Code4libBC Day 2: Talk notes

Code4libBC Day 2 talk notes.

CatalogerGPT: an AI powered cataloguing assistant as agentic collaboration

Glen Greenly, Capilano University Library

• version 1: create a usable catalogue record
• online version: glengreenly.wixsite.com/catalogergpt
• version 2 in development
• design goals:
• later want to be able to navigate RDA toolkit
• rapid advancement, so if there’s a limitation, wait 6-12 months
• GPT-4o (Omni) recently added to the open AI API
• Reinforcement Learning (RL) to make decisions to improve quality and correctness
• improvement over time, becomes smarter
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): allow extensive knowledge not embedded in LLM
• Explainable AI (XAI): provide reasoning behind answers
• Knowledge graphs: organize and integration info
• AI agents will get better, can assist in other areas of the library, including identify pain points
• if don’t have an understanding capabilities, might not know how to apply it
• conclusion: AI is here to augment, not supplant. You can’t manage or operate without human expertise.

Moving to the Cloud: Better late than never?

Scott Leslie, BC Libraries Coop

• the question mark is the key point of the talk
• was formed in 2009, run from colocated downtown
• BC members are public entities beholden to
• limited offering cloud servers that was FIPPA compliant, limited offering in Canada
• people who formed the coop believed in the civic ownership
• lot has changed after 15 years
• many choices now
• during the pandemic, FIPPA itself changed, lessened data crossing border
• trend has been to move to cloud
• finding people to maintain server farms requires talented, is expensive
• been thinking about it since 2018
• went through review of different providers
• decided based on privacy, security, level of service
• timeline based on existing contract
• started moving in March, end date is probably October, decommissioning into February
• not convinced it’s right, or the doubts
• one of the doubts is control, don’t have physical access
• currently have ASN, at hub; will no longer have a say in representing libraries
• own vs. rent
• the more we shift digitally, the physical operations may be seen as less important
• at the end, it’s hard to argue with the trend, towards tenants, renters of infrastructure, services
• allow us to focus time on other parts of the tech stack, provide value
• buys more reliability
• trend is to outsource
• think about getting rid of control mean in the long term
• post-sec have BC Net, don’t lose that

Migration journey: Moving our library to the Folio LSP

Olga Kalachinskaya, Douglas College Library

• submitted budget request in 2021
• RFP process and selection 2022
• start implementation late 2022
• went live June 2023
• why Folio?
  • WorldShare:shared environment
  • Alma: expensive, 10 years old
  • lot of EBSCO resources and Primo doesn’t play nice with them
  • front end didn’t change
  • OSS, new, but has good potential
• implementation: committee (10 people), 7 months, integration with EDS, Banner, etc., setup of LOCATE and Panorama
• improvements needed: equipment booking, auto-renewals, inventory, stats, some reports can only be done via API
• modern, does things differently
• can somewhat participate in development through attending meetings where features are discussed
• much more community work

OpenAthens and the Ironies of Automation

Ryan Regier, UBC Library

• UBC migrated to OpenAthens from EZProxy in 2020
• OpenAthens is SAML-based federation
• benefits: ease of access, time savings, security, analysis
• less problems, but more harder problems
• Irony: making it easier has made it harder
• issues are less frequent, but the ones that do happen are more difficult to investigate
• operations have less understanding of how the system works, because they rarely interact
• skills and knowledge deteriorate over time, and lower confidence
• very specific user issues that we are unable to recreate or troubleshoot effectively
• specific vendor website issues that never get fixed
• outages suggest having same ironies
• it’s new, will be growing pains
• number of libraries using it will grow and documentation will get better
• could be a UBC problem with giant user base and lots of resources
• can’t teach troubleshooting in a couple of sessions
• outsourcing too much and losing understanding of it?
• possible solutions:
  • notification and reporting systems: listserv and resource status page
  • final irony: advance tech might require even more advanced tech to troubleshoot

Title list comparison using Pandas/Jupyter

James Fournie, VCC Library

• evaluating resources, looking at packages
• used EDS Package Analyzer
• wanted to determine usage, overlapping titles
• download as CSV file
• populates a jupyter notebook
• can run queries
• data is questionable due to the source
• doesn’t get to coverage dates
• ISSN matching not great
• had to match on title, fairly uniform

Telidon Update

John Durno, University Victoria Libraries

• restoring art made in a now obsolete format called Telidon, from 80s
• had worked on building a tech stack to display the art
• turned out it was dozens of artists across the country
• worked with gallery curator to get grant to convert format
• web exhibit will open later this year, including art generator

Backup service down

Calvin Mah, SFU Library

• 2022 Windsor, issue took down the library
• University will prioritize HR and other key systems
• bridge the gap between when every down to back up
• set up a server in the cloud, has EZproxy, invoke handful of resources
• Adding cloud IP address to range
• authenticates off of Alma, which is in cloud

End of Day 2 talks

Thanks to all the presenters. Hope to see you next year!