Transcript Organisational issues of cataloguing web pages

Metadata and interoperability:
The use of standards in the Resource
Discovery Network (RDN)
Michael Day
UKOLN: the UK Office for Library and Information Networking
University of Bath
[email protected]
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
Seminar: Interoperability by Crossbrowsing Subject Based
Information Gateways, Oslo, 21 November 2000.
Presentation outline
• A brief historical overview
• The eLib subject gateways and the
ROADS project
• The Resource Discovery Network (RDN)
SOSIG
• Social Science Information Gateway
– One of the first UK gateways (1994)
– Funded as a pilot project by the ESRC
– Based at the Centre for Computing in
Economics (now Institute of Learning and
Research Technology), University of Bristol
– A model for the development of other
gateways
Follett Report
• Joint Funding Councils’ Libraries Review
Group (December 1993):
– Report commissioned by all four UK higher
education funding councils
– Chaired by Sir Brian Follett
• Recommendation (one of many):
– JISC should fund the “development of a
limited number of top level networking tools
in the UK to encourage the growth of local
subject access tools and information
servers”
eLib Programme
• Follett Implementation Group on
Information Technology (FIGIT)
• Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib)
– 1995-2001
– Funded by Joint Information Systems
Committee (JISC)
– 3 phases, funded 100+ projects grouped
together in various programme areas
– Programme area for “Access to Networked
Resources” projects
eLib subject gateways (1)
• The eLib-funded projects:
– ADAM - Art, Design, Architecture and Media
– Biz/ed - Business education
– EEVL - Engineering
– History (previously IHR-Info)
– OMNI - Biomedical sciences
– SOSIG - Social sciences
– ROADS - enabling software and support
eLib subject gateways (2)
• Main functions:
– Serve specific communities - usually
subject-based
– Select Internet resources according to predefined quality criteria
– Create resource descriptions (metadata)
– Display both search and browse interfaces
– Use of subject classification schemes and
controlled vocabularies, links to thesauri
OMNI interface (1998)
ROADS project
• Resource Organisation and Discovery in
Subject-based services
• Partners:
– Department of Computer Studies,
Loughborough University
– Institute of Learning and Research
Technology (ILRT), University of Bristol
– UKOLN
http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/roads/
ROADS objectives
• Main project objectives:
– To develop a configurable software toolkit
for distributed resource discovery services
– To support subject gateways (and
interoperability between them) with other
tools and guidelines
– To implement and test relevant standards
– To enable Web page authors to describe
their own resources and supply this
metadata to gateways
ROADS standards (1)
• Metadata format:
• ROADS/IAFA templates
– A metadata format based on IAFA (Internet
Anonymous FTP Archive) templates
– Internet-Draft
– Simple
– Text based
– Pragmatic choice
ROADS standards (2)
• Search protocol:
• Whois++ search and retrieve protocol
– Internet standard (RFC)
– Simple (lightweight)
– Cross-searching across distributed services
– Query routing (centroids)
ROADS interoperability
• Guidelines:
– Template Registry
– Cataloguing guidelines
• Metadata mappings
– IAFA templates / USMARC / Dublin Core
• Experimental Z39.50/Whois++ gateway
• Project involvement in wider
standardisation initiatives:
– Dublin Core
– Resource Description Framework
ROADS in use
• ROADS software toolkit still in use:
– SOSIG
– Leeds University Library selected Web sites
– Finnish Virtual Library (FVL)
• Software still available:
– Developed as an open-source software
toolkit
http://www.roads.lut.ac.uk/
Taking eLib forwards ...
• Towards end of eLib funding:
– A recognition that gateways were useful
– “... subject gateways have embedded themselves
into professional practice very swiftly” (1997)
– A need to consider sustainability
– Most gateways are not embedded in institutions
– Most gateways operate on a ‘project’ basis, shortterm funding, research culture
– Perceived to be in competition with each other
and with private sector suppliers
The RDN
• Resource Discovery Network:
– Funded by the JISC
– Launched in November 1999
• Objectives:
– To extend coverage to areas not covered by
the eLib gateways
– To integrate access
– To develop subject based portals for
educational communities
– To establish new organisational and
business models (sustainability)
RDN structure
Hubs
BIOME
SOSIG
RDN
• Humbul
• PSIgate
• Creative Arts
and Industries
• ...
Centre
EEVL
RDN co-ordination
• Co-ordination:
– Part of JISC’s DNER (Distributed National
Distributed Resource) Office
– Based at King’s College London, with additional
support from UKOLN
– Roles:
– Promoting and developing the network
– Establishing frameworks to ensure quality,
consistency, and interoperability across the RDN
– Presenting gateways in various views to exploit
their interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral value
RDN hubs (1)
• Hubs
– Faculty-level (higher education)
– Some based on eLib subject gateways,
others newly established
– Made up of one or more gateways
– Catalogue resources using a variety of
schema
– Offer Z39.50 targets for a central crosssearching service
– Maximise potential for strategic partnerships
and commercial arrangements within
subject domains
RDN hubs (2)
• Currently five faculty-level hubs:
HUMBUL
OMNI interface (2000)
RDN broker service (1)
• RDN provides a central broker service
that can access resource descriptions in
all gateways
– Currently based on Whois++ cross-search
– Plan to move to a Z39.50 based broker
using the Bath Profile
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/bath/
• Experiments with new architectures
– e.g., based on sharing records through
interoperability agreements defined by the
Open Archives Initiative (OAI)
RDN broker service (2)
SOSIG
BIOME
SOSIG
RDN Broker
‘ResourceFinder’
Humbul
RDN broker service (3)
RDN interoperability
• Cataloguing guidelines
– mandatory fields, schemes and qualifiers
– Draft rules for content based on DCMES
– Minimum set includes: Title, Subject,
Description, Type, Identifier and Language.
– Shared list of types
• Ambition to provide common subject
approach for cross-browsing
– co-operation with HILT project and
Renardus
RDN sustainability
• RDN currently has over 20,000 manually
created records
• 70+ staff involved at about 30 UK
institutions (many part-time)
• New hubs planned:
– creative arts & industries
– tourism, leisure & hospitality
– environment & geography
• Is the RDN model sustainable?
DNER Portals
• Extending gateways
– in breadth and depth
– customised user search tools and user
profiling
– integration with teaching and learning
– ... while retaining the existing strengths of
subject gateways ...
RDN collaboration
• Imesh:
– Informal community largely based in
Europe, the US and Australia
• Collaboration with projects:
– Renardus: European networked subject
gateway pilot service
– IMesh toolkit: architecture and toolkit for
distributed subject gateways
– SCHEMAS: Forum for metadata schema
implementers
Summing up
• ROADS
– Interoperability based on common metadata
format (ROADS templates) and crosssearching via Whois++ protocol
• RDN
– More diversity in metadata formats - broadly
DCMES or ROADS
– Current ResourceFinder based on Whois++
cross-search
– Broker based on Z39.50 using Bath Profile
Further information (1)
• Resource Discovery Network (RDN):
– Funded by the Joint Information Systems
Committee (JISC) of the UK higher and further
education funding councils with support from the
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
and the Arts and Humanities Research Board
(AHRB).
http://www.rdn.ac.uk/
Further information (2)
• UKOLN: the UK Office for Library and
Information Networking:
– Funded by Resource: the Council for Museums,
Archives & Libraries (the organisation that
succeeded the Library and Information
Commission), the Joint Information Systems
Committee (JISC) of the UK higher and further
education funding councils, as well as by project
funding from the JISC and the European Union.
UKOLN also receives support from the University
of Bath where it is based.
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/