NISO Two Day Virtual Conference: Using the Web as an E-Content Distribution Platform: Challenges and Opportunities Oct 21-22, 2014 Jeff Penka, Director of Channel and Product Development, Zepheira

1. An A+ Plan to Transform Your
Library With Linked Data
NISO Two-Day Virtual Conference, October 21-22:
Using the Web as an E-Content Distribution Platform:
Challenges and Opportunities
Jeff Penka
Executive Director, Product and Channel Development
jeffpenka@zepheira.com

2. Hi, I’m Jeff
• Zepheira
– Product Management
– Organizational Strategy
• OCLC
– End User and Reference
Service Portfolio Director
– Worldcat.org, FirstSearch,
QuestionPoint, Partnerships
• NISO – D2D, NetRef
• Passion
– Helping bring ideas to life
– Identifying and solving
problems through iteration
– Audience centered design
– Learning

3. Zepheira - Broad Experience and Specific Leadership

4. Overview
• Focus on
– Semantic Web, Linked Data, BIBFRAME, schema.org
– Zepheira’s market research, client experiences, solutions
– Library visibility
– BIBFLOW
– Libhub Initiative

5. A Three Part Plan
Awareness
Assessment
Action

6. Awareness

7. Moving from web pages to “a web of data”

8. There is a significant gap between what
browsers and humans see on the Web

9. Remember when sites were just link lists
and there was a web master…

10. Now the Web plays a central role for the
library and most staff

11. But we aren’t speaking in a way the Web
understands
• We have a wealth of
content and
resources locked
behind legacy, closed
technology systems
and niche
vocabularies

12. The traditional, Visible Web focuses on
Harvesting and Links to Pages

13. The emerging Invisible Web focuses on
Data, Resources, Vocabulary, and Connections

14. New Interfaces and Uses
Mobile, Weather, Sports, Personalization, Geo

15. New Vocabularies and Characteristics
Retail – items, reviews, geo, descriptions, inventory, hours, social, events

16. New Vocabularies and Characteristics
Movies – Geo, reviews, ratings, images, previews, times, tickets

17. New Vocabularies and Characteristics
Restaurants – locations, reviews, hours, reservations, menus

18. How does the Web see Libraries?

19. Libraries = Community Businesses
Location, photos, hours, reviews, social, events

20. External Perspectives
• Are websites and systems harvestable?
• Is there a unified and accessible industry
vocabulary?
• Are there strong connections and
relationships?
• What is the consistency and reliability of the
user experience and available data?

21. Electronic and Physical Resources
Still harvesting pages, not data assets

22. The Time is Right
Standard, adopted technologies and practices
• Linked Data
Emerging shared vocabularies
• BIBFRAME, schema.org
A motivated, collaborative community

23. Linked Data
”a recommended best practice for exposing,
sharing, and connecting pieces of
data, information, and knowledge on the
Semantic Web using URIs and RDF."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linked_Data

24. Unifying Vocabularies
• Schema.org
– Bib Extend - W3C group – group focused on discussion and
preparation of proposals to extend schema.org for improved
representation of bibliographic information markup and sharing.
• BIBFRAME
– Extensible replacement for MARC
– “The Initiative aims to re-envision and, in the long run,
implement a new bibliographic environment for libraries that
makes "the network" central and makes interconnectedness
commonplace.”

25. A Descriptive Blueprint
• BIBFRAME common model
– flexible, designed to
accommodate the needs of
our community.
• Recognize creative tension
between past and future
• Profiles are a blueprint for a
specific community or
entity description

27. Phases of Linked Data / BIBFRAME Adoption
http://zepheira.com/ala2014
Experimenters
Early
Implementers
Data Publishers
& Connectors
Mainstream
Workflow
Back Office
Systems
• Clarify Space
• Determine the
Need
• Define a
Foundation
• Draft
Specifications
• Test the Assumptions
• Draft Standards
• Evaluate Data, Processes, & Gaps
• Begin to work at scale
• Use other’s data
• Participate – Publish, Share,
Connect
• “Final” Standards & Best
Practices
• New businesses and
models
• “There’s Linked
Data in there!?”

28. Assessment
where are you today, where do you want to go
• Assets
– Data, Formats, Access
– Resources
– Collections
– Events
• Providers & Partners
– Systems
– Services
– Content
• Organization
– Goals
– Staff
– Culture
– Relationships
• Impact and Assessment
– Priorities
– Baselines
– Measures

29. Action
what can you do to begin actively learning
1. Invest in Staff Professional Development
2. Pilot Projects
3. Define Organizational Priorities
4. Baseline Web Visibility
5. Talk with Providers and Partners
6. Monitor and Engage in Community Activities

30. Staff Professional Development
Zepheira’s Practical Practitioner Community
http://zepheira.com/training

34. Phases of Linked Data / BIBFRAME Adoption
http://zepheira.com/ala2014

35. Learning through action

40. Library Web Visibility
We believe that everyone benefits from the
visibility of libraries and their content on the Web,
and we feel this problem can be addressed in a
relatively short timeframe.

41. Learning, Leading, Linking
• Build on existing investments
• Use BIBFRAME to reflect content in the Web
• Leverage the Web’s cooperative infrastructure
• Accelerate and support libraries’ cooperative nature
• Link between shared assets to test impact on search results
• Help the Web understand libraries
Phases of Linked Data / BIBFRAME Adoption

42. Incremental Steps
1. Make it extremely easy to project Library data to
Linked Data (BIBFRAME)
2. Start with Visibility – publish to the Web in a way
the Web understands
– Relationships!
– RDFa (schema.org, BIBFRAME)
3. Increase discoverability
– accelerate linking among / across assets
4. Learn! Inform! Educate! Iterate!

43. Moving the Needle and
Transforming the Web
http://libhub.org
1. Take the pledge
2. Get Involved
3. Offer your support

44. Define your A+ Plan
1. Awareness
2. Assessment
3. Action
Thank you!
Learn more @
http://zepheira.com/solutions/library/
http://libhub.org