STARGATE
The Centre for Digital Library Research worked with four small publishers to explore whether the static repositories model could lower the technical barrier for small publishers who want to disclose their metadata using OAI-PMH.
Full Project Title
Static Repository Gateway and Toolkit
Summary
OAI-PMH is a protocol used widely in the academic community for disclosing metadata about publications. It specifies how to make metadata available for harvesting in a standard way, so that service providers can aggregate the metadata from many sources for cross-searching. A project in the first PALS programme (OAI-compliant Metadata Repository for a Specialist Publisher of e-Journals) showed how publishers can use OAI-PMH to disclose their journals. However, setting up an OAI-compliant repository does require some technical expertise, and this presents a barrier to the small publishers that would benefit most from the disclosure.
The Centre for Digital Library Research (CDLR) at University of Strathclyde set out to implement a low-tech solution to OAI-based disclosure for small publishers. Their STARGATE project was based on the ‘static repositories’ model for using OAI-PMH (see reference below). Instead of building an OAI-compliant repository, a publisher builds a static repository, effectively an XML file of the relevant metadata on an accessible server. A separate static repository gateway handles the technical aspects of making the metadata available for harvesting, i.e. the complexity is shifted away from the publisher.
During the project, CDLR worked with four library and information science journals – Journal of Digital Information, Information Research, Library and Information Research, and Information Scotland. They set up static repositories for each journal, and used a SR gateway to enable disclosure via services like TechXtra, OAIster, and METALIS.
STARGATE demonstrated that static repositories are easy to create, the technology works, and the metadata disclosed via the gateway is interoperable. The project created a range of tools and guidelines that will allow even the smallest publisher to use the static repositories model to disclose their journals to the academic community.
Outcomes
For the static repositories approach to be used on a wide scale, a permanent gateway for publishers will be needed. As no such gateway exists, JISC granted CDLR a short project extension to document what would be involved to set up and run a gateway for publishers. CDLR set up an experimental static repository gateway for publishers and documented the process for installing and configuring the gateway software. They also conducted a survey of existing gateways to estimate set up and running costs.
CDLR found that it is not difficult or expensive to set up and run a static repository gateway. However, the gateway software isn’t an ‘off the shelf’ application. Like most open source software, it is developed and enhanced by the user community, and using it would involve some interaction with other developers. Nevertheless, it does the job, and this extension should give publishers all the information they need to make decisions about setting up and running their own gateway. An added benefit is that publishers can use the experimental gateway during 2007 to explore the suitability of static repositories.
Outputs
There are links to all the project outputs from the STARGATE web site. The sections below link to the relevant page for each output.
Static Repository Demonstrator
Access to the demonstrator is on the Project Outputs page. The project created static repositories (XML files) for four journals. There are links to the XML file for each journal, but you can also view the metadata records in human readable form through HaIRST. For example, pull down the Archive menu and select one of the static repositories to view the records.
The real proof that the static repositories approach works is that the metadata records were harvested by external services and are now searchable. For example, go to OAIster and search for something related to libraries or information science, e.g. standards. You can find the records generated by STARGATE by clicking on the relevant journal title at the left of the results screen.
Experimental Gateway for Publishers
As part of the project extension, CDLR set up an experimental static repository gateway for small publishers. Publishers are invited to register and use it to disclose their journals to metadata aggregation services. The experimental gateway will be available throughout 2007. Publishers can then decide if they want to build a permanent gateway.
Tools and Guidelines
STARGATE has created guidelines to explain the static repositories approach to publishers and tools to help them build a static repository easily. These can be found on the Static Repositories Tools page:
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Introduction, Key Issues and Relevant Technologies – This document introduces the key technologies like OAI-MPH, the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, static repositories, and how they are used to expose metadata.
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Creating Static Repositories – This explains how to build a static repository and includes case studies for the four journals covered by the project.
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Database tool – This is the database and VB modules used to create the static repositories for the project, and the above report explains how to use it.
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Issues for Developing the Use of OAI-based Services by the Publishing Community – This explains the issues that would influence the take-up of static repositories on a wider scale.
If publishers want to use static repositories to disclose their metadata, they will need to set up a static repositories gateway. Guidelines can be found on the Static Repositories Gateways page:
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Installation Guide – A complete step by step guide for setting up a static repositories gateway. It explains what hardware and software you need, how to download and install the ‘srepod’, configuration, testing, registering a static repository, troubleshooting, etc.
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Branding and Customisation Guide – A guide to customising the web interfaces of the ‘srepod’ software.
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Overview of Existing Static Repository Gateways – An overview of practice at four gateways giving insights into how technical and administrative tasks are handled and useful statistics.
Reports
The project’s final reports to JISC explain how the project work was conducted, assesses the implications, and makes recommendations based on the project experience. The final report on STARGATE is on the Project Outputs page, and the final report on the extension is on the Static Repositories Gateways page.
Publications
- R. J. Robertson, Stargate: Exploring Static Repositories for Small Publishers, Ariadne, April 2006, Issue 47 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue47/robertson/
- R. J. Robertson and A. Dawson, An Easy Option? OAI Static Repositories as a Method of Exposing Publishers' Metadata to the Wider Information Environment, ELPUB 2006: 10th International Conference on Electronic Publishing, Bansko, Bulgaria, 14-16 June 2006. Available from the Dissemination page of the project web site http://cdlr.strath.ac.uk/stargate/outputs.htm
Presentations
Further Information