The Educational Role of the Library in a Digital Environment

Oct 2, 2008 SALT1, Uppsala 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 andSchool of Information, University of California, Berkeley

SALT, Uppsala, October 2, 2008

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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/imls2004Biography ecai.org/imls2006Irish Studies ecai.org/neh2007

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Some ideas about learning. . . . 1. Understanding requires knowing the context2. 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

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Text with a interesting details.Who was she?Where is that?What is this?What else was happening? Reader

Library resourcesEncyclopediasAtlases, place nameBiographical dictionariesBibliographiesLibrary catalogStatistical seriesetc., etc. . . . .

In a paper environment, reading inside a library is the best place to learn. It is well designed to explain the context!

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Any word, name, document, or event

Any resource:Audio, Images, Texts, Numeric data, Objects, Virtual reality, Webpages

Any catalog: Archives, Libraries, Museums, TV, Publishers

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

Context and relationships: Ireland and Irish Studies – Project diagram.

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The reference library and reference library is open from9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (09:00 – 17:00)

The “9 to 5” problem

Students are writing papers at home on laptops from9:00 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.

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WHAT Subject headings Cross-references in& between vocabularies

Within a vocabularyKung fu movies SEE Martial Arts films [LCSH] FORMERLY Hand-to-hand fighting, oriental, in motion pictures

Between VocabulariesEconomics = 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!

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WHERE Place name list MapSt. Petersburg = Санкт Петербург = Saint-Pétersbourg,Cluj (Romania, Roumania, Rumania) = Klausenburg = Kolozsvar.

Ctesiphon (Ancient site)

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

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

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WHEN Named Time Periods TimelinePeople 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. – whenNamed period directory

Period name – Type of period – Chron. Time -- where

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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.

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WHEN Time Period Directory Timeline

Search LC CatalogSearch Wikipedia

Browse

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WHO Biographical 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.

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Comment: Facet genres include other facetsLibrary subject headingsTopic – Geographic subdivision – Chronological subdivision

Place name gazetteerPlace name – Type – Spatial markers (Lat & long) – When

Time Period DirectoryPeriod name – Type – Time markers (Calendar) – Where

Biographical DictionaryPerson – Activity type – Time – Where – Who else

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A “4W” search interface

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Entry Vocabulary Index suggests correct LCSH with different spelling

Buttons for searchable resources & local catalogs

Search term recommender service for LC Subject Headings

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Potentially related people

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Potentially related periods

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Mostly in India 16th-18th century

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Find out more about this area.

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Different Browsing Options!

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Zooming to South Asia

Set limits in time frame

Select

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General information about the country of India…

Interface generates menu page

WikipediaCIA Factbook

BBC Ethnologue

Berkeley Natural History Museums

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ECAI Cultural Atlases: presenting history in its geographical & chronological contexts