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linked data. The conversations regarding BIBFRAME are still underway and have not
been operationalized in any library management system, but warrant close attention
given the intense interest in bringing the growing universe of linked data into library
information infrastructures.
As libraries become involved with other types of collections, other XML-oriented
metadata formats such as Dublin Core, VRA, MODS, METS, and EAD have seen
increasing use. These materials are often managed through separate platforms that
employ these specialized formats. The vision of many of the new library services
platforms includes a more comprehensive approach to managing library resources.
To achieve this ambition, these platforms must be able to work with many forms of
metadata. The flexibility in metadata management must also include the ability to
accommodate new formats that may evolve in future years. Hard-coding any specific
metadata format into the systems will ensure that they will eventually become
obsolete.
The concept of open linked data stands poised to effect major changes in a future
wave of library technologies. The move from AACR2 to RDA has been a very
expensive and laborious transition, with a narrower set of tangible benefits in the way
that library collections are managed and presented to library users. As changes of
greater magnitude loom, I hope that libraries are able to navigate the transition
expeditiously and in ways that will achieve more transformational results.
6
Cycles of Technology Culminate in Cloud Computing
Libraries should also be ready from a paradigm shift in the way that they deploy their
computing and information infrastructure away from local servers and storage to
cloud-based technologies. Cloud computing and applications based on the service-
oriented architecture are becoming increasingly adopted in many different kinds of
organizations and ICT sectors.
There are many different flavors of cloud computing from which any organization
can choose depending on its business needs, security concerns, and policy or legal
requirements. Private, public, and local clouds offer different models of resource
deployment, data segregation, and hosting locations able to meet these varying
requirements [2].
Libraries can achieve many tangible benefits as they move to cloud computing.
In contrast to the incumbent model that requires locally installed desktop software,
cloud computing generally delivers software through Web-based interfaces and
eliminates the need for local servers. Moving to cloud computing enables greatly
simplified administration of library automation systems. A library automation system
based on client/server architecture, for example, involves an onerous process of
installing updates, where new client software may be needed to be deployed on
hundreds of workstations. This labor-intensive task consumes considerable time for
the library's technical personnel that could otherwise be spent on more worthwhile
activities.
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