Switch Focus
Use Cases
- 01. Publish data for unspecified use
- 02. Publish open Linked Data for unspecified use
- 03. Supply data for Physical Union Catalogue
- 04. Allow Physical Union Catalogue to publish data
- 05. Expose data for federation into Virtual Union Catalogue
- 06. Publish grey literature data
- 07. Contribute data to Google Scholar
- 08. Publish activity data
- 09. Supply holdings data for Collection Management
- 10. Expose holdings / availability data for Closest Copy location
- 11. Share data for Collaborative Cataloguing
- 12. Supply data for Crowd Sourced Cataloguing
- 13. Supply data to be enhanced for own use
- 14. Publish data for LIS research
- 15. Allow personal use of data for Reference Management
- 16. Publish data for lightweight application development
- 17. Allow commercial use of data in mobile application
05. Expose data for federation into Virtual Union Catalogue
Provision of access under open data license to bibliographic records through a virtual Union Catalogue service in order to enhance discovery, location and delivery services for users, especially for special collections.
Description
Activity -
Provision of access under open data license to bibliographic records through a virtual Union Catalogue service in order to enhance discovery, location and delivery services for users, especially for special collections. This may also involve a collaborative or copy cataloguing opportunity (see UC11). Compare with the variant approaches of UC3 and UC4.
Actors -
Libraries; the external service (may be a shared service within the sector)
Data involved -
Bibliographic records, typically containing holdings data and potentially use data
Data flow -
Bibliographic and holdings records are made available to the central service by member institutions, where they are cross-searched to give users the appearance of a single Union Catalogue.
Does this require Open Data -
Not necessary, but if the records are accessed under an open data license, the scope for exploitation by the Union Catalogue, contributing institutions, third parties and users will be unambiguous.
Current Examples -
Canadian National Union Catalogue
Benefits
Institution -
Improved learning and research experience.
Library Service -
Something for nothing. Improved service to users including the possibility of value added services based on open use of records
Researchers -
Potential access to more extensive collections or greater copy availability from other universities and research institutions
Students -
Potential access to more extensive collections or greater copy availability from other universities
Replication -
The bibliographic data publishing process will be of use for other services requiring access to records. Appropriate generic licensing as opposed to a proprietary agreement with the service provider may open up other shared service or third party service opportunities.
Case for not doing it -
Libraries may be wary of their own or the collective data being re-sold to them or devalued in terms of quality by a downstream player.
Motivation
Principles -
Improved access through discoverability of own resources and access to resources held by partner institutions. Making bibliographic data open for re-use increases those opportunities both within and beyond the Union Catalogue service.
Costs -
Reduces the costs for providers and consumers; rather than dealing with individual member libraries, the license and service relationship is mediated by the union catalogue provider.
Services -
By making data available in ways that users prefer, usage and satisfaction may rise.
Rationale for not doing it -
(1) Not joining a Union Catalogue Service – believing that library domain services do not compete effectively with generic search engines; (2) Not supplying the records as Open Data – uncertainty about the rights attached to records not originated locally, such as those wholly or partially derived from a collaborative cataloguing service, from publishers or from such as a national library.
Consequences of doing it as Open Data
What will happen? -
Staff and students will have the opportunity to access an existing library service in a different way.
Potential Risks -
(1) Loss of control over institutional data; (2) Damage to institutional reputation through provision of substandard product by a third party [see also UC3, UC4, UC16, UC17]; (3) The originator of elements of the bibliographic records challenges release as open data [see also UC1, UC2, UC3, UC4, UC6, UC7, UC15, UC16, UC17]; (4) Increased visibility of collection leads to demand beyond local resources ability to supply [see also UC3, UC4, UC6, UC7, UC9, UC13, UC16, UC17].
Potential Opportunities -
(1) Development of innovative / compelling third party services based on open data; (2) Shift to outsourced cataloguing and OPAC services [see also UC3, UC4, UC9, UC11]; (3) Increased use of library collection by internal and external users through improved discovery services [see also UC3, UC4, UC6, UC7, UC9, UC13, UC16, UC17]; (4) Sufficiently large Centralised Union Catalogues to provide ‘web–scale’ opportunities [see also UC3, UC4]
Consequences of not doing it? -
None that are significant
Rights and Licensing Issues
Rights and licensing issues -
This use case requires the granting (whether implicit or explicit) of data access and usage rights to a third party. Whether that is classed as ‘use’ or ‘supply’ will depend upon the nature of the relationship between the organizations involved. See http:// www.jisclegal.ac.uk/Projects/TransferandUseofBibliographicRecords.aspx.
Practicalities
Data exchange formatting -
Z39.50, SRU, SRW, locally developed API?
Lifecycle implications -
Potentially significant, as local infrastructure needs to handle the overhead of every query passed along by the union catalogue.
Hosting requirements -
Potentially significant, as local infrastructure needs to handle the overhead of every query passed along by the union catalogue.
Existing systems impact -
Continued support and maintenance of the local target, plus development work to align with new requirements from the union catalogue.
Skills demands -
Staff concerned with maintaining the union catalogue are likely to possess all the necessary skills to maintain Z39.50-style targets, where these are well defined and provided by their existing system provider. Specific use cases may require local (or vendor) development work, with cost or skill implications.
Costs
Setup -
The necessary ‘target’ capability may already be included within the LMS or equivalent local systems. Configuration to meet specific requirements may require modest effort that will normally be within the abilities of systems staff.
Ongoing -
The infrastructural costs associated with sustaining this capability may be relatively low, but will inevitably be directly affected by the efficiency and popularity of the union catalogue itself.
Cost of doing nothing -
No additional costs will be directly accrued through inaction. However, supplying data on a case-by-case basis without adopting an open license or permissive contract may result in an ongoing requirement to receive, assess, and respond to requests for data from third parties.
