The Dynamics of Sharing Introduction to Shareable Metadata and Interoperability Sarah L. Shreeves University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign August 31, 2007 The Dynamics in the Aggregate: Shareable Metadata and Next-Generation Access Systems SAA 2007 – Chicago, Il

Assumptions

Why Share? Sharing benefits users One-stop searching (maybe) Ability to create customized searches of specific domains Brings together distributed collections Ability for USERS to create their own mash-ups of metadata from different sources Sharing benefits us Increases exposure of collections Broadens user base Potentially adds collaboration opportunities

Sharing benefits users

One-stop searching (maybe)

Ability to create customized searches of specific domains

Brings together distributed collections

Ability for USERS to create their own mash-ups of metadata from different sources

Sharing benefits us

Increases exposure of collections

Broadens user base

Potentially adds collaboration opportunities

Why Share? Fundamentally we can no longer assume that users will come through the front door, so sharing metadata gets us “in the flow”.

Fundamentally we can no longer assume that users will come through the front door, so sharing metadata gets us “in the flow”.

Keys to Shareability or Interoperability Communication protocol (Z39.50, OAI PMH, RSS, etc.) Organizational commitment Standards Standards And more Standards

Communication protocol (Z39.50, OAI PMH, RSS, etc.)

Organizational commitment

Standards

Standards

And more Standards

Sharing metadata: Federated search The distributed databases are searched directly. Mill? For Example: Z39.50, SRU <title>My resource</title> <date>04 <title>My resource</title> <date>04 <title>My resource</title> <date>04

The distributed databases are searched directly.

Sharing metadata: Metadata aggregation The user searches a pre-aggregated database or brings together metadata from diverse sources. Mill? For Example: Search engines, union catalogs, OAI PMH, RSS, Atom <title>My resource</title> <date>04

The user searches a pre-aggregated database or brings together metadata from diverse sources.

OAI List Records Request

Metadata challenge “the ability to perform a search over diverse sets of metadata records and obtain meaningful results .” – Priscilla Caplan Metadata Fundamentals for All Librarians

“the ability to perform a search over diverse sets of metadata records and obtain meaningful results .”

– Priscilla Caplan

Metadata Fundamentals for All Librarians

Example Title: China Association Author/Creator: China Association Publisher: School of Oriental and African Studies Year: 2002-04-23 Resource Type: text Resource Format: text/html Description: Papers, 1889-1969, of the China Association, including minutes and committee papers of the General Committee and Executive Committee; correspondence with the Foreign Office, Board of Trade, Sino-British Trade Council, Tientsin and Hong Kong Chambers of Commerce, Hong Kong Association and the British Consulate in Shanghai; annual reports (1889-1962); and separate items including the minutes and papers of the China Association's School of Practical Chinese Endowment Fund (1908-1955). Also includes committee papers and minutes of the British Chambers of Commerce in Hankow and Tientsin, the Hong Kong Association, the Sino-British Trade Council, and the British Residents' Association in Shanghai. Also includes photographs of banquets (1896-1906), and albums of newspaper cuttings on China (1940-1947) and Japan (1942-1949). Subject: Asian languages; Chinese; Foreign relations; International relations; International trade; Language instruction; Newspaper press; Photographs; Press; Press cuttings; Second language instruction; South and Southeast Asian languages; Trade; Trade policy; Visual materials URL: http://www.archives.uk/cats/19/65.htm Rights: Unrestricted. Copyright held by the China Association: Swire House, 59 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6AJ.

Title: China Association

Author/Creator: China Association

Publisher: School of Oriental and African Studies

Year: 2002-04-23

Resource Type: text

Resource Format: text/html

Description: Papers, 1889-1969, of the China Association, including minutes and committee papers of the General Committee and Executive Committee; correspondence with the Foreign Office, Board of Trade, Sino-British Trade Council, Tientsin and Hong Kong Chambers of Commerce, Hong Kong Association and the British Consulate in Shanghai; annual reports (1889-1962); and separate items including the minutes and papers of the China Association's School of Practical Chinese Endowment Fund (1908-1955). Also includes committee papers and minutes of the British Chambers of Commerce in Hankow and Tientsin, the Hong Kong Association, the Sino-British Trade Council, and the British Residents' Association in Shanghai. Also includes photographs of banquets (1896-1906), and albums of newspaper cuttings on China (1940-1947) and Japan (1942-1949).

Subject: Asian languages; Chinese; Foreign relations; International relations; International trade; Language instruction; Newspaper press; Photographs; Press; Press cuttings; Second language instruction; South and Southeast Asian languages; Trade; Trade policy; Visual materials

URL: http://www.archives.uk/cats/19/65.htm

Rights: Unrestricted. Copyright held by the China Association: Swire House, 59 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6AJ.

Examples title: (Woman Holding a Pie) LNG42122.5 subject: Berkeley; male; outdoors; yard; stair subject: Dorothea Lange Collection subject: The War Years (1942-1944) subject: Office of War Information (OWI) subject: Woman Holding a Pie publisher: Museum of [state] date: 1944 type: image identifier: http://www.orgname.org/idnumber relation: http://orgname.org/findaid/idnumber relation: id:/13030/tf9779p783 relation: http://www.orgname.org/ relation: http://findaid.org.org/findaid/... relation: http://www.orgname.edu/project/ Dublin Core record harvested via OAI

title: (Woman Holding a Pie) LNG42122.5

subject: Berkeley; male; outdoors; yard; stair

subject: Dorothea Lange Collection

subject: The War Years (1942-1944)

subject: Office of War Information (OWI)

subject: Woman Holding a Pie

publisher: Museum of [state]

date: 1944

type: image

identifier: http://www.orgname.org/idnumber

relation: http://orgname.org/findaid/idnumber

relation: id:/13030/tf9779p783

relation: http://www.orgname.org/

relation: http://findaid.org.org/findaid/...

relation: http://www.orgname.edu/project/

Metadata as a View Metadata is not monolithic Metadata should be a view projected from a single information object. Create multiple views appropriate for different venues Affects: Granularity of Description Choice of vocabularies Choice of formats

Metadata is not monolithic

Metadata should be a view projected from a single information object.

Create multiple views appropriate for different venues

Affects:

Granularity of Description

Choice of vocabularies

Choice of formats

What is Shareable Metadata? Is quality metadata Promotes search interoperability Is human understandable outside of its local context Is useful outside of its local context Preferably is machine processable

Is quality metadata

Promotes search interoperability

Is human understandable outside of its local context

Is useful outside of its local context

Preferably is machine processable

Shareable Metadata also… Provides enough contextual information Is consistent across a collection Is coherent Is true to its content but also its audience Conforms to standards

Provides enough contextual information

Is consistent across a collection

Is coherent

Is true to its content but also its audience

Conforms to standards

Safe Assumptions Users often discover material through shared records, not through your front door Users don’t know about your collection or won’t remember it. Shared records lead users to local environment where full context is available Because users enter through “deep” links, they may bypass introductory information that provides the larger context for a collection.

Users often discover material through shared records, not through your front door

Users don’t know about your collection or won’t remember it.

Shared records lead users to local environment where full context is available

Because users enter through “deep” links, they may bypass introductory information that provides the larger context for a collection.

Contact Information Sarah Shreeves Coordinator, IDEALS University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign Email: [email_address] Phone: 217-244-3877 Attributions: Slide 1 image: ALA Techsource ( http://flickr.com/photos/alatechsourceblog/ ) under a CC Attribution-ShareAlike license Slide 2 image: Merrick Brown ( http://flickr.com/photos/merrickb/ ) under a CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license Slide 4 image: Bill Liao ( http://flickr.com/photos/liao/archives/date-posted/2007/01/13/ ) under a CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.