Library networks—coauthorship, citation, and usage graphs

The next six chapters step back from Semantic Web graphs to look at graph models of systems in various domains, starting with libraries. Traditional use of library resources often involves what is generically referred to as “research.” What is meant in this particular context is the process of locating materials on a particular topic or produced by a particular author, determining coauthorship and topical relationships, reviewing the citation relationships, and then exploring all of these various relationships to identify other items of potential interest. These organic, explicit networks grow over time and exhibit some of the characteristics found in other types of networks. This chapter looks at how this data can be modeled as graphs, and the process of analyzing and traversing these graphs. It illustrates the use of some common graph theory techniques in the context of library data and systems, including coauthorship analysis and citation graphs between papers. It also briefly explores how usage data can be modeled using graphs to explore research trends and generate recommendations for library patrons. It introduces first-mover advantage and scale-free networks.