Some key themes running through code4lib 2006: (1) development and application of open source tools in libraries; (2) creation and use of persistent unique identifiers, such as OpenURL; (3) the 'weaving' of library services onto the Web.
(a.) Evergreen for the Georgia PINES consortium. The idea is to have total control over data and interface, thereby enabling us to implement customer-driven features more rapidly, and repurpose one’s own data without first having to ask vendor’s permission. Having access to all data and source code means forging ahead with R&D initiatives and adopting new plug-ins as needed. Collaboration between IT and Cataloging important because decisions on metadata structure affects what programmers and systems administrators can do down the line.
(b.) In "Practical Aspects of Implementing Open Source in Armenia", Tigran Zargaryan, head of automation at the Yerevan State University, described massive implementation of open source software (OSS) in Armenia in effort to build national digital library infrastructure on modest budget. Localized OSS include Mozilla, Open Office 2.0, Moodle (learning/course management system), Greenstone , phpbb, ILIAS (learning/course management system) KDE 3.5.1 desktop environment (i.e., instead of Windows), etc.
(a) Dan Chudnov talked about Connecting Everything with unAPI and OPA. Provide URIs for microformats for identifying objects on Web pages, with <link> for auto-discovery, i.e., an HTML-embedded URI metadata. His example: Flickr page with concert ticket stub images, parsed in OPA, and with multiple choice allowing MODS extract. Possible replacement for CoiNS (ContextObjects in Spans) PMH. [Incidentally, as came up in the lightning talks, OpenWorldCat is to have COinS by March]
(b.) Jeff Young talked about the OCLC WikiD (Wiki with fielded data) project, with emphasis on exploiting Open URL 1.0, which “gives us a single consistent API for performing any and all services that reference these items.” See WikiD project page and demo. Also see Lorcan Dempsey’s blog posting on this topic.
(c.) John Sarnowski talked about ResCarta foundation, which helps develop persistent open metadata standards. Mentioned 3.5 million images generated by Making of America collection in 1995, and problem of different formats creating silos because of closed standards. ResCarta commited to filling gap (and to finding development partners within the library community).
(d.) Terry Reese discussed enhancements to MarcEdit, which now defaults to UTF-8 character encoding, includes new crosswalks, OAI harvesting editor, and z39.50 utility.
(a.) Jim Robertson of New Jersey Institute of Technology spoke on the topic: “Lipstick on a Pig: 7 Ways to Improve the Sex Life of your OPAC”. He has been tweaking (with the help of O'Reilly's Amazon Hacks) the voyager implementation at NJIT to include book cover art, book reviews, live circulation usage history, recommendations (e.g., “other who borrowed this book, also borrowed ..."), RSS of journal TOCs, live librarian support (i.e., integrated into OPAC), and durable links (PURLs) to specific items.
(b.) Colleen Whitney spoke on “Generating Recommendations in OPACs: Initial Results and Open Areas for Exploration”, involving a Mellon-funded “recommendation engine” implemented at the California Digital Library, designed to suggest other items of interest based on analysis of circulation statistics. Technique is limited in that only 25% of collection actually circulates, and ‘virtual circulation’ of STM literature is hard to track (i.e., not channeled through circ module).
(c.) Casey Bisson discussed What Blog Applications Can Teach Us About Library Software Architecture , and described an open-source OPAC he cobbled together out of Amazon's API, WordPress, COinS, and del-icio-us tags.
(d.) Jeffrey Young talked about bookmarklets that pair paperback with hardcover ISBNs, effectively implementing a FRBR recommendation and collapsing differences that, to users, don’t really make a difference.
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There were several other presentations (inluding dozens of 5-minute "lightning talks"), but the ones I've just mentioned were the ones that left the deepest impression on me.