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Alberta Library Interface

Alberta Library Interface. OCLC SiteSearch Users Group Meeting 3 May 2000. Agenda. Consortium context: The Alberta Library Role of SiteSearch Virtual union catalogue Portal management system MyLibrary. Consortium Context. The Alberta Library (TAL) province-wide library consortium

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Alberta Library Interface

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  1. Alberta Library Interface OCLC SiteSearch Users Group Meeting 3 May 2000

  2. Agenda • Consortium context: The Alberta Library • Role of SiteSearch • Virtual union catalogue • Portal management system • MyLibrary

  3. ConsortiumContext • The Alberta Library (TAL) • province-wide library consortium • umbrella organization for … • Knowledge Network (KN) • provincial organization of post-secondary libraries • APLEN (Alberta Public Library Electronic Network) • represents the public libraries in the province

  4. ConsortiumContext • Membership in TAL • 4 universities • two dozen colleges and university colleges • almost 300 public libraries (with seven regional systems) • a handful of government and special libraries • … serving a population of 2.9 million

  5. ConsortiumContext • "Campus Alberta" • initiative of the provincial government • unification of post-secondary system • libraries were the first to claim the money

  6. ConsortiumContext • Campus Alberta Funding for KN • one-time funding: $20 million • $16 million distributed to the institutions • $4 million reserved for collaborative projects • Other Campus Alberta Projects • online course registry • interesting metadata problems

  7. ConsortiumContext • "Alberta Library Interface" (ALI) • project: develop a common interface to online resources • started as KN (post-secondary) response to Campus Alberta: CALI • APLEN (public library) involvement planned for later phase, but moved up: ALI

  8. ConsortiumContext • ALI Pilot Projects • virtual union catalogue • integrated database searching • portal management system

  9. ConsortiumContext • Consultation • the Downey report • five "road shows" • online forum • Response • "at last!" … • … but give us local branding

  10. ConsortiumContext • So … ALI's mandate: • create a common interface … • but make it look different in every library • strike a balance between centralization and distribution • make sustainable change with one-time funding • make it good enough that libraries will adopt it voluntarily • make a level playing field for big and small, public and post-secondary libraries

  11. ALI Pilot Projects • Virtual Union Catalogue • Portal Management System • MyLibrary

  12. Pilot Projects • Virtual Union Catalogue • using WebZ • to be administered centrally • to include integrated database searching • therefore will require sophisticated authentication/authorization

  13. Pilot Projects • Z39.50 Environment • servers: • the four universities • two colleges (out of two dozen) • two urban public libraries (out of a dozen) • three regional public library systems (out of seven) • systems • all major vendors • Dynix dominates in numbers; large institutions use DRA, Sirsi, III

  14. Pilot Projects • Licensed Databases • searching integrated with virtual union catalogue • access control issues

  15. Pilot Projects • Advantages of WebZ • flexible interface design • sophistication of Z39.50 engine • cross-database capabilities • deduping • scalability

  16. Pilot Projects • Desiderata • web-form management of the interface • distributed authentication (cross-vendor) • distributed ILL • draw database vendors into Z39.50 interoperability debate

  17. Pilot Projects • Portal Management System • management of online resources using backend databases • separation of content and presentation • flexible enough to allow easy development of new systems • supports collaborative development

  18. Pilot Projects • Prototype: XML/XSLT • pathfinder system • using Apache's Cocoon • using Dublin Core • looking at integration with SiteSearch

  19. Pilot Projects • But… what about CORC? • commercial version for release in July • let OCLC implement DC, bibliographic database • interface management à la WebZ • integration with Database Builder

  20. Pilot Projects • MyLibrary • two levels: • customization of WebZ environment • full MyLibrary toolkit for library websites • not there yet • persistent User State Object?

  21. Conclusions • extending SiteSearch from resource discovery to resource development and management • collaboration is the key • using the web to lower the technical barriers

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