Servicing the federation : the case for metadata harvesting

The paper presents a comparative analysis of data harvesting and distributed computing as complementary models of service delivery within large-scale federated digital libraries. Informed by requirements of flexibility and scalability of federated services, the analysis focuses on the identification and assessment of model invariants. In particular, it abstracts over application domains, services, and protocol implementations. The analytical evidence produced shows that the harvesting model offers stronger guarantees of satisfying the identified requirements. In addition, it suggests a first characterisation of services based on their suitability to either model and thus indicates how they could be integrated in the context of a single federated digital library

Special Libraries, December 1961

Volume 52, Issue 10https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1961/1009/thumbnail.jp

Managing Access to Service Providers in Federated Identity Environments: A Case Study in a Cloud Storage Service

© 2015 IEEE. Currently the diversity of services, which are adhering to Identity Federation, has raised new challenges in the area. Increasingly, service providers need to control the access to their resources by users from the federation as, even though the user is authenticated by the federation, its access to resources cannot be taken for granted. Each Service Provider (SP) of a federation implements their own access control mechanism. Moreover, SPs might need to allow different access control granularity. For instance, all users from a particular Identity Provider (IdP) may access the resources due to some financial agreement. On the other hand, it might be the case that only specific users, or groups of users, have access to the resources. This paper proposes a solution to this problem through a hierarchical authorization system. Our approach, which can be customized to different SPs, allows the SP administrator to manage which IdPs, or users, have access to the provided resources. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, we present a case study in the context of a cloud storage solution

Interface, Fall 2009

Interpreting climate change data and predicting what it could mean to life on earth and the environment that sustains it is an example of a major 21st Century challenge that a wide range of disciplines are working to address. Interdisciplinary efforts to tackle such concerns have been limited by a lack of collaborative tools for communicating and sharing information. The project DataONE (ONE being short for Observation Network for Earth) seeks to alleviate this difficulty by creating a mechanism and cyberinfrastructure through which communities of researchers worldwide can share data

Directory of aerospace safety specialized information sources

A directory is presented to make available to the aerospace safety community a handbook of organizations and experts in specific, well-defined areas of safety technology. It is designed for the safety specialist as an aid for locating both information sources and individual points of contact (experts) in engineering related fields. The file covers sources of data in aerospace design, tests, as well as information in hazard and failure cause identification, accident analysis, materials characteristics, and other related subject areas. These 171 organizations and their staff members, hopefully, should provide technical information in the form of documentation, data and consulting expertise. These will be sources that have assembled and collated their information, so that it will be useful in the solution of engineering problems. One of the goals of the project in the United States that have and are willing to share data of value to the aerospace safety community

Collection Development Policies of Electronic Resources in University Libraries in Southeast Nigeria.

This paper is an empirical study of collection development policy of electronic resources in university libraries in South East Nigeria. The study ascertains the types of policies guiding electronic resources collection development practices; identifies the tools used in making sound electronic resources collection development; and determines the criteria considered in the evaluation of electronic resources of university libraries in South East Nigeria. It employed a descriptive survey design. The population of the study was 86 librarians in collection development, serials and digital library (e-library). All the 86 librarians working in collection development, serials and digital library units (e-library) were used hence the number is manageable. The survey used questionnaire and interview as instruments of data collection. Data collected were tabulated and analyzed using simple statistics of percentages and mean. The result revealed that the university libraries under study adopted traditional policies with 69 respondents representing (80.2%) of the respondents; that the libraries under study used all the five (5) items which include; the use of trial offers by mounting a link to their resources without cost; visits to similar libraries that already have the product and see it in action there; the use of vendor exhibits at conferences; the use of demonstrations from publisher /vendor in the library and demonstrate their resource and the use of reviews provided through electronic resources as tools used in making sound electronic resources. The criteria used by the libraries under study to evaluate their resources which include cost-effectiveness based on the number of searches; relevance of the research on campus and the curriculum of the library users; dissatisfaction with a resource; access criteria on the technical reliability of the content provider; the database can be ranked by acquiring statistics; comparing duplication in various formats or overlap in full-text resources. The study recommended that libraries should formulate and develop electronic resources collection development policy; efforts should be made by libraries to adopt a written electronic resources collection development policy which serves as a guide and for references and continuity among the librarians that are involved in e-resources collection development. Also, electronic resources should be evaluated on a regular basis by considering relevant factors to disclose those electronic resources that are of high and maximum utilization

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 13: The information-seeking habits and practices of engineers

It is argued that only by maximizing the research and development process can the United States maintain and possibly capture its international competitive edge. Key to this goal is the provision of information services and products which meet the information needs of engineers. Evidence exists which indicates that traditional information services and products may, in fact, not be meeting the information needs of engineers. The primary reason for this deficiency is three fold. First, the specific information needs of engineers are neither well known nor well understood. Second, what is known about the information seeking habits and practices of engineers has not been applied to existing engineering information services. Third, the information professionals continue to over-emphasize technology instead of concentrating on the quality of the information itself and the ability of the information to meet the needs of the user

Information Retrieval Methods in Libraries and Information Centers

The volumes of information created, generated and stored are immense thatwithout adequate knowledge of information retrieval methods, the retrievalprocess for an information user would be cumbersome and frustrating.Studies have further revealed that information retrieval methods are essentialin information centers for storage and retrieval of information. The paperdiscusses the concept of Information retrieval, the various informationretrieval methods. It examines the users of these information methods andtheir information behavior. The conclusion emphasizes the need for acontinuous evaluation of the information retrieval methods to make for andeffective and efficient information retrieval syste

Library Publishing Services: Strategies for Success Research Report Version 1.0

Over the past five years, libraries have begun to expand their role in the scholarly publishing value chain by offering a greater range of pre-publication and editorial support services. Given the rapid evolution of these services, there is a clear community need for practical guidance concerning the challenges and opportunities facing library-based publishing programs.Recognizing that library publishing services represent one part of a complex ecology of scholarly communication, Purdue University Libraries, in collaboration with the Libraries of Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Utah, secured an IMLS National Leadership Grant under the title “Library Publishing Services: Strategies for Success.” The project, conducted between October 2010 and September 2011, seeks to advance the professionalism of library-based publishing by identifying successful library publishing strategies and services, highlighting best practices, and recommending priorities for building capacity.The project has four components: 1) a survey of librarians designed to provide an overview of current practice for library publishing programs (led by consultant October Ivins); 2) a report presenting best practice case studies of the publishing programs at the partner institutions (written by consultant Raym Crow); 3) a series of workshops held at each participating institution to present and discuss the findings of the survey and case studies; and 4) a review of the existing literature on library publishing services. The results of these research threads are pulled together in this project white paper