

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Academic libraries CategoryEnrollment (FTSE) Total #PercentResponsesPercent SmallLess than 2, Medium2,001 – 9, Large10,000 or more TOTAL %75100%

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Technology assessment: ILS systems in Texas SystemNumberPercent Athena Winnebago Spectrum Sirsi Follett Dynix Horizon Innovative Interfaces Endeavor TOTAL %

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Technology assessment: Z39.50 servers

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Technology assessment: Z39.50 clients

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Technology assessment: Library websites AcademicPublicSample Have website100%62%69% Hosted in library45%40%42% Maintained by library81%70%73%

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Technology assessment: Internet access Fastest Connection

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Survey conclusions Infrastructure in place  Z39.50 servers and clients  Computers and internet connections Needs  Automation system training  Automation system support staff  Web services and skills Late technology adopters  Unique needs and characteristics  Primarily small public libraries

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Analysis of library holdings Motivation –Focus group questions –Understanding of alternatives for resource disc. Activities –Determine public library holdings data academic library holdings data Texas holdings represented in OCLC’s WorldCat –Analyze and compare

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Academic library holdings Academic library holdings: 33,458,040 (164 libraries) Holdings represented in WorldCat: 27,377,445 (81.8%)

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Public library holdings Public library holdings: 27,466,347 (552 libraries) Holdings represented in WorldCat: 7,030,485 (25.6%)

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, ZLOT components Functional Requirements Technology Inventory Assessment Evaluation Service-Based Architecture Technical Requirements & Specifications Proof of Concept

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Proof of concept Assess feasibility of functional requirements through prototypes Examine capabilities of library technology marketplace Identify challenges –Z39.50 access to library catalogs –Concurrent searching –Interface design

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Proof of concept: Two aspects Search and retrieval interface application -- Autographics -- Innovative Interfaces -- Blue Angel Technology -- Muse Global -- Ex Libris-- OCLC -- Fretwell Downing-- Sea Change -- Index Data-- Sirsi Virtual catalog application -- epixtech -- Innovative Interfaces

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Proof of concept: Search and Retrieval Interface Z39.50 Catalogs Web Catalogs TexShare Databases (some Z39.50 accessible) 4.Texas Records and Information Locator Resources Middleware Interface 1.Broadcast Searching a.Similar Resources b.Dissimilar Resources 2.Common Retrieval Display 1.Translates Searches 2.Formats Retrievals 3.Interacts with Multiple IR Systems Information Retrieval Systems

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Proof of concept: Virtual catalog Vendors upgraded Texas libraries’ Z39.50 servers Z39.50 interoperability testing of the vendor’s servers Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed Project –An IMLS funded research and demonstration project –Goal is to improve Z39.50 interoperability –

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, ZLOT components Functional Requirements Technology Inventory Assessment Proof of Concept Service-Based Architecture Technical Requirements & Specifications Evaluation

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Evaluation activities Assessment of Proof of Concept prototypes –Systematic evaluation of prototypes against functional requirements –Inform technical requirements & specifications –Dr. Bertot will discuss shortly … Evaluation plan for the Library of Texas

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Evaluation plan for LOT Importance of evaluation –How well is it proceeding and meeting goals, objectives, and outcomes? –How well is it meeting user needs? –Provides information to report to stakeholders Development of plan –Dr. Charles R. McClure –Identification of LOT components’ goals, objectives, outcomes, indicators

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Next steps for evaluation Decisions about –Level of effort required & resources available –Organization and management of evaluation –Management, analysis, and reporting of the evaluation data Determine data collection approaches –Integrated and Coordinated –Component-based –Combined

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, ZLOT components Functional Requirements Technology Inventory Assessment Proof of Concept Evaluation Technical Requirements & Specifications Service-Based Architecture

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Service-centric virtual library User Groups Resources Technology Management SERVICES

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, User-driven services LIBRARY SERVICES User Group User Group User Group User Group Library Resources Library Technology

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Architecture PROVIDER LAYER SERVICES LAYER USER LAYER Communication Protocols

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, ZLOT components Functional Requirements Technology Inventory Assessment Proof of Concept Evaluation Service-Based Architecture Technical Requirements & Specifications

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Technical requirements & specifications Refinement of functional requirements –Based on Proof of Concept experience –Formal assessment of prototypes –Vendor responses on functional requirements –Evolving understanding of the requirements Specifications of standards to improve interoperability

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, Open issues / questions Optimizing resource discovery Users and usability Standards and emerging technologies Access control, authorization, and authentication Management for collaborative services

William E. MoenZLOT Special Meeting – December 16 & 17, William E. Moen LOT ZLOT Project Z-INTEROP Project Texas Center for Digital Knowledge