Ross Singer of Georgia Tech Wins Second OCLC Research Software Contest

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, September 28, 2006—Ross Singer has won the Second OCLC Research Software Contest with Umlaut, an OpenURL Link Resolver intended to improve access to library collections by contextualizing citations and available holdings more accurately for a given user. Currently running with Georgia Tech's catalog, Umlaut utilizes a host of web services and can take several paths depending on what it finds at various stages.

The contest judges were impressed at how much the Umlaut does for the user, especially the effort to get them to full text files, and thought the use of OCLC services was well done. As the contest winner, Mr. Singer will receive a check for $2,500 and a visit with OCLC researchers and others in Dublin, Ohio (USA).

More information about Umlaut, including access to the service itself, is linked below.

Jesse Andrews is the contest runner-up, with Book Burro, a Firefox/Flock extension that uses Open WorldCat and xISBN functionality to facilitate locating books.

The Second OCLC Research Software Contest ran from July 1 through mid-September.  Its goal was to encourage innovation in the use of web-based services for libraries.

Entries were judged by a panel of expert practitioners and academicians from OCLC and the library/information community:

• Thom Hickey
  Chief Scientist, OCLC
  blogs at outgoing
• Walt Crawford
  Systems Analyst, RLG and OCLC
  author/editor of Cites & Insights; blogs at Walt at Random
• Elizabeth Lane Lawley
  Associate Professor and Director, Lab for Social Computing, Rochester Institute of Technology
  blogs at mamamusings, many-to-many, and misbehaving.net
• Roy Tennant
  User Services Architect, California Digital Library
  Owner, Web4Lib and XML4Lib electronic discussions; author

More information

Ross Singer's Umlaut
http://www.oclc.org/research/announcements/features/umlaut-about.htm

Jesse Andrews' Book Burro
http://bookburro.org

Thom Hickey
http://www.oclc.org/research/staff/hickeyt.htm

Walt Crawford
http://waltcrawford.name/

Liz Lawley
http://www.it.rit.edu/~ell/contact_info/

Roy Tennant
http://roytennant.com/

2005 Contest Winner
http://www.oclc.org/research/announcements/2005-06-22.htm

For more information:

Thom Hickey
Chief Scientist
OCLC Research
hickey@oclc.org
+1-614-764-6075


Bob Bolander
Communications & Programs Manager
OCLC Research
bolander@oclc.org
+1-614-761-5207