Next Generation "Dis-Integrated" Library Systems

Stephen Paul Davis, Director of Library Systems, Columbia University
NUGM Session #30 (LIB1 2000), Thursday, Oct. 12, 1995, 5:00-6:00pm

In the next decade, university libraries will need to fashion a system architecture that can accommodate a growing array of digital information products and services and can be integrated into a rich set of campus information tools. More than ever, university libraries need to be at the leading edge of the life cycle of technological innovation. The range and complexity of developments in information technology in the research university environment is greater than the norm, and our library systems must keep pace.

The system that manages a library's core bibliographic database will continue to figure prominently in the library's overall systems architecture, but will be only one component. The system that manages that bibliographic database must be designed to function well as one in a suite of such systems and solutions, and must support an even greater amount of flexibility in library practice as well all restructure our workflows and adopt new roles on campus.

A. ATTRIBUTES OF NEXT GENERATION LIBRARY SYSTEMS

1. System must have excellent core library-related functionality
   • Focus on uniquely library functionality
   • No loss of current functionality or response time
   • Continuous improvement for productivity enhancement

2. System must have "open design"
   • Components should be independent / "plug & play"
   • System should have standard, published application programming interfaces (APIs)
   • System should allow low-level access to data for import & export
   • System should be client-server based

3. System must be proven scalable, with regard to:
   • Database size
   • Transaction throughput
   • Indexing and other housekeeping tasks.

4. System must be flexible to:
   • Adapt to new technologies
   • Implement new standards
   • Update functionality

B. NEXT GENERATION LIBRARY SYSTEMS: ENVIRONMENTS & FUNCTIONALITY

1. Extraction of local OPAC indexes for incorporation into larger campus "meta-indexes" or national search services
2. Highly innovative non-bibliographic search and retrieval systems
3. Seemless navigation between bibliographic records, texts, images, data files, courseware, and syllabi.
4. Electronic publications that "catalog themselves" (i.e., come with electronic CIP or metadata)
5. "Pay per view" for newer electronic texts and other publications (hence need for effective intellectual property management systems)
6. High level of functionality at the client workstation (e.g., through increasing power of workstation and also the use of intelligent agents, downloadable programs like Java)
7. Minimal level cataloging of all campus information & incorporation into the "digital library".
8. Expert system guides for basic network searching and retrieval
9. Generally implemented commercial EDI
10. Gradual integration of library financial and administration information into campus data processing environment
11. Mix and match component systems from a variety of vendors
12. Library systems that are entirely Netscape "helper applicationss"

Revision date: 9/27/95