National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 57| June 2002


The National Library Experiments with Resource Discovery

As part of its Electronic Information Resources Strategies and Action Plan 2001–2002, the National Library of Australia is developing a pilot resource discovery service that will provide a single web-based entry point to digital Australiana, free of charge.

The pilot will be based on a central database which will hold descriptions for a range of materials in digital format such as theses, newspapers, journals, monographs, pictures, sheet music, maps, exhibitions, databases, research papers and web sites. A key feature of the pilot will be links providing direct access from the descriptions of items to the actual digital content itself.

Contributors
The National Library is working with a range of trusted providers of digital Australiana who are keen to make scholarly an unique cultural heritage materials easier to find and access. They include:

Each contributing service will be clearly branded in the pilot. The National Library is providing materials from its own digital collections including Australian Journals Online, PANDORA, online maps and manuscripts. The pilot will also link to PictureAustralia and a search engine, possibly Google.

Research
The pilot is being used to explore issues which often arise in the provision of cross-searching services, such as separating information on the basis of subject or on material type.Technical protocol

The National Library is also testing the use of the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), which is able to gather standard metadata at regular intervals from the participating services for subsequent integrated searching. This protocol recognises the Dublin Core metadata schema for describing materials made available via the Web.

‘The Open Archives Initiative has its roots in an effort to enhance access to e-print archives as a means of increasing the availability of scholarly communication.’ [OAI FAQ]. While this is still true, the OAI protocol has also been identified as having much potential for use by the cultural sector. In Australia, it has already been tested by AMOL, EdNA Online, and the Australian National University. A very good document describing the history of the development of OAI was written by Clifford A. Lynch, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information.

Using the Resource Discovery Service
Once the pilot database is established, it will be possible to make its metadata accessible via other services in addition to its own interface. Expressions of interest in doing this have already been received nationally from the Collaborative Online Learning Information System (COLIS) project, the Australian Academic Research Libraries Information Network (AARLIN), and the Learning Federation’s Schools Online Curriculum Content Initiative (SOCCI).

COLIS is a five-university collaboration with a specific goal to integrate online content with learning and teaching processes. AARLIN is also working towards the integration of access to information resources for students and staff in higher education, using familiar content in library catalogues and commercial databases. The Learning Federation is being developed for the schools sector, but each project is addressing similar concerns raised by the online environment—use of interoperable standards, ubiquity of processes for managing digital rights, and ensuring equity of access to all.

International expressions of interest in collaborating have also been received from the University of Michigan’s OAIster project, the University of Illinois and the National Library of Canada.

Further Information
Enquiries about the pilot may be sent to Debbie Campbell, Director, Coordination Support Branch, National Library of Australia, email: dcampbel@nla.gov.au stylAustralian Academic Research Libraries Information Network (AARLIN)—www.latrobe.edu.au/arlin/; www.lib.flinders.edu.au/aarlin/

Australian Journals Online (AJOL)—www.nla.gov.au/ajol/
Australian Digital Theses program (ADT)—http://adt.caul.edu.au/
Australian Museums Online (AMOL)—www.amol.org.au/
Australian National University (ANU) eprints— http://eprints.anu.edu.au/
Australian Virtual Engineering Library (AVEL)—www.avel.edu.au/
Collaborative Online Learning Information System (COLIS)—www.colis.mq.edu.au/
EdNA Online—www.edna.edu.au/
Electronic Information Resources Strategies and Action Plan 2001—2002— www.nla.gov.au/policy/electronic/resourcesplan.html
Google—www.google.com/
Lynch, Clifford A., Metadata Harvesting and the Open Archives Initiative—www.arl.org/newsltr/217/mhp.html
National Library of Canada—www.nlc-bnc.ca/
OAI FAQ —www.openarchives.org/documents/FAQ.html
OAIster Project, University of Michigan–http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu/
Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Protocol for Metadata Harvesting–www.openarchives.org/
PictureAustralia—www.pictureaustralia.org/
Resource Discovery Network (RDN)–www.rdn.ac.uk/
Resource Discovery Service pilot—www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/resdisc.html
Schools Online Curriculum Content Initiative (SOCCI)—www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/
South Seas project—www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/
University of Illinois’ Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting project–http://oai.grainger.uiuc.edu/

—Debbie Campbell

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