Emerging technologies in academic libraries. A department by department overview. Data visualization, online reference, nextGen library platforms, open source software, digital asset and archive management systems, digital humanities, scientific and creative software, new physical spaces for libraries.
1. whatâs here, whatâs next, and why
should we care?
Emerging Technologies in
Academic Libraries:
Michael Cummings
Library Systems Coordinator
George Washington University
Washington, DC
2015
Emerging Technologies in Academic Libraries: whatâs here, whatâs next, and
why should we care?
2. Itâs about all departments
AGENDA
Emerging
Technologies in
Academic
Libraries:
⢠Whatâs here
⢠Whatâs next
and âŚ
⢠Why you
should care
Presented by
Michael Cummings
July, 2015
University Library
Like any organization, technology has an impact on all departments in the library.
3. Develop expertise
How to become
an expert
⢠Experience
- Library Systems
Coordinator, GW
- Library Systems
Manager, GT
⢠Collaboration
- WRLC Consortium
Projects
⢠Education /
Professional
Development
- MLIS
- Conferences
- Associations
⢠Research
Listservs
e.g, Code4Lib
Social Media
etc.
GW
MLIS 2015
Speaker
4. Library Administration
ADMINISTRATION
Why you care
⢠Need ROI
⢠Data Driven
Decisions
⢠Advocacy
Support
Whatâs here
⢠Tables
⢠Excel
⢠Charts & graphs
Whatâs next
⢠Interactive Data
Visualizations
⢠Tableau
⢠D3
⢠HighCharts
⢠Infographics
University Library
Facts are good, facts compared to more facts are better.
5. Interactive Data Visualization
ADMINISTRATION
Why you care
⢠Need ROI
⢠Data Driven
Decisions
⢠Advocacy
Support
Whatâs here
⢠Tables
⢠Excel
⢠Charts & graphs
Whatâs next
⢠Interactive Data
Visualizations
⢠Tableau
⢠D3
⢠HighCharts
⢠Infographics
University Library
View interactive dashboard
6. Research: Digital Humanities
RESEARCH &
INSTRUCTION
Why you care
⢠You want to
provide expert
services
Whatâs here
⢠EDS
⢠E-Resources
⢠Citation mgmt
Whatâs next
⢠Digital
Humanities
⢠Data Mgmt
⢠API / web-apps
⢠Hathi, etc
⢠Archive-it
⢠DDA
⢠Web-based
appointments
Librarians need to develop new skills to support digital humanities.
Source: demographics.coopercenter.org/DotMap/index.html
7. Data Management
RESEARCH &
INSTRUCTION
Why you care
⢠You want to
provide expert
services
Whatâs here
⢠EDS
⢠E-Resources
⢠Citation mgmt
Whatâs next
⢠Digital
Humanities
⢠Data Mgmt
⢠API / web-apps
⢠Hathi, etc
⢠Archive-it
⢠DDA
⢠Web-based
appointments
Watch this video
Data Management plans are required. Librarians can help researchers
understand and develop data management plans.
Source: https://youtu.be/N2zK3sAtr-4
8. APIâs / Web Applications
https://github.com/cummingsm
A growing trend in both commercial and open source software
is to provide APIs that enable developers to customize the product.
RESEARCH &
INSTRUCTION
Why you care
⢠You want to
provide access
to resources
Whatâs here
⢠EDS
⢠E-Resources
⢠Citation mgmt
Whatâs next
⢠API / web-apps
⢠Hathi, etc
⢠Archive-it
DDA
⢠Web-based
appointments
9. an API example
API example: Use the Internet Archive API, lookup the book on the fly,
and if it is freely available online, provide a link in the GWU catalog.
RESEARCH &
INSTRUCTION
Why you care
⢠You want to
provide access
to resources
Whatâs here
⢠EDS
⢠E-Resources
⢠Citation mgmt
Whatâs next
⢠API / web-apps
⢠Hathi, etc
⢠Archive-it
DDA
⢠Web-based
appointments
10. Demand Driven Acquisition
RESEARCH &
INSTRUCTION
Why you care
⢠You want to
provide access
to resources
Whatâs here
⢠EDS
⢠E-Resources
⢠Citation mgmt
Whatâs next
⢠API / web-apps
⢠Hathi, etc
⢠Archive-it
DDA
⢠Web-based
appointments
DDA: Demand Driven Acquisition is a service trend that
impacts public service, tech service, collection development.
11. Tools for Research & Instruction
WCONLINE
RESEARCH &
INSTRUCTION
Why you care
⢠Our patrons
demand
virtual
reference
Whatâs here
⢠Jing, etc
⢠Chat
⢠Email
⢠Skype/Facetime
⢠Youtube/Vimeo
⢠Libguides
⢠libStats
Whatâs next
⢠WebEx
⢠LibGuides 2.0
⢠Web-based
appointments
12. Digitization / Technology
ARCHIVES
Why you care
⢠You want to
provide access
to resources
Whatâs here
⢠Dspace
⢠ContentDM
⢠Bepress
⢠Digitization
⢠OCR
⢠Omeka
⢠Pinterest/Tumblr
⢠Archivist toolkit
⢠Archive-it
Whatâs next
⢠Access to
Memory (AtoM)
⢠Omeka
⢠EADs indexing
Kirtas Kabis III robotic arm digitizing system
Digitization / Technology
⢠Selection
⢠Scan to digital format
⢠Optical Character Recognition
⢠Dublin Core Metadata
⢠Manage digital files
⢠Upload files to repository
⢠Public Access
⢠Digital repository
⢠Library Catalog
⢠Exhibits
⢠Long term preservation
13. Digitization / Collaboration
Watch this video
Digitization / Collaboration
http://exhibits.library.gwu.edu/exhibits/show/cultural-
imaginings/introduction
http://gwdspace.wrlc.org:8180/xmlui/handle/123456789/4055/
browse?type=title
ARCHIVES
Why you care
⢠You want to
provide access
to resources
Whatâs here
⢠Dspace
⢠ContentDM
⢠Bepress
⢠Digitization
⢠OCR
⢠Omeka
⢠Pinterest/Tumblr
⢠Archivist toolkit
⢠Archive-it
Whatâs next
⢠Access to
Memory (AtoM)
⢠Omeka
⢠EADs indexing
14. Digitization / Online Exhibits
ARCHIVES
Why you care
⢠You want to
provide access
to resources
Whatâs here
⢠Dspace
⢠ContentDM
⢠Bepress
⢠Digitization
⢠OCR
⢠Omeka
⢠Pinterest/Tumblr
⢠Archivist toolkit
⢠Archive-it
Whatâs next
⢠Access to
Memory (AtoM)
⢠Omeka
⢠EADs indexing
Customized (Php, Jquery, CSS) Omeka Exhibit Bilingual English / Arabic
Digitization / Online Exhibits
15. Digitization / Online Exhibits - Omeka
ARCHIVES
Why you care
⢠You want to
provide access
to resources
Whatâs here
⢠Dspace
⢠ContentDM
⢠Bepress
⢠Digitization
⢠OCR
⢠Omeka
⢠Pinterest/Tumblr
⢠Archivist toolkit
⢠Archive-it
Whatâs next
⢠Access to
Memory (AtoM)
⢠Omeka
⢠EADs indexing
Omeka and Neatline mapping plug-in
Digitization / Online Exhibits
16. Digitization / EAD Finding Aids
ARCHIVES
Why you care
⢠You want to
provide access
to resources
Whatâs here
⢠Dspace
⢠ContentDM
⢠Bepress
⢠Digitization
⢠OCR
⢠Omeka
⢠Pinterest/Tumblr
⢠Archivist toolkit
⢠Archive-it
Whatâs next
⢠Access to
Memory (AtoM)
⢠Omeka
⢠EADs indexing
Artefactual / Archivematica / Access to Memory
Digitization / EAD Context and Data Exchange
17. EADs indexing in Discovery Catalog
ARCHIVES
Why you care
⢠You want to
provide access
to resources
Whatâs here
⢠Dspace
⢠ContentDM
⢠Bepress
⢠Digitization
⢠OCR
⢠Omeka
⢠Pinterest/Tumblr
⢠Archivist toolkit
⢠Archive-it
Whatâs next
⢠Access to
Memory (AtoM)
⢠Omeka
⢠EADs indexing in
Discovery Catalog
18. NextGen back office systems
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
Why you care
⢠New workflow
⢠The potential
for improved
access.
⢠Major change
Whatâs here
⢠MARC 21
⢠EAD, DC
⢠Desktop client
software
⢠OCLC
⢠RDA
Whatâs next
⢠âNextGenâ
systems
⢠RDF & Bibframe
⢠Semantic web
⢠Linked data
19. RDF, Bibframe, Linked Data
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
Why you care
⢠New workflow
⢠The potential
for improved
access.
⢠Major change
Whatâs next
⢠âNextGenâ
systems
⢠RDF & Bibframe
⢠Semantic web
⢠Linked data
Resource Description Framework (RDF)
Universal Resource Identifier (URI)
Linked Open Data
Semantic Web
Schema.org
XML / XSLT
JSON
20. Sample RDA and URI Catalog Record
RDA fields
Linked
Data
fields
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
21. OCLC Linked Data Explorer
OCLC Linked Data Explorer
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
22. LIT Department & Technology Changes
LIBRARY IT / WEB
Why you care
⢠Budget
⢠Training
Whatâs here
⢠Intranets
⢠HTML 4
⢠Network file
storage
⢠Equipment
obsolete
Whatâs next
⢠Cloud Storage
⢠HTML 5 / CSS
⢠RWD
⢠Web apps
⢠Sched.org
⢠Booked
⢠New CMS
Embrace the âinternet of thingsâ âŚwhat could possibly go wrong? ;-)
23. Content Management Systems
Content Management Systems (CMS)
⢠Information architecture policy
⢠Rights management
⢠Consistency of design
⢠Campus integration (e.g., Single sign on)
⢠Ease of use
⢠Cost. Infrastructure.
⢠Reliability & Support
⢠Features:
Source: OmniUpdate CMS
LIBRARY IT / WEB
Why you care
⢠Budget
⢠Training
Whatâs here
⢠Intranets
⢠HTML 4
⢠Network file
storage
⢠Equipment
obsolete
Whatâs next
⢠Cloud Storage
⢠HTML 5 / CSS
⢠RWD
⢠Web apps
⢠Sched.org
⢠Booked
⢠New CMS
24. Open Source Applications
LIBRARY IT / WEB
Why you care
⢠Budget
⢠Training
Whatâs here
⢠Intranets
⢠HTML 4
⢠Network file
storage
⢠Equipment
obsolete
Whatâs next
⢠Cloud Storage
⢠HTML 5 / CSS
⢠RWD
⢠Web apps
⢠Sched.org
⢠Booked
⢠New CMS
Open Source Applications
Source: http://www.sla.org/attend/2015-annual-conference/2015-online-planner/
25. Access Services and more
ACCESS SERVICES
Why you care
⢠Better services
⢠Requires more
expertise for
staff
Whatâs here
⢠Scanners vs
copiers
⢠Wireless Print
⢠Virtual Desktop
⢠Office software
⢠Equipment loan
Whatâs next
⢠3D printers
⢠Single Sign On
⢠Computing
software
⢠Multimedia
Software
3D
Printing
Support all of this tooâŚ
26. New Approaches to Facilities
ACCESS SERVICES
Why you care
⢠Patron
engagement
⢠Library as a
place
Whatâs here
⢠Traditional
library
⢠Learning
Commons
â˘
Whatâs next
⢠Furniture
⢠Power outlets
⢠Off-site
collections
⢠High-tech group
study rooms
⢠Information
kiosks Off-site storage
A typical academic library organization chart. This presentation is for you if you no matter where you work in the library.
This presentation highlights some services available at libraries in the Washington Research Library Consortium, or that the speaker learned about through conferences, listservs, and the graduate program in Library and Information Science, Catholic University of America (CUA(.
Letâs start with the Administration office of the library. Here now: tables, Excel, maybe some charts and graphs. Whatâs next: interactive visualizations.
Tableau shown here; IBMâs Watson is coming soon. The link on the slide goes to a demo of the visualization shown in the screenshot. Administrators need good data, and to be able understand the data in order to: know the return on investment, use data driven decisions, and to advocate for the library.
Research & Instruction Librarians / staff may become more and more involved with Digital Humanities or Digital Scholarship projects. They need new skills to provide expert services.
IF the library chooses to provide support for Data Management, this area is a relatively new development that could impact on staffing requirements. Some libraries have Data Services Librarians and / or Data Services Centers. This video is a funny look at the problem of getting researchers to comply with data management mandates.
Almost all âmodernâ software provides an application programming interface. At GWU we use several APIâs in a custom library catalog we built (the library IT name for it is âlaunchpadâ) part one of this slide. Part two of this slide: Here is an example of our Python code to call the HathiTrust API.
Here is how the Internet Archive API looks in practice. When the system gets a search request for a book it checks the Internet Archive API for a free, full-text copy of the same title. If the API finds one available, our system adds a link to the catalog holding list (part one of this slide). Then the patron can access the book online (part two of this slide)
Another custom enhancement we made to GWUâs catalog is the ability for a patron to request a print copy of an electronic holding. (Part one of this slide shows holdings for a title, part two shows the RUSH Print request). Demand Driven or âPatron Drivenâ acquisition is a feature the library wants to support. The feature impacts other areas beside public services of course â acquisitions and collection development.
Technology that supports remote reference is free or relatively inexpensive. GWU librarians use a variety of tools like Jing and Camtasia to record âhow do IâŚâ videos and to interact with patrons online. Recently we started using a web application, âWCONLINEâ for scheduling research appointments.
Next, we look at Special Collections and Archives. There is a lot more to a digitization project than the scanning.
Selection
Scan to digital format
Optical Character Recognition
Dublin Core Metadata
Manage digital files
Upload files to repository
Public Access
Digital repository
Library Catalog
Exhibits
Long term preservation
GWU and Georgetown collaborated on an IMLS grant to digitize hundreds of books for the project called âCultural Imaginings: the Creations of the Arab World in the Western Mind.â This page shows the Omeka exhibit (link provided). There is a Dspace repository for the digitized books (link provided). Georgetownâs Provost had some interesting comments about the project saying the important thing is what researchers can do with the digitized works (link to video provided).
Archivists have lots of options for digital repositories and alternative ways to promote their collections. Here is an example of an Omeka exhibit GWU libraries built to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait and the ongoing US-Kuwaiti partnership. This exhibit has customized Php code that changes the standard Omeka layouts, and it has both an English (part one and three of this slide)and Arabic interface (part two of this slide).
Omeka, continues to evolve and is worth considering for online exhibits. The previous exhibit highlighted some of our digital collections. Here is an example of an Omeka exhibit that uses the âNeatlineâ mapping plug-in.
Archivists have several repository options. One might investigate âaccess to memory.â I like it because it displays the EAD in the a structure that mimics the print version. It also provides a way to export the finding aid as XML.
At GWU, our Special Collections team exports EAD-XML finding aids from Archivistâs Toolkit. Our Discovery Catalog, Summon (articlesplus at GWU), ingests the EAD-XML finding aid and does a full-text index of the contents. So, a patron could search for some keywords that occur anywhere in the finding aid, and the finding aid will be included in the search results. There will be a link to the online finding aid.
A lot of emerging technology applies to Resource Management. The so-called next generation of library systems replace the workstation client software with web applications. There is a Sierra version, illustrated here. The main competitors are Ex Libris âAlmaâ, OCLC âWorldShareâ, and Proquest âIntotaâ. Implementing a nextGen system would be a significant project, but the result would be better for staff in cataloging, acquisitions, serials, e-resources, circulation, and public services.
This is a hot topic in resource management circles. Theoretically, marking up catalog records with these new formats will make it easier to create web applications that link everything together. Itâs still very much under development. This is a topic worth its own presentation. Next letâs look at a concrete example of a catalog record.
Here is an example of a catalog record that includes RDA fields and linked data fields with URIâs.
Incorporating the Linked data into thousands of catalog records is a major, major project for resource management.
GW is working with OCLC batch reclamation process to accomplish some of this work.
Letâs look at the link to the WorldCat âworkâ next.
Hereâs an example from OCLC of a âworkâ record. Notice there are several formats that a user can download: Turtle, N-Triple, JSON-LD, RDF/XML, HTML. At any rate, you may also notice this URL begins with âexperimentâ since this is still under development. So, the takeaway here is that a lot is going on behind the scenes in resource management!
Library IT staff have to run to keep up with changes. Now web sites need to be updated to work on any device, typically by using responsive web design rather than creating mobile apps. This requires expertise with the latest software. LIT has to manage new releases of software products, and may set policies for use of cloud based tools like Dropbox and Google Drive.
Library IT staff usually lead the effort to modernize the library web site. New generations of content management systems are available, like OmniUpdate. Migrating to a new CMS is a major project not only for the IT staff, but for the site editors too.
Library IT staff may evaluate and recommend web applications, like this scheduling application which is modestly priced. There are free, open source apps that might work too, such as the âBookedâ a web application for reserving group study rooms.
Access Services staff are being called upon to do more patron support. Some libraries, like GWU, provide a lot of scientific and multimedia software products on workstations in the library for patrons.
3D printing is cropping up in libraries too. Itâs all great and patrons love it. GWU has some excellent Xerox touch screen scanners for patrons. Who is support to support these tools? Access Services staff? Librarians? Some universities, like Howard, move all these services to a technology center separate from the library.
There are lots of ways that space can be re-purposed in libraries, many of them involve the latest technology.
The collection may have been moved off-site, where more high-tech comes into play, like robotic retrieval systems
or other computerized retrieval mechanisms.
I hope I didnât miss your library department, and / or your favorite new technology. I had to leave some things out in order to fit the available space. Take your ideas and explore them. You may be surprised what you can accomplish.