THE NETWORK RESHAPES The LibrarY ALA Editions purchases fund advocacy, awareness, and accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide. To purchase a print copy of this book, visit the ALA Store. THE NETWORK RESHAPES The LibrarY Lorcan Dempsey on Libraries, Services, and Networks BY LORCAN DEMPSEY | EDITED BY KENNETH J. VARNUM An imprint of the American Library Association Chicago | 2014 LORCAN DEMPSEY has worked for library and education organizations in Ireland, the UK, and the United States. He manages OCLC Research and is also OCLC Chief Strategist. Before this, he managed the information division of JISC, the UK national agency that provides networking, information, and innovation services to higher education. He began his library career in Dublin City Public Libraries in his native Ireland. Dempsey’s thinking has influenced the evolution of libraries and library ser- vices around the world, and he has contributed to the language that describes those services. His career has coincided with the emergence of the web, and he is particu- larly interested in how networks influence library services and library organization. Recognizing this influence, the Open University (UK) conferred Lorcan with an hon- orary doctorate in 2014. KENNETH J. VARNUM is the Web Systems Manager at the University of Michigan Library, where he manages the library’s website and development of new features and functionality. His research has been focused on discovery systems and the use of personalized information systems in library settings. He is the author of Drupal in Libraries as well as numerous articles on library-related topics and a long-running blog, RSS4Lib. Varnum earned his master’s degree in library science from the Univer- sity of Michigan and graduated from Grinnell College. © 2014 OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 Printed in the United States of America 18 17 16 15 14 5 4 3 2 1 Extensive effort has gone into ensuring the reliability of the information in this book; however, the publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. ISBNs: 978-0-8389-1233-1 (paper); 978-0-8389-1997-2 (PDF); 978-0-8389-1998-9 (ePub); 978-0-8389-1999-6 (Kindle). For more information on digital formats, visit the ALA Store at alastore.ala.org and select eEditions. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dempsey, Lorcan. The network reshapes the library : Lorcan Dempsey on libraries, services, and networks / by Lorcan Dempsey ; edited by Kenneth J. Varnum. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8389-1233-1 (print : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8389-1997-2 (pdf) — ISBN 978- 0-8389-1998-9 (epub) — ISBN 978-0-8389-1999-6 (kindle) 1. Library information networks. 2. Libraries and the Internet. 3. Information resources. 4. Libraries—Communication systems. 5. Libraries—Information technology. 6. Dempsey, Lorcan—Blogs. I. Varnum, Kenneth J., 1967- II. Title. Z674.7.D46 2014 025.042—dc23 2014020410 Book design by Kim Thornton in the Cardea OT, Vista Sans, and Miso typefaces. This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper). CONTENTS Figures vii Preface, by Lorcan Dempsey ix Editor’s Introduction, by Ken Varnum xi 1 / NETWORKED RESOURCES ........................ 1 2 / NETWORK ORGANIZATION ...................... 19 3 / In THE FLOW ...................................... 55 4 / RESOURCE DISCOVERY .......................... 87 5 / LIBRARY SYSTEMS ............................... 135 6 / DATA AND METADATA ........................... 159 7 / PUBLISHING AND COMMUNICATION ......... 185 8 / LIBRARIES ........................................ 221 9 / LORCAN’S PICKS ................................. 255 Index 287 v FIGURES 3.1 Stanford University Libraries website ...........................85 4.1 Screen shot of Google search results ............................129 5.1 Library systems ...............................................146 5.2 User environment and Management environment .............149 5.3 Consumer environments and Management environment .......151 6.1 WorldCat identity for Máire O’Brien ...........................177 7.1 Scanned copyright page ........................................186 8.1 Collections grid .............................................. 226 9.1 Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s publication time line. 264 9.2 Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s audience-level indicator .............. 264 9.3 Cecil Day-Lewis’s publication time line ....................... 265 9.4 Nicholas Blake’s publication time line ......................... 266 9.5 Pan Am logo ...................................................271 9.6 Mumford & Sons’s page on Zune ...............................281 vii PREFACE I BEGAN WRITING this blog as an internal resource in OCLC Research. Many early entries were in the form of pointers to noteworthy sites or developments. But gradually the platform encouraged greater expansive- ness, and I began to write about things myself, not just to point to what others were writing about them. I soon decided to externalize it, and for almost ten years, I have been using it to write about things of interest—of interest to me, and, I hope, of interest to others. The first thing to say is that I found it an extraordinarily liberating expe- rience. I have written quite a bit in the professional literature over the years.1 However, in such long-form publications, I usually write slowly. For me, there are two practical differences in the blog environment. One is that entries never get long enough to worry overmuch about structure. And the second is a continuing sense that this is a fugitive medium. This means that an entry can be dispatched relatively quickly. And I think it is fair to say that more of my thinking has gone into the blog and into presentations2 during these years than into “the literature.” As it became a place for thinking as well as for linking, a variety of themes emerged and evolved over the years as technologies and practices changed. A particular trend was to try and fix those themes—to make them usable in more general discussion—by giving them a distinctive name. Examples include “discovery happens elsewhere,” “the collective collection,” “in the flow,” “making data work harder,” “sourcing and scaling,” “moving to the network level.” ix x / PREFACE This is perhaps an example of a writerly pleasure. Although I would demur at the “writer” label, the blog certainly affords other writerly plea- sures also. The major one of these is a connection with readers. This is enormously rewarding, and its loss is a major regret as my blog writing has slowed down over the last couple of years. I regularly meet people who comment on what I have written, who tie it to their libraries or their work- ing practices, or who comment more broadly on themes or topics. This is especially the case with posts that go beyond professional interests to talk about technology, social, or literary topics. I have enjoyed pulling in other interests, even though the focus has remained libraries and networks. One observation as I have been looking at the full range of blog entries: my interests have evolved from service and technology matters to organiza- tions and the institutional forms through which they get work done. In particular, the systemwide organization of libraries and other services in a network environment is of great interest. I mentioned that blogs have seemed a fugitive medium. This is only partly true. Entries are indexed by Google, cited in the literature, and dis- cussed in meetings and retreats. However, encouraged by Jay Jordan, now OCLC President Emeritus, I thought it would be useful to pull together some entries into book form. This is that book. Ken and I have had to be selective as the blog accumulated over those years, and some of my per- sonal favorites may have fallen by the wayside. However, we aimed for gen- eral representativeness and some current interest. I am grateful to Jay for his encouragement over the years and for his sup- port for this endeavor. I am also grateful to Patrick Hogan, of ALA Publish- ing, for taking on this project. And for suggesting that Ken Varnum under- take the editorial task. Ken has been patient, industrious, and creative, and he has made a book out of a mountain of text. Lorcan Dempsey Columbus, Ohio 1 March 2014 NOTES 1. http://www.oclc.org/research/people/dempsey/publications.html 2. http://www.oclc.org/research/people/dempsey/presentations.html EDITor’s intRODUCTION AS IS SURELY the case with many of those who peruse this book, I have been reading Lorcan Dempsey’s Weblog as long as it has been available as a public resource. Thoroughly rereading the 1,869 posts in the near decade from October 2003 through August 2013 has been an eye-opening experi- ence and a trip down memory lane. In working on this project, I have had the opportunity to reflect on how closely intertwined the milestones of my career and Lorcan’s weblog were. At every stage in my career, Lorcan Dempsey’s Weblog has shone light on the emerging trends and the key areas of concern to our profession. The very first item, in October 2003 (the succinct “Hello . .,” in the “Lorcan’s Picks” chapter), was posted to OCLC Research’s staff just as I was beginning my library degree at the University of Michigan. A year later, as I was weeks away from graduation, the blog became public. As emerging digital tech- nologies and digital affordances have roiled the profession—whether those are the challenges of metasearch, the rise of web-scale discovery interfaces, the creation of large full-text repositories, the need for tighter integration of document discovery and delivery, or the emergence of the collective collection—the blog has neatly presaged the projects and challenges that would next face me in my professional life. In fact, it seems my career has been an endless attempt to catch up with the trends and directions Lorcan has, often presciently, described.