Ahead of Print in BFP: Review of Petras on ‘Library Catalogues as Data’ anthology. Cultural memory, metadata ecosystems, and LLMs: This review explores how library catalogues unlock new interdisciplinary research. #librarydata #digitalhumanities #cataloguing #AI

https://doi.org/10.1515/bfp-2025-0037

Paul Gooding, Melissa Terras, Sarah Ames (Hrsg.): Library Catalogues as Data – Research, Practice and Usage. London: Facet Publishing, 2025. 228 S.

De Gruyter Brill

It's not clear from the previous graph whether the digital events through covid had greater reach - this shows an answer.

While digital events had significant reach (blue), the sheer number of physical events means total reach of physical events (red) is much higher, even though no.s at each event are lower.

Physical events are now reaching more than 3 times the number of people than digital events managed through the pandemic.

@libraries
@ukpubliclibraries
#Libraries
#LibraryData

4/4 end

This graph shows activities and events.

* Blue circles represent digital events in each region
* red squares represent physical events.

The size of the squares / circles represents the number of attendees that month
The position up the graph represents the number of events.

We see from October 2021 and then again from March 2022, the reopening and increase numbers of physical events with higher numbers of events in each region.

@ukpubliclibraries @libraries
#Libraries
#LibraryData

3/n

Looking at audio borrowing:

• lower physical audio lending - red -(e.g. cds) but consistent over past 12 months.
Likely represents people who *can't* shift to digital content for reasons of equipment / skills - so a core group that is highly reliant on the service.

Digital audio - in blue - has increased dramatically from an average of 6000 /month / library service to 18,000.
Big impact on budget as digital audio =££££

@ukpubliclibraries
@libraries
#Libraries
#LibraryData

2/n

Update on our libraries activity data:

UK public libraries footfall closing in on, but still lagging behind, high street footfall at 67% of pre covid levels.

Lending levels much more closely aligned with High Street footfall - now at around 90% of pre-covid levels.

Libraries tell us this is due to fewer people attending events, and borrowing more books on less frequent visits.
Clearly shows footfall doesn't represent activity.

@ukpubliclibraries
@libraries
#Libraries
#LibraryData

1/n

Packed day today:

• Try to distil the implications of the UK budget for library funding - and and increased need for community support it might create.

• Webinar with our Libraries Data and Information group to share and explore the latest #LibraryData

• Webinar about our Future Funding programme - how we cans support libraries generating additional income in a sustainable and ethical way - few places left so likely to fill up today!

@libraries
@ukpubliclibraries
#Libraries

Spreadsheets day today

First on our survey of library budgets - keen to get this analysed and published next week given how critical it is in LA and #libraries funding.

And on a brighter note an evaluation of the work that libraries did to support the Jubilee with £150k or #artscouncil funding - lots of fun events for all ages and developing new community partnerships.

#libraries #LibraryData @libraries (testing out this libraries group function!)

This looks excellent and really timely with the work we're doing with ACE / DCMS / CILIP and the library sector to develop national library data systems.
#libraries #data #LibraryData

"All your data are belong to us: the weaponisation of library usage data and what we can do about it!"
https://nag.org.uk/event/data/

h/t @alastairdunning

‘All your data are belong to us’: the weaponisation of library usage data and what we can do about it – National Acquisitions Group

The Linked Data Myth

Linked Data is only as useful as the metadata on which it depends, and poor quality metadata ultimately causes the challenges many librarians hope to address with Linked Data.

Alle Materialien zum #kimws19 jetzt verfügbar: https://wiki.dnb.de/x/04y5C  Schön war's! Dank an alle Vortragenden und TeilnehmerInnen! #openglam #librarydata #opendata #metadata #linkeddatahttps://twitter.com/statuses/1121750326334369793
KIM Workshop 2019 - dini-ag-kim - Deutsche Nationalbibliothek - Wiki