CCCU Library technology

Computing Service User Forum

2009-12-03T16:09:00.009Z

Today (3^rd November) I attended the first meeting of CompuForum (Computing Service User Forum). The Forum has been set up to provide a channel of non-technical communication between Computing Services and other departments. At this first meeting there was approximately 26 attendees from various departments and campuses. Chris Smith (Computing Liaison Manager) is managing the Forum and started the meeting with an overview of the Computing Services staff hierarchy and where the Forum fits into that structure. Chris then went on to talk about the aims of the Forum and an overview of some of the upcoming computing projects that will have an impact on departments:

Aims:
Chris outlined the two main aims of the Forum as:

providing a platform for departments to raise issues or feedback information to Computing service regarding the IT services within their departments.
providing an opportunity for Computing Services to inform and engage departments concerning upcoming IT projects.

Within these aims, Chris also stated that Forum members (both from computing Services and other departments) had a responsibility to act as a communication channel between the Forum and their colleagues. This means that Forum members have an obligation to report back to colleagues on discussions within the meetings and to also raise issues at Forum meetings as a direct result of discussion with colleagues. Thus, we really need to start thinking (as a department) what are the main IT issues in the Library and how we can translate these issues into questions that can be raised at the next Forum meeting.

Projects:

Chris stated that Computing Services have put a lot of effort into designing websites for students as part of the 'student first' agenda, but haven't put the same effort into staff websites. To this end there will soon be a new website aimed at meeting the needs of staff.

The next project discussed was how staff are charged for printing to student MFD printers, but are not charged for printing to staff MFD printers. This is common knowledge to us in the library, but new to other departments. However, there are some other details about the new printing system that may be of interest. If you print to a student printer your print credits will be reduced as appropriate from the original £25...this we know. Then, this £25 will be replenished every term.. If you exceed £25 in printing to a student printer in a term, then you will need to contact the departmental director (Pete in our case, obviously) and he will then need to contact the i-zone with a request to have more credits added to your account. There is another option...you can purchase print credits yourself and top up your own account (although I'm not sure if this will be something you will want to do). I think the main point behind the discussion with printing is that it would be preferable for staff to print to staff printers, but if you have to print to student printers, then do it in very low volume. Incidentally there is a website dedicated to printing that explains all this information in detail and where you can check your current printer credits: http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/printing

The third project discussed was the introduction of complex passwords in early 2010. As part of an internal audit it was stated that our password policy for computing accounts was too basic. At some point in February 2010 we will be required to change our password to something more complex. Information and documentation for this will be disseminated to all staff and students in the new year.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) was the next topic. SLAs are being introduced on the call management system used by the i-zone. When a call is logged on the system it will be assessed as to how long this call should take to complete. This is the service level agreement between the user who reported the issue and the department, team, or individual who is responsible for answering that support call. If the time taken to complete the support call is longer than the SLA then the call will be escalated to a higher level and the department, team, or individual will have to justify why they have broken the SLA. This isn't just something that will affect Computing Services, but will be introduced to every department that uses the call management system.

The final project discussed was upgrading computers on campus to Windows 7. At present there has been no decision made on when or if staff PCs will be upgraded to windows 7. There was, however, indication that student PCs will be upgraded sometime around September 2010. At this time I have no idea what impact this upgrade will have on the PCs or the i-borrow laptops in AH.

Other Issues
The final part of the meeting was given up to discussion. There were two main issues that came from the general discussion around the table:

Out of hours support:
It was raised by a member of the finance team and echoed by many around the table that there needs to be some kind of computing support provision in the evenings. At present the computing support provision is available from 9am – 5pm. Chris stated that there is an ongoing discussion within Computing services and other departments as to: if and how an extended computing provision could be implemented. This is of course very relevant in AH where we are open very late into the night and there is the possibility of 24 hour opening in the future.

The loaning of AV equipment:
A member of the media department raised a concern that they were being approached for AV equipment because the existing AV provision has been partly moved to AH. I stated that there were some members of the library (me included) that felt that the library was probably not the best place for the loaning of AV equipment. There was discussion around the table from members of other campuses as well as this campus about how disparate the AV loaning service was and perhaps there needs to be a more structured approach to AV loans.

Last thought
I'm not sure what is the best way (as a department) that we can discuss issues we would like raised at the CompuForum...so if you have any suggestions, they would be very welcome. However, in the meantime, if you have any questions about CompuForum or you would like to raise an issue then email me and I'll find a way to generate discussion with everyone.

ebooks, catalogues, and discovery tools

2009-11-25T17:07:00.017Z

I started a discussion on twitter a few days back regarding e-books. The discussion was prompted by a question I answered on the Library Web2.0 mailing list (lis-web2@jiscmail.ac.uk) from Helen Leech (Virtual Content Manager - Surrey Library Service). Helen's question was regarding e-books from the Gutenburg Project and how best to import them into her catalogue. Here is an overview of the Gutenburg Project:

The Gutenburg Project is a web site where you can download over 30,000 free e-books as well as over 100,000 free e-books through partner and affiliation schemes.

Helen's question started me thinking about where is the best place to 'catalogue' e-books within the library. In terms of choice it really seems to boil down to two options:

Catalogue e-books within the LMS
Index e-books within a discovery tool

I'm using the term index for the discovery tool as opposed to catalogue, because it is more appropriate. However, the two operations can be thought of as similar in their nature...i.e: they both involve the recording of resource information within the particular system. Here is a short overview of how discovery tools work:

Discovery tools can be thought of as next generation OPACs, but can search far more than just holdings in the LMS. There are in essence web sites that are dedicated to indexing, searching, and displaying information about resources. This information is compiled and fed into the discovery tool prior to any searching taking place in a method called 'harvesting'. The information can be derived from many places including the holdings in the LMS, e-journals in SFX, institutional repositories, and a host of other resources both internal or on the web. This method of pre-loading the discovery tool with indexes of resource information makes the search process very fast and very flexible.
Primo is ExLibris' implementation of a discovery tool, but there are many alternatives out there (see my previous blog post here)

You can also see a few of these tools in action here:
Aquabrowser at Edinburgh University
Primo at University of East Anglia
VuFind at the LSE

So, we could catalogue the e-books in the LMS, or we could catalogue the e-books in the LMS and then export this information into the discovery tool, or we could just put the information straight into the discovery tool and bypass the LMS. So, where is the best place to catalogue e-books?...in the LMS or in the discovery tool? I posted a question along these lines on twitter and a discussion ensued with those in favour of the LMS and those in favour of the discovery tool. Two blog posts were identified during the conversation and are very relevant

Is an e-book a book? by Lukas Koster (Head of Library Systems Dept. Library Univ. of Amsterdam)
Library catalogues, search systems and data by Chris Keene (University of Sussex Library - developing information related web technologies)

Also Frank Vandepitte (Ghent University Library) emailed me with his views on the matter and a breakdown of where they catalogue their resources at Ghent Uni:

Ebook situation here in Ghent :

licensed stuff, stored in sfx (15.000)
licensed stuff, stored in aleph (136.000 ecco books)
licensed stuff, stored as static file (100.000 eebo books)
free stuff, stored as static file (30.000 gutenberg)
free stuff, stored as static file (2.500 dbnl books)
scanned stuff, stored in separate aleph database (40.000 ugent books sent to google)
scanned stuff, stored as static file (ca. 500.000 books from hathi)

My personal experience
in the case of the ecco & eebo books where we've bought the metadata, there's no advantage really in uploading this in aleph, since there’s no need to catalog, the metadata stay virtually unchanged (and so they should, you don't want your catalogers fiddling with these data)
in the case of licensed books metadata which we get on a regular basis from ex libris (sfx), there's a strong case not to integrate those in your ILS, in doing so you avoid the hassle of uploading, deduping, matching with print "manifestations" of the same title, etc. Keeping your ILS in sync with SFX is not easy, as I've discovered when we're still exporting e-journal data from SFX to Aleph and trying to match them with the printed ones.
the only case where I've found the ILS to be useful was to deal with digitized versions of print books. If you scan a book from your collection, it's logical to store the url in your ILS. As partners of Google Books we also have to catalogue some 50.000 extra books per year on top of the normal work volume. If we wouldn't be using the ILS cataloguing module we'd be in big trouble I fear...
ergo, in most cases just use your discovery tool to index the metadata directly bypassing your traditional catalogue and save yourselve a lot of trouble
I did upload a first batch of ecco data in aleph but wouldn’t repeat it
btw, the endusers just don’t care where it comes from as long as they find it and access it

Frank's breakdown is really interesting because it shows what works best in a real world example. It seems like at Ghent they favour the discovery tool as the primary way to catalogue e-books. However, it is important to stress that the Ghent example is what works best for Ghent and may not be the best example for every institution. Thus, I think it would be wrong to try and answer the question of "where is the best place to catalogue e-books?". Instead we should be asking:

"where is the best place to catalogue e-books at Canterbury Christ Church?"

This is obviously a huge question that need to be investigated and discussed, but Lukas did present me with a possible way to look at this question from a different angle. Rather than try to understand where is the best place to catalogue, perhaps it would be better to think about what is our primary interface for our users (or what will it be). At present we have two primary interfaces:

The web OPAC for printed material
MetaLib (coupled with SFX) for e-resources

If we decide that we are never going to move away from this model then it leaves us little option, but to put e-books in the catalogue. However, we have rarely explored putting electronic resources on the OPAC and this would take a lot of investigation to find the best approach. For e-books that have a printed counterpart we could use the 856 field, but I would imagine that there will be vast numbers of e-books where we do not have a printed version. So we would have to think about importing MARC records into the catalogue for e-books and managing e-book packages in a similar way to how we deal with e-journal packages in SFX.

The alternative is to develop a different approach to our primary interfaces, which would include a discovery tool:

Discovery tool to search for everything that we can obtain an index for
MetaLib for e-resources where no index is available (most databases at present)

The advantage of this system is that we would be a huge step closer to the 'one interface for search' that has been a goal of libraries for so long. All of our printed material, all of our e-journals, and any e-books we acquired would be searchable in one interface (databases would still need to be searched by MetaLib). Also it appears to be easier to index resources in a discovery tool than it is to catalogue them within a LMS. However, adding a new system such as a discovery tool would need a lot of work and would have a price tag attached, even if we went down the 'open source' route.

I think what this shows is that even a simple question such as: "where is the best place to catalogue e-books?", demands a lot of thought, discussion, and investigation in a whole host of areas. Especially considering that this discussion only focused on cataloguing and searching, without even considering licensing or purchasing models. It also highlights how important an 'e-library' strategy is in terms of ensuring that decisions made now are thought about in terms of current and emerging technologies and that disparate projects are steered toward a common goal.

Xerxes

2009-11-25T17:06:00.005Z

In a previous blog post (here) I talked about Xerxes; a replacement for the MetaLib interface. MetaLib has always been plagued by its poor interface design, its overly complex searching structure, and for being far from intuitive. The Xerxes project (developed at the California State University) was set-up to remedy some if these issues.

Homepage for the project: http://xerxes.calstate.edu/
Codepage for the project: http://code.google.com/p/xerxes-portal/

One of the disadvantages of investigating Xerxes has been that every implementation I have looked at requires a login to gain access. This means that you can view the initial page, but cannot perform searches or see how intuitive the application is. However, Jonathan Rochkind (John Hopkins University, Baltimore) was kind enough to show me how to gain Guest access to his Xerxes implementation. Not only this, but he said that it was fine to share the link with whoever I wanted (hence this blog post). Jonathan has also sent me a Guest link to his normal MetaLib installation, which is really useful for comparing the Xerxes interface with the existing MetaLib interface. This also shows how Xerxes can be run in parallel to the existing MetaLib interface without any disruption to service.

Xerxes: http://jhsearch.library.jhu.edu/?base=authenticate&action=login&authentication_source=guest

MetaLib: http://metalib.mse.jhu.edu/

I have been reliably informed by Graham Seaman (Royal Holloway University London) that the installation is very easy and straight forward. He indicated that the only stumbling blocks were integrating the Athens/Shibboleth login (which we have already done) and issues with sets (which we don't use).

It may well be worth looking at Xerxes as a possible alternative to the MetaLib interface if the interface design and website structure answer the issues raised as part of the MetaLib UI review. It certainly sounds like it might be easier to implement Xerxes than it would be trying to make the existing MetaLib interface do something it was never designed to do.

Have a play with the Xerxes system at John Hopkins and feedback with your thoughts.

Open University & iTunes

2009-11-19T09:07:00.010Z

In June 2008 the Open University went live with their iTunes store. The idea was to follow the likes of Yale and MIT in providing course content (audio and video) for free via a download in the popular iTunes application:

http://www3.open.ac.uk/media/fullstory.aspx?id=13805

The service has been live for 16 months and in that time has had over 10 million downloads by over a million visitors. The project has been a huge success and there seems to be little sign of interest waning :

http://projects.kmi.open.ac.uk/itunesu/impact/

However, there has always been an issue...you need to download and install the iTunes application in order to access the content. This isn't always feasible or practical and is a potential barrier to pointing students towards these resources...that is up until now. Recently a new beta service has been launched by the KIMI project that allows these OU podcasts to be accessed via a browser without the need to download or install iTunes:

http://podcast.open.ac.uk/

There are some really interesting podcasts there and because the OU structures its content in an 'academic' fashion it is really easy for students to link through to relevant info.

A mashed reading list

2009-11-17T12:26:00.007Z

Last week ExLibirs unveiled a competition to encourage developers to extend the use of the ExLibris products by writing code extensions.

ELympics—the Ex Libris Open-Platform Competition

This reminded me that I had written a 'proof of concept' application a little while back to see if I could 'mashup' RefWorks with ALEPH, SFX, and Google Books to produce a dynamic reading list. The resulting application uses a RefWorks feature called RefWorks Lists. This allows a user to share a folder within their RefWorks account for viewing by anyone. The clever part of this sharing process is allowing the list to be shared as an RSS feed. My application formats this feed, adds Google Book covers (if available) and then generates is series of button depending on the type of item listed. These buttons are the SFX button, a button to the item in RefWorks, and optionally a button to the catalog, and a button to the resource.

Here is a shared list I created in my RefWorks account:

Shared List

and here is the same list generated using my reading list mash-up

Mashed List

Although this is lacking in design (it is only a proof of concept) it does show the power of how mashups can take information from disparate sources to redefine it as an enhanced service.

If for any reason some or all of the system isn't working then let me know and I'll try and get it working again (it's running on a server that sits in my living room at home)

Interactive map

2009-11-11T10:07:00.029Z

A few people last week were asking about the Interactive map and how it works.

The concept behind the map is very easy; basically I position a map within the browser and then position a circle on top of it at given coordinates. Each floor of the map is an image that is 760 pixels wide x 600 pixels high. Armed with this knowledge it is easy to place the red circle in exactly the right place on the (give or take some fine tuning).

Here are some links that open the map with the circle at position 200x200, and 400x400:

http://libcat-dev-nhr-01.canterbury.ac.uk:8993/map/map.html?top=200&left=200&floor=ground

http://libcat-dev-nhr-01.canterbury.ac.uk:8993/map/map.html?top=400&left=400&floor=ground

You can see from the URLs that it is easy to place the circle wherever you want just by changing the values of the top and left variables. By combining some extra features, such as a title and a smaller circle, we can start to use the map for any purpose. For example if you wanted to show a student where consultation room AH1.23 is on the second floor we would only need to change the top, left, and floor variables in the URL, give it a title and tell it we want to use the small circle as a marker:

http://libcat-dev-nhr-01.canterbury.ac.uk:8993/map/map.html?top=375&left=375&floor=first&image=circleSmall&title=Meet%20me%20here%20at%20consultation%20room%20AH1.23

So now we have a map that can be used to show any position with Augustine House, we can use it for added functionality within other applications such as the OPAC. As we all know locations of items within the OPAC are determined by classmark (and type of resources in some cases). So we need some way of translating a classmark to a location that the map understands, which is a floor level, and a top and left position. This is done in a different web page called classmark.html. This web page expects two variables: classmark and type of loan. Once it has this information it can try to translate it to a position on the map. For example these are two lines from the code that are translating short loan:

if (classmark <= 499) { mapLevel = 'ground'; topPos = 545; leftPos = 450; }

else if (classmark <= 999) { mapLevel = 'ground'; topPos = 515; leftPos = 405; }

This shows that any item that is short loan would have the ground floor map and have top and left coordinates set depending on the bays for short loan (below 499 and above 499). Here is an example of how the map might work within the OPAC. Use the 'opac map' link below to open up a predefined search. Once opened then click on the 'locate' link that is adjacent to the sublibrary within the sublibrary field.

opac map

By clicking the link next to the different loan types you can see how the location of the item is shown on the map. This is only a test application and there are still lots of issues to iron out, such as: Periodicals having no location information, how to handle CR material, and how to handle other material such as fiction, scores, etc.

Have a play with the map and see what you think....I'm sure there are lots of uses it could be put to.

'Value Added' Data

2009-10-23T09:57:00.008+01:00

There area number of ways in which we could leverage the power of our data to provide 'value added' information to users within the OPAC. Some examples of services are:

Recommended items (users that borrowed this book also borrowed these books...)
Loan stats (this book has been borrowed # times in the past 12 months)
Interesting items (here are other items that may be of interest...)
Alternative items (this item is on loan, have you considered this item instead...)
Search terms (users that used this search terms also used the search terms...)
Tag clouds (a 'cloud' of frequently used search terms)

However, the biggest barrier to merging this information within existing interfaces is the time it takes to run the queries on the database. If extracting this information takes 30 seconds to a minute per search, users will soon become very frustrated with how slow the system is. A potential resolution was defined by Tim Spalding (creator of LibraryThing.com) in chapter 10 of the Library Mashups book by Nicole Engard.

Tim outlines a method of using a small database to hold information external to the LMS for use in other ways. In our environment this information could be accessed and extracted in a simple and fast query and then 'mashed' with OPAC information to enhance the user experience. The method involves extracting just the information that is needed in an automatic export every night. This information will be pre-formatted and 'cleaned-up' so it is ready to be delivered to the user along with their original search within the OPAC. Because the information is relevant, pre-formatted, and exists within a simple database, it can be accessed and delivered extremely quickly. The diagram below shows this process:

An excellent example of an OPAC with these 'value added' features can be found at the Huddersfield University Library. This following link takes you to the OPAC with examples of, recommendations, virtual shelf browsing, loan statistics, tag cloud, and a whole lot more:

An item on the Huddersfield Uni OPAC

Here is a screen shot (bottom half of the screen) of the same OPAC item with indicators showing the different 'value added' parts:

SMUG (Oct 2009)

2009-10-21T09:14:00.008+01:00

On the 20th Ocotober I attended the EPUG-UKI-SMUG Dayschool (Exlibris Product User Group - UK & Ireland - SFX and Metalib User Group).
Here are some of my highlights from the day:

Xerxes
Graham Seaman (Royal Holloway University London) gave a presentation on Xerxes, a interface replacement for Metalib. The Xerxes project was developed at the California State University with the following objective:

The goal of the project is to create an intuitive and highly customizable metasearch system, using the Metalib X-Server, WorldCat API, and other services.

Homepage for the project: http://xerxes.calstate.edu/
Codepage for the project: http://code.google.com/p/xerxes-portal/

At present there are a number of installations live at Cal State and around eleven other installations that are reported to be live. One of which is at Royal Holloway, which is the only UK installation reported to be live.

I spoke to Graham about his installation at RHUL and some of the issues that he addressed as part of the process. He was very positive about the interface, the ease of installation, and the fact it can be run in parallel to the standard interface. I have contacted Graham regrading seeing his installation in action and am awaiting his reply.

MetaLib (and SFX) and Shibboleth – the experience one year on
James Fisher (Coventry university) spoke about their experiences of Shibboleth. There were some interesting parts to the presentation such as how Coventry have constructed wayfless URLs in Metalib (wayfless URLs are links to resources that bypass the need for the user to indicated which institution they are from). James also showed how wayfless URLs in SFX were very problematic. Ron Lozinsky (Exlibris SFX Knowledge Base Manager) did state that Exlibris were committed to finding a way to provide wayfless URLs in SFX.
James went on to explain that there were increased user authentication problems with Shibboleth as opposed to Athens and the overall user experience was much worse. This should be something that we should prepare for as much as possible when we finally implement Shibboleth. JISC has commissioned a study into this area: http://sites.google.com/site/publisherinterfacestudy/

Implementing bX at the University of Manchester
Andy Land (University of Manchester) gave a presentation on bX. More info here:
My blog post on bX
bX homepage

There was some discussion about the quality of the recommendations that are derived from the statistics. Also some discussion on the possibility of recursive recommendations. This is where an item is recommended and then clicked on by the user making that item far more likely to be recommended again. This causes a situation whereby the recommendation becomes recursive by being recommended more and more often. However, analyses of David Patterns home-grown recommender service shows that the opposite may be true...read the paragraphs that directly follow slide 9: http://www.daveyp.com/blog/archives/1317

James also talked about a US bias of recommendations. This is probably because the US has far more institutions contributing to the bX recommendations that the UK. We discussed (on twitter) the possibility of a national recommender service rather than a global one to circumvent this issue. There may be scope for just such a service via the MOSAIC project: http://www.sero.co.uk/jisc-mosaic.html

The monthly KB updates – sharing good practice
Anna Grigson (Royal Holloway University of London) shared how she has extended the KB update process to make the system more effective and efficient. Royal Holloway export records from SFX for inclusion in ALEPH, which is something we do not do here.

SFX, MARC records and the LMS – four case studies

Importing SFX MARC records into ALEPH using XML Marc
(Ann Munn, University of Westminster)

Importing SFX MARC records into Voyager
(Ray Delahunty, University of the Arts London)

Importing SFX MARC records into Millennium
(Caroline Thorpe, Sheffield Hallam University)

Importing SFX MARC records into Talis
(Chris Keene, University of Sussex)

All these presentation showed how difficult it is to import records into the LMS. Not one of the methods used was without its difficulties, problems, or compromises. This is something we do not do here, but have considered in the past. Given that the library systems community is moving toward URD products (see blog post here) and URD products can display information from the disparate sources in one search, it seems unlikely we would put any development into importing SFX records here. A number of others echoed these sentiments stating that it was far easier to display SFX items in a URD product than export them to the LMS.

Reference, Citations and Linking – OpenURL and the TELSTAR project
Owen Stephens (Open University) spoke about the TELSTAR project...the project homepage is here: http://www.open.ac.uk/telstar/
Rather than give us an overview of TELSTAR, Owen concentrated on one aspect of the project: what is a reference and how to link to a source. He concluded that a reference has two purposes:

To give credit to a piece of work
To locate the source of that work

One of the problems that the TELSTAR project is trying to overcome is linking to online material in a world where material is ever changing. For example when linking to a news page on the BBC, that page is updated daily at least. This means a reference that was correct at the point of viewing will become out of date very quickly and the original information will not be accessible. Owen has devised a system using OpenURLs to identify references to on-line material. The system looks interesting, and would be greatly enhanced if there was some kind of digital preservation mechanism to historical web pages.

KBART and SFX

2009-10-13T12:05:00.015+01:00

Ruth, Jenny and Myself will be attending the EPUG-UKI (ExLibris Products User Group - UK and Ireland) meeting on the 19th October. As part of the SMUG strand (SFX and MetaLib User Group), Sarah Pearson from the University of Birmingham will be giving a presentation on KBART. Click the KBART logo to go to the KBART homepage:

KBART is a project funded by UKSG (UK Serials Group) looking into Link Resolvers and the Serials Supply Chain, which would encompass our own link resolver: SFX.
The project's aims are:

develop and publish guidelines for best practice...
provide educational events that will address the roles of each (relevant) party in the supply chain...
deliver a centralised information portal, to support educational activities and provide a comprehensive resource for further learning...

The initial research report was published in May 2007 and includes a clear and concise overview of the link resolver supply chain. The overview clearly shows how the resource information is derived from vendors, through an intermediary stage, before being utilised within the library. This diagram has been copied from the report and show how complex the chain can be:

There are a number of recommendations from the report, such as defining a code of practise, automating data transfer, and using the UKSG as a coordinator between stakeholders. The report also proposed an alternative to the current system in which we collectively move to a centralised Knowledge Base of resource information rather than each institution having its own local variant. This makes a huge amount of sense from an administrative and data storage point of view, and also is closer to the 'cloud' computing model. The report went on to state that link resolver suppliers (ExLibris in our case) were opposed to the centralised model. This isn't very surprising when you consider that a large percentage of the value of link resolver systems is held within the breadth, depth, and accurateness of the Knowledge Base. This means that a freely accessible, centralised Knowledge Base could dramatically devalue a commercially available link resolver.
CrossRef/DOI and Google Scholar were also highlighted as problematic areas within link resolvers. This holds true within our implementation of SFX and as some point we sill need to revisit our CrossRef/DOI and Google Scholar implementations within 'find it' to makes sure they are working, relevant, and useful.

I urge anyone with an interest in SFX and the Serials supply chain to at least read sections 1, 2, and 3 to gain a clearer understanding of link resolvers and the problems inherent with the current system. There are also project progress reports on the KBART web site and the final report is due for publication around April 2010. If there is anymore information that is revealed in Sarah's presentation I will add it it to the end of this post.

web2.0 Subject Guides

2009-10-08T08:20:00.004+01:00

Damyanti Patel (Librarian at Birmingham City University) brought my attention to an application that she is currently looking at...

LibGuides (from Springshare) is a web2.0 content management system for building library guides. The guides LibGuides combines web2.0 features like social networks, blogs, and wikis, social bookmarking, tagging, and a host of other features. Content can be added with one click from anywhere on the web, including podcasts, videos, RSS feeds, and other interactive content. Users can sign-up for email alerts when new content is added, and the system has features to keep the content relevant like link checkers and statistics.

More information from the web site

or watch the following video:

LibGuides Intro from Springshare on Vimeo.

Another positive aspect of the product (from my point of view) is that LibGuides is a hosted solution. This means there is no installation or ongoing server administration, which dramatically reduces workload. This is the future for many software applications within academic libraries and follows the move toward a more 'cloud' based approach to computing.

LibGuides is currently being used in hundreds of institutions, mainly in America:
Full list here

However, there are two UK institutions that are currently using LibGuides:
Middlesex University
University of Sussex

FOTE09 and project collaboration

2009-10-05T07:38:00.004+01:00

Last Friday (2nd) I attended the Future Of Technology in Education conference (FOTE09). Information about the conference can be found here, and there should be presentation video and slides available soon.

The conference had two main strands: Cloud Computing and Social Media. Both strands were interesting, but I feel that the questions were very broad and the subject matter not focused enough on Libraries to be of real value. There were some snippets through the day that were of relevance to the Library:

A presentation on Digital Repositories touched on the subject of the CLA Copyright License. According to the presenter there are Digital Repositories that have developed solutions to handle material produced under the CLA Copyright License. He suggested that these repositories can handle everything from classification to authorisation, which would be a giant leap forward from the system we have now.

There was also some interesting discussion on the use of cloud computing within institutions. A view from the Microsoft and Google perspectives were presented (the two major players in cloud computing for education) as well as a view from Amazon's services. Although the day had been structured as a for/against split for cloud computing, the attendees didn't see it that way. There was a lot of discussion from the floor suggesting that it was a far greyer area and institutions should select the best service for the job, be that cloud based or not. There was also discussion regarding student choice, with many comments suggesting we shouldn't push students to one technology, but let them have more choice.
For a more detailed look at Cloud Computing read one of my older blog posts here.

However, the most productive part of the day came from a surprising source. Whilst at the conference I bumped into Sue Westerman from the Learning & Teaching Enhancement Unit. Sue and I started talking about the presentations and one presentation in particular: the presentation on Huddle. Whilst this presentation was criticised by the majority of the floor for being a sales pitch, I believe it was justified seeing as they were one of the main event sponsors. Huddle is a hosted project management and collaboration package. It has been tested in CCCU by the Learning & Teaching Enhancement Unit, who I believe are actively promoting it to departments within the University.
For some time now I have believed that the way forward in project management is via a social network approach. Sharing documents, discussions, blogs, messages, and calendars in a centralised, secure environment should dramatically speed-up the project process and enhance communication across disparate teams. I have looked at many products such as:

Glasscubes
Basecamp
PBWorks
OpenAtrium
and of course Huddle

The one I had decided was the best solution was OpenAtrium. It wasn't as feature rich as the other packages, but it was free and Open Source, so would be relatively cheap and easy to install. However, two strands of information on the day came together to change my mind. The first was talking to Sue about how they are promoting Huddle within the university. The second came from the discussions earlier in the day surrounding Cloud Computing. It is no secret that the Library Systems team are under increasing pressure from an ever increasing workload. It is also no secret that in this economic climate in is highly unlikely we will have any significant boost to the number of staff within the systems team. This means that we have to find innovative ways to manage our current workload without compromising on service delivery. It occurred to me whilst we were discussing cloud computing that a great portion of my systems administration time is spent on installation, development, and customisation when we purchase new products. This means there is always a significant delay between purchase and using the product in a productive way. There is also a large amount of ongoing administration that is always needed, such as backups, upgrades, and file maintenance. Finding a way to dispense with the initial set-up and ongoing maintenance would save an enormous amount of work and make the product far more productive in a shorter space of time. Cloud Computing could be part of that answer. I'll compare Huddle and OpenAtrium to try and show how...

OpenAtrium is free so there is no initial cost, but would require a server for installation. Even if this server was a 'virtual server' (computing services new way of deploying servers) we would still need to meet and discuss requirements with computing services. This is no easy task and can take several months to get it to a point whereby it is ready for Library use.

OpenAtrium would need to be installed and then configured to work with our existing systems. This again would need a lot of input from computing services, but would also take a great deal of effort from the Library Systems team.

OpenAtrium would need a lot of ongoing maintenance with backups, upgrades, and administration.

Huddle on the other had is a hosted service, so there is no need for any infrastructure here to support the software except a browser. Huddle is also already installed and working, so no need for any time spent on installation, development or configuration. The backups, upgrades, and all the system administration would be handled by the Huddle team, so a huge administration saving.

The are only two negatives I can see from Huddle. This first is that it employs its own authentication system, meaning that everyone would have (yet another) username and password to maintain. However, this might change if we had Shibboleth in place. The second is the cost. Huddle is a subscription service that is paid monthly dependant on how much of the product you use, whereas OpenAtrium is completely free. Having said this, the administrative costs of supporting a package internally rather than hosting it elsewhere more than offsets the costs in my opinion.

Anyone can sign-up from a free Huddle account and get access to one workspace. I have already signed up, so if you want to join my workspace and see how Huddle works, then email me and I'll send you an invite. Also Sue has agreed to give me a quick demo of how they are using and promoting Huddle, which should be very interesting.

Shared Data

2009-10-01T08:51:00.007+01:00

Library systems create vast amounts of data. Every time a web page is viewed, a book is loaned, a user authenticates, a fine is paid, or a journal is accessed, another piece of information is written to a database somewhere. When the issues surrounding Data Protection came to the fore, systems administrators spent huge amounts of time and effort in locking data away from prying eyes. In some cases to such an extent that the data became unusable and irrelevant. Since then we have realised the potential of gathering statistics from this data. Loan stats show us which books we can withdraw, authentication stats show which services are being used, and journal access stats help us choose which packages to purchase. However there is a growing trend to utilise this data beyond the confines of the institution.

Last night I had one of those 'big brother is watching' moments when I realised that Kent County Council was following me on Twitter. However on closer inspection it was a new division of the Council called 'Pic and Mix'. This new service is devoted to making Council data freely available to anyone that wants to utilise it in some way. The Pic and Mix web site offers statistical data and informational data in areas such as waste, heath, business, and even libraries.

University Libraries are also following this trend in making their data available. The MOSAIC project was developed from the recommendations of the JISC TILE project. In a nutshell the MOSAIC project's aim is to develop a recommendation system based on the collected usage statistics of a number of institutions. The project even had a competition running with a prize to the individual or team that produced the most innovative application for this shared data.

JISC is also involved with the COUNTER project. This project is a collection of individuals and organisations that believe the collection and usage of online resource statistical data should be performed to an agreed set of standards. In this way any Library, Vendor, or Institution could produce or utilise data from anywhere else in a standardised way. This project will hopefully pave the way to a more open and simplified approach to a data sharing. JISC has also just announced the start of a new project that is an extension of the COUNTER project. This project is concerned with extracting statistics at article level rather than just journal level...see here for details.

So what is all this shared data being used for?

A new book (Library Mashups) by Nicole Enagrd explores the way in which data is being used by libraries. Nicole and other authors explain how libraries are combining freely avaible data from many different sources to create mashups of data for staff and student consumption.

A really good examples of shared data usage by a commercial company is bX from ExLibris. bX takes usage statistics from customer SFX installations and uses this data to compile lists of recommendations based on search results. This means that links that appear within the SFX menu will not only be recommendations based on context, but also based on relevance.

There are also a whole host of other home-grown examples of how shared data is being used in Universities, many of which have come off the back-end of projects like MOSAIC. There are even more examples of how recommender services can be built in-house using just the institutions own data. The concept is very simple:

The user clicks on an item in the OPAC

A lookup is on the data finds anyone else who has borrowed that item in the past

A second lookup compares the items borrowed by these users

A list of the top 5 items borrowed by these users is displayed

In this way we can recommend the top 5 other titles that have been borrowed by users who have also borrowed the original book the user searched for. This is very similar to the way in which Amazon displays it's "Customers who bought this item also bought" feature. A good example of this working can be seen on the Huddersfield Uni OPAC, under the 'Print Copy/Holding Information' box, a list of recommended titles is displayed.

As the methods and uses of data become more standardised and institutions realise the potential of shared data, so more services will become available. Allowing our data to be shared will not only benefit others, but will directly benefit us as new services are developed to make use of the data.

m-libraries

2009-06-24T08:57:00.005+01:00

Last month saw the release of a report into m-libraries, and this month there is an international conference in Canada on m-libraries.

m-libraries (or mobile libraries) is a phrase to describe the use of mobile computing to deliver library content and communicate with library users. Keren Mills is part of the Acadia Programme at Cambridge University. This programme is a three-year funded project looking into the role of the library in a digital age. Last month Keren published a brief report (M-Libraries: Information on the move) looking at the use of mobile technology within university libraries. The report investigated use of mobile technology an how this could be integrated into current practise. Keren highlighted six recommendation from the report on mobile usage:

Piloting text alerting services
Piloting a text reference service
Providing a mobile OPAC interface
Ensuring that the library website is accessible and will resize to smaller screens
Providing audio tours of the library
Allowing mobile phone use in libraries

The m-libraries conference in Canada (The Second International m-Libraries Conference) is/was held over the 23rd and 24th June 2009. This conference aims to research and promote mobile technology use within libraries by bringing together "researchers, technical developers, managers and library practitioners to exchange experience and expertise". Presentations and multimedia downloads are available directly from the website.

The use of mobile technology with libraries follows the ideas behind the 'Edgeless University'. This is a report from JISC that discusses the need for Universities to be more flexible and innovative in the way they deliver education and the related services by utilising technology.

Further reading from a huge array of resources on the m-libraries wiki

Digital Repositories revisted

2009-06-24T08:44:00.002+01:00

As an addendum to my last post on digital repositories...someone brought my attention to an article entitled 'The End of Institutional Repositories & the Beginning of Social Academic Research Service: An Enhanced Role For Libraries'

This article states that the digital repository is too narrow for the needs of the University Library and social networks need to be employed in order to facilitate research. There are two powerful sentences at the end of the article that I have quoted here:

There is a problem in perception of libraries that comes from the fact that the university thinks of the library as a “thing” or a “place” rather than a set of services run by skilled and learned individuals. Libraries are, in fact, less important than the librarians and information technologists who through their learning and skills bring collected and organized and even chaotic information into play. The abilities that enable these specialists to “enhance serendipity” (my definition of librarianship) are what make these professionals true academics worthy of academic standing. To make it possible for faculty and researchers to discover useful information that they do not initially seek is the miracle work of librarians (and now information technologists). This has always been true.

The challenge, as I see it, is to keep librarians from undermining themselves. Libraries cannot afford to hide behind technology by creating passive services that emphasize access over real contact with real researchers. Technology permits the kind of contacts that create and enhance social networks of which the librarian and information technologist must be a part. However, creative contacts must include working with real people in clever ways. For example, in order to attract and retain top faculty some librarians and/or information technologists could be assigned to these targeted individuals and even written into their employment contracts as their “personal information trainers.”Rather than being viewed as part of the infrastructure, librarians and IT personnel could become an employee benefit.

Digital Repositories

2009-06-06T10:56:00.002+01:00

There has been a lot of talk about digital repositories lately, but what exactly are digital repositories (also known as institutional repositories) and what do they mean for the library?

This description of digital repositories (DR) has been taken directly from JISC's DR briefing paper:

What is a digital repository?
In simplest terms, a digital repository is where digital
content, assets, are stored and can be searched and
retrieved for later use. A repository supports mechanisms to
import, export, identify, store and retrieve digital assets.
Putting digital content into a repository enables staff and
institutions to then manage and preserve it, and therefore
derive maximum value from it. Digital repositories may
include research outputs and journal articles, theses, elearning
objects and teaching materials or research data.

JISC have committed a £14 million investment into the research and development of DRs and have dozens of example of ongoing DR projects on their website. The JISC site is a great place to start researching DRs and there are lots of other good sites to find more information:

UKOLN - Digital Repositories
SHERPA - Repositories
Wikipedia - Institutional Repositories
SWORD - Simple Web Service Offering Repository Deposit
OpenDOAR - The Directory of Open Access Digital Repositories
EPrints - Open Access and Institutional repositories (web site down at time of writing)
DSpace - Open Digital Repositories

Another great place to look for information is on the Open Repositories web site . This is a web site that is dedicated to the annual international conference on open repositories. This years conference 'OR2009' was held in May with presentations from organisations like the Library of congress, Microsoft, and a host of Universities.

So what do DRs mean for libraries?

This article from asis&t suggests that it is libraries that are taking the lead in developing and DRs within institutions. However, it also suggests that libraries shouldn't be taking on this leadership role and that the management of DRs need to be undertaken by many departments or by collaborations with other institutions because the task is so immense.

This blog post from Everybody's Library states that repositories are essential for libraries and any development within the library should not be undertaken without considering the digital repository. The blog also states that is useful for libraries to distinguish the function of the digital repository from the function of the library.

Leslie Carr is an administrator of an institutional repository and he blogs about his experiences here. There is a wealth of information and insights in this blog and it really worth following the posts or subscribing to it via RSS.

For more information about digital repositories try searching for more blog posts here:
digital repositories
institutional repositories
or searching twitter here:
digital repositories
institutional repositories

Open source examples

2009-05-28T20:03:00.002+01:00

There is a very good definition of open source software as describe in a blog post back in April: http://cccu-lib-tech.blogspot.com/2009/04/open-source.html or you can go directly to the open source initiative website and view the definition there: http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd

The following are five examples of how open source software could be used to augment our current systems:

Example 1 - using Juice to add functionality to the OPAC or 'Search it'

Juice is three lines of Javascript used to add web2.0 functionality to existing websites like the OPAC. Here is an example of juice in action: http://prism.talis.com/sandbox-ac/items/1258339
This page show the Talis 'sandbox' OPAC embedding information from other websites to enhance what the user sees when searching for an item. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will notice that you can see a limited amount of the contents of the book embedded straight from Google books into the OPAC. The user can experience added value without leaving the familiar surroundings of the institutional OPAC. Some other web2.0 things that can be added using Juice include tag clouds, book reviews, meet the author videos, or bookmarks. In fact virtually anything that can pass back a JSON call (http://json.org/) can be added using Juice.

Example 2 - using Jangle to add information of relevance to a search

Jangle is a standardised API to any library catalog that allows programmers to incorporate data from the LMS straight into other applications. One of the topics that is getting a lot of buzz on Twitter and the blogs at present is adding some statistic information to searches to allow the user to make an informed choice. For example if a user expanded a particular item within the OPAC the page could show how many times the item (or more specifically an average of like items) has been loaned, searched for, or reserved within the last year. Another example might display the ten most popular titles that have been loaned to users who have also loaned this item. This is very similar to Amazons: 'customers who bought this items, also bought...'.

Example 3 - using web2.0 to communicate with users

A lot of libraries are now using innovative ways to communicate with users. some libraries have been using Meebo (http://www.meebo.com/) to present a live chat session within a web page so that users can get instant feedback and support. Libraries are also using direct feeds to social networks like MySpace and Facebook through simple APIs. Twitter is alos being used to disseminate information such as opening times, new acquisitions, and even replacing the email version of courtesy notices.

Example 4 - Using VuFind as a consistent interface

VuFind is very similar to Primo, in fact they both use the same underlying technology: Solr/Lucene (http://lucene.apache.org/solr/). VuFind is a unified resource discovery service that provides one consistent interface to many distributed applications. VuFind has been adopted by many academic organisations in the US and some Universities in the UK (LSE, Swansea University, Swansea Metropolitan University, Trinity University College). The positive aspect of VuFind is that its code is open so developing the product to suit the institutions needs is relatively simple. Here is the LSE beta OPAC showing VuFind in action: https://beta.catalogue.lse.ac.uk/ . Here you can see how clean and simple the search interface is.

Example 5 - using Drupal for project documentation

Drupal is one of the largest open source content management system in use. This type of content management system is increasingly being used by technical teams to provide structure and documentation to projects. Drupal contains versioning for documents, wikis, blogs, shared calenders, and a whole host of other add-ons that aid project planning. Where online content management systems win over other types of project planning is the online aspect. All the project documentation, planning, and tools are available 24/7 and from any location that has an internet connection. Drupal also has an integrated authentication/authorisation system that allows a granular approach to access to restrict viewing or amending of documentation and other tools. With this type of system it may be possible to conduct projects over disparate teams (or even disparate sites) without the needs for continual meetings; which should speed-up the development process.

Breaking the Barriers

2009-05-18T20:02:00.006+01:00

On Monday (18^th May) I attended a conference entitled 'Breaking the Barriers 2009'. This conference was organised under the banner of the Open Libraries organisation and was organised by Ken Chad from Ken Chad Consulting. The conference was dedicated to breaking down some of the barriers that exist to the adoption of open source software within libraries. A list of presenters and the presentation will be available here and here is an overview of the presentations:

Session 1 - Charles Leadbeater
Charles Leadbeater opened the conference with his keynote talk about the rise of mass collaboration. Charles said his presentation was a watered down version of his book, and there is a overview of this book within the following video.

Charles spoke about web2.0 systems and how they are manipulated and changed by users and implementers over time. He said that if a web2.0 system was being used as was first intended then it misses the point and doesn't really work at all. He talked about the future of the web and outlined five popular beliefs about what the web will become:

The web will remain much as it is now.
The web will become much bigger, but changes in the way we use it will take 50-60 years to proliferate, rendering the changes useless.
The web will become much bigger, but also less secure, have less trust, and output resources of less quality.
The web will become much bigger and also promote choice, innovation, collaborative working, and freedom to exchange information and resources.
The web sill become much bigger, but will be administered by large organisations and governments to prevent issues of information abuse.

Charles concluded with two points about the importance of open source software:

Open source tools will grow to rival and eventually supersede proprietary software and should be seen as a way of thinking and behaving rather than just a software choice.
Open source software should be promoted within third world countries to bridge the technology gap by providing innovative low cost solutions.

Session 2 - Ken Chad
Ken Chad's s session was interrupted by a fire alarm and as such was cut short. What Ken did manage to say was that breaking down the barriers to communication is key to breaking down the barriers of open source software adoption. He questioned whether the proprietary library software market failing is failing and open source software is filling that gap. He suggested that support issues were no longer a barrier as there are now many third-party companies available to support open source systems.

Session 3 - Bob Molyneux
Bob Molyneux spoke about his involvement with the open source LMS system: Evergreen . Evergreen started life as a project top bring small libraries within the state of '' into a consortium using the same system. There were originally 40 systems supporting some 200 libraries. Since then many organisations have adopted this open source LMS making it one of the largest open source LMS systems in the world. However this system has one major drawback in as much as it doesn't support Acquisitions.

Session 4 - Mike Taylor
Mike Taylor decided not to talk about what open source as he believes that everyone now understands what open source is and what its benefits are. Instead he offered the statement: "It is not should we adopt open source software, but how can we adopt open source software". Mike talked about his company and how it makes money when its primary aim is to give away its software as open source. In their model they develop a piece of software that takes a certain amount or work. They can then copy and distribute that software as many times as they like without replicating that first development work. This men as that even if they distribute millions of copies of the software (and the have with the YAZ toolkit) they have still only undergone one piece of development work. However, he said it was only giving away copies of the software and not the ownership. The ownership of the software is still with the company so all they are giving away is the code. He compared this to proprietary software companies how on average generate around 5% of their revenue from license costs. This means that the other 95% is generated from other areas such as ongoing support costs. This means that proprietary software companies could afford to do away with licenses and move their business model away from generating sales to a model based on customer support. Mike concluded by giving some bullet points on what IndexData get from being an open source vendor and how they make their money in this business model:

Open Source gives IndexData:

Disproportionate Visibility and influence over the market because their software is so widely used
Trust from customers because of their business ethics
Less costs because they do not have to spend money on closed-source overheads
More robust systems because code is improved through peer review
Time to develop innovative systems
The chance to be the 'good guy'

IndexData make money by:

support revenues fro their products
One off development projects
Hosting of services for some organisations
One off Integration projects
Integration royalties of their products into their systems

Lastly Mike revealed what YAZ stands for: “Yet Another Z39.50 client”

Session 5 - Paul Poulain
Paul Poulain spoke about the SOPAC project to combine the open source LMS Koha with the open source content managemnt system Drupal. The goal of this project was to:

to seamlessly integrate Koha and Drupal
To add web2.0 and social network functionality to Koha by using the inherent functions of Drupal

Paul's company BibLibre generate revenue by providing support for SOPAC, Drupal, and Koha. However, Paul did admit that the system is only in its first generation and needs some work before it accomplishes all the aspects of the project.

Session 6 - Nick Wallis
Nick Wallis spoke passionately about how library systems have stagnated over the last few years because of low levels of vendor development and no web2.0 integration. He also spoke about trends in decreasing levels of customer support. This seems to be reflected in the US LMS market were open source library systems now make up the largest proportion of new system installations. There is also a good open source LMS presence in India and France, but minimal presence in the UK sector. Nick stated that on average libraries change their LMS every 5 – 15 years, but it makes no sense to try and accomplish this in isolation. His company PTFS, can be involved in every aspect of LMS installation and support, from tendering and procurement, through to installation, customisation, and training. PTFS supports both open source LMS products and a host of other open source and proprietary products in both standalone and hosted environments. They also provide a 24/7 web and phone support service.

Session 7 - Mark Hughes and Paul Johnson
Mark Hughes and Paul Johnson have been involved with the SWWHEP project from the very beginning. The South West Wales Higher Education Partnership (SWWHEP) was a project to provide a consortia solution to many systems within the three libraries in south west Wales, including the library systems. Shortage of money and distributed systems meant the project had to completed on open systems. The universities of south west Wales had many disparate systems with combined resources totalling:

1.2 million items
30,000 journal subscriptions
2000 study spaces
720 student PC's

For this reason they decided to go with a harvesting solution to minimise they need to repourpus existing data into one large LMS. After looking at many URD2 products including Primo and Encore, they decided to choose the open source system VuFind. Paul showed how the system only took an hour to install and was up and running in only a few weeks. They also said that apart from the 'not so good' documentation, VuFind is a small package and very easy to support and administer. He suggested that because of the nature of the open source software and the ease of installation it was worth libraries givi9ng VuFind a go.

Session 8 - Alan Poulter
Alan Poulter spoke about his Msc programme at Strathclyde Uni in Library Information and Systems. He talked at length about how he tries to expose his students to as much library technology as possible in order to prepare them for a role in library2.0. Lynne Corrigan form Napier made the statement that a lot of library graduates she deals with are qualifying without enough knowledge of complex computing issues. I myself emailed CILIP some weeks back along these same lines. I pointed out in the email that there needs to be more convergence between the librarian role and the computing systems role and perhaps CILIP should take a lead in promoting this...I have yet to receive a reply.

Session 9 - Tamar Sedah
Tamar Sadeh gave a very defensive talk about how Ex Libris was one of the 'evil' vendors that only sold proprietary software, but was trying to venture into the open platform sphere. Tamar choose her words carefully and skirted around Ex Libris products to favour talking about innovations that customers are making. I think a lack of subject material on open source systems spoke volumes here...but maybe I'm biased.

Session 10 - Richard Wallis
The last session by Richard Wallis was very energetic. Richard spoke about existing library API's and how poor they were, such as:

Z39.50
NCIP
OAI-PMH
SRU
DLF ILS-DI
Proprietary APIs from vendors

He then went on to introduce two open source API's that were started at Talis, but have moved into the open domain:

Jangle is an API that uses ATOMPub to provide consistent, open interfaces to disparate LMS systems. This allows developers to write applications for LMS systems that are platform free.

Juice is a small piece of JavaScript code that can be embedded within an OPAC to provide an easy way to add a multitude of web2.0 functionality.

It is really worth checking out both these applications and how they are being used in innovative ways by libraries around the globe.

new toys for SFX

2009-05-16T14:59:00.003+01:00

There are two new important enhancements for SFX that have recently been released: RSI (Rapid Service Indicator) and bX.

RSI
RSI is the newest member of the SFX API family and is meant as a replacement of the existing JSI (Journal Subscription API). The API allows querying of the SFX database for items such as ISSN, ISBN, LCCN, OBJECT_ID, and CODEN adn presents them in an XML output. Some of the features of RSI include:

RSI includes not only journals, but also books.
RSI allows searching not just by ISSN, but also by OBJECT_ID, ISBN, LCCN, and CODEN.
RSI has full support for consortia APIs. It also takes into account institute specific activation and allows the sending of IP information so that SFX can determine the appropriate institute.
RSI can respond with YES/NO and also a third value "MAYBE" when multiple objects are found.

What RSI allows us to do in a real world scenario is embed SFX query results directly in a web page. This might include adding SFX information to the OPAC rather than have the user open a pop-up, or add SFX information to a VLE for direct linking to a resource.

bX
bX is ExLibris' scholarly recommender service and is available through the SFX menu or as a standalone API for embedding in other applications. The service is a lot like Amazon 'people who looked at this also looked at...' service. When a user performs a search and clicks on the SFX button, bX will recommend articles that it knows others have viewed as well as the original article the user searched for. For example if I searched for an article on MARC21 it might show me another ten articles that other users have viewed closely after they viewed the same MARC21 article.

The way bX does this is by taking usage logs from sites that implement bX and uses this data to determine relationships between articles. No personal data is transmitted, only data pertaining to which articles have been viewed in proximity to other articles.

This is a really big enhancement to SFX as rather than provide links based on information like author, title, year, etc; SFX can provide links based on usage patterns form thousands of users globally. This should provide for a far more 'human' approach to link recommendation rather than just the computational version that is currently available in SFX.

wikis for documentation

2009-05-15T09:42:00.008+01:00

I recently asked the question on Twitter:

"Are any library systems teams using wikis as their main method of documenting their own systems?

I had quite a few responses from teams who are already using wikis as their main method of documenting their library systems. The most notable of these were Kent University, who have been using wikis for documentation sine 2003. So given that teams are contemplating or already using wikis, what are the advantages of this method of documentation over the existing method of saving text/word documents to a shared area?

Jeremy Wallace wrote an article just a little over a year ago entitled: Using Wikis for internal documentation. The opening paragraph to the article suggested that "Documenting your organizational procedures can be a big help, but this information often languishes in obscurity and goes slowly out of date."...sound familiar?

Here are some of the advantages of wiki use for documentation:

Documents can be worked on in a collaborative manner.
Documents can be edited from any location as they are web based rather than on a network share.
Navigation can be very intuitive making documentation easier to follow and specific pages easier to find.
Search functionality can be used in order to find particular documents or text.
Documents are in fact web pages, which allows all the standard functionality of web pages such as linking, embedding, and scripting.
Documents are presented in a standardised format rather than individuals personalising documents using their word processor.
Versioning is standard so revision dates, the reviser, and what was revised are clearly visible. Reverting to an earlier version is also very simple.
Authorisation is easy to maintain with multiple option for viewing and authoring documents.

What wikis are not, however, are the answer to all documentation prayers. Wikis, like most systems, are only effective if the time an effort is employed to ensure they fulfill expectation. The documentation hierarchy is an area that must be thought through carefully to ensure that the navigation structure is effective. Once a clear and intuitive structure is defined the documentation process should be very straight forward.

For more information about wikis in libraries read the librarywikis site.

Subject guides

2009-05-10T13:09:00.002+01:00

Aarontay is a librarian at the National University of Singapore Libraries. He is also a prolific blogger and twitterer of all things library2.0.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/aarontay
Blog: http://musingsaboutlibrarianship.blogspot.com/

Aarontay recently posted a topic on his blog relating to subject guides. Rather than try and paraphrase what he said it is best to read his original post here:
http://musingsaboutlibrarianship.blogspot.com/2009/04/innovative-subject-guides.html

What I will do though is repeat some of his links to examples of libraries using innovative methods of delivering subject guides:

Libraries using wikis
Paid for LibGuides
Using Delicious linkrolls
Using Squidoo
OpenSource software: Subjects Plus
OpenSource software: LibData
OpenSource software: Research Guide
OpenSource software: Pirate Source
OpenSource software: Library a la Carte
NetVibes: Central Medical Library
NetVibes: University Medical Center Groningen
NetVibes: Shrewsbury and Telford Health Libraries
NetVibes: Dublin City Public Library

Web2.0 Reading List

2009-05-09T17:22:00.003+01:00

I was tweeting Dave Pattern (Huddersfield Uni) with a suggestion for a 'mash-up' topic to be included within the mashed library event . After having searched high and low on the web I knew there was very little in the way of web2.0 reading lists, and so I thought the mashed library event might be a good place to kick-start such a project.

However, I spoke too soon...someone contacted me on twitter with some info regarding my post to Dave. He said that they were developing a web2.0 reading list and I should take a look. Not only this, but the guy who was developing it works at Kent University and I have met him in the past. Ben Charlton is a developer working within the computing department, but has worked within the library systems team in the past (Kent has some kind of converged service). He, in conjunction with others, won a JISC competition to develop a HE web2.0 application. The competition was an off-shoot of the 'JISC Developer Happiness Days' event, where top software developers from HE can meet to collaborate on projects.

Ben has agreed that we can meet up (when the project has seen more development) for a chat and possibly a look at the application in action. Until then here is the prototype film to wet the appetite:

List8D from Mark Fendley on Vimeo.

The Cloud

2009-04-29T18:52:00.003+01:00

Question: What is cloud computing and what does it mean for staff and students within HE?

Wikipedia defines cloud computing in terms of the technology it uses an the system methodologies it employs. However there is a simpler way to summarise what cloud computing is about. Whilst reading this blog from your computer think about what applications you have installed and how you use them. I would imagine that in 99.9% of cases this would include an email client, something to type documents, a spreadsheet package, something to draft presentations, and of course an Internet client. Now think about how much these applications cost, the skills and effort it takes to install, administer, and update them, and the inconvenience of having files stored locally so they wouldn't be accessible from other computers.

Cloud computing tries to solve these problem by delivering the applications, communications, and file storage to you via the web. Applications like word processors can be used directly within a web client, files saved for access anywhere there is a internet connection, and communication apps embedded directly within web pages. Google is a major player in cloud computing. If we take some of the most prevalent software from Microsoft we can do a direct comparison with Google's cloud equivalent:

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint - Google Docs
Outlook - Google Mail and Google Calendar

there are of course limitations to cloud computing. The applications aren't always as feature rich as their local installed versions and they are only accessible as long as an internet connection is present. However, more and more institutions are embracing cloud computing.

In a recent Education Guardian supplement called 'Cyber Campus' there was an article entitled 'Offsite and off your mind; Google vs Microsoft'. Within this article it was discussed how Google and Microsoft are offering cloud solutions to Universities for nominal costs. Google's Apps bundle has already been taken up by Universities such as Westminster, Leeds, Glamorgan and SOAS. Whilst Microsoft's online education email and collaboration system 'Live@edu' has been adopted by Aberdeen University. This system gives every staff member and student 25GB of online storage, which far, far exceeds what we are currently offering. Aberdeen Uni have stated that since adopting Live@edu they have saved £60,000 and the system has seen a 100% increase in use.

Which Blogs?

2009-04-24T16:29:00.002+01:00

There are a huge array of library related blogs out there in the cloud, so which ones are worth a read and which are best avoided? Thanks to the Get Degrees site we have a ready made list of (what they perceive) is the best 50 library blogs. They have classified the list into five categories: Personal Blogs, Collectives and Community, Libraries and Reference, Fun Stuff, and Twitters. Here are the top two from every category:

PERSONAL BLOGS
librarian.net — Holding strong since 1999, rural librarian Jessamyn West relays her thoughts and observations on the evolution of library science technology in what is thought to be “the first single-editor library-oriented weblog.”

David Lee King — Digital Branch and Services Manager at the Topeka and Shawnee Public Library, King blogs about library websites and the future of digital technology in relation to library science. (Not to mention fun digital trend-related topics like videoblogging and web 2.0!)

COLLECTIVES and COMMUNITY
In the Library with the Lead Pipe — Written by six librarians (like the Clue characters, get it?) from across the United States, who aren’t without their merits: at the moment, two of the six are nominated for office within the ALA. This blog features essays and guest articles focusing on working together to improve libraries and the librarian community.

StoryLines — Open to contributions, this Australian blog was created to give support to high school literature programs. It features everything from book reviews to critiques on new Web 2.0 technology.

LIBRARIES and REFERENCE
iLibrarian — Maintained by up-and-coming librarian and information consultant Ellyssa Kroski, this subsection of the Online Education Database is great resource for the latest news and technology in the “information revolution.”

LISNews — The Librarian and Information Science News website has been up and running since 1999, and since then it has not slowed down in its quest to provide readers with articles, links, reviews, and interviews on the latest in library science.

FUN STUFF
Judging the Books

Judge a Book by Its Cover — Similar in nature, but the former is the work of a high school librarian while the latter works at a public library. The results are clever comments on unintentionally hilarious book covers, from teen drama to vintage romance.

TWITTERS
@librarianmer — The twitter of Meredith Farkas, of Information Wants To Be Free. As a social network expert and tech librarian of the future, who better to harness the power of Web 2.0 technology for up-to-the-minute reports?

@joycevalenza — A contributor to School Library Journals, Joyce Valenza keeps the world updated on her movie picks and life events.

Twitter in Libraries

2009-04-22T16:13:00.003+01:00

In the April edition of Library & Information Update (CILIP's monthly members magazine), Phil Bradely gives an overview of how twitter can be used within libraries. He concludes his article with a 139 character summary of twitter (twitter gives you a maximum of 140 charters per tweet):

"It's a superb resource for libns to communicate, promote, share & assist colleagues & users alike. Quick, simple & effective. Try it out!"

So if libraries are getting to grips with utilising twitter to promote themselves and disseminate information to users...are third party companies affiliated to libraries doing the same?

Bill Drew (systems librarian and technical services librarian at Tompkins-Cortland Community College Library) has drawn up a spreadsheet of, what he calls, Library Vendors. He has researched which vendors have a twitter account and verified that they are who they say they are. Not only this, but Bill has been kind enough to publish his findings via Google Docs...view them here.

There are one or two companies that are conspicuous by their absence such as Ebsco. ExLibris is on the list, but have yet to start tweeting in any meaningful way, although at a recent user group meeting they promised they will start tweeting soon. However, even if more Library Vendors do start using twitter it may be short lived. There is a rumour that Twitter may start charging companies to use its service. If this happens how many of those Library Vendors will stop using the service altogether?

Access and Identity Management (CILIP conference)

2009-04-21T20:14:00.007+01:00

CILIP hosted the Access and Identity Management Conference with a view to revaluation of the FAM (federated access management) issues a year after the JISC funding of Athens ceased.

"UK academic institutions have been using their chosen federated access management solution for several months now. Some institutions are now looking into extending the use of federated access beyond their library, for example, to a Virtual Learning Environment or an institutional repository. For others, it is time to re-evaluate their current solution to decide whether it still meets their institutional needs or if it is time to move on to something different."

Access and Identity Management Executive briefing
(A list of presenters is given below)
(Presentation now available here)

The conference had three main themes throughout the presentations: What is FAM and what are its benefits; Where should we now be focusing our resources; What is the situation for vendors.

What is FAM and what are its benefits:
Nicole talked about what access and identity management means for us all with an excellent mind map that compared the whole paradigm to Harry Potter. Her overview was a cautionary tale of how we must protect identities, but at the same time give seamless access to resources. Nicole also spoke about usernames and passwords not being enough to ensure security and libraries need to understand (the now infamous) section 6 of the federation membership rules.

Simon gave an overview of the UK Federation, benefits of Shibboleth, support options, and developments. His was a very clear and concise presentation outlining why Shibboleth is the FAM of choice for nearly all UK education institutions.

UCL was a very early adopter of Shibboleth. Margaret talked about this adoption, where UCL are at currently with their implementation, and what is left to do. It was interesting to note that although UCL delayed going completely live for a year (OpenAthens spanned the gap), Margaret felt that this delay didn't archive as much as they would've liked.

Where should we now be focusing our resources:
Masha talked about the FLAME project. This project is studying user attitudes toward FAM (federated access management) by looking beyond just the technical. Some of the research was very enlightening and showed how easy it was to obtain sensitive or confidential information from students. One particular part of the research was conducted at a student fair. A stall was set-up giving away free Mars Bars to students in exchange for information. Some of the information offered up included: usernames, passwords, email addresses, etc.

Rhys has delivered Shibboleth training to us before and is a guru in all things FAM. Rhys showed what could be accomplished with Shibboleth and made one very important point: Shibboleth is far more than just an Athens replacement. He developed this idea by showing that Shibboleth could (and arguably should) be used as the single sign-on systems for nearly all web authenticated systems within an institution.

What is the situation for vendors:
Fiona, Nadine, Ale, and mark all gave FAM presentations from the vendor perspective. What came across from all presenters is how extremely difficult it is for vendors to support multiple authentication systems, from multiple organisations, over multiple federations, and multiple countries. There was the usual discussion about terminology and why every vendor had different wording for the 'login' links. All vendors stated that their choice of wording was entirely driven by the customer and it is in fact the customers who have such disparate view of what the wording should be. Vendors also stated that although they were 'agnostic' about which login technology institutes use, they do prefer to standardise and that standard should be Shibboleth. There was also discussion about future developments and how vendors would like to see institutions using a more granular approach to Shibboleth authentication.

Presenters:
Presentation 1 - Nicole Harris (JISC)
Presentation 2 - Simon Cooper (JANET)
Presentation 3 - Margaret Stone (UCL)
Presentation 4 - Masha Garibyan (LSE)
Presentation 5 - Rhys Smith (Cardiff University)
Presentation 6 - Fiona Culloch (EDINA)
Presentation 7 - Nadine Prowse (Ingram Digital)
Presentation 8 - Ale de Vries (Elsevier)
Presentation 9 - Mark Williams (JISC collections)

John Paschoud (LSE) didn't present, but was coordinator for the days events.

Primo alternatives

2009-04-16T19:29:00.003+01:00

Primo may well be the URD2 (Unified Resource Discovery and Delivery) of choice for CCCU, but it is worth keeping an eye on the alternatives. Here I have listed (in no particular order) the alternatives I know of with a link to their web site and some of their official blurb.

(After this list was compiled, OCLC and Ebsco announced their URD2 offerings. View this site for more info)

Aquabrowser
http://www.aquabrowser.com/
AquaBrowser Library® with My Discoveries™ is the must-have technology for search and discovery. AquaBrowser has proven to be an extraordinary starting point for search and discovery in academic libraries, and is the most effective tool for finding and using all the content in your institution.
AquaBrowser Library also enables you to go live quickly with proven technology that already is in use at over 200 locations worldwide. In the Unites States, AquaBrowser has been implemented at many universities, including the University of Chicago and Oklahoma State University libraries.

Summon
http://www.serialssolutions.com/summon/
Introducing the Summon™ service, the revolutionary new unified discovery service from Serials Solutions. The Summon™ unified discovery service allows the researcher to quickly search, discover and access reliable and credible library content. It goes beyond federated search, beyond next-generation catalogs to create an all-new service for libraries. Through one simple search, Summon™ provides instant access to the breadth of authoritative content that's the hallmark of great libraries - digital and print, audio and video, single articles to entire e-journals, and every format in between. No need to broadcast searches to other databases - it provides one search box for a researcher to enter any terms they want and quickly get credible results in one relevancy ranked-list.

XC
http://www.extensiblecatalog.org/
The eXtensible Catalog (XC) Project is working to design and develop a set of open-source applications that will provide libraries with an alternative way to reveal their collections to library users. XC will provide easy access to all resources (both digital and physical collections) across a variety of databases, metadata schemas and standards, and will enable library content to be revealed through other services that libraries may already be using, such as content management systems and learning management systems. XC will also make library collections more web-accessible by revealing them through web search engines.Since XC software will be open source, it will be available for download at no cost. Libraries will be able to adopt, customize and extend the software to meet local needs. In addition, a not-for-profit organization will be formed to provide the infrastructure to incorporate community contributions to the code base, encourage collaboration, and provide maintenance and upgrades.

VuFind
http://www.vufind.org/
VuFind is a library resource portal designed and developed for libraries by libraries. The goal of VuFind is to enable your users to search and browse through all of your library's resources by replacing the traditional OPAC to include:

Catalog Records
Locally Cached Journals
Digital Library Items
Institutional Repository
Institutional Bibliography
Other Library Collections and Resources

VuFind is completely modular so you can implement just the basic system, or all of the components. And since it's open source, you can modify the modules to best fit your need or you can add new modules to extend your resource offerings.

PurpleSearch
http://purplesearch.ub.rug.nl/help.docs#general_intro
PurpleSearch makes it possible to search the most important databases of academic literature simultaneously. It is an interface that simplifies and eases so-called federative searching because you no longer need to select the databases to be searched in advance. PurpleSearch learns, over time, what each databases contains and will give good results for any given search query. PurpleSearch combines smart search techniques and local indexing, and uses that index for each new search. Databases to present results from are selected from the index, based on which ones seem to score the best for a que
It is also possible to do targeted searches within different databases.
Search results may differ from each other at different points in time. This may be due to

changes/additions in one of the databases being searched
the non-availability for whatever reason of one of the databases approached
the introduction of a new database
changes to the indices of the self-training system on the basis of earlier search actions, as a result of which a certain database may be allocated a different position in the ranking list of most suitable databases for a certain search.

Summa
http://www.statsbiblioteket.dk/summa
Summa is a search engine, that simultaneously can access a number of different data and data sources. Summa presents the results for the user in a single search result sorted by relevance. The user can also prioritise the result after a number of different criteria.
Summa is open source and is available for everyone who’s interested.

Endeca
http://www.endeca.com/
Across the enterprise, Endeca's information access solutions help people explore, analyze, and understand information in ways never before possible. Users locate information quickly and easily, and discover new products and content that was previously hidden. And as users succeed, benefits such as increased productivity, higher sales, and greater efficiency accrue to the business.

Fast
http://www.fastsearch.com/l3a.aspx?m=986
You’ll find that FAST’s offerings don’t just return results– they guarantee confidence and protection. Current customers can vouch for the productivity and profitability gains they get and the improvements invisibility and accuracy they see. There’s a FAST solution for your needs too. Read more about the solution that can help your business:
Search - Provide answers, not references to somewhere that might contain the answer. FAST’s search solutions filter out all the irrelevant, peripheral data and provide the exact information end users are looking for. After all, people are not interested in searching – they are interested in finding.

Encore
http://encoreforlibraries.com/
Encore transforms the way people connect with their library. A fresh approach to discovery, Encore has been embraced by libraries of all types and sizes and has become a fast favorite among library users. With Encore, you don’t have to wait to deliver the library of the future today.

RSS use in Libraries

2009-04-13T20:44:00.003+01:00

About a year ago the 'Moxie Librarian' blog posted an article outlining ten ways in which libraries can use RSS feeds. I thought that it would be good to see if i can find ten real world examples of these applications in academic libraries.
(If you need a refresher on what RSS is and how it works check out this page.)

The original list was:

Create an RSS feed for new additions to the online catalog.
Create an RSS feed tied to a library card account for hold notifications and/or overdue materials.
Create an RSS feed for new programs and events posted on the library website.
Create an RSS feed for the library’s electronic newsletter.
Create an RSS feed for press releases and other media advisories.
Create an RSS feed for library closings, including emergency closings.
Create an RSS feed for library job openings.
Subscribe to a few RSS feeds, such as local news websites, and share the content on the library’s website. This could be included on a page containing other local resources and local links.
Subscribe to RSS feeds of interest to library customers and share the content on the customer’s personalized library webpage. Customers can choose to access selected RSS feeds, their library account information, subscription databases, and email/chat with a librarian all in one spot.
Subscribe to a few professional RSS feeds and share with library staff on the library intranet.

And here are ten real world applications:

1. Create an RSS feed for new additions to the online catalog.

Loughborough University library (an ALEPH site) uses RSS to highlight it new stock acquisitions via a Dewey breakdown (click here to view).

2. Create an RSS feed tied to a library card account for hold notifications and/or overdue materials.

Elf is an online service that provides RSS notifications of your holds and overdues from your Library account (click here to view)

3. Create an RSS feed for new programs and events posted on the library website.

The University of Edinburgh posts news and events via RSS (click here to view)

4. Create an RSS feed for the library’s electronic newsletter.

Here's an example of Imperial's RSS news feed (click here to view)

5. Create an RSS feed for press releases and other media advisories.

OK not strictly an academic library, but the BL uses RSS for its press releases (click here to view)

6. Create an RSS feed for library closings, including emergency closings.

The University of Stirling uses a blog to make announcements about opening hours. This in turn can be viewed via an RSS feed (click here to view)

7. Create an RSS feed for library job openings.

The Open University has a whole host of RSS feeds, one of which is for jobs (click here to view)

8. Subscribe to a few RSS feeds, such as local news websites, and share the content on the library’s website. This could be included on a page containing other local resources and local links.

The Library of Congress (again not exactly academic) have a huge list of RSS feeds both from information they provide, but also from information from other providers (click here to view)

The last two applications would only be viable by staff and students that have a local library account so real world examples would be hard to find.

9. Subscribe to RSS feeds of interest to library customers and share the content on the customer’s personalized library webpage. Customers can choose to access selected RSS feeds, their library account information, subscription databases, and email/chat with a librarian all in one spot.

10. Subscribe to a few professional RSS feeds and share with library staff on the library intranet.

However, there are probably libraries out there that are already using RSS to achieve these applications...and other more interesting and unusual applications besides.

Open Source

2009-04-09T07:38:00.006+01:00

There has been a lot of talk recently about Open Source software, but what exactly is 'Open Source' and and what does it mean for library systems?

There is no one organisation that can claim to own or manage the 'Open Source' model, however the Open Source Initiative's definition is widely recognised as the most comprehensive. The main points of the definition are that for software to be Open Source it must:

be free and free to redistribute
be open so that anyone can inspect the code
allow the distribution of modifications inline with any original author restrictions
must not discriminate any person, group, system, technology, endeavor, etc

Some of the more prominent open source software in the public domain include: the Apache web server, the Firefox web browser, and the Linux operating systems. All of these software systems could arguably be described as the leading example within their field. This underlines how important Open Source software is and shows how stable, robust, and secure it can be in real world applications.

So what does this mean for library systems?

Well it's not a new debate; questions have been raised about using Open Source in libraries for over ten years. ExLibris have committed to what it calls its 'Open Platform', which is a move toward Open Source, but differs in some important areas. ExLibris will be releasing APIs (application programming interfaces) to their software to allow communication with other systems. However, they will not be releasing the code for their software, their software will not be free or modifiable, and their software will be supported by the company rather than the community (for a fee of course). Is this wrong? Not according to the Library Technology Guides who state that the opening of source code to such a complex system as an LMS wouldn't be beneficial to either the customer or the software supplier.

ExLibris aren't the only Library software supplier to have considered Open Source. Koha is a completely Open Source LMS that provides free community support or a 'paid for' support model. Could this sort of model ever replace the propriety model from companies like ExLibris and SirsiDynix? Possibly, but it would take an immense amount of collaboration from like minded individuals.

Recession good for ebooks?

2009-04-08T17:36:00.004+01:00

The economy may be in free-fall, but there are those that are predicting the global downturn will have a positive knock-on effect for e-books.

Mike Elgan writes in Computer World on six trends that will finally see ebooks becoming a mainstream method of reading. Number one on his list is the state of the economy and how saving money will increase sales:

"The economy is in the tank, and people are looking to cut costs any way they can. An Amazon Kindle pays for itself after the purchase of 20 or 30 books, then starts paying dividends. You save big on books, magazines and newspapers. These savings will grow even more attractive as the recession deepens."

David Weir on BNET Media also states that the recession will give momentum to the ebook market, as does Nick Farell from the Inquirer. One of the biggest driving forces will be major players in the e-book market driving prices down, and you don't get much cheaper than free. Google books is offering 500,000 of its titles for free download on the Sony Reader. This will surely in turn bring prices down amongst the competition, such as the Amazon Kindle.

Academic libraries are also seeing an increase in ebook usage as shown by early findings from JISCs 'ebook Observatory Project'.

"The project Survey findings, from more than 48,000 respondents, point to a growing acceptance of e-books by the academic community, with both teaching staff and students making greater use of e-books through their university library."
"Student dissatisfaction with library provision of printed textbooks declined sharply over the period of the experiment, suggesting, perhaps that the growing number of e-books in UK universities is beginning to ease some of the acute pressures on the short loan collections."

The challenge for academic libraries is to ensure that e-books and the surrounding technology are as accessible and intuitive to use as their printed counterpart. A report on the 'Library Student Journal' web site concludes:

"As information formats continue to change, the public library needs to rapidly adapt in order to remain relevant. But in its race to keep up with technology, it should not abandon the ideals of equitable access. The integration of e-books into a library’s collection continues to present a unique challenge to today’s public library."

Conferences for Couch Potatoes?

2009-04-08T15:09:00.004+01:00

Last week the Boodleian Libray (Oxford Uni) hosted a JISC debate entitled: Libraries of the Future. The purpose of this event was to generate questions, debate, and answers as to what libraries will look like in the not too distant future.

I couldn't attend the conference in person, but that doesn't mean to say I couldn't participate. The scheduled conference sessions were streamed live to the web as they happened, and remote users could read and leave comments about each session on the blogs and twitter in real time. However this wasn't the only way to attend the conference; many attendees were invited to join the conference via Second Life. For those of you who haven't heard of Second Life it is an online virtual world whereby users can live an alternative life in cyberspace.

There has been much written about the usefulness of attending a virtual conference in Second Life, most of which is slightly sceptical. Duncan Riley describes a conference he attended back in 2007 on the Tech Crunch blog . Whilst the Guardian's mortarboard blog asks the question: "Second Life: is this the future of the academic conference?". However Gaynor Backhouse writes on the JISC blog how successful her Second Life attendance of the 'Libraries of the Future' conference was. Gaynor suggests that the interaction with other attendees in Second Life makes for a more positive conference experience.

So even if you cannot find the time to attend conferences (or you are just too much of a 'couch potato'), you can still virtually attend many important conferences and play an active part in the proceedings from the comfort of your armchair.

By the way my Second Life name is 'Aekins Portal' if you find yourself sitting next to me at a Virtual Conference.

PS. Just seen Sheila Webber's post about LILAC and Second Life

Acquisitions, robots, and twitter

2009-04-08T11:21:00.005+01:00

The University of British Columbia library is utilising twitter in an innovative way. By using what it calls a robot (and automated service written in some form of programing language) it exports all it's new acquisitions from its LMS to twitter:

http://twitter.com/ubcnewbooks

Student and Staff who are signed up to twitter can then 'follow' the 'UBC new books' announcements and get regular notices of titles purchased by the library. Not only this, but each post has a link to the title within the OPAC that drives users back to the library's systems. This is a great example of a library2.0 technology that utilises existing systems, with little development time, and zero costs.

Library2.0 and the '23 things' course

2009-04-07T16:07:00.004+01:00

Vicki Owen (Liverpool John Moores) attended the LILAC09 conference a few days back: http://www.lilacconference.com/dw/index.html
(I believe this is the same conference that Wendy and Lynne attended)

One of the parallel sessions was entitled: '2.0 much to do: how, when and why should library staff find out about web 2.0, and what does it mean for information literacy?'

This sessions was resented by Jenny Evans and Ruth Harrison from Imperial College London. They spoke about their experiences of the '23 things' course: http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/. Imperial was one of the first (if not the first) institution to run the course in the UK and I believe it was instigated by Owen Stephens (errata: Owen did not instigate this).

Rather than rewrite what Vicki has already written, it is easier to read her report of this session: http://vickiowensm-learningblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/parallel-session-20-much-to-do-how-when.html

Vicki's comments and the findings of Jenny and Ruth underline how important it is to increase the awareness and use of web2.0 technology amongst library staff so that they can keep up to date with what students are already using on a daily basis.

Start here

2009-04-07T13:21:00.001+01:00

OK quick overview:

This section has the posts that are ordered chronologically (latest at the top). You will need to sign-up to leave comments. Posts are archived monthly and the archives are displayed in the right-hand menu.
Email me if you want me to post something of interest!

The section on the right is home to widgets (cool pieces of code that display interesting stuff). At present it displays:

A blogroll: a list of interesting blogs
Followers: people who are following this blog
A bio about me

I'll add other widgets as I get time.

You can also subscribe to the blog via RSS (atom actually)...which (if computing have configured it correctly) you should be able to do in Outlook.

OK...I'll do a proper post later highlighting some points in Vicki Owen's Blog!