Opening up our data – after all, distributing information is what we do
The
Toronto Public Library is working to open up its data for people to
use. After
all, distributing information is what we do. By enabling Torontonians
to access and use the information that the library has, including its
branch location information, program and event information and the
content within our library catalogue, we truly embody the mandate of a
public library.
What
this means is anyone with the skills and inclination could list,
display or integrate linkable TPL data into their website.
Some
useful examples might be a community group who wants to show the
nearest libraries or upcoming library programs in their neighbourhoods
on their website, a special interest group would be able to list
relevant linkable content within our collections or an individual would
be able to easily blog about a TPL item, event, service or branch.
So in that light, as a first step we have
made it easier for people to take branch location information and map it for their own needs.
Use our stuff on your own site
If you're building a website
about your community or local business, or just hacking around and want to show
nearby Toronto Public Library branch locations in Google maps, you can
use this data just like we did on our hours and locations page.
You can'take the geocoding the library has used for our Google maps and use it on your site.
Link to Toronto Public Library's branch Google maps data.
There is a really good tutorial, some handy Google documentation and a developer forum if you're looking to get started with Google maps.
This is our first "API" and there is much more to come. In addition to this, our blogs already enable content syndication through RSS.
We are working to open up other sources like our library catalogue and our programs and events listings.
As we move forward, we are looking at ways make our site more modular
and easier to integrate using mashups, semantic-markup, microformats,
embeddable widgets, APIs, and further content syndication.
(Warning, unapologetic Library service plug follows)
If
you fully understood this post and found it relevant to your interests
or profession, you'll be happy to know that you can get *every*
O'Reilly book online through the library with your library card. Either
search the library catalogue for the title or interest of your choice,
or go straight to Safari Books Online by typing torontopubliclibrary.ca/safari. It's free with your library card.
7 thoughts on “Opening up our data – after all, distributing information is what we do”
I’m very excited about this. Are there already ideas floating around for widgets & things that might link library content to amazon, facebook, and other big sites? there are a a couple of cool ideas on Sacha Chua’s blog — she keeps a running reading log posted there which is generated from her Library Elf records, and she also has a TPL bookmarklet which sort of integrates amazon new-book searching with the TPL:
http://sachachua.com/wp/2006/08/03/bookmarklet-for-the-toronto-public-library/
it’s based on the old and famous generic bookmarklet, but anyway, it would be cool to have a little TPL firefox extension or widget that integrated the library with other services. And a facebook app seems like another good option.
i look forward to hearing more!
matt
ps, andthanks for the safari link! didn’t know about that, it’s actually quite a huge bonus.
Those Safari books really rock! I have been using them for a while now, because tech books on computers are a natural, really.
They time-out too quickly, though, if I am trying to figure something out while reading a chapter it sometimes takes a bit longer than you allow… But new books are available WAY sooner in Safari than in paper, at least through the library!
LibraryElf recently stopped being able to read my TPL records, I think, so I’m going to have to find another workaround. I really do want to publish my reading list on my blog. =) Actually, I want to automatically accumulate my reading history, so that I can see what I’ve been reading…
on the topic of openness, can you shed any light on TPL’s position on the recently-announced change in policy at OCLC? there’s more in AAron Swartz’s blog here:
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/oclcscam
(aaron is the whiz-kid co-author of rss, who now works on a number of transparency projects including the open library initiative).
Hi Moptop,
Sorry, no light to shed. The issues of OCLC and other consortia Library related issues are not in the web team’s bailiwick .. sorry we can’t be more helpful.
I wanted to know, whether the data has been opened up and how to access the data? Is it through some protocol like z39.50 or z39.83? Could you provide some information?
Hi, has there been any progress on opening up the catalog data?