It’s Your Data. Use it!
By Jennifer Lohmann at NoveList
The Public Libraries of Suffolk County (Suffolk) in New York have long been part of the push to get library data published on the web in a linked data format. They’re also one of the early adopters of the new features available to libraries in the Library.Link Network. To better get to know what Suffolk is working on — and to share their knowledge with other public libraries — I interviewed Maureen McDonald, Marketing and Special Projects, about their work.
Suffolk is a cooperative library system that supports the individual public libraries of Suffolk County. They are excited about linked data and the new features that will aid in promoting their members and the combined collections of Suffolk County. “Right now,” Maureen said, “We are experimenting with the new tools, learning how they work, and seeing how we can use them — and seeing how our libraries can use them.”
Maureen and the Suffolk team saw immediately that the embeddable widgets would fit naturally into their topic guides, especially for topics like travel, with natural subject headings. “We played around with concepts and wording to see how many resources we could include. Travel writing fit well, as did travel guidebooks.”
Copying and pasting the code from the linked data page on travel writing to their topic guide was easy to do. Maureen’s tip about the embeddable widgets: “Don’t forget that HTTPS is an option and that your website might require a secure embed code.” As she pointed out, “For libraries that regularly manage and create their website, this won’t be a surprise, but if you’re not regularly updating your own page, you might not know to look for it.”
Embeddable widgets also make it easy for Suffolk and their member libraries to keep their New York Times bestseller lists updated. “Libraries that already had a bestseller page simply added the linked data embed and saved themselves the work of updating the books each week. It was so great and easy.” When their linked data was refreshed, the pages would automatically update. And, like all the embed codes, the links go directly to the library catalog making less work for the librarian and a seamless experience for the library member.
The librarians aren’t the only people interested in using linked data for embeddable widgets. The public libraries of Suffolk County and Saint Joseph’s College host an event called Authors Unlimited. The designer working on the event’s website learned about the widgets and saw an easy way to link readers interested in the program to the library catalog.
As the data gets posted, viewed, and clicked on, the Library.Link Network is tracking shares, impressions, and clicks, which will be available to members in late September/early October after beta testing is completed. With the stats feature, libraries will be able to see how much people interact with their data — not simply clicks, but also views of the data.
Suffolk is also experimenting with some of the social sharing features and the experimental Twitter bot. They are looking for more ways to share their data online and are eager to hear other libraries’ suggestions.
Are you using linked data widgets or have you tried the social share functions? If so, let us know your experience and share your ideas! Email jlohmann@ebsco.com. We’d love to write about how your library is becoming a part of the new, semantic web.
