Digital Library Landscape – Roy Tennant

Digital Library Landscape – Roy Tennant
Internet Library, Session D11
Monday, Oct 26 2009

Scribbled notes from a terrific session. Any misquotes are my own mistakes!

• Libraries are in imminent danger – if we do nothing – and even if we do  “something”, it may be the wrong thing.
• OCLC Perceptions Report – the public still sees our ‘brand’ as book, books, books..
• So the public goes to google & amazon for books? Where are libraries then?
• In the card catalog days, we were it! The center of the book finding universe.
• When we first started automating catalogs, they were (and mostly still are)  just cards on a screen.
• But we are no longer operating in an environment of scarcity, rather one of ubiquity – ubiquitous connections and access to information
• Users used to build their workflow around libraries, NOW we need to build our services around their workflow, be where they are, when they want it.
• “if you dislike change, you’re going to disklike irrelevance even more” Gen. Eric Shinseki
• Network level – concentration – big enough to have value and lots of information to attract users
• Webscale – diffusion – ie:  get the info OUT – ie: get library links on google books. Get data out to get users to your collections – worldcat date to put that info out in the path of users
• Eg: blog post w/ link to book – linkedto  record in worldcat, remembers your location, book  on shelf. What’s missing? Deliver it to my door. (ALSO missing  lots of libraries don’t participate in worldcat)
• Publishers send book metadata to booksellers, etc  – onix – standard metadata format used by publishers.
• Their metadata isn’t necessarily as complete as ours – so let’s collaboarate
• OCLC is taking onix data, enriching it and giving it back – “next generation cataloging” project. Helps libraries become “essential”
• “we must look  at we do through the prism of our imminent demise”
• Tools we develop need to solve problems that patrons/customers have. Not the problems we have “scratch their itch”
• Don’t worry too much about crafting perfect portals …. WHY? If you expose your data well, your audience will find your content through other search tools.
• Have to get our data out to google, flickr, etc. eg: LOC put their pics on flickr and stats went off the charts – even though those photos had been on the LOC site for years (photo)
• NYPL Live – lib becomes the center of conversation in that community. Be the place “where stuff happens”
• Not a time to be timid or panic
• Deserve a destiny of our own making.