ITAL Information Technology and Libraries (E-Journal)
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Simplifying and Enhancing Access to Full-Text Articles with LibKey Discovery
Get PDFContent delivery mechanisms in web-scale discovery services can often fall short of patron expectations. The Texas Tech University Libraries integrated Third Iron’s LibKey Discovery with Ex Libris Primo in response to patron feedback that accessing full-text articles from Primo required too many clicks. Following implementation, researchers conducted user testing to assess the usability and usefulness of the integration. They also analyzed LibKey Discovery and link resolver usage data across the year following the launch to evaluate its impact on how patrons accessed full-text articles. Patrons responded positively overall to LibKey Discovery, perceiving it as more efficient and quicker to use. Statistics showed an increase in LibKey link usage and a corresponding decrease in link resolver clickthroughs. This article provides an overview of the implementation process, describes assessment methodologies and findings, and discusses implications for improving usability and increasing usage
Starting up a Digital Preservation (Pilot) Program
Get PDFIn 2024, Hamilton College started a project to pilot Archivematica, a digital preservation platform. The author details leading the project as the relatively new Digital Curation and Preservation Librarian and suggests ways that readers could approach such a project, incorporating what she learned along the way
Unlocking the Digitized Historical Newspaper Archive: Exploring Historical Insights with Deep Learning
Get PDFThis paper aims to utilize historical newspapers through the application of computer vision and machine/deep learning to extract the headlines and illustrations from newspapers for storytelling. This endeavor seeks to unlock the historical knowledge embedded within newspaper contents while simultaneously utilizing cutting-edge methodological paradigms for research in the digital humanities (DH) realm. We targeted to provide another facet apart from the traditional search or browse interfaces and incorporated those DH tools with place- and time-based visualizations. Experimental results showed our proposed methodologies in OCR (optical character recognition) with scraping and deep learning object detection models can be used to extract the necessary textual and image content for more sophisticated analysis. Timeline and geodata visualization products were developed to facilitate a comprehensive exploration of our historical newspaper data. The timeline-based tool spanned the period from July 1942 to July 1945, enabling users to explore the evolving narratives through the lens of daily headlines. The interactive geographical tool can enable users to identify geographic hotspots and patterns. Combining both products can enrich users’ understanding of the events and narratives unfolding across time and space
From Weberian Rationalization to JavaScript Components: Modularism in Academic Library Software
Get PDFThis paper considers modular approaches to building library software and situates these practices within the context of the rationalizing logics of modern programming. It briefly traces modularism through its elaboration in the social sciences, in computer science and ultimately describes it as it is deployed in contemporary academic libraries. Using the methodology of a case study, we consider some of the very tangible and pragmatic benefits of a modular approach, while also touching upon some of the broader implications. We find that the modularism is deeply integrated into modern software practice, and that it can help support the work of academic librarians
The 2023 Rhysida Ransomware Attack on the British Library: Prioritisation, Expertise, and Funding Issues
Get PDFThe British Library is a flagship library that plays a pivotal role in the UK learning and research infrastructure, in addition to being a central conduit for international library linkages. However, in late October 2023, this premier institution was the subject of a cyberattack that has left it crippled. The Rhysida group perpetrated this catastrophic ransomware attack. Underfunding and threat identification are explored as potential weaknesses resulting in deficiencies in the British Library’s online security systems. To help prevent further such assaults in libraries, this Commentary also details what is known about the attack and how such breaches might be prevented in the future
Finding Aids Unleashed: Iterative Development of a Portable Publication System
Get PDFNew York University Libraries recently completed a redesign for their finding aids publishing service to replace an outdated XSLT stylesheet publishing method. The primary design goals focused on accessibility and usability for patrons, including improving the presentation of digital archival objects. In this article, we focus on the iterative process devised by a team of designers, developers, and archivists. We discuss our process for creating a data model to map Encoded Archival Description files exported from ArchivesSpace into JSON structured data for use with Hugo, an open-source static site generator. We present our overall systems design for the suite of microservices used to automate and scale this process. The new solution is available for other institutions to leverage for their finding aids
Knowledge Graph Visualization Interface for Digital Heritage Collections: Design Issues and Recommendations
Get PDFDigital heritage portal interfaces are generally similar to digital library and search engine interfaces in displaying search results as a list of brief metadata records. The knowledge organization and search result display of these systems are item-centric, with little support for identifying relationships between items. This paper proposes a knowledge graph system and visualization interface as a promising solution for digital heritage systems to support users in browsing related items, understanding the relationships between items, and synthesizing a narrative on an issue. The paper discusses design issues for the knowledge graph, graph database, and graph visualization, and offers recommendations based on the authors’ experience in developing three knowledge graph systems for archive and digital humanities resources: the Zubir Said personal archive collection at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore; Singapore Pioneers social network; and Polyglot Medicine knowledge graph of Asian traditional and herbal medicine. Lessons learned from a small user study are incorporated in the discussion
An Examination of Academic Library Platforms and Systems during COVID-19
Get PDFThis paper examines the use and subsequent trajectory of academic library technologies due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking a broad view of technologies, the systems and services discussed will center around resource use because COVID restrictions shuttered many in-person technologies. The two academic libraries compared in this study show a similar pattern of use and signal growth of certain platforms and technologies for the future
Letter from the Editors
Get PDFWelcome to the December 2024 issue of Information Technology and Libraries. In addition to highlights from the current issue, our letter from the editor provides updates about our revised editorial workflow and the addition of 93 previously-unavailable issues of this journal and our predecessor, the Journal of Library Automation.