Category Archives: Event

Learning with ALA’s Center for the Future of Libraries

Register here.  The cost is $10.

Friday, August 7th, 2015 11:00am-12:00pm ET

Libraries have always looked toward the future – aligning our collections, work, and services to the future needs of users. But lately, conversations about the future of libraries have taken on an increased importance and sense of urgency. Why is right now such an important time to think about our future and to think about it differently? Miguel Figueroa will share some of what he is learning from the development of the American Library Association’s Center for the Future of Libraries, including some of the trends that are shaping our communities and the expectations of our users, the foresight and futuring strategies that might help us better plan and prepare for changing times, and insights from experts and innovative thinkers outside of our profession. More about the Center for the Future of Libraries is available at www.ala.org/libraryofthefuture.

Preserving the Past with New York Heritage & DPLA

Register Here.  The cost is $10 for non-members.

Tuesday, August 5th, 2015 10:00am-11:30am ET

New York Heritage is a web portal for educators, historians, genealogists, students, and researchers who are interested in learning more about the people, places, and institutions of New York State. The site provides free access to more than 170 distinct digital collections, totaling hundreds of thousands of items. Items in New York Heritage are also added to the Digital Public Library of America via the Empire State Digital Network, DPLA’s hub for New York State. DPLA is a discovery tool that provides access to digital content held by the nation’s archives, libraries, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. In this webinar, you will learn about New York Heritage and DPLA, how cultural organizations digitize their collections and make them available in New York Heritage & DPLA, and how to use both sites to access digitized historical content.

 

Webinar: Linked Open Data in Libraries & Archives

Register Here.  The cost is $20 for non-members.  

As information professionals, we put a great deal of effort and time into creating authoritative metadata that describes the materials we care for in our libraries and archives. Linked Open Data provides a means and set of best practices that allow us to leverage this existing metadata by enhancing it with structured semantic meaning to facilitate easier, more widespread exposure and discovery via the Web.

This webinar will demonstrate a way to start working with Linked Open Data (LOD) that will allow for a better understanding through doing. By the end of the session, participants will have gained knowledge of the current landscape of linked open data tools and practices. The presentation will include:

? A brief overview of LOD concepts
? Tips on how to begin thinking about your data in a LOD way
? An introduction to common authority sources for LOD, and how to align your existing data with them
? A presentation of some tools for transforming data from other formats into RDF, including a demonstration of some simple scripts using the Python programming language
? A demonstration of some tools and platforms for publishing and visualizing your LOD

This webinar will prove most beneficial to those who already possess some familiarity with the concepts of linked open data, including a basic awareness of the RDF data standard. A basic knowledge about common library and archive metadata standards is required. Although some experience with web development and coding will be helpful, it is not required, and our focus will point towards non-developers.

This is the second session in METRO’s Summer 2015 Data Webinar series. Other programs in this series include:

If you’re planning to attend all three sessions, enter the discount code SUM15DATA during registration to receive $2.00 off of each webinar.