What’s Hot & What’s Not Library Technologies & Trends from Applets to Z39.50

1. What’s Hot & What’s NotLibrary Technologies & Trends from Applets to Z39.50 Roy Tennant

2. Warnings • My personal opinion of the situation today (only fools and geniuses predict the future) • I can’t cover the entire landscape (I mean, you want to go home, right?) • I will cover way more Hot technologies than NOT Hot — sorry! • TMBA: Too Many Bloody Acronyms

3. Outline • Hot (and Not) Technologies, from Applets to Z39.50 • What Makes a Technology Hot? Or Not? • Joe Janes’ Six Questions • Making Good Technology Decisions • I Know This Much Is True • 3 Things You Must Remember

4. Applets • Java applets were once thought to be the way to deploy rich interactive services to web clients • Experience demonstrated that Applets: • Often crashed browsers • Took way too long to load • Were less cross-platform compatible than advertised • Hot? NOT! — Use servlets instead…

5. Digital Reference • Solves the essential problem of not being where the user needs us (online) • Is much better than it was, but is still in its infancy • Should be viewed as simply another tool to provide more effective user services • Hot? Yes, but be realistic and realize it is a NEW service that requires investment

7. Dublin Core • A common meeting ground for more complex metadata standards • Co-developed by an international community of librarians and computer scientists (broad-based support) • Example of success: it is the one required metadata format for OAI-PMH • Hot? Yes, but should be used only for cooperative metadata sharing or very simple metadata needs

8. eBooks • Major kinds: • Device-dependent • Web-based • Download-based • Uptake varies dramatically based on format, cost, type of content, etc. • Hot? Varies…from dead-cold device-dependent ebooks to lukewarm and slowly heating up for other types

10. FRBR • Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (from IFLA) • A method by which we can bring together for the user multiple records that describe one intellectual object • Example system: Redlightgreen.com from RLG • Hot? YES! May be an effective way out of the morass of multiple records

14. HTML • A hodge-podge of sloppy implementations and browser-specific hacks • Meanwhile, a better solution exists…XHTML & CSS • Hot? Cold, dead cold, for anyone interested in standards and long-term viability — use XHTML and CSS instead

15. Institutional Repositories • “Digital collections capturing and preserving the intellectual output of a single or multi-university community.” (SPARC) • A way libraries can help change scholarly communication from a profit center to a social good • Hot? Yes!

16. repositories.cdlib.org

17. dspace.mit.edu

18. Java Servlets • “Servlets” = Server-side applications • Java is a common language for web-based application programming • Hot? Yes.

19. Metasearching • Only librarians like to search, everyone else likes to find • Searching in a Google World • A powerful tool, but… • Challenges remain: • Deduplication • Ranking • Target Response • Hot? Yes, but still at an early stage

20. METS • Metadata Encoding and Transmission Schema • An XML “wrapper” for various metadata “packages”, as well as component files or the internal structure of a file • Increasingly used as an all-purpose metadata package for digital objects • Hot? Red hot, and getting hotter!

21. MODS • Acronym • A bibliographic standard similar to MARC expressed in XML • Probably the closest thing to a replacement for MARC • Currently used as an alternative to MARC XML • Hot? Lukewarm, and getting warmer…

22. OAI-PMH • A protocol for “harvesting” (as opposed to searching) metadata from content repositories • A digital library interoperability “home run” • Simple, easy to implement and understand; other uses are being layered on top (e.g., dynamic searching) • Hot? Red hot and getting hotter…

25. Open Source Software • Software for which anyone can obtain the source code (the human-readable code that is normally compiled into code that isn’t) • Essential services are running on OSS; e.g., Apache web server, MySQL • OSS is particularly important for libraries, as it is now much easier and cheaper to prototype and build new online services • Hot? Red hot, and likely to continue to be

26. OpenURL • A standard way to encode URLs for information objects that are computer parseable, and therefore actionable inways that standard URLs are not • Key benefits: • Links are not 1-to-1 (multiple targets can be presented) • Links can be presented that are unique to a user community (based on local licenses) • Hot? You bet! A simple way to solve the “appropriate copy” problem as well as offer new capabilities

28. RDF • Resource Description Framework • Do you understand, and can you explain to someone else, what a labeled directed graph is? No? Then forget about understanding RDF • Can you implement what you don’t understand? • Where is the killer app? • Hot? NOT!

29. RSS • Pick your acronym definition: Really Simple Syndication (my fave), Rich Site Summary (from Netscape), or RDF Site Summary (for those into the RDF version of RSS) • Useful for current awareness: • Blog readers • Automatic web site updates • Hot? Yes! But for specific purposes

31. Storage • Storage is going for about $1/GB • Buy this 1 terabyte disk for $1,000 -> • Put this 4 GB card in your camera -> • Carry this 1 GB USB drive in your pocket • Hot? Like, duh!

32. Web Services: SOAP + REST • SOAP: Simple Object Access Protocol • A lightweight way to exchange encoded information between applications • REST (Representational State Transfer) is a URL (HTTP Get) based way of sending a SOAP request and receiving an XML-encoded response • Both Google and Amazon can be searched via Web Services • Hot? Definitely!

34. XHTML and CSS • An XML-compliant version of HTML • Benefits: forces markup to be valid and properly structured; forces display directives into a separate stylesheet (CSS) where they belong • Ongoing maintenance of documents thereby simplified and standardized • Hot? Definitely! Migrate NOW!

35. http://csszengarden.com/

37. XML • A simple and yet powerful way to encode information in a structured format for processing and communication • All kinds of hot new services use it, from OAI-PMH to RSS and SRU/SRW — even library catalog systems • Hot? Super Red Hot! If you want job security, learn XML now!

38. Z39.50 • A standard for searching remote databases that has been around for years • Still not widely implemented in a consistent and effective manner • Meanwhile, OAI-PMH and other XML-based protocols (e.g., SRU/SRW) are rapidly replacing it • Hot? NOT! But see SRU/SRW

39. SRU/SRW • SRW = carried by a form (uses HTTP POST) • SRU = carried by a URL (uses HTTP GET) • A Web Services implementation of Z39.50 • The best chance Z39.50 has of surviving • Hot? Warm and getting warmer (it may be a useful method for database vendors to expose their databases to metasearching)

40. What Makes a Technology Hot? • Simplicity • Power • Flexibility • Cost-effectiveness • Kills a pain or fulfills a strong desire

41. What Makes a Technology NOT Hot? • Needless complexity (more complexity than is required to solve the problem at hand) • Greater cost (in either money or time) than users are willing to pay • Addresses a problem that no one feels that strongly about • Competition that is more compelling

42. Joe Janes’ Six Questions • Is there a benefit to the user? • Is it accessible, affordable, and worth the cost? • Does it help uphold the values of the profession? • Does it play to our strengths? • Is it likely to endure? • Does it feel right? Reference:

43. Making Good Technology Decisions • Keep an ear to the ground and an eye on the horizon • Hold new technologies up to the light of your mission and priorities • Watch out for 800 lb. Gorillas • Don’t ignore an upstart with a compelling product

44. Making Good Technology Decisions • Don’t bet the farm on things you can’t control • All things being equal, open is better than proprietary • Technology with market share often prevents or kills better technology • However…market share is everything • Get good advice • Know your source of support

45. I Know This Much is True • Neither an early adopter nor latecomer be • It’s the user, stupid! • Don’t expect users to know what they want until they see it • Never underestimate the power of a prototype • Back it up or kiss it goodbye • Buy hardware at the last possible moment

46. I Know This Much is True • Don’t buy software with a zero at the end of the release number • Burn, baby, burn: the only good CPU cycle is a used one • Never let anyone bitch at you about disk usage — disk space is cheaper than dirt! • If you can’t be with the operating system you love, love the one you’re with

47. 3 Things You Must Remember • XML • It’s not the technology, but the user! • Never stop learning!