library content: from invisible to exhibitionist - SilkWorm

SilkWorm is an initative that I don't completely understand, that has to do with better sharing of library information.  I ran across it in discussion related to Jon Udell's LibraryLookup, and more info has now been posted to Open Access News.

Here's what Jon had to say (May 27, 2005)

This morning I spoke with Richard Wallis, who is the technical development manager for Talis, one of the OPAC (online public access catalog) vendors whose clients' libraries are accessible using LibraryLookup. Talis is one of a handful of OPACs for which I'd built static lists of bookmarklets, based on information I'd gathered from libdex.com. Maintaining those long lists was problematic, though, as maintaining long lists always is. So last month I deprecated them in favor of the bookmarklet generator.

In theory, that meant I only needed to maintain a short list of rules, which are just URL patterns. Using these, folks could plug in the domain names of their OPACs and create bookmarklets on the fly.

In practice, of course, there are always exceptions to rules. By adding parameters to the URL patterns I was able to handle some of the exceptions, but that made things more complicated for folks using the bookmarklet generator.

So I was delighted to learn that Talis now offers a service that hides that complexity behind a simple interface.

On panlibus, we find LibraryLookup Generator Using SilkWorm Directory (June 1, 2005)

[LibraryLookup,] like all good solutions ... has now highlighted a new problem. How do you maintain that directory of links in a reliable robust way so that people can rely upon them? As posted previously the deep linking directory we have launched as part of our Silkworm project, already used by RegLightGreen to deep-link in to all publicly visible Talis OPACs, removes the need for link maintenance from directory providers, such as Jon has become.

The LibraryLookup Bookmarklet Generator now creates a Silkworm Directory compliant link for Talis libraries.

Open Access News presents a summary

Silkworm is a new initiative from Talis to make library content more visible and accessible. Since the Silkworm site doesn't explain the service very well, see the Silkworm white paper (June 13, 2005) or Paul Miller's long blog posting (June 16) about it. Excerpt from the white paper: 'Project Silkworm is based on the concept that library vendors must now collaborate in order to begin to deliver better services. This focus on participation (of both vendors and users) permeates the whole project and is captured in four key values: [1] Sharing and community over duplication and isolation, [2] Reuse over reinvention, [3] Openness and interoperability over exclusivity, [4] Experimentation over certainty...

UPDATE: CIE Thoughts has lots of comments, as well as talking about other innovative ideas like using Google Maps to display library locations (and click through to search their catalogues).

UPDATE 2005-06-19: I had a read through the white paper (linked above), which is quite visionary.  After my initial wondering it seems that SilkWorm is proposed extensive service layer that would reside on the Internet, for any information consumers to use.  Here's a relevant section from the white paper

5.3 What is Silkworm?

Silkworm is a service-orientated web 2.0 platform for making hidden web content discoverable, accessible and consumable.

This shared infrastructure provides a platform that application vendors (including Talis) can use to build applications that are not limited by the current silos and benefit from the massive network effect of collaboration. With Silkworm, value is generated by the applications built on it and the users that engage with it.

By definition the vast majority of applications that can be built on Silkworm are not Talis applications. The full richness of Silkworm is available to the whole development community including other Library vendors.

Therefore, Talis believes that Silkworm is one way that the industry will be able to lower the technical and economic cost of building the experiences that our users now expect.

As my organization is working on Web Services and exploring Service-Oriented Architecture, and as 5 minutes of using the library catalogue demonstrated to me that it wasn't worth Jack as a user interface, the Talis direction seems a good one.

UPDATE 2005-06-20: Lorcan Dempsey talks about how Talis uses the OCLC xISBN service with SilkWorm, mixed using Greasemonkey.