Cabriology Putting digital collections in the local flow

Bruges Public Library

Public library- 40.000 users, 1.200.000 circulation- 1 main library + 12 branches Special collections- legacy of medieval monasteries (manuscripts, incunabula, old print books)- addition of several private libraries and archives of poet Guido Gezelle- continuous acquisition of Brugensia (local history topics and local ‘pantheon’, Bruges’ publishing history)

Bruges Public Library

INTEGRATING- intra muros and extra muros- analogue and digital- bibliographical and other

- creating value ADVISING - adding local focus and timing

- unifying physical and digital activities

- dynamics and user involvement MOBILISING - optimising own channel

- other channels? Inside out / outside in

Bruges Public Library

Digital library issues

Adapted from Robin Murray ‘Library Systems: Synthesise, Specialise, Mobilise’ (Ariadne 48)

Cabrio

INTEGRATIE

INTEGRATINGINTEGRATING

This man was looking for The Red Hot Chili Peppers

and found much more…

Bruges Public Library

3 vubis databases, 3 data formats- public library (> 1830)- old print books and manuscript collection- literary archives Guido Gezelle

+ links to digitised resources + text editions

Internal integration

Frequently consulted genealogical manuscript

Name index

Incunabel of Colard Mansion

Index on iconography and

mythological themes

Text edition in pdfin cooperation with Antwerp University

Digital edition of >1.500 poetry manuscripts

manuscript collection

literary archives

book collectiondigitised

resources

search on local publisher ‘verbeke-loys’

search on nineteenth century mayor

Old print books

(external)pictorial collections

Fully indexed digitised almanachs

Bruges Public Library

General sources:- Flemish Digital Library (Bibnet) - Literary resources on the web+ External linking to Librarything and other literary and musical resources

Local sources:- Local events and courses - Community information- Historical picture database of Bruges

External sources merged with catalogue

integration of literary blog and websites

search on author ‘Peter Verhelst’

integration of local events and courses

integration of local community information

integration of websites(Flemish Digital Library)

search on ‘pregnancy’

Bruges Public Library

15% of the items are digitally available (home use!)> otherwise, connection to services for placing holds / ticketing> working on integration with union catalogue and ILL

“Glocal”: combination of vertical and horizontal integration> reconciling scale economies and local dynamics

Integration: some findings

Bruges Public Library

win-win > Bruges public library (40.000 users) is a useful channel for external providers; New issue: Where does the library end? > library is being enriched and becomes more appealing, also to people who aren’t focused on the traditional library resources

hybrid content > advisory services> focusing on user needs, rather than collection or medium> making the choice for medium within the library system

Integration: some findings

ADVISINGADVISINGThis girl was looking for

‘The Kite Runner’ and found much more…

Bruges Public Library

Discovery:Connecting people to knowledge and inspiration- of which they had no prior knowledge or interest- of which they couldn’t formulate the need

Simplifying:- reducing overload & noise

Advising

Bruges Public Library

sight and sound (cf Gardner multiple intelligences)- covers- podcasts and trailers

advisory data- subject headings, awards, original language, etc.- media mentions (including canon and authoritative guides- bestsellers- lastfm mashup- references to external information: e.g. Librarything, Google Books and muziekweb

- heritage collections: provenance, exhibitions, publications, etc.

Data enrichment

FRBR clustering of different editions and

languages

summary of availability information

linking to external advisory data (public domain + subcription databases)

internal advisory data: descriptive + rich browsing

(acquisition ranking)

movie trailer

Bruges Public Library

- connecting content with what happens in the library, in the city or the general media- is independent, but has Cabrio as a primary channel- centripetal: activating content- leading to conversations

- 1 message per subset per week- based on calendar- on screen basis and on year basis attempting to achieve a good representativeness

Blog integration

physical cd

concert in Bruges

digital loan item

blog item:connecting content with real life,

activating long tail on basis of what happens in the city

Bruges Public Library

finding without searching: 1/3 of the queries is not search box initiated (subsets: 40%)

looking for balance between current interest and long tail

diversity in advisory data reflecting diversity in life styles and media preferences

guidance = pointing out alternatives, rather than imposing choices

>90% use of first page + refining or rich browsing to new first page (rather than to current second page)= making chains of clicks on advisory data

Advising: some findings

MOBILISINGMOBILISING

This man was looking for a book on Desmond Tutu and found much more…

linking blog items to content

linking blog reactions to content

Being visible outside the librarywww.gezelle.be

= google favouritedigital objects in educative context,

linking through to digital library

link to Cabrio on city website

being visible outside the library

Bruges Public Library

www.brugge.be/cabrio

bibliotheekbrugge.wordpress.com (blog)

twitter.com/cabrio_brugge (log)