Author Archives: John Mark Ockerbloom

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About John Mark Ockerbloom

I'm a digital library strategist at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

Chances to stop and think about the future of library catalogs

Posted on January 14, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

OCLC yesterday announced that it is putting its new catalog record usage policy on hold while its Members Council convenes a group to review the proposed policy and suggest changes.  I’m very happy to hear this, as the policy was … Continue reading →

Posted in libraries, metadata, open access, sharing | Comments Off on Chances to stop and think about the future of library catalogs

Repository services, Part 1: Galleries vs. self-storage units

Posted on January 13, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

Back near the start of my occasional series on repositories, I noted that we had not just one but a number of repositories, each serving different purposes. In tight budgetary times, this approach might seem questionable.  Right now, we’re putting … Continue reading →

Posted in repositories | 1 Comment

Public Domain Day 2009: Freeing the libraries

Posted on January 1, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

In many countries, January 1 isn’t just the start of a new year: it’s the time when a new year’s worth of works are welcomed into the public domain.  As I noted in last year’s Public Domain Day post, countries … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, discovery, open access | 3 Comments

Revised ILS-Discovery interface recommendation released

Posted on December 9, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’ve just sent the following announcement out to the ILS-Discovery Interface Google Group: The Digital Library Federation’s ILS-DI task group has officially released revision 1.1 of their recommendation for standard interfaces for integrating the data and services of the Integrated … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, discovery, libraries | Comments Off on Revised ILS-Discovery interface recommendation released

Drawing a line in the sand, Part 3: How to respond?

Posted on November 24, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

In my previous two posts, I discussed how open library metadata is becoming increasingly important for the future of library content, and how OCLC’s new catalog policy works against it. By asserting proprietary rights over the records in WorldCat, OCLC … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, discovery, libraries, metadata, open access, sharing | 4 Comments

Drawing a line in the sand, Part 2: Problems with OCLC’s catalog policy

Posted on November 21, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

As I mentioned in my last post, OCLC’s new policy for the use of catalog records from WorldCat (a policy now in at least its third revision) has generated substantial controversy, particularly among library bloggers. The controversy focuses on statements … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, discovery, libraries, metadata, open access, sharing | 3 Comments

Drawing a line in the sand, Part 1: The importance of open library metadata

Posted on November 19, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

(First of a series of 3 posts.  See also Part 2: Problems with OCLC’s catalog policy, and Part 3: How to respond?) A new bibliographic record distribution policy from OCLC threatens to split the library community from the increasingly large … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, discovery, libraries, metadata, open access, sharing | Comments Off on Drawing a line in the sand, Part 1: The importance of open library metadata

DLF ILS Discovery Interfaces: Revised recommendation draft open for comments

Posted on October 30, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

Today we released a draft of “revision 1.1” of the ILS Discovery Interfaces recommendation. As I discussed in my previous post, this revision is intended to clarify the implementation of the Basic Discovery Interfaces recommended for integrated library systems (ILS’s), … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, discovery, libraries | Comments Off on DLF ILS Discovery Interfaces: Revised recommendation draft open for comments

Update on ILS-Discovery Interface work

Posted on October 20, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

It’s been a while since I posted about the official release of the Digital Library Federation’s ILS Discovery interface recommendation. Marshall Breeding recently posted a useful update on the further development of the interfaces at Library Technology Guides. As the … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, discovery, libraries | 3 Comments

What repositories do: The OAIS model

Posted on October 13, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

(Another post in an ongoing series on repositories.) In my previous post, I mentioned the OAIS reference model as an influential framework for thinking about and planning repositories intended for long-term preservation. If you’re familiar with some of the literature … Continue reading →

Posted in preservation, repositories | 2 Comments