DIGITAL LIBRARY

ARCHITECTURE
AND
TECHNOLOGY
OUTLINE
•DL Architecture
•Building Blocks of DLs
•DL Models
•Components of DLs
•DL Open Source Software
•Modern Features In Digital Library
Architectures

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INTRODUCTION
DLs contain a variety of materials,
technologies, services and standards
The Web itself, LIS centres as well as
database providers and vendors are all
examples of information services that can
play a role in DLs
Digital library architectures provide a view of
the underlying structures and frameworks on
which DLs are built

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 Conceptual Design of a Digital Library
Online Remote digital
E-journals databases libraries WWW

Search Search Search Search engines&

interfaces interfaces interfaces directories

Library Local digital

resources library

Search
OPACs interface

Digital library interface

Users
Chowdhury (2002) Introduction to digital
4 libraries…
COMPONENTS OF A DL
SYSTEM
Arms (1997) names the following
components for digital libraries:
User interfaces
Repository
Handle system
Search system

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 Components of a DL System

Arms et al. An Architecture for Information in Digital Libraries. D-Lib Magazine, February 1997.
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USER INTERFACES

User interface for end-users to get access to

the library and its collections
User interface for librarians and system
administrators who manage collections

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REPOSITORY

Repositories store and manage digital objects

and other information.
A large digital library may have many
repositories of various types, including modern
repositories, legacy databases, and Web
servers.
The repository access protocol (RAP) is used
to recognize the rights and permissions that
need to be satisfied before a client can access a
digital object.
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HANDLE SYSTEM

Handles are general purpose identifiers that

can be used to identify digital objects, over
long periods of time and to manage materials
stored in any repository or database.
DOI: Digital Object Identifiers
Example: 10.1234/NP5678
10.5678/ISBN-0-7645-4889-4
Persistent Uniform Resource Locator (PURL)
developed by Online Computer Library
Center (OCLC) – names the location of an
object

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DIGITAL OBJECTS AND DOI
 A digital object is defined as something (e.g.,
an image, an audio recording, a text
document) that has been digitally encoded and
integrated with metadata to support discovery,
use, and storage of those objects“

 William Arms, 1997 : "an item as stored in a

DL - typically consists of data, associated
metadata, and an identifier"

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COMPONENTS OF A DIGITAL
OBJECT

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NAMES & IDENTIFIERS FOR
DIGITAL OBJECTS
Names are a vital building block for Digital Libraries.

Names are needed to:

 identify digital objects
 to register intellectual property of content in digital objects
 to record changes of ownership
 They are required for citations, for information retrieval, and are used for links
between objects

Must be unique: This requires a administrative system to decide who can assign
them and change the objects that they identify. They must last for very long time
periods, which excludes the use of an identifier tied to a specific location, such as
the name of a computer.

Must be persistent: Must continue to exist even if the organization that named an
object no longer exists when the object is used. There need to be computer
systems to resolve the name rapidly, by providing the location where an object
with a given name is stored.
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IDENTIFIERS FOR DIGITAL
OBJECTS
Handle - is a unique string used to identify digital objects
 "Handle" system developed by Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) (
http://www.handle.net/)
 A global handle server provides a definitive resource for legal and archival purposes, with a
caching server for fast resolution. The computer system checks that new names are indeed
unique, and supports standard user interfaces, such as Netscape. A local handle server can be
added for increased local control
OpenURL
 is a standardized format of Uniform Resource Locator (URL) intended to enable Internet users
to more easily find a copy of a resource that they are allowed to access.
 Although OpenURL can be used with any kind of resource on the Internet, it is most heavily
used by libraries to help to connect patrons to subscription content.
 The OpenURL standard is designed to enable linking from information resources such as
abstracting and indexing databases (sources) to library services (targets), such as academic
journals, whether online or in printed or other formats.
 The source that generates an OpenURL is typically a bibliographic citation or bibliographic
record in a database that indexes the information resources often found in libraries, such as
articles, books, patents, etc. Examples of such databases include Ovid, Web of Science,
SciFinder, Modern Languages Association Bibliography and Google Scholar.

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SEARCH SYSTEM

There will be many indexes and catalogs in a

digital library that can be searched to discover
information before retrieving it from a repository.
These indexes may be independently managed
and support a wide range of protocols.

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DLS ARCHITECTURE

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CRADDL ARCHITECTURE

Cornell Reference Architecture for

Distributed Digital Libraries (CRADDL -
pronounced "cradle”)
 a set of components that form the
core of a digital library infrastructure

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CRADDL
ARCHITECTURE
•Content in the architecture is stored in the form of digital
objects
•The repository service provides the mechanisms for the
deposit, storage, and access to digital objects
•Digital Objects are identified by unique Uniform Resource
Name (URNs)
•The index service provides the mechanism for discovery
of digital objects via query
•The collection service provides the mechanisms for the
aggregation of access to sets of digital objects
•User interface services or gateways provide human-
centered entry points to the functionality of the digital
library
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CRADDL services
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 COMPONENTS OF A DIGITAL
LIBRARY
Collection Services

Name
Service
User
Persistent Interface
NAMES Gateway

Index
Services

Digital
Objects

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Repository Services
ALEXANDRIA DL
ARCHITECTURE
•One of the six projects funded under the Digital Libraries
Initiative (DLI)
•http://clients.alexandria.ucsb.edu/globetrotter/
•A digital library of geospatial information, based at the
University of California, Santa Barbara
•Several databases, gazetteers and thesaurus
•Sophisticated architecture

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Alexandria Digital Library

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ALEXANDRIA DL
ARCHITECTURE
A three-tier model consisting of:
Servers: maintain collections of metadata describing the
library’s holdings and for implementing query and retrieval
mechanisms
Middleware: performs standard service on these collections
Clients: search sessions, list the library collections, retrieve
metadata, and holdings

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 H T T P / m a p b ro w s e r
C lie n t

c lie n t HTTP/
se ss io n , s e a rc h , h o ld in g s ,
c o lle ctio n s, m e ta d a ta

(A O L s e r v e r )

A cce ss use r ID M ap
lo g r e c o r d C o n tro l s e s s io n I D G e n e ra to r

KNF

Q u e ry R e trie va l
m id d le w a r e
M ap p in g M ap p in g

Q u e ry R e su lt
Fa n o u t M erg e
SQL

S e s s io n D a tab a s e U s er
Log lo g r e c o r d A cce ss D ata b a se

( lib m i) / S Q L ?
s e rv e r s

Q u e ry R e trie va l Q u e ry R e trie va l Q u ery R etrie va l

V ie w V ie w s V ie w V ie w s V iew V ie w s
... ...
G a z e ttee r D B M S C a ta lo g D B M S G a tew a y
(In fo rm ix ) (In fo rm ix ) (e .g . Z 3 9 .5 0 )
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 NATIONAL SCIENCE DL
(NSDL) ARCHITECTURE
 The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) was created by the National
Science Foundation to provide organized access to high quality resources
and tools that support innovations in teaching and learning at all levels of
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.

 Managed to benefit formal and informal education at all levels and ages

 NSDL main entities:

 Content
 Service
 End User

 The URL : https://nsdl.oercommons.org/

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NATIONAL SCIENCE DL
(NSDL) ARCHITECTURE

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DL OPEN SOURCE
SOFTWARE
Greenstone
Fedora
D-space
Eprint

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GREENSTONE
An open-source multilingual application developed by the
New Zealand Digital Library Project at the University of
Waikato
Developed and distributed in cooperation with UNESCO and
the Human Info NGO.

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GREENSTONE
FEATURES
•Accessible through web browsers
•Full text and fielded search
•Browsing facilities
•Facility to add DC metadata
•Multimedia collections
•Can support millions of documents
•Collections can be published on CD-ROM

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FEDORA

Flexible tools for managing and delivering

digital content.
Jointly developed by Cornell University and the
University of Virginia Library
National Science Digital Library (NSDL) uses
Fedora
It supports the DC metadata format
It can run on MySQL and Oracle

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DSPACE
Jointly developed by MIT Libraries and
Hewlett-Packard Labs
Stores, indexes, preserves, and distributes
digital research material.
Various applications: Institutional Repositories,
Learning Object Repositories (LORs), eTheses
, Electronic Records Management (ERM),
Digital Preservation, Publishing

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 5S DIGITAL LIBRARY FRAMEWORK
Models Details Objectives

Describes properties of the DL content such as

Text; video; audio; software
Streams encoding and language for textual material or
program
particular forms of multimedia data

Collection, catalog; hypertext;

Specifies organizational aspects of the DL
Structures document; metadata;
content
organizational tools

User interface; index; retrieval Defines logical and presentational views of

Space
model several DL components

Scenarios Service; event; condition; action Details the behavior of DL services

Community; managers; actors; Defines managers; responsible for running DL

Societies classes; relationships; attributes; services; actors, that use those services; and
operations relationships among them

"What is a good digital library?" - A quality model for digital libraries. Moreira, B. L., Gonçalves, M. A., Fox,
E. A., Watson, L. T. 2007. Inf. Process. Manage. 43(5): 1416-1437 (2007)
5S DIGITAL LIBRARY FRAMEWORK
5S DIGITAL LIBRARY FRAMEWORK:
DSPACE
DSPACE STRUCTURE
DSPACE ARCHITECTURE
 Application Architecture

The DSpace system is organised into three tiers which consist of a

number of components

Each layer only invokes the layer below it i.e. the application layer
may not used the storage layer directly
 The Storage Layer

The storage layer is responsible for physical storage of metadata

and content

DSpace uses a relational database to store all information about

the organization of content, metadata about the content,
information about e-people and authorization, and the state
of currently-running workflows.
 The Business Logic Layer

The business logic layer deals with managing the content of the
archive, users of the archive (e-people), authorization, and
workflow
 The Application Layer

The application layer contains components that communicate

with the world outside of the individual DSpace installation,
for example the Web user interface and the Open Archives
Initiative protocol for metadata harvesting service
The DSpace Web UI is the largest and most-used component in
the application layer. Two versions:
1. JSPUI: Built on Java Servlet and JavaServer Page technology
2. XMLUI (Manakin): Built on XML and Cocoon technology
INFORMATION MODEL
"Community" is a grouping of collections and/or "Sub-
communities"

"Collection" is a group of related items in an archive.

"Items" are records that describe the file(s) being

archived, using the Dublin Core metadata scheme

"Bundle" is a grouping of files associated with an item

"Bitstreams" are the individual files grouped together in a

bundle and associated with an item. (e.g. license text,
jpegs, tiffs, pdfs, doc, xml)
INFORMATION MODEL
•Communities
•Collections (in communities)
•Distinct groupings of like items
•Items (in collections)
•Logical content objects
•Receive persistent identifier
•Bitstreams (in items)
•Individual files
•Receive preservation treatment
Communities
• Departments, Labs, Research Centers,
Programs, Schools, etc.
• Localized policy decisions
▫ Who can contribute, access material
▫ Submission workflow
 Submitters, approvers, reviewers,
editors
▫ Collections definition, management
• Communities supply metadata
COMMUNITIES: EXAMPLE
COMMUNITIES: EXAMPLE
DSPACE PROJECTS: EXAMPLE
DSPACE PROJECTS: EXAMPLE
DSPACE PROJECTS: EXAMPLE
EPRINTS

Was developed at the University of

Southampton, released in late 2000
The objective was to facilitate open access to
peer-reviewed research and scholarly literature
EPrints serves as an archive for other electronic
documents such as images and audio.
Currently installed in more than 241 institution.

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 Modern Features in
Digital Library Architectures

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SOCIAL NETWORKING
SITES
Social networking, bookmarking and tagging
Reviews
Recommendation features
Citation and reference linking
Bibliometric tools

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 share

Bookmark

Tag

Write
reviews

Hull, D., Pettifer, S. R., and Kell, D. B. (2008). Defrosting the digital library: Bibliographic tools for the next
generation web. PLoS Comput Biol, 4(10):e1000204+.
 Tag 1
Tag2
Tag 3

Tag 1
Tag 2
Tag 3

Tag 1
Tag 2
Tag 3

Tag 1
Tag 2
Tag 3
Users interact
with resources
and create Tag 1
Tag 2
tags Tag 3

Tag 1
Tag 2
Tag 3

Tag 1
Tag 2
Tag 3
 Videoblogging
and sharing
Social networks Photo sharing

Social Tagging
Environment

Bookmarking

Academic
bookmarking
Slide sharing
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Citation
linking

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Get it! Citation linker

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EXAMPLES
Greenstone: http://www.greenstone.org/examples
Fedora:
 Tufts University: http://dl.tufts.edu/
 University of Viginia: http://www.lib.virginia.edu/digital/collections/

DSpace
 U of A: http://repository.library.ualberta.ca/dspace/index.jsp
 U of Wolverhampton(UK) : http://wlv.openrepository.com/wlv/
 Queen’s University: https://qspace.library.queensu.ca

EPrints
 British Library: http://sherpa.bl.uk/
 E-LIS: http://eprints.rclis.org/
 History and Theory of Psychology: http://htpprints.yorku.ca/

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