An A+ Plan to Transform Your Library with Linked Data

An A+ Plan to Transform Your Library With Linked Data

Jeff PenkaExecutive Director, Product and Channel Developmentjeffpenka@zepheira.com

NISO Two-Day Virtual Conference, October 21-22: Using the Web as an E-Content Distribution Platform: Challenges and Opportunities

Hi, I’m Jeff• Zepheira

– Product Management– Organizational Strategy

• OCLC– End User and Reference

Service Portfolio Director– Worldcat.org, FirstSearch,

QuestionPoint, Partnerships

• NISO – D2D, NetRef• Passion

– Helping bring ideas to life – Identifying and solving

problems through iteration– Audience centered design– Learning

Zepheira - Broad Experience and Specific Leadership

Overview

• Focus on – Semantic Web, Linked Data, BIBFRAME, schema.org– Zepheira’s market research, client experiences, solutions– Library visibility– BIBFLOW– Libhub Initiative

A Three Part Plan

Awareness Assessment Action

Awareness

Moving from web pages to “a web of data”

There is a significant gap between what browsers and humans see on the Web

Remember when sites were just link lists and there was a web master…

Now the Web plays a central role for the library and most staff

But we aren’t speaking in a way the Web understands

• We have a wealth of content and resources locked behind legacy, closed technology systems and niche vocabularies

The traditional, Visible Web focuses on Harvesting and Links to Pages

The emerging Invisible Web focuses on Data, Resources, Vocabulary, and Connections

New Interfaces and Uses Mobile, Weather, Sports, Personalization, Geo

New Vocabularies and CharacteristicsRetail – items, reviews, geo, descriptions, inventory, hours, social, events

New Vocabularies and CharacteristicsMovies – Geo, reviews, ratings, images, previews, times, tickets

New Vocabularies and Characteristics Restaurants – locations, reviews, hours, reservations, menus

How does the Web see Libraries?

Libraries = Community BusinessesLocation, photos, hours, reviews, social, events

External Perspectives

• Are websites and systems harvestable?

• Is there a unified and accessible industry vocabulary?

• Are there strong connections and relationships?

• What is the consistency and reliability of the user experience and available data?

Electronic and Physical Resources

Still harvesting pages, not data assets

The Time is Right

Standard, adopted technologies and practices • Linked DataEmerging shared vocabularies• BIBFRAME, schema.orgA motivated, collaborative community

Linked Data

”a recommended best practice for exposing,

sharing, and connecting pieces of

data, information, and knowledge on the

Semantic Web using URIs and RDF."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linked_Data

Unifying Vocabularies

• Schema.org– Bib Extend - W3C group – group focused on discussion and

preparation of proposals to extend schema.org for improved representation of bibliographic information markup and sharing.

• BIBFRAME – Extensible replacement for MARC– “The Initiative aims to re-envision and, in the long run,

implement a new bibliographic environment for libraries that makes "the network" central and makes interconnectedness commonplace.”

A Descriptive Blueprint

• BIBFRAME common model – flexible, designed to

accommodate the needs of our community.

• Recognize creative tension between past and future

• Profiles are a blueprint for a specific community or entity description

http://zepheira.com/ala2014

Assessmentwhere are you today, where do you want to go

• Assets– Data, Formats, Access– Resources– Collections– Events

• Providers & Partners– Systems– Services– Content

• Organization– Goals– Staff– Culture– Relationships

• Impact and Assessment– Priorities– Baselines– Measures

Actionwhat can you do to begin actively learning

1. Invest in Staff Professional Development2. Pilot Projects3. Define Organizational Priorities4. Baseline Web Visibility5. Talk with Providers and Partners6. Monitor and Engage in Community Activities

Staff Professional Development

Zepheira’s Practical Practitioner Community

http://zepheira.com/training

http://zepheira.com/ala2014

Learning through action

Library Web Visibility

We believe that everyone benefits from the visibility of libraries and their content on the Web, and we feel this problem can be addressed in a relatively short timeframe.

Learning, Leading, Linking• Build on existing investments• Use BIBFRAME to reflect content in the Web• Leverage the Web’s cooperative infrastructure • Accelerate and support libraries’ cooperative nature• Link between shared assets to test impact on search results• Help the Web understand libraries

Incremental Steps

1. Make it extremely easy to project Library data to Linked Data (BIBFRAME)

2. Start with Visibility – publish to the Web in a way the Web understands– Relationships! – RDFa (schema.org, BIBFRAME)

3. Increase discoverability– accelerate linking among / across assets

4. Learn! Inform! Educate! Iterate!

Moving the Needle and Transforming the Webhttp://libhub.org

1. Take the pledge2. Get Involved3. Offer your support

Define your A+ Plan

1. Awareness2. Assessment3. Action

Thank you!

Learn more @http://zepheira.com/solutions/library/http://libhub.org