Moving to the network level: discovery and disclosure Lorcan Dempsey ALCTS ALA Midwinter, Seattle January ?? 2007

The network rewrites behaviors

A few things…. Workflow and Attention Aggregation of demand and suppy: the long tail

Workflow and Attention

Aggregation of demand and suppy: the long tail

~18 months old No FaceBook, MySpace Library?

University of Minnesota http://www.lib.umn.edu/about/mellon/KM%20JStor%20Presentation.pps

Database > website > workflow Prefabricated (e.g. CMS) Self assembled digital identity Netvibes, onfolio, my yahoo, myspace, RSS aggregator, …

Workflow Then Users built workflow around the library Now The library must build its services around user workflow Get into the flow Disclose into other environments

Then

Users built workflow around the library

Now

The library must build its services around user workflow

Attention Then Resources scarce, attention abundant Now Attention scarce, resources abundant Competition for attention

Then

Resources scarce, attention abundant

Now

Attention scarce, resources abundant

Long tail information providers Systemwide efficiences Aggregation of supply Unified discovery Low transaction costs Aggregation of demand Impact?

Aggregation of supply

Unified discovery

Low transaction costs

Aggregation of demand

Libraries and the long tail dynamic Aggregate supply? 1.7% of circulations are ILLs (60% of aggregate G5 collection owned by one library only) Aggregate demand? 20% of collection accounted for 90% of use (2 research libraries over ~4 years) Each reader his/her book Each book its reader

Aggregate supply?

1.7% of circulations are ILLs

(60% of aggregate G5 collection owned by one library only)

Aggregate demand?

20% of collection accounted for 90% of use

(2 research libraries over ~4 years)

The Library Long Tail (using holdings as measure of popularity) Note: All statistics are preliminary and subject to change. Final report forthcoming soon. Number of Holdings Items ranked by system-wide popularity “ Head” “ Long Tail” Head: Top 10% of WorldCat records (ranked by holdings) account for 80% of total WorldCat holdings Long Tail: Bottom 90% of WorldCat records (ranked by holdings) account for 20% of total WorldCat holdings Figure not drawn to scale; for illustration purposes only

ILL and the Long Tail ( FY 2005 OCLC ILL transactions) Note: All statistics are preliminary and subject to change. Final report forthcoming soon. Number of Holdings Items ranked by system-wide popularity ~75% of ILL requests were directed at the “Head” ~25% of ILL requests were directed at the “Long Tail” By comparison, Chris Anderson ( The Long Tail, 2006) reports: Amazon: ~ 25% of sales from the “long tail” Netflix: ~ 20% of sales from the “long tail” * Question: are current ILL systems adequately supporting demand for the library long tail?

For many years, Chinese people cited a proverb: if the wine smells really wonderful, customers will come in spite of the length of the lane .

The network rewrites the library: discovery and disclosure

Chris Beckett http://www.scholinfo.com/presentations/2006/8/10/the-new-world-order-in-collection-development-the-commercial-perspective.html

Discovery: focus on catalog with some related … Local Discovery Environments Shared Discovery Environments Syndicated Discovery Environments Leveraged Discovery Environments

Local Discovery Environments

Shared Discovery Environments

Syndicated Discovery Environments

Leveraged Discovery Environments

Local Discovery environment Some (not necessarily aligned) motivations Make data work harder Integrate access to locally managed resources Escape from ILS limitations NCSU Rochester SOLR Worldcat 2.0 Primo Encore …

Some (not necessarily aligned) motivations

Make data work harder

Integrate access to locally managed resources

Escape from ILS limitations

NCSU

Rochester

SOLR

Worldcat 2.0

Primo

Encore …

Some remarks How does MARC data play with other data Subjects, authors, .. Historic investment in structure? Duplicate cost? Relationship to Metasearch?

How does MARC data play with other data

Subjects, authors, ..

Historic investment in structure?

Duplicate cost?

Relationship to Metasearch?

Shared discovery environment Increase impact Create gravitational pull Aggregate demand and supply Reduce costs

Increase impact

Create gravitational pull

Aggregate demand and supply

Reduce costs

Some comments Integration of discovery to delivery becoming essential A move to shared environments seems more likely with increased ability to ‘view’ different levels Increased gravitational pull: greater use of collections Growing evidence

Integration of discovery to delivery becoming essential

A move to shared environments seems more likely with increased ability to ‘view’ different levels

Increased gravitational pull: greater use of collections

Growing evidence

Syndicated discovery experience Syndicate data or service or links

Syndicate data or service or links

Syndicating services RSS Portlets APIs, Protocol-based Projects Sakailibrary … Not as rapid as one might expect?

RSS

Portlets

APIs, Protocol-based

Projects

Sakailibrary

…

Some remarks Syndication of data now common among data providers Routing issue for non-unique materials Resolution Worldcat Libraries exposing licensed content holdings interesting Google Scholar

Syndication of data now common among data providers

Routing issue for non-unique materials

Resolution

Worldcat

Libraries exposing licensed content holdings interesting

Google Scholar

Service disclosure less common APIs Web services Portlets HTML fragments – ‘search boxes’ Toolbars Widgets, extensions, …

Service disclosure less common

APIs

Web services

Portlets

HTML fragments – ‘search boxes’

Toolbars

Widgets, extensions, …

The Leveraged discovery experience In some ways the most interesting Use another discovery service to connect back to your resources Compare to the situation with article databases and resolvers

In some ways the most interesting

Use another discovery service to connect back to your resources

Compare to the situation with article databases and resolvers

Click – look in OCLC Resolver Registry – pass through to the relevant library

Some remarks Some of these are toy-like now, but indicate a direction Increased capacity to ‘sense’ structure (microformats) will improve ability.

Some of these are toy-like now, but indicate a direction

Increased capacity to ‘sense’ structure (microformats) will improve ability.

So …. The library website is not the front door We need to connect multiple discovery environments to library fulfilment options We need to put library resources in users’ workflow We need to place library resources in places which aggregate demand Need more robust machine interfaces for the ILS so that we can put its functionality in other places (medium term)

The library website is not the front door

We need to connect multiple discovery environments to library fulfilment options

We need to put library resources in users’ workflow

We need to place library resources in places which aggregate demand

Need more robust machine interfaces for the ILS so that we can put its functionality in other places (medium term)

And OCLC ….