Webinars

EAC-CPF Webinars

EAC-CPF (EAC for short) is a communications structure (XML schema) for archival contextual information. EAC records are akin to traditional MARC authority records, while also enabling inclusion of much greater contextual information, such as biographical information about people and administrative history of governmental and private organizations. EAC records would complement and be linked to EAD (Encoded Archival Description) descriptions of particular archival collections. Imagine EAC records as a new data source about entities that produce archival and manuscripts materials. In addition, they can provide meaningful links to related access points in many domains. EAC's capabilities enable important steps toward an archival component of the Semantic Web. Learn more about EAC, the EAC schema and the tag library. If you haven't already done so, please review the final draft EAC schema and provide comments by 15 November 2009.

To provide additional information on EAC-CPF, OCLC Research, the RLG Partnership and the EAC Working Group recently held two EAC-CPF webinars in which archivists, authorities librarians, system developers and linked-data geeks discussed the draft EAC-CPF standard (Encoded Archival Context—Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families). In these webinars, Katherine Wisser, chair of the international EAC Working Group, introduced the EAC-CPF standard and then took questions from participants. Basil Dewhurst, Manager of Resource Discovery Services at the National Library of Australia and member of the EAC Working Group, also participated in the discussion during the 3 November webinar. Daniel Pitti, chief architect of the EAC schema, participated in the discussion of the 8 October webinar.

Learn more about EAC, the EAC schema and the tag library, or contact Jennifer Schaffner with questions or comments.

• .wmv (coming soon*)
• .m4v (coming soon*)

Networking Names

Names are ambiguous and take different forms depending on context. Information sufficient to identify and distinguish people and organizations is widely dispersed. In this webinar, members of the Networking Names Advisory Group talk about the following:

• highlights from the recent Networking Names report—requirements derived from fourteen use case scenarios for a "Cooperative Identities Hub" that would provide a framework to concatenate authoritative information and a gateway to all forms of names using a social networking model
• the "problem space" of dispersed information about names within one institution
• WorldCat Identities and the Virtual International Authority File as examples of applications that incorporate some of the Hub components
• the work of the Names Project in the UK
• the Encoded Archival Context work
• the NISO Institutional Identifier working group, including mapping its own data attributes to the Identities Hub requirements

• .wmv (105MB/1:20min.)
• .mp4 (176MB/1:20min.)

Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access

This is a recording of an amplified session that was livecast from the 2009 RLG Partnership Annual Meeting. The introduction did not get captured so this recording begins on slide one.

In this webinar, Brian Lavoie talks about the economic challenges of long-term digital preservation. He frames out digital preservation as an economic problem, describes the work of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access (which he co-chairs), and discusses some of the Task Force's findings to date. Participants also share their thoughts and perspectives in a discussion that follows the presentation. The goal of this session is to give participants a better understanding of the economic issues involved in building sustainable digital preservation activities.

• .wmv (105MB/1:20min.)
• .mp4 (176MB/1:20min.)

Managing Shared Print Collections

This is a recording of an amplified session that was livecast from the 2009 RLG Partnership Annual Meeting.

In this webinar, Constance Malpas and Dennis Massie review progress in several OCLC Research projects focused on collaborative management of library print collections, and highlight efforts that have been driven by institutions in the RLG Partnership. They also discuss a range of projects planned for the coming program year aimed at creating new operational efficiencies for research libraries. The session includes discussion and commentary by current participants and those who are interested to collaborate in upcoming initiatives.

• .wmv (100MB/1:16min.)
• .mp4 (164MB/1:16min.)

Scholarly Information Practices in the Online Environment

This is a recording of an amplified session that was livecast from the 2009 RLG Partnership Annual Meeting. The introduction did not get captured so this recording begins on slide two.

In this webinar, Ricky Erway and Constance Malpas recap the findings from a literature review on scholarly information practices and some of the disciplinary differences. They also talk about a few activities that build on those findings that are underway (at RLG partner institutions and as RLG Partnership projects), then open the floor for discussion about what partners doing as well as possibilities for future collaboration.

• .wmv (82.8MB/1:11min.)
• .mp4 (160MB/1:11min.)

Treasures on Trucks and Other Taboos: Rethinking the Sharing of Special Collections

In this webinar, Program Officers Jennifer Schaffner and Dennis Massie present background information on the often controversial topic of loaning archives and special collections materials. In addition, two pairs of Special Collections and SHARES ILL librarians discuss issues and experiences. Naomi Nelson and Margaret Ellingson from Emory University speak from the perspective of an institution that's been loaning successfully for years. Cristina Favretto and Scott Britton from the University of Miami bring the perspective of being new to the discussion and just starting to consider the issues before coming to a decision about whether and how to make their materials more widely available. The phone and chat lines are then opened for frank conversation and compelling questions. Loan of special collections materials is a challenging topic, and this webinar helps move the conversation forward.

• .wmv (147MB/131min.)
• .mp4 (178MB/131min.)

Merrilee Proffitt,
Senior Program Officer,
OCLC Research, and
Bill Carney,
Content Manager, OCLC

WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry

In this webinar, Merrilee Proffitt and Bill Carney provide background on the work that has been undertaken to contribute to the development of the WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry. Merrilee and Bill also provide a demonstration of this pilot and talk about the current focus of establishing best practices for using the "rules engine" to codify determining what, for a given institution, is in or out of scope.

The WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry will enable the creation and sharing of copyright evidence through a collaboratively created and maintained database. A side benefit of the project may be the community collaborating to define a consistent, accepted process for libraries to gather and document copyright evidence in order to provide access to digitized materials.

• .wmv (40.5MB/51min.)
• .mp4 (18.3MB/51min.)

Roy Tennant, Senior Program Officer, and Bruce Washburn, Consulting Software Engineer,
OCLC Research

Using the WorldCat Search API

In this webinar, Roy Tennant and Bruce Washburn provide an overview of WorldCat Search API features. Launched in August 2008, the WorldCat Search API provides OCLC libraries with new ways of taking advantage of the WorldCat database and features. With the API, you can build WorldCat search results, metadata, and links to library catalogs into your own systems. Supporting common search protocols like OpenSearch and SRU, and delivering data in standard formats like RSS, Atom, Dublin Core and MARC, the API is ready to be applied to a wide array of applications.

Two versions of this webinar are available: Using the WorldCat Search API (with Q&A) is a recording of the 27 August webinar that includes questions from partners but in which technical difficulties prohibited Roy and Bruce from demonstrating current applications that use the API as originally planned. Because of this, an additional webinar was recorded, Using the WorldCat Search API (with Demos) that does contain these demonstrations but does not contain a question and answer session. This revised webinar is also available in the iTunes Store.

• Using the WorldCat Search API (with Q&A): .wmv (49.6MB/37min.)
• Using the WorldCat Search API (with Demos): .wmv (41.9MB/25min.)
• Using the WorldCat Search API (with Demos): .m4v (27.2MB/25min.)

Merrilee Proffit and Jennifer Schaffner ,
Program Officers,
OCLC Research

Assessing the Impact of Special Collections

In this webinar, Merrilee Proffitt and Jennifer Schaffner discuss metrics within special collections. Jen provides selected usage statistics gathered in special collections from 1995 to the present, and Merrilee covers the spectrum of possibilities for measuring use. Then they both raise some new issues and take comments and questions from participants to increase awareness about measuring special collections impact in libraries, archives and museums.

• .wmv (71.1MB/58min.)
• .m4v (42.3MB/58min.)

Constance Malpas,
Program Officer,
OCLC Research

Assessing Uniqueness in the System-wide Book Collection: Preliminary Results from a Study of WorldCat

As space pressures on library print collections increase, and mass digitization efforts begin to challenge the primacy of locally-held print inventories, new attention has been directed to collection assessment in research libraries. Further, notions about the importance of and definitions for "uniqueness" have become discussion topics in a variety of venues, particularly in the context of long-tail economics.

In this webinar, Constance Malpas gives an update on recent research on the distribution and content characterization of unique print books represented in the WorldCat database. RLG partners have been a critical part of this research project, contributing both local expertise and data, and providing insights on how different measures of "uniqueness" can shape local and group collection management efforts.

• .wmv (71.3MB/54min.)
• .m4v (41.9MB/54min.)

Ricky Erway and Jennifer Schaffner,
Program Officers,
OCLC Research

Out of the Stacks and onto the Desktop: Rethinking Assumptions about Access and Digitization

Ricky Erway and Jennifer Schaffner provide a brief overview of the outcomes of two recent initiatives undertaken by RLG Programs with contributions from staff at many partner institutions that resulted in the following reports:

• Good Terms—Improving Commercial-Noncommercial Partnerships for Mass Digitization (D-Lib Magazine, 13,11/12.)
• Shifting Gears: Gearing Up to Get Into the Flow (.pdf: 86K/ 11pp.)

• .wmv (73.5MB/54min.)
• .m4v (46.1MB/54min.)