Library hacks

UKOLN is supported by: Library hacks Andy Powell, UKOLN, University of Bath [email_address] Public Library Web Managers Workshop 2004, Bath www.bath.ac.uk a centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk

This talk isn’t about…

…and it’s not about

O’Reilly ‘hacks’ series “ O'Reilly's Hacks Series reclaims the term hacking for the good guys—innovators who explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts, create useful tools, and come up with fun things to try on their own.”

Library hacks

encouraging public library Web sites as places to ‘hack’ and ‘be hacked’…

pulling other people’s sites and services into the library Web site

pushing the library Web site and services out into other people’s sites

interoperability

openness

standards

hack our libraries hack public libraries now

Contents

searching…

Web services

… and the Google and Amazon APIs

deep linking

OpenURL

a selection of case studies as we go

impact on public library Web sites

whistle-stop tour

technical – but not too technical I hope

Z39.50 and all that…

libraries have a long tradition of creating and using ‘open’ standards

notably Z39.50 – search and retrieve

end-user’s machine library catalogue search request results

Z39.50 and all that…

libraries have a long tradition of setting and using ‘open’ standards

notably Z39.50 – search and retrieve

library catalogue 2 library catalogue 1 library catalogue 3 end-user’s machine

Libraries at the cutting edge?

Z39.50 offers a powerful distributed search mechanism

targets (catalogues) potentially open to use from outside the library

…not just through a Web browser but in a way that allowed people to write their own search software

academic libraries now see growing interest in ‘library portals’ that use Z39.50 (and other technologies) to cross-search many remote targets

if catalogue search fails… try a cross-search of multiple catalogues in the region

But…

…the rest of the world didn’t implement Z39.50

in fact, much of the library world still doesn’t support it

too hard to develop software

too complex to configure target

focus of interest shifted to the ‘Web site’

meanwhile, on other part of the planet

the Web world recognised that focussing on the Web browser wasn’t always enough

developed “Web services”

What are Web services? “ Automated resources accessed via the Internet . Web services are software-powered resources or functional components whose capabilities can be accessed at an internet URI. Standards-based web services use XML to interact with each other…” “ The term Web services describes a standardized way of integrating Web-based applications using the XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI open standards over an Internet protocol backbone. XML is used to tag the data, SOAP is used to transfer the data, WSDL is used for describing the services available and UDDI is used for listing what services are available. Used primarily as a means for businesses to communicate with each other and with clients, Web services allow organizations to communicate data without intimate knowledge of each other's IT systems …”

Web services - summary

machine (m2m) interfaces between functional components on the Web

underpin many e-commerce activities

a whole new set of acronyms – SOAP, WSDL, UDDI, WSRP

based on HTTP and XML (i.e. mainstream Web pedigree)

support both informational (e.g. search) and transactional (e.g. billing) types of service

Google and Amazon “Web APIs”…

Google and Amazon APIs

Google and Amazon both make some of their functionality available thru APIs

API = Application Programming Interface

Web services using SOAP

to use them you must

register

agree to their terms and conditions

be prepared to program dynamic Web pages (using Java, ASP, Perl, etc.)

http://www.google.com/apis/ http://www.amazon.com/apis/

What do the APIs offer?

Google

perform searches and get back results (XML)

get cached-copy of page

spell-check (“did you mean?”)

Amazon

title searches (all products, not just books)

ISBN searches

author searches

transaction creation (shopping carts)

transaction monitoring

(note: book results include metadata with cover image)

Example: RDN/Google spell

Libraries, Google & Amazon

new cross-searching possibilities…

mixing SOAP (Web services) and Z39.50

end-user library catalogue Google Amazon SOAP SOAP Z39.50

Libraries, Google & Amazon

new cross-searching possibilities…

or using ‘new’ SRW (Search and Retrieve Web service) protocol

end-user library catalogue Google Amazon SOAP SOAP SRW (SOAP)

Embedded into library site? end-user library catalogue Google Amazon SOAP SOAP SOAP RDN SOAP

Linking and OpenURLs

OpenURL roots

the context

distributed information environment

multiple A&I and other discovery services

rapidly growing e-journal collection

need to interlink available resources

the problem

links controlled by external info services

links not sensitive to user’s context (appropriate copy problem)

links dependent on vendor agreements

links don’t cover complete collection

an academic library perspective?

The problem

the context

distributed information environment

multiple A&I and other discovery services

rapidly growing e-journal collection

need to interlink available resources

the REAL problem

libraries have no say in linking

libraries losing core part of ‘organising information’ task

expensive collection not used optimally

users not well served

an academic library perspective?

The solution…

do NOT hardwire a link to a single service on the referenced item (e.g. a link from an A&I service to the corresponding full-text)

BUT rather

provide a link that transports metadata about the referenced item

to another service that is better placed to provide service links

OpenURL OpenURL resolver (link server)

Non-OpenURL linking resolution of metadata into a link (typically a URL) A&I service document delivery service link to referenced work . reference link destination link source

OpenURL linking . user-specific resolution of metadata & identifiers into services reference provision of OpenURL transportation of metadata & identifiers context-sensitive A&I service document delivery service link source OpenURL OpenURL resolver link link destination link link destination link link destination link link destination

Example 1

journal article

from Web of Science to ingenta Journals

button indicating OpenURL ‘link’ is available

OpenURL resolver offering context-sensitive links, including link to ingenta

also links to other services such as Google search for related information

Example 2

book

from University of Bath OPAC to Amazon

button indicating OpenURL ‘link’ is available

OpenURL resolver offering context-sensitive links, including link to Amazon

also links to other services such as Google search for related information

Summary… ISI Web of Science University of Bath OPAC OpenURL resolver ingenta Google Amazon OpenURL Source OpenURL Resolver OpenURL Target deep links

Is this relevant to PLs? “ It's probably safe to predict that, within another year/acquisition cycle or so, *lack* of OpenURL support will be the exception for any academic library/consortium that licenses full-text resources (that is, OpenURL support will be the rule), and there will be growing penetration of OpenURL resolvers within public libraries that license full-text resources .” Walt Crawford, RLG

OpenURL & PLs A&I services University library catalogues OpenURL resolver Public library catalogues Google Amazon Document supply services

Case study 1

Stories from the Web

a children’s book-related Web site

deep linking to public library catalogue

http://www.storiesfromtheweb.org/

note: SfW subscription by library authority so some knowledge about where to link to potential link to book in public library catalogue (or Amazon) link to more info potential link to author search in public library catalogue (or Amazon)

potential for pulling in metadata and cover art via Amazon API … and for making into link to Amazon or PL catalogue

Case study 2

a “book group”

deep linking into library catalogues from a book group Web page

link to Amazon … potential link to book in public library catalogue

Case study 3

LibraryLookup

deep linking into library catalogues using a browser ‘bookmarklet’

http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/stories/2002/12/11/librarylookup.html select link to find nearest library catalogue

drag this link to your browser toolbar

note that the ISBN is embedded into the URL click ‘ bookmarklet’ to link to library catalogue

Case study 4

blogs, books and libraries

deep linking into library catalogues from a book-related blog

many blogs contain references to favorite books or current reading material … typically with links thru to Amazon

the Bookwatch service analyses hundreds of blogs and counts links to particular books at Amazon, based on the ISBN … then provides ranked lists, pulling in ‘book’ metadata and cover art using the Amazon Web services

Deep linking into libraries

all these case studies demonstrate a potential desire to deep link into the library catalogue

using http: URL links

typically based on the ISBN for a book (or the ISSN for a serial?)

but… all are faced with the same “link problem”…

a hardwired link to one particular library or bookstore may not be the ‘best’ link for everyone who clicks on the URL

therefore, OpenURLs might be a good solution

Does deep linking work?

Hmmm… not always http://www.foursite.somerset.gov.uk/cgi-bin/viewpoint_server.sh?enqtype=SECOND&enqpara1=RESULT&rcn=0002180472&media_code=1&sec_code=&authorlist=&filename=&page=&no_of_results=14&type=ISBN&sec_stng=&media_stng=&authorpage=&subsearch=&searchtype=&hitcount=

Conclusions

having a successful Web presence is about more than having a successful Web site

need to embed your services into other people’s sites

the key technologies for doing this are:

Web services (SOAP)

blogs and RSS (not talked about today)

deep linking

OpenURL

Recommendations

public library Web sites need to embed and be embedded

the space where books and catalogues meet blogs (and RSS) and ‘search engines’ appears to be very fertile – public libraries need to be in that space or users will go elsewhere