Choosing Software for a Digital Library
| Pages | 19-21 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07419050710874223 |
| Published date | 30 October 2007 |
| Date | 30 October 2007 |
| Author | Jody L. DeRidder |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Choosing Software for a Digital Library
Jody L. DeRidder
LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 9/10 2007, pp. 19-21, #Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/07419050710874223 19
Introduction
Software is only one aspect of a
digital library. The majority of time and
effort will be spent in creatingmetadata,
followed by scanning images and likely
then creating derivatives. However, the
choice of a software is not one to be
taken lightly, as it will impact usability,
interoperability, support costs, and the
ability to migratematerials over time.
Intelligent selection requires careful
assessment of internal needs and
resources, as well as careful assessment
of the options. If user and client needs
are not weighed, the outcome will be a
tremendous disappointment. In
addition, failure to consider the
hardware and personnel support
necessary can spell disaster. Beyond
these considerations may be
preferences related to the goals of your
library, such as support of metadata
standards, interoperability with other
systems, and additional functionality,
such as built-in support of an Open
Archives Initiative repository.
Once you begin using a system, you
have made a major commitment. The
time and effort involved in creating
collections and modifying software to
meet current needs, will be undermined
by migration to other systems over
time. In addition, the more alterations
made to an existing system, the more
difficult and costly will be a migration
to another software. Therefore it
behooves librarians to select software
with careful thoughtfulness.
Assess the internal situation
Users
The first consideration in any
software selection depends upon the
users. Identifying the audience is
critical. Many digital libraries target
faculty, graduate and undergraduates,
or students ranging from kindergarten
through high school (K-12). Clarifying
the chosen audience enables assessment
of their needs. Early grade school
students will need colorful interfaces in
primary colors, with simple browses by
form, shape, and image; sophisticated
users may require very specific search
capabilities and ranking of results
according to various parameters.
What users want may be less
important than what they need; for
example, it would be nice to be able to
provide additional access points based
on user profiles, but this is probably not
critical. Additional functionality,
linking, ability for users to add their
own comments and tagging may not be
necessary, but could attract more users
if available.
Clients
The client base consists of those who
support the creation of collections, for
whatever purpose. These may be
constituents of your institution or the
surrounding community. Clients may
be involved in the actual digitization
and metadata creation, so a careful
assessment of what they need to support
their ability to contribute to the digital
library may be very important. If, for
example, the client needs to be able to
create metadata via a web interface, and
upload documents via the web from
their desktops, this becomes a primary
consideration in selecting the software.
Clients often have particular
requirements written into grant
specifications which must be honored by
the resulting product. In addition,
meeting the client's ``wish list''
contributes to the likelihood of continued
collaboration, return engagements and
good referrals. Thus, the desires of the
clients, above and beyond their needs,
may be valuable considerations to ensure
future digital library support and an
excellent reputation.
Support
Any selection of software must
consider the basic support available. A
common error is to overlook the cost in
personnel support, or to select a
software which requires considerable
customization to provide the needed
functionality or appearance, yet the
skills or personnel time needed are not
readily available.
Consider whether more than one
server may be needed; a development
server as well as a production server
allows for changes, additions, upgrades
and testing with minimal interruption of
service to the users. A checklist of the
operating systems available, with
processor speed and available disk space,
will prove invaluable in comparison with
the software support specifications.
System administrators may be able to
provide additional information on
mitigating factors, such as other support
requirements that may conflict with the
ability to locate the system on that server.
Do not overlook the advice of the
knowledgeable expertise available.
System administrators and/or
software programmers at your disposal
have varying skill sets and levels of
expertise. If the programmers are
skilled in Java but know nothing of Perl,
selection of a software requiring
considerable Perl programming could
be a disaster. In addition, the time
skilled personnel have available for
installation, configuration, support,
operation, maintenance, migration, and
customization must be carefully
weighed when comparing software
capabilities against user and client
needs. Software selection should be
done in consultation with the personnel
who will be supporting it, to ensure a
good fit and good work relations which
will be invaluable in the tasks ahead.
If proprietary software is under
consideration, there will be an initial and
possibly a continuing cost for usage.
Hardware costs will need to be assessed
if appropriate servers are not available,
and if skilled personnel are needed a nd
not available, a survey of the costs in this
area is critical to selection as well. In
addition, proprietary or open source
software may offer professional support
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