[sagreenstone] turning LP library into digital form of library
John Rose
john.rose1 at free.fr
Fri Sep 11 18:23:43 EEST 2009
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to come in on Repke's question:
"Another one of those choices is the need for a
so called "institutional repository" and having
Greenstone as option but also the more
specialised DSpace or EPrints: anyone on the
list confronted with this choice: please share !"
Please note that I am not a software specialist,
and can only speak from my understanding, but I
still think it best that I try my best subject to further discussion.
The main advantage of several specialised
"institutional repository" packages such as
DSpace is that they have a built-in facility for
automating workflow control: the authors authors
generally submit their own documents, and then a
chain of intermediaries then successively treats
the documents (e.g. a collection editor or peer
panel approves the document, a metadata editor
adds metadata, etc.). In Greenstone these
facilities are much more primitive, and complex
workflows would have to be organised manually or
programmed. There are, however, two
straightforward ways in which simple workflow
control can be organised: i) the Depositor allows
an end-user to add his/her documents to a
collection, with or without metadata and ii) the
OAI-PMH harvesting facility would enable
uploading of documents and metadata from a
decentralized (e.g. Department level) collection
to a main collection (the standard OAI-PMH
protocol concerns harvesting of metadata only,
but Greenstone also provides for harvesting the associated documents).
Greenstone is a polyvalent package, and has many
advantages, especially when working with smaller,
multi-function collections/institutions:
straightforward installation and basic
customisation, multiplatform and multilingual
capability, ability to handle documents in a wide
range of proprietary or international standard
formats, compatibility for data transfer with
CDS/ISIS and several other library automation
packages (including an application integrating
Koha and Greenstone recently developed in India).
All of these are to some extent also ensured by,
for example, DSpace, but not to the same degree of with the same ease.
There is also, I believe, a strong potential for
mixed applications/networks combining Greenstone
and specialised "institutional repository"
packages. A key facility for such integration
would be the OAI-PMH serving and harvesting
facilities of Greenstone, which have been
developed to a high level of quality (note that
most "institutional repository" packages provide
for OAI-PMH serving but not for harvesting which
is handled by other software), but have not yet
been widely applied. We would be very interested
in working to provide technical assistance to
institutions or networks which want to tested and/or exploit these facilities.
Best
regards, John Rose of Greenstone Team
At 14:02 11/09/2009, you wrote:
>Dear all
>
>Leonia from the Lesotho Polytechnic Library and I have been
>discussing this off list and concluded that for cataloguing and
>circulation one of the FOSS ILS products is the better option and the
>good news is that together with their IT department they are well
>under way evaluating and implementing one of these packages.
>
>This brings me to the following:
>
>1) it is great you posted to this Greenstone and digitisation /
>digital library oriented list Leonia and we then managed (answers by
>Amos and Gilchriste) to identify the best options for your library's
>need - even though the answer was Evergreen or Koha (or ABCD) rather
>than Greenstone: this list certainly is a platform for that type of
>matching between library (archive, NGO' ..) IT needs and available
>FOSS solutions too.
>Another one of those choices is the need for a so called
>"institutional repository" and having Greenstone as option but also
>the more specialised DSpace or EPrints: anyone on the list
>confronted with this choice: please share !
>
>2) in addition to the information sources on ILS-es Amos pointed out
>(see below) there are a few more:
> - the recently published eIFL FOSS ILS project cases studies at
>http://www.eifl.net/cps/sections/services/eifl-foss/ils/case-studies
>Nearby Zimbabawe and Malawi are involved, Western African Mali is
>involved !
>- the "FOSS for libraries" catalogue of options at
>http://www.eifl.net/cps/sections/services/eifl-foss/foss-for-libraries
>
>Enjoy your weekend, Repke
>
>Op 18-aug-2009, om 9:38 heeft Amos Kujenga het volgende geschreven:
>
> > Dear Leonia,
> >
> > For you to use Greenstone effectively it is important to go through
> > some form of training. One way to do this is via the tutorial
> > exercises on the Greenstone site
> > (http://wiki.greenstone.org/wiki/index.php/Tutorial_exercises). Some
> > other documentation is also available from the Greenstone wiki
> > (http://wiki.greenstone.org/wiki/index.php/GreenstoneWik).
> >
> > Secondly, did you build the collection after uploading the documents
> > through the Librarian Interface?
> >
> > Lastly, you mentioned that you are trying to digitize your manual
> > catalogue. If I get you correctly, you'd rather do this using an
> > Integrated Library System (ILS). Examples of Open Source ILSs are:
> > - Koha (http://www.koha.org)
> > - Evergreen (http://www.open-ils.org)
> > - ABCD (http://reddes.bvsalud.org/projects/abcd/)
> >
> > I hope this addresses your problem. Your feedback would be greatly
> > appreciated.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> >
> > Amos
> >
> > On 8/17/09, Nomqibizue Sebolai <ithabeleng at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> My name is Leonia M. None. I am Assistant Librarian who is trying to
> >> digitize the manual catalogue of Lerotholi Polytechnic Library using
> >> greenstone. I entered information using excell but the documents
> >> do not
> >> appear when trying to open digital library interface. They only
> >> appear
> >> clearlly in Librarian interface.
> >>
> >> Please tell me where did I go wrong?
> >> Waiting to hear frm you.
> >>
> >> Regards!
> >> Leonia Mabakuena None
> >>
> >>
> >>
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> >>
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>
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John B. Rose
1 Bis, Rue des Châtre-Sacs
92310 Sèvres
France
Email: <john.rose1 at free.fr>
(in case of bounce then
send to <johnrose at alumni.caltech.edu>)
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