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 Impact Systemwide efficiences Cat/Resource sharing Journal lit

The long tail Impact? Systemwide efficiences Aggregation of supply Unified discovery Low transaction costs Aggregation of demand Synthesize-specialize-mobilize

Libraries and the long tail dynamic Aggregate supply? 1.7% of circulations are ILLs 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) Each reader his/her book Each book its reader

… 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

highlow high stewardship uniqueness Books Journals Newspapers Gov. docs CD, DVD Maps Scores Special collections Rare books Local/Historical newspapers Local history materials Archives & Manuscripts, Theses & dissertations Research and learning materials ePrints/tech reports Learning objects Courseware E-portfolios Research data Freely-accessible web resources Open source software Newsgroup archives uniqueness

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

Use Request Locate Discover Deliver Example: aggregate supply: transaction costs Each arrow is a potential added cost: In terms of attention or technical, policy, business or service gaps. Amazon? Google?

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

Database > website > workflow Prefabricated (e.g. CMS) Self assembled digital identity

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