Standards:Interoperability

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THO Standards for Cultural Heritage Digitization Projects

Interoperability Standards

Introduction

Interoperability refers to the capacity of a system to interact with other systems in a predefined manner. THO does not intend to create a single state-wide repository for all of Texas; rather, THO will promote the development of institutional and regional collections in a variety of digital asset management systems using a variety of standards and best practices. However, to promote the best use of these repositories, and particularly to enable access to them through a single search interface, it will be necessary for THO to specify particular interoperability requirements and standards.

Currently, there are three ways to provide a common search interface. The first is to develop software routines, commonly called "bots" or "spiders" to index Web-accessible materials. This index can then be searched and links provided to the original resources. This approach is the one currently taken by most major Web search engines but is not part of the THO search interface plans. The second approach is most common in the library community and involves the use of a common query language and a standard interoperability profile developed according to the Z39.50 protocol to search disparate resources in real-time. Texas has been a leader in the development of a profile for statewide resources and in the deployment of a search interface to access library catalogs throughout the state. The third approach is the newest and involves the use a metadata harvester that accesses pre-identified collections known to have been developed according to the Open Archives Initiative's Protocol for Metadata Harvesting. A number of harvesters are in use nationally, but none has been developed in Texas at this time, although one of the results of THO's IMLS grant will be an OAI harvester developed and run by the University of North Texas, which can then be searched via Z39.50 from the main THO search interface.

Levels of Interoperability

THO recognizes three levels of interoperability:

Minimal

Participants will make metadata available in the form of a static repository as defined by the Open Archives Initiative. Participants will create metadata in the oai_dc format and will create a single static repository XML document which will be registered with a static repository gateway as described in the DLF/NSDL Best Practices for OAI Static Repositories.

Basic

Participants will make metadata available to be searched using either the Z39.50 protocol or its successors or derivatives, including SRU/SRW, or the Open Archives Initiative's Protocol for Metadata Harvesting.

If participants choose to use the OAI-PMH, they should follow the Guidelines for Repository Implementers and the DLF/NSDL Best Practices for OAI Data Provider Implementations. Participants are encouraged to use the OAI's XML schema to hold branding information for collections as well in order to differentiate their collections in THO search results.

If participants choose to provide a Z39.50 implementation, it will conform to the Z Texas Profile Functional Area C, level 0. This area provides a definition of a core set of searches (and the associated attributes and attribute combinations) required for basic search and retrieval mechanisms needed by library users when interacting with disparate electronic resources, duplicating the Bath Profile Functional Area C. The following elements are used in this area/level:

  • Creator Search -- Keyword
  • Title Search -- Keyword
  • Subject Search -- Keyword
  • Any Search -- Keyword

Alternatively, the implementation may conform to the Z Texas Profile Functional Area A for Basic Bibliographic Search & Retrieval, with primary focus on library catalogs, level 0, which focuses on recall-oriented search and retrieval.

Enhanced

Participants will make metadata available to be searched using the Z39.50 protocol or its successors or derivatives, including SRU/SRW. The Z39.50 implementation will conform to the Z Texas Profile Functional Area C, level 1. This area provides a definition of a core set of searches (and the associated attributes and attribute combinations) required for basic search and retrieval mechanisms needed by library users when interacting with disparate electronic resources, duplicating the Bath Profile Functional Area C. The following elements are used in this area/level:

  • Creator Search -- Keyword with Right Truncation
  • Title Search -- Keyword with Right Truncation
  • Title Search -- Unanchored Phrase
  • Subject Search -- Keyword with Right Truncation
  • Subject Search -- Unanchored Phrase
  • Any Search -- Keyword with Right Truncation
  • Any Search -- Unanchored Phrase
  • Standard Identifier Search
  • Date of Publication Search

Alternatively, the implementation may conform to the Z Texas Profile Functional Area A for Basic Bibliographic Search & Retrieval, with primary focus on library catalogs, level 1, which focuses on precision-oriented search and retrieval, or level 2, which defines a variety of more specialized searches, including, for example, searches using controlled vocabularies and specialized author and title searches.

References

Retrieved from "http://wiki.texasheritageonline.org/wiki/Standards:Interoperability"
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