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

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 Consortium Context

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 Consortium Context

"Campus Alberta" –initiative of the provincial government –unification of post-secondary system –libraries were the first to claim the money Consortium Context

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 Consortium Context

"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 Consortium Context

ALI Pilot Projects –virtual union catalogue –integrated database searching –portal management system Consortium Context

Consultation –the Downey report –five "road shows" –online forum Response –"at last!" … –… but give us local branding Consortium Context

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 Consortium Context

ALI Pilot Projects Virtual Union Catalogue Portal Management System MyLibrary

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

Licensed Databases –searching integrated with virtual union catalogue –access control issues Pilot Projects

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

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

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

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

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