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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Dear OAI Implementers’ Community,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I have been the project manager on a two-year Institute of
Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded grant, awarded to the Digital Library
Federation (DLF) to develop a second-generation OAI finding system and leverage
the lessons learned from OAI early adopters. A project team composed of experts
from Emory University and the universities of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and
Michigan, with the help of an extended team of focus groups, scholars, and
technical advisors, has worked earnestly and effectively to prototype new and
improved OAI finding systems for libraries (DLF OAI Portal and DLF MODS Portal),
best practices for metadata creation and improved communication/interoperability
between data and service providers (DLF/NSDL Best Practices for OAI Data
Provider Implementations and Sharable Metadata), and training materials for
novice implementations (DLF OAI Implementers’ Workshop documents). Access
to many of the project deliverables and an abstract describing the project is
available from <a href="http://www.diglib.org/architectures/oai/imls2004/">http://www.diglib.org/architectures/oai/imls2004/</a>.
I hope many of you will benefit from this effort to further the mission and impact
of OAI.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Respectfully,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Barrie L. Howard</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Program Associate</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Digital Library Federation</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>1755 Mass. Ave., NW, Suite 500</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Washington, DC 20036-2124</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a href="http://www.diglib.org">http://www.diglib.org</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>V: (202) 939-4769</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>F: (202) 939-4765</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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