News BulletinNovember 2004 |
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News BulletinNovember 2004 |
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Ann Chapman - cd-focus@ukoln.ac.uk
CD Focus website - http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cd-focus/
CD Focus discussion list - collection-description@jiscmail.ac.uk
Welcome to the CD Focus News Bulletin. This issue contains an update on the Dublin Core Collection Description Application Profile, and progress reports on the Information Environment Services Registry (IESR) and the Tap into Bath project.
Ann Chapman. Collection-level description: joining up the domains. Journal of the Society of Archivists, Vol. 25 issue 2, 2004, pp. 149-155.
The Dublin Core Collection Description Working Group (DC CD WG) held a meeting on 11th October at the DC-2004 conference in Shanghai. Following Pete Johnston's introduction to the work of the Working Group and the DC CD AP, the meeting discussed some of the current issues in the development of the Application Profile. The meeting decided to continue to mandate the use of ISO 639-2 for languages codes.
Andrew Wilson reported that the DC Usage Board had (subject to finalization of their decisions and their endorsement by the Directorate) at their meeting on 9th October approved the three new properties submitted by the DC CD WG with minor changes to the wording of the definitions. The properties are Accrual Method [1], Accrual Periodicity [2] and Accrual Policy [3].
If you would like to contribute to the development of the DC CD AP, please sign up to the email list DC-COLLECTIONS@jiscmail.ac.uk
The Information Environment Service Registry is now in the second phase of its development. In this phase the project is focusing on building additional interfaces for users of the information within the Registry, and on creating a web form for the easy creation and editing of IESR descriptions.
The IESR is a machine-readable catalogue of the high-quality electronic resources which are to be found in JISC's Information Environment. The ultimate scope of the Service Registry is yet to be fully determined, but it is likely that it will be extended in the future to cover resources provided by organisations other than the JISC, for example those of the JISC's partners in the Common Information Environment Group (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=wg_cie_members). The forthcoming data creation web form will make it easy for these providers to create descriptions of their resources for inclusion in the IESR, and to update them when necessary.
IESR descriptions contain three different types of information:
1) Collection descriptions
These are based on the RSLP Collection Description Schema and describe the electronic resource, its subject coverage and any restrictions on its use.
2) Service descriptions
There are separate service descriptions for each method of access to a resource. These could include its web interface, OAI repository or RSS feed.
3) Agent descriptions
Agent descriptions provide information about the organisation(s) responsible for providing the electronic resource that is being described. They include contact details for the providers of the service.
The IESR is currently accessible on the web at http://iesr.ac.uk/registry/ and through Z39.50 (details at http://iesr.ac.uk/registry/docs/iesrZ3950.html). An OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) repository of IESR records is currently under development. This will provide the various IESR entity descriptions in simple Dublin Core, as well as full IESR XML records. Plans for the next phase of the Service Registry include a UDDI (Universal Description Discovery and Integration) view of the data and a Web Services interface.
On January 12, 2005 the IESR team will be holding a seminar in London for potential users of the service, to explain how the IESR works. We will be joined at this event by colleagues who are using, or plan to use the Service Registry, who will be talking about their experiences and plans.
Ann Apps presented a full paper on the IESR at the Dublin Core 2004 conference in Shanghai in October. This has raised the profile of the project at an international level, and has prompted a number of contacts from other countries who are interested in developing a similar service. In the USA, the OCKHAM project (http://wiki.osuosl.org/display/OCKPub/Home) has adopted the IESR's metadata for use in their registry. This is an exciting time for the IESR team and we look forward to developing the registry as a service for all providers and users of high-quality electronic resources in the UK.
This is a collaborative project between CD Focus and the University of Bath Library and Learning Centre to create a collection description database for all collections - archives, libraries and museums - in the city of Bath. CD Focus has provided guidance on creating collection descriptions and the University of Bath Library is to host the database on its server and take responsibility for its maintenance long term and a member of library staff set up the relational database. A small amount of funding from existing budgets was set aside to pay for data collection work and development of the web interfaces.
The initial version of the database was completed in July 2004. However, the initial phase of data entry identified a few problems with the database interfaces. These have been corrected and data entry has now been completed and all entries checked for accuracy and consistency.
Data has not yet been received by three collections for purely practical reasons; the future of one collection is uncertain at the moment, another is in the process of appointing an archivist and has no other staff, while the third has only a single member of staff. It is still hoped that entries can be created for these collections over the next few months. Now that work on developing the database and its interfaces has been completed, the database will shortly be moved from a temporary development server to a permanent host server. Front pages for the web site still need to be designed and linked into the database.
The project team is now trying to identify a suitable date for the launch of Tap into Bath before the end of 2004. Tap into Bath is already generating some interest and Tap into Bath project staff met with Norwegian librarians attending the ECDL conference at the University of Bath in September 2004 to discuss the project.