DLF Forum 2015

Automating Controlled Vocabulary Reconciliation
Using controlled vocabularies within digital library metadata is essential in order to provide researchers with a consistent and easy to use search experience. The University of Utah has developed a process for cleaning up metadata with an emphasis on ensuring that data corresponds to existing controlled vocabularies. This presentation will demonstrate multiple approaches to data clean-up, including a vendor-based authority control service and using OpenRefine.

Presenter: Anna Neatrour (University of Utah)
Co-Author: Jeremy Myntti (University of Utah)

Meaningless Metadata: Maintaining the Trust of Our Academic Communities
In this potentially controversial snapshot session about the state of metadata in Institutional Repositories and Data Repositories, de-identified example records will be shared that suggest there is an epidemic of dirty metadata in our repositories. Academic communities are trusting Libraries to maintain their academic assets, but the oversight of the metadata quality varies widely between institutions. By taking custody of vast amounts of digital materials, Libraries are committing to provide access to and preservation of these items for the long term. Despite numerous standards, there appears to be little consensus as to the minimum metadata required to uphold this commitment.

Presenters: Mahria Lebow (University of Washington), Cynthia McLellan (British Columbia Institute of Technology)

A Portrait of a Collecting Strength: Mapping MARBL's Twentieth-Century African American Collections with EAD, RDFa, and Network Graphs
Libraries have generated network graphs of special collections that illustrate connections among the people and materials represented across collections, which have created new discovery tools, and challenged our understanding of literary history. The "Portrait of a Collecting Strength" project marks up EAD records of MARBL's collections related to twentieth-century African American writers and artists with linked open data, and then exports RDFa as network data. In this presentation, I will present preliminary thoughts about how network graphs may be used as a critical tool for revealing the history of an institutional archive, the provenance of collections, and processing practices.

Presenter: Anne Donlon (Emory University)

Is there a Ghost in the [Search] Machine? Improving Search UX using Query Analysis and Machine Cues
This snapshot looks at how inferred and contextual aspects of a search query can offer new ways of thinking about the "10 blue links" of a search result page. Data mining contextual bits and pieces requires our using techniques that look to understand the sentiment of search queries and the physical/network locations of our users. I will look at how these components can be brought into a library search prototype by utilizing the residual machine cues inherent to the search act and how basic semantic query analysis can improve the search results by introducing personal context.

Presenter: Jason A. Clark (Montana State University)

The Fast and The Furious: Performance Enhancements for Improving the User Experience of Library Websites
Speed matters. Web pages that load faster create an overall smoother and more enjoyable experience for our users. In this snapshop, librarians from two academic libraries will discuss the history of web performance, detail a multi-step implementation plan for enhancing web performance, and share lessons learned from applying web performance enhancements for library websites. This work is informed by a research study involving the library websites of all 122 DLF member institutions that included performance-based diagnostic and usability testing.

Presenters: Scott Young (Montana State University), Krista Godfrey (Memorial University - Newfoundland)

US IMLS National Digital Platform Priority Area Update
In 2014, IMLS launched a new priority, the National Digital Platform, in several of its competitive grant programs. Broadly speaking, the national digital platform is the combination of software applications, social and technical infrastructure, and staff expertise used by libraries, museums, and archives to provide online content and services to all users in the United States. This presentation will offer a brief illustration of the kinds of work funded in the first year of grants and information about the direction of the second year of this priority area.

Presenter: Maura Marx (Institute of Museum and Library Services)

BigDIVA: Redefining (Re)search
How often do students and researchers move beyond the first page of search returns? According to the latest research, 90% of click-throughs come from the first page of results, with the first result receiving 42% of all click-throughs. It is well known that search and page ranking algorithms determine the order of results from a search query. What if you, the researcher, could see all the results and decide which ones are relevant rather than relying on a computer program? BigDIVA is a new tool for humanists that introduces serendipity into the realm of digital research.

Presenter: Timothy Duguid (Texas A&M University)
Co-Author: Laura Mandell (Texas A&M University)