What's the Meta? http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/ John W. Chapman's library weblog en Copyright 2008 Thu, 22 May 2008 11:18:33 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.33.uthink http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss URLs and search terms Two interesting posts recently on the increasing use of search over explicit URL-copying when it comes to getting to sites. The phenomenon, I would guess, will be accelerated by the increased difficulties for new startups to obtain brief and intuitive domain names.

http://www.cabel.name/2008/03/japan-urls-are-totally-out.html
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_url_is_dead_long_live_search.php

Tangent follows:
I must say that I am increasingly taking advantage of the smart URL autocomplete features in recent versions of Firefox. (I am currently on 3.0 rc1, but I saw the feature in earlier beta versions as well.) The new behavior is smarter about finding strings in the middle of URLs you have visited, which is very welcome for doing things like going directly to a single feed in Google Reader.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/129372.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/129372.html Thu, 22 May 2008 11:18:33 -0600 DLF Forum Impressions Among the most valuable and informative conferences for library technology are the Digital Library Federation forums. I guess full disclosure demands that I mention I have been on the planning committee for the last three, but really, this event is shaped by the proposals received as well as by the vision of the director. Peter Brantley's hands-on, energetic style brought a new feel to the event, and I think the future is bright.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/103047.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/103047.html Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:54:12 -0600 Back from the dead What's the Meta is back from a long hiatus, and will be publishing weekly (or more frequently) for the near future.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/102942.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/102942.html Announcements Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:03:56 -0600 Watch those meta-tags! Stephen Hearn pointed me to an article in the Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/28/us_meta_tag_law/) that outlines the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, a recently passed piece of US legislation that, among many other measures, bans the willful use of meta-tags on web pages "with the intent to deceive a person into viewing material constituting obscenity." More thoughts...

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/049922.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/049922.html Awareness Fri, 04 Aug 2006 14:41:28 -0600 RLG News appearance I'm in the latest issue of RLG News, talking about initiatives at the University Libraries in the area of publishing and open content. Check it out:

http://www.rlg.org/en/pdfs/rlgnews/news63/news63_3.pdf

The part of my quote that explains how what we do relates to Google et al was chopped off, so i am afraid it makes me sound like I am blathering on in ignorance of those larger initiatives. The sentence that got left out was, " We see the interest in the above-mentioned initiatives as validating, informing and adding momentum to our efforts." So there you go. Thanks to my supervisor, Barb Stelmasik, for crediting me with this line, which I had contributed to her report to RLG.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/042534.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/042534.html Announcements Thu, 06 Apr 2006 13:52:19 -0600 Presentation on Digital Libraries For the second year in a row, Shane Nackerud asked me to speak to his LIS753: Internet Fundamentals class at the College of St. Catherine, specifically on the topic of digital libraries. I decided to do a whole new version of the talk this year. It can be found here.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/042526.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/042526.html Announcements Wed, 05 Apr 2006 13:46:23 -0600 One approach to "tagging" in OPACs I'm a little late coming to this, but I wanted to point out some new functionality that the Ann Arbor District Library has put into their catalog. The "card catalog" function generates an image that resembles an old, dog-eared card for a selected book. Users can leave comments on cards, which are designed to mimick handwritten notes. users can also save cards to a personal collection.

An example record is here, click on the "card catalog image" link to see what I am talking about; a post explaining the genesis and use levels is here.

Your thoughts? I can think of a few enhancements and critiques, but is this an approach that deserves more exploration? Is it more or less suitable for a public library, vs. other types of libraries?

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/041839.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/041839.html Awareness Tue, 28 Mar 2006 11:09:21 -0600 "Library 2.0" reading list The term 'Web 2.0" is already on a backlash to the backlash to the backlash to its ubiquity and misuse, so what better time to jump on the "Library 2.0" meme?

This term is generally designed to describe a new wave of library services that focus on creating community, incorporating user input and customizing views and perspectives. Some of these ideas and approaches are not that new, but the momentum of the discussion is growing rapidly.

Michael Stephens, who has recently been hired as a professor for the MLIS program at Dominican University, has published a bibliography on the topic, which can be found at http://www.tametheweb.com/presentations/CIL2006Bibliography.pdf. I recommend it for anyone who wants to explore this area, which is important not only to those involved in designing user services, but also to those selecting and describing materials.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/041125.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/041125.html Awareness Thu, 23 Mar 2006 08:00:00 -0600 MyLibrary documentation released Eric Lease Morgan at The University of Notre Dame has been doing some really interesting things with library services online. In a nutshell, much of it revolves around the idea of harvesting metadata from the home institution's various digital library applications into a central store that can then be indexed and searched more efficiently.

Eric and cohorts at UND and elsewhere have collaborated on a manual to describe the effort. I'm excited to dig into it and would love to hear your comments. It can be found at:
http://dewey.library.nd.edu/mylibrary/manual/

Plenty more info and applications at http://dewey.library.nd.edu/mylibrary/

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/041114.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/041114.html Awareness Wed, 22 Mar 2006 08:48:50 -0600 Seminar follow-up Documents, links, and more info relating to the Libraries Issues Seminar held on Monday, 6 Feb 2006...

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/037417.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/037417.html Information Mon, 06 Feb 2006 16:03:41 -0600 New NCSU catalog apps Just a short notice to publicize the new North Carolina State University catalog interface. One of the most impressive things is how they have allowed the user to 'drill down" through the subject headings in the browse mode. The functionality showing newly cataloged books is also very nice. I've spoken with a few of the staff at NCSU at the various Digital Library Federation events, and they are really aggressive in trying new approaches to matching behind-the scenes data processing with new user interfaces.

See here: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/browse.html.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/035266.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/035266.html Awareness Thu, 12 Jan 2006 14:42:24 -0600 Portfolio Consultation Portfolio is an application developed by the university of Minnesota's Office of Information Technology. They recently invited me to come in and give a librarian's perspective on some of the issues and ideas that had come up regarding its taxonomy of information. These issues are of great weight as the application is rolled out to other institutions as an open-source product.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/031121.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/031121.html Information Mon, 31 Oct 2005 15:03:55 -0600 Google Search Appliance I recently attended a meeting on the implementation of Google's search appliance (henceforth "GSA") on the University web. It provided an intriguing look into the information architecture of the University, and pointed out some possible future roles for the University Libraries.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/027246.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/027246.html Awareness Wed, 14 Sep 2005 14:16:12 -0600 Observations on recent LUMINA testing I recently sat in on the usability testing of the LUMINA redesign. The testing highlighted both the new seeking behaviors of the academic library user and the old issues of nomenclature that we have been struggling with.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/025997.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/025997.html Awareness Wed, 24 Aug 2005 10:04:20 -0600 ALA Report: MODS, MARC & Metadata Interoperability I recently attended an excellent program on metadata issues at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. This program was designed to fulfill multiple objectives: discuss the side-by-side use of MARC with XML-based metadata schemes; introduce MODS (Model Object Data Schema) as a workable, mature standard that is being used in the real world; and discuss strategies of metadata reuse.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/024723.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/chapm157/metadata/024723.html Information Wed, 20 Jul 2005 10:46:27 -0600