Re: Holdings-as-Offer: wrap-up

Jeff, I'm trying to make a more practical argument, which is that 
without the name of the library, the branch name isn't meaningful. I 
don't think we can decide what is a proper seller v. location, but if 
the locations aren't meaningful alone, then we need the library name.

kc

On 10/19/13 12:59 PM, Young,Jeff (OR) wrote:
> Schema.org <http://Schema.org> has a branchOf property that probably has
> a role to play sorting this out.
>
> I would argue that a "library system" like NYPL (in general) is more
> like an administrative agency than it is an agency where books are being
> circulated. The fact that the word "library" appears in the name
> shouldn't be a huge problem for search engines if the data publishers
> are careful.
>
> Jeff
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Oct 19, 2013, at 3:08 PM, "Dan Scott" <denials@gmail.com
> <mailto:denials@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>> Also, I haven't added availableAtOrFrom to the examples on the
>> Holdings proposal page because I was asking for consensus and
>> providing sample examples in this thread.
>>
>> I am worried about this distinction you're introducing between branch
>> and library. To me, a branch is a library. The seller represents the
>> current physical location of the item (if that item is physical) where
>> an interested party can pick it up. I think search engines are trying
>> to satisfy an immediate need, not saying "oh it's available in NYPL
>> somewhere".
>>
>> On Oct 19, 2013 2:24 PM, "Karen Coyle" <kcoyle@kcoyle.net
>> <mailto:kcoyle@kcoyle.net>> wrote:
>>
>>     Dan, I'm obviously having trouble explaining my point. Here's what
>>     I would add to the example:
>>
>>
>>
>>           <div itemprop="offers" itemscope
>>         itemtype="http://schema.org/__Offer <http://schema.org/Offer>">
>>              <meta itemprop="businessFunction"
>>         content="http://purl.org/__goodrelations/v1#LeaseOut
>>         <http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1#LeaseOut>">
>>              <meta itemprop="seller" content="Example Branch 1</meta>
>>              <div>Call number: <span
>>         itemprop="inventoryIdentifier"__>876.54</span></div>
>>              <div>Location: <span
>>         itemprop="availableAtOrFrom">__Reference</span></div>
>>              <div>Item status: <span>
>>                  <link itemprop="availability"
>>         href="http://schema.org/__InStoreOnly
>>         <http://schema.org/InStoreOnly>">
>>                  Library use only
>>              </span></div>
>>           </div>
>>
>>
>>
>>      <div itemprop="offers" itemscope
>>     itemtype="http://schema.org/__Offer <http://schema.org/Offer>">
>>         <meta itemprop="businessFunction"
>>     content="http://purl.org/__goodrelations/v1#LeaseOut
>>     <http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1#LeaseOut>">
>>         <meta itemprop="seller" content="http://sfpl.org"></__meta>
>>         <div>Call number: <span
>>     itemprop="inventoryIdentifier"__>876.54</span></div>
>>         <div>Location: <span
>>     itemprop="availableAtOrFrom">__Reference</span></div>
>>         <div>Item status: <span>
>>             <link itemprop="availability"
>>     href="http://schema.org/__InStoreOnly
>>     <http://schema.org/InStoreOnly>">
>>             Library use only
>>         </span></div>
>>      </div>
>>
>>     "Seller" becomes the library, not the location within the library,
>>     and not even the branch.
>>
>>     I see a useful interplay between "seller" and "availableAtOrFrom".
>>     If we add "availableAtOrFrom" (which I don't see on the examples
>>     on the web page for the proposal, but it makes good sense here),
>>     then we have "availableAtOrFrom" for the displayed physical
>>     location, whatever it is. Seller then becomes something that
>>     identifies the library qua organization, and should be an
>>     organization, not a location (like "Reference" or even "West
>>     branch"). Seller and availableAtOrFrom might be the same, but
>>     that's not a problem. For most displays, though, I think that they
>>     would be different, since the holdings display doesn't usually
>>     contain the library name:
>>
>>     (site is Berkeley Public Library Catalog)
>>     Location        Call no.        Status
>>     CENTRAL LIB     876.54          Check shelf
>>
>>     Imagine how many libraries have a location called "MAIN" or
>>     "CENTRAL" -- that's a location, not an organization. So you need
>>     to get the library organization name in there.
>>
>>      <div itemprop="offers" itemscope
>>     itemtype="http://schema.org/__Offer <http://schema.org/Offer>">
>>         <meta itemprop="businessFunction"
>>     content="http://purl.org/__goodrelations/v1#LeaseOut
>>     <http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1#LeaseOut>">
>>         <meta itemprop="seller" content="Berkeley Public Library"></meta>
>>       <!-- or ... content="http://__berkeleypubliclibrary.org
>>     <http://berkeleypubliclibrary.org>"  -->
>>         <div>Call number: <span
>>     itemprop="inventoryIdentifier"__>876.54</span></div>
>>         <div>Location: <span itemprop="availableAtOrFrom">__CENTRAL
>>     LIB</span></div>
>>         <div>Item status: <span>
>>             <link itemprop="availability"
>>     href="http://schema.org/__inStock <http://schema.org/inStock>">
>>             Check shelf
>>         </span></div>
>>      </div>
>>
>>     Does that make sense?
>>
>>     kc
>>
>>
>>
>>         I can include an example to cover this use case.
>>
>>             Another case is for electronic
>>             materials. Library systems handle this differently, but
>>             there isn't a
>>             location in many cases:
>>
>>             Online    Click here
>>
>>
>>         Good question! What we do in Evergreen currently is essentially:
>>
>>         <li property="offers" vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="Offer">
>>            <a href="URL_FOR_ELECTRONIC___MATERIAL">Available online</a>
>>            <link property="availability"
>>         href="http://schema.org/__OnlineOnly
>>         <http://schema.org/OnlineOnly>" />
>>            ...
>>         </li>
>>
>>         Glancing at this, I think I need to add in a property="url" to
>>         the <a>
>>         link there. And it certainly can have a <meta> tag for the
>>         "seller"
>>         property as well. I can include some documentation and an
>>         example for
>>         this use case, too.
>>
>>             I'm thinking that there are cases in which the library
>>             itself is not
>>             included in the holdings statement (or anywhere else on
>>             the page) because it
>>             is inherent in the context of the system being searched.
>>             So my question is
>>             whether there is value in including information about the
>>             library itself as
>>             a super-location to the holdings location, or is the
>>             assumption that this
>>             connection will be made through, e.g., the URL of the web
>>             page that has the
>>             markup?
>>
>>
>>         I think there is significant value to creating 1) a page per
>>         library
>>         for a given system that contains the physical addresses /
>>         hours / etc,
>>         even for single-library systems and 2) linking to that page
>>         (explicitly, or implicitly via <meta>) from each of the associated
>>         offers. It will enable the search engines to follow their nose
>>         based
>>         on our assertions, rather than having to make assumptions
>>         about how
>>         many libraries may inherently be represented by
>>         library.example.com <http://library.example.com>.
>>
>>             I think my question leads to a broader one about the use
>>             case for library
>>             data in schema.org <http://schema.org>. When I look at
>>             product examples it is clear to me that
>>             the target is the URL of the product page. Is this also
>>             the assumption for
>>             library data in schema.org <http://schema.org> -- that we
>>             are expecting a search engine
>>             retrieval of a page for a library resource, and that page
>>             is the target of
>>             the search? If so, then that URL is all that is needed to
>>             link to the
>>             library and its resource. If, however, we anticipate other
>>             uses to be made
>>             of the schema mark-up, such as organizing retrieved items
>>             by geographical
>>             location, then we need to get that information into each
>>             web page. This may
>>             be unrelated to the markup of holdings, but it was this
>>             proposal that
>>             brought it to mind.
>>
>>
>>         Good question again. I see the primary use case being the search
>>         engines ingesting a sitemap, crawling all of the listed pages, and
>>         sorting out the items and linked offers accordingly.
>>
>>         In the case of our library catalogue, I created a sitemap that
>>         lists
>>         each of the record detail pages, which expose metadata & holdings.
>>         Unfortunately, when I generated the sitemap last year, it was
>>         before I
>>         had implemented holdings-as-offers; now that all of the attached
>>         offers will be part of each record details page, I think a new
>>         crawl
>>         of those pages could provoke much more interesting results.
>>
>>
>>     --
>>     Karen Coyle
>>     kcoyle@kcoyle.net <mailto:kcoyle@kcoyle.net> http://kcoyle.net
>>     m: 1-510-435-8234 <tel:1-510-435-8234>
>>     skype: kcoylenet
>>

-- 
Karen Coyle
kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net
m: 1-510-435-8234
skype: kcoylenet

Received on Saturday, 19 October 2013 20:17:23 UTC