1. Reinventing Cataloging: Models for the Future of Library Operations
BibFlow
Reinventing Cataloging:
Models for the Future of Library Operations
ALA Midwinter, January 26, 2014

2. What might adoption of BIBFRAME mean to technical services workflows in an academic library?
I am a cataloger for many recent years I have been learning and training FRBR and RDA. As I train staff, they ask many of the questions I have been asking myself: what is the point of learning these new standards? A: In order to take advantage of what they can offer, especially in the area of linked data. Does our current ILS utilize these new standards? A: No. When will it? I can only answer: I don’t know.
One of the outcomes I hope to see from this grant project is more satisfactory answers to those questions.
The issue

3. The project BibFlow MacKenzie Smith Principal Investigator
University Librarian
University of California, Davis
Libraries are anxious to utilize the systems, tools and workflows that will allow them to work with the new standards and achieve their potential benefits. We know where we are, we have a fairly good idea of where we want to be: involved with linked data on the web. But how do we get from here to there? When I am headed somewhere I’ve never been before, I usually consult a map. I don’t know of any map that will lead libraries on our journey, but that is something this project aims to create.
The UC Davis’s IMLS-funded BibFlow grant presents a research agenda and set of activities to aid the library community’s understanding of the current landscape and to begin to develop a roadmap to reference for planning over the upcoming years.
The project

4. The process With funding from IMLS, begin to develop a roadmap
Focus on academic library technical services processes (acquisitions, licensing, cataloging, processing, digitizing, etc.)
Explore impact of new standards on related library operations (circulation, ILL, discovery)
The greatest focus of the BibFlow project will be in academic library technical services processes: acquisitions, licensing, cataloging, processing, digitizing, etc. At the same time, we will explore the impact of the new standards on related library operations: such as circulation, ILL and public catalogs. The project is referred to as “BibFlow” because it will also look at some of the possibilities the BIBFRAME data model presents for improving library technical services workflows. This is designed to be a research project. We intend our explorations to try out and test BIBFRAME in situations and scenarios such as those found in current academic library technical services operations.
The process

5. The BibFlow project will not work in isolation
The BibFlow project will not work in isolation. Our key partners will include the Library of Congress and Zepheira (the developers of BIBFRAME), OCLC (as a major bibliographic utility and the OCLC Research division), NISO (a standards organization and communications channel to vendors) and Kuali (developer of Kuali OLE, an open source platform for next generation library resource management). In addition, we plan to communicate and collaborate with other “early experimenters” in BIBFRAME, many of who have already engaged with these partners in related projects.
The primary partners

6. How does existing software, systems and workflows inhibit adoption of new standards?
How effective is simple conversion?
What can be achieved by a NG LMS using new standards?
How might NG LMS and workflows work in the wider library data ecosystem?
Is incremental adoption feasible?
Can libraries adopt at different times?
What investments should libraries make and when?
These are the major questions we hope to address:
Are there ways in which the dependency of current technical services workflows on existing software, standards and systems inhibit the adoption of the new standards like RDA and data exchange models like BIBFRAME?
What will simple conversion of from older to newer formats, such as MARC into BIBFRAME achieve? What impact will that have on the functionality of discovery tools?
Can new and greater functionality be achieved by implementing next generation library management systems that are built to support newer Web-based data models?
How might next generation library management systems and the workflows they support work in the wider library data ecosystem, including large bibliographic utilities and data providers?
Might incremental adoption of the new standards be a viable option?
What might the impact be if different libraries adopt the new standards at different times? Are there key dependencies?
What are the right investments in training and software systems that should be made in order to benefit from the new standards and technologies? At what point in time might those investments best be made?
The questions

7. The actions Identify and collect test data Map test data
Explore conversion and ingest of test data
Develop and test prototype discovery and display system
Develop and test BIBFRAME-based transfer and exchange system
Our research activities will include the preparation of a test environment and the development and testing of prototype BIBRAME-based tools. Some specific activities will be:
1) identifying and collecting sample rest resource description data (in various formats: MARC, Dublin Core, DACS, EAD, etc.), starting with out own MARC data,
2) mapping this test data for conversion and use into a prototype discovery/display system,
3) exploring conversion and ingest of the sample resource data into the prototype system,
4) developing and testing the prototype system,
5) developing and testing a LMS/BIBFRAME-based model data transfer/exchange system to identify the possible outputs for the library user, staff and vendor/supplier.
The UC Davis library will work with Zepheira in developing the data model , designing the data map and designing the prototype discovery/display system. We will coordinate with Zepheira and Kuali in developing the open source LMS and BIBFRAME-based data/exchange system.
The actions

8. The objectives Sample test data sets
Prototype discovery and display system code
Project reports
Links to related projects
Comment mechanisms
Our deliverables should include:
A set of sample test data for use in the data map; the data map, testing of the data map in a Viewshare discovery tool, testing and analysis of technical services workflows involved in the prototype BIBFRAME-compliant data transfer/exchange systems, and outreach activities giving the library community opportunities to react to the test data, prototype data transfer/exchange system, prototype discover/display system, linked data tools, and sample technical services workflows.
The objectives

9. Year 1/Phase 1 (month 1-6) Communication & Collaboration
Identifying existing tools
MARC data collection Web site
In the first six months we will: hire staff, set up communication channels, create the project plan, acquire hardware and software, identify and contact other “early experimenters”, identify and evaluate existing tools and services supporting the MARC to BIBFRAME model map , collect MARC test data, create the project web site, begin outreach efforts.
Year 1/Phase 1 (month 1-6)

11. Discovery prototype Convert data Kuali OLE Outreach
Collect non-MARC data
Discovery prototype Convert data Kuali OLE Outreach
In the next six months we will: collect non-MARC test data, develop the map to the BIBFRAME model, solicit community feedback on this map, investigate development of the discovery/display system (possibly Viewshare, or more than one), experiment with the conversion of the test data and test ingest into the prototype, install the open source LMS and configure the test cataloging interface, continue outreach efforts, make the prototype system code available on the project web site, submit second report on findings.
Year 1/Phase 2 (month 7-12)

12. Develop OLE prototype Workflows Test data exchange Outreach
In the third six month period, we will: Explore development of the prototype LMS and BIBFRAME data transfer/exchange system, investigate technical services workflows, test ingest of the data into the prototype, text exchange of the BIBFRAME data with other sources (e.g. LC, OCLC, YBP), investigate the conversion and ingest of test data into the prototype, continue outreach offers, submit third report.
Year 2/Phase 3 (month 13-18)

13. Year 2/Phase 4 (month 19-24) Roadmap
In the final four months, we will: analyze and consolidate our test findings and lessons learned on interoperability and data modeling and technical services workflows, document the outstanding issues and challenges for the library community, develop the sample roadmap illustrating the benefits and challenges of the potential new approaches and their impact on library workflows and processes, and embark on the final outreach efforts to the library community with our findings and suggestions for future study.
Year 2/Phase 4 (month 19-24)

14. University of California, Davis Aleph, Worldcat, OCLC YBP, etc.
ORGANIZATIONS
Other Libraries
OCLC, YPB, others
Library of Congress
TOOLS
OLE
ViewShare
VUFind
Google Scholar
METADATA
Dublin Core
EAD, MODS
DDI, FGDC. DFDL
Custom Schemas
University of California, Davis
MARC records
Aleph, Worldcat, OCLC YBP, etc.
WORKFLOWS
Localized
Vendor-Driven
Standardized
A view of the “spheres” in which the grant project will work.

15. BibFlow
Contact info
For further information.
My question to you: how do we engage the library community? Can you help us learn what other work is currently being done? How can we help each other?