enardus
www.renardus.org
Collaborative Systems and Tools: Renardus case study
Lesly Huxley, Leona Carpenter, Marianne Peereboom
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Renardus: a case study
Project aims, concepts and rationale
Collaborative systems and tools to support: Data modelling, cross-mapping, metadata sharing
System architecture and technical infrastructure
Organisation and collaboration: now and in future
Implementation examples
enardus
www.renardus.org
Aims, concepts and rationale
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What is Renardus?
An EU-funded project (1 Jan 2000 - 30 June 2002) under the Information Society Technologies programme (5th framework)
Collaboration between 7 European countries, representatives of 11 existing subject gateways
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Principle aim
To build the “Renardus Broker Service” to support European academic and
research communities
… an academic subject gateway in Europe
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Principle concepts
Collaboration (not limited to national organisations)
Integrated views of metadata for heterogeneous Internet-accessible resources
Cross-search and cross-browse functionality
A single interface but no central data repository
Interaction with existing distributed subject gateways and other Internet-accessible collections across Europe
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Rationale
There are already many useful quality-controlled gateways across Europe BUT …
Sustainability of projects (now services) is an issue
No one country or service can identify, describe and organise all available Internet resources to support the academic and research communities of Europe
Collaboration is needed to maintain quality, improve users’ access and develop sustainable services
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Benefits for users/intermediaries
One interface to use/learn
Access to broader collections covering more subjects, countries, languages
Discover resources not necessarily available through local services
European perspective on global resources
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Benefits for participating gateways
Shared costs of development and best practice could potentially accelerate development of new services and avoids duplication of effort
Easier to achieve ‘critical mass’ in gateways’ size and number / range of users
Collaboration demands consistent application of agreed technical standards, in turn leading to improved interoperability for gateways
enardus
www.renardus.org
Implementation
Timescales, participants, coverage
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Implementation timescales
January-May 2001: Alpha and beta systems developed
June-November 2001:Pilot service released for evaluation
March 2002: Showcase preview of operational service
June 2002:Move from project status to service
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Partners from 7 EU countries Netherlands: Koninklijke Bibliotheek
National Library (KB)
Denmark: Technical Knowledge Center and Library of Denmark (DTV)
Finland: Center for Scientific Computing
(CSC); Jyväskylä University Library,
Finland (JyU): Viiki Science Library (ALUH)
France: Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF)
Germany: Die Deutsche Bibliothek (DDB) Niedersächsische Staats- und
Universitätsbibliothek, Göttingen (SUB)
Zentralstelle für Agrardokumentation Und -information (ZADI);
Sweden: NetLab (University of Lund)
United Kingdom: Institute for Learning & Research
Technology (ILRT); UK Office for Library and
Information Networking (UKOLN)
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Renardus gateways (pilot)
DutchESS - Dutch Electronic Subject Service (KB-NL) SSG-FI - Special Subject Guides (Geoguide, Mathguide, History
Guide, Anglistik Guide (SUB, Göttingen) DAInet - Deutsches Agrarinformationsnetz (ZADI) DEPOSIT.DDB.DE Document server (DDB) Resource Discovery Network (UKOLN) Finnish Virtual Library (Jyväskylä University Library, Finland) EELS - Engineering Electronic Library, Sweden NOVAgate - Nordic Gateway to information in Forestry,
Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences (Viikki Science Library, Finland)
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Coverage (pilot)
11 subject-specific services covering engineering, maths, social sciences, literature, life sciences, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, geography, history
2 services covering all subjects, 1 electronic theses
All gateways provide English-language metadata
Some gateways focus on native resources but the majority have worldwide coverage
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Language coverage
Limited scope in project timescales/resources Pilot interface and help texts all translated
into Dutch, Finnish, French and German Translation toolkit developed based on
‘tagged’ templates Each tagged element of English content
replaced with translated words and phrases Easily updated across all languages
Renardus pilot service home page
enardus
www.renardus.org
Metadata modelling, mapping and sharing
Issues and collaborative systems and tools
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A common metadata model
To support consistent retrieval and presentation of integrated data from heterogeneous services
Eight elements derived from gateways’ existing data models (survey)
All but one are Dublin Core elements No Renardus-specific refinements
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Renardus data model (pilot)
Mandatory elements:
DC.Title DC.Description DC.Identifier DC.Subject
Recommended or optional elements:
DC.Creator DC.Language DC.Type DC.Country
Two administrative elements: SBIG ID, Full Record URL
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Classification cross-mapping
Cross-browsing: pinpointed as key functionality
Achieved by mapping local classification systems to common universal classification scheme: Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC)
OCLC research license allows mapping of top levels of DDC
License also obtained for other language versions of DDC top levels to support multilinguality
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Classification cross-mapping
Five levels of relevance mapped: fully equivalent narrower equivalent broader equivalent major overlap minor overlap
Mapping tool (CarmenX) adapted from CARMEN project to assist mapping
CarmenX mapping tool
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Experiments in metadata sharing
Not intended to support planned functionality for pilot BUT ...
Explore potential for future exploitation of collaborative framework
Using geographical subject headings as testbed
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Renardus Metadata Sharing Tool
Developed from work in the SSG-FI project
Comprises database, import/export routines, replication module for exchanging data between partners
Still determining type/extent of collaboration Enriching existing metadata Developing workflow routines Implementing tailored search profiles for partners
enardus
www.renardus.org
System architecture and technical infrastructure
Issues and collaborative systems and tools
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
A distributed broker system
Renardus is based on a distributed, decentralised architectural model
Requires participating gateways to implement a local Renardus server using Z39.50 (server kit available)
Interoperability achieved through normalization to a common metadata model
Renardus architectural model
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Normalization Toolkit
Imports metadata from originating gateways including cross-mapping relationships
Adds acronym and logo (and full record URL) based on administrative data
Exports records in format compliant with Renardus application profile including DDC subject entries added automatically
on basis of CarmenX cross-mapping tables
Example of cross-browsing functionality
Example of graphical navigation overview
Example of integrated browse results
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Monitoring and maintenance
Gateways required to monitor quality of records and performance of servers
Z-server status tool forwards standard simple/advanced queries daily to participants’ Z-servers and presents response time and number of records retrieved for each query
Spong tool is a simple systems monitoring package presenting basic server status information
enardus
www.renardus.org
Organisation and sustainabilityIssues and outcomes
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Organisational infrastructure
Shift of focus from coordinating role of national libraries and other national initiatives towards other forms of collaboration
If the service is to survive post-project, need to identify: Tasks and costs of service provision if
fully-funded Subset of tasks to enable continued
service provision on a “lightweight model”
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(Potential) players
Renardus Consortium (existing partner organisations)
National and international funding bodies, advertisers, sponsors
Intermediaries offering Renardus services to their customers and users
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Central organisation
Management group to support Consortium administration, policy making / business strategies, service provision, financial management; legal and rights management
Formed before the end of the project to facilitate transition from project to service, even if under lightweight model
Currently exploring options with various potential partners for pilot service maintenance and/or further development
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Central organisation
Service Provision and Maintenance Group Maintenance of technical infrastructure; technical
support; addition of new gateways, innovation/development; gathering of statistical data; maintenance of datamodel and Mappings
PR Group Web site, promotion/marketing, user support,
support for (potential) service providers; gathering user feedback and statistics; facilitate communication
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Dissemination and Support
User Guidelines for potential participants
Workshop for potential participants
(all materials available online)
News Digest email newsletters
Web site project archive
All available from www.renardus.org in the
About us … section
enardus
www.renardus.org
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