Dennis Nicholson

Challenges and issues in terminology mapping: a digital library perspective

Purpose – In light of information retrieval problems caused by the use of different subject schemes, this paper provides an overview of the terminology problem within the digital library field. Various proposed solutions are outlined and issues within one approach – terminology mapping are highlighted.Design/methodology/approach – Desk‐based review of existing research.Findings – Discusses benefits of the mapping approach, which include improved retrieval effectiveness for users and an opportunity to overcome problems associated with the use of multilingual schemes. Also describes various drawbacks such as the labour intensive nature and expense of such an approach, the different levels of granularity in existing schemes, and the high maintenance requirements due to scheme updates, and not least the nature of user terminology.Originality/value – General review of mapping techniques as a potential solution to the terminology problem.

HILT : a terminology mapping service with a DDC spine

SUMMARY The role of DDC in the ongoing HILT (High-level Thesaurus) project is discussed. A phased initiative, funded by JISC in the UK, HILT addresses an issue of likely interest to anyone serving users wishing to cross-search or cross-browse groups of networked information services, whether at regional, national, or international level–the problem of subject-based retrieval from multiple sources using different subject schemes for resource description. Although all three phases of HILT to date are covered, the primary concern is with the subject interoperability solution piloted in phase II, and with the use of DDC as a spine in that approach.

Beyond OAIS: Towards a reliable and consistent digital preservation implementation framework

Current work in digital preservation (DP) is dominated by the “Open Archival Information System” (OAIS) reference framework specified by the international standard ISO 14721:2003. This is a useful aid to understanding the concepts, main functional components and the basic data flows within a DP system, but does not give specific guidance on implementation-level issues. In this paper we suggest that there is a need for a reference architecture which goes beyond OAIS to address such implementation-level issues - to specify minimum requirements in respect of the policies, processes, and metadata required to measure and validate repository trustworthiness in respect of the authenticity, integrity, renderability, meaning, and retrievability of the digital materials preserved. The suggestion is not that a particular way of implementing OAIS be specified, but, rather that general guidelines on implementation are required if the term “OAIS-compliant” is to be meaningful in the sense of giving an assurance of attaining and maintaining an operationally adequate or better level of long-term reliability, consistency, and cross-compatibility in implemented DP systems that is measurable, verifiable, manageable, and (as far as possible) future-proofed.

Interoperability in subject searching and browsing

This article is an introduction to the problem of interoperability in subject searching and browsing in distributed digital libraries. The aim is to provide brief advice of practical value to those tackling the problem themselves. A general overview of problem areas is given and some current projects tackling key issues are described.

Digital Scotland, the relevance of library research and the Glasgow Digital Library Project

The Glasgow Digital Library (GDL) Project has a significance over and above its primary aim of creating a joint digital library for the citizens of Glasgow. It is also both an important building block in the development of a planned and co‐ordinated “virtual Scotland” and a rich environment for research into issues relevant to that enterprise. Its creation comes at a time of political, social, economic and cultural change in Scotland, and may be seen, at least in part, as a response to a developing Scottish focus in these areas, a key element of which is a new socially inclusive and digitally driven educational vision and strategy based on the Scottish traditions of meritocratic education, sharing and common enterprise, and a fiercely independent approach. The initiative is based at the Centre for Digital Library Research at Strathclyde University alongside a range of other projects of relevance both to the development of a coherent virtual landscape in Scotland and to the GDL itself, a supportive environment which allows it to draw upon the research results and staff expertise of other relevant projects for use in its own development and enables its relationship to virtual Scotland to be both explored and developed more readily. Although its primary aim is the creation of content (based initially on electronic resources created by the institutions, on public domain information, and on joint purchases and digitisation initiatives) the project will also investigate relationships between regional and national collaborative collection management programmes with SCONE (Scottish Collections Network Extension project) and relationships between regional and national distributed union catalogues with CAIRNS (Co‐operative Academic Information Retrieval Network for Scotland) and COSMIC (Confederation of Scottish Mini‐Clumps). It will also have to tackle issues associated with the management of co‐operation.

'NOF-Digi' : putting UK culture online

This article describes a major digitisation programme aimed at improving online access to UK cultural resources from the UK’s museums, libraries and galleries for lifelong learners and others. The programme is supported by lottery funding of £50 million and provides free access to important areas of the country’s diverse cultural, artistic, and community resources. The article describes the programme, highlights some of the projects, and looks at areas where improvements to programme coordination might have been made. At time of writing, most of the projects are still in progress.

Researching and developing virtual Scotland – a perspective from the Centre for Digital Library Research

Scotland, with its Parliament recently re‐established after 300 years, is likely to see the development of a networked service to make electronic information, learning and research materials readily available to all of its citizens as a key aim in the early part of the twenty‐first century. The newly‐created Centre for Digital Library Research (http://bubl.ac.uk/cdlr) at Strathclyde University (http://www.strath.ac.uk/) in Glasgow aims to be a significant player in the process of making the vision a reality, whilst also contributing to international research efforts in the area. Bringing the networked service of the future into being requires collaborative research and development effort in a range of areas – from identifying and documenting current problems and establishing future requirements, to work on major elements of the problem such as user needs and user interfaces, collaborative collection development, content creation and maintenance, interoperability problems, navigation and integration issues, access control, metadata, and standards and policy frameworks. The Centre is already working with stakeholder institutions, organisations and individuals across the country on a number of relevant projects and initiatives that will contribute to understanding and develop expertise in these areas. Many of them have a practical focus that will help to partially implement the kind of environment envisaged. Examples are GDL (the Glasgow Digital Library project ), CVU (Clyde Virtual University project) (http://cvu.strath.ac. uk/), CAIRNS (Co‐operative Academic Information Retrieval Network for Scotland) (http://cairns.lib.gla.ac.uk/), SCONE (Scottish Collections Network Extension project) and DIO (Digital Information Office project).

Towards a Scottish Portal: The past, present and future of CAIRNS

CAIRNS the project ended in December 2000, having met all of its major objectives. CAIRNS, the embryonic service, continues under the SCONE RSLP project until December 2001, and then the Centre for Digital Library Research until at least 2004. This paper covers some of the highlights of the final report, looking, in particular, at the achievements of the project, the conclusions of the external evaluators, possible futures, additional outcomes, lessons learned and possible implications for other organisations, initiatives (e.g. the DNER), and institutions. The aim of the project was to create a Z39.50‐based distributed union catalogue for Scottish HE and a user navigation mechanism that uses a collection description database as a means of ‘dynamically clumping’ sub‐sets of the total group of catalogues appropriate to a particular user interest (e.g. offering a distributed search of only those catalogues with strong astrophysics collections). The CAIRNS project and gateway sites are at http://cairns.lib.gla.ac.uk/ and http://cairns.lib.strath.ac.uk/ respectively. In the longer term, the service aims to be cross‐sectoral and cross‐domain.

University management of locally-created electronic resources: the CATRIONA II project

A summary of key aspects of the final report of the eLib‐funded CATRIONA II project which investigated questions relating to the university management of locally‐created electronic resources from a UK‐wide perspective, but within the context of surveys and discussions carried out in Scottish universities. Quality electronic teaching and research resources, which are of significant value or potential value to academics, universities and the UK Higher Education community in general, are being ceated at high levels in all types of university. However, since they are not being created with the aim of wider access and use, few are networked, most are difficult to find or in difficult to access electronic formats, and consequently are unlikely to be suitable for reuse by other institutions or even other departments in the host institution. There can also be other problems such as a lack of clarity on the copyright position of resources on university Web sites and a failure to protect potentially valuable university resources from copyright infringement. University management of services offering access to these resources within and beyond the host institution would greatly improve the value that both the host institution and UK Higher Education as a whole obtain from this material and the effort that goes into creating it – particularly if local efforts were co‐ordinated nationally to ensure resource design standardisation and service interoperability. Universities appear to regard the issue as important and see the advantages of managing services as outweighing the disadvantages. Most institutions appear to envisage University Libraries playing a key role in the management of services.

Interpretive journeys and METS: Determining requirements for the effective management of complex digital objects in a National Park

Purpose – To report on initial work carried out on a Metadata Options Appraisal undertaken for the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park in the context of plans to create and manage complex digital objects called Interpretive Journeys, PDA‐based multimedia guides to Park tours. Design/methodology/approach – After some initial work, a phased approach was adopted. In Phase I (reported here), metadata schema for managing structurally complex digital objects were researched to provide a range of appropriate options. Their characteristics were then matched against the Parks general requirements as determined through discussions with staff and an examination of relevant documentation. Findings – It was determined that the METS metadata schema met Park requirements for managing Interpretive Journeys at a general level and could be used both, to inform the development of the planned Digital Asset Management System (an early priority), and to act as the main basis of a framework for determining a detailed metad...