Metadata Services Toolkit ready for Production?

I was impressed with Jennifer Bowen's demo at ALA and installed the software on my local machine once I got back. I wrote up some specifics at CMS blog.

"From Linking to Thinking"

I attended the OCLC Symposium at ALA Midwinter 2009: "From Linking to Thinking: How We'll Live When Information Surrounds Us". The panelists were David Weinberger (Harvard Berkman Center fellow, author of Everything is Miscellaneous, etc.) and Nova Spivack (founder of Radar Networks, twine.com, and a leading figure in Semantic Web development, etc.). The moderator was OCLC's Roy Tennant (list owner of Web4Lib and XML4lib, columnist for Library Journal, editor of Current Cites newsletter, etc.).

My notes are a bit patchy, but I was able to fill in some gaps thanks to a "pre-conference conversation" transcript.

Evolution of the Web

• Transition from a Web 1.0 publishing medium to a Web 2.0 communication medium (Spivack); or: Web was primarily a communications medium from the moment it escaped Tim Berners-Lee's lab (Weinberger)
• Transition from directory structure (nodes arranged hierarchically) to more of a relational database structure.
  
• Web of humans morphing into Web of machines
  
• "Web 3.0" involves Web-based operating systems and "Web 4.0" is the "Intelligent Web" (Spivack)
• Emergence of "augmented reality", for example LED output and geo-aware cameras embedded in contact lenses that providing schematic overlays and commentary for objects in one's field of vision (Spivack). Similar to "Semantic Earth" idea (Weinberger).
• Emergence of the "Internet of Things" including not just Web sites and abstract concepts but physical objects giving and receiving information on the network ; the Web is "becoming the nervous system of the planet" ... "This is truly as if our species is evolving to a new level of collective intelligence." (Spivack); Weinberg is "more excited about the rise in human connectedness ... the mere fact that more and more humans are able to touch one another, in conversation and through their works, this is what's truly transformative."
  

Libraries and the Web

• The library as a "giant brain" firing in slow motion. Digitizing the contents will simply make it fire more quickly (Spivack)
  
• Library of the future will have "everything" digitized and available on-line, customized interface for individual user or group, intelligent assistance, and machine ability to detect and adapt to changing user needs (Spivack)
• As to whether we're losing our ability to negotiate long-form arguments (e.g., thinking in book-length format versus Web snippets), and whether this contradicts the idea that the Web is making us smarter. Perhaps there's some truth to it, but it's a fair trade-off. (He compared Plato's warning in the Phaedrus about relying on books rather than oral instruction and memorization.) We have to get away from the notion that intelligence is something specific to the individual brain, the important thing now is to be part of an "intelligent network". (Weinberger)
• Librarians should "scan the books already." Also we should do something about the fragmentation of literature in different journal aggregator databases. There should be a single integrated interface to all periodical literature owned or licensed by the library, as opposed to our users having to check EBSCO, JSTOR, WilsonWeb, etc., figure out which journal titles are indexed by which of these aggregators, and how to use their unique interfaces and search parameters. Also, that we should be more political in promoting open access (Weinberger)

(To be posted on CMS SharePoint site)

"A Unified Discovery Interface"

I posted something on the CMS blog about the new "Summon" service from Serial Solutions, the Andrew Nagy connection, and how it all relates to what David Weinberger said at the ALA 2009 OCLC Symposium.

2009 Library Conferences

The 2009 ALA Midwinter conference is in Denver, Jan. 23-28. Bundled registration (for this and the Annual meeting) is $300 for division members, if paid by Sept. 30.

ALA 2008 Anaheim

ALA 2008 annual conference is in Anaheim, June 26-July 2.

ALA Preconference on Metadata

ALA | Metadata for Digital Library Development: "January 9-10, 2008 Philadelphia, PA"

ALA 2008 Philly

See conference home page and Philly map (Google)


View Larger Map

Washington Post on the "Modern Librarian"

Washington Post "Style" section of June 24th has an article by Monica Hesse entitled: "The Modern Librarian: A Role Worth Checking out." Here's the lead paragraph:

Men in tuxes and women in gowns smartly walk the red carpet at the Washington Convention Center, to the "woo-hoo!" of adoring fans. A cameraman records the procession, photographers angle for close-ups. One carpet-walker, a woman in blue sequins, strikes a come-hither pose, and a security guard taps a female spectator on the shoulder.

"Are they famous?" he asks.

"No," she replies. "They're librarians."

ALA 2007 Washington D.C.

The ALA 2007 wiki has a nice "Unofficial Events" page. LIS-News gathering not listed there though.

Here's the agenda for the Subject Analysis Committee (but most of the meeting times conflict with CCDA). Some items of potential interest:

• 2.2.1 Vote to approve the revised charge of the SAC Subcommittee on the Future of Subject Headings.

• 2.9.1 Discuss Encore product http://www.iii.com/encore ; http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qj_tMDbCs9M

San Antonio

Brief Chronology Of Events at The Alamo.

CCQ News

CCQ News, as described in CCQ 31:1, 2000. Categories of submission include:

(1) Research and Opinion (e.g.: abstracts or reports of on-going or unpublished research; bibliographies of materials available on specific subjects; Analysis or description of new technologies; Call for papers; Comments or opinions on the art of cataloging);

(2) Events (e.g., notes, minutes, or summaries of meetings, etc. of interest to catalogers; Publication announcements; description of grants, Description of projects);

(3) People (e.g. Announcements of changes in personnel; announcements of honors, offices, etc.)

Upcoming deadlines: "Please plan to submit a news column on or before August 31, 2005 and December 31, 2005. I currently expect that these will fall in v. 42 no. 1 and no. 4 respectively and will confirm this with you later. As we discussed, submission via an email attachment is easiest for me" (May 31, 2005). Keeping personal copies on Pantheon page.

SAC-Interop

Index to SAC Interop files.

FAST

FAST Wiki. Yale ITS hosts SAC FAST disussion list

ALA AJL 2005

AJL 2005 Convention at Oakland Marriott City Center. $129/night (+ 11% Oakland Occupancy tax) room has been reserved. Check-in: June 18; Check-out: June 23. Conference registration not submissable on-line; $385 and paper form submitted 3/25/05. Still need to purchase plane tickets. Note that Lee Wixman has posted information about discount air fares.

ALA 2005 Chicago, including Event Planner. SAC-LCC meets June 26 at the Palmer House Hilton, 2:30pm-5:30pm.

Staying at Club Quarters Chicago (Central Loop). Download reservation from Yale Travel Services, or Yale etravel.

ALA Boston 2005

Here's a link to Yale Travel. Only use for business trips. In Boston 2005, staying at John Hancock Hotel. Amtrak tickets reserved through Yale Travel. Check ALA Conference Services site for local information, e.g., location of Hynes Convention Center. Try using ALA's Meeting Planner. Also check meetings on ALCTS home page. Here my list of interoperability projects stilling needing a lot more content.