Dear Lane Rasberry,
Thank you for your comments and concerns.
Although I do list some libraries outside the US (including one in Singapore)
right now the selection of libraries is indeed very US-weighted. There are
a couple of reasons for this: First of all, much of the data I have on hand
for mapping to library headings is US-oriented. Second, most of the libraries
I've been getting requests to add are based in the US (and in these first
few days after the rollout, I've mostly been focusing on libraries where
I've gotten a specific request for inclusion).
I am very interested in adding more libraries in other countries, though.
There are a few things I'm planning to do to improve things. One is to add
non-US headings from VIAF to the knowledge base, and use them preferentially
when forwarding searches to libraries in non-US countries with name authorities
included in VIAF. (This isn't hard to do, and it's on my to-do list; I just
haven't gotten to it yet.)
If there are other authoritative sources of data for headings used in other
countries that I can easily download and freely reuse, I'm also happy to
consider those.
Another thing I plan on is to add options in my knowledge base, for
selected libraries, to *not* attempt to map to Library of Congress subject
headings in some cases where I normally would, but instead just
forward a keyword search based on the Wikipedia article title. (I already
do this when I can't find a topical LC subject heading in some cases; this
would essentially say "don't even try" for some libraries, such as those
based
in other countries that don't use anything like LCSH.) I've
also been planning on implementing this for various reasons; I'm
not quite done thinking through the best specification of the desired behavior.
In any case, people are welcome to suggest more libraries to add from
whatever country they'd like to see represented more thoroughly. The
form for requesting additional libraries can be found here:
(For now, I'm leaving out libraries that make little or no use of
English language headings, since searches sent there, based on English terms,
will tend to give misleading results. But considering that I'm currently
promoting this project for the English Wikipedia, I don't consider that an
unreasonable limitation for the time being. I will be publishing data and
code to help out folks who might like to implement similar services elsewhere.)
I hope this helps. Further questions, concerns, or suggestions welcome.
John
On 03/08/2013 02:43 PM, Lane Rasberry wrote:
John,
Your idea is big and ultimately I think that everyone wants there to be more
connection between a given Wikipedia article and resources available outside of
Wikipedia.
My first thought about your template is that I wish that it could be better
developed and more neutral. I do not feel that the project ought to be expanded
now, because it is so US-centric and Wikipedia is an international project. For
the box you used on Singapore, for example
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore#External_links>
It seems strange to me as a Wikipedian to so heavily push users to check the
holdings of libraries in the United States. This is happening both because of
lack of access to technical tools and also because of lack of user interface in
the directory.
That said - I conceptually understand what you are trying to do and if you ever
made a project proposal to make a strong connection between Wikipedia articles
and libraries, and if people like Max also agreed that it was feasible to design
a tool to do so, then you would have my full support in moving forward and I
would also tell everyone I could about the project. I think that the connection
between Wikipedia and libraries is much to weak and I would work hard to support
any project which I thought would get people at libraries and on Wikipedia to
work with each other.
Thanks for making your proposal. If you want more community attention then let
me know and maybe I could help you get it.
yours,
On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 2:12 PM, Klein,Max <kleinm(a)oclc.org
<mailto:kleinm@oclc.org>> wrote:
John,
It seems as if you have a very sensible approach. If you'd like to inquire
about getting any of this unspecified OCLC data let me know. I can advocate
internally for opening data for compatibility with Wikipedia projects.
Max Klein
Wikipedia in Residence
kleinm(a)oclc.org <mailto:kleinm@oclc.org>
+17074787023 <tel:%2B17074787023>
-----Original Message-----
From: John Mark Ockerbloom [mailto:ockerblo@pobox.upenn.edu
<mailto:ockerblo@pobox.upenn.edu>]
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2013 4:43 PM
To: Wikimedia & Libraries
Subject: Re: [libraries] Linking from Wikipedia articles to local
library resources
Thanks for your note. WorldCat Registry does look like a useful place
to record the library-specific data I use in my application; in fact,
I've been indexing libraries in my own databases using ISIL and OCLC
identifiers partly with the thinking that this might make it easier to
integrate with systems like the Registry down the road.
I'm already manually consulting WorldCat Registry for some information
like identifiers, and things like probable ILS when it's not clear from
the library website.
There are some things I use that
don't seem to be captured in the Registry at this point in quite the
form I need for this application, and other things that I can't now get
at (but that OCLC seems to have); but it seems possible to bridge the
gap between our data schemes and share the data more readily.
I don't have time at the moment to go into more detail in this message,
but I'd be happy to discuss this further when it's convenient.
Thanks,
John
On 3/5/13 1:31 PM, Klein,Max wrote:
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: John Mark Ockerbloom [mailto:ockerblo@pobox.upenn.edu
<mailto:ockerblo@pobox.upenn.edu>]
> Sent:
Monday, March 04, 2013 7:42 PM
> To: Wikimedia& Libraries
> Subject: Re: [libraries] Linking from Wikipedia articles to local
> library resources
>
> On 3/4/13 9:35 PM, Asaf Bartov wrote:
>> Hi, John.
>>
>> This is pretty nifty! Thanks for creating it.
>>
>> I wonder: would it make sense to connect it to some of the open
>> resolvers out there? (or are those only useful at the item level,
>> whereas this produces searches?)
>
> It depends on how the resolver is set up. Most OpenURL resolvers
are
> primarily designed to link to known items,
whereas this is trying to
> link to groups of items by or about someone or something. But the
> OpenURL 1.0 specification is pretty open-ended, and could encompass
> this sort of thing. I decided not to use it to implement this
> particular service, but if someone's library would provide better
> results via their OpenURL resolver than via their catalog or other
> discovery system, I could link to it.
>
> (If anyone would like me to try linking to their library that way,
> you can let me know when you request service for the library at
>
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/olbpcontact?type=library
Tell
me about your wishes in the "Anything we should know ..."
comment space, and leave your contact details in case I have any
questions.)
Thanks,
John
John,
What a fantastic idea! Conceptually this is the (ahem) missing link,
to realign
GWR (Google> Wikipedia> References) to GWL (Google>
Wikipedia> Libraries). That's the party line we've been delivering for
a long time but without software or practice to materialize the
promise.
With that in mind, I quite agree with Asaf that your notion of
Forward to
Libraries could benefit from using preexisting linking
technologies. With all necessary disclosure of my OCLC-partisanship I
think that instead of registering libraries through this new UPenn
database, it'd make more sense to use the already populated WorldCat
Registry[1] . There thousands of libraries are already registered with
ties into their Online Catalogs, OpenURL Resolvers, and Virtual
References. Just look at the entry for UPenn [2].
This is a tremendous proposal which is theoretically complete. I'd
really like
to help volunteer time and code to make it work as best as
possible.
[1]
http://www.worldcat.org/registry/Institutions
[2]
http://www.worldcat.org/registry/Institutions/2583
Max Klein
Wikipedia in Residence
kleinm(a)oclc.org <mailto:kleinm@oclc.org>
+17074787023 <tel:%2B17074787023>
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Lane Rasberry
206.801.0814
lane(a)bluerasberry.com <mailto:lane@bluerasberry.com>
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