This presentation was provided by Kevin Kidd of Boston College Libraries during the NISO event, "Library Resource Management Systems: New Challenges, New Opportunities," held October 8 - 9, 2009.

1. Library Resources in the Networked Environment
or, It’s all about service(s) (and data…)
Kevin Kidd
Library Applications & Systems Manager
Boston College
University Libraries
NISO Forum
Boston, MA
October 8-9, 2009

2. Libraries have traditionally served the function of providing access to
information/knowledge by collecting, cataloging and curating
books and other physical objects.
 The keyword here is ‘access’. Libraries have done an astounding job
of providing reliable access to disparate information across a multitude
of subjects, formats and forms
BUT, is information access still the primary role libraries (need to) play?
Maybe, But Maybe Not. . .

3. Now we have the Internet.
(Obviously)

4. It may be that the primary problem libraries have to solve now
is not access to information
Indeed, access to information has never been easier
We face many new problems, though:
 Information Overload
 Lack of Context
 Disorganization of Data
 Barriers to Data Manipulation / Integration

5. These problems point us in the direction we (at Boston College)
feel we need to go
We think libraries can (and, indeed, should) do the following:
 Filter Information and Help our Patrons Make Informed Choices
(a simultaneously modern and retro role for libraries)
 Provide Resources Where and When they (are likely) needed
(Contextualization)
 Make the Info and Resources We Provide Much More Useful to
Our Users
 Systematically Acquire and Prepare Data to Facilitate All of the
Above

6. In short, the biggest technology development issue facing
libraries today may be the question of how we create a
network environment which
 Is Rich in Services
 Meshes with User Behavior in Useful and Convenient Ways
 Saves Our Users Time

7. So, how do we begin to approach these goals?
We think libraries can - and indeed should - do (or at least think seriously about
doing) the following:
 Organize Online Information to Help our Patrons Make Informed
Choices (a role both modern and retro for libraries)
 Provide Resources Where and When they (are likely) needed
(Contextualization)
 Make the Info and Resources We Provide Much More Useful to
Our Users
 Systematically Acquire and Prepare Data to Facilitate All of the
Above

8. The First Grand Goal: Organize Online Information to Help our
Patrons Make Informed Choices
 This has to do – in a broad sense – with preparing data to be useful in
decision systems.
 For example, if we want to build a system which recommends
resources to our users, we need to understand and build data
structures to do so.
 Item vs. User-Based Recommendations
 Relating Resources to Local Programs of Study or Majors
 On the library staff side: organize and normalize statistics

9. The Second Grand Goal: Provide Resources Where and When
they (are likely) needed
 Much of the power of so-called Web 2.0 Applications is driven by
User Profile / User Behavior Data
 At Boston College, before a student ever logs-in, we know a lot:
 We know his/her major
 We know his/her current course schedule
 We know his/her school
 We know his/her degree program
 We know what he/she has checked-out currently & in the past
 What can we do with this profile information? Actually, a lot.

10. The Third Grand Goal: Make the Info and Resources We Provide
Much More Useful to Our Users
 This is really about contextualized use of resources and information.
For example:
 At BC, when you save something to an ‘e-shelf’, we know you’re
doing research (and it’s probably pretty important) :
 It would probably be useful to give you some options, at the
moment you save the record/PDF, etc. You might want to:
 Find a similar book/article
 Annotate and/or associate this thing with other stuff in your
e-shelf
 re-format, print, share, review, cite, translate or tag this thing

11. Fourth Grand Goal: Systematically Acquire and Prepare Data to
Facilitate All of the Above
 Truly revolutionary library applications should involve users both
explicitly - through reviews, tags, ratings, messages, etc - and
implicitly, by aggregating user and usage data as a side-effect of the
use of the application.
 User and Usage data is, perhaps, the most useful and most
under-utilized data to support the development of new library
services:
 Data – real data – is the key.
 We have a lot to do.

12. Thank You
• Questions?
• contact: kevin.kidd@bc.edu