Hybrid library models and implementation

Hybrid Library

The objective of this research is to examine the Hybrid Library and to include an Introduction, development, conclusion and bibliography (European Style).

The work of Pearce and Berko (nd) entitled: "The Hybrid Library Revisited" states: "The term 'hybrid library' had been coined by the elib Electronic Libraries Program (JISC, 2002) to describe systems and services providing integrated access to both print and electronic resources." The work of Rusbridge and Boyan (2000) states that the term 'Hybrid Library' "conjures up an image of some triumph of Genetic Engineering, part bookhouse, part scorpion with a dash of eye of newt...however, the Hybrid Library, "by exploiting both access and storage, Clicks and Mortar, seeks to provide the end-user with, in Ian Winworth's phrase "a managed blend of traditional and electronic sources." (Rusbridge and Boyan, 2000) Some of the Hybrid library applications presently in use include the following with the accompanying description of each: (1) Agora - Based on a 2-tier architecture with this, web-based client. This applications supports "the aggregation of resources in groups called 'information landscapes' which can then be searched; (2) Builder - working in an institutional concept and has the objective of exploiting all the synergies possible in the institutional resources available in delivering innovative services. This application has products as its focus; (3) Headline - This application constructs an interfaced on the basis of a Personal Information Environment (PIE) enabling a group of users to be presented with initial views from their teachers but subsequently to adapt these to suit their own needs; (4) Hylife - Demonstrates the wide variety of solutions which may be appropriate for different user groups; and (5) Malibu - Contains a pre-prototype searching agent allowing cross searching of web sites using HTTP also contains complementary models of the Hybrid Library with the first being a user tool and the second being a technical services model. (Rusbridge and Boyan, 2000)

I. DEVELOPMENT of the HYBRID LIBRARY

In June 2000, Pearce and Berko states that the Digital Object Management System was one that actively sought out products that would be appropriate for replacing the three access databases inhouse and specifically the: (1) pictorial manager; (2) PAMS; and (3) the Sound Preservation 'System. Pearce and Berko relate that the system was not one that was such as the 'turn key' systems but was one that would serve to "enable the library to outsource its development work to the vendor with any new requirements hopefully being incorporated into the base product for use by other customers."

However, upon commencement of the contract along with the detailing of functional specifications being completed for estimation of the development task costs, it appeared certain that a large gap still existed between the requirements and the product. Applications might well share the data model and high-level-use cases although "...mission critical systems depend on user interfaces highly targeted to specific workflows. Archiving web sites is a very different activity to preparing material for printing, which is different again from digitizing library materials. Acknowledging this home truth, the Library now embarked in earnest on two separate development projects, one to extend the Collecting System for the PANDORA archive to support the full set of management requirements for born-digital material, the other to develop a Special Collections Manager to support the digitization of material in traditional formats. While taking separate development paths, both applications were treated as components of an overarching systems architecture that had been developed for the original information paper and refined through the subsequent procurement processes."

Key principles informing the architecture is stated to be those as follows: (1) Separation of the resource management layer from resource discovery and delivery; (2) Treatment of the intellectual work as the primary object for management and discovery; (3) Use of the Integrated Library Management System (ILMS) as the master source for resource descriptions and the Online Public Access Catalogue as the first point of entry to the Library's collections regardless of format; and (4) Use of Persistent Identifiers (PIs) to cite and access digital collection items." (Pearce and Berko,

It is additionally related by Pearce and Berko that when a "good fit cannot be found an application developed in-house may be the only way to address immediate priorities, particularly when the requirement is leading-edge."

Additionally stated is that working with those who will use the application in the future is the best way to be responsive to changes in the environment and those needs. There is however, stated to be a negative view of the in-house development of Hybrid library applications and specifically the need for "ongoing maintenance and development once the first version of the product has been released. Pearce and Berko note the statement of Ebenezer (2002) who states that "many experimental digital library systems are too specific to their institutional context to be patent of commercial exploitation. This is particularly true where digital library systems are built to meet one-off project goals and in separation from the other workflows needed to manage a Library's collections." (nd) the work of Medina and Coso (2005) entitled: "Libraries - a Voyage of Discovery" states that digital materials being incorporated into today's art libraries leads to the discussion of hybrid libraries or "those where the traditional supports share their space with new materials that have special characteristics as being virtually part of a collection and in most cases needing different cataloguing and classification processes." (Medina and Coso, 2005) Different forms of digital information found in today's libraries includes: (1) information stored on cd-roms and DVDs; (2) information created by the own library by digitalizing its collection; and (3) information obtained through the internet. (Medina and Coso, 2005)

The requirements of the Hybrid Library 'Headline' includes that the software be of a modular nature and that a uniform interface is utilized which is accessible from anywhere at any time along with a single point of authentication. The user metadata module is required for allowing metadata to be provided by existing sources and the system must know where the user is in order to make the user's resources available to them. Additionally the metadata that is associated with collection level resources are to be contained within a relational database that enables ease of up-dating and elimination of efforts being duplicated. Also required is the ability to share the RDB with multiple institutions. Additionally required is "Search functionality that allows the resource metadata to be searched therefore enabling the user to locate resources of relevance to their research" as well as "Search functionality that allows searching within collection level resources and the presentation of results within the hybrid library system interface." (Pearce and Berko, nd) Cross-searching functionality allowing users to search across both Z39.50 and other protocols" is required as well as are "Subject/course related discussion areas to allow users to contact library staff and, in the case of course areas, to interact with their peers." (Pearce and Berko, nd) resource lists that are automated and created by subject and type are required along with Current awareness services, such as the automatic generation of lists of resources recently added to the system" and "The ability to generate management information from the system e.g. with regard to resource usage or numbers of users using the system." (Pearce and Berko, nd) These are only some of the requirements of the Hybrid Library. Required as well are the following 'discovery-to-access' components:

Discovery-to-access tools help users to go from the discovery of for example, a bibliographic reference to a way of accessing the referenced item (which may be a book, a journal article, a working paper etc.) and then to the item itself.

Provide or facilitate access to the broad range of information resource types (e.g. shelved resources such as printed journals or books, and resources available in electronic formats).

The ability to launch external resources from within the system - e.g. CD-ROMs.

A system that can display multiple locations of the same resource and metadata associated with holdings and depth. For example the last 20 years of a particular journal may exist on the library shelf, the last 10 years of the same journal may exist in abstract form on a CD-rom, and also in full-text form via a web-based service.

A document delivery component that allows users to request items that are not currently available in electronic form. For example, HeadLine's EEDD (End-user Electronic Document Delivery) module allows users to request an electronic copy of a print document (such as a journal that is not available in electronic form via their library), via their library, or via a library within the EEDD scheme. (Pearce and Berko, nd)

Personalization and customization requirements include the following: (1) allows users to create their own "library," their Personal Information Environment, their own area within the system. Users can build collections of resources and create current awareness services that are personally relevant to them and that they can share with other PIE users with similar interests if they wish; (2) the ability for the user to build their own collections of resources within their own area by adding existing resources to this area; (3) the ability for the user to add resources that aren't currently contained within the RDB to their personal area; (4) the ability to import links contained within favorites/bookmark files into the personal area; (5) the ability to export "atomic" resources from the personal area or from the search area to bibliographic software; (6) the ability for the user to attach notes to resources contained within their personal area - e.g. "Remember to read this article before writing essay"; (7) the ability to save a list of search results to the personal area and also to edit a saved search; (8) Ability to add individual resources contained within search results to their personal area; (9) Personalized current awareness - searches that can be re-run automatically at a specified time; (10) the ability for the user to share their resource collections with other system users by assigning read and perhaps also edit rights to other users; (11) Ability to personalize the look of their personal area - the colors etc.; and (12) Where relevant, the ability to change the title/name of the personal area, collection names in personal area, names of resources in personal area etc." (Pearce and Berko, nd) Finally, the customization functionality enables the library staff in tailoring the system to meet the specific needs of both the library and its users.

The work of Hampson (1999) entitled: "The Impact of the Hybrid Library on Information Services Staff" relates that the barriers and challenges to development of a Hybrid Library include those as follows:

1) costs;

2) infrastructure;

3) academic staff;

4) users;

5) publishers; and 6) institutional.

The work of Gesellschaft (2003) entitled: "The Hybrid Digital Library" states that in recent years there has been a growth in the use of "information technology especially through the development of so-called virtual museums model. The idea of the virtual museum which seems to be asserting itself, is, in fact, the idea of the digital clone of the real museum, accepting all of its structural features. To have meaning and utility, the "virtual" museum of the web should rather be constructed with a radically different configuration from the 'real' museum. In cyberspace the real museum should constitute only the point of departure and return of journeys that are confined neither to the internal perimeter of the museum, nor to the same typology of items or the same discipline or genre to which it relates. The visitor should be permitted explorations not only of objects, but also of ideas and persons, of places and events, of books and documents, whenever this information is preserved. The transition of cultural heritage in the cyberspace has thus to be conceived as the creation of a totally new architecture of knowledge: a meta-museum/library/archive, with no walls nor physical separations. A totally different construct from the way in which cultural heritage is arranged in the real world." (Gesellschaft, 2003) Stated as key words in this process are those of: