Tom Wilson
Associate Dean for Library Technology
University of Alabama
Jody DeRidder
Head, Digital Services
University of Alabama
Tonio Loewald
Senior Programmer/Analyst
University of Alabama
Digital library management software and attempts to “preserve” digital data are frequently highly complex and therefore costly endeavors. This issue appears to be, in part, a result of building or purchasing systems which assume that perfection (and therefore complexity) is necessary, which imply that ingestion of objects and metadata is preferred, and which suffer the illusion that single robust systems can compete in functionality, performance, and scalability. Project Delta (think change) has produced the Acumen software for digital object search, retrieval, and rendering that is specifically designed to demand simplicity across the board, to build on services provided by other entities through standardized and documented mechanisms, to insist its own data is irrelevant and naturally reproducible, to infer meaning and actions based on human and machine parseable metadata and object organization and storage, all built on a scalable model that supports significant integration into the environments in which our scholars and students find themselves. This project has required and fostered collaboration among archivists, metadata specialists, digital library personnel, and library information technology staff. The presentation will cover the general principles behind this approach, the challenges encountered, and the outcomes thus far.
Presentation (PDF)
