THE USAGE OF TECHNOLOGIES IN NATURAL SCIENCES LIBRARY, VNUHCM

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THE USAGE OF TECHNOLOGIES IN NATURAL SCIENCES
LIBRARY, VNU-HCM

• NGUYEN MINH HIEP, BA., MS.
• Director of Natural Sciences Library
• Vietnam National University at Ho Chi Minh City

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The technology of information and library

• Since Tim Berners Lee invented Web with the
  technology of information packaging and friendly
  graphical interfaces, the Internet has become the
  normal activity, even it is indispensable for
  everybody in this planet in order to meet the
  need of information ubiquitously
• If this invention was known as the cause of the
  Internet usage explosion and the information
  explosion, the Web technology has impacted very
  much on the history of information and library.
  In other words, Web is the technology of
  information and library at present and in the
  future.

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Open source systems (1)

• The Open Source Initiative (OSI), which holds the
  trademark to the term open source software, has
  the definition
• Open source software is not only in terms of the
  availability of the source code, but uses
  criteria that include free distribution of the
  application, as well as provision for the future
  use of code in modifications and derived works
  without discrimination against the persons or
  groups involved.

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Open source systems (2)

• Richard Stallman, a founder of the GNU Project
  and a leading figure in the OSS world, identifies
  four kinds of freedom for open source application
  that are supported by the licensing
• The freedom to run the program for any purpose
  (freedom 0.)
• The freedom to study how the program works and
  adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the
  source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can
  help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program and release
  your improvement to the public so that the whole
  community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the
  source code is a precondition for this, too.

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Technologies in libraries

• Web Technology
• Cataloging
• Information Presenting
• Information Transferring
• Electronic Publishing
• Etc
• Open Source Systems
• Electronic Resources
• Digital Library

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The change of cataloging (1)

• Traditional Library
  Digital Library
• Analog Digital
• Bibliographic Record
  Bibliographic Metadata

Card Catalog
MARC 21
MARC-XML
Dublin Core
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The change of cataloging (2)

• In traditional libraries, you catalog to create
  catalog cards or bibliographic records. In
  electronic environment, they are packaged to
  become bibliographic metadata, such as MARC 21
  has to convert into MARC-XML
• In the developing libraries, the usage of Dublin
  Core to catalog entire materials in the library
  is the good way. You can apply the open source
  software to convert Dublin Core metadata into
  MARC records if necessary, such as the data
  exchanging via Z39.50 gateway at present.

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Digital library

• Digital library definition comes from Digital
  Library Federation DLF  Digital libraries are
  organizations that provide the resources,
  including the specialized staff, to select,
  structure, offer intellectual access to,
  interpret, distribute, preserve the integrity of,
  and ensure the persistence over time of
  collections of digital works so that they are
  readily and economically available for use by a
  defined community or set of communities .
• Digital library definition by Ian H. Witten,
  Ph.D.  Digital libraries are focused
  collections of digital objects, including text,
  video, and audio, along with methods for access
  and retrieval, and for selection, organization,
  and maintenance.

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Collections

• A collection may contain many different types of
  documents. Each collection provides a uniform
  interface though which all documents in it can be
  accessed although the way that documents are
  displayed will depend on their medium and format
• To build information collections, you need to
  create metadata and to harvest metadata. To
  create metadata is to catalog collected documents
  in order to build collections containing all
  information content stored in the library server
  meanwhile to harvest metadata is to build
  collections containing only metadata

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The usage of technologies in NSL - HCM

• The Natural Sciences Library, VNU-HCM has a
  portal at the site http//gralib.hcmuns.edu.vn

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Web-based cataloging (1)
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Web-based cataloging (2)

• The process of cataloging
• The database server contains Dublin Core
  bibliographic metadata which are created by
  catalogers and system for both kinds of
  materials, print and electronic. These matadata
  will be converted into MARC records and display
  on OPAC interface as bibliographic records with
  descriptive data of items such as title, author,
  subject, etc.... The MARC records retrieved from
  Z39.50 servers everywhere will be also converted
  into Dublin Core to store in the database servers.

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Bibliographic record
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MARC record
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MARC-XML metadata
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Dublin Core metadata
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Building full text collections 

• The full text collections are built by the
  Greenstone open source software. Greenstone is a
  comprehensive system for constructing and
  presenting collections of thousands or millions
  of documents, including text, images, audio, and
  video. Easily maintained, collections can be
  augmented and rebuilt automatically.
• With the assistance from the library, each
  faculty or researcher uses Greenstone open source
  software to build his own collections and then
  they are contributed to the library in order to
  enrich the learning resource storage.

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An example on the full text collection (1)
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An example on the full text collection (2)
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Building metadata collections 

• In the Portal system of Natural Sciences Library,
  VNU-HCM there is a module of information
  retrieval. It is used to harvest bibliographic
  metadata based on OAI-PMH (Open Archives
  Initiative - Protocol for Metadata Harvesting)
  from the URLs supplied by users, then they are
  built up collections. Each collection consists of
  OAI records from one or many URLs.
• The Retrieval Module consists of three main
  parts Oracle Portal, Greenstone, and OAI
  Protocol. The retrieved metadata by harvesting
  are gathered in a Greenstone collection
  automatically including 15 elements of Dublin
  Core. You can modify them by the Greenstone
  Librarian Interface or the file of collect.cfg .

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An example on the metadata collection
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Chat reference 

• Chat reference supplies the interaction of the
  librarian with patrons on the Internet. It
  consists of two online services
• Question/Answer for individual
• Conferencing for many people at the same time
• This is the system integrated by Oracle Web
  Conferencing a product of Oracle used in
  information exchanging and e-learning. It
  supplies many features and has friendly
  interfaces so it is easy to use.

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Chat reference Online interaction
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Chat reference a conferencing channel
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The electronic library information system of
Natural Sciences Library, VNU-HCM in 2007

• Three goals
• Building the electronic library information
  system Including three modules
• E-Learning
• Digital Media System
• Digitizing Line.
• Building the digital resources storage.
• Upgrading the information infrastructure.

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The electronic library information system of
Natural Sciences Library, VNU-HCM in 2007 

• The Portal integrated following components
• E-learning To supply the online environment of
  teaching and study for about 1,000 students and
  faculty.
• Digital resources management system.
• Library management system.
• Digitalizing line system.

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The electronic library information system of
Natural Sciences Library, VNU-HCM
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NGUYEN MINH HIEP, BA., MS.Natural Sciences
Library, VNU-HCMFederation of Southern Academic
Library - FESAL227, Nguyen Van Cu, Distr.5, HCM
CityTel. 848 8397644 Cell. 090 3337733Email.
nmhiep_at_gralib.hcmuns.edu.vnURL.
http//www.glib.hcmuns.edu.vn/hiep.htm

• Thank you