Search results

To make CDS/ISIS databases OAI‐compliant.

One of the biggest obstacles for information dissemination to a user community is that many digital libraries or bibliographic databases use heterogeneous technologies that inhibit interoperability. The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) addresses interoperability by using a framework to facilitate the discovery of content stored in distributed archives or bibliographic databases through the use of the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI‐PMH). Though the OAI‐PMH is becoming the de facto standard, many of the legacy databases or bibliographic systems, for various reasons, are not OAI‐compliant. CDS/ISIS is one such database system. In this paper, we discuss the static repository (SR) approach to make CDS/ISIS databases OAI‐compliant. The records from a CDS/ISIS database are exported onto a file and the exported records are then converted to the SR XML file format. The SR file is made OAI‐compliant either by ingesting it into the Kepler Archivelet or through the intermediation of a static repository gateway (SRG).

The SR is a simple approach for making bibliographic records contained in non‐OAI‐compliant systems, OAI‐compliant.

The SR approach is meant for records, which are relatively static. If the OAI‐compliance is achieved through the SRG, then the number of records contained in a SR file should not exceed 5,000. However, if the SR file is ingested into the Kepler Archivelet, then there is no restriction on the number of records contained in a SR file.

A dynamic approach to making legacy databases, like CDS/ISIS, interoperable with OAI‐compliant digital libraries (DLs).

There are many bibliographic databases that are being maintained using legacy database systems. CDS/ISIS is one such legacy database system. It was designed and developed specifically for handling textual data. Over the years, many databases have been developed using this package. There is, however, no mechanism supported by the package for seamless interoperability of databases. The open archives initiative (OAI) addresses the issue of interoperability by using a framework to facilitate the discovery of content stored in distributed archives or bibliographic databases through the use of the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI‐PMH). The protocol is becoming a de facto standard for interoperability of DLs. Many of the legacy database systems that are in use today, to the best of our knowledge, for various reasons, are not OAI‐compliant. This makes it difficult for the legacy databases to share their metadata automatically. There are two possible approaches to make legacy databases OAI‐compliant – static and dynamic. In this paper, we discuss the dynamic approach to make CDS/ISIS databases OAI‐compliant.

The dynamic approach is a simple way to make legacy databases OAI‐compliant so that they become interoperable with other OAI‐compliant DLs.

Developing a general‐purpose tool to make legacy databases OAI‐compliant may be difficult as the driver software needed for database connectivity may not be easily available. Also, the structure of the databases are likely be so varied that identifying the fields that make up the databases programmatically will be very challenging.

Provides a dynamic approach to making legacy databases interoperable with OAI‐compliant libraries.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a test for data centres, repositories and archives to determine OAIS functional model conformance. The test developed was carried out among the World Data Centre (WDC) member data centres. The method used to develop the OAIS functional model conformance test is discussed, along with the test results.

To conduct the OAIS functional model conformance test, a quantitative approach in the format of an online survey was used. This was part of a mixed methods research project.

The test developed did produce a means for quantifying OAIS functional model conformance. The mean score for the 26 WDC member data centres that completed the test was 62.08 out of a possible 92. The highest scoring WDC member data centre obtained a score of 90, while the lowest score obtained was 27.

This test was only conducted among a relatively small sample, making it difficult to generalise the results obtained and determine how effectively the OAIS functional model conformance test measured conformance. It remains a challenge to quantify data curation practices with regard to the OAIS functional model.

The OAIS functional model conformance test is the first attempt at quantifying OAIS functional model compliance.

The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Protocol for Metadata Harvesting presents one promising method by which metadata regarding archives and manuscripts can be shared and made more interoperable with metadata from other sources. Against the background of archival descriptive theory and practice, this article outlines a method for exposing deep, hierarchical metadata from encoded archival description (EAD) files and assesses some theoretical and practical issues that will need to be confronted by institutions choosing to provide or harvest OAI records generated from EAD files. Using OAI on top of existing EAD implementations would allow institutions to repurpose their data and potentially reach more users but would also accelerate the process of reengineering archival access mechanisms. Archivists and technologists using OAI with EAD must pay careful attention to the necessity of preserving archival context and provenance.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the Illinois LSTA grant‐funded project, “Yellow Brick Roads: Building a Digital Shortcut to Statewide Information”. The project investigated the feasibility of unified searching across library holdings, digitization projects, and online state government information through use of the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI‐PMH) in tandem with the Z39.50 protocol through application of the Z39.50/OAI Gateway Profile.

The project proceeded through the construction of a metasearch service model based on the Z39.50/OAI Gateway Profile. Technical obstacles encountered during the construction of this demonstration service were noted, as were potential solutions. The evaluation of the Z39.50/OAI harvesting component of the Gateway Profile was conducted by means of a questionnaire of vendors providing Z39.50 servers to the Illinois Regional Library Systems.

The established technology platform provided by the University of Illinois Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Metadata Harvesting Project proved to be adequate to data sets of this size and character. However, the project concluded that the Z39.50/OAI Gateway Profile could not be deployed because of limitations in the functionality of typical Z‐servers.

The project concentrated on the technical aspects of building such a service model rather than on the usability of the interface or on questions of interoperability at the metadata level, such as to what extent the vocabularies used by the different metadata communities was compatible.

The project's findings indicate that more labor intensive, or less timely, processes of aggregating records than that envisaged by the Z39.50/OAI approach will continue to be necessary. However, further investigation of hybrid approaches hold promise.

The authors, who jointly serve as the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) executive, reflect on the three‐year history of the OAI. Three years of technical work recently culminated in the release of a stable production version 2 of the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI‐PMH). This technical product, the work that led up to it, and the process that made it possible have attracted some favor from the digital library and information community. The paper explores a number of factors in the history of the OAI that the authors believe have contributed to this positive response. The factors include focus on a defined problem statement, an operational model in which strong leadership is balanced with solicited participation, a healthy dose of community building and support, and sensible technical decisions.

This paper aims to propose a toolset that enables individual digital collections owners to satisfy the requirements of aggregators even in cases where their IT and software infrastructure is limited and does not support them inherently. Managers of repositories/digital collections face the challenge of exposing their data via Open Archives Initiative – Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) to multiple aggregators and conforming to their possibly differing requirements, for example on output metadata schemas and selective harvesting.

The authors developed a software server that is able to wrap existing systems or even metadata records in plain files as OAI-PMH sources. They analysed the functionality of OAI-PMH data providers in a flow of discrete steps and used a software library to modularise the software for these steps so that the whole process can be easily customised to the needs of each pair of OAI-PMH data provider and service provider. The developed server includes a mechanism for the implementation of schema mappings using an XML specification that can be defined by non-IT personnel, for example metadata experts. The server has been applied in various real-life use cases, in particular for providing content to Europeana.

It has been concluded through real-life use cases that it is indeed possible and feasible in practice to expose metadata records of digital collections via OAI-PMH even when the data sources do not support the required protocols and standards. Even advanced OAI-PMH features like selective harvesting can be supported. Mappings between input and output schemas in many practical cases can be implemented entirely or to a large extent as XML specifications by metadata experts instead of software developers.

Exposing data via OAI-PMH to aggregators like Europeana is made feasible/easier for digital collections owners, even when their software infrastructure does not inherently support the required protocols and standards.

The approach is original and applicable in practice to diverse technology environments, effectively addressing the indisputable fact of the heterogeneity of software and systems used to implement digital repositories and collections worldwide.

The MetaScholar Initiative is a collaborative endeavor to explore the feasibility and utility of scholarly portal services developed in conjunction with Open Archives Initiative (OAI) metadata harvesting technologies. The MetaScholar Initiative comprises two projects, the MetaArchive and AmericanSouth projects, both funded by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation totaling $600,000. These two projects have created two metadata aggregation networks connecting some 24 libraries, archives, museums, and electronic text centers. Each network has an associated portal being created under the guidance of teams composed of scholars, librarians, archivists, and technologists. The MetaScholar Initiative is studying issues such as metadata normalization, alternative forms of scholarly communication through portals, and the process of facilitating smaller archival institutions in providing better access to their collections through the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI‐PMH). The MetaScholar Initiative is based at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

The purpose of this research is to assess the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) model from the perspective of small organisations and to offer a tentative methodology for the provision of a standard framework to serve the movement and preservation of digital materials and associated metadata between organisations, maintaining OAIS compliance throughout.

Structured analysis of the INGEST function, moving through three scenario‐based transfers of digital materials, using Lavoie's economic models for digital preservation to demonstrate the relevance of the function and sub‐functions.

Provides a conceptual example of how the OAIS model can be used in a multiple transfer context, working through three scenarios for one function of the standard. Describes how the research will be carried forward to complete the analytical framework and test with a real digital deposit.

Provides a means by which small organisations can begin to consider the preservation of their digital assets and assess their position in relation to the OAIS model.

This paper addresses the difficulties of practical implementation of the OAIS model and suggests a way forward for achieving seamless transfer of digital records that can be used by both small donor organisations and larger receiving institutions.

The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) was created as a practical way to promote interoperability between e‐print repositories. Although the scope of the OAI has been broadened, e‐print repositories still represent a significant fraction of OAI data providers. This article presents a brief survey of OAI e‐print repositories, and of services using metadata harvested from e‐print repositories using the OAI protocol for metadata harvesting (OAI‐PMH). It then discusses several situations where metadata harvesting may be used to further improve the utility of e‐print archives as a component of the scholarly communication infrastructure.