John Saylor

Core services in the architecture of the national science digital library (NSDL)

We describe the core components of the architecture for the National Science Digital Library (NSDL). Over time the NSDL will include heterogeneous users, content, and services. To accommodate this, a design for a technical and organization infrastructure has been formulated based on the notion of a spectrum of interoperability. This paper describes the first phase of the interoperability infrastructure including the metadata repository, search and discovery services, rights management services, and user interface portal facilities.

The national science digital library : An update on systems, services and collection development

ABSTRACT In this paper, we briefly describe the mission, history, and current status of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL), and then focus on the current and near future work of the NSDL Core Integration (CI) service, including the NSDL Collection Development activity, phase two of the architecture and data model, and two new services-On Ramp and Expert Voices-that leverage acquisition and management of user-contributed contextual information about educational resources, and the ability to express complex relationships between them-made possible by the new architecture. An introduction to the NSDL is provided by the About NSDL page at http://nsdl.org/.

One digital library, two undergraduate classes, and four learning modules: Uses of a digital library in classrooms

The KMODDL (kinematic models for design digital library) is a digital library based on a historical collection of kinematic models made of steel and bronze. The digital library contains four types of learning modules including textual materials, QuickTime virtual reality movies, Java simulations, and stereolithographic files of the physical models. The authors report an evaluation study on the uses of the KMODDL in two undergraduate classes. This research reveals that the users in different classes encountered different usability problems, and reported quantitatively different subjective experiences. Further, the results indicate that depending on the subject area, the two user groups preferred different types of learning modules, resulting in different uses of the available materials and different learning outcomes. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for future digital library design.