Going Digital Anne Partridge Systems Librarian Cranfield University, UK European Unicorn User GroupMadrid - September 2000

Going Digital

Anne Partridge

Systems Librarian

Cranfield University, UK

European Unicorn User Group Madrid - September 2000

What I’ll Be Covering


• Introduction to Cranfield University

• Information & Library Services at Cranfield

• Why create a Digital Media Archive with Hyperion?

• A Guided Tour of Hyperion

• Installation & Implementation at Cranfield University - what’s happened so far and what issues have been raised ?

• What's in store?

Cranfield University• Established 1946 as first postgraduate College of Aeronautics in the UK. Granted University status in 1969.

• Now Western Europe’s largest academic centre for strategic and applied research, design and development.

• Principal activities are post-graduate teaching, research and continuing professional development.


Cranfield University

• Leading international position in the following sectors: Advanced Engineering & Materials, Aerospace & Avionics, BioScience & Technology, Defence, Energy, Management & Social Policy, Marine Technology & Manufacturing.

• Situated on three campuses: Cranfield, Silsoe and the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham.

• Small, ~ 3,100 students (77% postgraduate)


Information & Library Services• Provided by five libraries on three sites

• Went live with Unicorn in December 1998; currently at 99.2.4.2 on live server; 99.4 on test server (WorkFlows and WebCat)

• Cranfield / Silsoe Webcat - http://unicorn.central.cranfield.ac.uk/uhtbin/webcat

• RMCS Webcat - http://unicorn-u.rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk:8080/

• Purchased Hyperion in October 1999, first European implementation in January 2000.


Information & Library Services

• Pushing forward the use of digital resources and their integration with print-based information resources to provide simple access for users.

• AERADE subject portal (http://aerade.cranfield.ac.uk)

• access to over 3,000 electronic journals

• ~ 100 databases providing specialised, subject based information (many full text)

• EURILIA project


Creating a Digital Media Archive...


Digital Information

• Amount of digital information is escalating

• Ability to turn digital data into organised knowledge to support learning, teaching and research

• Recognised need for a University wide system enabling us to acquire, organise, catalogue, index and preserve digital information

• Recognised need to control access to this system to protect intellectual property


Non-digital information

• Paper, photographs, microfilm, microfiche, video, audio, maps, drawings, large paper formats, slides, works of art, 3D objects.

• By digitising selected collections, we hope to :

• Open up new avenues of research

• Enable wider potential access

• Integrate many different media / collections into one access point


WebCat allows you to link to electronic documents via the 856 field so why invest in Hyperion?


Benefits of using Hyperion• Persistent URL to multiple objects

• Persistent URL for external links

• Hierarchy to store and browse objects

• Metadata records containing supplementary text

• Full text indexing of metadata records

• Clarit NLP search engine indexes entire documents

• Security control

• Integration with Unicorn Library Management System; provides a single user interface for print and digital resources


•Enhanced access for users

•web-based interface enabling remote and local use

•multiple user access

•available 24 hours, 7 days a week

• Enhanced searching - using bibliographic catalogues, descriptive metadata, and full-text.


Perceived Benefits - Users

• Increased prestige for the Library by employing the latest proven technologies to enhance the role of the Library within the University and world-wide

• Preservation of rare and fragile material

• Staff development

• Improved usage metrics for electronic resources


Perceived Benefits - Library

• Cost-effective consolidation of information resources - both from a management and provision / cost aspect

• Enterprise wide information sharing

• Development of the University’s e-business vision


Perceived Benefits - University

A Guided Tour...


• Hyperion Manager Module

• Hyperion Gateway

• Hyperion Hierarchy Manger

• Hyperion Metadata Manager

• Hyperion Media File Manager

• Hyperion Media Text Index Manager

• Hyperion Access Manager

• Hyperion Web Client Interface

• Hyperion Import Facility

• Hyperion System Application Program InterfaceEuropean Unicorn User Group Madrid - September 2000

Hyperion Modules

Searching the Catalogue...







Structure of the 856 tag

|fIARC:<Altid>|zInformation for users


Browsing the Archive...









Searching the Archive...







Linking to items from elsewhere….


http://server address/uhtbin/hyperion/altid

http://unicorn.central.cranfield.ac.uk/

uhtbin/hyperion/SWP1099


Hyperion GUI Client





• All the Hyperion Administrators I’ve talked to agree, its simple, straight forward and compared to Unicorn a bit of a doddle!

• Three reports scheduled each night to maintain the indexes.

• Hyperion has separate servers (3) to Unicorn and these aren’t yet included in the automatic halt and run script - (due to come in with Unicorn 2000)


Administration

• Five day Strategic Workshop

• Purchase of new hardware

• Systems Administration Training

• Configuring system parameters - e.g. metadata (Dublin Core)

• Developing workflows

• Inputting the metadata, digitising the materials, linking to the catalogue


The First Few Steps

Dublin Core

…is a standardised set of basic fields, called metadata elements, that are considered the most useful in idenitfying a particular digital object. The 15 core fields of the Dublin Core format provide a succinct description of a digital object.

…fully supported in Hyperion

…still developing (see http://purl.org/DC/)



Workflows


Preparation


• Underestimated task

• Remove staples / paper clips

• Unfold / flatten pages

• Remove security tags

• Batch by quality / colour

• Reduce oversize originals

Scanning Resolution


• Measured in dots per inch (dpi)

• 200 x 200 dpi legible for most documents

• 300 x 300 dpi for small text and recognition

• 2 x resolution = 4 x file size

• B&W A4 page at 200 dpi =0.48MB

• Greyscale A4 page at 200dpi = 3.87 MB

• 24 bit colour A4 at 200 dpi = 11.6 MB

Output options


• Hyperion can deal with multiple file types: image file (TIFF, JPEG), Adobe PDF, Text Files (ASCII, .txt), comma delimited files (MS Access), Tagged file formats (HTML but not XML at present), Digital Video and Audio- (MPRG, QuickTime), Virtual Reality (VRML, QuickTime).

• Standardised on jpeg for images

• and for text - pdf-image & text (original bitmap is used to display and recognized (OCR) text is hidden behind as invisible second layer for searching.

• Archive scanned materials in TIFF format

Quality Control


• Established Quality Control Criteria

• Built into multiple points in the workflow

• On-the-fly at whilst scanning

• Post-scan image checking

• Sample or 100%

In-house vs out-sourcing


• Need to decide whether in-house scanning or out-sourcing to an external bureau would be more appropriate.

• Out-sourcing: originals not capable of being scanned in house, ie bound volumes or intended product is particularly complex.

• In-house: collection cannot be moved out of the institution, collection badly organised, needs to take pplace in small amounts over a long period, simple task.

Scanners


• Wide variety of scanners on market

• Rotary / flat bed / planetary / hand held

• Take different types and sizes of document

• Single or double sided / automatic feed

• Different throughput speed

• Colour / black & white / scanning resoultion

• Range of price / performance options

Copyright


• In the UK information and guidelines can be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency. Their web site at http://www.cla.co.uk contains information on electronic copying and digital use of copyright material

The Future


• Completion of pilot projects is expected in a fairly tight timescale.

• Other projects to follow -

• PHD theses

• School of Mechanical Engineering / School of Water Science Lecture notes (restricted access)

• British Library funded research project into Management of Access of Grey Literature (http://www.magic.ac.uk) includes digitisation of entire Aeronautical Research Council reports collection

Need More Info?• http://www.sirsi.co.uk

• http://www.sirsi.com

• both give information on the product and the ability to look at a demo system

• Unicorner Vol. 19 No. 2, Spring 2000 is almost entirely dedicated to Hyperion


Need More Info?Anne Partridge

Systems Librarian

Kings Norton Library

Cranfield University

Cranfield

Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL

Tel: +44 (0) 1234 750111 ext.3714

Fax: +44 (0) 1234 752391

Email: [email protected]


Nick Phipps

SIRSI

Unicorn House

Station Close

Potters Bar

Herts EN6 3JW

Tel: 01707 858000

Fax: 01707 858111

Email: [email protected]

Documents

Going Digital Anne Partridge Systems Librarian Cranfield University, UK European Unicorn User GroupMadrid - September 2000