Library systems call - thanks for proposals
Thanks to everyone who has put in a proposal under Call 12/09 on enhancing library management systems for all their time and effort.
Proposals are now with markers. As you know from the Call, we hope to get back to proposers with outcomes during week beginning March 22 (the intervening time is to allow for marking and then for the marks to be collated and the Evaluation Panel to meet etc.).
More information on the forthcoming ‘library systems’ call
We’ve now agreed the broad outline of the ‘library systems’ call which we hope to publish before Christmas.
This call will invite proposals for case studies/projects in four different areas:
Use of new library resource discovery interfaces
Case studies of implementing and using one of the ‘newish’ library resource discovery interfaces (such as Primo, VuFind or Summon). Case studies must include an evaluation of the system and usability testing with users.
Enhancing existing Web catalogue interfaces
Projects which enhance existing Web catalogue interfaces through adding user ratings, resource recommendations etc. The best known UK example here is probably HUDDERSFIELD.
Making library resources and services visible beyond library Web environments
Projects which create widgets and/or portlets to provide access to library resources and services from within institutional and/or social Web environments, such as VLEs or Facebook respectively. The LSE LIBRARY is one existing example.
Case studies exploring problem areas with existing library management systems
The ‘problem areas’ with many existing library management systems are well known and include management of electronic information resources and no or little integration with other institutional systems. The purpose of these case studies would be to document specific difficulties encountered in these problem areas by individual libraries and also any ‘work arounds’ which people have found to overcome them.
These case studies will then feed into a series of workshops to explore each of the problem areas. This process is intended to (a) facilitate information sharing on the practical difficulties which libraries are encountering and any work arounds found to help overcome them; (b) inform thinking on libraries’ future systems needs by illustrating and documenting specific problems with current systems.
As you can see, most of this call is focussed on the ‘here and now’ of library management systems rather than the really big question. What sort of systems do library need to compete in the digital environment and where they are going to come from?
There are a few reasons for this ‘here and now’ focus:
Firstly, the funding available (and funding period which applies) means that projects need to be short (six months) and, therefore, not too ambitious.
Secondly, the longer term picture is being addressed elsewhere:
- SCONUL is currently conducting a FEASIBILITY STUDY into UK university libraries sharing systems in the future and this will report in the near future (to HEFCE as this work was funded by HEFCE as part of its shared services initiative). While future decisions and funding in this area are unknown, this study has identified potential for shared systems. This study could, therefore, be significant for the shape of the UK university library systems environment in the future;
- a JISC/RLUK ‘Resource Discovery Task Force’ is reviewing what national resource discovery services are needed for the future. This will report in early 2010;
- the OLE PROJECT in the United States is currently seeking funding to build an entirely new, open source library system based on a technical model which it has drawn up;
- some library systems vendors are also working on new ‘technical architectures’ for library systems.
Thirdly, developing new systems will take considereable time and effort, be that by systems vendors or the open source community. In the meantime, libraries need to make the most of the systems they have.
However, the case studies exploring problem areas are relevant to the SCONUL shared services initiative and it is hoped that they will support that process.
Finally, you may be familiar with the work of the MOSAIC PROJECT which has been working on aggregating ‘activity data’ from library systems to form the basis of resource recommendations (Economics students who borrowed this item also borrowed x, y, z item, for example). This call does not include further work on aggregating such data because such a process requires central co-ordination and management and this does not lend itself to a call for proposals of this kind. However, development of resource recommender systems by individual libraries is in scope under ‘Enhancing existing Web catalogues’ above.
The outline timescales for the call are:
- publish mid-December
- deadline for proposals in early February
- projects start in mid-April
- projects end in mid-October
Please note that these timescales could change.
Because these projects/case studies will be short, project staff must already be in place at the start of the work. Consortial bids are not expected or encouraged due to the short timescales and the nature of the work areas.
When the call is published it will be available from the FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES area of the JISC Web site and advertised on the JISC ANNOUNCE mailing list.
We are not planning to have a ‘town meeting’ for this call. However, we will be making additional information about the call available online, together with ways for people to post queries about specific parts of the call.
The tag to use for online discussion about the call is ‘jisclms’
Forthcoming call for projects on library systems
We are currently scoping a call for short projects in the area of library management systems to start in April 2010. For some further information, please visit the JISC Funding Roadmap. We are aiming to publish this call in mid-December with a deadline for proposals in early February. Please note that these timescales could change.
For any Twitter/other online conversations about this call as things develop, please use the tag #jisclms
US Google Book Settlement – What are your views?
We have set up a Write to Reply site to gather views from the community on the Google book settlement and its implications for UK Higher and Further Education.
From the JISC site: The US Google Book Settlement represents a major watershed in the digitisation and access to millions of books, including in copyright publications and therefore the rediscovery of a huge proportion of the world’s knowledge. Effectively it enables democratisation of access to information by making books available digitally to new audiences supported by fully searchable tools. It also provides a solution for out-of-print works. The settlement is supported by a balanced revenue share model with authors and other rights holders.
However, the settlement and its potential ramifications have sparked not only global support, but also controversy and opposition. Recently, the US Justice Department has urged the US New Court to reject the settlement because of the anti-trust and copyright issues it raises – not least because it would give Google the sole authority for books whose copyright holder could not be found (‘orphan works’) and provide inadequate protection to foreign rights holders.
Rachel Bruce, programme director at JISC said: “We are interested in gathering views from colleges and universities in the UK in order to help inform JISC’s approach to these issues, both in relation to the Google Book Settlement itself and more broadly. We can assume, even if the current US Google Book Settlement is not accepted by the Court on 7 October 2009*, that we will see subsequent settlements that affect UK rights holders and have an impact on access to information for education and research.”
“This is your chance to share your views about the Google Book Settlement and your response will also help JISC understand any potential implications associated with any possible future European settlement. We are interested to not only hear about your opinions leading up to the hearing but also what you think about the verdict.”
To share your views please respond via the Write to Reply website by 26th October 2009.http://writetoreply.org/googlebooks/
Thanks to Joss Winn and the JISCPress project for setting this consultation up for us.
* This date may be subject to change due to a recent appeal to delay from Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers
If you’re a developer interested in library services - AND you haven’t got anything to do this weekend…then read this:
The JISC MOSAIC project is holding a competition to discover what can be done with library usage data. It closes at 23.59 this coming Monday. They’re looking for compelling applications, interfaces and mash-ups that use the data in research, learning and libraries etc.
• First prize - £1000 sterling
• Second Prize - £250 sterling
• Third Prize - £100 sterling
The competition closes on Monday 14th September 2009
Further details about the competition:
http://www.sero.co.uk/jisc-mosaic-competition.html
Good Luck!!
Modelling the library domain: outcomes of a workshop on 19th June 2009
Earlier this year, the JISC TILE (Towards Implementation of Library 2.0 and the e-Framework) project proposed a draft high level ‘library domain model’ which could be used to further thinking about the functions and processes that library systems need to support in future.
A workshop to discuss the Model took place on 19th June 2009.
A draft report from the workshop is now available for comment.
Most of the presentations from the day are also available.
At the top level, the Model consists of three ‘realms’:
Corporation: organisations managing ‘assets’ and making them available
Channel: means of accessing the ‘assets’
Clients: those who want to use the ‘assets’
Participants discussed the relevance and applicability of these concepts and also how they might be applied in practice using a number of different scenarios.
Do library catalogues and repositories talk to each other?
The Centre for Digital Library Research at the University of Strathclyde is currently investigating the links between university library catalogues and digital repositories as part of a JISC funded study.
Can library users find resources in their university’s digital repository through the library catalogue? Do library catalogues and repositories share records for the same items?
If catalogues and repositories generally aren’t linked in these sorts of ways at the moment, could they be?
These are some of the issues being explored by the study. The team are surveying repository managers and others about now - so, if you receive a request to respond to their online survey, your response would be much appreciated.
For further information about the study, please visit the project’s Web site and the project’s Web page on the JISC site.
How do people use electronic information resources?
Research funded by the JISC, RIN and others over recent years has helped to increase understanding of how students and researchers use electronic information resources. Analysis of Web logs - such as the work done for the e-Books Observatory Study by CIBER at UCL - has proved a fruitful line of inquiry.
A new study - which has now been underway for a few months (so apologies for this late post) - seeks to add to this evidence through detailed observation of how individual students and researchers in Business and Economics use a number of information resources in their area (such as Business Source Premier).
The aim is to observe how individuals react to and use particular interfaces and then to explore those behaviours through structured interviews.
The work is being conducted by Middlesex University and is being complemented by an analysis of Web logs for a selection of Business and Economics e-books and e-journals by CIBER.
A report of the findings is expected during the autumn.
For further information, please visit the project Web page on the JISC Web site.
The ‘library management system’: a round up of some (fairly) recent initiatives
This is rather a long post - but it is on a big subject!
Last year saw the publication by the JISC and SCONUL of a major report on library management systems used in UK higher education. A lot has happened since. So, I thought it might be useful to post an update - even a long one - on some related recent JISC activities.
The LMS report highlighted a number of issues to be addressed in order to make library resources as visible and accessible as possible in the digital environment, including:
• integrating library systems and other university systems so that relevant data can be shared between them and users can access services in different ways (within university portals, virtual learning environments, etc.)
• making library metadata (catalogue records) available to other services (such as web search engines and collaborative web tools) so that information about library resources can be easily found, used and personalised by users where and how they choose
• using library usage data (information about how many times an item has been borrowed and by what kind of user, for example) to indicate how individual library resources are being used, thereby providing a basis for user ‘rating’ for library resources – and doing this at a ‘network level’ (so not limited to one library) in order to have access to enough meaningful data
• improving the quality of search interfaces and reducing the number of different systems which users need to search to access the full range of resources available to them.
JISC is just one partner in seeking to address these issues with vendors of library systems developing new discovery tools, OCLC’s recent announcement about using WorldCat as the basis for effectively a shared library management system and SCONUL investigating the potential for shared library management systems, for example.
So, what has been happening on the JISC front?
The TILE (Towards Implementation of Library 2.0 and the e-Framework) project has investigated the use of Web 2.0 tools by library services, outlined a possible new model (a ‘library domain model’) for how library services might fit in the wider information environment (to help inform further development of library systems) and proposed testing the extraction and combination of usage data from a number of university systems to provide the bases of user ratings for library resources.
As you may know from some earlier posts, reports from the TILE project are now available on the JISC web site and there is a workshop on the domain model planned for June 19. Further work is planned to test extracting and combining usage data as noted above.
Meanwhile, EDINA and MIMAS are developing the search interfaces for SUNCAT (the national serials catalogue) and COPAC (the national research libraries’ catalogue) as part of the D2D (Discovery to Delivery) project. The work includes providing Web 2.0 and other tools to enable users to share metadata and to link from bibliographic records to ‘the thing itself’ (or a means of obtaining it). The project partly builds on the recommendations and findings of the DPIE (Development of Personalisation for the Information Environment) investigations of 2008.
Continuing the theme of ‘joining up’, the JISC Scholarly Communications Working Group recently commissioned a study into the existing and potential links between library management systems and digital repositories.
And the winning entry at the recent Dev8D Web Developers event was a prototype reading list system which aimed to make it easier to extract information for reading lists from catalogues, Amazon and elsewhere and then make the reading lists available in different applications.
Following the major ‘Google generation’ report of early 2008, efforts also continue to understand what information services people actually need with the launch of a new British Library/JISC study of young researchers’ use of online and physical information environments. JISC’s Publishers’ Action Group has also commissioned an observational study of how individual students and academic staff in Business and Economics use electronic information resources.
So, there is a lot going on - and that is just within a JISC context. If nothing else, the activity in this area illustrates that the ‘library management system’ is even more the subject of debate than it was when the JISC/SCONUL study was commissioned not so very long ago …
Modelling the ‘library domain’: a consultative workshop on June 19
The challenge of making library resources visible and accessible in the Web 2.0 environment was a major focus of last year’s JISC/SCONUL study of Library Management Systems.
The JISC TILE (Towards Implementation of Library 2.0 and the e-Framework) project was subsequently commissioned to draft a high level ‘library domain model’ which could be used to further thinking about the functions and processes that library systems need to support in future.
We are now organising a workshop to consult on the domain model proposed, and how it might be used in the future.
Who should attend?
The workshop is intended for a mix of senior and middle library managers in a range of roles (so, not confined to colleagues with formal IT/systems management responsibilities).
Where and when is it?
Friday 19th June 2009 at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Savoy Place, central London.
What is the programme for the day?
The programme consists of a mixture of presentations and group work.
How do I register?
Due to the consultative nature of this workshop, we have a limited number of places. If you would like to attend, please register your interest by 18th May 2009, and we will contact you thereafter to confirm your place or add your name to a waiting list.