The SAFIR (Sound, Film, Archives Image Repository) Project was established to aid the University of
York in starting a much longer project to establish a multimedia repository and flexible centralised
Digital Library infrastructure. It was a small project with clear aims to
Gather and examine user requirements;
Evaluate and select software based on those requirements;
Devise policies, processes and profiles to support the ingest of data and the creation of metadata,
Implement the software with some access control and basic interoperability with other systems
Review the copyright status of resources and clear any copyright as necessary
The project approach was to devise a work plan and a set of work packages, recruit staff and to focus
on key project goals. In selecting an open source software product for the Digital Library
infrastructure, the project took a more developmental direction and thus some level of re-planning and
flexibility have been required, including agreeing a 6 month extension to the project. The project team
work closely together and also with colleagues in Computing Service, the Library and the Virtual
Learning Environment team. Engagement with external users and colleagues is critical and has been
achieved through an Academic Advisory Group and direct meetings with academics. A Steering
Group provides strategic leadership.
The project has achieved its aim and now has a functioning implementation of the Fedora Commons
software with the open source Muradora add-on in place to provide a public interface for searching,
browsing and accessing objects. Two collections of image objects have been migrated into the Digital
Library and a basic level of access control is in place. An extensible metadata creation tool has been
developed to create rich image-specific metadata. This tool uses a number of techniques to expedite
the process of describing images. A range of policies and public documents have been created to
support the development of the Digital Library, including a requirements specification containing high-
level model and detailed requirements; and our content model for images, a document which provides
a blueprint for how we create, describe and manage images within the Digital Library, including
copyright and licensing issues. Intangible outcomes include the expertise we have built and the
contributions to other work across the library and repositories community.
Creating a Digital Library is challenging and time consuming, particularly when building a bespoke
system as we have chosen to do at York. The project continues to need careful management to
ensure users remain engaged without raising expectations, along with good communication and
realistic estimates on how long development will take. The decision to follow a software development
path was taken in order to build in-house skill and tailor to our specific needs. The success of this will
only become known as we roll out our system to users and make further customisations.
SAFIR is the start of our work to build a Digital Library and has provided a focus for driving the project
forward. Over the coming two years we will extend the project, working closely with users to test
usability and extending our content collections to incorporate a richer range of digital object types and
subject disciplines.
Posted by
Gavin Baker at 5/25/2009 06:44:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
