Editorial Introduction - Issue 6
Christine Schwartz
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1376
The intelligent use of technology in libraries continues to be one of
our most crucial challenges. For those of us who became librarians
because we loved to explore the book stacks, we are now finding new
ways to explore both old and new content in digital form. With issue 6
of the Code4Lib Journal we hope you will find new ways to explore,
experiment, and bring to your library users what they want and need.
Using OAI-ORE to Transform Digital Repositories into Interoperable
Storage and Services Applications
David Tarrant, Ben O'Steen, Tim Brody, Steve Hitchcock, Neil Jefferies
and Leslie Carr
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1062
In the digital age libraries are required to manage large numbers of
diverse objects. One advantage of digital objects over fixed physical
objects is the flexibility of ‘binding’ them into publications or
other useful aggregated intellectual entities while retaining the
ability to reuse them independently in other contexts. An emerging
framework for managing flexible aggregations of digital objects is
provided by the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) with its work on Object
Reuse and Exchange (ORE). This paper will show how OAI-ORE is being
used to manage content in digital repositories, in particular
institutional repositories, and has the potential ultimately to
transform the conception of digital repositories.
Semi-automatic Citation Correction with Lemon8-XML
MJ Suhonos
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1011
The Lemon8-XML software application, developed by the Public Knowledge
Project (PKP), provides an open-source, computer-assisted interface
for reliable citation structuring and validation. Lemon8-XML combines
citation parsing algorithms with freely-available online indexes such
as PubMed, WorldCat, and OAIster. Fully-automated markup of entire
bibliographies may be a genuine possibility using this approach.
Automated markup of citations would increase bibliographic accuracy
while reducing copyediting demands.
The Wise Use of Statistics in a Library-Oriented Environment
Mathias Weyland
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1275
As with most businesses, libraries use statistics to justify expenses,
to monitor the library’s expansion and to predict prospective
developments. This article describes SQL and shell techniques for data
retrieval as well as further processing of the data using the open
source statistical environment R. The article emphasizes some of the
pitfalls and reasoning errors librarians could easily slip into.
Having an academic background on statistics, the author is appointed
to projects and tasks which need mathematical and statistical methods
to be successfully accomplished.
Tree Representations: Graphics Libraries for Displaying Hierarchical Data
Mark Wilhelm
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1083
Tree representations can be useful for presenting hierarchical data on
the screen. In this article I’ll briefly describe building trees using
the Dojo, Yahoo User Interface, Java Server Faces, and Google Web
Toolkit libraries.
Visualizing Media Archives: A Case Study
Chris Beer, Courtney Michael, and Mayo Todorovic
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1119
The WGBH Media Library and Archives is piloting an online media
archive for scholarly research. In conversation with users, we have
discovered they want to quickly pinpoint items relevant to their work
and get an overview of collections and their relationships to other
materials. To demonstrate the size and complexity of our collection to
users in a meaningful way, WGBH is employing data visualization
techniques to provide an interactive, graphical representation of the
various relationships between items. This article discusses the
techniques employed in implementing our relationship map, emphasizes
the cataloging techniques required for this effort, and offers code
and examples to spark discussion about ways to improve or extend this
effort.
Course Views: A Scalable Approach to Providing Course-Based Access to
Library Resources
Jason Casden, Kim Duckett, Tito Sierra and Joseph Ryan
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1218
The NCSU Libraries’ Course Views project, along with a locally
developed widget web service, improves course-based access to library
collections and services by dynamically generating library course
pages for all 6000+ courses at NCSU. By automatically generating
custom content when possible and showcasing authored content when
available, Course Views is able to achieve full course coverage
without significantly increasing staff time to create and manage
content. This paper will describe the system and the use of web
services to achieve scalable and sustainable delivery of
course-related library content.
Integrating Process Management with Archival Management Systems:
Lessons Learned
J. Gordon Daines, III and Cory L. Nimer
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1016
The Integrated Digital Special Collections (INDI) system is a
prototype of a database-driven, Web application designed to automate
and manage archival workflow for large institutions and consortia.
This article discusses the how the INDI project enabled the successful
implementation of a process to manage large technology projects in the
Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University. It highlights how
the scope of these technology projects is set and how the major
deliverables for each project are defined. The article also talks
about how the INDI system followed the process and still failed to be
completed. It examines why the process itself is successful and why
the INDI project failed. It further underscores the importance of
process management in archival management systems.
How to Build an XML Web Client for the Gold Rush Link Resolver’s XML
Gateway Web Services Layer
Brian Kysela
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1324
The Gold Rush link resolver (GRLR) is part of a suite of programs
developed by the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL) which
help manage a library’s electronic resources. It contains the
essential features required to perform link resolution, and comes at a
substantial discount compared to other commercial Link Resolvers.
After a comprehensive review of the available options, the library at
the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) chose to implement
Gold Rush over the summer of 2008. The UTC library also decided to
take advantage of the release of the Gold Rush XML Gateway Web
Services Layer by the Colorado Alliance in the spring of 2008. This
article is a case study of how the UTC XML Web client was built and
the steps necessary to successfully deploy such a client.
Using Book Data Providers to Improve Services to Patrons
Mike Beccaria
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1009
At Paul Smith’s College, I recently implemented a “New Books” display
using open APIs and an image scroller. In this article I’ll give a
brief overview of Google Book Search, OpenLibrary and Worldcat,
explain how I created this New Books Widget using book cover data, and
provide readers with some practical and simple code to show how to
collect this data. This article will be of interest to anyone who
wants to read about a brief overview of current state of free book
data service providers. Additionally, beginner programmers will likely
find the examples at the end of the article helpful when getting
started with projects of their own.
CONFERENCE REPORT: Code4Lib 2009
Jie Chen, Joanna DiPasquale, Lauren Ko, and Andreas Orphanides
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/998
Conference reports from the 4th Code4Lib conference, held in Province,
RI from February 23 to 26, 2009. The Code4Lib conference is a
collective volunteer effort of the informal Code4Lib community of
library technologists. Included are four brief reports on the
conference from the recipients of conference scholarships.
BOOK REVIEW: Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist
Tom Keays
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1480
Written by two of the leading authorities on the semantic web, the
“Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist” is a timely and thorough
introduction to the topic. Covering RDF, RDFS, and OWL, the book takes
a logical, trainerly approach, with practical and illuminating
examples. Well worth a read.
Christine Schwartz
Metadata Librarian
Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries
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