Digital Library Development Tech Terms

EZID

(easy-eye-dee) is a service that makes it simple for digital object producers (researchers and others) to obtain and manage long-term identifiers for their digital content.

Fedora

(or Flexible Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture) is a digital asset management (DAM) architecture upon which institutional repositories, digital archives, and digital library systems might be built. Fedora is the underlying architecture for a digital repository, and is not a complete management, indexing, discovery, and delivery application.

MODS: Metadata Object Description Schema

A XML schema, and a data structure and interchange standard, used for the creation of original resource description records (and may also be used as an alternative method for representing MARC data). MODS was developed by the Library of Congress' Network Development and MARC Standards Office.

CrossRef

A collaborative reference linking service. Google for the CrossRef web site for more information.

Digital repository

A digital library, or digital collection, is an online database of digital objects that can include text, still images, audio, video, or other digital media formats. Objects can consist of digitized content like print or photographs, as well as born-digital content like word processor files or social media posts. In addition to storing content, digital libraries provide means for organizing, searching, and retrieving the content contained in the collection.

ARK: Archival Resource Key

A naming scheme for persistent access to CDL-hosted digital objects. An ARK is a specially constructed, actionable, and persistent URL encapsulating a globally unique identity that is independent of the current service provider. Each ARK is by definition bound to three things: object access, object metadata, and a faceted commitment statement about providing persistent access. With a single question mark (?) appended, an ARK connects users to the object's metadata; with a doubled question mark (??), it connects to the provider's commitment statement. See the ARK web site for more information.

Validation

A process to check one or more aspects of a submission for schema errors, file format problems, and ingest parameter inconsistencies that might affect its suitability for preservation. Results of a validation may include any combination of structural analysis information, warning messages, or fatal errors that prevent an object from being ingested.

OAI-PMH: Open Archives Initiative-Protocol for Metadata Harvesting

A protocol defined by the Open Archives Initiative. It provides a method for content providers to make records for their items available for harvesting by service providers, such as centralized search services. See the OAIster web site for more information..

Dublin core

A simple set of metadata elements used as a common meeting ground between richer, more granular metadata standards from diverse groups. Allows for generalizability and the support of cross-collection discovery. See the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) web site for more information.

DOI

A stable identifier (URL). See the DOI web site for more information.https://www.doi.org/

METS: Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard

A standard for encoding descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata about objects within a digital library, expressed using XML. METS is the emerging national standard for wrapping digital library materials. It is being developed by the Digital Library Federation (DLF) and is maintained by the Library of Congress.

Technical Administrative Metadata

Administrative metadata that describes the technical attributes of the digital file, e.g. date it was created, file type, who can access it, etc.

Citation Linker

An Ex Libris SFX tool that allows linking from a citation to the full text of an item, or to other services (such as Request for interlibrary borrowing). While used primarily for interlibrary loan, it can also be used to facilitate the location of citations by researchers.

Dark Archive

An archive that is inaccessible to the public. It is typically used for the preservation of content that is accessible elsewhere. See also dim archive, light archive.

SIP: Submission Information Package

An deposit package prepared by the producer for the purpose of ingest into the Digital Preservation Repository, where it will be converted automatically to an Archival Information Package.

TEI: Text Encoding Initiative

An initiative that publishes document type information catering to a wide range of academic electronic text projects. Books, manuscripts, collections of poetry, and other kinds of literary and linguistic texts for online research and teaching that are available electronically are encoded in TEI. See the TEI web site for more information.

Component

Content file or a metadata package that is part of a digital object.

DMP Tool

DMP Tool helps researchers create and manage data management plans.

OAI: Open Archival Information

Develops and promotes a low-barrier interoperability framework and associated standards for the dissemination of content. Originally, it was designed to enhance access to e-print archives, but it now takes into account access to other digital materials

Digital Asset Management Systems

Managing multimedia including image, audio, video for sharing and collaborative work. Management of image, audio and video file collections for sharing, collaborative work, process for organizing, storing and retrieving rich media and managing digital rights and permissions. Rich media assets include photos, music, videos, animations, podcasts and other multimedia content. Advising researchers about selection of data analysis choice, and help with tasks in those tools. Samvera is an example of an opensource DAMS for digital libraries.

Emulation

The imitation of a computer system, performed by a combination of hardware and software, that allows programs to run between incompatible systems. Or, the ability of a program or device to imitate another program or device.

Digital preservation

The managed activities necessary for ensuring the long-term retention and usability of digital objects.

injest

The process by which a digital object or metadata package is absorbed by a different system than the one that produced it.

Curation

To take care of, to manage, or to provide access to.

Ruby

is a dynamic, reflective, object-oriented, general-purpose programming language. It was designed and developed in the mid-1990s by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto in Japan. (Compare to Python)

Ruby on Rails

is a server-side web application framework written in Ruby under an open source license. Rails is a model-view-controller (MVC) framework, providing default structures for a database, a web service, and web pages.

Web framework

is a software framework that is designed to support the development of web applications including web services, web resources, and web APIs. Web frameworks provide a standard way to build and deploy web applications. (Ruby on Rails is an example of a web framework)

git

is a version control system for tracking changes in computer files and coordinating work on those files among multiple people. It is primarily used to maintain programming code.

Solr

is an open source enterprise search platform. Its major features include full-text search, search term highlighting, keyword filter search, and rich document (e.g., Word, PDF) handling.

Samvera

is an open-source digital repository software product. Samvera main components are Fedora, Solr, Blacklight, and HydraHead (a Ruby on Rails plugin and gem, respectively)

blacklight

provides a user interface for the solr search engine

github

web-based hosting service for git version control using git. It is mostly used for computer code.