New & Noteworthy

Citation

(2012), "New & Noteworthy", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 29 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2012.23929aaa.002

New & Noteworthy

Article Type: New & Noteworthy From: Library Hi Tech News, Volume 29, Issue 1

W3C Incubator Group Report: Library Linked Data XG Final Report

The W3C Library Linked Data Incubator Group published their final report in October 2011. In the report, the group characterized the current state of library data management, outlined the potential benefits of publishing library data as Linked Data, and formulated next-step recommendations for library standards bodies, data and systems designers, librarians and archivists, and library leaders.

The report is supplemented by two more detailed reports. “Use Cases” describes library applications which showcase the benefits of adopting Semantic Web standards and Linked Data principles to publish library assets such as bibliographic data, concept schemes, and authority files. “Datasets, Value Vocabularies, and Metadata Element Sets” provides a snapshot of key resources available for creating library Linked Data today. The group moved several documents to the W3C’s Semantic Web wiki and expects the discussion to continue on the public-lld mailing list, both of which are open to participation by all interested members of the public.

This publication is part of the incubator activity, a forum where W3C members can innovate and experiment. This work is not on the W3C standards track.

Library Linked Data Incubator Group Final Report: www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/lld/XGR-lld-20111025/

Faceted Application of Subject Terminology released as Linked Data

Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST), an enumerative, faceted subject heading schema derived from the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), is now available as an experimental Linked Data service and is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License.

The FAST authority file, which underlies the FAST Linked Data release, has been created through a multi-year collaboration of OCLC Research and the Library of Congress. Specifically, it is designed to make the rich LCSH vocabulary available as a post-coordinate system in a web environment.

“Linked Data” is an approach to publishing data on the web which enhances its utility by making references to persons, places, things, etc. more consistent and linkable across domains.

The release of FAST as Linked Data provides FAST headings that support both human and machine access. FAST incorporates links to corresponding LCSH authorities. In addition, many of the geographic headings have links to the GeoNames geographic database (www.geonames.org/).

“The response to VIAF (Virtual International Authority File) as Linked Data has been very positive,” said Lorcan Dempsey, Vice President, OCLC Research, and OCLC Chief Strategist. “We are now pleased to be making this very extensive resource available in this way.”

With the addition of FAST, the universe of library-oriented controlled vocabularies available as Linked Data is notably expanded. OCLC has previously released Dewey.info (http://dewey.info/), an experimental space for linked Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) data, and also made available as Linked Data the VIAF (http://viaf.org/), a joint project that explores combining the name authority files of participating institutions into a single name authority service. Furthermore, the Library of Congress (http://id.loc.gov/) and several other custodians of important controlled vocabularies have released Linked Data versions of their schemes.

This release of FAST is the latest in a series of activities by OCLC to make FAST more accessible and useful. OCLC Research released mapFAST (http://experimental.worldcat.org/mapfast/), a map-oriented interface that leverages FAST to present library resources based on the geographic focus of the content of material and made available the FAST Converter (http://experimental.worldcat.org/fast/fastconverter/), a demonstration LCSH-to-FAST conversion tool. Most recently, OCLC Research has updated its web search interface to FAST (http://fast.oclc.org/searchfast/).

More information about FAST Linked Data: http://id.worldcat.org/fast/

A sample record can be found at: http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1112076

FAST activity page: www.oclc.org/research/activities/fast/

OpenAIREplus – Linking Peer-Reviewed Literature to Associated Data

OpenAIREplus (2nd Generation of Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe) was launched in Pisa in early December 2011. The 30 month project, funded by the EC 7th Framework Programme, will work in tandem with Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe (OpenAIRE), extending the mission further to facilitate access to the entire open access scientific production of the European research area, providing cross-links from publications to data and funding schemes. This large-scale project brings together 41 pan-European partners, including three cross-disciplinary research communities.

The project will capitalise on the successful efforts of the OpenAIRE project which is rapidly moving from implementing the EU Open Access Pilot project into a service phase, enabling researchers to deposit their FP7 and ERA funded research publications into Open Access repositories. The current publication repository networks will be expanded to attract data providers from domain specific scientific areas. “The participatory design of OpenAIREplus will seamlessly guide the researcher to Open Access research data. The experienced consortium will pave the way to support the research work of European scientists and open up the road to multi-disciplinary science,” says Dr Norbert Lossau, Scientific Coordinator of OpenAIREplus and Director of Göttingen State and University Library, Germany.

Creating a robust, participatory service for the cross-linking of peer-reviewed scientific publications and associated datasets is the principal goal of OpenAIREplus. As scholarly communication touches upon many disciplines, the project’s horizontal outreach will facilitate collaboration across data infrastructures, providing information to scientists, non-scientists as well as to providers of value-added services. The project will establish an e-infrastructure to harvest, enrich and store the metadata of Open Access scientific datasets. Innovative underlying technical structures will be deployed to support the management of and inter-linking between associated scientific data.

Access to and deposit of linked publications via the OpenAIRE portal will be supported by a Help Desk, and OpenAIRE’s collaborative networking structure will be extended to promote the concept of open enhanced publications among user communities. Liaison offices in each of the project’s 31 European countries work to support the needs of researchers in Europe. The project will also actively leverage its international connections to contribute to common standards, data issues and interoperability on a global level.

Contacts for more information on OpenAIREplus are: Professor. Mike Chatzopoulos, Project Coordinator, University of Athens; Professor Norbert Lossau, Scientific Coordinator, Göttingen State and University Library; and Dr Donatella Castelli, Technical Coordinator, CNR/ISTI.

Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe (OpenAIRE): www.openaire.eu/

Six TERMS: techniques for electronic resource management now posted

In September 2011, Jill Emery, Collection Development Librarian at Portland State University, and Graham Stone, Information Resources Manager at the University of Huddersfield, launched a blog titled “TERMS: Techniques for ER management”, and invited librarians to join them in developing recommendations for best practices in e-resource management. Their goal was to explore and create recommended practices for each of the stages in the e-resources cycle:

1. 1.

   Investigating/selecting new content.

2. 2.

   Acquisition.

3. 3.

   Implementation.

4. 4.

   Ongoing evaluation and access.

5. 5.

   Annual review.

6. 6.

   Cancellation and replacement.

All six TERMS: techniques for electronic resource management are now posted to the blog and to the TERMS Facebook group page. Links to coordinated workflow processes are also provided.

At this point, Stone & Emery would appreciate any additional feedback individuals would like to give on the posted six TERMS and on the associated workflows. Feedback can be given via postings to the Facebook group page: TERMS, directly to the TERMS Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/6terms, or through the comments section on the blog. In addition, if you have developed local workflows that you would like to share, these can be submitted directly to Stone & Emery or else posted directly to the blog using the “submitted by” feature in the left-hand menu bar. Please make sure to give appropriate attribution to yourself or colleagues.

Stone & Emery will continue to solicit for feedback and hope to hold at least one virtual presentation on TERMS later in 2012.

TERMS blog: http://6terms.tumblr.com

TERMS Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/174086169332439/

Geospatial Format Descriptions Added to LC Format Sustainability Site

The Library of Congress Office of Strategic Initiatives announces the availability of 35 descriptions of digital geospatial formats and two brief accompanying essays. This information is a new segment of the Library’s Format Sustainability web site. This site provides information about digital content formats, emphasizing the aspects and features that are relevant for preservation planning. As of this writing in December 2011, the site provides information about 260 digital formats and subformats in the seven categories of still image, sound, textual, moving image, web archive, datasets, and geospatial. Many additional formats remain to be described.

Starting with materials developed by the National Geospatial Digital Archive (www.digitalpreservation.gov/partners/ngda/ngda.html), Nancy Hoebelheinrich (Knowledge Motifs LLC) and Natalie Munn (Content Innovations LLC) developed this new compilation of geospatial information during 2010 and 2011. The menu for the geospatial format descriptions is at: www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/gis_fdd.shtml. The status is noted in each document: some are “full,” some “partial,” and some “preliminary.”

Read the two essays here: “Geospatial Content: Quality and Functionality Factors”: www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/content/gis_quality.shtml

“Introduction to Geospatial Resources and Formats”: www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/content/gis_intro.shtml

Format Sustainability web site: www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/

ACRL Publishes Visual Literacy Standards

The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) has announced the publication of the new Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.

The Visual Literacy Standards include:

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  An introduction to and definition of visual literacy.

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  A brief discussion of visual literacy and higher education.

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  A brief discussion of visual literacy and information literacy.

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  Suggestions for implementing the standards.

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  Key sources and bibliography.

• •

  Seven standards, 24 performance indicators, and 90 learning outcomes.

The Visual Literacy Standards provide, for the first time, a common framework for visual literacy learning in higher education. The learning outcomes included in the standards provide new opportunities for visual literacy teaching and assessment, and support efforts to develop measurable improvements in student visual literacy.

The standards were developed over a period of 19 months, informed by current literature, shaped by input from multiple communities and organizations, reviewed by individuals from over 50 institutions, and approved by three ACRL committees and the ACRL board of directors. For a history of the standards development process, please see the standards project blog.

The Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education are a project of the ACRL Image Resources Interest Group, and were authored by the Visual Literacy Task Force: Denise Hattwig (chair), Joanna Burgess, Kaila Bussert, and Ann Medaille.

Visual Literacy Competency Standards (pdf): www.ala.org/acrl/standards/visualliteracy

Standards project blog: http://acrlvislitstandards.wordpress.com/

DAITSS open source digital preservation repository application now available

The Florida Center for Library Automation has announced that Dark Archive in the Sunshine State (DAITSS) software is available under a GPL v 3 license.

DAITSS is a digital preservation repository application developed by the Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA) with some support from the IMLS. DAITSS is used by the Florida Digital Archive, a long-term preservation repository service provided by FCLA for the use of the libraries of the 11 publicly-funded universities in Florida. Although DAITSS first went into production in 2005, it was recently re-architected and rewritten to improve ease of implementation and maintenance, scalability, and extensibility.

DAITSS provides automated support for the functions of submission, ingest, archival storage, access, withdrawal, and repository management. It is architected as a set of RESTful web services and micro-services but enforces strict controls to ensure the integrity and authenticity of archived content. It implements active preservation strategies based on format-specific processing including, where necessary, normalization and forward migration. It is particularly well suited for materials in text, document, image, audio and video formats.

DAITSS was written for a multi-user environment and supports consortial as well as institutional preservation repositories.

The DAITSS web site provides access to source code, an installation manual, and an operations manual. For those who want an easy way to experiment with DAITSS without going through the trouble of a local installation, a fully configured VM version of DAITSS can be downloaded to run in the VMWare Player. A Quick Start Guide to the VM demo provides a brief walk-through of the most commonly performed operator functions.

For more information, see: http://daitss.fcla.edu

IU Digital Library Program launches two new XTF projects

The Indiana University Law School and Digital Library Program has announced the launch of the Brevier Legislative Reports.

The Brevier Legislative Reports (Brevier Reports), published biennially from 1858 to 1887, are verbatim reports of the legislative history of the Indiana General Assembly that also include messages from the Governor, biographical sketches of legislative members, lists of enacted legislation and more. The Brevier Reports capture the impact of significant historical events surrounding the Civil War along with other issues before the Indiana General Assembly. This is a unique set of documents – there exists no other such detailed and comprehensive record of the debate and speeches delivered from the floor of the Indiana Senate Chamber and the Hall of the House of Representatives for this time period.

In total, 22 bibliographic volumes some 200-700 pages in length were converted to full text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, Abbyy Reader, and encoded at the volume-level following the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) Guidelines, version P5, adhering as much as possible to level 3 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries. The Best Practices were in the midst of revision during the undertaking of the Brevier project; as a result, the Brevier project, according to the newly released version 3 of the Best Practices, sits somewhere between levels 3 and 4.The TEI/XML files for each volume are available for downloading.

The delivery and discovery capabilities of this site are implemented using a customized version of the open source eXtensible Text Framework (XTF) developed by the California Digital Library. It is served using the Tomcat application server and Apache HTTP Server software. Local customizations to XTF at Indiana University include a unique native page image viewer and a page turner that are both driven exclusively by the information encoded in the source TEI files and require no additional software beyond what can be accomplished by customizing XTF’s XSLT templates. This feature enables switching between text and page images at any time while navigating a document’s structure, and allows viewing of one or more page images as moveable overlays simultaneously with the text in the paged text mode. The actual page images are stored and delivered via the IU Digital Library Program’s Fedora repository. The site also uses a newer XTF feature called sub-document indexing. This allows encoding entire volumes of the Brevier Legislative Reports as the source TEI documents yet enables access at more granular levels. In this case, search and browse results are not the full volumes as they exist in the XTF library but are instead TEI divisions within the volumes representing such things as legislative days, indices, or supplementary materials. Following an item link in a search result retrieves the sub-document in context to the volume in its entirety.

To learn more about the technical details surrounding the new web site, please visit the project information page (http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/brevier/projectinfo.do), where specifics about text encoding and technical implementation are provided. Or skip the boring stuff and explore the new web site: www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/law/brevier

The Indiana University Libraries and Digital Library Program also announce the launch of Indiana Authors and Their Books.

The Indiana Authors project is an LSTA – funded project based on the digitization and encoding of the three-volume reference work Indiana Authors and Their Books, which initially identified approximately 150 monographs by selected authors from Indiana’s Golden Age of Literature (1880-1920). Since its original conception, the project grew in scope as a test-bed for “productionizing” e-text workflows in partnership with the Indiana University Bloomington Libraries Technical Services department. Another 200 texts in the public domain, and, at the time not yet digitized as part of the Google Books initiative, were selected for electronic conversion. Although the encyclopedic three-volume reference work is at the center of this project, the online Indiana authors resource is being launched in phases, with an initial focus on the encoded monographs that will be fully integrated with the encyclopedia by late Spring 2012. This newest release of the Indiana authors project includes approximately 250 monographs.

A three-volume encyclopedia, Indiana Authors and Their Books, provides the framework for this project. Among the 7,000 entries are many famous Hoosier authors from Indiana’s first 100 years of statehood, including Theodore Dreiser, Gene Stratton Porter, James Whitcomb Riley, and Booth Tarkington. The bio-bibliographic entries will link to digitized full-text editions of representative works by the most famous authors, and has provided a foundation for future development, including the addition of more full text editions by other Hoosier authors.

Of the approximately 350 monographs that are currently part of the Indiana authors project, 150 of those were produced through an LSTA-funded grant. The full texts were generated and then encoded in Extensible Markup Language (XML) following the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) Guidelines, TEI Lite version P4, at a Level 3 as described in the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries. Starting in 2009, the Digital Library Program partnered with the IUB Libraries Technical Services Department to continue encoding additional texts not included in the original grant proposal. In this next round of encoding, full text is generated with optical character recognition (OCR) software that is then ported into automatically created TEI templates ready for additional markup. The TEI templates contain a pre-populated header with bibliographic metadata from MARC records and other boilerplate metadata along with automatic insertion of page breaks. The technical services team adds the additional structural markup to conform to Level 3 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries. Technical services plans to complete encoding of the remaining monographs beyond those covered under the original LSTA grant.

Indiana authors also follows the same technical framework as the Brevier project with the exception of sub-document indexing.

Indiana Authors and Their Books: www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/inauthors

Best Practices for TEI in Libraries: http://purl.org/TEI/teiinlibraries

eXtensible Text Framework (XTF): www.cdlib.org/services/publishing/tools/xtf/

OCLC WorldShare: New Platform for Library Service Delivery

OCLC, together with OCLC Global Council and members, is taking the cooperative’s ongoing strategy to help libraries operate and innovate at Webscale to a much broader level with the introduction of OCLC WorldShare, a new platform and a new brand that signals OCLC’s commitment to greater collaboration in library service delivery.

OCLC is launching the OCLC WorldShare Platform, which will enable library developers, partners and other organizations to create, configure and share a wide range of applications that deliver new functionality and value for libraries and their users.

OCLC will also deploy data centers around the world in support of OCLC WorldShare and other services. The first data center outside the USA will be implemented this week in the UK. Additional data centers will be deployed in continental Europe, Australia and Canada in the coming year.

“OCLC’s mission and public purpose are clearly aligned with the concept of Webscale,” said Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO:

We have been providing infrastructure and services that have enabled members to build efficiencies in the management of libraries, and to increase the visibility and impact of their collections in compelling user environments on the Web. To date, this work has been significant. Now we see a need to provide more of those connective elements, the services and systems that will allow libraries to leverage even more of their activities and data together, at Webscale.

The OCLC WorldShare Platform facilitates collaboration and app-sharing across the library community, so that libraries can combine library-, partner- and OCLC-built applications. This enables the benefits of each single solution to be shared broadly throughout the library community.

In the coming weeks, participants from platform pilot libraries will work with members of the OCLC Developer Network to help create and build new applications to populate the OCLC WorldShare App Gallery, where users will see available apps and install them into current work environments. Developers can showcase their creativity, partners can create add-on functionality and library staff can find practical, everyday solutions to streamline and enhance their workflows.

The first services built on this new technical infrastructure are Webscale Management Services, which have been rebranded as OCLC WorldShare Management Services, and include circulation, acquisitions and license management applications. Today, more than 30 libraries are already using OCLC WorldShare Management Services, and more than 150 libraries worldwide have committed to the new service since September 2010.

Over time, OCLC will bring together additional OCLC services and applications under the OCLC WorldShare name, including resource sharing, consortial borrowing, metadata management and additional applications. OCLC’s currently deployed library management solutions will continue to be maintained and enhanced in line with libraries’ ongoing requirements under their current brand names.

WorldCat will continue to serve as the name for shared data, including registries and the knowledge base, as well as discovery services such as WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local.

There are many examples of organizations contributing to the broader Webscale information environment. Some, like HathiTrust, JSTOR and Europeana, are most recognizable to libraries and library users. Others, such as Google and Amazon, are global services familiar to all web users. These services, and many others, are all part of the information environment users navigate every day – a Webscale environment.

OCLC is committed to working with libraries to expand the scope and type of partnerships that will be critical for libraries to achieve Webscale.

“OCLC WorldShare provides a Web-based platform for collective innovation across shared services, integrated applications and streamlined library workflows,” said Mr Jordan:

In combination with WorldCat, OCLC WorldShare will support the work of libraries of all types to collaborate in new, more efficient ways, reduce operating costs and provide greatly enhanced user experiences.

For more details about OCLC WorldShare, visit: www.oclc.org/go/us/en/worldshare

As learning goes mobile: new research presented at EDUCAUSE 2011

Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, spoke about “As learning goes mobile” at the Educause 2011 annual conference in October. He described the project’s latest findings about how people (especially young adults) use mobile devices, including smartphones and tablet computers. He discussed how the mobile revolution has combined with the social networking revolution to produce new kinds of learning and knowledge-sharing environments and described the challenges and opportunities this presents to colleges and teachers. Technology has enabled students to become different kinds of learners and Lee explored what that means.

Video and slides of Lee Rainie’s presentation: http://educause.mediasite.com/Mediasite/Play/360cfea4f2d2496582c2ab34be4bbb8d1d

CNI Fall 2011 Membership Meeting presentation materials, videos now available

Representatives of CNI’s member organizations gather for twice annually for membership meetings. Meetings cover a broad array of topics that align with CNI’s interests as reflected in the current program plan. The events are designed to explore new technologies, content, and applications; to further collaboration; to analyze technology policy issues; and to catalyze the development and deployment of new projects. Each meeting includes:

• •

  Project Briefings. One-hour breakout sessions that address issues of current interest to the membership, including architectures and standards, economic challenges, and innovations in teaching and learning. Briefings include at least 20 min of general discussion and are attended by 25-75 IT and library administrators, publishing executives, government officials, and others with a high level of interest in and understanding of networked information issues.

• •

  Plenary Sessions. Presentations of CNI’s latest initiatives, as well as insights from national and international leaders in the networked information community.

Presentation materials and handouts for many of the Fall 2011 CNI Membership Meeting breakout sessions are now available from the project briefing (presentation) pages at: www.cni.org/mm/fall-2011/project-briefings/

“Big Data Becomes Fashionable, Mobile Devices Reshape the Information Ecology: CNI’s View on 2011 and 2012”, the opening plenary by Director Clifford Lynch from the Fall 2011 Membership Meeting, is now available on CNI’s two video channels, YouTube (http://youtu.be/DnVGzaj4dPQ) and Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/34713112). In this talk, Clifford looks back on the events of 2011, and he discusses CNI’s program for the coming year.

Video of William Michener’s closing plenary talk, “Five New Paradigms for Science and Academia and an Introduction to DataONE” is also now available on YouTube (http://youtu.be/ebLNHWAQ2qs) and Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/34805133). Dr Michener speaks on the importance of educating new generations of scientists and students in the use of cyberinfrastructure that will enable them to continue to expand the spatial, temporal, and disciplinary scales in which they work. Both the domain sciences and the library and information sciences will play a key role in facilitating socio-cultural changes.

To see all videos available from CNI, visit CNI’s video channels on YouTube (www.youtube.com/cnivideo) and Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/channels/cni).

Open Access Africa 2011 presentations now available

Open access to the results of scientific and medical research has potential to play an important role in international development. The Open Access Africa conference, now in its second year, examines open access publishing in an African context, from the perspective of both readers seeking access to information, and researchers seeking to globally communicate the results of their work. The birth of Sudan’s first Institutional Repository, created by the University of Khartoum, was a direct result of a meeting held last year at Open Access Africa 2010.

Open Access Africa 2011, held in October 2011 and hosted by BioMed Central in partnership with Computer Aid International, brought together researchers, librarians and funding bodies to discuss the benefits of open access publishing in an African context. The diverse programme offered insights from library, funding and technology perspectives as part of Open Access Africa, a collection of initiatives designed to increase the output and visibility of scientific research published by African learning institutes.

All presentations, delivered by representatives from Google, British Medical Journal (BMJ), Department for International Development (DFID), Pan African Medical Journal and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), are now available online, together with conference images and poster abstracts.

Presentations from Open Access Africa 2011: www.biomedcentral.com/developingcountries/events/openaccessafrica/program

DSpace@ScienceUofK (University of Khartoum): http://oascir.uofk.edu/

National Center for Education Statistics releases New Academic Library E-statistics

In December 2011 the National Center for Education Statistics released Academic Libraries: 2010. Among the findings in this “First Look” report:

• •

  Academic libraries held approximately 158.7 million e-books and about 1.8 million electronic reference sources and aggregation services at the end of fiscal year 2010.

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  Academic libraries spent approximately $152.4 million for electronic books, serial backfiles, and other materials in fiscal year 2010. Expenditures for electronic current serial subscriptions totaled about $1.2 billion.

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  During fiscal year 2010, academic libraries spent approximately $142.7 million for computer hardware and software.

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  In fall of 2010, about 41 percent of academic libraries reported providing documents digitized by staff.

• •

  Over half (54 percent) reported providing technology to assist patrons with disabilities in fall of 2010.

Full text of the report (56 pages; PDF): http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012365.pdf

Supplemental tables (40 pages; PDF): http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012365_1.pdf

Links and highlights and key findings are also included in this INFOdocket post: http://infodocket.com/2011/12/13/new-academic-library-statistics-2010-released-by-national-center-for-education-statistics-nces/