Week 10- Response to readings: Wrapping my head around mashups SOA and web services

The readings in this lesson were a challenge for me. I must admit that reading Breeding's article, Web Services in the Library Environment, felt a little bit like trying to read Chinese. This is probably due to the fact that, to date, I have no experience working in a library and this is my first TL certification course. Needless to say, my prior knowledge is pretty skinny. For this reason, I have been working hard to wrap my head around the concepts of mashups and web services. As I understand it from The Horizon Report, a mashup is “a web application that combines data from more that one source via a single unified tool” (2008, p. 20). According to the article, mashups are “powerful tools for navigating and visualizing datasets; understanding connections between different dimensions such as time, distance and location; juxtaposing data from different sources to reveal new relationships; and other purposes (Horizon, 2008, p. 20). This started to make sense to me when I read Eric Schnell’ article, Mashups and Web Services, in Library 2.0 and Beyond. On page 64, he describes “Almost 600 Google Maps mashups…that overlay maps with anything from gas prices, to hurricane tracking, to cell phone coverage, to locations where scenes from a particular movie were filmed” (Schnell, 2007, p 64).

Just when I thought I was getting a sense of the whole mashup thing, Schnell had to add service-oriented architecture (SOA) and web services into the equation. Actually, he does a pretty good job of explaining the SOA model in layman’s terms by comparing it to the manufacturing of cars using interchangeable rather than specific tools. Schnell goes on to explain that “if a library were to build an online catalogue using the SOA model, the bibliographic data, the core application, and the user interface would be designed as individual software modules. This modular approach to system and source development facilitates the flexibility and responsiveness required in a changing environment” (Schnell, 2007, p. 65). Schnell then goes on to link the concept of web services as being directly tied to SOA. Web services, he explains, “are websites that are designed for other computers to use” (Schnell, 2007, p. 65). Using Schnell’s article as a reference, Breeding is starting to make a bit more sense to me now. I can certainly appreciate that using web services would hold some definite advantages over library specific interfaces such as Z39.50, MARC and others. Schnell offers the following example: “ a library customer could access a library website to request a document. The online interlibrary loan management system could use a web service to communicate with OCLC or commercial suppliers to identify other libraries that could fulfill the request…the request system could then communicate directly with any of the suppliers to locate the item needed. During this process the customer receives messages updating them as to the progress of the order. The resulting service is a seamless system of communicating and exchanging information using non-proprietary, nonlibrary specific standards” (Schnell, 2007, p. 66).

As I understand it, opening the door to web services in a library setting, could also open up the door to all kinds of interesting library oriented mashups. Schnell talks about a number of great ones like Delicious Library, Go-Go-Google-Gadget and LibraryThing.

Some of the challenges in such a change in practice would be obvious. Issues of intellectual property versus fair use and data security come to the forefront, as do possibilities for trademark and copyright infringement. According to Schnell, the jury is still out on the use of mashups in a library environment. He believes that “Before mashups can make the transition from cool toys to sophisticated applications, much work will have to go into distilling robust standards, protocols, models and toolkits” (Schnell, 2007, p. 72). This being said, I would have to agree with Schnell’s point at the end of his article: “ Libraries need to move common resources to the network level and concentrate on customizing and creating value for their local customers. Libraries need to use SOA, web services and the mashup to strengthen collaborative efforts if we are to remain significant in the increasingly competitive information marketplace" (Schnell, 2007, p. 72).