1. A B C D A FOSS solution for libraries and documentation centres in the South

2. Overview Background information on ABCD  ISIS and libraries in the South  BIREME's ISIS technology  VLIR/UOS and the DOCBIBLAS project 'Product presentation' of ABCD  Technology  Modules overview

3. BACKGROUND INFO I ISIS and libraries in the South :  ISIS : UNESCO free text retrieval database, multiplatform DOS/UNIX/Windows/WWW  Widely used in the South, esp. Latin America  Changed to FOSS since 2007 BIREME (WHO Brazil) runs advanced and high-volume applications on health information with ISIS and developed new technologies

4. BACKGROUND INFO II VLIR/UOS decided to concentrate efforts on library development on 1 solution and granted a project fund 'Development Of and Capacity Building in ISIS-Based Library Automation Systems' (DOCBIBLAS, promoter : E. de Smet) DOCBIBLAS joined with BIREME to integrate all library functions into one system: ABCD (Automatisación de Bibliotécas y Centros de Documentación)

5. BACKGROUND INFO III Flemish input into ABCD :  DOCBIBLAS budget for software development  DOCBIBLAS project steering committee has evaluated, monitored and advised on the development (members : R. De Keyser, P. Dekeyser, J. Desitter, J. Rademakers, E. de Smet)  P. Dekeyser (MARC-format) and E. de Smet (general supervision) made direct contributions  First international ABCD workshop held in Brussels (March 2009) with 20+ participants from 12 countries DOCBIBLAS II approved : assistance with at least 5 VLIR/UOS partner university libraries for implementation of ABCD

6. BACKGROUND INFO IV Therefore : mission of ABCD =  To provide integrated library automation solution for ISIS-users  To serve as an alternative to KOHA /PMB (etc.)  To try the impossible : combine typical 'low-end' users' profile with high-end technology, e.g. allowing any database structure using ISIS Formatting Language for librarian- oriented data-management including university library standards (MARC, Z39.50, OAI...)

7. BACKGROUND INFO V Development steps :  Preparation/selection etc. from end of 2007  Announcement ISIS 3 Conference Rio 2008  Release 0.5 tested from October 2008  Actual release : 0.9  1 st full release 1.0 : presented 3/12/2009 Workshops in Brussels (3/2009) and Buenos Aires (9/2009), Sao Paulo (12/2009), many more to follow

8. Product Presentation 0 Basic idea : University Libraries in the South deserve a suitable tool allowing them to fully serve their institutions and join the Information Society Specifications for ABCD set by VLIR/UOS Experts group :  FOSS, Multiplatform (Windows+Linux), multilingual (English/French/Spanish/Portuguese)  ISIS- and WWW-based  MARC-compatible (+ other formats supported)  Other standards : OAI, MODS/METS, Z39.50...  Installer and full documentation + training materials  UNICODE (not yet fully implemented)

9. ABCD Product Presentation 1 Actual development : FOSS-team lead by BIREME (OPS/WHO Brazil) Technology used in ABCD :  WWW (web-server, web-browser, Apache/PHP, CGI)  ISIS (full-text retrieval, run-time relational, semi- structured 'scheme-less' records)  Javascript, AJAX for optimal local processing of data and less data traffic  Windows + Linux platforms  Java, Webservices, MySQL (advanced loans), YAZ (Z39.50)

10. ABCD Suite scheme :

11. ABCD MODULES : Database Administration Allows creation/editing, selection of ANY structure Pre-configured for MARC21 and CEPAL Easy migration from ISIS-db's Edit/translate all (help)screens

12. ABCD MODULES : Cataloging Every-day's cataloger's toolbar with browsing, searching, listing, record editing, Z-39.50, reports, statistics and utilities Authority control and validation

13. ABCD MODULES : Acquisitions Deals with all steps in administrative procurement of objects Creates 'inventory' DB from which loan- objects are created

14. ABCD MODULES : Loans Central Allows multiple catalogs + high parametrization

15. ABCD MODULES : Statistics Can create tables and graphs on ANY ISIS-database (incl. loans)

16. ABCD MODULES : OPAC and meta-search Simple and advanced interfaces

17. ABCD MODULES : ABCD Site Highly customizable portal

18. ABCD MODULES : Site Manager (CMS) Allows editing of ALL Site elements, including structure of the Site page

19. ABCD MODULES : Serials Control System 1800 pre-defined titles Titles : ISSN Title+ : admin. management 200 pre-defined publication templates Search function Union-catalog

20. ABCD MODULES : Advanced Loans Empweb allows multi-server and -policies, JDBC, SQL-databases based on 'pipe-lined' rules (no limits)

21. Practical info on ABCD Download page : http://bvsmodelo.bvsalud.org/php/level.php?lang=en&component=31&item=13 DOCBIBLAS project contact : egbert.desmet@ua.ac.be ABCD FOSS platform (trac/svn/wiki) available at http://reddes.bvsalud.org/projects/abcd (will be fully opened end of September after release 1.0)http://reddes.bvsalud.org/projects/abcd

22. What's next ? DOCBIBLAS II approved by VLIR/UOS : 2 years + budget to guide 5 partner univ. libraries in the implementation of ABCD Many libraries in L.A and Africa have announced migration to ABCD Further development to be embedded into new ISIS-FOSS community (lead by ICCI) Many basic challenges remain... (connectivity, electr. power, staff capacity building)

23. FINALLY... Some ideas for further discussion – actions:  Interest for ABCD in Flanders/Belgium/Holland ??  Should Southern libraries automate ? is it indeed viable ? or to be skipped all along ? (virtual libraries...)  Automation only by computer experts or also by librarians? THANKS for your kind attention !