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**(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

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july06/lavoie/07lavoie.html.