Introduces and orients participants to digital libraries as socio-technical systems--that is, systems based on the interplay of technology, information, and people. The objective is to expose thematic connections between digital library infrastructure, cultural heritage and scholarly collections, social forces, and online community building. Key challenges of the current environment include interoperability, community engagement, intellectual property rights, and sustainability. Invited presentation for the Nimitiz Library staff, US Naval Academy.

1. The evolution of digital libraries
as socio-technical systems
Presented at Nimitz Library
United States Naval Academy
December 14, 2015
by Karen Calhoun

2. What’s a socio-technical system?
212/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

3. A question for later discussion
Consider: Libraries have been defined along a continuum, from definitions
emphasizing technology and/or collections toward those emphasizing their
social (people) aspects.
Question:
Where would you place Nimitz Library on this continuum, and in what ways is
the library evolving (or not) to emphasize its social roles, for example,
information fluency, or individual empowerment?
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Focus on collections Focus on community engagement
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

4. Chapter 3 “Key themes and
challenges in digital libraries”
Open access pre-print:
https://ecommons.cornell.edu/
handle/1813/39195
412/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

5. Differing perspectives on DLs
Actual or
potential users
of DLs
DL builders
Librarians and libraries
Publishers, professional societies, A&I
services …
Computer and information scientists
Technologists
Experts in collaboration technology
Educators
5
?
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

6. “Digital libraries” defined
1. A field of research and practice with participants from many disciplines and
professions, chiefly the computer, information and library sciences; publishing; the
cultural heritage sector; and education.
2. Systems and services, often openly available, that (a) support the advancement of
knowledge and culture; (b) contain managed collections of digital content (objects or
links to objects, annotations and metadata) intended to serve the needs of defined
communities; (c) often use an architecture that first emerged in the computer and
information science/library domain and that typically features a repository, mechanisms
supporting search and other services, resource identifiers, and user interfaces (human
and machine).
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Technology
Collections
Communities
Source of definition: Exploring Digital Libraries, p. 18
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

7. Thematic framework of core topics
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Image source: Exploring Digital Libraries, p. 64. ©2014. Used with permission.
Technology
Collections
Communities
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

8. Interoperability and its facets
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Image: "INTERoperability" by Axelsaffran - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons –
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:INTERoperability.png#/media/File:INTERoperability.png
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

9. Some aspects of interoperability
• Many “islands” of content
• “Deep web”
• Three dimensions:
• Getting disparate systems to work together in real time
• Enabling software to work on different systems
• Supporting the exchange of content
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10. A continuum of interoperability
Superficial
uniformity
Syntactic
interoperability
Semantic
interoperability
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11. Semantic web approach: Google Knowledge Graph
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12. Semantic web approach: MusicBrainz & the BBC
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/music
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13. Community engagement
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Image: "Social Network Diagram (segment)" by DarwinPeacock, Maklaan.
Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons –
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Social_Network_Diagram_(segment).svg#/media/File:Social_Network_Diagram_(segment).svg
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

14. 14
An example: Notre Dame Center for Digital
Scholarship
“The Center for Digital Scholarship serves as
a “hub” that enhances the teaching,
learning, and research process in every
academic discipline”
http://library.nd.edu/cds/
EXPERTISE – metadata, GIS, digital initiatives, subject expertise
SERVICES – data analysis, data management planning, text mining, digitization, workshops
STUDIOS – 3D printing, scanners, digitization
PARTNERSHIPS – Research Computing, Office of Research
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

15. Participatory collection-building, roadshows,
collecting days ...
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http://www.nowseethis.org/peopleshistory
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh PA
Source of slide: Aaron Brenner, my co-author for “Engaging Your Community Through Cultural Heritage Digital
Libraries.” http://www.slideshare.net/amarintha/supporting-digital-scholarship-engaging-your-community-
through-cultural-heritage-digital-libraries
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

16. “Digital co-curation”
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“Engaging directly with how the war is experienced
and felt in the present …” – Ross Wilson, 2012
“When we launched in late
April, 2011, our sights were
set on the approximately
9,000 menus photographed
several years ago for
inclusion in the NYPL Digital
Gallery. Volunteers
transcribed those in about
three months!”
From 2008-2012
(4 years since
release):
• 60K volunteer
text correctors
• 92M lines of
text corrected in
4M articles
Holley, Rose. 2012. “Building and Managing Online Communities.” Presented at the Web 2.0 Workshop,
International Congress of Archives, Brisbane, Australia, August. http://www.slideshare.net/RHmarvellous/building-and-managing-online-communities12
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

17. Intellectual property rights
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Image: Public domain.
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

18. Impact of the current legal framework
• Traditional copyright law misaligned with the digital era
• Re-use and exchange of metadata and digital content
• What is lawful to digitize and preserve
• National legal deposit programs
• High costs of compliance with scholarly content license
terms
• Complexity and costs of system development
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19. Issues associated with copyright
• Public domain and orphan works
• Mass digitization
• Digital preservation
• Scholarly communications and open access
• E-resource management (licensing, user authentication, … )
• New options for content distribution (Creative Commons,
Open Data Commons, etc.)
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20. Sustainability
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Image source: Exploring Digital Libraries, p. 83 (figure 3.2) ©2014. Used with permission.
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

21. Digital libraries and the social web
The advent of the social web provides an
opportunity to shift the focus and core assumptions
of digital libraries …
Away from:
Their collections and information processes (selecting,
organizing, providing access, etc.)
In favor of:
New, community-centered ways of thinking about services,
expectations and potential social roles.
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22. What is the social web?
The phrase social web refers
collectively to the websites, tools,
and services that facilitate
interactions, collaboration,
content creation and sharing,
contribution and participation on
the web.
PEOPLE
E-mail, discussion forums,
bookmarking, wikis, blogs,
microblogs, media sharing, social
networks …
MACHINES
Web services, APIs, mashups,
mobile apps, semantic web/linked
data, Internet of Things (IoT)
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23. Changing community expectations
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When individuals who use social
sites and tools approach libraries,
including digital libraries, they bring
their social web expectations with
them.
The digital libraries that continue to
operate from a traditional,
collections-centered service model
(that is, nearly all of them) are now
faced with finding their place in the
fast-moving, chaotic information
space of the social web.
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lukew/10453074195/ CC BY 2.0
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

24. “The library is a growing organism”—Ranganathan
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Europeana Network. 2014. “Europeana Strategy 2020: ‘We Transform the World with Culture’:
Europeana Strategy 2015-2020.” http://strategy2020.europeana.eu/
See also: DPLA. 2015. “Digital Public Library of America: Strategic Plan, 2015 through 2017.”
http://dp.la/info/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/DPLA-StrategicPlan_2015-2017-Jan7.pdf
From portal to platform …
“People want to re-use and play with the
material, to interact with others and
participate in creating something new.”
Access
“If we can make material available online …
we’ll start to see the benefits for society and
the economy.”
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

25. Over to you!
Consider: “Digital libraries” have been defined along a continuum, from
definitions emphasizing technology and/or collections toward those
emphasizing their social (people) aspects.
Question:
Where would you place Nimitz Library on this continuum, and in what ways is
the library evolving (or not) to emphasize its social roles, for example,
information fluency, or individual empowerment?
25
Focus on collections Focus on community engagement
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

26. Some possibilities to consider?
• Needs assessment of your
intended audiences?
• Environmental scan: look at
examples in other
organizations?
• Inventory your digital
collections to identify
opportunities to
make them more
social and aligned
with community
needs/practices?
• Reach out, look for
willing partners and
pilot/demo projects?
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What else?
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun

27. No man is an Island,
entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the Continent,
a part of the main.
Meditation XVII, John Donne
Thank you!
karencal129@gmail.com
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Image: public domain
12/14/2015 Karen Calhoun