Moving to the
Network Level:
Libraries, Readers
and Applications
Lorcan Dempsey
ORBIS Cascade Alliance
Retreat
University of Washington
12-14 April 2006
3 ages
1. Resource sharing and cataloging
2. A&I and e-journals
3. Move to the network level:

Consolidation around network
platforms ..
Moving to the network level
Storage
Amazon S3
Application
Salesforce.com
Computation
Sun Grid
Data
Refworks
Shared cataloging
JSTOR
Google
Some
context for a
beginning
Robin Murray
Synthesise, Local
CSUSM, David
Walker
Synthesise, network
Specialize,
Local
Mobilize,
Local
Innovative Uses of Metasearch:
Rethinking Metasearch for a
Better User Experience
David Lindahl & Jeff
Suszczynski, U Rochester
‘2 clicks to full-text’
Integrate ‘find articles’
service with other
services
‘Variety of pathways’
Metasearch appropriate
databases from course
pages
Looking to
synthesize,
specialize,
mobilize
Library service
landscape
URL is the currency of the web
The library and the library network
Systemwide
efficiencies
Cat/Resource sharing
Journal lit
Impact
The long tail
Systemwide
efficiences
Aggregation of supply
•Unified discovery
•Low transaction costs
Aggregation of demand
Impact?
Synthesize-specialize-mobilize
Libraries and the long tail dynamic
Each reader
his/her book
Each book
its reader
Aggregate supply?
Aggregate demand?
 1.7% of circulations
are ILLs
 (60% of aggregate
G5 collection owned
by one library only)
 20% of collection
accounted for 90% of
use
 (2 research libraries
over ~4 years)
Collaboratively sourced approaches
Libraries Australia
CRL
Ithaka
OCLC
RLG
DEF
OhioLink
Summit
California digital library
JISC
Pines
Google Scholar
At what level?
Space and Consumer
environments
Collections
Discovery to
delivery
Business intelligence
Space &
consumer
environments
OCLC adaptation of Liz Lyon
Self assembled digital identity
Prefabricated (e.g. CMS)
Database > website > workflow
Gather – create - share
Raymond Yee
URL is the currency
Conversation and evidence
Mobilize the edge of user contribution
Mobilize resources in user spaces
Integrity and authenticity
Versioning
Citing
pentags
Collections
stewardship
high
Books
Journals
low
high
Special
collections
Freely-accessible
web resources
uniqueness
uniqueness
Newspapers
Gov. docs
CD, DVD
Maps
Scores
low
Rare books
Local/Historical
newspapers
Local history materials
Archives & Manuscripts,
Theses & dissertations
Open source software
Newsgroup archives
Research and learning
materials
•ePrints/tech reports
•Learning objects
•Courseware
•E-portfolios
•Research data
Print books
 Preservation turn: Cost of management and
preservation of print collection?
 Mass digitisation: converting sharable
materials to licensable materials?
 Mass digitization and off-site storage present
similar issues: selection and shared capacity
move to network level?
Licensed resources
 Libraries have selected from a published
resource: scholarly record.
 A global knowledge base?
 Complete digital and print runs – at what
level?
 Growing interest in audio, video, …
 Mobilize: Gather, create, share?
Digitized special collections
 Relevance to local research and learning
needs? Primary materials.
 Specialise: support the curriculum/research needs
 Mobilize: integration with learning materials
 Aggregation and higher level services … at
what level?
Web




Harvest and curate
Integrity: Versioning and citation
State/government docs/websites
Specialize:
 Collect websites for a particular course
Institutional research and learning outputs
 Differently motivated (coordinated asset
management, scholarly communications,
reputation management, disclosure,
preservation, ..)
 Domain specialties (high acronymic density)
 Diversity: big data, e-portfolios, learning
materials, …
 Special collections of the future?
 New institutional content: podcasts, TV,
Blog/Wiki record, …
Collections
Outside in: traditional
Inside out: new challenge
Discovery
to
delivery
Example: aggregate supply:
transaction costs
Discover
Locate
Request
Each arrow is a potential added cost:
In terms of attention or technical,
policy, business or service gaps.
Amazon? Google?
Deliver
Use
Synthesise discovery
 Metasearch
 Consolidation?
Specialize discovery?
Synthesize and specialize location
 Service router = resolution
Locked within end to end systems
where the ends are in the wrong
places!
Fragmentation: major discovery ad
transaction costs
Losing the competition for attention.
Business
intelligence
Measurement
 Assessment
 Marketing
 Reflexive product adaptation
Business
intelligence
To think about:
Consolidated holdings?
Consolidated usage data?
Consolidated circ data?
Consolidated resolution data?
Consolidated download data?
….
Moving to the
network level
From vertical integration …
… to collaboratively sourced
approaches
Libraries Australia
CRL
Ithaka
OCLC
RLG
DEF
OhioLink
Orbis Cascade Alliance
California digital library
JISC
Google Scholar
At what level:
 Institutional (single, California Digital
Library)
 Regional/State (OhioLink, Pines, Orbis
Cascade Alliance)
 National (JISC, DEFF, Libraries Australia, …)
 International (Google Scholar, worldcat,
JStor)
Multilevel approach to …
Collections
D2D
Social and consumer
environments
Business intelligence
 Shared offsite storage
 Aggregate and analyse
digital collections
 Institutional repository
 Digital storage and
preservation
 Social networking
services: tagging,
reviews,
recommendations
 Share mobilizing
approaches
 Virtual reference
 Consolidated discovery
 Knowledge base
 Resolution - Service
routing – fulfilment
 Synthesize and mobilize
shared usage data
 Recommendation,
management decisions
 Digitization and offsite
storage
A new resource sharing …
Share everything … a pattern for
more efficiently allocating resources
within bigger units
Uncertainty
The collective collection
Service development
 Concentrate expertise and share outputs
 E.g. developing specialized and mobilizing services
Bank
 Access to materials, innovation, …
The end
http://orweblog.oclc.org