About the project

The Pode-project looks at new ways of using metadata found in library catalogues, in particular ways of mashing the catalogue content with other “mashable” resources such as cover-art, weather forecasts, maps and encyclopaedia articles. Pode will develop a platform for library mashups based on metadata and a website that illustrates these mash-up applications.
In addition, the project looks into the possibilities and challenges the web technologies provide in relation to today’s systems and practices.

The mashups: Trip planner and Music mash
The idea behind the trip planner is taken from the reference desk were we often get questions from patrons wanting additional literature from a destination. The idea is to link travel guides to information from both external and internal sources. For instance, a person travelling to Barcelona might find a Catalan language course and stories set in Barcelona useful.

The idea behind the music mash is to provide illustrations to the music catalogue and use the get recommendations based on similar artists and albums functionality taken from LastFM.

A caution with regards to mashing lots of content is the information overload. Our experience with the library catalogue is that too much information puts people off and there is no point adding more just because we can.

Access to metadata: openness and systems
One condition for creating mashups is access to metadata, in our case catalogue data. Libraries have had online catalogues for a long time and protocols for exchanging data have been standardized for some time.

In Norway, the SRU-protocol has received much attention over the last couple of years especially in relation to mashups. However, few ILS’ have implemented this protocol; most systems still use the Norwegian profile of the z39.50 protocol.

Though most systems offer the z39.50, not all libraries have implemented the server, which will be a challenge in regards to creating independent mashups. Another challenge is that international systems, such as Aleph, do not support the Norwegian profile.

Contact us
If you have input or questions regarding the project, please do not hesitate to contact us!