Introduction to the Information Environment Service Registry

Amanda HillMIMAS,

The University of Manchester, UK

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Context

• Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) provides ICT infrastructure and advice for United Kingdom universities and colleges

– Funds a large number of projects, as well as electronic collections for the research, learning and teaching communities

www.jisc.ac.uk

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Current digital landscape

…a vast and sometimes bewildering range of potential sources of electronic information.

Little wonder, then, that many users remain unaware of their existence or fail to discover their value for their own learning, teaching or research.

Investing in the Future:

Developing an Online Information Environment http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=ie_home

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JISC Information Environment

• aims to make it easier for the user to find relevant information and learning resources

• will enable presentation, delivery and use of online resources in ways tailored to support individual and institutional requirements in learning, teaching and research

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IE Technical Model

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Shared Services

To enable portals and other services to deliver diverse digital resources, machine-readable information about services, content, rights and users is required to act as the “glue” between portals and the content itself.

Investing in the Future:

Developing an Online Information Environment http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=ie_home

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Shared Services

To enable portals and other services to deliver diverse digital resources, machine-readable information about services, content, rights and users is required to act as the “glue” between portals and the content itself.

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IESR

• A registry of the electronic resources available within the JISC’s Information Environment

• Contains information about:– the resources themselves– how to access the resources– the resource provider(s)

• Is accessible by other applications via machine-to-machine interfaces

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Project history

• Partners – MIMAS, University of Manchester– UKOLN, University of Bath– Cheshire Development Team, University of Liverpool

• Funded by JISC in three phases since November 2002

• Current phase started 1 March 2005

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Collections

• 259 resources currently described, submitted by:– AHDS– Edina– MIMAS– Resource Discovery Network– UK Data Archive– UK Mirror Service (now the JISC National Mirror Service)

• In current phase, we will be expanding our content to encompass non-JISC service providers: e.g.– institutional resources (digital repositories, OPACs)– resources of other UK Common Information Environment

partners (National Archives, British Library, National Health Service, BBC)

IESR Metadata and Services

Ann AppsMIMAS,

The University of Manchester, UK

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Outline

• IESR content description• IESR services• Using IESR

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IESR Content

• Descriptions of:– Collections of resources– Informational Services that provide access– Agents: Owners / Administrators– Transactional Services

• Supplied by resource providers• Check by IESR content manager

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IESR Entities

Collection

Service Agentadministers

ownsprovides access

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IESR Entity Description

• Entities identified with URI• Described by metadata• Based on open standards• IESR terms defined in IESR namespace• Metadata defined by Application Profile

– Semantics– Occurrence– Searchable

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IESR Collection Metadata

• Based on RSLP Collection Description• Simplification for electronic resources• Consistent with DCMI Collection

Description Application Profile• Links to other entities:

– hasService: Service– Owner: Agent

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Vocabulary Encoding Schemes

• Defined in Application Profile• Single backbone subject scheme

– Dewey

• Other common vocabularies supported• iesr:usesControlledList

– IESR defined list (extensible)– terminology service; item level search

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IESR Service Metadata

• More than RSLP CD ‘locator’• Bespoke IESR scheme, uses open standards• Single access method:

– Z39.50, SOAP, OAI-PMH, Web/CGI

• Location URL• Interface property for some service types• Links to other entities

– serves: Collection– Administrator: Agent

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Other Service types

• SOAP:– Locator: access URL– Interface: WSDL

• OAI-PMH:– Locator: BaseURL– Interrogate service (Identify) for details

• Web CGI: Interface: IESR Keys

• Web page: Locator: URL

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IESR Agent Metadata

• Agent name• Agent description• Contact details and URL• Links to other entities

– owns: Collection– administers: Service

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IESR Administrative Metadata

• Included with every entity• Data suppliers can include:

– creator / contributor, creation dates, source

• IESR includes:– creating organisation, publisher: IESR– latest modification date– rights to reuse descriptions

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IESR Creative Commons Licence

• All IESR records licensed under a Creative Commons licence:– Non-commercial (freely available)– Share-alike (maintain same licence)– Attribution-required (attribute provenance)

• Suppliers agree to this licence• http://creativecommons.org

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IESR Services

• Z39.50 – Bib-1– SUTRS; XML

• OAI-PMH (soon)• Web Services SOAP (planned)

– SRW; NISO VIEWS

• RSS (later)• UDDI (under investigation)• Web Search and Browse

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Z39.50: IESR XML

• Composite Collection record:– Collection– All services that provide access– All agents:

• Owners of collection• Administrators of services

• Composite Transactional Service record:– Service and all administrator agents

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Using IESR

• Portal (amalgamated set of resources)– Metasearch on behalf of user

• Portal builder doesn’t need to know about resources• Users discover collections unaware of

– Harvest IESR records• Local service registry• Knowledgebase (convert to appropriate format)• Local configuration file

– Link to Web Search - general resource discovery

• RSS Aggregator: news feeds; new data alerts• Reuse collection description

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IESR Details

Specifications: http://iesr.ac.uk/metadata/

Application Profile: http://iesr.ac.uk/profile/

XML Schema: http://iesr.ac.uk/profile/xsd/iesr.xsd

Web Search IESR: http://iesr.ac.uk/registry/

IESR Z39.50 service: http://iesr.ac.uk/use/z3950/

IESR Helpline service: iesr@mimas.ac.uk

Ann Apps: ann.apps@manchester.ac.uk