[OAI-implementers] OAI Resource

Mon, 14 Apr 2003 15:11:26 -0400

I don't see how titles deserve to be separate resources, but I can
sympathize with your desire to store authors as resources. For example, I
have an old copy of the LC Name Authority File available that is accessible
via OAI GetRecord verbs (e.g.
http://alcme.oclc.org/laf/servlet/OAIHandler?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=m
arcxml&identifier=oai:laf.oclc.org/LCCN/n78-95332). So, you can retrieve any
record in the file by substituting the LCCN for that person at the end of
the URL.

The biggest problem with this from OAI's point of view is that you can't
honestly represent these records in Dublin Core (e.g.
http://alcme.oclc.org/laf/servlet/OAIHandler?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=o
ai_dc&identifier=oai:laf.oclc.org/LCCN/n78-95332). Is "William Shakespeare"
the dc.creator? The dc.title? Dublin Core is a bibliographic metadata
format, and people just aren't bibliographic items. On the other hand, I
don't claim that this repository is OAI compliant. It's just a convenient
way to make the MARC21 XML data available to both browsers and automated
processes.

If you're really intent on creating records for people, you might consider
doing something similar. Then, in your research records, you can create
links from the dc.creator/dc.contributor/dc.publisher, etc, to these records
via the available URL.

This brings up another problem, though. There is no place in the Dublin Core
schema to put these URLs. For example,

<dc:creator>Shakespeare, William,--1564-1616</dc:creator>

To get around this, the ETDMS format, for example, extends the Dublin Core
schema to include a resource attribute.

<etdms:creator resource="http://...">Shakespeare, William...</etdms:creator>

If you store your research project records this way, you can always dumb
them down to Dublin Core by omitting the URL.

If you do decide to store records for people, I'd suggest that there's no
good reason to mix them in with your research paper records. Also keep in
mind that various groups are dealing with schemes that will associate people
with URIs, so in the long term, you may want to pick a solution that will
allow you to utilize these services when they become available.

Jeff

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Venugopal R Pally [mailto:pally_reddy@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 2:35 PM
> To: Simeon Warner; oai-implementers@oaisrv.nsdl.cornell.edu
> Subject: RE: [OAI-implementers] OAI Resource
> 
> 
> Thank you. As you said, Could you inform me how I can
> provide this at the service layer ? I have already
> implemented the OAI considering these research
> projects as Resources. But it would be of good use to
> my organization if I can extend it to considering
> certain other things as Resources. My initial idea was
> to use the same oai_dc metadataformat as schema for
> all these resources except that I will use only some
> of those elements in metadata of these different
> resources. For example, I need creator element of
> oai_dc for project but I dont need that element for
> Author etc. This way I would omit certain elements for
> these resources. Please suggest me if this is
> practical.
> Thanks,
> Venu.
> 
> --- Simeon Warner <simeon@cs.cornell.edu> wrote:
> > 
> > I agree with Jeff and feel that overloading the
> > selective harvesting
> > mechanisms (sets, metadata formats) with search
> > functionality is not the
> > best way to approach these issues. You should either
> > use a protocol that
> > supports remote search, or provide that
> > functionality at the service layer
> > (think of the OAI repository as one layer down).
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Simeon.
> > 
> > On Mon, 14 Apr 2003, Young,Jeff wrote:
> > > I'd say the answer is no, you don't want to do
> > that. OAI isn't a search
> > > protocol, it's a simple harvesting protocol. If
> > you really do need to search
> > > your database by these fields you will need to use
> > a different protocol such
> > > a Z39.50 or SRU/SRW and use it to index those
> > fields from your research
> > > project records. Also keep in mind that the main
> > reason people make your
> > > metadata records available via OAI is so others
> > (aka service providers) can
> > > make them useful and searchable in this way.
> > > 
> > > Basically, it sounds like you want more
> > functionality than OAI alone
> > > provides. Check out EPrints or DSpace if you need
> > a more complete archiving
> > > solution.
> > > 
> > > Jeff
> > > 
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Venugopal R Pally
> > [mailto:pally_reddy@yahoo.com]
> > > > Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 11:50 AM
> > > > To: oai-implementers@oaisrv.nsdl.cornell.edu
> > > > Subject: [OAI-implementers] OAI Resource
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Hi all,
> > > >    The OAI says that 'resource' is the object or
> > stuff
> > > > that metadata is about. So, can resources
> > include
> > > > multiple types ? For example, in our case, I
> > > > identified research projects as resources. But
> > later I
> > > > found that harvestors would like to search our
> > archive
> > > > based on certain other things like Author, his
> > Papers
> > > > etc. This would mean I should consider Authors,
> > Paper
> > > > titles also as resources along with research
> > projects.
> > > > So, when a harvestor asks for ListIdentifiers,
> > can I
> > > > display all of these (Research Projects,
> > Authors,
> > > > Paper Titles) ? Or should I use different
> > > > metadataPrefix for different resources ?
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > Venu.
> > > > 
> > > >
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