**(apologies for
cross-posting)**
NOTE: THERE ARE STILL A FEW
SPACES LEFT IN THIS WORKSHOP FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING
Workshop on developing a
services framework for libraries
Tuesday, 7 November 2006
The Fairmont Copley Plaza,
Boston, Massachusetts
During the past year, the
DLF Services Framework Working Group (SFG) has
worked through a number of
issues in trying to define a basis for
developing a services
framework for libraries and digital libraries.
Throughout this process, it
became clear to the working group members
that the framework must
capture the business logic of what people do in
libraries and how users
interact with libraries. There is currently a
lack of documentation in
this area, but it is critical to understand if
we are going to consider
developing systems that are nimble and can
easily adapt to the changing
library environments in which we live.
Borrowing from principles
that have been developed in Business Process
Modeling (BPM) and in
Service Oriented Architectures (SOA), the group
has developed a light-weight
approach for beginning to capture the
business processes of the
library and structuring them in a format that
allows discreet business
functions to be identified. These functions,
emerging from various
business areas of the library, are key to
identifying activities that
occur in multiple areas. Using a service
oriented approach, it is
then possible to look at a new way to develop
systems to meet library
needs. As stand-alone units of functionality
take shape and can be
translated to software components, these
components can be developed
once and reused many times, creating a
plug-and-play architecture
where new or better software components can
be introduced without
significant disruption.
This workshop will provide
an overview of the work of the group to date
and then focus on a hands-on
approach to define various library/digital
library activities. The
workshop attendees will break into three small
groups to work through the
business logic for three library areas:
Digitization, Storage of
digital assets, and Discovery of digital
assets. The output is
expected to be a series of flow charts and a set
of decomposed business
processes and functions that will be included in
the services framework.
These will provide a basis for further systems
analysis in the future as a
SOA-based approach to library automated
services is considered.
Workshop attendees are expected to have
experience with library IT
management and/or technical development of
digital library projects.
The workshop is limited to
25 attendees and will be held on Tuesday, 7
November 2006 from 9am –
5pm, prior to the start of the DLF Fall Forum
on 8 November 2006. Lunch
will be provided. Interested attendees should
register by 9 October at http://www.regonline.com/108299.
Priority will
be given to those at DLF
member institutions and individuals who are
members of the SFG. For more
information about the SFG’s work,
participants are encouraged
to read