Libraries need to have more say in how they present their collections to their users be it mobile, display screens, or custom machines. Queens Library's team discusses how they use vendor APIs in their applications and how it gives them flexibility in meeting their patron needs. Queens Library has also proposed standards and is working with NISO so all libraries can have this flexibility.

1. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
API Standardization for
eContent for Libraries
Moving to Open Standards with NISO

2. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
API Standardization for
eContent for Libraries
Moving to Open Standards with NISO
Christopher Carvey
718.990.8576
ccarvey@queenslibrary.org
Ankaj Patidar
718.990.8697
apatidar@queenslibrary.org

3. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Competing for Mindshare
Monday, November 21, 2016
LITA Forum 2016

4. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
What Does Our Competition Have In Common?
SEARCH AND DISCOVERY
RAPID DEVELOPMENT
FOCUS ON USERS
FRESH CONTENT
LITA Forum 2016

5. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
What Do Libraries Offer?
TRUSTED FAMILY RESOURCE
CUSTOM CURATION
EASY AND FREE ACCESS, LOCAL TO ME
LIFE-LONG LEARNING CENTERS
CULTURAL/COMMUNITY KNOWLEDGE
Monday, November 21, 2016
LITA Forum 2016

6. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
People Like Libraries, But Don’t Know What They Offer
91%
Americans (16+) say
public libraries are
important to their
communities
76%
Say libraries are
important to them
and their families
22%
Americans (16+) say
they know what their
libraries offer
31%
Of tablet owners say
they do nothing at all
about what their
library offer
Pew Internet
Library Services in the
Digital Age
January 22, 2013
Pew Internet
Libraries, patrons,
And e-books
June 22, 2013
Monday, November 21, 2016
LITA Forum 2016

7. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Libraries score high on affinity
Low on discovery and delivery
Monday, November 21, 2016
LITA Forum 2016

8. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Confusion Soup
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9. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Confusion Soup
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10. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Say What?!!
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There Must Be A
Better Way…
How Does Anyone
Understand This?

11. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201611
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The Dream
Experience

12. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201612
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What’s really going on
with our customers?
How do we make
ourselves more relevant?

13. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201613
LITA Forum 2016
More importantly….
Why are we making our
business process problems…
our customer’s user
experience problems?

14. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Understand Your Library’s Agenda
Vendor
• Money
• Access To Your Users
• Ensure DRM
• Another Account To
Market And Learn
• Drive You To A Portal
• Dictate Features, Keep
You On A Schedule
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You
• Access Content, Remove
Silos
• Flexible implementation
• Transparency And Control
Layers
• Less Hassle And Fewer
Complaints
• Support And
Documentation
• Better UX, Analytics

15. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
1. Walk Up To Shelf
2. Select Material
3. Confirm This Is The Material You Need
4. Filter Selections
5. Check It Out, Renew, Return
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Support Simple User Journeys
How Can I Satisfy….
Why Are You (The Vendor) In The Middle?
Show It To Me On A Phone!

16. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
1. Browse Material
2. Filter Material
3. Make Selection
4. Read Material
5. Return/Expire
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17. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201617
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18. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
All in all, most library
customers have at least
17+ steps to go though
to get to content.
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LITA Forum 2016

19. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
This goes against “why
our users hired us.”
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20. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201620
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Libraries = Positive
Experiences

21. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201621
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Libraries = Good

22. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
We can do better.
Libraries can work with partners
to build better solutions for their
unique communities.
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23. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
We can do better.
BUT, We need to be on the
frontline of the NEW way of
doing things.
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24. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
We can build better parity
between print and digital
discovery experiences.
Monday, November 21, 201624
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25. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Reader’s First Principles
• To achieve a better user experience for library patrons, e-content providers must be
willing partners, and offer products that allow users to:
– Search and browse a single comprehensive catalog with all of a library’s
offerings at once, including all e-books, physical collections, programs, blogs, and
donor opportunities.
– Place holds, check-out items, view availability, manage fines and receive
communications within individual library catalogs or in the venue the library
believes will serve them best, without having to visit separate websites
(libraries, not distributers, should be enabled to manage all interactions with
users).
– Seamlessly enjoy a variety of e-content. To do this, libraries must be able to
choose content, devices and apps from any provider or from multiple providers,
without bundling that limits a library’s ability to serve content they purchase on
platforms of their choice.
– Download e-books that are compatible with all readers, from the Kindle to the
Nook to the iPad and so on.
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26. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Taking On The Challenge
• Queens Library’s work Vendors on
Discovery & Delivery Platform and BYOD
Mobile User Application since mid-2013
• Dealing with varied content sources was
a challenge
• No common way to approach Library
toolsets
• Future tools moving towards a unified
Discovery
• Drawbacks to proprietary development,
Seeking Benefits of moving to open
standards
• Making “Reader’s First” Principles REAL
Monday, November 21, 201626
LITA Forum 2016

27. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
The Reality of Current Process
• Users are confused
• Different Branding,
Language, Processes
• Licensing and logins
• Programs, Tools
• All of This Gets In
the Way
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28. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Creating Good Experiences
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29. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201629
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Library UX : Customer First Strategy
Useful Resources for formulating strategy with stakeholders.

30. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Planning and Concepting
• Defining Success, Simplifying Ease of use
• Leveraging User’s Devices
• One Universal Discovery Layer for Libraries
• Enter the FASTEN API Draft Document
• Discussions with NISO
• AUTH, Future: Media-handling in The Cloud
• Interfaces for Any Device
• “Evergreen” Underlying Technology
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31. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201631
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UX Sample (Circa 2015) Steps 1-2

32. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201632
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UX Sample (Circa 2015) Steps 3-4

33. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201633
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UX Sample (Circa 2015) Step 5
End.

34. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201634
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So easy a kid
could do it!

35. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Core Processes
• Login
• Identify Verification
• Availability of Material
• DRM Licensing
• Checkout, Waitlist, Hold
• Changing Pins, Passwords
• Understanding UI to Read, Watch, Listen, Stream
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Designed By Freepik.com

36. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Media Handling
• eBooks
• Audiobooks
• Media Downloads
• Media Management across
Across Multiple Devices
• Streaming Audio & Video
• Collection Development, Admin Support
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Ibrandify/Freepik.com

37. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Current Problem (Tech View)
• Too much coding time.
• Each vendor has their own technology
roadmap and release schedule
• Each vendor has own semantics
(request/hold checkout/download), API
standards
• Some provide re-download links some
don’t
Monday, November 21, 201637
LITA Forum 2016

38. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Challenges
• Different response of same API
Monday, November 21, 201638
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39. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Challenges (Cont’d)
• Roadmap and Releases
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40. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
I just need to know availability!
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41. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Different Terminology
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42. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Users Already Have Multiple Accounts,
Usernames, Passwords, They don’t want more
Monday, November 21, 201642
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43. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Proposed Solution
• Same APIs Calls and Response
• Similar semantics
• Delta APIs
• Proprietary APIs should use
common building blocks
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44. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
What APIs Should Do
• Harvesting
• Updating once a day
• Custom search engine indexing
• Custom discovery layer
• Custom featured lists
• Micro-services, small bites of data
• Single Sign-on (SSO)
• Download/Re-download/Stream/
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45. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
One-time Harvesting
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46. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Update Once A Day
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47. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201647
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48. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201648
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49. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.Monday, November 21, 201649
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50. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
A Closer Look (Resources)
• NISO Work Item
• http://www.niso.org/apps/group_public/download.php/16796/Library%20Servic
es%20API-for%20VM%20Approval.pdf
• Queens Virtual Library API Page
• http://virtuallibrary.queenslibrary.org/?q=library-api-draft
• NISO Work Item Press Release
• http://www.niso.org/news/pr/view?item_key=e18a9742103bc945868a51a1e196
e62b68879df6
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51. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Next Steps : Giving Back
• Next Phase, Roadmap features
• Building for Library Community
• How you can get involved, contributions
• Building working group
• Raising funding for standardization effort
• Prototyping, Sample code
• Making code available via public REPOS
• Documentation, Iteration
Monday, November 21, 201651
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52. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
API Standardization for
eContent for Libraries
Moving to Open Standards with NISO
Christopher Carvey
718.990.8576
ccarvey@queenslibrary.org
Ankaj Patidar
718.990.8697
apatidar@queenslibrary.org

53. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Q&A
Monday, November 21, 201653
LITA Forum 2016

54. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Search And Explore
• Index data to your choice of search
engine
• Customize discovery layer based on
latest trends
• Mark your featured items
• Suggestion engines
Monday, November 21, 201654
LITA Forum 2016

55. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Customize your way
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56. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Single Sign-on
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57. Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system.
Patron Info APIs
• Account Exists?
• No! What should be user name email?
• History, Checkout, Requests lists
• Download/Re-download/Stream
• Replace username/barcode
• Early Check-in
Monday, November 21, 201657
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