Collections and services in the information environment JISC Collection/Service Description Workshop, London, 11 July 2002 Pete Johnston UKOLN, University of Bath Bath, BA2 7AY UKOLN is supported by:

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Collections and services in the Information Environment Collections & services Portals, content providers & the service registry Describing collections & services

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Collections in the JISC Information Environment Content made available as collections Collection –an aggregation of one or more items Aggregation by –e.g. location, type/form of item, provenance of item, source/ownership of item, nature of item content Made available by –individual HE/FE institution –JISC content provider –external source

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Collections in the JISC Information Environment Physical collections –of physical items (e.g. books, journals) Digital collections –of digital items (texts, images, multimedia objects, software, datasets, learning objects etc) –of digital metadata records –describing physical items (e.g. MARC records in OPAC) –describing digital items (e.g. Dublin Core records in subject gateway database) –describing physical collections (e.g. EAD CLDs in Archives Hub database) –metadata record contains identifier/locator of resource

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Services Service –the provision of, or system of supplying, one or more functions of interest to an end user or software application Informational services –provide access to items and/or collections –e.g. a library, a Web site, a catalogue Transactional services –not primarily concerned with supply of information –e.g. photocopy service, authentication service Users access content through informational services

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Services Physical service –provided physically Network service –provided digitally Structured network service –network service that provides structured access to structured resources –user is software application Unstructured network service –presenting resources to human user

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Physical collections & physical services Collection of physical items Physical location Physical service Physical services make physical collections available at physical locations

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Digital collections & network services Collection of digital items Digital location Web site Network service (unstructured) Network services make digital collections available at digital locations

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Physical collections & metadata records OPAC Web interface Digital location Network service (unstructured) Collection of digital metadata records

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Digital collections & metadata records Collection of digital items Web site Network service (unstructured) Digital location Collection of digital metadata records

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Collections, metadata records & network services OAI repository Harvest via OAI- PMH Z39.50 target Search/retrieve via Z39.50 Web site Collection of digital metadata records Collection of digital or physical items SOAP receiver operations via SOAP Collection available via multiple network services unstructured network service structured network service RSS channel Alert via RSS/HTTP

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Using Collections in the JISC Information Environment Web Content End-user needs to join services together manually - as well as learning multiple user interfaces End-user Authentication Authorisation Currently….

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Using Collections in the JISC Information Environment HTML Web sites –Unstructured network services –Aimed at human reader Different user interfaces Different metadata schemas Researcher joins up services manually –Merging results requires manual copy/paste/edit The portal problem –How to provide seamless discovery across the services offered by multiple content providers?

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Portals Portal –network service providing single point of access to range of heterogeneous network services –may support range of functionality –focus here on resource discovery –aim to be task/user-centred –thin portals –shallow linking: pointers to unstructured network services –thick portals –deep linking: richer discovery/access functionality based on use of structured network services

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Content providers –make content available as collections –may disclose collections of metadata records about content through structured network services Three disclosure mechanisms (currently) –searching via Z39.50/Bath Profile –harvesting via OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting –alerting via RSS/HTTP –(operations via SOAP in future?)

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July The portal problem Portal constructs a landscape of resources Needs –to find/identify relevant content collections –What digital collections are available? –to access metadata records through appropriate structured network service –What network services available for collection? –What interface/protocol? What instance-specific parameters?

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July The IE service registry Part of IE framework of machine-oriented services Database of –Collection-level descriptions –Service descriptions –informational –transactional Registry accessible via network services –unstructured i.e. Web site (HTML) –structured (probably…) –search using Z39.50? –harvest using OAI-PMH? –search via UDDI/SOAP?

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July End-user is automatically presented with relevant resources through relevant channels User Profiles Resolver The service registry in the Information Environment The vision…. Collection Description Service Description Service Registry Web Content End-user Authentication Authorisation Portal

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July May involve intermediate fusion services (aggregators, brokers) User Profiles Resolver The service registry in the Information Environment The vision…. Collection Description Service Description Service Registry Web Content End-user Authentication Authorisation Portal Broker or Aggregator

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July The service registry & network services OAI repository Harvest via OAI- PMH Z39.50 target Search/retrieve via Z39.50 Web site Search/retrieve via SOAP UDDI interface Collection Description Service Description Service Registry

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Describing collections & services OAI repository Z39.50 target Web site Collection of digital metadata records Collection of digital items RSS channel Owner Administrator

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Describing a collection From RSLP CD Schema –identifier –title/name –description –type –access control –legal status? –contents date range? –subject? (spatial/temporal coverage?) –note –owner Also –JISC collecting area –audience Table Collection in jiscmult.mdb Collection… fields in jiscsing.mdb

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Describing a Web site Web site –URL –title/name –authentication mechanism –use of OpenURL –use of DOI –access conditions –see also –administrator Table ServiceHTTP in jiscmult.mdb ServiceHTTP… fields in jiscsing.mdb

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Describing an OAI repository OAI repository (based on OAI registry) –OAI repository identifier –OAI repository name –base URL –protocol version (one version only per description) –authentication mechanism –use of DOI –content provider/aggregator –access conditions –see also –administrator Table ServiceOAI in jiscmult.mdb ServiceOAI… fields in jiscsing.mdb

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Describing a Z39.50 target Z39.50 target (based on Z directory) –target name –host –port –database name –Bath Profile conformance by functional area –authentication mechanism –use of DOI –content provider/broker –access conditions –see also –administrator Table ServiceZ in jiscmult.mdb ServiceZ… fields in jiscsing.mdb

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Describing an RSS channel RSS channel –RSS channel name –RSS channel URL –RSS Schema version (one version only per description) –authentication mechanism –use of DOI –content provider/aggregator –access conditions –see also –administrator Table ServiceRSS in jiscmult.mdb ServiceRSS… fields in jiscsing.mdb

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Issues for discussion Collection - serviceXXX relation –relates to granularity question –many-to-many? –N.B. software agent accesses service –one-to-many? –one-to-one? Which collection? –collection of primary resources? –collection of metadata records? –it depends? Informational network services only? Structured network services only?

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Issues for discussion Purpose/use of descriptions –benchmarking of services? –support for discovery of collections and services? –by human user? –by network service (e.g. portal, broker, aggregator)? –access points, terminology control Existing sources?

JISC Collection/Service Description workshop, London, 11 July Acknowledgements UKOLN is funded by Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK higher and further education funding councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based.