ILS, the Next Generation: Modularity and Outward Integration Karen Calhoun OLA Super Conference Session 1412 February 2, 2007.

ILS, the Next Generation: Modularity and Outward Integration

Karen CalhounOLA Super ConferenceSession 1412February 2, 2007

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Next Generation: Modularity “ILSes should think in

terms of linking rather than building”

Decoupling discovery and inventory management functions

Standards E-resource

management systems

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What Did Users Say They Want? (2002)

•Faculty and students do more work and study away from campus

•Loyal to the library, but library is only one element in complex information structure

•Print still important, but almost half of undergraduates say they rely exclusively or almost exclusively on electronic materials

•Seamless linking from one information object to another is expected

•Fast forward to 2007: these trends many times stronger!

Do you use electronic sources all of the time, most of the time, some of the time, or none of the

time?

0%

10%20%

30%

40%50%

60%

All of thetime/most of

the time

Some of thetime

None of thetime

Responses

Per

cen

t

Faculty/Graduate

Undergrad

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Toward a New Library Information Space

Methods and tools Web-accessible lists +

catalogs Federated searching Reference linking

(OpenURL) Portals E-resource

management systems Digital asset

management systems

Objectives Integrate access to all

library resources (print, archives, digital, e-)

Simplify digital and e-resource management (lower costs AND improve service)

Become visible in the user’s environment (i.e., on open Web, on course pages, etc.)

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Levels of Access Web-accessible lists

Browsing Searching Both

Online catalog (morphing) Federated searching Reference linking

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Web-Accessible Lists (Database Driven, Searchable)

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Catalog Records for E-Resources

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What’s Federated Searching (Metasearch)? Helps users more easily discover what

resources are available Provides searching of many resources at

the same time Unifies search results Links search results to full text Authenticates and authorizes or blocks

user access

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Metasearch: what’s missing Response time comparatively slow Practical limits to number of databases that can be:

Configured for searching Searched at once

Incomplete search results (also due to practical limits) Lack of control over what is returned in search result sets Order of search results displays not as useful as they

should be Other limitations on what can (or can’t) be displayed

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Hope for Metasearch NISO Metasearch Initiative: http://www.niso.org/committees/MS_initiative.html

“Metasearch services rely on a variety of approaches to search and retrieval including open standards (such as NISO's Z39.50), proprietary API's, and screen scraping. However, the absence of widely supported standards, best practices, and tools makes the metasearch environment less efficient for the system provider, the content provider, and ultimately the end-user.”

Google Scholar: Forget Metasearch?

Find It At Cornell

You can do this for articles too

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Reference Linking Users expect fully linked information

environment Partnerships between content

providers, database producers, and library system vendors, utilities …

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Limitations of Reference Linking Incomplete or inaccurate metadata from source; can’t

match knowledge base Knowledge base is incorrect or out of date Metadata alright but doesn’t match target Varied application of citation standards; non-use of citation

standards Library has full text for journal but not the volume/issue

the user wants Full text availability lags behind citation availability And on and on

Blake, Miriam and Frances Knudson. 2002. Metadata and reference linking. LCATS 26 (3): 219-230.

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Prediction Of the two,

OpenURL will be the core technology, not metasearch

The Portal Dream, Version 1: A Unifying System Model

Other LibrariesCatalogs

Local Library Catalog

DigitalCollections

LicensedDatabases

Other(e.g.,DSpace)

Many diverse, separate interfaces

Federated searching (metasearch)

Authentication layer

Unified Web Interface (“Google-like”)

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But…Look From a Distance!

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Outward Integration

“Integration should be outward rather than inward, with libraries seeking to use their components in new ways”

--Interviewee for LC report on future of the catalog

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Longer Term Vision Switch users from where they find things to library-

managed collections of all kinds Local catalog one link in a chain of services, one repository

managed by the library More coherent and comprehensive scholarly information

systems, perhaps by discipline Infrastructure to permit global discovery and delivery of

information among open, loosely-coupled systems Critical mass of digitized publications and special

collections online Many starting points on the Web leading to many types of

scholarly information objects

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Find It on Google,* Get It from My Library Open WorldCat,

worldcat.org Google Scholar, Book

Search Google Library Project Million Book Project Microsoft Live Search

Books Open Content Alliance Amazon

*The word "google" was first used in the 1927 Little Rascals silent film"Dog Heaven", used to refer to a having a drink of water. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_(verb)

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Live Search Books

Cornell UniversityLibraryDigital Collections

Amazon/BookSurgeAcquisition

“The acquisition will allow Amazon to profitably market hard-to-find books which can now be produced by BookSurge in quantities as low as one.”—press release

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Intermediate Vision Shared OPACs: begin to aggregate

discovery function for books, serials, and their e-counterparts

Metasearch for e-journal articles Reference linking ubiquitous Draw on the local catalog’s strongest suit:

support for inventory control and delivery Larger scale collaboration on collection

development/resource sharing, storage, preservation

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Intermediate Vision, 2 Greater use of Web services to link in and

out, tie applications together Start to build bigger scholarly information

environments—with libraries playing a role—to aggregate more of the expanding universe of scholarly digital assets

Metadata and outreach skills = strategic assets

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Intermediate Vision, 3 Beginning of the era of special collections Aggregate discovery of digital collections More emphasis on visual resources More collaboration with faculty on digital

assets Rise of best practices for digital asset

management Digital collection delivery platforms will

continue to proliferate

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Digital Collections

Ralph,Julian.Canada’sEl Dorado.Harper’s,Jan. 1891.

Making of AmericaCollection

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Google It and Get It

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Good Advice for Digital Librarians

At this stage, no new effort should be undertaken without a sense of how it will be merged with other existing collections and where the resources for long-term maintenance will come from.

—A CUL digital projects librarian

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Aquifer

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Bridging Digital Islands

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Teaching, Learning, and Research, the Next Generation

Thank You!Karen Calhoun, Cornell [email protected]