LITA and Top Tech Trends, Part 1: Panel Ranges Far and Wide Over Library Tech Issues

Josh Hadro -- Library Journal, 1/27/2009

• Open versus closed data and access
• Geolocation/mobile devices
• Shift from Semantic Web to Linked Data

Before the panelists at the LITA Top Tech Trends panel at the ALA Midwinter Meeting provided their personal lists of five top trends, the more informal and open discussion centered on a number of general topics likely to receive further attention in 2009.

After a brief introduction by moderator and organizer Maurice York, head of information technology at North Carolina State University, in which the robust live-blogging of the event was discussed, the following six trendsters dove straight into a lively discussion for the duration of the two-hour Sunday session:

• Clifford Lynch, director of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
• Karen A. Coombs, head of web services, University of Houston Libraries
• Karen Coyle, digital libraries librarian and consultant
• Karen Schneider, community librarian at Equinox Software
• Marshall Breeding, director for innovative technologies and research, Vanderbilt University.
• Roy Tennant, senior program officer, research, OCLC

Opening data for new kinds of access
An early theme touched on by Coyle and taken up by nearly all of the other panelists (and one that has appeared in a number of sessions over the past few years), was openness in terms of both software and data.

Schneider and Tennant discussed the maturation of open source software in libraries, citing problems endemic to that growth, such as the "forking" of software--when a piece of software becomes different enough that there is no one thing that can be referred to as the core code, according to Schneider--and the importance of continued leadership in code development once a project makes the jump from its originating institution.

Location, location
While the panel frequently has addressed mobile technologies in years past, this session extended to geo-tagging and the use of location-aware data services, setting the groundwork for a call for libraries to use geospatial data more programmatically in the catalog and in wider applications. This could help users identify and locate institutions that offer access to useful resources (as can be done via WorldCat), and perhaps even find geocoded items on shelves within the buildings themselves.

Lynch cited the Flickr Commons project as an example of "crossing a new threshold in the management of collective description." He added that, while the Library of Congress's and others' participation in the photo-sharing pilot was interesting in itself, it also represented a move toward using a variety of means and platforms to generate "narratives about content." By capitalizing on individual interest and expertise, collection managers might "start building bridges between knowledge that's held out in the broad public and the knowledgebases that libraries have."

From semantic web to linked data, and RFID
Tennant described the shift from the broader notion of the Semantic Web toward what he sees as a more useful discussion centering around Linked Data, from metadata within catalog records to scientific results. Linked Data projects are more manageable and comprehensible, not tied to a top-down overarching ideal, as is often attributed to the Semantic Web. Therefore, Linked Data endeavors can be used in particular disciplines without developers having to worry about taking on the entire structure of the web.

Schneider jokingly "forked" the conversation, discussing some of the often-overlooked economic and infrastructure hardships certain libraries still face, even as others are early adopters of next-generation technologies. That led to a discussion of the potential benefits of RFID technology using self-check machines, though Breeding quickly pointed out that RFID was not strictly necessary in order to implement self-check.

Breeding, an expert in the field of library automation, also noted that technology cannot be thrown at every problem, asking library administrators to consider "when is high-tech necessary, and when is high-touch necessary?" Along the same lines, Coombs spoke passionately about the equal importance of recognizing failure as for recognizing success, saying "when you acquire technology and you're sure it doesn't work: walk away."

Blog blow-by-blow
For the blow-by-blow commentary see the live blog embedded in the post at litablog.org or the recorded video stream for the full discussion. 

For many of the trendsters' personal lists of Top Five Trends, check out their sites linked above. (Also see entries for Sarah Houghton-Jan and Eric Lease Morgan who were unable to attend the panel, but posted their top tech trends on the LITA blog.)

Read more Newswire stories:

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LITA and Top Tech Trends, Part 2: Digital Outreach a Model for ALA?