4 pictures and a
conclusion:
the third age of libraries in a
network environment
Lorcan Dempsey
Taiga Forum
28 March 2006
40 pictures and no
conclusion
Lorcan Dempsey
Taiga Forum
?? March 2006
3 ages
1. Resource sharing and cataloging
2. A&I and e-journals
3. Consolidation around network
platforms ..
Some context
for a beginning
Robin Murray
Library service
landscape
URL is the currency of the web
Synthesize-specialize-mobilize
The library and the library network
Systemwide
efficiences
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
Aggregate supply?
 1.7% of circulations
are ILLs
Each book
its reader
Aggregate demand?
 20% of collection
accounted for 90% of
use
 (2 research libraries over
~4 years)
 (60% of aggregate G5
collection owned by one
library)
… to collaboratively sourced
approaches
Libraries Australia
CRL
Ithaka
OCLC
RLG
DEF
OhioLink
California digital library
JISC
Google Scholar
At what level?
Collections
Discovery to
delivery
Space and Consumer
environments
Business intelligence
Collections
View from
the hill
OCLC adaptation of Liz Lyon
View from
closer in
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?
Digitized special collections
 Relevance to local research and
learning needs?
 The biomedical question …
 Aggregation and higher level services
… at what level?
Web
 Harvest and curate
 Integrity: Versioning and citation
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, …
 Integrity: versioning and citation
 Special collections of the future?
Some
questions about
collections
Structures, budgets,
skills, routine
systems ….…
are organized around
the ‘upper left’.
What is the scholarly
record?
Who is securing the
scholarly record?
At what level?
Inside out and
outside in.
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
Challenges: find it?
Discovery:
 Fewer unified
resources?
 Metasearch?
 Where the user wants:
RSS, search engine,
CMS, ….
Location:
 Service router
 Resolvers
 E-commerce sites
 Library
 Services on items
Challenges: find it?
Request:
 Service router
 Place hold
 Place ILL request
 Initiate purchase
request, ….
Deliver:
 From multiple
sources
 Shared physical
and digital
collections?
Locked within end to end systems where the
ends are in the wrong places!
Aggregate supply and demand at the
network level.
Gravitational pull and smooth working.
Competition for attention.
Uncertainty about:
Service lines
Process model
Service/product architecture
Space and
Consumer
environments
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
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
Trajectory: from vertical integration …
… to collaboratively sourced
approaches
Libraries Australia
CRL
Ithaka
OCLC
RLG
DEF
OhioLink
California digital library
JISC
Google Scholar
Collectively strategise
Collectively specify (ERMI)
Collaboratively source
 Solutions
 Products
Synthesise-specialise-mobilize