[OAI-general] System Architecture

[Mark Jordan]

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-February/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/