The Educational Role of the Library in a Digital Environment

1. The Educational Role of the Library in a Digital Environment Part I: Library Reference Resources when Digital Michael Buckland NORSLIS Visiting Professor Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative and School of Information, University of California, Berkeley SALT, Uppsala, October 2, 2008 SALT1, Uppsala

2. A report on work by several people: Aitao Chen, Fredric Gey, Ray Larson, Barry Pateman, Vivien Petras, Ryan Shaw, and others. Work supported by two U.S. federal government agencies: The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Three projects: Support for the Learner ecai.org/imls2004 Biography ecai.org/imls2006 Irish Studies ecai.org/neh2007 SALT1, Uppsala

3. Some ideas about learning. . . . • Understanding requires knowing the context • 2. Best place to read is inside library with reference works • 3. Using Internet resources should be like using a library reference collection – and as easy and as reliable • 4. Design: Find the context of any museum object, document, or performance: What is related to it in what it is, where it came from, when it originated, and who is associated with it? • 5. WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and WHO (“4W”) as a structure • 6. Make better use of existing descriptive metadata • 7. Re-design reference library for online environment SALT1, Uppsala

4. In a paper environment, reading inside a library is the best place to learn. It is well designed to explain the context! Library resources Encyclopedias Atlases, place name Biographical dictionaries Bibliographies Library catalog Statistical series etc., etc. . . . . Text with a interesting details. Who was she? Where is that? What is this? What else was happening? Reader SALT1, Uppsala

5. Context and relationships: Ireland and Irish Studies – Project diagram. Any word, name, document, or event Connect it with its context – and other resources. Facet Vocabulary Displays WHAT Thesaurus Cross- e.g. LCSH references WHERE Gazetteer Map WHEN Period directory Timeline WHO Biograph. dict. Personal e.g. Who’s Who relations Any catalog: Archives, Libraries, Museums, TV, Publishers Any resource: Audio, Images, Texts, Numeric data, Objects, Virtual reality, Webpages SALT1, Uppsala

6. The “9 to 5” problem The reference library and reference library is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (09:00 – 17:00) Students are writing papers at home on laptops from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. (21:00 – 05:00) What is wrong with this situation? What can we librarians do about it? Comment: The online environment is not visible. One cannot see important structures. SALT1, Uppsala

7. Within a vocabulary Kung fu movies SEE Martial Arts films [LCSH] FORMERLY Hand-to-hand fighting, oriental, in motion pictures Between Vocabularies Economics = 330 [Dewey Decimal Classification] 180/280 [US Patent classification] = 3711 [Standard Industrial Classification] = TL 205 [LC Classif.] = Automobile Extending a search from one source to another ordinary means a change in vocabulary. Internet: Many sources and vocabularies! WHAT Subject headings Cross-references in & between vocabularies SALT1, Uppsala

8. WHEREPlace name listMap St. Petersburg = Санкт Петербург = Saint-Pétersbourg, Cluj (Romania, Roumania, Rumania) = Klausenburg = Kolozsvar. Ctesiphon (Ancient site) SALT1, Uppsala

9. WHAT is WHERE?Catalog + Place name list + map. Search for books on Folklore, then geographical sort. SALT1, Uppsala

10. WHERE is WHAT?Draw box on map around South America. Place name list names capital cities (“PPLC”) for search in catalog. SALT1, Uppsala

11. WHEN Named Time Periods Timeline People speak of time by naming periods and events: - In reign of Charlemagne… - During the Weimar Republic… - After the Vietnam War… - When I was a student… This is culturally situated and resembles place names. So a “Named Time Period Directory” like a place name list: Place name list (= “gazetteer”) Place name – Type of place – Lat. & Long. – when Named period directory Period name – Type of period – Chron. Time -- where SALT1, Uppsala

12. WHEN? Search: What happened in IRELAND in 1690s? Time Period Directory records in Google Earth. Zoom to Ireland and 1690s. Icon for siege of Limerick, 1690. Click link for library search. Catalog records list books and show context. SALT1, Uppsala

13. WHEN Time Period Directory Timeline Browse Search LC Catalog Search Wikipedia SALT1, Uppsala

14. WHOBiographical Dictionary Complex relationships Life events metadata WHAT: Actions prisoner WHERE: Places Holstein WHEN: Times 1261-1262 WHO: People Margaret Sambiria Better is to have external links to the best resources! Current project: Context finding for biographical texts. Example: Electronic search engine pioneer. SALT1, Uppsala

15. Comment: Facet genres include other facets Library subject headings Topic – Geographic subdivision – Chronological subdivision Place name gazetteer Place name – Type – Spatial markers (Lat & long) – When Time Period Directory Period name – Type – Time markers (Calendar) – Where Biographical Dictionary Person – Activity type – Time – Where – Who else SALT1, Uppsala

16. A “4W” search interface SALT1, Uppsala

17. Entry Vocabulary Index suggests correct LCSH with different spelling Search term recommender service for LC Subject Headings Buttons for searchable resources & local catalogs SALT1, Uppsala

18. Potentially related people SALT1, Uppsala

19. Potentially related periods SALT1, Uppsala

20. Mostly in India 16th-18th century SALT1, Uppsala

21. Find out more about this area. SALT1, Uppsala

22. Different Browsing Options! SALT1, Uppsala

23. Zooming to South Asia Select Set limits in time frame SALT1, Uppsala

24. General information about the country of India… Berkeley Natural History Museums BBC Ethnologue Wikipedia CIA Factbook Interface generates menu page SALT1, Uppsala

25. ECAI Cultural Atlases: presenting history in its geographical & chronological contexts SALT1, Uppsala