Mod Librarian

Here are five things to discuss while sipping hot apple cider this fall:

1. Would you like to get scientific about search engine optimization?
2. Did you know you can search Google image with any image?
3. Want to hear an awesome podcast from ASPP on keywording photos?
4. Does a National Portrait Gallery contest trample artists’ rights?
5. What is it about the smell of a book (versus the smell of a Kindle)?

There are many good resources devoted to photo keywording. This one on the site Photopreneur discusses the importance of keywording for photographers submitting images to stock photo companies. Since the keyword guidelines for different companies vary slightly, it is crucial that photographers understand the guidelines and develop a system that incorporates all the parameters.

Applying keywords just once will be less time consuming and finding ways to automate and streamline the process is key. Another great resource is on one of my favorite sites, Controlled Vocabulary.

The Caption and Keywording Guidelines list questions you should ask yourself regarding the “aboutness” of any image. This list should assist you in creating a process that will lend speed, consistency and accuracy to your photo keywording efforts.

Check out the Research Center at the site for the International Center for Photography.

eMuseum is a searchable database of ICP’s Photography Collection. Each record includes information about the photographer, title, date, medium, as well as an image, when available.With over 20,000 records in the database and new content added daily, this resource provides a glimpse into a rich photographic history without leaving the couch.

Photomuse.org represents a collaboration between ICP and the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, providing more online resources for the study of photography.

Here are five things to amaze and delight the LIS community:

1. Need to find a library in a strange city? Try the Library Finder app.
2. Want to add some pizazz to a presentation? Check out these tips from Musings about librarianship.
3. Interested in seeing some sample LibraryThing data files?
4. What does your library degree mean to you?
5. Organize your images on the go with FlickStackr. Here’s some information.

The Stock Artists Alliance in conjunction with the LOC relays some invaluable information regarding photo metadata on the website PhotoMetadata.org. Embedding metadata on photos is vitally important to aid in identification of the creator, prevent copyright infringement and increase findability.

From informative tutorials, links to resources, explanations of metadata classes, types and structure to glossaries and a reference library, this site backs up the SAA’s Metadata Manifesto with useful and practical information.

The bottom line is that anyone creating photos should understand and employ metadata. In this digital age, content is misappropriated more than ever before. Also, with so much content out there, ensuring that your creations can be easily located is key.

Here is an interesting story about the site Bruce-Juice.com posting photos of celebrities allegedly illegally downloaded from the sites of large news agencies and photo sites. Check out the copyright disclaimer on the site:

Action is being taken as the agencies from which the photos were taken band together. More on this developing story here on Photo Archive News.

This was a big week for interesting tidbits, so here are a dozen things to discuss:

1. Can libraries learn from Target’s marketing?
2. Will the Sony eReader really be library friendly?
3. Interested in some innovative enterprise DAM software from ADAM?
4. Want to read about the restoration of some 1920’s Hitchcock films?
5. Enjoy this infographic on the growth of social media.
6. Check out this site devoted to copyright and art issues.
7. SXSW meets archival records.
8. Read about Stock Keeper for Mac - sounds like an easy and affordable DAM.
9. Hack Library School defends online LIS education. Heck, I got a great online education!
10. Update the Content Wrangler’s logo in a contest.
11. Look at Jeffrey’s cool EXIF viewer.
12. Read about Autonomy and IDOL OEM.

The George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film is turning to crowdsourcing to create metadata tags for their archive. In a partnership with Clickworker, an innovator in crowdsourcing technology, the project will involve the photo-tagging of more than 400,000 images.

“Our partnership with Clickworker enables us to make our photographs searchable and ultimately make our collections more accessible to the world,” said Dr. Anthony Bannon, the Ron and Donna Fielding Director at George Eastman House. “Clickworker not only provides professional insight into the subject matter of our images, but also the option of crowdsourcing in several languages, which is ideal for our internationally focused collections.”

This is a creative solution to the issue of too much digital content to effectively archive without a temporary giant workforce, but I wonder what it means in terms of consistency. However, whether freelance microtaskers working for Clickworker or volunteers at a museum, the result is the same - increased findability for resources that would have otherwise remained inaccessible for much longer.

Here are five things to ponder at your final BBQ of the season. Put away those white shoes!

1. Want to check out some future ready Northwest libraries?
2. Would you care to read Theresa Putkey’s insights on personas in UE?
3. Longing for an awesome site on controlled vocabulary?
4. Where is Charles Guggenheim’s archive?
5. Do you share Jason Griffey’s opinion that the future is already here?

Here is a fantastic post on Digital Landfill on Five Myths about Taxonomy and SharePoint. I began to miss SharePoint, so I found this piece not only informative, but realistic regarding what you can and can’t expect to do with SharePoint in terms of taxonomy.

The highlights for you, enumerated as follows:

• The term store management tool is not a taxonomy management system.  It is called a term store and not the taxonomy manager for a reason. 
• It’s important to note the lack of workflow associated with term addition, modification and deletion. Changes to taxonomy in the term store can occur without review or approval, which can lead to repercussions like downstream processes becoming out of alignment.
• Content types should be refelctive of the content itself and therefore not relegated as the sole responsibility of IT because they are not generally the business stakeholders.
• Taking too narrow or too broad a perspective can lead to problems. Just because you are able to create a seven level hierarchy with thirty-thousand terms doesn’t mean that you should.
• In SharePoint, the taxonomy is used throughout the site but terms are managed in the term store for specific usage in content.

Finally, as with many projects that require the organization of information, LIS professionals can play a useful role in creating and managing SharePoint terms, however, it is vitally important to involve team members with a rich understanding of SharePoint’s features and limitations and the actual enterprise end users.

I love a good resource on digital preservation. Here is another one from the UK, from the National Archives.

I particularly like the “Digital Preservations FAQ’s” section which talks about funding, expertise, and some golden rules like always holding two copies of a record and documenting processes.

The Guidance section includes practical information about file formats and storage media. Finally, there is a page devoted to Policy Guidance because every good digital collection should be backed up not only in multiple locations, but backed up by a solid policy.

Thanks to Jill Hurst-Wahl at Digitization 101 for pointing out this amazing resource!

I am proud to be featured on Henrik de Gyor’s interview series Another DAM Podcast. If you want to hear me talk about creative assets, here is the link:

http://anotherdampodcast.com/2011/08/25/tracy-guza/

Here are five things to tide you over as summer draws to a close:

1. HP acquires Autonomy - what does this mean for MediaBin DAM?
2. Starting library school? Here are some tips from Hack Lib School.
3. Want to be famous in your profession?
4. Learn more about databases from Stanford University.
5. Would you like to know more about SEO competitive analysis?

The Hedgehog Librarian, Abigail Goben, has collected a number of interesting metadata related tidbits on her blog. One of the most interesting observations is regarding the number of LIS jobs that are directly related to dealing with, modelling and even visualizing metadata. Here is the list of positions plus a few new ones. Take note of the skill sets and buzz words used in the descriptions. If you are a librarian excited about metadata, interesting opportunities abound.

• Data Modeler for the Railroad Retirement Board
• Data Visualization Coordinator Duke University Libraries
• Digital Archivist Librarian DePaul University
• National Digital Newspaper Project Manager Washington State Libraries
• Digital Branch Librarian Corvallis-Benton County Public Library

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If you are interested in fashion and in reading big, hefty, glossy magazines, you are familiar with the mythic September issues. Well, did you also know that stock giant Corbis Images offers rights for editorial use of the Condé Nast archive of images?   

The Condé Nast Archive, with a collection dating back to 1892, is one of the finest resources in the publishing world. The selection of photography features work by such giants as Edward Steichen, Horst P. Horst, Cecil Beaton, John Rawlings, George Hoyningen-Huene, Toni Frissell, Henry Clarke, and many others.

From a Pucci dress to a portrait of Joni Mitchell to a woman dining with a cheetah, this image collection will amaze and inspire.

Here are 5 more things, just like every week:

1. Want a website that inspires and informs your book club? Try Book Club Buddy.
2. Thinking about how people search?
3. What is your value proposition?
4. Piccsy: do we need another photo site? If so, this one is pretty cool.
5. Want to read how Hack Library School hacked my program at SJSU?

BONUS: Marvelous post by Meredith Farkas “Be the change you want to see.”

Did you know that the good old Library of Congress has an entire page devoted to resources especially for librarians and archivists? In my opinion, one of the best sections is called Best Practices & Standards. There you can find authorities, information on search and bibliographic control and lovely sections on MARC, METS and EAD .

The page on standards has some fantastic information and links. One of the links is to Metadata for Digital Content. Nice resources, LOC!

Here are your weekly 5 things:

1. Can DAM handle Rights Managed assets?
2. Interested in learning about digital asset management and imaging in one convenient certificate program?
3. Want to manage your personal photos?
4. Would you like to see me speak at DAM LA in November?
5. More interested in digital preservation?

BONUS: Win a DAM book - “The Information and Knowledge Professional’s Career Handbook“, co-authored by Jill Hurst-Wahl and Ulla de Stricker.

Are you familiar with stemming? In linguistics, stemming is essentially reducing a word to its root. For example, the word ‘fish’ is the stem of fishing, fisher, fisherman and others. “Discuss” is the root of discussion and discussing.

Stemming algorithms have long been used in search and SEO to increase the results associated with any given term. Keyword stemming involves the strategic use of synonyms and alternative keywords. Here is a great list of tips for using this concept in SEO.

Until last week, it did not occur to me to employ this strategy to my advantage in planning the controlled vocabulary behind the DAM system I work with. Our keyword field specifically has been littered with all forms of nouns and verbs increasing the size of the list.

I did some research on the configuration of our DAM and it turns out that one simple line in the search file, Stemming = TRUE (or FALSE), was all that was needed to ensure that if we entered the term baby, the search results would also include babies. If we entered farm, we would also get farms and farmers and farming. It is like magic, our keyword list is more concise and precise as a result and consistency improves as well.

Here are 5 things to talk about with your information fanatic friends:

1. Did you know Duke University’s images appeared on History Detectives?
2. Is digitization different than digital preservation?
3. Want to make your own book? Try Blurb.
4. What is the connection between a social graph, “liking” and library data?
5. Need some more on personal branding?

BONUS: Make your iPhone look like a vintage volume.

Check out this lovely metadata scheme for art and architecture images created by the University of Oregon Libraries Digital Images Initiative. Part crosswalk and part data dictionary, this simple scheme (UO-AAI) combines the best of VRA Core and Dublin Core. Authorities are clearly delineated with the usual suspects of ULAN, TGN and AAT at the forefront and it provides a solid framework for anyone seeking to manage a digital visual resource collection.

Ostensibly, this scheme was created to manage the rich resources available at UO’s Art and Architecture Library. Collections range from those originating from Oregon libraries like Oregon Digital, a joint effort by OSU and UO to the standard issue Artstor or Oxford Art Online.

From historic sheet music to Oregon state baseball, the collections employ the UO-AAI scheme in a CONTENTdm environment which is easy to search and browse.

For years I have been talking about the standardization of stock image rights parameters. As an art buyer/producer and later working in the stock industry, I observed many different models for calculating rights-managed licenses. Add to that original photography and usage stipulations can be wide-ranging and often confusing to end users.

Finally a solution is underway. Meet the PLUS Coalition, a group with the mission “To simplify and facilitate the communication and management of image rights.” Drawing on the vast expertise of stock industry veterans, visual resource associations, artist representatives, photographers and publishers, PLUS intends to stay away from pricing and focus on standardization of rights parameters.

Here are the main ways that PLUS will improve Rights Management:

• Standardize license data
• Provide machine readable, worldwide standards for communicating an image license
• Create license reference codes that can be embedded in image headers and invisible watermarks on printed images
• Allow for better monitoring and policing of image distribution and use
• Allow customers to easily track image licenses and avoid unintentional infringement
• Discourage claims of innocent infringement

Yes, you’ve got it - 5 things to inspire discourse:

1. Whatever will Google do with facial recognition company PittPatt?
2. What will life be like in the year 2050?
3. Would you like to see some of the best photography from National Geographic?
4. Want to learn about fellow library professionals participating in the Library Day in the Life Project?
5. Have an idea for the AMIA conference on digital audivisual asset management?

Imagine the challenge of indexing interdisciplinary research data on the internet, perhaps research pertaining to endangered Chilean flamencos as relating to the salt flats of Bolivia and the impact of environmental factors resulting from nearby uranium mines on the migration of the species.

Not only is that a lot of information, but to successfully index this material for optimal retrieval, a metadata specialist might have to explore a number of specialized vocabularies to select the correct terms. These challenges are being addressed via the Helping Interdisciplinary Vocabulary Engineering (HIVE) project, led by a research team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science (SILS) Metadata Research Center (MRC), in collaboration with the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent)  in Durham, N.C.

Essentially, one can search multiple specialized vocabularies simultaneously to choose the best term. In much the same way that PACASEARCH aggregates image search results from multiple stock photo sites, the HIVE project will enable mega search of multiple vocabularies and ultimately supports automatic metadata generation.

Try the HIVE demo here. There are only a few vocabularies in there so far, but it is impressive nonetheless!

How many of you fully explore the pre-installed programs on your computer? Well, thank goodness a recent post by Leala Abbott hipped me to the amazing tool on Mac OS - the Automator.

Like many people working with digital asset management, I often need to create lists of filenames, rename files, document folder contents and a variety of other tedious tasks. Looks like the Automator can help with that and much more. It reminds me of creating an Action in Photoshop - you select the steps you’d like in order and then run the workflow.

You can also use Automator to filter email messages, clean up your iTunes, combine PDF pages, scale images and manage your fonts. It seems the only thing the Automator does not do is make coffee.

Here are five topics to ponder:

1. Want to explore eJournal use by subject? Read this from the eclectic librarian.
2. Interested in ways to use web scale discovery tools without visiting library sites?
3. If you’re a Digital Asset Manager, ever wonder how to describe your job without boring people?
4. Do you ever wonder what it would be like if actual physical books had lending restrictions as complex as ebooks?
5. Are you experiencing information overload? Wait, it will get worse…

BONUS: student research journal from the San Jose State SLIS program

Don’t we all need another standard or schema for web page markup? Fear not, the folks at Google, Bing and Yahoo! have collaborated on Schema.org - “to improve the web by creating a structured data markup schema supported by major search engines. On-page markup helps search engines understand the information on web pages and provide richer search results. A shared markup vocabulary makes easier for webmasters to decide on a markup schema and get the maximum benefit for their efforts.

Schema.org provides a collection of shared vocabularies webmasters can use to mark up their pages in ways that can be understood by the major search engines: Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!

You use the schema.org vocabulary, along with the microdata format, to add information to your HTML content. While the long term goal is to support a wider range of formats, the initial focus is on Microdata. This guide will help get you up to speed with microdata and schema.org, so that you can start adding markup to your web pages.”

To me, this schema, based on RDF, is akin in simplicity to Dublin Core and a boon to those wishing to ensure their content is understood by those sometimes obtuse search engines.

Last fall, I had the pleasure of working on an amazing digital project at The Seattle Public Library during my Student Librarianship. The Century 21 Exposition Digital Collection features ephemera and photos from the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. From the modern Googie inspired architecture to the pavilions highlighting futuristic innovations, the Century 21 Exposition was a milestone event.

The SPL collection contains many photos by a local photographer, Werner Lenggenhager who captured a rare, behind-the-scenes view of the fair from construction to demolition. I was lucky to be involved in the metadata planning, scanning, and uploading of quite a few of the images in the collection. The final landing page and the search and browse features offer multiple ways to view the collection. Take a look at the photo of a man holding a giant crab in the Alaska Pavilion or the Belgian Waffle House.

Special Collections at SPL has done a marvelous job of curating and displaying these materials. Go back to the future!

Here are five interesting topics for summer discussion:

1. Need to do some research on anthropology? Here is a good starting point.
2. Would you like to find a good book to read? Try Book Crossing.
3. Have fun with translation here.
4. Did you know there is a collection of TV intros?
5. What would Don Draper do?

There is a thought provoking post on the Go to Hellman blog about various metadata topics, library linked data and advances in facial recognition tools for identifying photo content.

Why is this important? The post raises some excellent points about how library data is created, how much data is optimal for optimization, and also why libraries need to think about promoting the findability of collections by employing search engine optimization techniques on existing library data.

As I have said before, any type of automated data - whether OCR text or Facebook photo tagging - requires an actual human to vet accuracy. Imagine the possibilities of image recognition software in an industry focused on visual resources.

Here is a fascinating visual tracking the prevalence of Flickr and Twitter users by photographer Eric Fischer. He employed geotags to map social media use and a couple of things are immediately apparent. For one thing, people in the middle of the US seems largely uninterested in Flickr and Twitter compared to both coasts. Why?

Here are some explosively exciting LIS topics and resources:

1. Want to craft a crafty Tweet?
2. Do you need to know almost everything about e-Books?
3. Would you like a recent update on RDA?
4. Learn about the 3M alternative to Overdrive.
5. Peruse the application guidelines for the Institute for Museum and Library Services Learning Labs in Libraries and Museums project.

The University of Washington recently became the first library in the United States to use RISM metadata for a music manuscript digital collection. RISM or Répertoire International des Sources Musicales is a “multinational, non-profit joint venture which aims for comprehensive documentation of extant musical sources worldwide” The efforts of the RISM community help to make worldwide musical resources more accessible to all.

On a related note, IPTC recently launched the Embedded Metadata Manifesto for digital media content. This manifesto contains many saliant points including the fact that copyright information must never be removed from a media asset and that people working with media need to be aware of the importance of metadata for retrieval.

Go media metadata!

This week’s selections focus on books, libraries, collections and related topics:

1. Would you like The Seattle Public Library to help you find your next five books just in time for summer reading?
2. Did you know the Kansas City Library facade looks like a bookshelf?
3. Want to read more on libraries and e-book ownership?
4. What if the British Library teamed up with Google to digitize 250,000 books?
5. Ever wonder what makes a library school a degree mill?

Like many of you, I am a big fan of a concise, well organized and easy to understand reference guide. Did you know that MIT has one for all things metadata? The MIT Metadata Reference Guide is a wiki with lots of information on standards, mapping, terms and uses of metadata.

There are project examples and reading recommendations and even some nifty crosswalks. While many of the project examples and readings are a little older, the content is both valuable, relavent and remains current. This would be a great starting point for students trying to gain a basic understanding of metadata or for a librarian that needs a refresher.

Here’s a thought provoking idea. Instead of calling yourself a librarian, how about information ninja?

According to a recent presentation at CLA as well as a nice summary on the blog Cataloging Futures, space age librarians can transform into information ninjas by embracing the following skills:

- Information Retrieval - determining the best way to find, manage and access resources regardless of the system, format or location.

- Cataloging - moving away from traditional records and towards metadata and user tagging.

- Classification - establishing common, interoperable practices.

- Tech Savvy - learning about search, structured and unstructured content, digital preservation and retention.

Here are five topics to keep you on your toes this summer.

1. Want to know how to set up a brand page on FB without a personal profile?
2. Need a way to test some fonts?
3. Would you like to know more about digital storytelling?
4. Interested in the 100 best movies of the decade? 
5. Read more about qualities like flexibility and adaptability being keys to future success in LIS.

Here’s another snippet related to Linked Open Data. As you may imagine, one wrinkle in sharing cultural heritage and other materials in digital collections is copyright. To ameliorate some of the concerns surrounding the intellectual property rights, LOD-LAM proposes a 4-star classification scheme for linked open cultural metadata.

While you can read more about this ranking system both here at the LOD-LAM blog and here at the Open Knowledge Foundation Blog, the summary of the rankings is as follows:

**** Public Domain (pre 1923 and other cases)

*** Attribution License (CC-BY / ODC-BY) where the licensor considers linkbacks to meet the attribution requirement

** Attribution License (CC-BY / ODC-BY) with another form of attribution defined by the licensor

* Attribution Share-Alike License (CC-BY-SA/ODC-ODbL)

Instead of information architecture, sometimes digital archivists need information about architecture to classify assets and assign subject headings and keywords.

Here are two resources to help in building a solid vocabulary as a foundation for an architecture collection. First and foremost, the Getty Vocabularies are the place to start. The Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) is a comprehensive controlled vocabulary or authority list that can be used to assign data values or aid users in retrieval. Truly amazing!

Need help learning how to identify architectural types and styles? Check out the Great Buildings Collection site for a list of architecural types linked to tangible examples.

You will feel like Frank Lloyd Wright in no time.

Here are five more things to tantalize your gray matter:

1. Have you seen the Canine Research Collection in the OSU Special Collections?
2. What is the DAM Foundation?
3. Pondering librarian fashion? Check out this piece on the librarian wardrobe and librarian shoes on Flickr.
4. Want to communicate your value with an infographic resume?
5. Why was King County Library System named library of the year by Library Journal?

Would you like to easily create and embed Dublin Core metadata in your digital images? Check out this truly awesome tool by Matt Milller and Chris Mullin at Pratt - Embedded MetaData Explorer. Upload a photo or enter a URL and you will see the metadata that already exists. There is also an option to embed or edit Dublin Core. When selected, a template pops up featuring all the DC elements as fillable fields. As a bonus - up to nine Subject fields.

When you are ready to go, embed the data and download. Boom! Instant metadata.

Visual image search has come a long way indeed. Check out these products by pixolution, including an iPhone app. From sorting images based on their visual similarity to suggesting semantically similar images, pixolution products are like magic. Try the demo for Pixolu image search, for instance. Type in a word like ‘cat,’ behold the massive amount of cute kitty cat faces and then select a couple of your favorites. Choose ‘get similar images’ and the visual search technology locates shots that resemble the original selects.

Another company with a long history in visual image search is Idée. The reverse search engine TinEye can locate an image on the web. Upload a photo or choose the URL for the image in question and uses PixMatch - an API-based, automated image matching solution. Given an image to look for, it locates identical or modified images within or between large scale image collections.

Finally, did you ever wish there was an easier way to tag images? Have trouble with keywording your images to maximize findability? Want more image search and similarity suggestions? Well, a company called imense® makes cutting-edge products which revolutionize the analysis, search and annotation of digital images and video.

Here are five fun topics to discuss in the sun this weekend:

1. Would you work in a small town to get started in the LIS field?
2. Want to read about curation in Fast Company?
3. Should you learn SQL, an oft ignored skill in LIS programs?
4. Are you troubled by the algorithms ruling our web lives?
5. Want to round things out with some thoughts on digital preservation?

The hot topic of library circles in recent weeks appears to be linked data. While I feel like a trendspotter for recognizing this, I would like to say more. One recent blog post on the topic on the SLA Future Ready 365 site called vocabularies the “magic glue” holding data together. Vocabularies promote standardization, establish linkages, and ultimately allow for mapping of search queries to the correct information.

Findability, again? Vocabulary, taxonomy, thesauri and linked data in partnership can indeed lead to increased retrieval of relevant information. The challenge is that many organizations put the cart before the horse and often skip or curtail the valuable planning stages of a digital project where vocabulary creation or selection can be established.

Here are a couple of informative links featured in Alexander Polonsky’s SLA post that demonstrate the importance of vocabulary in the success of linked data:

• Linked Data at the Library of Congress: http://id.loc.gov/authorities/about.html
• Linked Data presentation from National Library of Sweden: http://code4lib.org/files/LIBRIS_code4lib.pdf

Doesn’t text indexing of video assets sound a little like magic? Last year, when YouTube (Google) added auto captioning for videos by employing some of the speech-to-text algorithms found in Google’s Voice Search to automatically generate captions, critics wondered how well it would work.

Another DAM product touting a “meaning-based rich media management platform” is Autonomy’s MediaBin. At the heart of this innovation is “the Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) which allows businesses to automate the processing of all rich media assets. IDOL forms a conceptual understanding that allows marketers to automatically tag and classify any rich media asset, regardless of format or language.”

Sounds incredible, right? I would imagine both of these processes works about as well as any automated metadata generation which means it is probably partially amazing and accurate. While I agree that the exponential amount of disparate media information ingested in corporate DAM systems required automation with a minimization of manual intervention, I just do not think an entirely automated solution can really interpret nuances like an actual person with a live brain.

Hence, the need for live people to manage DAM within organizations. Digital asset managers can maintain consistency, spearhead innovation, streamline processes, and ensure asset findability.

Here are five hot topics for rumination this week:

1. Want to read about robots retrieving books in the University of Chicago’s Mansueto Library (complete with more ranting about Seth Godin)?
2. What do you get when you combine a recommendation engine with art? Well, Artfinder, of course.
3. Can games inviting users to tag images help with archival findability?
4. Would you like to read more about the role of open data in transforming our bibliographic framework?
5. Check out what librarians said about e-books and the digital divide at BookExpo America.

Did you know that people will be talking about Linked Open Data in San Francisco this week at the International Linked Open Data in Libraries, Archives, and Museums Summit (“LOD-LAM”)?

This looks like a fascinating event with leaders in multidisciplinary metadata hashing out policies and pondering answers to questions like whether 25-50% adoption of OAI-MPH by member agencies is really enough to warrant the time and effort required for interoperability and sharing. Can this protocol be simplified to promote consistent use?

The article Beyond OAI-MPH by Richard J. Urban raises some thought provoking points and is the source of some fabulous related resources.

Want to learn more about W3’s Linking Open Data task forces and resources too? Try this site full of information.