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participation from a large number of researchers and industrial
partners.
3
HTML does not describe or categorise the contents of web
pages. The Semantic Web will address this issue by allowing content to
be classified in XML documents using various languages. These
languages include:
■
Resource Description Framework (RDF) – a 1999 W3C
recommendation that provided a lightweight ontology system to
support the exchange of knowledge on the Web;
■
Topic Maps, developed by the ISO (the International Organisation for
Standardisation) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) – topic maps are abstract structures that can encode
knowledge and connect this encoded knowledge to relevant
information resources;
■
Web Ontology Language (OWL) – a 2004 W3C recommendation for
publishing and sharing data using ontologies (or conceptual schema)
on the Internet. 
The Semantic Web is very much in its infancy, but promises to give
meaning to information on the Internet. It is not a separate web, but an
extension of the current one:
The Semantic Web will bring structure to the meaningful content of
Web pages, creating an environment where software agents roaming
from page to page can readily carry out sophisticated tasks for users.
(Berners-Lee et al., 2001)
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Standards, specifications and access management
The Semantic Web is a development that is currently being led by
computer scientists, but one where the skills of librarians in creating
taxonomies and ontologies will be invaluable. Lougee (2002), in her
book examining emerging roles for the research library in the digital age,
recognises that librarians have the potential to contribute significantly to
this effort. Meanwhile, Sadeh and Walker (2003) consider how library
portals, which offer cross searching of heterogeneous resources, are still
facing challenges which may well be addressed by developments towards
the Semantic Web. While such developments may seem futuristic, they
may very soon be a reality and the Semantic Web is an area of emerging
standards from which librarians can learn and to which they can
contribute.
Open source solutions
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) originated in the late 1990s and is a
not-for-profit corporation that manages and promotes what is known as
the Open Source Definition. The definition specifies that software must
be distributed according to a set of criteria, including: that the software
is freely distributed, that the source code is also supplied and that
modifications can be made to the code. Open source not only has the
advantage of being free, but arguably the software is more responsive to
the needs of users, with quality rather than profit driving the developers.
Software peer review is also widely encouraged, which in a similar way
to peer review in the academic sense bestows a level of validity on the
work. The most famous product is probably the open source operating
system, LINUX. Others include the Apache web server and MySQL
database.
Open source products exist in both the library community and the e-
learning sector. Chudnov (1999) described how open source could
provide the future of library systems. He cites advantages such as
reduced costs, not being locked into a single vendor, and how the
community can work together to solve accessibility issues. Some open
source library products include Koha,
4
a New Zealand system which
describes itself as the first open source integrated library system. Koha is
being used in several public libraries in New Zealand, Nelsonville Public
Library in Ohio and a school library in Canada. Greenstone
5
is an open-
source digital library system, again originating in New Zealand at the
University of Waikato, although it was also developed in cooperation
with UNESCO. This system is used by over 20 institutions to facilitate
access to digital library collections, including Project Gutenberg,
6
the
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Indian Institute of Science Publications Database
7
and Gresham College
Archive
8
in London.
Another open source library product is MyLibrary
9
which is described
as a library portal (see Chapter 1 for more details). MyLibrary defines
itself as:
… a user-driven, customizable interface to collections of Internet
resources – a portal. Primarily designed for libraries, the system’s
purpose is to reduce information overload by allowing patrons to
select as little or as much information as they so desire for their
personal pages.
MyLibrary was created as part of the Digital Library Initiatives at North
Carolina State University (NCSU) and users can create an account on the
system to gain personalised access to the library’s resources.
In the e-learning sector there are a large number of open source virtual
learning environments that are available to download. Several
universities have opted to develop their own VLE in-house and often
these products are available as open source. Other institutions have
rarely adopted these systems although the originating institution uses
them successfully. Open source VLEs include the Bodington,
10
which
was developed at the University of Leeds and is now also being used at
the University of Oxford. UCLA developed Classweb
11
in 1997 and
currently runs over 300 classes on the system each quarter. Another open
source VLE that has been attracting attention recently is Moodle.
12
Martin Dougiamas, a web developer at Curtin University of Technology
who was frustrated with the capabilities of commercial VLE software,
developed Moodle. The software ‘supports a social constructionist
pedagogy’ which has at its heart communication, collaboration and
critical reflection.
One of the biggest drawbacks to open source systems is the staff time
and resources that are required to support such initiatives. This has
meant that many libraries choose to buy off-the-shelf library
management products. Similarly, commercial e-learning solutions are
used more frequently than open-source products.
Library standards
Many standards in the library community are developed and endorsed
by the National Information Standards Organisation (NISO) in the
United States. The organisation describes itself as:
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… a non-profit association accredited by the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI), [that] identifies, develops, maintains, and
publishes technical standards to manage information in our changing
and ever-more digital environment.
13
NISO have developed over 30 standards of importance to the library
profession, in diverse areas such as information retrieval, library
management, preservation and storage, and publishing and information
management.