PRDLA

Lynn O’Leary, Todd Grappone, University of Southern California

The USC Digital Archive, presented at the 2004 PRDLA meeting, now contains 132,000 publicly available digital images and metadata displayed via a newly designed user interface. The focus remains on the presentation of local, area, state, US and Pacific Rim-related content, searchable across all collections or by individual collection. A recently completed prototype project tested whether efficient, appropriate spatial search tools could be easily integrated into the Digital Archive. The project has resulted in three new services–a clickable map, a gazetteer, and a geocoder—that provide new filters for guiding the identification and selection of content.

Coded in JAVA, ISP and JSF, the map application taps into the functionality of a commercial off-the-shelf internet mapping software, ESRI ArcIMS. A user can draw a box on the map and retrieve all of the geo-referenced records within the geographic boundaries of the box. The user can also view those records as points on the map. The gazetteer was initially built independently of this project, using newly-developed, fully automated data mining techniques to compile a demonstration data set from one city within Los Angeles (El Segundo). The gazetteer provides a highly detailed location filter which a patron can use to identify a specific location, such as a business, and retrieve all of the catalog content within a specified geographic buffer around that location. The geocoder, a very popular feature on many web applications, is written utilizing a standard geocoding web service and allows a user to enter any street address and zip code in the US to search for holdings within a designated radius of the user-specified address.

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Puakea Nogelmeier, University of Hawai’i Manoa

Hawaiian language newspapers were published for over 100 years in the Hawaiian Kingdom and into the Territory era. Originally the domain of missionaries and government agencies, independent newspapers began in 1861 and flourished well into the 20th century. These newspapers engaged the entire Hawaiian-speaking population and became the repository for public discourse and cultural knowledge of the Hawaiians throughout that era. This many-faceted resource remained largely inaccessible until recent changes in digital technology opened new possibilities and generated intense interest.

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Lynn O’Leary, University of Southern California
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Kylie Chan, Hong Kong Baptist University

The Library Coordinators Portal webpage has been designed to facilitate and provide
access to an array of information related to collection development functions that
assist Library Coordinators, a group made up of academic unit representatives, and
Liaison Librarians, to contribute expertise in their various disciplines in a more
informed, efficient and effective manner. The conventional lengthy manual book
selection process has revolutionized the introduction of this online book selection
system, which is being widely used by the Library Coordinators and Liaison
Librarians to markedly reduce the manpower involved in ordering and checking.

In addition, e-information has recently been gaining widespread popularity amongst
library users owing to its speedy and convenient access. Swift technological
advancement and the rapid evolution of electronic resources have confronted users,
particularly first-time users, with daunting technical complexity when accessing
electronic resources in libraries. These technical issues may leave some users feeling
helpless and discouraged. Online tutorials were developed in the Hong Kong Baptist
University (HKBU) Library to support the e-learning environment and to address the
issue of information literacy as an integral part of the learning process. The user
friendly interactive module has proven itself as an essential tool to encourage
self-paced access and asynchronous learning.

Intranet and document management systems have also been implemented within the
HKBU Library, thus greatly enhancing efficient communication amongst staff,
improving efficiency of workflow and roster scheduling, ensuring proper information
management and providing secure control and retention of the information in a
broader and shared access. These measures have helped to direct attention and
resources to where they are needed within the library.

In conclusion, the introduction of the online tutorial for the users, of the online
selection system via Library Coordinators’ Portal webpage, of the Intranet and of the
document management system has, with the aid of recent advances in the computing
2005 PRDLA presentation
technology, facilitated the smooth and efficient running of the Library and achieved a
much desired organizational agility.

Presentation is not available at this time.

Ya-ning Chen, Shu-jiun Chen, Academia Sinica, Taiwan

An institutional repository (IR), a concept of open access, is to capture, preserve and make available as much of the research output of an institution as possible. In the Data Service of the National Digital Archives Program (NDAP-DS) setting, an IR can serve a place for project member technical reports and publications. The NDAP-DS, a hybrid of the library and archives, aims to offer information resources and preserve archival materials for the NDAP members and the publics. However, the Data Service has confronted the challenges of providing information access for the NDAP members. The virtual organization nature of the NDAP causes that members are not convenient to get printed materials provided by the Data Service which centrally located in the Academia Sinica. Furthermore, access to the subscribed electronic publications makes members frustration due to the memorization of numerous sets of password.

This study discusses the development and implementation of the IR for the NDAP-DS, which is based on the combination of institutionally defined and subject-oriented models for content acquisition. It includes electronic resources subscribed by the NDAP-DS, and publications published by the members. The IR has focused on the need to ensure easy and reliable access to both internal and external information resources in terms of the topic of digital libraries. DSpace, an open source system, has been adopted for the IR. The study finally proposes recommendations for the further research in terms of collection development and heterogeneous system integration.

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Emily S. Lin, University of California, Merced

Libraries digitize in order to put information more readily into the hands of the users they serve. Depending on the nature of the institution and its mission, that constituency could be limited; or, in the case of a public university library, it could be extended beyond campus boundaries to citizens in the community, state, or nation. Collectors—individual and institutional—derive their value and prestige from what they own; their interest is in protecting their investment. For libraries, however, value derives from whether and how the constituencies they serve use their collections. How do libraries building digital collections negotiate between protecting intellectual property and enabling useful access? How do libraries provide users with the information they need to determine “appropriate” use?

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R. Bruce Miller, University of California, Merced

RFID is widely used, but most people are unaware that they daily use “contactless
integrated circuits that may be read remotely”. One example is the card access
systems that are used instead of brass keys to open locks. RFID tags in library
materials provide anti-theft management and significant economies and effectiveness
in collection management. RFID tags on library borrower cards enable easy self
checkout of library materials. However, there are technical aspects to the technology
as implemented in libraries that have important implications for ongoing use. Even
more important, lack of knowledge regarding the specific 13.56 MHz
implementations in libraries have led to public outcry concerning privacy and identity
theft. This presentation briefly summarizes the physics of RFID technology, reviews
the specific applications for libraries, and discusses legislative actions in California
that are intended to prohibit the use of RFID.

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