Envisioning an “eXtensible” FutureOpportunities presented by the eXtensible Catalog (XC) Project

Jennifer BowenUniversity of RochesterACRL NY Annual Symposium, 2008

Agenda

• Current challenges for libraries• What’s next – and after that?

• What XC will do• How XC will work • What XC can offer to libraries

Challenges for libraries

• Most information seekers search the Web first• Library resources can be difficult to find via

the Web• Library metadata is not well-suited for use via

the open Web• Libraries face bigger financial challenges and

funding reductions

Technological challenges

• Inflexible, outdated web interfaces• Silos of content• Difficult for users to understand• Library metadata in MARC format is holding us

back

Financial challenges

• Libraries locked into long-term support contracts with vendors

• Lack of resources to devote to new software or to software development

• Funding restrictions - now reductions

Next steps for libraries

• Most libraries keeping current ILS• Purchasing new web “front ends”• Outsourcing resource access via WorldCat

Local• Some interest in open source alternatives• New metadata standard coming soon: RDA

Limitations of next steps

• Keeping current ILS – maintains current financial obligation and legacy technology

• “Front ends” – another financial obligation• Outsourcing web presence: doesn’t empower

libraries to serve local users• Open source: can libraries support this?• RDA: Will current systems be able to use it?

What’s AFTER these next steps?

What’s AFTER next steps?

• Web solutions that – Enable users to find library resources– Empower libraries to serve users

• Give libraries choices about their ILS– Facilitate both change AND the status quo

• Make library metadata really work on the web• Alternatives to long-term financial obligations

The eXtensible Catalog (XC)

• Set of open-source tools • Facilitate resource discovery and metadata

management• Funding from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

and from XC partner institutions• Software release: July 2009• Governance: not-for-profit• www.eXtensibleCatalog.org

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XC will provide…

• Compatibility with ILS, etc. via OAI-PMH• Out-of the-box user-interface functionality• Toolsets for customization, web application

development, metadata enrichment• Infrastructure for moving beyond MARC• The “XC Network” of services

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XC end-user functionality

• User interface searches across aggregated, sense-made metadata selected by host institution

• Faceted-browsing, FRBR, and authority data• Stand-alone and embedded interfaces

(Drupal, Scriblio), learning management system (Blackboard)

• User-generated metadata features

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XC Project Team

• Principal Investigators (4)

• Project Manager• Developers (7)• Designer• Library Staff

XC Partnerships

LibLime

Casey Bisson

Georgia PINES

Cornell Ohio State Yale Rochester

User Research Partners:

Technology Development Partners:

Evergreen

Koha

Scriblio

Aleph

Voyager

III

Notre Dame

CARLI (Illinois)

Oregon StateRIT

SUNY Buffalo

Rochester

XC software toolkits

• OAI Toolkit• NCIP Toolkit• Metadata Services Toolkit (MST)• Drupal Toolkit• Learning Management System Toolkit• Java Toolkit

The XC Network

• All XC components communicate using the OAI-PMH protocol

• Existing OAI-PMH repositories require no modification

• Institutions can create their own local XC network, or participate in larger cross-institution networks.

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Metadata Services Toolkit

• General architecture for processing and redistributing metadata

• Pluggable services to clean up, enrich metadata

• Admin interface to schedule harvests, orchestrate services, debug problems

• MST makes improved metadata available via for harvesting via OAI-PMH

Application development “toolkit”

• Library content in a web-development framework– Download free modules to add web features– Develop new functionality locally– Share functionality easily

• “User interface” features• Metadata improvement services

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How XC works

NCIP

OAI-PMH

OAI-PMH

Learning Management

System

XC Network

ILSNCIP

Toolkit

Library Website

LMS Toolkit

Drupal Toolkit

Repository (with OAI-PMH)

Repository

OAI Toolkit

OAI Toolkit

Metadata Services Toolkit

Record Cleanup

FRBRization

Authority Control

Aggregation

CustomWeb App.

Java Toolkit

OAI-PMH

OAI-PMH

Learning Management

System

XC Network

ILSNCIP

Toolkit

Library Website

LMS Toolkit

Drupal Toolkit

Repository (with OAI-PMH)

Repository

OAI Toolkit

OAI Toolkit

Metadata Services Toolkit

Record Cleanup

FRBRization

Authority Control

Aggregation

CustomWeb App.

Java Toolkit

NCIP

OAI-PMH

OAI-PMH

Learning Management

System

XC Network

ILSNCIP

Toolkit

Library Website

LMS Toolkit

Drupal Toolkit

Repository (with OAI-PMH)

Repository

OAI Toolkit

OAI Toolkit

Metadata Services Toolkit

Record Cleanup

FRBRization

Authority Control

Aggregation

CustomWeb App.

Java Toolkit

NCIP

OAI-PMH

OAI-PMH

Learning Management

System

XC Network

ILSNCIP

Toolkit

Library Website

LMS Toolkit

Drupal Toolkit

Repository (with OAI-PMH)

Repository

OAI Toolkit

OAI Toolkit

Metadata Services Toolkit

Record Cleanup

FRBRization

Authority Control

Aggregation

CustomWeb App.

Java Toolkit

NCIP

Opportunities for XC libraries

• Empower libraries to make choices• Enable customization and development• Integrate library content into various web

environments• Enable sharing of metadata and software• Expand the role of libraries

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Give libraries choices

• XC will work alongside commercial ILS’s Voyager, Aleph, III or open-source ILS’s: Evergreen, Koha

• XC will work with other applications (Dspace, contentDM, Blackboard, Drupal)

• XC will work alongside network-level applications

• XC will work with MARC, other metadata.

Enable customization and development

• Integrate with an open-source content management system

• Empowers libraries• Focuses attention upon needs of local users• “Lowers the bar” for local development

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Integrate library content into web environments

• Bring metadata to the users• Requires compatibility with web metadata

conventions • Make existing metadata as usable as possible

in web environments• XC’s contribution: Metadata Services Toolkit

(MST) to aggregate and transform metadata

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Sharing metadata

• Share enriched MARCXML • Share any XML schema• Share “Born MARC” metadata–XC Schema–RDA???

• Share user-generated metadata

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Sharing software

• Share metadata enrichment services for the MST

• Libraries can use an existing XC service as is or make changes to it

• Libraries can develop and share additional services

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Expand the role of libraries

• Uncover and address evolving user needs

• Facilitate the goals of the researcher–Writing–Teaching

• Participation in learning management software environments

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Moving forward using XC

• XC offers functionality that supplements an ILS, but doesn’t replace it

• “Lower the bar” for customized web solutions • Provides a path forward for library metadata • Makes these things affordable and

manageable for libraries• Facilitates cooperation between libraries

Comments/Questions?

Jennifer Bowen jbowen@library.rochester.edu www.eXtensibleCatalog.org