Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data

Citation

Mason, D. (2010), "Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data", The Electronic Library, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 757-758. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471011082040

This book brings together the expertise and experience of more than 20 programmers who are taking libraries into the next level of online services. It shows how libraries are using mashups to transform how they interact with patrons.

A mashup is an internet program that takes data from several sources that it does not own or control and combines that information in a new way. The term comes from music, where amateurs would sample bits from several songs and combine them into a totally new work. Many major web sites provide a simple interface that anyone can use to extract data. Google, for example, lets you send it a search query and returns all the data you normally see on the screen, but in a form that you can re‐organise and use in any way you like. The opportunities for libraries are immense. For example, a library mashup could allow patrons using your online catalogue to see a diagram showing where that particular book is shelved, or allow patrons to add reviews and comments to the catalogue entry. You can link to Amazon to display a picture of the front cover, or provide a table of contents and a sample of the book's pages. Or, a mashup can be created from Google Maps to show the location of all libraries in the city holding a particular book, or the proportion of their holdings that are non‐fiction. You can brighten up your web site by adding videos from YouTube. Mashups are perhaps the defining feature of web 2, and encompass the idea that the web is no longer a passive information delivery method, but can and should be responsive to the exact needs of every user. Web 2 is all about collaboration and sharing knowledge, the very essence of what libraries are about.

This is a practical, hands‐on book showing how to implement the very latest in internet technologies, not a description of what might be done, but what is actually being launched by working librarians right now. The great thing about this book is that it shows how easy it is now to create mashups, and how anyone can join in.

It is refreshing to see a practical IT book that focuses entirely on libraries and their needs. There is a whole section on library catalogues and how to open up the data and how to add value to the old, boring online public access catalogue. You can go to the web sites described and test them, you can copy the ideas and put them to work in your own library.

Each chapter shows how librarians are adding value to their online reference services by describing what is being done now and where to get the resources so that you can do the same. There are links to discussion forms, help lines, code libraries, everything you need to get started. There is a publisher's web site that constantly updates links for all the reference sites mentioned in the book.

Every day, more and more web sites are opening up their content and making it available for sharing. Software applets are getting easier and easier to use to the point where sophisticated web applications can be programmed simply by pointing and clicking on what you want. This book shows you how you too can join the revolution and have fun extending your library into cyberspace.