Linked open data is making huge strides in providing access to primary source materials. The digital holdings of a massive number of galleries, archives, libraries, and museums are now freely accessible. Expensive subscriptions or access to research-level collections are not needed to access a wealth of digital items unavailable just a few years ago. This presentation will demonstrate the amazing things available through metadata harvesters such as europeana.eu and dp.la, provide navigation tips for finding primary source materials, and describe the core metadata protocol and technology that makes the magic possible.

1. Metadata Repositories
Nicholas Schiller; ILAGO Summit; May 16, 2015; CGCC
The marriage of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou.

2. Outcomes:
Participants will leave the session able to:
• share how freaking cool these tools are.
• explain the basic underlying
technology to other librarians.
• integrate metadata repositories into
your library’s offerings

3. Assignment: Find primary source
relating to a historical figure represented
in current popular culture.
Student: Fascinated with Game of
Thrones character Cersei Lannister.
Librarian: Point student toward sources
on Margaret of Anjou, a possible historical
basis for the character.

4. Game of Thrones. “Cripples, Bastards, & Broken Things.” HBO. 56:00. May 8, 2011.

6. At your reference desk,
how would you answer this
question?

7. Assignment: Find primary source
relating to a historical figure represented
in current popular culture.
Student: Fascinated with Game of
Thrones character Cersei Lannister.
Librarian: Point student toward sources
on Margaret of Anjou, a possible historical
basis for the character.

8. One Discovery Tool
searches many digital archives

13. Students can find
great content
from digital
archives in dp.la
& europeana.eu.

14. Outcomes:
Participants will leave the session able to:
•share how freaking cool
these tools are.
• explain the basic underlying technology to
other librarians.
• integrate metadata repositories into your
library’s offerings

15. Metadata Repositories
Librarian Perspectives:
• The structures that
allow the system to
work
• Where does the
content live?
• What do students
need to know in order
to use them?
Library-List Of Lobbes Abbey,
In A Volume of Works By St. Fulgentius

16. europeana.eu & dp.la
• Publish a standard for digital archives:
• description of their artifacts
• dublin core; rdf
• sharing their metadata
• oai-pmh

17. Participating Archives
• Apply the standards as they catalog their
collections or crosswalk their data.
• Expose their metadata according to the set
standard
• Control their content; only metadata is
harvested

18. Only metadata is harvested
Main library, Junior Library, and branches. Newton, MA. Card catalog

19. What do
Students need
to know?
How much expertise is
needed to search
successfully?
Shields Library, student in the book stacks

20. Metadata Repositories
Librarian Perspectives:
• The structures that
allow the system to
work
• Where does the
content live?
• What do students need
to know in order to use
them?
Library-List Of Lobbes Abbey,
In A Volume of Works By St. Fulgentius

21. Outcomes:
Participants will leave the session able to:
• share how freaking cool these tools are.
• explain the basic underlying
structures to other librarians.
• integrate metadata repositories into
your information literacy program

22. Metadata Repositories & IL
THE BIG QUESTION FOR 43, 1941 - 1945

23. Two Channels of Thought
A. Practical focus: for students, how do
metadata repositories present different
barriers than library provided
resources?
B. Curious thought: How much of our my
IL approach focuses on things the
library buys? Does what-we-pay-for map
to what-students-need?

24. Implement well-designed search
strategies
• Discovery and access take place on
different platforms.
• Facets work, but aren’t universal.
• Date is particularly challenging.

25. Access information effectively and
efficiently from multiple sources.
• Metadata repositories aren’t quite
siloed databases, but they aren’t quite
search engines
• (They work on the same general
principles as discovery layers.) Do we
have an IL pedagogy for discovery
layers?

26. Curious Thoughts:
• europeana.eu & dp.la are not solutions to
existing problems, but cool new stuff that
wasn’t possible before.
• There’s no *natural* place for them in our
resource lists.
• At some point, the balance between filtering
by quality and filtering by ownership will
cease to be useful.
• These problems are closely related to
discovery layer problems.

27. Questions?
A burning question. Puck:--"Gentlemen, avoid both extremes--your 'stronghold' is in the middle!"