Re: [CODE4LIB] Enterprise Search and library collection [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Renata and others, After posting my original reply I realized how dumb it was to respond but say, sorry, can't tell you more. As an aside, this is one of the things that irritates me the most about working in a for profit environment: the control exerted by MPOW over just about anything. But hey, this is the job situation I've consciously chosen so, I guess I shouldn't complain. Although I can't name names and go into detail about our implementation, I have anonymized screenshots of various aspects of it and posted details about it at http://familymanlibrarian.com/2007/01/21/more-on-turning-the-catalog-inside-out/ Keep in mind that my involvement has been focused on the catalog side. A lot of the behind-the-scenes work also dealt with matching subject terms in catalog records to the much simpler taxonomy chosen for our website. You can imagine that it can be quite complicated to set up a good rule set for matching LCSH or MeSH terms effectively to a more generic set of taxonomy terms and have those be meaningful to end users. We are continually evaluating and tweaking this setup. As far as other general details, this implementation involved a lot of people, in fact a team of about 15, some more directly and exclusively and others peripherally. In terms of maintenance, day to day maintenance is handled by about three FTE. Our library catalog data is refreshed once a day, as is the citation database to which I referred in the previous email, and content from our web content management environment. A few other repositories are updated weekly because their content isn't as volatile. The whole planning and implementation process took a year and is still really working through implementation issues. For example we recently upgraded the version of our enterprise search tool to a newer version and this was a major change requiring a lot of resources and it took a lot more time to do than expected. I hope this additional information is helpful. Steve On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 1:11 AM, Dyer, Renata [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Our organisation is looking into getting an enterprise search and I was wondering how many libraries out there have incorporated library collection into a 'federated' search that would retrieve a whole lot: a library collection items, external sources (websites, databases), internal documents (available on share drives and/or records systems), maybe even records from other internal applications, etc.? I would like to hear about your experience and what is good or bad about it. Please reply on or offline whichever more convenient. I'll collate answers. Thanks, Renata Dyer Systems Librarian Information Services The Treasury Langton Crescent, Parkes ACT 2600 Australia (p) 02 6263 2736 (f) 02 6263 2738 (e) [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://adot.sirsidynix.net.au/uhtbin/cgisirsi/ruzseo2h7g/0/0/49 ** Please Note: The information contained in this e-mail message and any attached files may be confidential information and may also be the subject of legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure or copying of this e-mail is unauthorised. If you have received this e-mail by error please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments. **
Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib Journal and Drupal
John, This is really good to know - thanks for the info! The committee I am on needs to make a decision pronto so I don't think we can wait, but I would be interested in taking a look regardless as you near completion. Thanks, Jon On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 12:40 PM, John Fereira [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jonathan Blackburn wrote: Don't mean to clutter up the list, but I am on a team that is considering using Drupal for a conference collaboration site (including submitting/voting on topics, user profiles, etc.) and wanted to see what Code4Lib was using both for its journal submissions/moderation AS WELL AS topic voting. If the person managing either of these systems can shoot me an e-mail, that would be great! (Or, if anyone else has created a conference site using Drupal, that would be wonderful, as well.) I haven't seen a Conference management site developed using drupal but for the past few years I've maintained the conference web site for JA-SIG. It was written many years ago at another university and I volunteered to take over the maintenance of the code (I didn't know what I was getting into at the time). While it's mostly functional it is extremely poorly written (some of the ugliest java code I've seen) so when it *doesn't* function as desired it's difficult to figure out what's going on. A couple of months ago I began work on a complete redesign of the system, basically as a g-job. Since my programming skills are strongest in a java environment the new system is being developed in java, using the Spring Framework (I've developed several other sites/applications using Spring). It's being built on top of the Apache Jackrabbit content repository (JSR-170) to manage most of the site content. While it's primarily intended to be used to manage future JA-SIG conferences I'm building it such that it's flexible and can use templates for creating Conference web sites for any other organization as well. It's all being developed using open source software and I hope to make it available as an open source application.
Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib Journal and Drupal
Jon, The conference and the journal are run fairly differently (did anybody from the journal get back to you?). The journal's actually organized (from what I can tell). It uses WordPress The conference, on the other hand, uses a crazy mish-mash of things that changes from year to year. CfPs are handled by email (which I would really like to see changed this year, since invariably one or two gets lost and they're formatted all crazily differently). These are then put into a custom voting machine (the first year it was a Backpack page and a bookmarklet, last year a standalone RoR application) and the voting is open for a period of time. We haven't, to date, used the Drupal voting module (although it comes up every year) because nobody has gotten it to work satisfactorily for presentations. The voting applications, I might add, haven't been without their share of criticism. At some point, I think a dedicated 'conference application' is necessary for Code4lib, something that can take submissions, vote on them, build the conference schedule and host the videos, as well as deal with delegates and whatnot. Last year's voting booth (nicknamed ConferenceKeeper) was designed to do this sort of work, but it really needs some sort of official blessing or alternative. Speaking of alternatives, have you looked at Open Conference System: http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ocs ? Good luck, -Ross. On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 11:58 AM, Jonathan Blackburn [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: John, This is really good to know - thanks for the info! The committee I am on needs to make a decision pronto so I don't think we can wait, but I would be interested in taking a look regardless as you near completion. Thanks, Jon On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 12:40 PM, John Fereira [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jonathan Blackburn wrote: Don't mean to clutter up the list, but I am on a team that is considering using Drupal for a conference collaboration site (including submitting/voting on topics, user profiles, etc.) and wanted to see what Code4Lib was using both for its journal submissions/moderation AS WELL AS topic voting. If the person managing either of these systems can shoot me an e-mail, that would be great! (Or, if anyone else has created a conference site using Drupal, that would be wonderful, as well.) I haven't seen a Conference management site developed using drupal but for the past few years I've maintained the conference web site for JA-SIG. It was written many years ago at another university and I volunteered to take over the maintenance of the code (I didn't know what I was getting into at the time). While it's mostly functional it is extremely poorly written (some of the ugliest java code I've seen) so when it *doesn't* function as desired it's difficult to figure out what's going on. A couple of months ago I began work on a complete redesign of the system, basically as a g-job. Since my programming skills are strongest in a java environment the new system is being developed in java, using the Spring Framework (I've developed several other sites/applications using Spring). It's being built on top of the Apache Jackrabbit content repository (JSR-170) to manage most of the site content. While it's primarily intended to be used to manage future JA-SIG conferences I'm building it such that it's flexible and can use templates for creating Conference web sites for any other organization as well. It's all being developed using open source software and I hope to make it available as an open source application.
[CODE4LIB] AUTO: Simon Huggard is out of the office (returning 2008-07-14)
I am out of the office until 2008-07-14. If you have systems problems, please ring the library on (03) 9905 5054 and ask for the Systems Help Desk. Alternatively please email either [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Apologies if you receive this email from an email discussion list. Note: This is an automated response to your message Re: [CODE4LIB] Enterprise Search and library collection [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED] sent on 11/7/08 1:20:39 AM. This is the only notification you will receive while this person is away.
Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib Journal and Drupal
Yeah, I did hear from someone at the C4L journal and I doubt WP will be an option for what we want. Open conference systems is definitely an option, though, but I have not really looked at it much just yet. Drupal is probably going to be the most work to set up, but of course, it provides a lot of flexibility. We'll just have to dig around a bit more and see what happens. Thanks for everyone's help, though. -Jon On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 1:02 PM, Ross Singer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jon, The conference and the journal are run fairly differently (did anybody from the journal get back to you?). The journal's actually organized (from what I can tell). It uses WordPress The conference, on the other hand, uses a crazy mish-mash of things that changes from year to year. CfPs are handled by email (which I would really like to see changed this year, since invariably one or two gets lost and they're formatted all crazily differently). These are then put into a custom voting machine (the first year it was a Backpack page and a bookmarklet, last year a standalone RoR application) and the voting is open for a period of time. We haven't, to date, used the Drupal voting module (although it comes up every year) because nobody has gotten it to work satisfactorily for presentations. The voting applications, I might add, haven't been without their share of criticism. At some point, I think a dedicated 'conference application' is necessary for Code4lib, something that can take submissions, vote on them, build the conference schedule and host the videos, as well as deal with delegates and whatnot. Last year's voting booth (nicknamed ConferenceKeeper) was designed to do this sort of work, but it really needs some sort of official blessing or alternative. Speaking of alternatives, have you looked at Open Conference System: http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ocs ? Good luck, -Ross. On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 11:58 AM, Jonathan Blackburn [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: John, This is really good to know - thanks for the info! The committee I am on needs to make a decision pronto so I don't think we can wait, but I would be interested in taking a look regardless as you near completion. Thanks, Jon On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 12:40 PM, John Fereira [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jonathan Blackburn wrote: Don't mean to clutter up the list, but I am on a team that is considering using Drupal for a conference collaboration site (including submitting/voting on topics, user profiles, etc.) and wanted to see what Code4Lib was using both for its journal submissions/moderation AS WELL AS topic voting. If the person managing either of these systems can shoot me an e-mail, that would be great! (Or, if anyone else has created a conference site using Drupal, that would be wonderful, as well.) I haven't seen a Conference management site developed using drupal but for the past few years I've maintained the conference web site for JA-SIG. It was written many years ago at another university and I volunteered to take over the maintenance of the code (I didn't know what I was getting into at the time). While it's mostly functional it is extremely poorly written (some of the ugliest java code I've seen) so when it *doesn't* function as desired it's difficult to figure out what's going on. A couple of months ago I began work on a complete redesign of the system, basically as a g-job. Since my programming skills are strongest in a java environment the new system is being developed in java, using the Spring Framework (I've developed several other sites/applications using Spring). It's being built on top of the Apache Jackrabbit content repository (JSR-170) to manage most of the site content. While it's primarily intended to be used to manage future JA-SIG conferences I'm building it such that it's flexible and can use templates for creating Conference web sites for any other organization as well. It's all being developed using open source software and I hope to make it available as an open source application.
[CODE4LIB] Project Manager position at CDL in digital preservation group
(Forwarded; please direct inquiries to [EMAIL PROTECTED]) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY TITLE: Digital Preservation Services Manager CATEGORY: Full-Time SALARY: Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. Excellent benefits. TO APPLY: http://jobs.ucop.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=52447 POSITION DESCRIPTION: Want to be part of a dynamic team that is working to preserve digital information for future generations? At the California Digital Library (CDL), we've developed a world-class program to preserve digital material that supports the University of California's research, teaching, and learning mission and you can be a part of it. A key member of the team is the Digital Preservation Services Manager -- reporting to the Director of the Digital Preservation Program the Manager is responsible for the day-to-day management of digital preservation services (production and development) through project management, the provision of support services (whether offered in person or online), and liaison with digital preservation service providers and support staff. In addition, the Services Manager will be responsible for translating experience of users' needs and perceptions of system capabilities in a manner that informs further refinement and extension of the digital preservation technology and service infrastructure. This is an ideal opportunity for someone with solid people skills and a passion for working in a collaborative and dynamic environment. The California Digital Library (CDL) supports the assembly and creative use of the world's scholarship and knowledge for the UC libraries and the communities they serve. In partnership with the UC libraries, the California Digital Library established the digital preservation program to ensure long-term access to the digital information that supports and results from research, teaching and learning at UC. JOB REQUIREMENTS: Bachelor's degree in the social sciences, public administration, library and information science or a related field and at least three years' relevant experience with development or delivery of online information services in educational, digital preservation, library, research, and/or cultural heritage settings or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Demonstrated experience to plan, evaluate, budget for and manage complex projects from their inception through to their final delivery. Plans projects and assignments and monitors performance according to priorities as demonstrated by regularly meeting established deadlines in an environment of multiple projects and changing priorities. Strong logic and quantitative reasoning skills as demonstrated by ability to review and assess a range of variables to define key issues, evaluate reasonable alternatives and translate findings into recommended changes, actions or strategies. Proven experience with and general understanding of the academic user community and the digital library/scholarly information services domain. Demonstrated experience working with user community and technology/programming staff to build use cases, functional requirements and user interface design. Excellent written and verbal communication skills as demonstrated by the ability to understand and articulate technical ideas and issues at a conceptual level and explain them clearly and concisely to non-technical staff. Demonstrated ability to operate under general direction, able to develop creative solutions to problems, and tackle issues in a self-motivated manner in a service-oriented geographically distributed team environment. Demonstrated ability to plan, evaluate, budget for and manage complex projects from their inception through to their final delivery. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the position. Patricia Cruse Director, Digital Preservation Program California Digital Library University of California 510/987-9016 pgpfUIW751boR.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: [CODE4LIB] Enterprise Search and library collection [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Hi Steve and Renata, First the declaration of interest: I am the CTO of a federated search system company. However I am not trying to suggest you should use our (or any) federated search system (so I will, coyly, not attach a signature to this email). I am interested in your comments on either or both of two questions: Use an search engine and create an aggregated database/index of all the material from the organization, or use a federated search system to search the repositories/catalogs/databases/etc. in real time? Did you consider both? And why the choice you made? Build vs. Buy? It obviously has taken Steve and his colleagues a lot of hard work to produce a nice looking system (except for all those big black bits on the screen!) and it obviously takes maintenance (it is 'fragile') Do you think it was/is worth it and if so why? Peter Noerr -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Steve Oberg Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 8:21 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Enterprise Search and library collection [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED] Renata and others, After posting my original reply I realized how dumb it was to respond but say, sorry, can't tell you more. As an aside, this is one of the things that irritates me the most about working in a for profit environment: the control exerted by MPOW over just about anything. But hey, this is the job situation I've consciously chosen so, I guess I shouldn't complain. Although I can't name names and go into detail about our implementation, I have anonymized screenshots of various aspects of it and posted details about it at http://familymanlibrarian.com/2007/01/21/more-on-turning-the-catalog- inside-out/ Keep in mind that my involvement has been focused on the catalog side. A lot of the behind-the-scenes work also dealt with matching subject terms in catalog records to the much simpler taxonomy chosen for our website. You can imagine that it can be quite complicated to set up a good rule set for matching LCSH or MeSH terms effectively to a more generic set of taxonomy terms and have those be meaningful to end users. We are continually evaluating and tweaking this setup. As far as other general details, this implementation involved a lot of people, in fact a team of about 15, some more directly and exclusively and others peripherally. In terms of maintenance, day to day maintenance is handled by about three FTE. Our library catalog data is refreshed once a day, as is the citation database to which I referred in the previous email, and content from our web content management environment. A few other repositories are updated weekly because their content isn't as volatile. The whole planning and implementation process took a year and is still really working through implementation issues. For example we recently upgraded the version of our enterprise search tool to a newer version and this was a major change requiring a lot of resources and it took a lot more time to do than expected. I hope this additional information is helpful. Steve On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 1:11 AM, Dyer, Renata [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Our organisation is looking into getting an enterprise search and I was wondering how many libraries out there have incorporated library collection into a 'federated' search that would retrieve a whole lot: a library collection items, external sources (websites, databases), internal documents (available on share drives and/or records systems), maybe even records from other internal applications, etc.? I would like to hear about your experience and what is good or bad about it. Please reply on or offline whichever more convenient. I'll collate answers. Thanks, Renata Dyer Systems Librarian Information Services The Treasury Langton Crescent, Parkes ACT 2600 Australia (p) 02 6263 2736 (f) 02 6263 2738 (e) [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://adot.sirsidynix.net.au/uhtbin/cgisirsi/ruzseo2h7g/0/0/49 ** Please Note: The information contained in this e-mail message and any attached files may be confidential information and may also be the subject of legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure or copying of this e-mail is unauthorised. If you have received this e-mail by error please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments. **
