[CODE4LIB] Job: Software Developer – Digital Archiving at Tessella
To support our continuing growth and success, we have a vacancy for a Software Engineer to develop and support what is expected to become the largest national digital archiving system in the world, holding materials of national and global importance. The Role: Working as part of a large, experienced team, you will enjoy a varied, challenging and rewarding role. This is an exciting opportunity to make a really valuable contribution to the continued development of an award-winning digital preservation solution. The role involves: * Working closely with our clients to understand the business issues and challenges they face. * Working within small teams to help identify clients' requirements and design and develop innovative software solutions. * Being involved in all stages of the software development lifecycle. * Using software engineering best practice to deliver software of the highest quality to our clients. * Staying at the forefront of the latest technologies using your annual training allowance of 150 hours. * We will provide you with the support and training that you need to succeed in your job and further your career. The position offers an excellent salary and benefits package, and has attractive future prospects. Depending on your experience, you can expect to earn $60,000 to $85,000. Requirements: We are looking for a bright, enthusiastic and motivated individual to join our team. You should have: * Bachelor's degree (GPA 3.5+), MS or PhD in computer science or software engineering. * At least one year's experience of object-oriented programming, ideally in Java. * Any experience or knowledge of content management systems would be beneficial. * Excellent written and spoken communication skills. About Tessella Founded in 1980, Tessella is an international provider of scientific software engineering and consulting services. World leading organizations choose our unique blend of science, engineering and sector expertise to deliver innovative and cost-effective solutions to complex real-world commercial and technical challenges. Tessella has been the world leader in providing digital preservation services and solutions over the past decade. Our Safety Deposit Box platform has won multiple awards including the Queens Award for Innovation in 2011. Brought to you by code4lib jobs: http://jobs.code4lib.org/job/2050/
Re: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries
Thanks so much for this. One immediate question I have regards staff training. Who did you get to assemble and maintain the 3D printers etc... Is it all enthusiastic self taught staff or did you hire folks especially for these positions? Thanks, Edward On Friday, August 24, 2012, Lisa H Kurt wrote: Hi Edward, Throughout the past year we have been working toward transforming the DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library into a library makerspace at the University of Nevada, Reno. It started with the purchase of a button maker and holding mini maker breaks and has grown with bigger events, workshops, the purchase or repurpose of numerous tools and equipment. We've also made changes to the space to create the kind of environment where our community wants to create. Though we are in name a science and engineering library- we work across many departments and colleges with several faculty and students to bring together computer scientists, designers, engineers, artists, and others to promote a really creative, exploratory learning space. Today, in the DeLaMare Library we have 2 3D printers, a 3D scanner, 2 button makers, about a dozen arduino kits, soldering kits, AR Drones, and more. We've converted a lot of the space that once held books to make room for collaborative space and entire walls painted in whiteboard paint. We've held a lockpicking workshop in partnership with Reno's local makerspace, Bridgewire: http://www.renobridgewire.org/, here in the library where over 80 people attended. We worked with them to offer a student membership as well. Bill Nye is coming to our campus and we're heavily involved in the science fair planned for that day, showcasing all of the great resources we have available and student projects done in the library. We collaborate regularly with both Bridgewire and the local co-working space, The Reno Collective: http://renocollective.com/. We also have been involved with Reno's WordPress group and have hosted WordCamp the past couple of years. We wrote up a post talking more specifically about the 3D printer and the setup here: http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=1403 You can also see some of the photos of stuff we've done here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstl_unr We're working on collaborating more with various departments and showcasing all kinds of things here: http://www.kclabs.org There is a lot to say about what we've been busy doing but I hope this glimpse helps- let me know if you have questions or need more information- thanks! Lisa Lisa Kurt Engineering and Emerging Technologies Librarian DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library University of Nevada, Reno phone: 775.682.5706 On 8/24/12 5:03 AM, Edward Iglesias edwardigles...@gmail.comjavascript:; wrote: Thanks Jason! Ab Fab indeed! Edward Iglesias On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 2:10 PM, Jason Griffey grif...@gmail.comjavascript:; wrote: In my last Library tech report, I included a chapter on 3D printing (chapter 4, please excuse the title, I had to) that spoke a bit to why libraries needed to be in the space, which certainly overlaps with the Makerspace convo: http://alatechsource.metapress.com/content/rpl5883j3620/?p=5b1da8d73bec46 918808d4fb69a73abepi=2 Full text is available there...the whole work is CC licensed, so feel free to grab a copy. :-) Jason On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 1:55 PM, David Brightbill dbrightb...@cclaflorida.org javascript:; wrote: I'm leading the effort to build a makerspace in my local community and have some thoughts around the role of established institutions (libraries, EDC's, government, etc.) in making this happen. I'd be happy to have a telephone or G+ chat with you about this if you wish. Cheers, Dave Brightbill Manager of Research and Development Florida Virtual Campus -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDUjavascript:;] On Behalf Of Edward Iglesias Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 12:11 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU javascript:; Subject: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries Hello All, A colleague and I are going to be presenting at code4lib NE on the subject of makerspaces in academic libraries. Are any of you doing this? If so I would love to pick your brains a little. Edward Iglesias -- Edward Iglesias
Re: [CODE4LIB] Corrections to Worldcat/Hathi/Google
Actually, Ed, this would not only make for a good blog post (please, so it doesn't get lost in email space), but I would love to see a discussion of what kind of revision control would work: 1) for libraries (git is gawdawful nerdy) 2) for linked data kc p.s. the Ramsay book is now showing on Open Library, and the subtitle is correct... perhaps because the record is from the LC MARC service :-) http://openlibrary.org/works/OL16528530W/Reading_machines On 8/26/12 6:32 PM, Ed Summers wrote: Thanks for sharing this bit of detective work. I noticed something similar fairly recently myself [1], but didn't discover as plausible of a scenario for what had happened as you did. I imagine others have noticed this network effect before as well. On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 11:42 AM, Lars Aronsson l...@aronsson.se wrote: And sure enough, there it is, http://clio.cul.columbia.edu:7018/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=1439352 But will my error report to Worldcat find its way back to CLIO? Or if I report the error to Columbia University, will the correction propagate to Google, Hathi and Worldcat? (Columbia asks me for a student ID when I want to give feedback, so that removes this option for me.) I realize this probably will sound flippant (or overly grandiose), but innovating solutions to this problem, where there isn't necessarily one metadata master that everyone is slaved to seems to be one of the more important and interesting problems that our sector faces. When Columbia University can become the source of a bibliographic record for Google Books, HathiTrust and OpenLibrary, etc how does this change the hub and spoke workflows (with OCLC as the hub) that we are more familiar with? I think this topic is what's at the heart of the discussions about a github-for-data [2,3], since decentralized version control systems [4] allow for the evolution of more organic, push/pull, multimaster workflows...and platforms like Github make them socially feasible, easy and fun. I also think Linked Library Data, where bibliographic descriptions are REST enabled Web resources identified with URLs, and patterns such as webhooks [5] make it easy to trigger update events could be part of an answer. Feed technologies like Atom, RSS and the work being done on ResourceSync also seem important technologies for us to use to allow people to poll for changes [6]. And being able to say where you have obtained data from, possibly using something like the W3C Provenance vocabulary [7] also seems like an important part of the puzzle. I'm sure there are other (and perhaps better) creative analogies or tools that could help solve this problem. I think you're probably right that we are starting to see the errors more now that more library data is becoming part of the visible Web via projects like GoogleBooks, HathiTrust, OpenLibrary and other enterprising libraries that design their catalogs to be crawlable and indexable by search engines. But I think it's more fun to think about (and hack on) what grassroots things we could be doing to help these new bibliographic data workflows to grow and flourish than to get piled under by the errors, and a sense of futility... Or it might make for a good article or dissertation topic :-) //Ed [1] http://inkdroid.org/journal/2011/12/25/genealogy-of-a-typo/ [2] http://www.informationdiet.com/blog/read/we-need-a-github-for-data [3] http://sunlightlabs.com/blog/2010/we-dont-need-a-github-for-data/ [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_revision_control [5] https://help.github.com/articles/post-receive-hooks [6] http://www.niso.org/workrooms/resourcesync/ [7] http://www.w3.org/TR/prov-primer/ -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet
Re: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries
Hi All, Yes, this Fall we are opening the Think Lab here at UMW Libraries. While we have been part of the planning process for the space, I would say thus far the library has played the role of landlord more than anything else. I see this partnership developing as time progresses. (I have a few projects planned myself.) A colleague, Tim Owens, is blogging about the Think Lab here: http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2012/07/26/help-tim-owens-build-an-awesome-makerspace/ Cheers, Paul +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Paul R Butler Assistant Systems Librarian Simpson Library University of Mary Washington 1801 College Avenue Fredericksburg, VA 22401 540.654.1756 libraries.umw.edu Sent from the mighty Dell Vostro 230. -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Edward Iglesias Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 12:11 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries Hello All, A colleague and I are going to be presenting at code4lib NE on the subject of makerspaces in academic libraries. Are any of you doing this? If so I would love to pick your brains a little. Edward Iglesias
Re: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries
Nate, That's a great question. Here's one take -- fast, loose, not re-read, nor the opinion of my employer, Harvard University, but is based on my observations here First off, we don't have maker spaces in the library, but I could see them being very useful here. I think one advantage shops like these would have sitting under the umbrella of the library is access. The Departmental/Professional School shops here seem quite siloed. If you're not a part of that school/community, access is much more complicated. Particularly access to the more expensive machines. If a space was under the shelter of the library, it could feel MUCH more welcoming and readily available I think. One thing that they have at MIT, a place obviously with a great maker ethic, is the hobby shop. http://studentlife.mit.edu/hobbyshop If you clcik to the membership tab, you'll see it's open to everybody with an affiliation with the Institute. Spouses, staff -- ALUMNI! I spent a lot of time there, learning some basic craft knowledge cause there would always be people working there, unlike my school shop where attendance was much more spikey and I generally would figure things out for myself. Anyhow, I learned the most from alumni who purchased memberships it seemed like. It was casual, open envrionment, and I think the term pre-fix Hobby to Hobby Shop really made a difference. A subtext of fun. Anyhow, that was a great learning environment, outside of any departmental or school umbrella. It's listsed as a under division of student life. From my own POV, I'd like to see the library at Harvard, but any higher ed envrionment for that matter, get more into the business of student life. But also make general access to specialized things easy, friendly, etc. Zero grade on-ramp to laser cutting can only be a good thing... Jeff Harvard Library Innovation Lab From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Nate Hill [nathanielh...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, August 27, 2012 9:05 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries Can anyone on the list help clarify for me why, in an academic setting, this kind of equipment and facility isn't part of a laboratory in an academic department? Don't get me wrong I am *way* into access to tools, but I remember when I went to art school that the building had a shop in it. The shop had a woodshop, welders, metal lathes, etc. And it belonged there, not in the library- because it supported what that department was all about. Are makerspaces in academic libraries examples of libraries picking up slack that academic departments should be dealing with? I ask this with zero snark, I genuinely want to hear some thoughts on this... Nate On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 8:54 AM, Paul Butler (pbutler3) pbutl...@umw.eduwrote: Hi All, Yes, this Fall we are opening the Think Lab here at UMW Libraries. While we have been part of the planning process for the space, I would say thus far the library has played the role of landlord more than anything else. I see this partnership developing as time progresses. (I have a few projects planned myself.) A colleague, Tim Owens, is blogging about the Think Lab here: http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2012/07/26/help-tim-owens-build-an-awesome-makerspace/ Cheers, Paul +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Paul R Butler Assistant Systems Librarian Simpson Library University of Mary Washington 1801 College Avenue Fredericksburg, VA 22401 540.654.1756 libraries.umw.edu Sent from the mighty Dell Vostro 230. -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Edward Iglesias Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 12:11 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries Hello All, A colleague and I are going to be presenting at code4lib NE on the subject of makerspaces in academic libraries. Are any of you doing this? If so I would love to pick your brains a little. Edward Iglesias -- Nate Hill nathanielh...@gmail.com http://www.natehill.net
Re: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries
Salvete! Can't. Resist. Bait. Batman. Can anyone on the list help clarify for me why, in an academic setting, this kind of equipment and facility isn't part of a laboratory in an academic department? I'd say that I hate to play devil's advocate, but that would be a patent misrepresentation of material fact. Conversely, could you please tell us why you think it *shouldn't* be at the Library? I can think of several reasons why it *ought* to be: 1) Having this space exist at the Library and not in a given department might well extend the hours of use beyond what a given faculty could afford on its own better serving students and faculty. 2) Having this space exist at the Library promotes interdisciplinary interaction which could serve as a catalyst for research. This might not happen as readily within the bubble of one's academic department. Both students and staff would benefit from keeping an eye on one's neighbour as Steven Johnson outlines in Emergence. (No relationship) 3) Having the equipment at the Library would save the University money since each department wouldn't have to buy their own $1400 makerbot replicator, et cetera. 4) Given an academic setting that is also in itself a laboratory, such as an engineering or technical school, wouldn't this be the natural spot for it? 5) Given that some academic libraries are often cited on poor customer service, defaulting to yes is preferable to defaulting to no. Don't get me wrong I am *way* into access to tools, but I remember when I went to art school that the building had a shop in it. The shop had a woodshop, welders, metal lathes, etc. And it belonged there, not in the library- because it supported what that department was all about. Are we to drop our duties as soon as hands enter the picture? I don't like the idea that work with one's mind is valued more highly than work with one's hands. I can see how this is easier to frame in a public setting: Anyone can learn anything at anytime. However I fail to see how it _wouldn't_ further learning in an academic setting. While mission statements vary, it's not unusual as a consultant for me to spot summat like fosters collaboration or performs outreach or assists in learning for an academic library. Your mileage may vary, since all mission statements are equal, but some are more equal than others. Are makerspaces in academic libraries examples of libraries picking up slack that academic departments should be dealing with? Again, I tend to think of this as cost savings for the University on the whole. It also seems like a great idea in terms of fundraising and long term gain. For folks that aren't keen on accepting the costs, perhaps they can sit down with department chairs and divide things up. Extra points for collaboration with vocational schools in the area. I ask this with zero snark, I genuinely want to hear some thoughts on this... Respect was intended in my reply. Cheers, Brooke
Re: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries
There have been two very fine answers already (Go Brooke and Jeff!) but I'll add one more data point. The purpose of an academic library (at least every academic library that I've been associated with) can be boiled down to, pretty much, two things: 1. Support the curriculum of the school 2. Support the research of the faculty, students, and staff when it extends beyond the curriculum The second is necessary for the growth of the first. While Ross is correct that eventually, whether implicit or explicit, some lines are likely to be drawn (we are very interested in Maker culture and spaces, we probably aren't going to be putting in CNC routers...just because we don't have the environment). But whatever tools I can put in front of the students and faculty that are available for _everyone_ and not siloed away in an engineering lab that you have to be part of the grant team to use...well, that's good for my University. And the tools are, frankly, way more interesting when they get used by non-obvious groups...I can't wait to see what a History student might do with a 3D printer, for instance. Jason On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 9:05 AM, Nate Hill nathanielh...@gmail.com wrote: Can anyone on the list help clarify for me why, in an academic setting, this kind of equipment and facility isn't part of a laboratory in an academic department? Don't get me wrong I am *way* into access to tools, but I remember when I went to art school that the building had a shop in it. The shop had a woodshop, welders, metal lathes, etc. And it belonged there, not in the library- because it supported what that department was all about. Are makerspaces in academic libraries examples of libraries picking up slack that academic departments should be dealing with? I ask this with zero snark, I genuinely want to hear some thoughts on this... Nate On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 8:54 AM, Paul Butler (pbutler3) pbutl...@umw.eduwrote: Hi All, Yes, this Fall we are opening the Think Lab here at UMW Libraries. While we have been part of the planning process for the space, I would say thus far the library has played the role of landlord more than anything else. I see this partnership developing as time progresses. (I have a few projects planned myself.) A colleague, Tim Owens, is blogging about the Think Lab here: http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2012/07/26/help-tim-owens-build-an-awesome-makerspace/ Cheers, Paul +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Paul R Butler Assistant Systems Librarian Simpson Library University of Mary Washington 1801 College Avenue Fredericksburg, VA 22401 540.654.1756 libraries.umw.edu Sent from the mighty Dell Vostro 230. -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Edward Iglesias Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 12:11 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries Hello All, A colleague and I are going to be presenting at code4lib NE on the subject of makerspaces in academic libraries. Are any of you doing this? If so I would love to pick your brains a little. Edward Iglesias -- Nate Hill nathanielh...@gmail.com http://www.natehill.net
Re: [CODE4LIB] Corrections to Worldcat/Hathi/Google
Hi, On 08/27/2012 08:49 AM, Karen Coyle wrote: Actually, Ed, this would not only make for a good blog post (please, so it doesn't get lost in email space), but I would love to see a discussion of what kind of revision control would work: 1) for libraries (git is gawdawful nerdy) 2) for linked data Speaking of revision control, does any have or know of a sizable dataset of bibliographic metadata that includes change history? For example, I know that some ILSs can retain previous versions of bibliographic records as they get edited. Such a dataset would be useful in figuring out good ways to calculate differences between versions of a record, and perhaps more to the point, express those in a way that's more useful to maintainers of the metadata. Regards, Galen -- Galen Charlton Director of Support and Implementation Equinox Software, Inc. / The Open Source Experts email: g...@esilibrary.com direct: +1 770-709-5581 cell: +1 404-984-4366 skype: gmcharlt web:http://www.esilibrary.com/ Supporting Koha and Evergreen: http://koha-community.org http://evergreen-ils.org
[CODE4LIB] Advanced XML: Further Adventures with XSLT
***Apologies for cross-posting!*** If you're having trouble viewing this email, you may see it onlinehttp://e2.ma/message/dd5jd/5e1zxc. Share This: [http://app.e2ma.net/media/themes/default/img/socialnetworks/email.png] http://e2.ma/share/outbound/e/dd5jd/5e1zxc [http://e2ma.net/userdata/11423/images/templates/arlnews_lb.gif]http://e2.ma/click/dd5jd/5e1zxc/pqfabb Advanced XML: Further Adventures with XSLT March 25-27, 2013 in Washington, DC August 22, 2012 For more information, contact: David Green Association of Research Libraries 202-296-2296tel:202-296-2296 da...@arl.orgmailto:da...@arl.org Advanced XML: Further Adventures with XSLT March 25-27, 2013 in Washington, DC Washington, DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Statistics and Assessment Program and the Digital Library Federation, a program of the Council on Library and Information Resources, are pleased to offer an in-depth workshop focused on using XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) in digital library projects. Taught by experienced XML/XSLT instructors and developers Matthew Gibson, Director of Digital Programs at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities at the University of Virginia, and Christine Ruotolo, Digital Services Manager for Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Virginia Library, this three-day workshop will explore XSLT with a specific focus on the role of XSLT in digital library projects. The workshop will be a mix of lecture and hands-on demonstration and experimentation. Lectures, exercises, and projects will allow participants to gain experience using some of the more powerful components of XSLT 1.0 and 2.0, including: * navigating the XML tree with XPath 2.0; * working with recursion, modes, and named templates; * using and creating functions; * combining source documents and creating multiple result documents; * sorting and grouping data; and * using branching and control structures. This workshop is designed for information professionals who have a familiarity with XML markup and who would like to learn or expand their current knowledge of XSLT. Some understanding of XSLT and experience with markup such as HTML is a plus. Event Details Dates: Monday, March 25 – Wednesday, March 27, 2013 Time: 9:00 a.m.-5:00p.m. Location: ARL offices in Washington, DC Fee: $1,000 Register: by February 25, 2013 For more details and to register, see http://www.arl.org/stats/statsevents/XSLT-workshop.shtmlhttp://e2.ma/click/dd5jd/5e1zxc/5igabb. A program of the Council on Library and Information Resources, the Digital Library Federation is a community of library practitioners engaged in and committed to building and sustaining digital libraries through collaborative effort and establishing best practices. The DLF community includes project managers, code developers, and all who are invested in digital library issues. The DLF website is available at http://www.diglib.org/http://e2.ma/click/dd5jd/5e1zxc/lbhabb. The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 126 research libraries in the US and Canada. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the web at http://www.arl.org/http://e2.ma/click/dd5jd/5e1zxc/13habb. Association of Research Libraries 21 Dupont Circle NW, Suite 800 | Washington DC 20036 | 202-296-2296tel:202-296-2296 www.arl.orghttp://e2.ma/click/dd5jd/5e1zxc/hwiabb [https://app.e2ma.net/userdata/24/images/templates/facebook_16.png]http://e2.ma/click/dd5jd/5e1zxc/xojabb [https://app.e2ma.net/userdata/24/images/templates/twitter_16.png] http://e2.ma/click/dd5jd/5e1zxc/dhkabb Copyright © Association of Research Libraries -- David Green Library Relations Coordinator, MLS Statistics Assessment | Association of Research Libraries GoogleTalk: da...@arl.orgmailto:da...@arl.org | Skype: david.green.arl -- Jena Winberry Program Associate, DLF program Council on Library and Information Resources jwinbe...@clir.orgmailto:jwinbe...@clir.org | www.diglib.org
Re: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries
Just to be clear, I was not suggesting that it is a bad idea to have these spaces in academic libraries. Quite the contrary. I'm not sure I've heard anyone state these arguments this clearly... and it is good to hear them. As a public librarian I always keep an eye on what happens in academic libraries; frequently public libraries are able to adapt then adopt functions and innovations a little after academic libraries implement them. I'm asking these questions because I sometimes covet the academic library's clearly defined, targeted market (the students) and see this as an opportunity to learn before designing similar services to a bigger, harder to pin down market (the public). I'm particularly fond of two responses: 1) why repeat things in multiple departments when you can save $ by doing something once and 2) the notion that cross-disciplinary cross-pollination comes from hosting services this way. Does anyone have a space running at their academic library that interacts directly with similar but perhaps advanced equipment features in different departments? For example, are there instances where the library offers the CAD software but then cutting/building/printing happens in different departmental labs around campus? The idea of a clearly defined scope of what the library can and will support and the factors that might determine that scope are interesting to me. On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 10:20 AM, Jason Griffey grif...@gmail.com wrote: There have been two very fine answers already (Go Brooke and Jeff!) but I'll add one more data point. The purpose of an academic library (at least every academic library that I've been associated with) can be boiled down to, pretty much, two things: 1. Support the curriculum of the school 2. Support the research of the faculty, students, and staff when it extends beyond the curriculum The second is necessary for the growth of the first. While Ross is correct that eventually, whether implicit or explicit, some lines are likely to be drawn (we are very interested in Maker culture and spaces, we probably aren't going to be putting in CNC routers...just because we don't have the environment). But whatever tools I can put in front of the students and faculty that are available for _everyone_ and not siloed away in an engineering lab that you have to be part of the grant team to use...well, that's good for my University. And the tools are, frankly, way more interesting when they get used by non-obvious groups...I can't wait to see what a History student might do with a 3D printer, for instance. Jason On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 9:05 AM, Nate Hill nathanielh...@gmail.com wrote: Can anyone on the list help clarify for me why, in an academic setting, this kind of equipment and facility isn't part of a laboratory in an academic department? Don't get me wrong I am *way* into access to tools, but I remember when I went to art school that the building had a shop in it. The shop had a woodshop, welders, metal lathes, etc. And it belonged there, not in the library- because it supported what that department was all about. Are makerspaces in academic libraries examples of libraries picking up slack that academic departments should be dealing with? I ask this with zero snark, I genuinely want to hear some thoughts on this... Nate On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 8:54 AM, Paul Butler (pbutler3) pbutl...@umw.eduwrote: Hi All, Yes, this Fall we are opening the Think Lab here at UMW Libraries. While we have been part of the planning process for the space, I would say thus far the library has played the role of landlord more than anything else. I see this partnership developing as time progresses. (I have a few projects planned myself.) A colleague, Tim Owens, is blogging about the Think Lab here: http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2012/07/26/help-tim-owens-build-an-awesome-makerspace/ Cheers, Paul +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Paul R Butler Assistant Systems Librarian Simpson Library University of Mary Washington 1801 College Avenue Fredericksburg, VA 22401 540.654.1756 libraries.umw.edu Sent from the mighty Dell Vostro 230. -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Edward Iglesias Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 12:11 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries Hello All, A colleague and I are going to be presenting at code4lib NE on the subject of makerspaces in academic libraries. Are any of you doing this? If so I would love to pick your brains a little. Edward Iglesias -- Nate Hill nathanielh...@gmail.com http://www.natehill.net -- Nate Hill nathanielh...@gmail.com http://www.natehill.net
Re: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries
On Aug 27, 2012, at 9:44 AM, BWS Johnson wrote: Salvete! Can't. Resist. Bait. Batman. Can anyone on the list help clarify for me why, in an academic setting, this kind of equipment and facility isn't part of a laboratory in an academic department? I'd say that I hate to play devil's advocate, but that would be a patent misrepresentation of material fact. Conversely, could you please tell us why you think it *shouldn't* be at the Library? I can think of one reason they shouldn't be *anywhere*: liability. When I was working on my undergrad, in civil engineering, the university's science and engineering school had their own machine shop. Officially, you were only supposed to use it if you were a grad student, or supervised by a grad student. Yet, there were a number of us (the undergrad population) who had more experience than the grad students. (I had done a couple years of shop class during high school, one of the other students had learned from his father who worked in the trade, another was going back to school after having been a professional machinist for years, etc.). So well, I know at least two of us would go down and use the shop without supervision. (and in a few cases, all alone, which is another violation when you're working at 1am and there's no one to call for medical assistance should something go really, really wrong). And in some cases, we'd teach the grad students who were doing stuff wrong (trying to take off too much material in a pass, using the incorrect tools, etc. But I made just as many mistakes. (when you're in a true machine shop, and there's two different blades for the bandsaw with different TPI, it's not that one's for metal and one's for wood ... as they don't do wood cutting there ... but I must've broken and re-welded the blade a half dozen times and gone through a quart of cutting fluid to make only a few cuts, as I didn't realize that I should've been using the lower TPI blade for cutting aluminum) I admit I don't know enough about these 'maker spaces' ... I assume there'd have to be some training / certification before using the equipment. The other option would be to treat it more like a print shop, where someone drops off their item to be printed, and then comes back to pick it up after the job's been run. And it's possible that you're using less dangerous equipment. (eg, when in high school, my senior year we got a new principal who required that all teachers wear ties ... including the shop teachers. Have you ever seen what happens when a tie gets caught in a lathe or a printing press? He's lucky the teachers were experienced, as a simple mistake could've killed them) But even something as simple as a polishing/grinding wheel could be a hazard to both the person using it and anyone around them. (I remember one of my high school shop teachers not happy that I was so aggressive when grinding down some steel, as I was spraying sparks near his desk ... which could've started a fire) ... so the whole issue of making sure that no one gets injured / killed / damages others is one of the liability issues, but I also remember when I worked for the university computer lab, we had a scanner that you could sign up to use. One day, one of the university police saw what one of the students was doing, and insisted that we were allowing students to make fake IDs. (the student in question had scanned in a CD cover, which was a distorted drivers license looking thing ... if he was trying to make a fake ID, you'd think he'd have started from a genuine ID card) As we've now got people who are printing gun receivers, there's a real possibility that people could be printing stuff that might be in violation of the law. (I won't get into the issue of if it's a stupid law or not ... this is something the legal department needs to weigh in on). And conversely, if you're a public institution and you censor what people are allowed to make, then you get into first amendment issues. ... On a completely unrelated note, when I first saw the question about libraries maker spaces, I was thinking in the context of public libraries, and thought the idea was pretty strange. I see a much better fit for academic libraries, but I'm still not 100% sold on it. In part, I know that it's already possible to get a lot of stuff 'made' at most universities, but you risk treading on certain trade's toes, which could piss off the unions. Eg, we had a sign shop who had some CNC cutters for sheet goods (this was the mid 1990s), carpenters and such under the building maintenance, large scale printing and book binding through the university graphics department (they later outsourced the larger jobs, got rid of the binding equipment). I could see the equipment being of use to these groups, but I don't know that they'd be happy if their lack of control over being able to make money by charging for
Re: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries
Joe, and really everyone, I think this is all a question of scope, scale and community needs/demands. I absolutely think creative/generative/participatory spaces belong in public libraries. I firmly believe that the public library of the future is as much about access to tools as it about access to media, especially as we read about the creative economy and watch art, music, and shop programs get dropped in public schools. That said, I have no intention of bringing welders into the library for the liability reasons you cite. I seek to partner with other community organizations that can provide these services this is why I was asking if academic libraries might have similar partnerships with academic departments. And that said, There are many, many 'maker' activities public libraries already support and more we can expand to support. (think craft time in the kids room) Whether it is soldering, graphic design software, or making sock puppets, the public library is as much about these informal learning experiences as it is about access to Grisham, Shakespeare and JK Rowling. On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 1:03 PM, Joe Hourcle onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.govwrote: On Aug 27, 2012, at 9:44 AM, BWS Johnson wrote: Salvete! Can't. Resist. Bait. Batman. Can anyone on the list help clarify for me why, in an academic setting, this kind of equipment and facility isn't part of a laboratory in an academic department? I'd say that I hate to play devil's advocate, but that would be a patent misrepresentation of material fact. Conversely, could you please tell us why you think it *shouldn't* be at the Library? I can think of one reason they shouldn't be *anywhere*: liability. When I was working on my undergrad, in civil engineering, the university's science and engineering school had their own machine shop. Officially, you were only supposed to use it if you were a grad student, or supervised by a grad student. Yet, there were a number of us (the undergrad population) who had more experience than the grad students. (I had done a couple years of shop class during high school, one of the other students had learned from his father who worked in the trade, another was going back to school after having been a professional machinist for years, etc.). So well, I know at least two of us would go down and use the shop without supervision. (and in a few cases, all alone, which is another violation when you're working at 1am and there's no one to call for medical assistance should something go really, really wrong). And in some cases, we'd teach the grad students who were doing stuff wrong (trying to take off too much material in a pass, using the incorrect tools, etc. But I made just as many mistakes. (when you're in a true machine shop, and there's two different blades for the bandsaw with different TPI, it's not that one's for metal and one's for wood ... as they don't do wood cutting there ... but I must've broken and re-welded the blade a half dozen times and gone through a quart of cutting fluid to make only a few cuts, as I didn't realize that I should've been using the lower TPI blade for cutting aluminum) I admit I don't know enough about these 'maker spaces' ... I assume there'd have to be some training / certification before using the equipment. The other option would be to treat it more like a print shop, where someone drops off their item to be printed, and then comes back to pick it up after the job's been run. And it's possible that you're using less dangerous equipment. (eg, when in high school, my senior year we got a new principal who required that all teachers wear ties ... including the shop teachers. Have you ever seen what happens when a tie gets caught in a lathe or a printing press? He's lucky the teachers were experienced, as a simple mistake could've killed them) But even something as simple as a polishing/grinding wheel could be a hazard to both the person using it and anyone around them. (I remember one of my high school shop teachers not happy that I was so aggressive when grinding down some steel, as I was spraying sparks near his desk ... which could've started a fire) ... so the whole issue of making sure that no one gets injured / killed / damages others is one of the liability issues, but I also remember when I worked for the university computer lab, we had a scanner that you could sign up to use. One day, one of the university police saw what one of the students was doing, and insisted that we were allowing students to make fake IDs. (the student in question had scanned in a CD cover, which was a distorted drivers license looking thing ... if he was trying to make a fake ID, you'd think he'd have started from a genuine ID card) As we've now got people who are printing gun receivers, there's a real possibility that people could be printing stuff that might be in violation of the
Re: [CODE4LIB] Corrections to Worldcat/Hathi/Google
On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 10:36 AM, Ross Singer rossfsin...@gmail.com wrote: For MARC data, while I don't know of any examples of this, it seems like something like CouchDB [2] and marc-in-json [3] would be a fantastic way to make something like this available. Great idea...and there are 4 years of transactions for LC record create/update/deletes up at Internet Archive: http://archive.org/details/marc_loc_updates //Ed
Re: [CODE4LIB] Corrections to Worldcat/Hathi/Google
On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 8:49 AM, Karen Coyle li...@kcoyle.net wrote: Actually, Ed, this would not only make for a good blog post (please, so it doesn't get lost in email space), but I would love to see a discussion of what kind of revision control would work: 1) for libraries (git is gawdawful nerdy) 2) for linked data I think you know well as me that linked data is gawdawful nerdy too :-) p.s. the Ramsay book is now showing on Open Library, and the subtitle is correct... perhaps because the record is from the LC MARC service :-) http://openlibrary.org/works/OL16528530W/Reading_machines perhaps being the operative word. Being able to concretely answer these provenence questions is important. Actually, I'm not sure it was ever incorrect at OpenLibrary. At least I don't think I used it as an example in my Genealogy of a Typo post. //Ed
Re: [CODE4LIB] Corrections to Worldcat/Hathi/Google
On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 1:33 PM, Corey A Harper corey.har...@nyu.edu wrote: I think there's a useful distinction here. Ed can correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect he was not actually suggesting that Git itself be the user-interface to a github-for-data type service, but rather that such a service can be built *on top* of an infrastructure component like GitHub. Yes, I wasn't saying that we could just plonk our data into Github, and pat ourselves on the back for a good days work :-) I guess I was stating the obvious: technologies like Git have made once hard problems like decentralized version control much, much easier...and there might be some giants shoulders to stand on. //Ed
[CODE4LIB] Usage Statistics Survey
Greetings, My apologies for cross-posting. I am writing an article for Computers in Libraries on electronic resource usage data. I want to find out how widely used COUNTER and SUSHI are in libraries and how well the COUNTER standard suits the needs of libraries. This year, I worked with COUNTER and SUSHI quite extensively as I built a program that attempted to gather usage data automatically and generate a cost-per-use analysis. The existing standards made this project virtually impossible. There is also a general sentiment in listservs that collecting usage data is still quite a chore despite the ongoing development of COUNTER and SUSHI. Below is a link to a short, six-question survey. The data from this survey will be used in my article to inform my conclusions regarding the usefulness of the COUNTER and SUSHI standards and how they could be improved in the future to become more useful to libraries. The article will be published in the November issue of Computers in Libraries. If you are the administrator of electronic resources for your institution, I’d appreciate if you’d take a moment to complete the survey. It should take five minutes or less. Thank you for your time. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2TMNSTX Josh Welker Electronic/Media Services Librarian College Liaison University Libraries Southwest Baptist University 417.328.1624
[CODE4LIB] Job: Library System Manager at Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium
Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium, New Jersey Reporting to the Executive Director, the LIBRARY SYSTEM MANAGER is primarily responsible for managing the integrated library system in use by LMxAC member libraries. RESPONSIBILITIES * Manages and assumes overall responsibility for the operation of the integrated library system (ILS) and all of its components including the public catalog interface, mobile and social media components. * Oversees testing and troubleshooting of the ILS software; confers with member library staff on issues of software performance; develops the program to train member library staff in the operation of the system's various modules and updates and creates documentation for the use of library staff. * Works with member libraries to develop policies and procedures to support interlibrary loan, reciprocal borrowing, common and institution-specific circulation. * Assures timely testing and implementation of new modules and software upgrades. * Oversees the creation and maintenance of reports as required by member libraries. * Serves as the primary contact with SirsiDynix on software application issues. * Assures the maintenance and integrity of the databases that are a part of the ILS. * Serves as the primary software application specialist for Acquisitions, Cataloging, Policies/Parameters and Serials. * Performs other duties as assigned by the LMxAC Executive Director as well as administrative tasks in the absence of the Executive Director. QUALIFICATIONS * MLS degree plus 5 years of experience with library automation software * Experience with public and academic libraries * Detailed understanding of library circulation and technical services functions including library database structures and data standards * Technology skills including experience with API, HTML, Perl and/or Unix. * Problem solving ability * Good communication skills - verbal/written * Good organizational skills - ability to work independently * Ability to manage and lead staff Working Conditions and Physical Requirements Work is performed at the consortium headquarters as well as at member libraries throughout Middlesex, Union, and Monmouth counties. This position requires an active New Jersey driver's license and the ability to provide transportation to library sites. The position is scheduled for a 35-hour work week, and it requires the ability to work on a flexible schedule, with regularly scheduled on-call times and occasional evening and/or weekend hours. Physical requirements include ability to move around the facility, walk, sit, bend, climb, kneel, stoop, and carry; lift up to 15 pounds, or greater with assistance; and perform other efforts such as moving a computer. Compensation Range and Benefits The salary range is $70,000 to $80,000. A full benefits package is provided. Brought to you by code4lib jobs: http://jobs.code4lib.org/job/2074/
Re: [CODE4LIB] Maker Spaces and Academic Libraries
I think some folks have already responded to 'why' pretty well, but I figured I would add to the discussion from our perspective on the ground at UNR in the DeLaMare Library and answer Edward's question too. As far as why we are developing a makerspace or why we have 3D printers in the library- I think Jason hit on two really important points - curriculum and research support. In the library we hardly question buying journals that cost upwards of $15K that may only support one department and in some cases just one individual researcher. The 3D printer is already supporting several schools and departments in terms of both research and curriculum. There is a 3D printer in a department on our campus but the problem is- the department keeps it under lock and key and students only get access to that printer if they take a certain class within that specific department. Here in the academic library- we are available to everyone on campus- no lock and key, no special hours...we provide access to a much needed service. Even over the summer- we've had faculty from Engineering, Chemistry, and Art jumping in and working this service into their curriculum even further now that they have access to the production machine- it's a total win. Previously a number of students and faculty has been sending their files out to be printed at a rather high cost and turnaround time. This eliminates that and allows our community to prototype more quickly and more often. Chemistry has really gone far with this- one faculty remarked that this has changed the way he does research now. Rapid prototyping is critical. As for equipment that is more dangerous to use- I've worked closely with the local makerspace here in Reno, Bridgewire, and they've created a student membership. They have and are going to continue to do workshops for us here and they hold all kinds of workshops and events in their own space. Anything that may be considered a liability is done on their property and they have insurance. More recently, we are looking into partnering with the campus machine shop. Again- they are well suited to this kind of thing and take the necessary precautions. I see the library as a bridge between a lot of these resources- we communicate regularly with various groups to make sure students and faculty get whatever resources they need- whether that's an article, a book, a 3D printer, or access to a CNC machine. My interest is in getting what our community needs, so while I keep an eye out for how the laws will change in relation to these technologies, I focus on serving the users and building the community. It's been transformative here from when we were a building full of lots of print books with very few people at all to now where we have open collaborative space, 3D printers, button makers, poster printers, AR Drones, various software, etcand a LOT more users. We've seen the highest numbers of users in this building that we've ever seen here. We have also heard from several professors from different areas in full support of what we are doing and praise the changes we've made here. At one point not too long ago if you asked me what would happen to this library, I probably would have said that it would be closed in the not too distant future; we've totally turned that around because we've embraced our community and given them something irresistible. The students graduating from here will have had experience with technologies and learning in an environment that encourages creating, which many other students across the country don't have access to. I think it gives our students an advantage in a number of industries where companies will be creating new kinds of jobs that we can't yet imagine. Our staff are the same existing staff that were here previously. No one is specially trained- everyone has printed on the 3D printer- including all of our student workers. It's fun, so it hasn't been a hard sell to anyone to make something and learn...which is pretty cool. We set up the 3D Touch printer ourselves- in fact the students busted open the box the second it arrived, set it up and started printing. I wasn't even in the building when that all happened- they took it on and I'm happy about that. The production machine we have - the Uprint SE needed setup from the vendor. He did a fairly quick rundown of how it all works and did the machine setup for us. Since then it's been going non-stop without much maintenance. Out of both of the machines, the hobbyist machine has needed more maintenance from us in terms of keeping it going well. The higher end machine has been invaluable in that it runs without lots of care and feeding. We have a couple of different options available for 3D software and we have a number of students and student workers who are already well-versed in creating with these tools. We are asking them to teach others and give workshops- this works well as most of our students prefer to learn from other students in a
Re: [CODE4LIB] Corrections to Worldcat/Hathi/Google
Ed, Corey - I also assumed that Ed wasn't suggesting that we literally use github as our platform, but I do want to remind folks how far we are from having people friendly versioning software -- at least, none that I have seen has felt intuitive. The features of git are great, and people have built interfaces to it, but as Galen's question brings forth, the very *idea* of versioning doesn't exist in library data processing, even though having central-system based versions of MARC records (with a single time line) is at least conceptually simple. Therefore it seems to me that first we have to define what a version would be, both in terms of data but also in terms of the mind set and work flow of the cataloging process. How will people *understand* versions in the context of their work? What do they need in order to evaluate different versions? And that leads to my second question: what is a version in LD space? Triples are just triples - you can add them or delete them but I don't know of a way that you can version them, since each has an independent T-space existence. So, are we talking about named graphs? I think this should be a high priority activity around the new bibliographic framework planning because, as we have seen with MARC, the idea of versioning needs to be part of the very design or it won't happen. kc On 8/27/12 11:20 AM, Ed Summers wrote: On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 1:33 PM, Corey A Harper corey.har...@nyu.edu wrote: I think there's a useful distinction here. Ed can correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect he was not actually suggesting that Git itself be the user-interface to a github-for-data type service, but rather that such a service can be built *on top* of an infrastructure component like GitHub. Yes, I wasn't saying that we could just plonk our data into Github, and pat ourselves on the back for a good days work :-) I guess I was stating the obvious: technologies like Git have made once hard problems like decentralized version control much, much easier...and there might be some giants shoulders to stand on. //Ed -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet
Re: [CODE4LIB] Corrections to Worldcat/Hathi/Google
These have to be named graphs, or at least collections of triples which can be processed through workflows as a single unit. In terms of LD there version needs to be defined in terms of: (a) synchronisation with the non-bibliographic real world (i.e. Dataset Z version X was released at time Y) (b) correction/augmentation of other datasets (i.e Dataset F version G contains triples augmenting Dataset H versions A, B, C and D) (c) mapping between datasets (i.e. Dataset I contains triples mapping between Dataset J version K and Dataset L version M (and visa-versa)) Note that a 'Dataset' here could be a bibliographic dataset (records of works, etc), a classification dataset (a version of the Dewey Decimal Scheme, a version of the Māori Subject Headings, a version of Dublin Core Scheme, etc), a dataset of real-world entities to do authority control against (a dbpedia dump, an organisational structure in an institution, etc), or some arbitrary mapping between some arbitrary combination of these. Most of these are going to be managed and generated using current systems with processes that involve periodic dumps (or drops) of data (the dbpedia drops of wikipedia data are a good model here). git makes little sense for this kind of data. github is most likely to be useful for smaller niche collaborative collections (probably no more than a million triples) mapping between the larger collections, and scripts for integrating the collections into a sane whole. cheers stuart On 28/08/12 08:36, Karen Coyle wrote: Ed, Corey - I also assumed that Ed wasn't suggesting that we literally use github as our platform, but I do want to remind folks how far we are from having people friendly versioning software -- at least, none that I have seen has felt intuitive. The features of git are great, and people have built interfaces to it, but as Galen's question brings forth, the very *idea* of versioning doesn't exist in library data processing, even though having central-system based versions of MARC records (with a single time line) is at least conceptually simple. Therefore it seems to me that first we have to define what a version would be, both in terms of data but also in terms of the mind set and work flow of the cataloging process. How will people *understand* versions in the context of their work? What do they need in order to evaluate different versions? And that leads to my second question: what is a version in LD space? Triples are just triples - you can add them or delete them but I don't know of a way that you can version them, since each has an independent T-space existence. So, are we talking about named graphs? I think this should be a high priority activity around the new bibliographic framework planning because, as we have seen with MARC, the idea of versioning needs to be part of the very design or it won't happen. kc On 8/27/12 11:20 AM, Ed Summers wrote: On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 1:33 PM, Corey A Harper corey.har...@nyu.edu wrote: I think there's a useful distinction here. Ed can correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect he was not actually suggesting that Git itself be the user-interface to a github-for-data type service, but rather that such a service can be built *on top* of an infrastructure component like GitHub. Yes, I wasn't saying that we could just plonk our data into Github, and pat ourselves on the back for a good days work :-) I guess I was stating the obvious: technologies like Git have made once hard problems like decentralized version control much, much easier...and there might be some giants shoulders to stand on. //Ed -- Stuart Yeates Library Technology Services http://www.victoria.ac.nz/library/
Re: [CODE4LIB] Corrections to Worldcat/Hathi/Google
I agree entirely that these would need to be a collection of triples with its own set of attributes/metadata describing the collection. Basically a record with triples as the data elements. But I see a bigger problem with the direction this thread has taken so far. The use of versions has been conditioned by the use of something like Github as the underlying versioning platform. But Github (and all software versioning systems) are based on temporal versions, where each version is, in some way, an evolved unit of the same underlying thing - a program or whatever. So the versions are really temporally linearly related to each other as well as related in terms of added or improved or fixed functionality. Yes, the codebase (the underlying thing) can fork or split in a number of ways, but they are all versions of the same thing, progressing through time. In the existing bibliographic case we have many records which purport to be about the same thing, but contain different data values for the same elements. And these are the the versions we have to deal with, and eventually reconcile. They are not descendents of the same original, they are independent entities, whether they are recorded as singular MARC records or collections of LD triples. I would suggest that at all levels, from the triplet or key/value field pair to the triple collection or fielded record, what we have are alternates, not versions. Thus the alternates exist at the triple level, and also at the collection level (the normal bibliographic unit record we are familiar with). And those alternates could then be allowed versions which are the attempts to, in some way, improve the quality (your definition of what this is is as good as mine) over time. And with a closed group of alternates (of a single bib unit) these versioned alternates would (in a perfect world) iterate to a common descendent which had the same agreed, authorized set of triples. Of course this would only be the authorized form for those organizations which recognized the arrangement. But, allowing alternates and their versions does allow for a method of tracking the original problem of three organizations each copying each other endlessly to correct their data. In this model it would be an alternate/version spiral of states, rather than a flat circle of each changing version with no history, and no idea of which was master. (Try re-reading Stuart's (a), (b), (c) below with the idea of alternates as well as versions (of the Datasets). I think it would become clearer as to what was happening.) There is still no master, but at least the state changes can be properly tracked and checked by software (and/or humans) so the endless cycle can be addressed - probably by an outside (human) decision about the correct form of a triple to use for this bib entity. Or this may all prove to be an unnecessary complication. Peter -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of stuart yeates Sent: Monday, August 27, 2012 3:42 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Corrections to Worldcat/Hathi/Google These have to be named graphs, or at least collections of triples which can be processed through workflows as a single unit. In terms of LD there version needs to be defined in terms of: (a) synchronisation with the non-bibliographic real world (i.e. Dataset Z version X was released at time Y) (b) correction/augmentation of other datasets (i.e Dataset F version G contains triples augmenting Dataset H versions A, B, C and D) (c) mapping between datasets (i.e. Dataset I contains triples mapping between Dataset J version K and Dataset L version M (and visa-versa)) Note that a 'Dataset' here could be a bibliographic dataset (records of works, etc), a classification dataset (a version of the Dewey Decimal Scheme, a version of the Māori Subject Headings, a version of Dublin Core Scheme, etc), a dataset of real-world entities to do authority control against (a dbpedia dump, an organisational structure in an institution, etc), or some arbitrary mapping between some arbitrary combination of these. Most of these are going to be managed and generated using current systems with processes that involve periodic dumps (or drops) of data (the dbpedia drops of wikipedia data are a good model here). git makes little sense for this kind of data. github is most likely to be useful for smaller niche collaborative collections (probably no more than a million triples) mapping between the larger collections, and scripts for integrating the collections into a sane whole. cheers stuart On 28/08/12 08:36, Karen Coyle wrote: Ed, Corey - I also assumed that Ed wasn't suggesting that we literally use github as our platform, but I do want to remind folks how far we are from having people friendly versioning software -- at least, none that I
Re: [CODE4LIB] Corrections to Worldcat/Hathi/Google
On 28/08/12 12:07, Peter Noerr wrote: They are not descendents of the same original, they are independent entities, whether they are recorded as singular MARC records or collections of LD triples. That depends on which end of the stick one grasps. Conceptually these are descendants of the abstract work in question; textually these are independent (or likely to be). In practice it doesn't matter: since git/svn/etc are all textual in nature, they're not good at handling these. The reconciliation is likely to be a good candidate for temporal versioning. It's interesting to ponder which of the many datasets is going to prove to be the hub for reconciliation. My money is on librarything, because their merge-ist approach to cataloguing means they have lots and lots of different versions of the work information to match against. See for example: https://www.librarything.com/work/683408/editions/11795335 Wikipedia / dbpedia have redirects which tend in the same direction, but only for titles and not ISBNs. cheers stuart -- Stuart Yeates Library Technology Services http://www.victoria.ac.nz/library/
