PUBLIC LIBRARIES: NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN TIMES OF CHANGE Marshall Breeding Independent Consult, Author, Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides March 2013 PLWA 2013 Biennial Conference

Summary Public libraries face many challenges in the ways they serve their communities in these times of great change in society and technology. Interest in e-books has taken off, presenting enormous opportunities—if libraries can navigate through all the obstacles—to deliver lending services that delight their customers. Finding new ways to foster engagement with their communities stands as a paramount concern. Libraries have a growing set of options to bring in the character of social networks into their sphere. Most importantly, libraries can work to become a hub for their community, expanding beyond traditional methods of library service. Marshall Breeding will present his view of the role of libraries in this critical time of change and some of the ways that libraries can improve their standing in their communities in the way that they shape their services and in their use of technology.

Library Technology Guides

Public Libraries in Australia

Public Libraries in Western Australia

Library Journal Automation Marketplace  Published annually in April 1 issue  Based on data provided by each vendor  Focused primarily on North America  Context of global library automation market

LJ Automation Marketplace Annual Industry report published in Library Journal:  2012: Agents of Change  2011: New Frontier: battle intensifies to win hearts, minds and tech dollars  2010: New Models, Core Systems  2009: Investing in the Future  2008: Opportunity out of turmoil  2007: An industry redefined  2006: Reshuffling the deck  2005: Gradual evolution  2004: Migration down, innovation up  2003: The competition heats up  2002: Capturing the migrating customer

Cloud Computing for Libraries  Volume 11 in The Tech Set  Published by Neal- Schuman / ALA TechSource  ISBN:  Book ImagePublication Info:

Next-Gen Library Catalogs Marshall Breeding Neal-Schuman Publishers March 2010 Volume 1 of The Tech Set

Appropriate Automation Infrastructure  Current automation products out of step with current realities  Centered on transactional support  Proliferation of disconnected tech components  Majority of automation efforts support print activities  Management of e-content continues with inadequate supporting infrastructure  Need better virtual presence that covers full breadth of library collection and services  Library users expect more engaging socially aware interfaces for Web and mobile

Allocation of resources  Libraries need flexible technical infrastructure that responds to changing priorities  Collection funds devoted mostly to e-content  Allocation of technology infrastructure and personnel devoted mostly to management of print  Not hardwired to specific content media, workflows, or services

Technology to support all faces of public libraries  Physical  Social / Community  Digital

Reshaped collections  Monographs: transition to e-books underway  Demand for e-book discovery and lending  For academics, E-books now largely delivered through database aggregations  Digital collections: local libraries and cultural organizations actively involved in digitizing unique materials  Journal content: mostly delivered electronically  Media collections: LP, CD, DVD, Blu-Ray to streaming  Heritage print collections will remain indefinitely

Fulfillment activities  Print circulation Increasing  Increasing reliance on self-service  Direct consortial borrowing  Interlibrary loan activity rising  Increased pressure for resource sharing

Additional public library roles  Beyond content fulfillment  Centers of community engagement  Technology access for the under-served  Ready reference > in-depth research support  Improve Literacy, promote reading, etc  Facilitating use of technology  Stimulate creativity: Maker spaces

Public Library Issues  Greater concern for e-books and general article databases  Management: Need for consolidated approach that balances print, digital, and electronic workflows  Emphasis on technologies that engage users with library programs and services

Cumulative effect  Library collections more complex than ever  Library services move diverse  Managing electronic and digital content harder than managing print

Tech for Physical Libraries  Content stations: Catalog stations, e-book kiosks, specialized resources  Self-service (RFID) – increasingly duplicating LMS / Online catalog functionality  Digital signage and exhibits  Computing: Wi-Fi – PCs – printing  Multi-media tables  Device Lending – increasingly self-service  Anything to spark collaboration and engagement

Social Computing  Web 2.0 as a separate activity often counter productive  Important to have social orientation built directly into the software and services that comprise library infrastructure  Avoid jettisoning patrons out of the library’s Web presence  Find ways to effectively connect with users, connect users to each other, and especially to connect users to library content and services

Key Context: Changed expectations in metadata management  Moving away from individual record-by-record creation  Life cycle of metadata  Metadata follows the supply chain, improved and enhanced along the way as needed  Manage metadata in bulk when possible  E-book collections  Highly shared metadata  E-journal knowledge bases (KnowledgeWorks / 360 Core)  Great interest in moving toward semantic web and open linked data  Very little progress in linked data for operational systems  AACR2 > RDA  MARC > RDF (recent announcement of Library of Congress)

Enterprise connectivity  Important to be interconnected with the technical infrastructure of related organizations:  Council services, Campus,  UK: strong dynamic between local council business systems and that of the library service

Fundamental technology shift  Mainframe computing  Client/Server  Cloud Computing

Mobile Computing

Cooperation and Resource sharing  Efforts on many fronts to cooperate and consolidate  Many regional consortia merging (Example: suburban Chicago systems)  State-wide or national implementations  Software-as-a-service or “cloud” based implementations  Many libraries share computing infrastructure and data resources

Illinois Heartland Library Consortium  Largest Consortium in US by Number of Members

Strategic Cooperation  Shared infrastructure in support of strategic collaborative relationships  Opportunities to share infrastructure  Examples:  2CUL  Orbis Cascade Alliance  Opportunities to reconsider automation implementation strategies  One library = 1 ILS?  Ability to share infrastructure across organizational boundaries?

Shared Infrastructure  Northern Ireland  South Australia  Denmark (tender process underway)  Chile  Iceland

Challenge: Disjointed approach to information and service delivery  Library Web sites offer a menu of unconnected silos:  Books: Library OPAC (ILS online catalog module)  Articles: Aggregated content products, e-journal collections  OpenURL linking services  E-journal finding aids (Often managed by link resolver)  Subject guides (e.g. Springshare LibGuides)  Local digital collections ETDs, photos, rich media collections  Metasearch engines  Discovery Services – often just another choice among many  All searched separately

Integrated service Delivery  A unified interface that takes full responsibility for customer experience  Avoids abrupt hand-offs  Does not jettison customers away from the library presence  Inward vectors of engagement

Integrating e-Books into Library Automation Infrastructure  Current approach involves mostly outsourced arrangements  Collections licensed wholesale from single provider  Hand-off to DRM and delivery systems of providers  Loading of MARC records into local catalog with linking mechanisms  No ability to see availability status of e-books from the library’s online catalog or discovery interface

Online Catalog  Books, Journals, and Media at the Title Level  Not in scope:  Articles  Book Chapters  Digital objects  Web site content  Etc. Scope of Search Search: Search Results ILS Data

Public Library Information Portal Search: Digital Collections Web Site Content Community Information … Customer- provided content Reference Sources Search Results Pre-built harvesting and indexing Consolidated Index LMS Data Aggregated Content packages Archives Usage- generated Data Customer Profile

Discovery Products

Fragmented Library Management  LMS for management of (mostly) print  Duplicative financial systems between library and local government or other parent organization  E-book lending platform (multiple?)  Interlibrary loan (borrowing and lending)  Self-service and AMH infrastructure  Electronic Resource Management  PC Scheduling and print management  Event scheduling  Digital Collections Management platforms (CONTENTdm, DigiTool, etc.)  Discovery-layer services for broader access to library collections  No effective integration services / interoperability among disconnected systems, non-aligned metadata schemes

Library management systems  Traditionally focus on circulation, cataloging, and acquisitions  Neglect patron-facing services  New generation needs to operate as:  Customer relationship management  Enterprise Resource Management  Collection management  Patron discovery and service fulfillment

Automation priorities  Current LMS model focuses on technical services  Discovery interfaces and catalog address patron self-service  General absence of customer relationship management  How can new generations of technology infrastructure provide tools to facilitate research support, reference, and other public services  Need to generate performance metrics for these critical library services

Comprehensive Resource Management  No longer sensible to use different software platforms for managing different types of library materials  ILS + ERM + OpenURL Resolver + Digital Asset management, etc. very inefficient model  Flexible platform capable of managing multiple type of library materials, multiple metadata formats, with appropriate workflows

Open Systems  Achieving openness has risen as the key driver behind library technology strategies  Libraries need to do more with their data  Ability to improve customer experience and operational efficiencies  Demand for Interoperability  Open source – full access to internal program of the application  Open API’s – expose programmatic interfaces to data and functionality

Libraries need a new model of library automation  Not an Integrated Library System or Library Management System  The ILS/LMS was designed to help libraries manage print collections  Generally did not evolve to manage electronic collections  Other library automation products evolved:  Electronic Resource Management Systems – OpenURL Link Resolvers – Digital Library Management Systems -- Institutional Repositories

Library Services Platform  Library-specific software. Designed to help libraries automate their internal operations, manage collections, fulfill requests, and deliver services  Services  Service oriented architecture  Exposes Web services and other API’s  Facilitates the services libraries offer to their users  Platform  General infrastructure for library automation  Consistent with the concept of Platform as a Service  Library programmers address the APIs of the platform to extend functionality, create connections with other systems, dynamically interact with data

Library Services Platform Characteristics  Highly Shared data models  Knowledgebase architecture  Some may take hybrid approach to accommodate local data stores  Delivered through software as a service  Multi-tenant  Unified workflows across formats and media  Flexible metadata management  MARC – Dublin Core – VRA – MODS – ONIX  New structures not yet invented  Open APIs for extensibility and interoperability

Consolidated index Unified Presentation Layer Search: Digital Coll ProQuest EBSCO … JSTOR Other Resources New Library Management Model ` API Layer Library Services Platform Learning Management Enterprise Resource Planning Stock Management Self-Check / Automated Return Authentication Service Smart Cad / Payment systems Discovery Service

Reassess expectations of Technology  Many previous assumptions no longer apply  Technology platforms scale infinitely  No technical limits on how libraries share technical infrastructure  Cloud technologies enable new ways of sharing metadata  Build flexible systems not hardwired to any given set of workflows

Reassess workflow and organizational options  ILS model shaped library organizations  New Library Services Platforms may enable new ways to organize how resource management and service delivery are performed  New technologies more able to support strategic priorities and initiatives

Time to engage  Transition to new technology models just underway  More transformative development than in previous phases of library automation  Opportunities to partner and collaborate  Vendors want to create systems with long-term value  Question previously held assumptions regarding the shape of technology infrastructure and services  Provide leadership in defining expectations