Category Archives: libraries

Open catalog APIs and data: ALA presentation notes posted

Posted on January 28, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’ve now posted my materials for the two panels I participated in at ALA Midwinter. I have slides  available for “Opening the ILS for Discovery: The Digital Library Federation’s ILS-Discovery Interface Recommendations“, a presentation for LITA’s Next Generation Catalog interest … Continue reading →

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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

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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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

Why Banned Books Week matters

Posted on September 29, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

It’s Banned Books Week again, and Amnesty International, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the American Library Association are among the groups noting the occasion. I’ve also updated the links on my ongoing exhibit Banned Books Online in … Continue reading →

Posted in censorship, crimes and misdemeanors, libraries, online books, reading | 8 Comments

Changing the subject(s)

Posted on August 19, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

When I implemented subject maps for browsing the Online Books Page by subject a while back, I had a big problem to face: I didn’t actually have subject terms for the books. How could I implement subject browsing without subjects? … Continue reading →

Posted in discovery, libraries, meta, online books | 2 Comments