Building a repository from a scratch

I prefer to build my repositories from the scratch, because the process of creating the Vmware and configuring the platforms helps me understand what the functions the platform offer and gives me a sense of how technology is applied to a repository and for what purpose it is applied. I am also becoming familiar with the installation process of different platforms on the same Virtue station. Starting from a scratch also improved my troubleshooting skills and helped my understanding of the implementation of the command lines, which might be helpful for the future exploration of the digital collection. Building a repository from scratch obviously taught me how a repository is structured and modified as well.

I appreciate the information offered in this class. Although I have worked in a library for a few years, it is not easy for me to take in and comprehend technological terms and I was not inspired to explore the new technologies. When I first started this class, I did not fully understand what a repository was or how it worked, but now I can say I know what it is and even know how to build my own repository with different platforms.

Review of OAI service providers

My first review is the Sheet Music consortium: http://digital.library.ucla.edu/sheetmusic/, hosted by UCLA Digital Library Program. This site includes 4 consortium members: UC Los Angeles, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University and Duke University, which are listed on the bottom of the home page. They are building an open collection of digitized sheet music using the the Open Archives Initiative: Protocol for Metadata Harvesting. This program offers simple and advanced search, browse, and list virtual collections options. There are search tips under both simple and advanced search. In the list of virtual collections, most collections under public access, and a few are required a password to access. I am kind of lost when I view some collections because there are different creators and consortium members under one owner. My question is how the program defines the owner, or groups the collection. However, this website has a attractive and colorful homepage.

My second review is Australasian Digital Theses Program, which is “designed to improve access to, and enhance transfer of, the research information contained in theses by providing a full text version available from the desktop via the web.” The navigation panel is on the left side and categorized by General, activities, software and PmWiki, and subcategories under each main category. The link of Australian repositories is under activities. 38 Australian universities make the contributions to the institutional repositories, which can be accessed through each university’s website. There is a site search box on the top of the navigation panel. I like the design of each page interface, which use category name as an active hyperlink on the top of the left corner of the text page to remainder user where you are all the time.

My third review is California Digital Library -- University of California service provider. I chose it because the introduction to this site in the list of The University of Illinois OAI-PMH Service Provider Registry is concise and includes all the information user might be interest. On its collection home webpage, I found that A-Z list of CDL-licensed resources is no longer available. It should be take off from the page. CDL use Open Archives Initiative to harvest metadata for its eScholarship repositories, which includes 7,253,592 full-text downloads selected and deposited by the individual University of California units. The eScholarship repository can be browsed by campus, research unit, center,or department, Journals and peer-reviewed series, seminar series and postprints. CDL offers a neat, well organized, easy to access the website.

Metadata for the collection

My collection has a simple, straightforward format: digital images. The LCSH for my collection could be: photography, photographs, or photography of families. Since the LCSH (photography of families for whole collection) cannot resolve my collection, I replace the LCSH with Alternate location Subject Headings so that my collection can be browsed or retrieved by locations.

In order to assign a call number for my collection, first I browsed our innovative system, millennium with subject heading, photography, and it brought up a huge of TR collections. Then I looked up the Gale’s Library of Congress Classification Schedules to figure out what specific TR number I should use, and I picked TR650 underneath applied photography--> collections -->general works. I had a discussion with my colleague, Marcia, about my call assignment this morning, and she disagreed with me. She argued that TR is for photography techniques. I was back to the schedule again, and it seemed she was right. She suggested me look N schedule, and I did. Following results is from the N:

1.Call #: N7640 (visual arts-->special subjects of art-->Humans in art. Human life cycle in art-->children) (subject: children in art)

2.Call#: N7433.8 (Miscellaneous genres and media, not limited by time period, style, place, or subject matter-->computer art, digital art-->general works). (Subjects are: Digital art, or Human figure in art.)

But after checking back to our library system for the subject heading underneath both call number, I got: children in art, Digital art, or Human figure in art. But None of them is related to the photography. So I doubted the results. I consulted my another colleague, James, with my concern, who has cataloged photography materials for 20 years. He agreed on my first choice and suggested the call number TR681.F28, which is more specific to fit for my collection: applied photography-->artistic photography -->photography of families. Marcia did not agree with James, so she went to CCP to check the physical collections to see who is right. It turns out that James is right. I learned from this assignment that most of Classification schedule TR are designed for photography techniques, but from TR640 to TR688, they are assigned for the photography collections.

To keep the consistency of the metadata, we always check our system to see what metadata have been used for the similar subject collections, if there are not error detected for the previous metadata, we should follow that metadata to create new one for the new collections.

AddThis module

I have installed and configured AddThis module from assignment 2 for my collection. AddThis is a bookmarking and sharing button on the Internet. This is a standard button that will allow my visitors to bookmark and share my collection with other people through email, MySpace, facebook, google, etc. social network sites.

According to the provious instruction, I installed this module as follow:

Wget http://ftp.drupal.org/files/projects/addthis-6.x-2.4.tar.gz

tar -xzvf addthis-6.x-2.4.tar.gz

ls

sudo mv addthis /var/www/drupal/modules

Visit Administer >>Site building >>module, check the boxes for AddThis.

Review the configuration options at Administer>>Site configuration>>AddThis module settings to Set username and customize look and feel for AddThis button. I checked Display on node pages so that share button appears under each item.

The installation of this module is successful without any problems. I tried to share the item in my collection through email, and it turned out it works very well. Cool!

Pace of tech assignment

I only take one course this semester, and the tech assignment is ok with me. But I still feel I am overwhelmed by the reading and writing assignments. I did not have knowledge of digital collection and content management system. Weekly case study pushes me too hard forward, and I don’t have time to digest them. I am so frustrated with the writing assignments based on huge readings each week. I feel I am left behind the schedule and class.

Discussion of CMS article

Building a Collection Development CMS on a Shoe-String

Regina Beach and Miqueas Dial
Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Texas, USA
Library Hi-Tech 2006, Vol. 24. Issue 1. pp. 115-125

I chose this paper as my reading assignment because the technical service workflow is requested to be changed during CMS implementation. In this case study, the authors describe the need for a collection development Content management systems (CMS), necessary changes in library technical services, and the process in developing a working prototype of the collection development CMS with low cost for Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK), a small university.

“CMS allow anyone with authorization to enter information onto a web page without knowledge of hypertext markup language (HTML) for purposes of updating a web site. Also, information may be entered on a web page form for sharing or distribution. All of this may be done at any time of the day or night at the user's convenience.” TAMUK library has inadequate resources to support faculties and students' research and distance education. In order to have integrated library system, web site and electronic resources work together and have faculty and students involved in collection development, a new efficient library system, a Collection Development CMS on a Shoe-String is requested. However, the challenge for such a small university is to find staff, staff time, and resources to do this while carrying out very basic library functions at their home campus.

In order to build a collection development CMS on a shoe-string, TAMUK need to change technical service workflow. The new system will let faculty place orders with web order form in the CMS and subject liaison review the orders from CMS database. Once orders are approved by librarian, order records and full bibliographic records (MARC records), provided by the vendors, will be forwarded for processing and posting to collection development website. The order records and bibliographic records will be one-enter to CMS instead of multiple inputs, and can be accessed immediately by patron, which will benefit distance education. This change will save the OCLC charges and acquisition staff work from creating a short bibliographic record. At this point, the technical service department is playing an important role in this CMS implementation.

The authors mentioned it could be a problem for the changing because of aging people. I agree with them. Maybe it will be a better practice to train someone new in the library for the new process. In my experience, it is easier for novices to accept new stuff because everything is new for them.

However, it was difficult to disseminating the information and having campus employees actually use the system, and integrating this ordering process with other library systems .

Digital collection

I have collected photos of my son to build this collection. These photographs illustrate my son's growth from when he was a infant to a 5 year old little boy. He is my second child and was born here in Tucson in 2002. He enjoys riding his bike and hiking in the mountains. He is currently learning to play the piano and he seems to be talented. Terms such as hiking, bicycling, running, growing, etc might be used to provide access.

This collection can be accessed by family members and friends. Of course, if anyone in the Digin group were interested, they could also take a look.