Page 168 - Building Digital Libraries

Sharing Data 7

Harvesting, Linking, and Distribution

The collecting, sharing, and curating of information is one of the bed- IN THIS CHAPTER
rock values of the library community. We see this practice all the time. From
the creation of a global consortium like OCLC to promote the shared main-  The Evolving Role of Libraries
tenance of the written bibliographic record, to the creation of more local  Metadata Doesn’t Want to Be Free
cooperatives like OhioLINK, the Orbis-Cascade Alliance, or the Midwest . . . If It Did, It Would Be Easy
Collaborative for Library Services—these groups enable local collabora-  Linked Data
tion and the sharing of practices and resources. This value can also be seen  Sharing Metadata
reflected in the standards that the library community embraces. Standards  OAI-PMH
like Z39.50, OAI-PMH, SRU, and others are used to provide a standard  Facilitating Third-Party Indexing
method for individuals and organizations to share metadata. Throughout  Metadata Repurposing
the cultural heritage community, at conferences, and in the literature, one
will hear it said that “information wants to be free.” This is a refrain that  Summary
1
many within the library community fervently believe as settled fact. And
yet, within the digital library community, this statement, this belief, seems
to have little basis in reality. While the community has been very active in
developing methods to share metadata, many libraries put up barriers to
prevent the sharing of content or metadata. So, while most would agree
that “information wants to be free,” it would appear that this value begins
to dissipate as the information becomes a greater asset to the organization.
However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Libraries have the opportunity
to not only preserve the cultural record, but to actively promote and pro-
vide democratic access to the information. They have the ability to push the
boundaries of copyright and fair use, and leverage their repositories of infor-
mation to enrich not only their own organizations and campus communi-
ties, but, through the adoption of linked data and a liberal open-data policy,
support interdisciplinary and emerging digital humanities researchers. It is
with this future in mind that this chapter will focus on how libraries can
work to enable the sharing, linking, and greater distribution of their content.

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