LISTSERV mailing list manager LISTSERV 16.5

Help for CODE4LIB Archives


CODE4LIB Archives

CODE4LIB Archives


CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

CODE4LIB Home

CODE4LIB Home

CODE4LIB  December 2012

CODE4LIB December 2012

Subject:

Re: Blacklight implementation at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

From:

"Levy, Michael" <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 11:50:38 -0500

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (126 lines)

For our commercial ILS, of course SolrMarc was the thing. I started with
the default Blacklight configuration and customized that. The MARC export
is completely updated nightly.

The collections management system provided a Java API, and programmers here
(not me) created a Solr XML file, created nightly and updated into Solr.

For the two desktop database applications that power the photo archives and
film and video archives, a programmer here created PHP interfaces to create
a Solr XML file which is updated nightly. Same with the custom MSSQL
application that sources the "Names Source" type records -- a PHP script
runs nightly to create the Solr XML.

Another interesting feature is that some records are for internal display
only. There's an intranet version on a server on our LAN and another on a
web server. For each record, a Solr field  indicates whether it's OK for
web exposure. I had to decide whether it made more sense to maintain two
Solr indexes or a single Solr instance and decided on a single Solr
instance. I was able to use some Blacklight configuration
(config.default_solr_params and config.default_document_solr_params) to
ensure those are filtered out. In addition, certain fields and certain
facets are only displayed on the internal version. The switching is done in
catalog_controller.rb based on where the application is sitting (via
Rails.root). A few differences are also based on where the user is sitting
(e.g. a user on our LAN viewing the public web version will get streaming
media from our LAN and not from our streaming host).


On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 11:21 AM, Jonathan Rochkind <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Just curious, did you use Hydra for this project, or just straight
> Blacklight without Hydra?
>
> Esp if not Hydra, what tools did you end up using for indexing your
> content into Solr? (Only SolrMarc, all your content was already avail in
> Marc?)
>
>
> On 12/11/2012 11:10 AM, Levy, Michael wrote:
>
>> I posted the message below on the Blacklight Development group, and I was
>> encouraged to share with code4lib, so I'm reposting with some minor edits:
>>
>> I'd like to share a Blacklight implementation at the United States
>> Holocaust Memorial Museum that is available at
>> http://collections.ushmm.org/**search<http://collections.ushmm.org/search>It's been in use in-house for about a
>> year, with constant improvements and additions.
>>
>> First, a tremendous thanks and kudos to all of the people involved in the
>> Blacklight project. I'm so grateful to everyone who worked on the project
>> and to those who have helped me with Blacklight, Ruby on Rails, and
>> SolrMarc.
>>
>> The various collecting units at the Museum use very different fields,
>> labels, vocabularies, and spellings. I had a lot of fun mapping them and
>> thinking about what sorts of fields might work together for searching. The
>> catalog records sources include: a commercial ILS; a commercial
>> collections
>> management system; two completely custom desktop database applications; a
>> spreadsheet; and a custom MSSQL database application. In addition, we have
>> a system that manages digitized assets that supplies some data.
>>
>> Selecting a project based on Ruby on Rails came at a cost, including the
>> learning curve involved with RoR and, moreso, due to the process of having
>> RoR established with our IT infrastructure group. (Thanks go to our IT
>> group as well!)
>>
>> I looked at some other really fine open source projects as well as
>> commercial products. Blacklight seemed optimal for our case because it
>> easily deals with any kind of metadata sources and it was a mature system
>> with a vibrant user/developer community.
>>
>> I'll highlight a few interesting features.
>>
>> Our collections management system supports relationships between records
>> including parent/child type relationships, e.g. between collection and the
>> items that comprise it. Here is a collection that has one archival
>> (document) collection plus several objects:
>> http://collections.ushmm.org/**search/catalog/irn508676<http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn508676>
>> We also have another parent/child type of relationship, where a group at
>> the Museum catalogs victim or survivor lists. I could import those, and
>> because there's enough metadata to link to the archival collection they
>> are
>> part of, I can link them together. For example, this archival collection
>> http://collections.ushmm.org/**search/catalog/irn508286<http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn508286>is linked to a number
>> of names source catalog records at the bottom, and each of those is linked
>> to the archival record as its source. These are done by doing a separate
>> Solr search for each item to see whether it's got a parent or children to
>> display near the bottom of the record.
>>
>> Many years ago the Museum developed a geographic database. One area where
>> the various collecting units catalog disparately is in location naming. I
>> simply turned the names into a Solr synonyms file and then I highlight the
>> snippets in the index/list view. So that way, if you searched for L'viv
>> and
>> you got a hit on Lemberg or Lwow or L'vov, you'd know why you got it. Same
>> with Munich, München, Muenchen, Munchen, and for Lodz/Litzmannstadt. (Some
>> day would be nice to have the name expansion be switchable on or off.)
>>
>> Thumbnail (and larger) images from the archival records and objects come
>> from the collections management system for the Museum objects. Also
>> finding
>> aids for archival ("Document") records are currently managed in the CMS
>> system as doc, docx, or xls files and are delivered through Blacklight on
>> the detail page. For the photos and the historical film, the thumbnails
>> come from other sources based on the two custom desktop databases
>> mentioned
>> above.
>>
>> We have thousands of hours of oral history testimony in many languages
>> viewable from the Blacklight detail page as mp4 or mp3 files. The easiest
>> way to get to those is by limiting Record Type to Oral History, and Online
>> to "Yes":
>> http://collections.ushmm.org/**search/catalog?f[di_available]**
>> []=Yes&f[record_type_facet][]=**Oral+History<http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog?f[di_available][]=Yes&f[record_type_facet][]=Oral+History>
>>
>> I welcome feedback regarding the user interface, bug reports, and any
>> other
>> ideas you have, on the list or offline. (Plus I hope to meet some of you
>> at
>> code4lib 2013.)
>>
>> Cheers!
>>
>>
>>

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

Advanced Options


Options

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password


Search Archives

Search Archives


Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003

ATOM RSS1 RSS2



LISTS.CLIR.ORG

CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager