The National Library’s role in the The National Library’s role in the Australian Research Information Australian Research Information
Infrastructure projectsInfrastructure projects
Warwick CathroWarwick CathroNational Library of AustraliaNational Library of Australia
Coalition for Networked InformationCoalition for Networked Information15 April 200415 April 2004
Why might you want to hear Why might you want to hear this?this?
Why might you want to hear Why might you want to hear this?this?
An attempt to support research information infrastructure on a national scale
An attempt to kick-start or accelerate deployment of repositories, extend nationally if possible
An example where policy area of government is actively collaborating with university stakeholders
An example of collaboration between a national library and groups of universities
OutlineOutlineOutlineOutline
The Australian Research Information Infrastructure Projects
The National Library’s digital services activities
Project ARROW
Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories
Meta Access Management System (MAMS) Project
Conclusions
The Australian RII ProjectsThe Australian RII ProjectsThe Australian RII ProjectsThe Australian RII Projects
Scope of federal government’s research funding activities
“Backing Australia’s Ability” (2001)
Report of the Higher Education Information Infrastructure Implementation Steering Committee
Institutional repositories seen as a key strategy for improved management of research information
Funds (A$12M) allocated to four projects in October 2003
Future policy and funding Future policy and funding issuesissues
Future policy and funding Future policy and funding issuesissues
Australian Research Information Infrastructure Committee (ARIIC)
Examination of middleware issues and future funding needs
Report of National Research Infrastructure Task Force (March 2004)
NLA digital services activitiesNLA digital services activities
NLA’s digital collections
NLA’s digital services architecture
Resource discovery layer
Persistent identifiers and the resolver service
Digital object management layer
Web delivery systems
NLA’s Digital CollectionsNLA’s Digital CollectionsPANDORA (5 000+ web sites, 10 000+ snapshots)
Digitised pictures (70 000+ pictures)
Digitised sheet music (5 000+ multi-page items)
Digitised maps (2 500+ maps)
Digitised manuscript collections (10 collections, 6 500+ items)
Oral history and folklore audio recordings converted to digital form (7000+ hours out of 35000)
Examples of principlesExamples of principlesSupport entire activity cycle for digital collectionsSupport integrated access to print and digital resourcesEnsure every item is citable and accessible in a persistent mannerSupport hierarchical digital library data model
The ArchitectureThe Architecture
Resource DiscoveryResource DiscoveryDigital collection items will be discovered through multiple entry points
Prime institutional entry point is the catalogue
Public search engines (eg Google)
Federated and specialised discovery services
Metadata Repository and Search System
Based on TeraText Database System
Z39.50 compliant
Persistent identifiersPersistent identifiers
Consultancy on PI frameworkSee Reference [5] in the handout
PI assigned to every digital collection item and every deliverable component of each item
These citations will never break
Resolver serviceResolver serviceSimple Java servlet application parses the PI and re-directs user to current web location
All requests in the form http://nla.gov.au/<pi> are passed to the resolver application
Requires that the PI contains some intelligence
Digital Object ManagementDigital Object ManagementNot possible to source suitable products in the marketplace
Digital Archiving System (PANDAS)See Reference [7] in handout
Digital Collections Manager (DCM)See Reference [4] in handout
Digital Archiving SystemDigital Archiving SystemFunctions:
controls harvesting of web sitesmanages metadata about harvested sitesgenerates title entry pagesmanages access restrictions
Metadata includes:descriptive metadatapermission statusrestriction informationgathering schedule
Digital Collections ManagerDigital Collections ManagerFunctions:
supports digitisation workflowcreates web derivativesmanages storage of metadata and digital files
Metadata types supported:descriptive metadataadministrative metadata (including technical data such as image resolution)structural metadata
Web Delivery SystemsWeb Delivery SystemsWeb delivery systems developed for pictures, maps, sheet music, manuscripts
Based on Digital Collections Manager
Contextual display allows user to navigate pages, zoom, view metadata
For manuscripts, closely tied to finding aid
For maps, MrSID technology provides powerful zoom capability
To be extended to support delivery of audio files
Project ARROWProject ARROW
Led by Monash UniversityThree other management partners, including NLAARROW will identify, test and develop an
institutional repository solutionAll four partners will commit to using the solutionARROW will also develop a discovery service
with a potential nationwide scope
Project ARROW: business Project ARROW: business contextcontext
Desire to integrate support for electronic press, e-print repository and e-theses
Potential future inclusion of learning objects, research resources (not just output)
Potential to utilise annual DEST returns to systematically build repository and showcase institutional output
Potential to drive cultural change
Longer term potential of providing alternatives to current scholarly publishing outlets
Project ARROW: deliverablesProject ARROW: deliverables
Software platforms and storage solutions at four sites
NLA will use its repository to complement its digital services architecture
Representative clusters of contentDocumentationAvailability of repositories for metadata harvestingAssistance to other institutions with repositories
Project ARROW: stagesProject ARROW: stages
Demonstration (2004)Developing architecture, selecting, testing and developing software
Deployment (late 2004 – end 2005)Populating the repositories
Distribution (mid 2005 – end 2006)Enabling others to participate
Project ARROW: resource Project ARROW: resource discoverydiscovery
Metadata will be harvested from ARROW and other repositories using OAI protocol
NLA will build a metadata repository and search service based on TeraText platform
Resource discovery service will support a range of logical views, branded interfaces, alerting services
Discovery service will expose its own metadata for harvesting by international and disciplinary services
Progress to dateProgress to date
Management Committee and Technical Committee formed
Project Manager appointed2003 study tour (UK and USA)NLA had already developed “proof of concept”
discovery serviceProcess of selecting repository software is
underway
Australian Partnership for Australian Partnership for Sustainable RepositoriesSustainable Repositories
Led by the Australian National UniversityFour other partners, including NLAWill develop demonstrator repositoriesWill support continuity and sustainability of
digital collectionsResearch data sets are in scope
Digital Sustainability ProgramDigital Sustainability Program
Will be led by NLAWill establish links with the UK Digital Curation
CentreWill develop a national centre of excellenceWill provide advice, documentation, tools to assist
the university community to sustain and preserve repository content
NLA experienceNLA experience
Development of PANDORA archiveDevelopment of the PADI serviceWork on standards for preservation metadataMembership of International Internet Preservation
Consortium
Practices and Testbeds ProgramPractices and Testbeds Program
Further development of DSpace repository at Australian National University
Development of a physically distributed repository at University of Sydney supporting text, images, spatial data sets, audio files
Development of a repository at University of Queensland
Outreach activitiesOutreach activities
National Services Program will provide technical advisory services, consultation and educational services
International Linkages program will contribute to standards development, maintain a technology watching brief
Meta Access Management Meta Access Management System (MAMS)System (MAMS)
Led by Macquarie UniversityWill investigate and test integrated solutions for
authentication and authorisation
Middleware componentsMiddleware components
An “umbrella” system for intra-institutional authentication and authorisation that recognises realities of legacy environments
An inter-institutional regime based on attribute exchange
Automated decision making using machine readable policy
Extensible, federated identity system
NLA role in MAMSNLA role in MAMS
Access policy description schemaWill build on the Library’s work in online
directories, including standards for describing services and access policies
Examples: policies on categories of users served, service levels, types of service provided, charging policies
ConclusionsConclusionsConclusionsConclusionsImportance of robust research infrastructure has
been recognised by Australian Government
Institutional repositories recognised as part of the solution
Further middleware services need to be identified and developed
Four projects are underway
NLA is a supporting partner in three of them
Questions?Questions?Questions?Questions?
Contact: Warwick CathroAssistant Director-General, InnovationNational Library of [email protected]
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