Press Release: Infrae extends Python, Zope, Silva, and Railroad with OAI-PMH facilities

[george at library.caltech.edu]

[Forwarding from Silva via the SPARC Open Access Forum. -- George]

OAI Pack: a full stack of Open Archives services

October 14, 2004 - Infrae is pleased to release open source[*]
extensions for Python, Zope and the Silva CMS for harvesting web-based
repositories exposed using the OAI-PMH standard (Open Archives
Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting). In addition we are
announcing an extension for the Railroad content repository software for
exposing existing Railroad systems as OAI-PMH harvestable repositories.
The individual components enable organizations to harvest, index and
present data from any OAI-PMH repository, and also allow the setting up
of a new repository with Railroad.

Infrae has extended Silva so it enables users to browse and search
harvested metadata, further enriching the extensive feature set of this
open source CMS. An organization that uses Silva can easily become an
OAI-PMH Service Provider.

In the process, Infrae also developed a module for accessing OAI-PMH
compliant repositories in Python, and developed a sophisticated
harvesting and indexing system for using harvested metadata in Zope.
These reusable components are designed to be building blocks for other
Python or Zope-based applications.

Infrae has also extended Railroad with a service to turn it into an
OAI-PMH compliant server. Railroad is a standards-based content
repository for digital media and corresponding metadata. It's designed
to be easy to integrate with content management systems and other client
software, and has already been integrated with Silva and Plone. By using
Railroad, an organization can easily become an OAI-PMH Data Provider.

Infrae calls this full stack of OAI-PMH services the OAI-PMH Pack. It is
possible to use a combination of Silva and Railroad to become both
Service Provider and Data Provider, but since the OAI Pack builds on an
interoperable protocol, the components can also be used individually.

More information on the OAI-PMH Pack:
     http://www.infrae.com/products/oaipack
Python oaipmh module:
     http://www.infrae.com/products/oaipack#oaimph
Zope OAICore Product:
     http://www.infrae.com/products/oaipack#OAICore
Silva OAI Extension:
     http://www.infrae.com/products/oaipack#SilvaOAI
Railroad OAI Service:
     http://www.infrae.com/products/oaipack#RailroadOAIService
More information about OAI-PMH:
     http://www.openarchives.org/
     http://www.oaforum.org/tutorial/

About Silva

Silva is a powerful CMS for managing content for the web, paper, and
other media. Content is stored in a clean and future-proof format,
independent of layout and presentation, suitable for use in multiple
publications. Features include a multi-version workflow system, integral
WYSIWYG editor (Kupu), sophisticated access management, extensive
import/export facilities, fine-grained templating, and image
manipulation. Silva is built on top of the flexible Zope web application
platform.

[*] Silva, and everything in the OAI Pack is released under a BSD-style
license.