Metadata and interoperability:

Michael DayUKOLN: the UK Office for Library and Information Networking

University of Bathm.day@ukoln.ac.uk

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/

The use of standards in the Resource Discovery Network (RDN)

Seminar: Interoperability by Crossbrowsing Subject Based Information Gateways, Oslo, 21 November 2000.

Presentation outline

• A brief historical overview• The eLib subject gateways and the

ROADS project• The Resource Discovery Network (RDN)

SOSIG

• Social Science Information Gateway– One of the first UK gateways (1994)– Funded as a pilot project by the ESRC– Based at the Centre for Computing in

Economics (now Institute of Learning and Research Technology), University of Bristol

– A model for the development of other gateways

Follett Report

• Joint Funding Councils’ Libraries Review Group (December 1993):

– Report commissioned by all four UK higher education funding councils

– Chaired by Sir Brian Follett

• Recommendation (one of many):– JISC should fund the “development of a

limited number of top level networking tools in the UK to encourage the growth of local subject access tools and information servers”

eLib Programme

• Follett Implementation Group on Information Technology (FIGIT)

• Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib)– 1995-2001– Funded by Joint Information Systems

Committee (JISC)– 3 phases, funded 100+ projects grouped

together in various programme areas– Programme area for “Access to Networked

Resources” projects

eLib subject gateways (1)

• The eLib-funded projects:– ADAM - Art, Design, Architecture and Media– Biz/ed - Business education– EEVL - Engineering– History (previously IHR-Info)– OMNI - Biomedical sciences– SOSIG - Social sciences

– ROADS - enabling software and support

eLib subject gateways (2)

• Main functions:– Serve specific communities - usually

subject-based– Select Internet resources according to pre-

defined quality criteria– Create resource descriptions (metadata)– Display both search and browse interfaces

– Use of subject classification schemes and controlled vocabularies, links to thesauri

OMNI interface (1998)

ROADS project

• Resource Organisation and Discovery in Subject-based services• Partners:

– Department of Computer Studies, Loughborough University

– Institute of Learning and Research Technology (ILRT), University of Bristol

– UKOLN

http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/roads/

ROADS objectives

• Main project objectives:– To develop a configurable software toolkit

for distributed resource discovery services– To support subject gateways (and

interoperability between them) with other tools and guidelines

– To implement and test relevant standards– To enable Web page authors to describe

their own resources and supply this metadata to gateways

ROADS standards (1)

• Metadata format:• ROADS/IAFA templates

– A metadata format based on IAFA (Internet Anonymous FTP Archive) templates

– Internet-Draft– Simple – Text based– Pragmatic choice

ROADS standards (2)

• Search protocol:• Whois++ search and retrieve protocol

– Internet standard (RFC)– Simple (lightweight)– Cross-searching across distributed services– Query routing (centroids)

ROADS interoperability

• Guidelines:– Template Registry

– Cataloguing guidelines

• Metadata mappings– IAFA templates / USMARC / Dublin Core

• Experimental Z39.50/Whois++ gateway• Project involvement in wider

standardisation initiatives:– Dublin Core

– Resource Description Framework

ROADS in use

• ROADS software toolkit still in use:– SOSIG– Leeds University Library selected Web sites– Finnish Virtual Library (FVL)

• Software still available:– Developed as an open-source software

toolkit

http://www.roads.lut.ac.uk/

Taking eLib forwards ...

• Towards end of eLib funding:– A recognition that gateways were useful

– “... subject gateways have embedded themselves into professional practice very swiftly” (1997)

– A need to consider sustainability– Most gateways are not embedded in institutions– Most gateways operate on a ‘project’ basis, short-

term funding, research culture– Perceived to be in competition with each other

and with private sector suppliers

The RDN

• Resource Discovery Network:– Funded by the JISC– Launched in November 1999

• Objectives:– To extend coverage to areas not covered by

the eLib gateways – To integrate access – To develop subject based portals for

educational communities– To establish new organisational and business

models (sustainability)

SOSIG

RDNRDN

SOSIGSOSIG

BIOMEBIOME

EEVLEEVL

Hubs

Centre

• Humbul• PSIgate• Creative Arts

and Industries• ...

• Humbul• PSIgate• Creative Arts

and Industries• ...

RDN structure

RDN co-ordination

• Co-ordination:– Part of JISC’s DNER (Distributed National

Distributed Resource) Office– Based at King’s College London, with additional

support from UKOLN

– Roles:– Promoting and developing the network – Establishing frameworks to ensure quality,

consistency, and interoperability across the RDN– Presenting gateways in various views to exploit

their interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral value

RDN hubs (1)

• Hubs– Faculty-level (higher education)– Some based on eLib subject gateways, others

newly established– Made up of one or more gateways– Catalogue resources using a variety of schema– Offer Z39.50 targets for a central cross-

searching service– Maximise potential for strategic partnerships

and commercial arrangements within subject domains

HUMBUL

RDN hubs (2)

• Currently five faculty-level hubs:

OMNI interface (2000)

RDN broker service (1)

• RDN provides a central broker service that can access resource descriptions in all gateways

– Currently based on Whois++ cross-search– Plan to move to a Z39.50 based broker using

the Bath Profile http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/bath/

• Experiments with new architectures– e.g., based on sharing records through

interoperability agreements defined by the Open Archives Initiative (OAI)

SOSIG

SOSIG

Humbul

BIOME

RDN Broker‘ResourceFinder’

RDN broker service (2)

RDN broker service (3)

RDN interoperability

• Cataloguing guidelines– mandatory fields, schemes and qualifiers– Draft rules for content based on DCMES– Minimum set includes: Title, Subject,

Description, Type, Identifier and Language.– Shared list of types

• Ambition to provide common subject approach for cross-browsing

– co-operation with HILT project and Renardus

RDN sustainability

• RDN currently has over 20,000 manually created records

• 70+ staff involved at about 30 UK institutions (many part-time)

• New hubs planned:– creative arts & industries– tourism, leisure & hospitality– environment & geography

• Is the RDN model sustainable?

DNER Portals

• Extending gateways– in breadth and depth– customised user search tools and user

profiling– integration with teaching and learning

– ... while retaining the existing strengths of subject gateways ...

RDN collaboration

• Imesh:– Informal community largely based in

Europe, the US and Australia

• Collaboration with projects: – Renardus: European networked subject

gateway pilot service– IMesh toolkit: architecture and toolkit for

distributed subject gateways– SCHEMAS: Forum for metadata schema

implementers

Summing up

• ROADS– Interoperability based on common metadata

format (ROADS templates) and cross-searching via Whois++ protocol

• RDN– More diversity in metadata formats - broadly

DCMES or ROADS– Current ResourceFinder based on Whois++

cross-search– Broker based on Z39.50 using Bath Profile

Further information (1)

• Resource Discovery Network (RDN):– Funded by the Joint Information Systems

Committee (JISC) of the UK higher and further education funding councils with support from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB).

http://www.rdn.ac.uk/

Further information (2)

• UKOLN: the UK Office for Library and Information Networking:

– Funded by Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives & Libraries (the organisation that succeeded the Library and Information Commission), the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK higher and further education funding councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based.

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/