Building a Library Search Infrastructure with Elasticsearch

This article discusses our implementation of an Elastic cluster to address our search, search administration and indexing needs, how it integrates in our technology infrastructure, and finally takes a close look at the way that we built a reusable, dynamic search engine that powers our digital repository search. We cover the lessons learned with our early implementations and how to address them to lay the groundwork for a scalable, networked search environment that can also be applied to alternative search engines such as Solr

Essentialism, Social Construction, or Individual Differences

Per the United States Department of Labor Women’s Bureau’s latest available statistics, the percentage of women employed in computer and information technology occupations was consistently lower than the average for all occupations. When broken down by selected characteristics, these numbers range from 12.4% in computer network architectures to 35.2% in web development. Is this trend reflected in the libraries? Although no comprehensive statistics are available for women in library IT, Lamont’s study does reflect the same trend in that the number of women as library IT department heads has been about one half that of men between 2004-2008. Why is there an under representation of women in library IT leadership? Is gender a concern? To answer this question, a more essential question should be addressed, i.e. what makes a successful IT supervisor in libraries? We posit that a successful supervisor is reflected in the morale and self-esteem of their reports, as well as in the integrity, productivity, and efficiency of the department or group they head

A Vertical Cooperation Model to Manage Digital Collections and Institutional Resources

The technology space of the University of Denver Libraries to manage digital collections and institutional resources isn’t relegated to one department on campus – rather, it distributed across a network of collaborators with the skills and expertise to provide that support. The infrastructure, which is comprised of an archival metadata management system (Archivespace), a digital repository (Node.js + ElasticSearch), preservation storage (ArchivesDirect), and a streaming server (Kaltura) is independently but cooperatively managed across IT, library departments and vendors. The coordinated eort of digital curation activities still allows each group to focus on the service they have the most vested interest in providing. This paper will talk about the different management and development practices involved in developing our integrated infrastructure to provide digital collections as a service

3D Adaptive Virtual Exhibit for the University of Denver Digital Collections

While the gaming industry has taken the world by storm with its three-dimensional (3D) user interfaces, current digital collection exhibits presented by museums, historical societies, and libraries are still limited to a two-dimensional (2D) interface display. Why can’t digital collections take advantage of this 3D interface advancement? The prototype discussed in this paper presents to the visitor a 3D virtual exhibit containing a set of digital objects from the University of Denver Libraries’ digital image collections, giving visitors an immersive experience when viewing the collections. In particular, the interface is adaptive to the visitor’s browsing behaviors and alters the selection and display of the objects throughout the exhibit to encourage serendipitous discovery. Social media features were also integrated to allow visitors to share items of interest and to create a sense of virtual community