code4lib keynote 2011
DESCRIPTION
Slides and notes from keynote for Code4Lib 2011, Bloomington, IN, Feb. 8, 2011.TRANSCRIPT
Code4Lib 2011, February 8
Critical CollaborationsProgrammers and catalogers? Really?
Old Familiar Cataloger Tools
Obviously not a real cataloger
I’ve been working with computers in libraries since 1973 …
But is that enough?
P.S.: I don’t write code …
WHY ME?
I Programmers
I Programmers
Naomi Dushay
I Programmers
Naomi Dushay
George Kozak
I Programmers
Naomi Dushay
George Kozak
Pete Hoyt
I Programmers
Naomi Dushay
George Kozak
Pete Hoyt
Jon Phipps
So … Why Am I Here?
Catalogers and programmers have a history of talking past one another
How can we change that?
I have ideas!
XML
MARC
RDF
SPARQL
OY
Separate Tables
What do we need to do to start sitting together?
Only some of the stereotypes you’ve heard about catalogers are true
Like in most professional groups,there are important variations
On the other hand, maybe all thestereotypes about programmers
are true?
But I’m sure I’ve talked about theweather with programmers!
Quiz: Which group is more likely to want to go to the ‘nitty gritty’ first (whether or not they’ve had a chance
to agree on the basics)?
▢
▢
▢
Catalogers
Programmers
All of the above
Are We Getting Anywhere?
Small Starts/Big Goals
Starting to talk about change within your institution
What are our priorities? Do we have common priorities?
Inside the Cataloger Brain
Real catalogers think (and talk) in MARC
tags.
Their job is to fit the thing in their hands into the panoply of
other cataloged items
The happiest catalogers are those who are at
one with their rules and practices
Ergo, look for competent, but frustrated catalogers
Finding Frustrated Catalogers
Clue: May be a catalog maintenance or
authorities librarian
Clue: May have had some experience with data that isn’t MARC
Clue: May have done some crosswalking and
mapping
Are we waiting for some 800 lb. Gorilla to teach us what we need to learn?
Or can we learn from one another what we need to know?
One model: http://metadata-wg.mannlib.cornell.edu/
Setting Priorities
Changing the conversation
Building new tools
Doing it together
Better Data = Better Services for Users
Current OPAC users (internal and external)
LegacyData
ProspectiveData
POINTS OF TENSION
Libraries
What about all this other stuff?
Linking Open Data cloud diagram, by Richard Cyganiak and Anja Jentzsch. http://lod-cloud.net/
Where we are now?
What are we doing about it?
RDA Testing Theater
What we tested: whether the RDA rules could be crammed into MARC
What we should have tested: whether we can meet the needs of our users better with a different approach to data
Result: The cataloging world outside the US thinks we’re nuts
Libraries currently live in a top down world—
how well is that working for us today?
If we want a bottom-up world, we need to build
it ourselves
Consider the RDA Vocabularies--built by a small group, with the potential to change
how we work
Waiting for the Gurus to speak
ReadMe
Where Are The Tools?
Label (Domain/Range)Subproperty
RDA FRBRSameAs
ISBD
FRBR lite ISBD lite
RDA/IFLA/other properties (minimal linkage)
DCT
Extent (/S)
DC
format
Extent
Extent of text
Extent of text (M/)
Extent (M/) has extent of the carrier (M/)
has extent (R/)
has extent of the carrier
has extent
BIBO
numPages (D/l) numVolumes (C/l)
Classes: Manifestation, Resource, Collection, Document, SizeOrDuration, literal
Note: Document sub-class-of Resource
New World Data
✤ Reusing legacy data in a different environment will require significant investments in data improvement, and systems that will provide support for that transition
✤ XC has started, but others need to work in this area
✤ We need to look at the issues of prospective data creation and reuse of legacy data in parallel
✤ Our new world is more distributed, more diverse, offering us data that hasn’t been vetted by catalogers
✤ The only rational way to deal with that data is at the statement level, not the record level
Our Challenges
✤ Managing statements, not records
✤ Integrating data from a multitude of providers, including users
✤ Developing new models of distribution and data sharing, less centralized
✤ This includes identifying and sharing more granular WEMI info, with relationships!
✤ Demonstrate that the costs of NO CHANGE are significantly more than the costs of CHANGE
Can We Get More Comfortable With One Another?
Can We Do More Than Get Along?
Thanks for your attention!
Email: [email protected]
Blog: Metadata Matters http://managemetadata.com/blog/
Thanks to Gordon Dunsire for the ‘FR’ slide, and to Flickr members clover_1 and annagoben (among others) for the photos. Thanks to the Virtual Museum of Cataloging and Acquisitions Artifacts and the RDA Happy Fun Time Companion.