Work Package 8 - Functional Specification

BIBLINK

BIBLINK Workspace - Notes

1. The BIBLINK Demonstrator (BD) will consist primarily of a BIBLINK Workspace (BW).
2. The BW is a shared, distributed database containing BIBLINK Workspace Records (BWR).
3. Each BWR contains a number of fields (tbd) including; the 18 elements from the BIBLINK Core Element Set (BC), an SGML-1 record, an SGML-2 record, a partial UNIMARC record, complete or partial NatMARC records.
4. Note that some of the fields in the BWR are fairly simple text fields (the BC fields), some of them are complete records in their own right.
5. In some situations it may be useful to think of the grouping of up to 18 elements from the BC as a BIBLINK Core Record (BCR).
6. The BW Administrator will be able to configure which (if any) of the BWR fields are mandatory.
7. Some or all of the 18 BC fields will have to be repeatable (e.g. to allow for different identifiers, a URL and a DOI, to be held in the BWR).
8. Some or all of the 18 BC fields will need to have a SCHEME associated with them.
9. Various agents can have access to create/modify BWR. These will include:
   • Publishers
   • NBAs
   • Other organisations, e.g. ISBN, ISSN and DOI agencies
   • BW agents for internal housekeeping procedures

   

10. Read/write access to the BW (at the system, record and field level) can be granted to agents (usernames).
11. Each BWR will have several 'views' associated with it. The list of views is tbd but will include:
    • Pretty-printed BCR (plain text)
    • BCR in HTML (need to handle HTML 3.2 and HTML 4.0 ??)
    • UNIMARC record
12. There will be two interfaces to the BW:
    • Web-based, including
      • method of downloading 'views' of BWR
      • editing of BWR fields (a la DC-dot)
      • upload of complete records (into BWR fields)
    • Email-based, including
      • method of downloading 'views' of BWR, e.g.

          get record_no UNIMARC
          

      • simple setting of BWR fields, e.g.

          set record_no title UKOLN home page
          

      • bulk-upload of one or more complete records (into BWR fields)
13. Events are generated at various points in the life-cycle of a BWR. A complete list of events is tbd but will include:
    • Record created
    • Record modified (including deleted?)
    • Field modified
14. Actions can be associated with each event. A full list of events is tbd but might include:
    • Notify agent 'x' about event
    • Update field 'y' from field 'z'
    • Mark field 'w' as being 'out of date' (see below)
15. Notifications can take two forms:
    • an email message
    • a Web based alert (next time the agent visits the workspace)
16. All the above is configurable based on agent profiles. Publishers, NBAs, etc. may register as multiple agents (with different profiles) if appropriate.
17. There are interdependencies between various fields in the BWR - e.g.
    • if a publisher creates a new record using an SGML-1 format record (by placing it into the SGML-1 field in a new BWR) then the BC fields will need to be updated
    • if any of the BC fields are updated then the UNIMARC field will need to be updated
    This will be achieved thru mappings and conversion software. A complete list of dependencies is tbd but may be represented as follows for now:

    

18. Because we may not have a complete set of mappings/conversion software to keep all formats in step with each other there needs to be some mechanism to flag fields within the BWR as 'out of date' in some way.