Open Source Digital Archives Displays

[Wilhelmina Randtke]

Digital library platforms generally force you to create a library which has
some level of interoperability.  Be extremely wary of building a "digital
library right from a simple website".  Doing this takes more skill and
awareness to get metadata right and have metadata and objects in a way that
will let you export the metadata and transport your digital objects about
or participate in harvesting projects.

A collection of static links to static images and pdfs will lead to
frustration later, because it's not going to let you promote your content,
do any kind of adequate search, or deal with changes in technology
standards in a non-labor intensive way.  For building an interoperable
digital library, at a minimum, I think you need an sql server with metadata
in a database.  It's possible you could do static content and embed
metadata in the digital objects.  This seems more sophisticated than using
a digital library platform, because the tools to do it aren't as readily
available as are digital library tools.  Also, for metadata embedded in
objects, the goal is to allow metadata harvesting, not to remain static
forever.

Does this make sense - the difference between static linked objects versus
an interoperable collection of objects and metadata?

-Wilhelmina Randtke


On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 1:51 PM, Ellen Paul <ellen.a.paul at gmail.com> wrote:

> Omeka was as easy as can be.  I made a very simple digital library with
> this free, open source, online software.  No prior experience necessary and
> the results come out looking great.  The standard features are free and
> they give you a lot of good options. However, if you're looking for
> something with a bit more options, you can pay a subscription fee and get a
> bit more storage, plugins and themes.  Greenstone, on the otherhand, I've
> known a lot of people who have had trouble working the system.  I think, if
> you're looking for something simple, you can get great results with little
> hassle with Omeka.
>
> Obviously, the other option is to create a digital library right from a
> simple website, you just have to create all the metadata yourself rather
> than using a program.
>
> Hope this helps,
> Ellen
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 1:41 PM, Yiwei Wang <yiweiwang88 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm using Greenstone for my class project too. It's highly recommended by
>> our instructor. The installation shouldn't be very hard. May give it a try.
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 12:40 PM, Wilhelmina Randtke <randtke at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> I used Greenstone for a simple photo sharing project with classmates
>>> during library school.  It takes some technical skill to install - you need
>>> to know a little unix to install Greenstone.  Once it is installed, the
>>> interface is more graphical.  The look and feel can be customized through a
>>> series of forms, accounts can be made for people to upload photos and enter
>>> metadata.  It automatically includes Dublin Core fields, and you can create
>>> custom metadata fields.  You can also get plug-ins to ingest metadata in
>>> XML, MARC, CDS/ISIS, ProCite, BibTex, Refer, OAI, DSpace, METS forms.
>>>
>>> In Greenstone, straight uploading photos, entering metadata, and
>>> tweaking the color scheme and graphics in the interface was simple.
>>> Installing the initial set-up was a little complicated.  I'm fairly
>>> technical (from the library side, not the IT side), had access to someone
>>> who had worked with Greenstone before, and could do the install OK.
>>>
>>> University of Florida digital libraries uses Greenstone, with in-house
>>> modifications:  http://digital.uflib.ufl.edu/
>>>
>>> From talking to people who have used both, Greenstone and Omeka are
>>> comparable.
>>>
>>> -Wilhelmina Randtke
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 9:02 AM, Slavinski, Kate <
>>> slavinskik1 at owls.southernct.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>>  I am in the process of creating a digital display of old photographs
>>>> for the archives where I work, and I was wondering if anyone can share some
>>>> good experiences with open source software for digital photograph displays.
>>>>
>>>> Thank you for your help,
>>>>
>>>> Kate Slavinski
>>>>
>>>> MLS Student
>>>>
>>>> Southern Connecticut State University
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Yiwei Wang
>> MSI 2012
>> School of Information - Library and Information Science
>>  University of Michigan
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Ellen Paul
>
> 860.428.9040
> ellen.a.paul at gmail.com
>
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2011-11-29
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