Library data has been designed to be read and interpreted by librarians and users. Although there are some controlled data fields, most of what is in the library catalog entry is text. The machine as user has not gotten a great deal of attention in the library cataloging environment. Now there’s yet another potential user of library data, and that user is the Web and services that function on the Web.

If we are to serve our users, then we need to deliver library services to users via the Web. But delivery over the network is not enough; our services must not only be on the Web, but need to be of the Web. With Web-based data, we can use the vast information resources there to enhance our data by creating relationships between library data and information resources. This will increase not only opportunities for users to discover the library and its resources, but also the value of the data by allowing its use in a wide variety of contexts.

The idea that library metadata will be used widely on the open Web changes the meaning of cataloging: cataloging will no longer be limited to the creation of records for the library catalog; the data will serve other functions as well, and users who may never directly make use of the library catalog. This is a true expansion of the role of library data, to the point where it can be used for any bibliographic function. However, the effort of cataloging need not increase: instead, the sharing of data can increase, and with some forethought the act of cataloging can draw on cooperative data sources. To be sure, redesign of cataloging systems will be needed. There are four steps that must be taken in order to enter into the world of linked data: defining the data model, defining the data elements, defining the data vocabularies, and developing rules for data application.

This issue of Library Technology Reports provides an explanation, using concrete models and real-world examples, of how to facilitate this transformation.

--Karen Coyle

If there is one constant, it is that throughout these nearly two centuries, the modern library has continually transformed itself in an effort to respond to the needs of its contemporary user.

Today, we face another significant time of change that is being prompted by today’s library user. This user no longer visits the physical library as his primary source of information, but seeks and creates information while connected to the global computer network. The change that libraries will need to make in response must include the transformation of the library’s public catalog from a stand-alone database of bibliographic records to a highly hyperlinked data set that can interact with information resources on the World Wide Web. The library data can then be integrated into the virtual working spaces of the users served by the library.

If all of this sounds otherworldly and vague, it is because there is no specific vision of where these changes will lead us. The crystal ball is unfortunately shortsighted, in no small part because this is a time of rapid change in many aspects of the information ecology. The few things that are certain, however, point to the Web, and its eventual successors, as the place to be. For libraries, this means yet another evolutionary step in the library of our catalog: from metadata to metaDATA.

--Karen Coyle

Over the last few years, Web services and the service-oriented architecture (SOA) have become dominant themes in IT across many industries. Web-based computing, serviceorientation, and cloud computing increasingly displace the client/server approach favored by libraries in the past.

In library automation, one major trend involves evolving or rebuilding automation systems to adopt this new approach to software. Purveyors of both open source and proprietary library automation products increasingly emphasize the ways in which they embrace openness, support application programming interfaces (APIs), or implement Web services.

Libraries increasingly need to extract data, connect with external systems, and implement functionality not included with the delivered systems. Rather than relying on the product developers for enhancements to meet these needs, libraries increasingly demand the ability to exploit their systems using APIs, Web services, or other technologies.

The demand for openness abounds, particularly in libraries that exist in complex environments where many different systems need to interact. As libraries develop their IT infrastructure, it’s imperative to understand the extent to which their automation products are able to interoperate and thrive in this growing realm of Web services. This report aims to assess the current slate of major library automation systems in regard to their ability to provide openness through APIs, Web services, and the adoption of SOA.

--Marshall Breeding

Topics Covered in this Issue Include:

• Why Should Libraries Care about Application Programming Interfaces?
• APIs: Basic Concepts
• Vendors and Products: Case Studies and Customer Responses
• API Hype and Reality
• Conclusions and resources

About the Author

Marshall Breeding serves as the Director for Innovative Technology and Research at the Vanderbilt University Libraries in Nashville, Tennessee. He has authored several previous Library Technology Report issues: “Electronic Security Strategies for Libraries,” “Strategies for Measuring and Implementing E-Use,” “Integrated Library Software: A Guide to Multiuser, Multifunction Systems,” “Wireless Networks in Libraries,” “Web Services and the Service-Oriented Architecture,” and “Open Source Integrated Library Systems.” Breeding is also a contributing editor to Smart Libraries Newsletter, published by ALA TechSource, and has authored the feature “Automated Systems Marketplace” for Library Journal for the last six years. His column “Systems Librarian” appears monthly in Computers in Libraries magazine.

A regular on the library conference circuit, Breeding frequently speaks at Computers in Libraries, Internet Librarian, and other professional gatherings throughout the United States and internationally. He is a regular panelist on the LITA Top Technology Trends panel at the ALA Annual and Midwinter conferences. Breeding created and maintains the Library Technology Guides Web site. For more information about the author, click here.