Describing Scholarly Works with Dublin Core: A Functional Approach

This article describes the development of the Scholarly Works Application Profile (SWAP)—a Dublin Core application profile for describing scholarly texts. This work provides an active illustration of the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) “Singapore Framework” for Application Profiles, presented at the DCMI Conference in 2007, by incorporating the various elements of Application Profile building as defined by this framework—functional requirements, domain model, description set profile, usage guidelines, and data format. These elements build on the foundations laid down by the Dublin Core Abstract Model and utilize a preexisting domain model (FR-BR—Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) in order to support the representation of complex data describing multiple entities and their relationships. The challenges of engaging community acceptance and implementation will be covered, along with other related initiatives to support the growing corpus of scholarly resource types, such as data objects, geographic data, multimedia, and images whose structure and metadata requirements introduce the need for new application profiles. Finally, looking to other initiatives, the article will comment on how Dublin Core relates to the broader scholarly information world, where projects like Object Re-use and Exchange are attempting to better equip repositories to exchange resources

OAIS as a reference model for repositories : an evaluation

The purpose of this document is to evaluate "whether OAIS is an appropriate reference model for use across the variety of repositories being developed within the JISC community" (Campbell 2005, p. 11). It follows on from discussions at the repositories strand of the JISC-CETIS Conference 2005 and the CETIS Metadata and Repositories SIG meeting held subsequently in March 2006. The Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) has proved an extremely useful model in relation to 'archival systems’. This evaluation will consider the benefits and drawbacks of applying the OAIS across repositories in a more generic way, with reference to longterm preservation as outlined in the model, and, in addition, considering the model with reference to the other business requirements that a repository might fulfil. This evaluation is being carried out in the context of the JISC Digital Repositories Programme and will focus largely on repositories that serve the communities and domains covered by that Programme, although its conclusions should have wider relevance. It is not the intention of this evaluation to provide a detailed introduction to OAIS, but to draw on previous work in this area

York Digital Library : an ecological view of interactions and systems

This case study of York Digital Library examines the development of a digital library of images at the University of York. In particular, it examines the project phase of the Fedora-based digital library and its provision of service to the History of Art department. The case study examines the technical, cultural, and human interactions of the digital library using the metaphor of an ecosystem. This approach is based on earlier work by the Repositories Research Tea

A digital library for the University of York

The University of York has recently launched a project to set-up a multimedia repository service for the University?s research resources, both those produced out of and used within research. This project is being given a kick-start by funding from the JISC repositories and preservation programme start-up and enhancement strand, under the name SAFIR (Sound Archive Film Image Repository). Institutional repositories are growing in number within the UK and offer a variety of services, such as asset management, dissemination, preservation. For multimedia, research data and other resources, institutional-level stewardship is quite new. Often such resources are managed, or mismanaged, on a Departmental or personal level, or alternatively by large data centres and data archives. With the possible demise of the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS), York is among institutions faced with a duty to find a safe, secure and long-term home for a large collection of image materials. We would like to submit a poster to Open Repositories 2008 to cover some of the challenges we face in building a repository for non-text resources

EAD - enabling armchair delivery : approaches to encoding finding aids at the University of Liverpool

EAD is increasingly being selected as the primary data format for constructing archival finding aids in the British Archive Community as the new technologies and know-how required to encode lists are being embraced in many repositories. One major problem facing archivists, though, is how to convert finding aids held in a variety of formats (including databases, word processed documents and paper lists with no machine readable form) into EAD. This article will discuss the methods used in Special Collections and Archives at the University of Liverpool Library in converting finding aids into EAD. Two main examples will be discussed: firstly, designing database output styles which automatically generate EAD tags to wrap around database fields using the ProCite bibliographic database and secondly, offshore keying of paper lists with the addition of basic EAD tags following a rigorous template designed by Special Collections and Archives staff. Both methods have proved effective and have facilitated the generation of EAD encoded lists for a number of our largest collections. Finally, there will be a brief discussion of our use of native EAD generation using AdeptEdit software and our continuing use of conversion methods

Characterisation of the p53-Mediated Cellular Responses Evoked in Primary Mouse Cells Following Exposure to Ultraviolet Radiation

Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light can cause significant damage to mammalian cells and, although the spectrum of damage produced varies with the wavelength of UV, all parts of the UV spectrum are recognised as being detrimental to human health. Characterising the cellular response to different wavelengths of UV therefore remains an important aim so that risks and their moderation can be evaluated, in particular in relation to the initiation of skin cancer. The p53 tumour suppressor protein is central to the cellular response that protects the genome from damage by external agents such as UV, thus reducing the risk of tumorigenesis. In response to a variety of DNA damaging agents including UV light, wild-type p53 plays a role in mediating cell-cycle arrest, facilitating apoptosis and stimulating repair processes, all of which prevent the propagation of potentially mutagenic defects. In this study we examined the induction of p53 protein and its influence on the survival of primary mouse fibroblasts exposed to different wavelengths of UV light. UVC was found to elevate p53 protein and its sequence specific DNA binding capacity. Unexpectedly, UVA treatment failed to induce p53 protein accumulation or sequence specific DNA binding. Despite this, UVA exposure of wild-type cells induced a p53 dependent G1 cell cycle arrest followed by a wave of p53 dependent apoptosis, peaking 12 hours post-insult. Thus, it is demonstrated that the elements of the p53 cellular response evoked by exposure to UV radiation are wavelength dependent. Furthermore, the interrelationship between various endpoints is complex and not easily predictable. This has important implications not only for understanding the mode of action of p53 but also for the use of molecular endpoints in quantifying exposure to different wavelengths of UV in the context of human health protection

For the love of metadata? : a functional approach to describing scholarly works

Repositories are springing up across institutions in the UK and worldwide. For institutional repositories there is a pressing need to fill them with content and to make those contents available through search interfaces, aggregators and other services. Speed and easy access are paramount both for depositors, who want to add their materials to the repository with minimum effort, and for researchers, who want to discover the quickest route to the full-text. Consistent, good quality metadata is needed to provide the signpost to full-texts, yet there is a resulting tension between the effort required to create, and share, metadata and the needs of depositors. Research and scholarly outputs are one of the main content types collected and managed by institutional repositories, in particular the research papers, or scholarly works, produced by academics and researchers1. In May 2006, the Joint Information Systems Committee JISC) engaged the Eduserv Foundation and UKOLN to produce an application profile for scholarly works that would facilitate the sharing of richer metadata between repositories and aggregators such as the newly-funded Intute search project. This article describes the development of the application profile