3rd RSLP Collection Description Concertation Day

Report

The Charity Centre, London, 23 October 2000

The 3rd RSLP Collection Description Concertation Day was held at the Charity Centre, London, on 23 October 2000.

Ronald Milne (Programme Director, RSLP) opened the day by emphasising the importance of collection descriptions as research tools for the academic community. He stressed the need for consistency and an adherence to recognised standards if such tools were to be helpful and commended the UKOLN RSLP Collection Description project for taking this into account.

Andy Powell (UKOLN) summarised the development of the RSLP Collection Description model, schema and tool to date. A number of key points emerged from his presentation.

Model

One of the aims of the project has been to avoid duplication of effort among RSLP projects involved in collection description. Almost inevitably, given the timescale, this has not been fully achieved; some RSLP projects have developed their own collection description models, schemes and formats.
The project has aimed to look beyond the immediate requirements of RSLP projects and provide an adaptable model that can respond to the rapidly changing information environment, where the traditional boundaries between library, archive and museum collections are being broken down by the Internet.

Schema

The schema does not aim to replace existing descriptive formats, such as ISAD(G) or MARC; instead it is a simple tool for high-level descriptions, "a Dublin Core for collection description".
The schema uses RDF (Resource Description Framework), the W3C-recommended format for metadata on the Web.

The implementation of RDF since its endorsement by the W3C has been slower than expected.
RDF was selected as the preferred format for the schema because it can provide semantic interoperability between applications. RDF is encoded using XML.
Development of Dublin Core has taken place – and is still taking place – in parallel to the development of the schema, with the result that the encoding syntax in XML has needed to be updated during the project.
A controlled vocabulary has been developed by UKOLN to describe collection types. No RSLP-wide agreement has been reached on a controlled vocabulary to describe the subject content of a collection.

Tool

The tool is a selective implementation of the schema.
A facility enabling projects to save and subsequently re-edit collection descriptions using the tool is to be introduced in the next few weeks.
The relation between the tool and EAD is an area still requiring development; a full conversion programme is beyond the scope of the current project.
The prototype search service, enabling cross-searching of RSLP projects' collection descriptions, is still being developed. It is envisaged that RSLP projects will create their own collection descriptions, using the tool, store them on their own Web servers and inform UKOLN of their location. UKOLN will then import the collection descriptions and mount them for searching on a central Web server.

Lesley Forbes (Mapping Asia, Oxford) reported on the progress of Mapping Asia. She emphasised in particular the following points:

There are no standards in place for collection level descriptions (as opposed to item level descriptions) of library collections; the project has therefore had to develop these itself. The whole issue of describing parts of collections and the associated technical difficulties in ensuring effective searching and retrieval is a new area for libraries to explore. Wherever relevant standards are in place (e.g. LCSH for subject description), these are being used by Mapping Asia.
For each institution whose collections are covered by Mapping Asia a parent record has been created on the project database; each individual collection has its own child record, attached to the parent record.
Mapping Asia will use EAD, in an XML format. The technical requirements of the project have been far more complex than had been anticipated at the bidding stage.
Full and meaningful resource discovery will require cross-searching of collections not only within and between individual RSLP projects but also beyond the confines of the RSLP programme. This in turn will require co-operation, agreement and co-ordination at the highest level.

Gregory Walker (COCOREES, Oxford) and Lesley Pitman (COCOREES, SSEES/UCL) reported on the progress of COCOREES. They emphasised in particular the following points:

COCOREES is using a ROADS-based Web interface, with data imported from the project's MS Access database. The project is not currently able to generate RDF.
COCOREES will be seeking to use the data gained by its project questionnaire to compare the relative research values of different collections.
A consistent and transparent methodology for collection description is essential if such comparisons are to be valid.

Two project databases are being created: one contains collection descriptions, the other a union list of periodicals in the COCOREES subject areas. Cross-searching will be possible between the two databases.

Luis Carrasqueiro (BUFVC Researchers' Guide Online) gave a short presentation on the work of the RGO project, the aim of which is to create a digital version of the BUFVC's Researchers' guide to television, radio and related documentary collections. The project is using Filemaker Pro software and the guide, to be published on the Web, will incorporate RDF. He gave a brief demonstration of the prototype Web guide.

Gordon Dunsire (SCONE, Napier) reported on the progress of SCONE. He emphasised in particular the following points:

SCONE is not a subject-based project; it covers all research collections held in Scotland, regardless of their subject, size or format. The project uses the CAIRNS Z39.50 clump infrastructure and will enable "dynamic clumping"; the user will be able to create his own clump, using criteria such as the geographic proximity of holding libraries, the format (e.g. electronic) of collections, etc.
SCONE is using SQL, which is not only incorporated in free or cheap off-the-shelf tools, (e.g. MS Access, Sybase) but is also capable of enabling complex search strategies.
SCONE is using Cold Fusion, a free tool (supported by Netskills) which can be used to make SQL Web-compliant. The user will search using an HTML form. The search will then be processed by Cold Fusion and the results will be returned to the user and displayed via HTML.
The use of Cold Fusion will make it possible for libraries to edit and update descriptions of their own collections online.
RSLP projects must not under-estimate the sheer number of collection descriptions to be compiled by projects.

The day ended with an open discussion, chaired by Ronald Milne. A number of key issues emerged.

It was reported that:

RSLP may consider investing in further work on the development of a conversion programme between the UKOLN Collection Description schema and EAD. It was agreed that further work in this area was vital.
OCLC have released a Conspectus software package (WLN), which libraries can run against their OPACs to generate an online Conspectus evaluation of their holdings. It was pointed out that the resulting Conspectus could take no account of collections not yet catalogued online.
The HILT RSLP/JISC project is currently exploring the development of a high level thesaurus.

It was recommended that:

RSLP set up a Collection Description Group. Ronald Milne agreed to contact Lorcan Dempsey at the DNER with a view to taking this forward.
Sample collection descriptions be mounted on the UKOLN Website, to provide guidance to RSLP projects.
RSLP projects creating collection descriptions of collections that are not yet catalogued at the item level make use of the data gathered on these collections by their surveys to recommend national priorities for retrospective cataloguing. RSLP might wish to take these findings into account.
UKOLN should liaise with LASER's PRIDE project.

Katie Sambrook
Special Collections Librarian (King's College London) and HOST Project Manager
catherine.sambrook@kcl.ac.uk

Last modified: 10-Nov-2000