Modeling Object Relationships in Fedora Commons using RDF

Modeling digital object relationships with RDF statements is perhaps the single most important thing we do in creating our digital collections infrastructure. This presentation provides a brief overview of RDF, triples , how they are utilized in Fedora Commons for modeling relationships between objects, and some future goals

Let There Be Light! Indexing Items from Digital Commons in Apache Solr via OAI-PMH

To increase visibility and discoverability of assets in our Digital Commons repository, we have created a fully automated, regularly scheduled utility that, using the OAI-PMH protocol, indexes items from Digital Commons in the powerful, open-source search platform Apache Solr. Indexing metadata of items from Digital Commons allows us to support cross-collection, cross-database, and cross-platform searching for our patrons by integrating Digital Commons search results in library created search interfaces. This poster will provide a brief overview of Solr, outline the mechanics of this utility, and suggest how other institutions could harness this technique

Wrapping an Image Server in Proxy and Cache Blankets

Serving images can be a digital object repository\u27s bread and butter, but can touch on logistical and policy complexities. By wrapping the Python based Loris image server in a homegrown proxy, and caching with Varnish, we\u27ve been able to improve our image delivery, while keeping stakeholders happy as well

Cleared for Deposit! Tool for Reviewing Faculty CV\u27s and Depositing Articles in an Institutional Repository

This poster will focus on a tool we have made to streamline the process of reviewing faculty publications, most often via their CV, for deposit and self-archiving in a Institutional Repository. The tool uses an HTML/CSS webpage for the front-end, a MySQL backend, and pulls in publisher self-archiving policies via the SHERPA/RoMEO API. Many libraries are beginning to review faculty CVs for publications that can be deposited in their Open Access Institutional Repository. SHERPA/RoMEO, ...a searchable database of publisher\u27s policies regarding the self- archiving of journal articles on the web and in Open Access repositories, is primarily how librarians decide if publications can be deposited in their IR. Our tool provides a single point of interaction for querying SHERPA/RoMEO, making decisions on a publication by publication, article by article, basis, and aggregating those decisions in a fully editable report that can be sent directly to faculty to obtain their permission for deposit. The poster will outline the overall CV review workflow, and how the tool aims to streamline the process. We have made the tool freely available on Github, with installation and configuration instructions provided

APIs and the Library: What, Why?

APIs (Application Programming Interface): What are they? Why are they? Introduction to APIs and their role in the Librar

APIs and the Library: What, Why?

APIs (Application Programming Interface): What are they? Why are they? Introduction to APIs and their role in the Librar

One-To-Many: Building a single-search interface for disparate resources

Libraries provide access to a complex array of resources, but it comes as little surprise that many struggle with this task. The ubiquity of Google in modern research has placed libraries in the position of trying to emulate or set themselves apart from the search engine, regardless of how appropriate it is to compare libraries to Google. There are numerous ways in which libraries can improve the search and discovery experience for patrons, and for many, this improvement currently comes in the form of custom-built or commercial discovery systems—which aggregate disparate library content into a single results display. But, regardless of discovery systems’ potential, as Lown, Sierra, and Boyer (2013) conclude, libraries should learn and balance user expectations with the actual capabilities of library information systems. In an effort to find this balance, our work led us to a singular goal: providing a single-search interface for our complex array of library resources. What resulted was a discovery tool we named QuickSearch

Escape Velocity: What We Built (Digital Collections Infrastructure)

A poster outlining the Library\u27s current Python-based digital collections infrastructure, with an eye towards a potential Hydra-based infrastructure in the future

Avro: Overview and Implications for Metadata Processing

Poster presented at 2018 Code4Lib conference in Washington, D.C

Wayne State University’s Digital Collections Infrastructure

At Wayne State University, we are in the process of building a digital collections infrastructure using Fedora Commons to store our digital objects, Solr as our primary search mechanism, and a combination of HTML / CSS / Javascript for the front-end user interface. These components are “glued” together with a Python based server that handles search, limited management of objects, and other specific functions. The missing piece in our digital collections infrastructure is a robust, reliable, sustainable, and easy-to-use tool for managing our digital collections and objects in Fedora Commons and Solr. This lightning outlined and demonstrated a python based middleware we are creating for the management of our digital collections, and how we are integrating this tool with our extant metadata API