[OAI-general] System Architecture

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 16:06:51 -0500 (EST)

I agree that there do seem to be a few small problems with DSpace at MITs
current output at present (see my post to oai-implementers in a few
minutes if you want details). However, the key point is that DSpace is
designed (as is Eprints.org) to export metadata via OAI-PMH. Subject to
the encoding issue, harvesting seems to work fine. I just harvested all 
752 DC metadata records by telling my harvested the baseURL.

Cheers,
Simeon.

On Fri, 14 Feb 2003, Tansley, Robert wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> There is currently a minor problem with OAI support on MIT's instance of
> DSpace.  For some reason, various unicode characters are either
> malformed in the data or being incorrectly encoded in DSpace's responses
> to OAI requests.  Basically it's just a minor bug somewhere that we are
> currently hunting down (it's a high priority).  It should be fixed
> within a week or two.
> 
>  Robert Tansley / Hewlett-Packard Laboratories / (+1) 617 551 7624
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Mark Jordan [mailto:mjordan@sfu.ca] 
> > Sent: 14 February 2003 15:17
> > To: Young,Jeff
> > Cc: oai-general@oaisrv.nsdl.cornell.edu
> > Subject: Re: [OAI-general] System Architecture
> > 
> > 
> > Hello,
> > 
> > On Feb. 6, Tim Brody claimed on this list that DSpace wasn't 
> > OAI compliant based on harvesting attempts he'd made (see 
> > http://www.openarchives.org/pipermail/oai-general/2003-Februar
> > y/000239.html), suggesting that DSpace allowed XML-illegal 
> > characters where the harvesters expected legal ones.
> > 
> > So, I guess my naive question is... Is DSpace OAI compliant or not?
> > 
> > Mark
> > 
> > 
> > On Fri, Feb 14, 2003 at 09:38:21AM -0500, Young,Jeff wrote:
> > > 
> > >    Amy,
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    DSpace is a wonderful product, but OAI-compliance is a 
> > very small part
> > >    of what DSpace is about. If you merely want to add OAI 
> > capability to a
> > >    system that already exists, DSpace would be overkill and would
> > >    probably make your job much harder. Because DSpace is an fairly
> > >    elaborate system, using it as a model for your own architecture
> > >    probably wouldn't be appropriate either.
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    OAI-compliance can most easily be achieved by 
> > downloading one of the
> > >    OAI implementations found on
> > >    [1]http://www.openarchives.org/tools/tools.html. This 
> > page is a little
> > >    misleading, though, because many of the tools listed are 
> > much more
> > >    than mere implementations of the OAI protocol (e.g. DSpace).
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    I'm only familiar with two of the implementations that 
> > are available.
> > >    If you're most comfortable working in Perl, the VTOAI 
> > OAI-PMH2 PERL
> > >    implementation.seems to be
> > >    popular 
> > [2](http://www.dlib.vt.edu/projects/OAI/software/vtoai/vtoai.h
> > >    tml.) If you're most comfortable using Java, I would suggest
> > >    OAICat ([3]http://www.oclc.org/research/software/oai/cat.shtm)
> > >    which runs under a J2EE-compliant servlet engine (such 
> > as Apache's
> > >    Tomcat). I am the author of the OAICat and would be glad 
> > to help you
> > >    get it set up for your needs. BTW, DSpace uses the OAICat
> > >    implementation to provide its OAI repository functionality.
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    OAICat can be customized to work with any database engine that
> > >    supports a Java API. Implementations are available for 
> > JDBC as well as
> > >    a simple file-based system. Other databases can be 
> > accommodated by
> > >    implementing a set of abstract Java classes. 
> > Implementations are also
> > >    available for Newton and the open-source Pears database 
> > engines which
> > >    are used in OCLC's SiteSearch product.
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    BTW, if you have an unusually large repository (or even 
> > if you don't)
> > >    you may even want to consider using the open-source Pears
> > >    database 
> > ([4]http://www.oclc.org/research/software/pears/). I use it
> > >    for our XTCat repository ([5]http://alcme.oclc.org/xtcat/) which
> > >    contains over 4.2 million records.
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    Hope this helps.
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    Jeff
> > >    
> > >    -----Original Message-----
> > >    From: Hatfield, Amy J [mailto:ajhatfie@iupui.edu]
> > >    Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 8:50 AM
> > >    To: oai-general@oaisrv.nsdl.cornell.edu
> > >    Subject: [OAI-general] System Architecture
> > >    
> > >    Hello -
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    I am currently exploring our institution's ability to create an
> > >    institutional repository that is OAI compliant.  I feel 
> > I have a fair
> > >    understanding of the standards, functionality, etc. 
> > involved - and am
> > >    leaning toward DSpace as a model - but there is one aspect that I
> > >    don't see discussed very much...  system architecture!
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    I would be grateful if folks would share with me some 
> > architecture
> > >    configurations they have developed.  I am most interested in the
> > >    storage aspect.  I have looked at jukebox technology as a storage
> > >    backend, but am not sure about the retrieval aspect.  We 
> > also have a
> > >    super computer with lots of storage capacity - but it is 
> > not designed
> > >    to handle small files, but rather large datasets.  Any 
> > information you
> > >    would like to share will be most appreciated.
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    Feel free to respond directly to me if you would rather 
> > not post to
> > >    the list.
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    Kind regards,
> > >    
> > >    Amy
> > >    
> > >    
> > >    Amy Jo Hatfield, Systems Librarian
> > >    
> > >    Ruth Lilly Medical Library
> > >    
> > >    Educational Technology
> > >    
> > >    (317)278-8402
> > >    
> > >    975 West Walnut Street
> > >    
> > >    IB-100 Room 102A
> > >    
> > >    Indianapolis, IN 46202-5121
> > > 
> > > References
> > > 
> > >    1. http://www.openarchives.org/tools/tools.html
> > >    2. http://www.dlib.vt.edu/projects/OAI/software/vtoai/vtoai.html
> > >    3. http://www.oclc.org/research/software/oai/cat.shtm
> > >    4. http://www.oclc.org/research/software/pears/
> > >    5. http://alcme.oclc.org/xtcat/
> > 
> > -- 
> > 
> > Mark Jordan
> > Acting Coordinator of Library Systems
> > W.A.C. Bennett Library, Simon Fraser University
> > Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
> > Phone (604) 291 5753 / Fax (604) 291 3023                 
> > mjordan@sfu.ca / http://www.sfu.ca/~mjordan/
> > 
> >  
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> > 
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