STARGATE : Static Repository Gateway and Toolkit. Final Project Report

STARGATE (Static Repository Gateway and Toolkit) was funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and is intended to demonstrate the ease of use of the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) Static Repository technology, and the potential benefits offered to publishers in making their metadata available in this way This technology offers a simpler method of participating in many information discovery services than creating fully-fledged OAI-compliant repositories. It does this by allowing the infrastructure and technical support required to participate in OAI-based services to be shifted from the data provider (the journal) to a third party and allows a single third party gateway provider to provide intermediation for many data providers (journals). Specifically, STARGATE has created a series of Static Repositories of publisher metadata provided by a selection of Library and Information Science journals. It has demonstrated the interoperability of these repositories by exposing their metadata via a Static Repository Gateway for harvesting and cross-searching by external service providers. The project has conducted a critical evaluation of the Static Repository approach in conjunction with the participating publishers and service providers. The technology works. The project has demonstrated that Static Repositories are easy to create and that the differences between fully-fledged and static OAI Repositories have no impact on the participation of small journal publishers in OAI-based services. The problems for a service that arise out of the use of Static Repositories are parallel to those created by any other repository dealing with journal articles. Problems arise from the diversity of metadata element sets provided by a given journal and the lack of specific metadata elements for the articles' volume and issue details. Another issue for the use of publishers' metadata arise as the collection policies of some existing services only allow Open Access materials to be included in them. The project recommends that the use of Static Repositories continues to be explored - in particular as a flexible way to expose existing sets of structured information to OAI services and to create the opportunity to enhance the metadata as part of the process. The project further recommends that the publishing community consider the creation or adoption of an application profile for journal articles to support information discovery that can search by volume and issue. Significant further use of the Static Repository technology by small journal publishers will require the future creation and maintenance of a community-specific Static Repository Gateway. Further use will also require advocacy within the publishing community but might initially be most effectively kick-started through the creation of OAI repositories based on metadata held by the commercial services which publish or mediate access to electronic copies of journals on behalf of small publishers

Metadata quality : implications for library and information science professionals

Purpose - In contrast with recent studies noting the necessity of library and information science (LIS) skills in digital library and repository projects, this study aims to examine the impact of metadata quality requirements on how LIS professionals apply their skills outside a library setting. Design/methodology/approach - The paper reviews the concept of metadata quality and examines the implications of this for LIS professionals by reviewing the differences between the context of the library community and other relevant communities of practice. Findings - The paper argues that, although much needed, LIS skills require contextualisation before application outside library settings. Research limitations/implications - Many of the new opportunities for and settings of LIS skills are immature - consequently this analysis may date as the context of these settings mature. Current trends, however, suggest that it will not. Practical implications - Training in LIS skills should take account of how they might apply differently outside libraries. Librarians co-operating with colleagues outside the library should appreciate the potential metadata 'compromises' they might have to make and why they are necessary. Originality/value - The paper provides food for thought on the increasing number of LIS professionals working outside library settings

Digital preservation in the Tertiary education sector : management implications

This paper assesses the future of long-term curation and preservation of digital assets with particular reference to Further Education (FE) in the UK. Reviews current requirements of digital preservation and the efforts underway to support them. Drawing on other recent work and the author's experience in a recent development project it subsequently comments on these efforts in the context of FE. Argues that the long-term curation and preservation of digital assets produced by further education colleges should not be the responsibility of those colleges

Use of satellite data in a diagnostic parameterization of convective heating

Heating estimates derived from a diagnostic technique using observed rainfall and GOES IR digital imagery were completed and evaluated for accuracy. A sensitivity analysis was done to examine assumptions regarding shape of the normalized mass flux profile, cloud precipitation efficiency, and existence of convective scale downdrafts. The results, which were derived using what are felt to be bounding limits of the assumptions, indicate that the heating estimates are reliable for use in diagnostic available potential energy (APE) budgets. Comparison to heating estimates derived as residuals in the thermodynamic equation show the level of maximum heating (near 300 mb) to be the same on a time averaged basis. Heating estimates were used to study the response of the large scale environment to the cumulus scale thermodynamic forcing. An analysis of the thermally forced component of vertical motion through the omega equation showed that a significant fraction of the total grid scale upward motion results from the heating provided by the condensation and vertical eddy heat transport in the convective cells

Determination of rainfall and condensational heating in the South Pacific convergence zone during FGGE SOP-1

The role of cloud related diabatic processes in maintaining the structure of the South Pacific Convergence Zone is discussed. The method chosen to evaluate the condensational heating is a diagnostic cumulus mass flux technique which uses GOES digital IR data to characterize the cloud population. This method requires as input an estimate of time/area mean rainfall rate over the area in question. Since direct observation of rainfall in the South Pacific is not feasible, a technique using GOES IR data is being developed to estimate rainfall amounts for a 2.5 degree grid at 12h intervals

Metadata

Comparative Review of Diane I. Hillmann and Elaine L Westbrooks & American Library Association (2004) Metadata in practice; David Haynes (2004) Metadata for information management and retrieval; Priscilla Caplan (2003) Metadata fundamentals for all librarian