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This month’s stories

[2001]
[TLC products]
[DS - Cheshire]
[BL Catalogue]
[Bookwhere 3.3]
[DRA losses]
[ALA MW 2001]
[Endeavor Cambridge]
[Ex-Libris]
[E-Ink]
[Sirsi - Cahners]
[Innovative ALA]

Innovative’s new

January 2001

ALA products

Washington, DC - Innovative Interfaces Inc, a leader in information technology for libraries, introduced several new products for its Millennium integrated library system at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Washington, DC.

Citing its Web-based architecture as the foundation for extending the capabilities of Millennium, Innovative unveiled MAP (Millennium Access Plus), a new, integrated solution that guides patrons to Internet content quickly while protecting the rights of the library and content providers.

According to Laurie Davidson, Product Manager at Innovative, "MAP is a testament to Innovative's commitment to easy, integrated access to Internet content.  MAP links patrons directly to external servers and databases via the Web OPAC. The MetaFind function will access multiple Web-based resources with a single search and return all the results in a consistent interface."

Several other new products were announced:

Acquisitions Web Content Linking A new Web-based content linking functionality for book selection.  Through the Millennium Acquisitions module, staff can link to Web-based reviews, search engines, and book jacket images while making selection decisions. This function is totally integrated with major book vendor databases as well as RealRead, Syndetics, Informata, and others.

WebCrawler An XML WebCrawler in partnership with Michigan State University (MSU). This project will extract metadata from XML EAD records which can then be uploaded into the library's Millennium system. more

Serials Checkin Server A revolutionary facility that automatically checks in new serials issues, including set up of links to issue-specific URLs for electronic journals.

Wireless Public Access Catalog A catalog interface designed for wireless devices.  This is a natural extension of Innovative's integration of palm devices (PDAs) with Millennium's Web OPAC and Circulation modules.

E-Commerce A Web-based payment system for library users. Patrons can pay their library fees, fines, and charges online using a credit or debit card via a Web browser.

Michigan State in Web Crawler development

Michigan State University Part of Joint Project to Extract XML EAD Metadata

13th January 2001

Innovative Interfaces, Inc., a leading supplier of Web-based library automation systems, announced the development of an XML WebCrawler in partnership with Michigan State University (MSU).  The WebCrawler will give MSU the ability to dynamically catalog XML records into their Millennium system.

MSU is building a digital collection of recordings from the Vincent Voice Library (VVL). These VVL records will be part of an online resource that will contain digitized versions of speeches and other spoken works. The digitized records will be accessible via XML-encoded Web pages, with descriptive metadata employing the Encoded Archival Description (EAD).

Innovative's project with MSU is to extract metadata from the XML EAD records and then load the collection-level descriptive fields in the MSU Web OPAC.  The searching of VVL records will thus be integrated into the OPAC, with access provided by hyperlink directly from the OPAC to the EAD record.

According to John McCullough, Innovative's Product Manager working with MSU, "WebCrawler leverages the power of XML by integrating diverse resources into a single library catalog. Once cataloged, all of the VVL records become searchable through the Web OPAC, so users can retrieve VVL files along with traditional catalog results--a kind of 'one-stop searching'."

Michael Seadle of MSU Libraries sees this integration of EAD information in the MARC record database as a way to manage large collections of heterogeneous items, including sound files, transcripts, perhaps also images. "It enhances our ability to provide cost-effective access to collections that have long remained uncataloged because of the cost of item-by-item treatment."

Innovative expects to complete the project with MSU by early summer 2001.  After that time, the company will make the technology available to all its partner libraries. Jerry Kline, President and CEO of Innovative, said, "Innovative remains committed to mining new technology.  MSU is an example of the kind of dialogue we enjoy with our customers; we work together to develop solutions that are relevant to all libraries."