Library Web Chic

Watching and participating in the Social Software Showcase from a distance is really neat. Particularly watching Griffey in action! My biggest disappointment was that only 2 people showed up for the virtual discussion :( . I can understand why, hey the discussion was on a Saturday. I’m hoping that more people show up for the virtual discussion today Wednesday July 2, which will focus on the social aspect (or not) of library software.

The uStream live video worked like a thing of beauty. The biggests downside… you can’t participate interactively. Although I did get to talk to someone else watching, which was pretty cool.

The presentations themselves were awesome, as usual. I love seeing how different people choose to create their web-based presentations. Even the differences among videos created. Some are more traditional screencasts but other incorporate other elements. Chris Barr did a great job with adding music and graphics to his on Social Features of VuFind to make it snazzy. Jason Griffey took a completely different approach and chose to not “talk” in his at all. I can’t describe it well, you just have to watch it. All of them gave me new ideas about creating web-based presentations.

The biggest thing we found out with the Showcase this year, which we sort of already knew. Is that it doesn’t scale well. Jason said over the video that they had 90+ people which is cool. But how do you do small group discussion with 90+ people? Rachel suggested more tables with topics spread out over a bigger room or multiple rooms. Another person suggest it be open all day for people to come and go.

Where exactly the Showcase goes next year I don’t know. I can’t imagine BIGWIG not doing it again. But we are going to have to resolve some of the physical space issues. However, I’d love to see us keep expanding the virtual parts and trying to make it better. I believe it is a worthwhile experience for most participants, even with some of the bumps in the road.

Sarah Houghton-Jan (see her summary and trends) and I participated in Top Tech Trends virtually this past Sunday. It was a blast. I had a little easier time hearing than Sarah, although hearing myself speak was slightly disconcerting. I really enjoyed talking with people in the back channel Meebo chat room. Though some people pointed out that that was distracting from the panelist present in person.

APIs Galore

Let’s be realistic APIs have hit their stride on the web at large. In libraries they are starting to come into their own as well. However, our focus in libraries has thus far been on bibliographic data. This isn’t the only data of value out there. Libraries need to think about how to use APIs to get digital objects like photos and videos in and out of web-based media service providers like Flickr and Blip.tv . If we do this we will not only be making our users lives easier, we will be increasing the likelihood that we are able to capture relevant born-digital collections. Library vendors wake up, libraries want and need APIs and we don’t want to have to retrofit them ourselves!! Some vendors have realized this and that is great. But PLEASE we need standards for how APIs work. If my catalog API and the WorldCat API work differently I’m going to have to  write two sets of code. Not efficient. Let’s work smarter instead of harder that way we can all share! Below are a few APIs relevant to libraries worth checking out

• Open Library API
• WorldCat API
• Google Books Search API
• LibraryThing API
• APIs for OpenURL resolver products
  • Serial Solutions
  • SFX
• APIs for federated search
  • MetaFind
  • LibraryFind
• APIs for digital object sharing sites
  • Blip.tv
  • Flickr

Virtual Participation in Classes and Conferences hits its Stride (Maybe)

My own participation (via SightSpeed) the Top Tech Trends this year is evidence that virtual participation may have hit its stride. What is really interesting about this phenomenon though is the multitude of forms it can take. There are virtual worlds like Second Life, but there are also more traditional virtual classrooms and applications sharing software like Wimba and WebEx. This years Social Software Showcase demonstrated that a live video stream (via uStream) can be a form of virtual participation as well. I watched the stream and had 3 different conversations with people in the stream’s chat window. Web video conferencing is allowing team work and participation across geographically disparate locations. I regularly video chat using Skype or iChat with colleagues who I am working with at other institutions. Lastly, the nature of the conference call has changed. Greg Schwartz uses TalkShoe on a weekly basis to host his show “Uncontrolled Vocabulary” and allow librarians from across the country to participate and others are following suit.

Mobile devices and technologies

One of the other panelist touched on this trend and I thought that Jason Griffey did a great job talking about this with someone at the Social Software Showcase (Showcase video available to watch!). With the iPhone 3G coming out and Google sticking its fingers in cell phones, mobile technologies and the mobile web have reached a new level. Also consider the fact that most of the world surfs the net on a phone or other mobile device, not a laptop or desktop computer. Libraries need to embrace this movement more. Not just in the way we design our virtual presence, but also in the way we provide virtual services and do our work. I’ve been talking to the subject librarians at UH about how mobile technologies could improve their interactions with faculty. Think about the things we want and need to do on the fly when we leave the library to interact with the campus? Libraries need to start leaveraging mobile technologies in more meaningful ways.

Comments and reponses to other panelists

Marshall talked about Open Data as being an important trend. I think that there are two facets to this, the technology to make data open and the non-technical issues: copyright, licensing, etc. APIs are really helping us to solve the first issue, but I see the second issue as being somewhat tougher. Particularly when it comes to question of “who ‘owns’ this data”.

Sarah talked in her trends about libraries having difficulties in innovating and that we are getting disparate levels of innovation between libraries. I think we are also seeing disparate levels of innovation within libraries, particularly in larger libraries. This isn’t a solely a result of some people wanting to innovate and some not but also organizational, and department structures and barriers. The fact that some departments/people are innovating and others who want to can’t can cause some serious friction within a library and it is something we need to be mindful of. Anyone who wants to try to innovate should be given the opportunity.

Okay let me explain for those of you who are already VERY confused and keep sending emails asking if I’ll be at ALA or not.

NO I’m not attending ALA in person. I made a promise to my husband so I’m staying home this year. However, I am participating in both the Social Software Showcase and Top Tech Trends. As a result, I’ve been as busy, if not more busy than I would be if I was going to ALA in person.

The thing I like most about not going in person to ALA is that I’m getting to help test and pilot virtual participation efforts in ALA (LITA specifically). This is pretty darn fun, because it has introduced me to some technologies I’ve never encounter before and helped me polish up some of my older skills, like screencasting. Being part of virtual participation brings back very fond memories of 5 Weeks to a Social Library, which was a project where I got to step outside the traditional roles and technologies I normally work with into a space that was new and exciting. Putting together the virtual bits of the Social Software Showcase has been like that as well and I’m truly loving every minute of it. (We’ll see how much I’m loving it if the tech goes to hell)

The things I will miss about not being at ALA in person? The OCLC Developers Networking meeting; seeing my colleagues, especially Roy and Griffey; and having those “Ah Ha!” moments in the middle of a bar conversation that causes me to scribble notes on whatever is available and stuff them in my purse.

Still I’m hoping the Showcase virtual discussions will be informative and help generate new ideas for people, myself included.

OCLC has a bunch of really neat tools, in particular, the WorldCat Affiliate Tools which allow libraries to use data and services from OCLC in more meaningful ways. Some of my favorites that I’ve been playing with include

• xISBN
• xISSN

Many of these tools started out as OCLC Research Works projects, which has a few tools I feel are worth noting here.

• WorldCat Identities
  Thomas Hickey has a couple posts about this service and commented on my Wordpress WorldCat Widget presentation about how I might leverage this service in the widget
• Linked Authority File
  - I’ve been pondering how I might use this service with some forms I’m building to catalog digital objects. In particular being able to check and suggestion Geographic Subject Headings and Personal Name Headings would be helpful.

In addition to these tools, some of the new features that OCLC has built into Worldcat.org are really cool and helpful. Probably my favorite is the “Create list” functionality. Many of my librarians spend lots and lots of time creating list of resources for our users. So this tool is pretty neat (in theory).

Some things I wish OCLC would think about.

1. Federated authentication - The librarians I work with don’t need any more usernames and passwords please. Has OCLC thought about implementing Shibboleth and federating authentication for libraries? This would be good for librarians but even better for our users. Faculty and students could use an existing login and this would also tell OCLC their affliation, which would potentiall enhance the OpenURL Gateway service which is currently reliant on IP address.
2. How are you going to make this work for smaller libraries? - To me these services are just as important for big libraries as for little ones. Additionally, being able to see the holdings of smaller libraries is important. They may have materials that are unique. Can OCLC make this work for non-members? Or make it easier for those libraries to become members?
3. API for your Lists and Bibliography tools - This would make this content reusable and give you a potential competitive advantage over services such as LibGuides. Particularly if you could make links not break!

So as part of the Social Software Showcase this year, I’m hosting two virtual discussions via TalkShoe.

I’m a relatively new TalkShoe user. I’ve participated in Greg Schwartz’s Uncontrolled Vocabulary podcast recording once, but never hosted a TalkShoe event myself. As a result, I’ve been trying to get a sense of the instruction/directions I might need to give people to allow them to participate. What is it like to participate as a Guest versus being logged in to TalkShoe. So I did some testing and was fortunate enough to stumble on the Hoosier Librarian’s podcast in progress while I was doing my testing. Big thanks to the folks participating for letting me lurk a little and check out what things look like for a guest.

For me the biggest downside to TalkShoe is the fact you have to call in to participate. This works great if you have a cell and either unlimited minutes or the call is after peak hours. Not everyone has this though. The other alternatives are to use Gizmo Project as described by Greg or to download the TalkShoe Live Pro with ShoePhone which allows users to connect via a TalkShoe specific VoIP service. I did preliminary testing with both of these but didn’t get them to work just right.

BIGWIG is also going to try to do some live video streaming using UStream and Stickam.

Top Tech Trends is checking out some other tools for virtual participation as well.

• At Midwinter the group used Skype to video conference people in
• TokBox - Provides the ability to video conference solely over the web (ie. no client to download). Supposedly the quality isn’t great though
• SightSpeed - Provides video conferencing and video chat of a higher quality but requires a client download

Ways to participate virtually are definately increasing.

My co-author Jason called me last night to tell me that copies of our book “Library Bloggng” had arrived on his doorstep. YAY!! At long last! Finally! Unfortunately my copies haven’t appeared yet so I’ll just have to link to Jason’s pic below instead of a photo of me doing the happy dance in front of my own copies. For those of you who haven’t ever written a book, it is an intense experience that has one swinging the gambit of emotions from frustration to elation. Actually getting the copies into ones hands is a pretty gratifying experience - I think, haven’t had it yet ;) . Can’t wait to forward one to my parents and put one in my office at work.

Photo by Jason Griffey

For the last 3 weeks I’ve been working on a widget for Wordpress which allows you to send a particular search to WorldCat, return the results and display them in the sidebar in Wordpress. The results are mashed-up with data from Amazon, the GoogleBook API, and LibraryThing. The goal of the project was to demonstrate how really useful the WorldCat API can be for integrating bibliographic data into blogs or other content management systems as well as show how bibliographic data can be mashed up with data from other sources.

I decided to write a Wordpress widget because my library is now running our blogs on WordpressMU and I thought it would be useful to both expand my widget building experience and also get to play around with APIs and mashups.

There were several lessons I learned building the prototype and I am greatly indebt to several folks who reviewed my code, offered suggestions, code I reused. (David Walker, Kevin Clarke and Jason Clark especially). So below are a few lessons learned.

1. Build your widget initially so it simply collects and returns the data. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if my problems were with how my info was being collected and returned in Wordpress or with my code that was API related
2. Build your API and mashup code separate from your widget first. See above, I spent too much time trying to debug exactly where my code was going wrong because I went straight to building a widget
3. XML can be very painful to work with, particularly if there are namespaces involved. I feel pretty comfortable with XML but this project had me pulling my hair out because of the interesting ways in which the XML data comes back from the WorldCat API. The XML had characteristics I’d never worked with before and that was a challenge. As a corollary to this, my experience working with XML is exclusively server side. I’ve done very little with XML via client-side scripting (Javascript). I started down that path and began to wonder whether or not it was possible or worth it when dealing with something as complex as MARCXML.
4. I’ve developed an affinity for JSON that I didn’t think was possible. My friend Jason Clark and I teach an AJAX class and in the past I’ve been the XML advocate while he advocated JSON. It wasn’t until this project that I realized why Jason is such a big JSON fan. I discovered I really liked the way in which the GoogleBook API and the LibraryThing API allowed me to query and how the data was returned. Also, discovering that one can use JSON on both the server and client side was a plus.

I’m not going to go into detail about how the widget works either via demo or going through code. I’m saving that for a presentation I’m doing for this year’s Social Software Showcase at ALA. I’ll post my presentation on the Showcase site and here. I’ll also include some of the resources I used to write the plugin along with more of a play by play of the code.

For now I’m just excited to have a prototype working. Where exactly it goes from here, only time will tell. I’ve already thought about pulling in some info from OpenLibrary and using the xISBN service to get better results when returning book covers or GoogleBook viewability data.

For the last three weeks I’ve been working on creating a prototype of a Wordpress widget which retrieves search results from the WorldCat API and mashes that data up with information from other sources including (LibraryThing, Google Books, Amazon and Open Library). The idea is to create a sidebar listing of books with enhanced information such as covers, and ratings. Really this is an API, mashup experiment to see what is possible. While it does have some practical applications, I haven’t worked out all the “what people would like to see” parts. So I’m playing with demoing the possibilities instead.

The biggest issue I’ve encountered besides fun Terms of Service issues, is that some services make their APIs only available via a client-side JSON call. For me this poses a problem because I work for a state institution which has rules about accessibility that state I have to provide a Javascript alternative. Providing a Javascript alternative isn’t the problem. The issue is providing the best and most equivalent alternative.

The cool thing I found out is that you can parse and handle JSON with PHP. The OpenBook (which use Open Library data) plugin/widget does just this. But the vendor providing the API has to allow this. Both LibraryThing and Google Books’ APIs specifically use language that makes it appear one can only do the JSON call on the client side. Sigh. I understand why this is, but it puts me in the position of providing less than optimal functionality for non-Javascript users.

So for the moment I’m going to code the interface in a less than ideal way. But maybe sometime in the future a better solution will presenter itself or vendors will change them minds.

I originally planned for this summer to be a quiet one without any travel after early June. I wanted to have some time to recover and also not be stressed out the way I was last summer with too many commitments (professional and personal) and a web redesign I was trying to push to get done. This year, I have almost no travel, which is a really good things because I have a TON of writing to do. I have to be time on task too because my fall is shaping up to be a full. I’m giving a talk at Access, teaching pre-conferences at Internet Librarian, and likely going on a vacation in November.

So this summer involves a bunch of little projects and writing. I’m working on integrating the WorldCat API into our content management system and blogs so that librarians can easily add books from WorldCat on to a web page or blog post. The end goal is to allow people to mashup bibliographic data from WorldCat with book covers, ratings from LibraryThing, and links to text via Google Books where possible. Right now I’m working on this as a widget for Wordpress so for example you could show all the books from a particular author.

I also want to be able to mashup electronic holdings information from our OpenURL resolver with print holdings from our catalog. This project is going to take me a while longer because I’m still trying to figure out how to programmatically get data out of our catalog. Sigh

One nice thing about being off the road is that I actually have time to work on some of these projects. Although my head feels like it is going to explode today because of writing and testing PHP code. My PHP skills are limited so there is a lot of Googling and reading of documentation/examples going on. On the plus side I’ve got a my stage 1 prototype built for integrating the WorldCat search results into a WYSIWYG. Moving back and forth between two very similar projects is interesting and kind of fun. I hope to have a full fledged prototype done by early next week so I can put together a screencast about it for this year’s Social Software Showcase.

I don’t know if it is my luck or just because I like to use Drupal modules that aren’t quite right yet. I’ve been trying to get the TinyMCE or FCKEditor modules for version 6 of Drupal to work right this week with little success. Thus far the TinyMCE modules is the closest to working, which is sad because everything I’ve read says it should be giving me more trouble than the FCKEditor module. The issues I’m having I can’t find documented anywhere. When I try to add/edit a profile in FCKEditor I get a 400 message from the server. No idea why. It is sort of maddening. I’d really like to get FCKEditor to work because it has better upload functionality and niftier features. Not to mention I’m writing a plugin for it because we use it as part of our library website CMS. Being able to use the same plugin elsewhere would be a plus.

I love working with open source software but some days, I just want things to work or to be able to easily and quickly fix the problem. Not that I haven’t had my share of experience with commercial software where something didn’t work the way I wanted or didn’t work period and had a vendor tell me I’d have to wait until the next release for it to be fixed. Sigh.

Some days you just have to settle for micro-steps forward (ie. knowing that a certain tool should have the functionality you want).