2024-02-23 Meeting notes (Kick-off meetings)

 Date

Feb 21, 2024

First option: Topic: FOLIO Linked Data Subgroup Kickoff 1
Time: Feb 23, 2024 07:00 Eastern Time (US and Canada)Join Zoom Meeting
Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting Meeting ID: 944 3997 1047
Passcode: folio-lsp

Meeting 1 recording

Second option:
opic: FOLIO Linked Data Subgroup Kickoff2
Time: Feb 23, 2024 15:00 Eastern Time (US and Canada)Join Zoom Meeting
Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting Meeting ID: 940 3777 0554
Passcode: folio-lsp

Meeting 2 recording

 Participants – please note which session (option 1 or option 2) attended

• @Laura E Daniels (both sessions)

• Chris Long (both sessions)

• @Amanda Ros @Lisa Furubotten @Jeannette Ho Charity Stokes (Texas A&M, session 2)

• @Andreas Mace @Charlotte Whitt (session 1)

• @Sebastian Hammer @Wayne Schneider (session 2)

 Goals

 Discussion topics

Linked Open Data in FOLIO Charge (DRAFT) WORKING DOCUMENT HERE

Linked Open Data in FOLIO is a subgroup organized within the Metadata Management Special Interest Group with membership open to all members of the FOLIO community. 

The subgroup is focused on the following: 

• Exploring, documenting, and sharing information about development related to linked data within the FOLIO community.

• Informing development of linked data tools in FOLIO.

• Informing PC of community requirements for linked data tools.

• Defining and documenting community requirements around implementing linked data within the FOLIO environment, especially regarding the transition from creating MARC data to linked data.

• Advocating for best practices for linked data and entity management in FOLIO.

• Identifying and exploring challenges libraries will face working in a data-format agnostic environment.

Notes from meeting 1:

Meeting frequency and times?

• weekly? biweekly? monthly?

  • general consensus was that monthly is too infrequent for effective engagement

  • Fridays may be the best meeting day, given that other FOLIO groups don’t tend to meet

Communication Methods?

• Possibly one of this group’s biggest challenges since participants in this group cover a wide range of time zones

• Koha community as an example – dual meetings to fit multiple time zones – rotating meeting times

• using Slack

• reminder: some folks don’t have the flexibility to work outside of their normal business hours

• Course management tools? although they mainly use Google docs and Slack, which we already use

• consensus to continue using existing Linked Data Slack channel rather than create a new one

Notes on draft charge/purpose/focus of this group

• two general approaches were discussed

  • developer-driven approach

    • investigating what solutions are out there and helping libraries decide what works best for them

    • having vendors/providers(?) gather the requirements for their solutions – libraries can pick and choose which solution works best for them

  • library community-driven approach

    • have library community define its basic needs to inform providers

    • identifying library community needs that should be met by the developments underway and provide a venue for stakeholders to have input on developments

    • lobby/encourage the various developers to work together – have library community determine what it wants

    • should it part of our charge be to inform PC about our linked data requirements?

• other topics discussed

  • how can this group influence developments even though we might not have agency to act?

  • everyone’s needs are potential/future needs – do libraries accurately understand or predict their future needs?

  • Is there a better home for this subgroup, or should it be a SIG? – consensus was yes to SIG eventually

Ideas for WOLFCon?

• workshop –

  • opportunity to inform developers instead of vice versa – “this is the solution we envision”

  • what are the options, projects being worked on?

  • how is data being stored, interacts with Inventory, UI?

  • should think about length of workshop – 1 hour not adequate

    • or should it be in a pre-conference slot?

    • 2-3 hours at least

Future Meetings for Subgroup

• have developers present what they’re working on

• introduction to linked data for beginners (maybe for WOLFCon?)

Notes from meeting 2:

Meeting frequency and times? And Communication methds

what sort of cadence/schedule will work? what sort of asynchronous communication might work?

• in addition to Zoom meetings, work asynchronously via Slack/Google docs

• more tools = more friction & overhead, don’t introduce something new if not necessary!

• better to have something scheduled more frequently and cancel if no agenda

• weekly seems too intense, monthly not enough - biweekly, though challenging to schedule, feels right

Notes on draft charge/purpose/focus of this group

• Thoughts about the landscape: when FOLIO began, no real picture of what technical infrastructure would look like for Bibframe outside of the library, e.g., storage, exchange, access to data; within last 12 months there are multiple different commercially supported bibliographic infrastructures based on BF in development/underway (OCLC, ExLibris, MARVA/Bibliograph, ShareVDE), at least 2 of which have ambitions to intersect with FOLIO and there is also Sinopia (Sinolio) & Blue Core – we have gone from nothing to “being spoiled for choice” –

  • How do we talk about capabilities, integration:

  • What questions should we be asking in RFPs

  • Use this group to get info on what’s planned, capture similarities & differences -->better understanding of landscape, trends and patterns, planned integration w/local LMSs

  • Surveying & Categorizing emergent bf infrastructure & technologies

• Advocating for community-based approach, e.g., everyone has equal opportunity to participate in linked data in FOLIO; not separate pools that can’t interact

• There will be commonalities between platforms we need to integrate with; identify commonalities among integration requirements → ways FOLIO can talk to linked data stores

• Risk of silos or islands developing with boundaries drawn by commercial entities – community needs to push to keep them open, define boundaries if & how we want/need them

• Re: surveying current development, PCC is convening a meeting of stakeholders (date not yet determined) that we might be able to leverage

• General agreement to call the group Linked Open Data

• EM sometimes got tripped up on assumptions about local workflow vs things happening in a shared space; cataloging workflows have been centered around tools – we haven’t discussed what it looks like to have intersection between LMS and shared data environment; cataloging tools embedded in LMS vs embedded in shared store

• Advocating for and growing a community of practice around BF

• Avoiding silos/islands – communicate w/Eluna, OCLC

• Regular updates from BIG (Bibframe Operability Group) (Wayne, Kalli, Nancy are part)

would BF data reside in a data store in FOLIO (like MARC source data) flow into/integrate w/source MARC in FOLIO & update Instances?

FOLIO community is truly international; N. American libs have a lot of assumptions about how we do things, German libraries have different model (and different assumptions) – this is an opportunity to consider what might work

LoC is planning to have a FOLIO BF data store

WOLFCon ideas?

• Synergies between approaches

• Overview, update, feedback

• Half day linked data track w/presentations, panels, intro to bf

• We need to step beyond introductions! take next step, active deep dive

• Grounding conversation in actual bibliographic workflows, shared frame of reference

 Action items

 Decisions