In talking about authentication issues, the notion kept coming up that single, central, shared registries of information about libraries (e.g. the WorldCat Registry) could be valuable in helping publishers to make it easier for users to navigate to subscribed content via their own institution’s login option(s).
This spurred me to thinking: in what central/shared registries are our library details held, and what use can I [and our students/staff] make of this information?
This’ll be one of those blog posts that I’m still adding to in a year’s time, as I remember more stuff. I’ve(And a passing thought – wouldn’t it be cool if there was a single über-registry for libraries that brought all of these details together using a single API? Anyone?)
The University of Lincoln has library information registered with:
1. ISIL – International Standard Identifier for Libraries
An ISIL is like an ISBN or ISSN for an entire library: a way of uniquely and unambiguously identifying “an organization, or one of its subordinate units, throughout its life“. We have an ISIL for each of our five libraries, assigned to us a year ago by the British Library (the UK national agency for the ISIL). We use them for RFID stock control; to associate a copy of a book with its home library. The ISIL standard is ISO 15511:2009. Our five ISILs are:
| GB-UkLiUGCW | University of Lincoln: Great Central Warehouse University Library |
| GB-UkLiUTRR | University of Lincoln: Theology Reading Room, Chad Varah House |
| GB-UkLiURPC | University of Lincoln: Riseholme Park Campus Library |
| GB-UkSnHOC | University of Lincoln: Holbeach Campus Library |
| GB-UkHlHUC | University of Lincoln: Hull Campus Library |
2. LibraryThing local
LibraryThing local (www.librarything.com/local) is a user-maintained directory and “gateway to thousands of local bookstores, libraries and book festivals“. LibraryThing users can create and edit entries for individual libraries, browse libraries by geographical area (including via a nice Google Maps display), add libraries to a list of favourites, and subscribe to RSS feeds of library events in their area (e.g.). We don’t really make use of these features – we don’t run a lot of ‘public’ events at the moment.
We’ve had directory entries since 2009 for four out of our five libraries, which I’ve “claimed” using my own LT account – writing this, I’ve noticed that the Theology Reading Room doesn’t have an entry.
- University of Lincoln – GCW University Library
- University of Lincoln – Theology Reading Room [no entry]
- University of Lincoln – Riseholme Park Campus Library
- University of Lincoln – Hull Campus Library
- University of Lincoln – Holbeach Campus Library
3. OpenURL registry
Our OpenURL link resolver (EBSCO LinkSource) is registered with the OpenURL Router service, maintained by EDINA for all UK HE and FE institutions. The registry holds details of our base URL for constructing links, our preferred link resolver button image 
, and our authentication details (UK Federation scope and IP ranges).
Registry entry at:
Service providers can construct OpenURLs for our users with the base URL: http://openurl.ac.uk/
4. Talis Silkworm Directory
We have (had?) entries in the Talis Silkworm Directory (directory.talis.com) for all five of our libraries. This is (was?) a community-driven open directory of information about libraries, that powers (powered?) mashups like Philip Adams’ SCONUL Access libraries maps on the De Montfort University library website.
As you can probably tell from my present/past tense confusion above, I don’t know if this directory is still operational. I’d heard it was defunct some time ago, and it now appears that the directory.talis.com subdomain has been switched off.
5. Social networking websites
The GCW University Library has a page on Foursquare, the “location-based mobile platform that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore”. An interesting one this – it’s not a library-focused service, and not one we ‘control’ (though the official @unilincoln Twitter account is listed as ‘staff’), but probably the site that most of our users will interact with.
We also have a Flickr profile: I used it to upload a set of (mainly) historical photos of the GCW building, back in October/November 2008. I haven’t used it since. We’ve never bothered with specific Library accounts on Twitter or Facebook*.
6. UK Access Management Federation
We’re a member of the UK Access Management Federation: this controls all sorts of authentication to third-party electronic resources and comes with its own set of jargon:
- Our ‘scope’ is: lincoln.ac.uk
- Our ‘entity ID‘ is: https://idp.lincoln.ac.uk/shibboleth (N.B. this is not a ‘real’ URL!)
- We ‘assert user accountability‘ according to section 6 of the rules of membership for the UK Federation, dontchaknow…
- We use Eduserv as our nominated outsourced Identity Provider (IdP)
7. WorldCat Registry
This is the newest one on me: although I think I remember someone from OCLC (Mark Allcock?) talking about it at the first UK Mashed Library event in 2008; it was only a Twitter conversation last week that promopted me to look at it in earnest.
Again, four out of our five libraries already have profiles (which I’ve now “claimed”). I’m still exploring the site, and I haven’t yet updated/registered all of our details, so I’m not entirely sure what benefits we can get from it – I’d appreciate any advice from WorldCat Registry old hands. I don’t understand how the WorldCat Registry relates to the WorldCat Affiliate Tools—if at all—either.
- University of Lincoln, GCW University Library
- University of Lincoln, Theology Reading Room [no entry]
- University of Lincoln, Riseholme Park Campus Library
- University of Lincoln, Hull Campus Library
- University of Lincoln, Holbeach Campus Library
8. Document supply (added 23 May 2011)
Owen Stephens suggested this one. We’re listed in the British Library’s Directory of Library Codes for document supply, where we have our own identifier (it’s HL/C-3). I’m sure my colleagues in inter-library loans won’t hit me for not knowing that off the top of my head.
I’m not a WorldCat Registry expert, but two uses:
It can be used as a redirection service for OpenURL resolution – in the same way as the EDINA OpenURL registry service – and I think redirects to a default WorldCat resolution if it can’t work out which OpenURL resolver to use. (see http://www.oclc.org/developer/documentation/openurl-gateway/request-syntax)
Makes your information (name, address, identifiers, etc etc) available via an API (SRU) – so they can be used by you and others to provide appropriate, context based, services.
Essentially my reading would be that the WorldCat registry and the Talis Directory were attempting to do the same type of thing – offer an authoritative directory of libraries. However both seem to suffer from the same issues – libraries have not (so far) been motivated enough to manage the records effectively.
You could consider shifting your management of the identifiers you list above (plus others – do you have a SAN for EDI?) into the WorldCat registry and manage it from there, making using of the API to bring the information back into your own environment… but I can see pros and cons to this approach.
Hi Paul. To answer your question about the WorldCat Registry and WorldCat Affiliate tools…there is no direct one-to-one connection. Here’s the scoop:
You register to become a WorldCat Affiliate in order to gain access to the APIs and Web services available that use WorldCat data, especially the WorldCat Search API–which you must apply for if your institution has eligibility.
Not to be confusing, but the WorldCat Registry is separate from WorldCat proper and the APIs available for Registry information do not require eligibility. Anyone is welcome to use WorldCat Registry data for noncommercial use. Commercial uses are encouraged but require a conversation with our Business Development team. (Mark Allcock, as you say above.)
Once you’ve become a WorldCat Affiliate, then head over to the OCLC Developer Network to get the documentation and see sample apps for all the WorldCat Affiliate tools, APIs, Web Services, etc in action. The Developer Network is where you can get a lot more of the detail from the developer side about uses for the WorldCat Registry. (The librarian side is simply maintaining the data and viewing entries for your institution at http://www.worldcat.org/libraries, which pulls from the Registry.)
We’re working on streamlining the process of being a WorldCat Affiliate vs. just joining the OCLC Developer Network. Lots of moving pieces but the goal is to make it easier for librarians and developers to gain access to library data.