What I’ll be covering today:
The Author Names project and development of the OAQ platform
Why did we undertake the project?... some background
What problems are we trying to solve & what benefits do we hope to gain
… for libraries? … for publishers?
Who are the project partners?
What is OAQ and what features does it currently have?
What is planned for the future?
How can you participate?
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
Author Names Project ~ background & goals:
Innovation project conducted through the Harvard Library Lab through the generous support of the Arcadia Fund
Conceived as a WIN-WIN for both publishers and libraries
Leverages technology to create convenience for authors and automate how publishers and libraries work with author data
Share author data in support of earlier creation of rich discovery
metadata, first about authors themselves but also their works
Form publisher/library partnerships that serve as a foundation
for other mutually beneficial initiatives
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
Where library Metadata Creation departments have come from:
Enormous cataloging backlogs were common and expected within large research libraries
… still true in the very recent past. User expectations for timely discovery and access were not the central drivers they are today. Library cataloging has been a largely manual process
… one title at a time.
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
To meet the challenge of scaling metadata creation, we currently…
Never rekey data if we can cut & paste, preferably with a macro
Now, as information sources used by catalogers are increasingly electronic and available to be shared in a networked environment…
We want never to cut & paste if we can
establish a reliable data feed
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
What library issues are we trying to address?
Backlogs are no longer viable strategies to gain time for processing Shorten “time to shelf” for new titles
Transform information into data so that expertise outside the library can contribute to rich discovery metadata Collaborate beyond the library to identify and connect authoritative metadata sources with discovery tools
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
What publisher issues are we trying to address?
Creating & sending an Author Questionnaire (AQ) is a low-tech process at many publishers. Emailing Word docs or PDFs is common.
The AQ process could be made more convenient for Authors.
Unstructured AQ submissions can be unwieldy to work with, cutting & pasting into other formats to serve the business purposes that publishers have, e.g. marketing plans.
Rich discovery metadata could be created with author information already being gathered by publishers but currently not leveraged
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
You may ask… what IS an Author Questionnaire?
A form sent by publishers to their authors to obtain essential information about the author & their works
Common business practice across publishers of all sizes and types
Sent to an author well before a title is published
Used for core publisher activities, such as effective design, promotion and distribution of new titles
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
What is OAQ?
OAQ is an open source, web-based tool for publishers that is easy to use, flexible, brandable and supports publisher workflows to:
Create & distribute online questionnaires securely to authors
Package author data in custom formats that meets publisher internal business needs
Enable creation of robust discovery metadata about authors & their works much earlier in the publication process
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
What questions do Publishers ask their Authors?
variant name forms
list of author’s prior works
educational background
geographic affiliations
professional associations
biographical information
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
Why libraries would benefit from AQ data?
No rekeying information from book covers if a data stream is
established from publishers
No guessing about differentiating authors with similar names when
author-supplied data can establish author identities with certainty
Data is available well in advance of publication
Richer data than libraries could ever sustainably gather on their own
Reliable information comes from authors & their publishers directly
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
Features of OAQ that benefit Publishers: Secure publisher & author accounts with dedicated space in the tool that is not seen by other participating publishers Publishers assign user roles to their staff as their needs dictate Interface similar to Word Processing for creating publisher-specific questionnaires with branding (publisher logo, font, colors) Simple sign-on for Authors completing publisher questionnaires Upload files, such as author photos and CVs Email notifications to authors & publishers’ staff triggered by specific processes Customized outputs in multiple formats with selected data elements to create function-specific reports, such as marketing reports, in addition to seeing answers to all questions Exportable data for flexible uses, e.g. ingest into other systems
Michelle Durocher
[email protected] Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
DEMO SCREEN SHOT 1: showing menu bar layout & basic navigation
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
DEMO SCREEN SHOT 2: showing interface to create questionnaire elements
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
DEMO SCREEN SHOT 3: showing sample scrolling questionnaire w/ section breaks and logo
OAQ development partners with Harvard Library:
Tupelo Press, a small literary press
Harvard University Press
a PCC-contributing librarian from MIT Libraries
Additional advisors have included:
ORCID board member
MIT Press staff member
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
Opportunities for interoperability & collaboration :
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
In-process developments:
Integration via APIs of taxonomies, publisher schemas, and
identity registries, such as ORCID
More branding capabilities
Online Help & Documentation
Library-side outputs to automatically generate discovery
metadata (Name Authority Records for authors)
Outreach to additional partners for testing phase…
like you!
Michelle Durocher [email protected]
Charleston Conference 11/9/2013
Thank You!
Questions?