developing a metadata consultation service program€¦ · one example of this was a project aimed...
TRANSCRIPT
Developing a Metadata Consultation Service Program
Jacob Shelby & Sonoe Nakasone
Acquisitions & Discovery = Acquisitions + Cataloging & Metadata
Monographs Unit Serials Unit
Data Projects &
Partnerships Unit
The department we work in is called the Acquisitions & Discovery Department. A few years ago it resulted from a merger between the Acquisitions Department and Cataloging & Metadata Department. The department does resource description and acquisitions for library resources, including books and journals. There are three units within the department: Monographs, Serials, and our unit, Data Projects & Partnerships.
Acquisitions & Discovery = Acquisitions + Cataloging & Metadata
Monographs Unit Serials Unit
Data Projects & Partnerships Unit
● Administrative Support● Technical Support● Metadata exploration
We work in the DPP unit. This unit provides administrative and technical support for the other two units. This includes database and financials support. We also provide some metadata services such as data modeling and data cleanup. We are currently in the process of exploring new services and re-defining what services our unit provides to the department, as well as the Libraries and broader NCSU community.
Surveying Current Services● Opportunity: new to
the department● Shadow all the things
Image by Mickey_Liaw obtained through a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license
In our journey to redefine services that DPP provides, we first began to survey current services. One advantage that we had was that both Sonoe and I were new to the department (we both started in June). This meant we were able to put a fresh pair of eyes to the unit, without any embedded context or history. Our first task was to shadow everything that happens in the unit. We shadowed all the work that DPP staff do, every workflow that DPP is involved in, and we were assigned to many of the groups that DPP staff are involved in (mainly database groups). This gave us an in-depth look at all the services our unit currently provides.
Identifying New Potential Services
The next step was to begin identifying new potential services. We did a whiteboard exercise to write down all potential services that we could provide. We eventually broke these down into logical categories.
Identifying New Potential Services● Informed by incoming projects
Image obtained from http://doc.biblissima-condorcet.fr/iiif
● IIIF implementation● API requirements● Partnership with Digital
Library Initiatives● Service: JSON-LD
template review
Incoming projects have been a great source for identifying new potential services. One example of this was a project aimed at implementing an International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) instance at NCSU Libraries. IIIF’s goal is to define interoperable image APIs, develop and document shared technologies, and provide scholars with uniform and rich access to image-based resources. The framework comes with a handful of API documentation/requirements in order to successfully implement the framework. Digital Library Initiatives (DLI), a department within the Libraries that provides technical and software support, was interested in partnering with DPP to apply IIIF to all of our publicly-accessible digital collections. DLI would create JSON-LD templates, and we would review the templates to make sure they adhered to API requirements. This type of service was new to our unit.
Preparing for New Services
New Projects
New Services
New Skills
New projects potentially bring new services, which in turn potentially bring the need for new skills. We use these opportunities to identify further training for our unit.
Schema.org + JSON-LD Training● Goal: enhance exposure to NCSU digital collections on the open web
using Schema.org vocabularies● New service: writing metadata templates● New skills: Schema.org and JSON-LD● How we prepared: information session + hands-on exercises
○ http://tinyurl.com/ncsuSchemaTraining
This training came out of a project with NCSU Digital Library Initiatives and Special Collections Research Center. The goal was to enhance exposure to NCSU digital collections on the open web using Schema.org vocabularies. We wanted to programmatically embed Schema.org/JSON-LD into every digital collection resource. There were two pieces to this: a metadata map for mapping from our custom metadata schema to Schema.org, and a JSON-LD template for one resource. In order to do this work DPP staff needed experience working with the Schema.org vocabularies and JSON-LD data format. In order to facilitate this I created a two-part training series: an information session and a hands-on exercise session to apply the knowledge. Training material linked in the slide.
Regular Expressions TrainingSaiki, J.||T. Lee||Smith, R.||R. Oka
Lopez, J.||E. Stein||Taka, G.
Johnson, P.||K. Kim||Kealoha, R.
W. Parilla||Tang, L.||O. Kelly||Woo, J.
Ryan Naka||Patel, H.
...
Self study
In person, hands on training
ERD and Database Design Training
Project Management Strategies
We use Trello for managing project within the unit. We have one “unit board” where we track all the project-based tasks staff are doing during a sprint. Sonoe will talk more about what a sprint means in our context.
Sometimes, especially when we are working with people outside of the unit, we create a board for a single project. This makes it easier to bring in outside collaborators.
Unit meeting (Sprint)
❏ monthly❏ 1 hour❏ review and close out
projects❏ Review priorities;
reassign projects for next sprint
Scrum
❏ weekly❏ 15 minutes❏ review progress of
active projects❏ questions or
concerns
Agile framework for collaborative and iterative software developmentScrum -- standup meetingSprint -- period of time work should be done by
Web Presence and Outreach
Presented services to web teamUser centered web team push back: 1) service from the user perspective; 2) overlapping services ex. Data & GIS, text and data mining, data management
Breaking out of the Organizational Structure
Acquisitions & Discovery Collections & Research StrategyDigital Library Initiatives
Research Data Committee
Data CleaningMetadata Crosswalking
Data Management
Plans
Like Sonoe was mentioning previously, NCSU Libraries is heavily focused on services and not necessarily organizational structure when it comes to public users. This is a breakdown of how many of what you think are metadata services are provided by multiple departments. To me, this is very interesting to think about, because most places I’ve worked have a dedicated metadata department/unit/person who provides these services.
Here’s a good example of this overlap. This is a page for visualization services. On the left are librarians who are tagged as being able to provide visualization services. Alison and Jason Evans Groth are in Learning Spaces & Services, Karen director of the Natural Resources Library, Jeff is in Research Engagement, Walt and Mike are in Digital Library Initiatives, and Jason Jefferies is in User Experience.
