Table of contents: issue40

Towards Library Groupware With Personalised Link Routing

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:00:00 +0000

Daniel Chudnov, Jeremy Frumkin, Jennifer Weintraub, Matthew Wilcox and Raymond Yee describe a potential groupware framework for integrating access to diverse information resources and distributed personal collection development.

'Library groupware' - a set of networked tools supporting information management for individuals and for distributed groups - is a new class of service we may choose to provide in our libraries. In its simplest form, library groupware would help people manage information as they move through the diversity of online resources and online communities that make up today's information landscape. Complex implementations might integrate equally well with enterprise-wide systems such as courseware and portals on a university campus, and desktop file storage on private individual computers.

Rights Management and Digital Library Requirements

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:00:00 +0000

Karen Coyle describes some aspects of rights expression languages favoured by the commercial content industries and how these may differ from the rights needs of digital libraries.

It is common to hear members of the digital library community debating the relative merits of the two most common rights expression languages (RELs) - the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) and the rights language developed for the Motion Picture Expert Group (MPEG) and recently adopted by the International Organization for Standardization [1] - and which is preferable for digital library systems.

An Introduction to the Search/Retrieve URL Service (SRU)

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:00:00 +0000

Eric Lease Morgan describes sibling Web Service protocols designed to define a standard form for Internet search queries as well as the structure of the responses.

This article is an introduction to the "brother and sister" Web Service protocols named Search/Retrieve Web Service (SRW) and Search/Retrieve URL Service (SRU) with an emphasis on the later. More specifically, the article outlines the problems SRW/U are intended to solve, the similarities and differences between SRW and SRU, the complimentary nature of the protocols with OAI-PMH, and how SRU is being employed in a sponsored NSF (National Science Foundation) grant called OCKHAM to facilitate an alerting service.

Collection-level Description: Thinking Globally before Acting Locally

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:00:00 +0000

Ann Chapman and Bridget Robinson write on the work of the Collection Description Focus and the links between Tap into Bath, Cornucopia and the Information Environment Service Registry.

Collection Description Focus

The UK Collection Description Focus was launched on 1 June 2001. It was set up as a national post, jointly funded for a twelve-month period by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) [1], the Research Support Libraries Program (RSLP) [2] and the British Library [3].

Tap Into Bath

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:00:00 +0000

Alison Baud and Ann Chapman describe the development of a database of archive, library and museum collections in Bath.

Since 1999, when it was first proposed to use metadata for collection-level description within the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) [1], there has been steadily growing interest in this new method of supporting resource discovery. A number of collection-level description databases have now been created in the UK, funded through national initiatives. However, little documentation is available on how these were designed and created.

Cornucopia: An Open Collection Description Service

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:00:00 +0000

Chris Turner describes the latest phase of Cornucopia development and the opportunities this is opening up for the future.

A Little History

Cornucopia is a searchable database of collections held by cultural heritage institutions throughout the UK. It is developed and managed by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and was initially established in response to the Government's Treasures in Trust report which called for a way to be found of recognising the richness and diversity of our collections.

The Information Environment Service Registry: Promoting the Use of Electronic Resources

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:00:00 +0000

Amanda Hill outlines progress on the Information Environment Service Registry Project and explains what it will mean for service providers and portal developers.

The last ten years have seen a huge investment in the creation of electronic resources for use by researchers, students and teachers. Increasing amounts of money are being spent now on providing portals and virtual learning environments (or learning management systems) for use within institutions and organisations, or for people focusing on particular subject areas. A portal is defined by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) as -

Targeting Academic Research With Southampton's Institutional Repository

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:00:00 +0000

Jessie Hey describes how user needs have influenced the evolutionary development of 'e-Prints Soton' as the University of Southampton Research Repository.

The University of Southampton has been one of the pioneers of open access to academic research, particularly, in the tireless advocacy of Professor Stevan Harnad and in the creation of the EPrints software [1], as a vehicle for creating open access archives (or repositories) for research. These activities have been supported by a long-standing programme of research into digital libraries, hypermedia, and scholarly communication.