Talking Systems

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Talking Systems

• Janice Sim
• Technical Services Manager
• University of Wales College, Newport

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Talking Systems

• One of the JISC funded DiVLE projects
• Linking Digital Libraries with VLEs
• October 2002 July 2003

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Talking Systems

• To investigate the setting up of links between
  the VLE - Lotus Learning Space and the Sirsi
  Unicorn Library Management System

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• Dan Noyes - Project Manager
• Centre for Learning Development
• Project website
• www.newport.ac.uk/talkingsystems

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Partners

• Sirsi UK
• IBM Lotus Software
• Percussion Software UK
• Lancaster University, Library and Information
  Systems

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Aims

• To create SCORM learning objects and transfer
  metadata from these objects to a Bath Profile
  compliant Z39.50 server

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Why?

• To find content across multiple Virtual Learning
  Environments e.g. Lotus Learning Space,
  Blackboard, WebCT
• To standardise search behaviour across disparate
  e-learning resource bases
• To open access to learning content metadata
  beyond our institution

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SCORM

• Shareable Content Object Reference Model
• Funded by the US Department of Defense.
• Emerging specification combining a number of
  existing standards

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SCORM

• Specifies a standard way to describe sequenced
  content that is to be used by a single learner
• The learner can identify a specific learning
  requirement and have a bespoke tutorial created
  from distributed content to answer this
  requirement

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SCO

• SCOs represent a collection of one or more
  shareable resources that include a specific
  launchable asset that uses the SCORM run-time
  environment to communicate with a learning
  management system.

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SCORM learning objects

• The SCORM had not previously been used at UWCN
• Stored using a Windows 2000 development server
  running an IBM Lotus Domino platform.

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SCORM learning objects

• Data is stored in Domino in forms and a single
  form was created for SCO input to automate the
  production of metadata

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SCO Form

• Three sections
• 1. The basic metadata provided by the content
  author
• 2.The SCO content itself
• 3. Automatically created metadata matched to MARC
  fields using the Dublin Core crosswalk on the
  Library of Congress website

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Source data

• A Lotus Domino database of 500 pieces of mainly
  HTML formatted text each of about 300 words
  making up a fledgling study skills database.
• This was copied to the mini VLE on the
  development server

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SCORM content

• Next steps
• Stringing the individual documents together to
  make SCOs and content structure
• Macromedia Authorware used to aggregate and
  sequence the elements making up tutorials

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Percussion Notrix

• Originally planned to use ODBC scripting to push
  data to the Unicorn server but this was not
  supported.
• The live Unicorn library system was used in this
  project, not a test server.

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Unicorn Library System

• Importing records
• Linking to the VLE (s)
• Searching

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Unicorn Importing records

• ODBC scripting not supported
• Bibload
• Perfectly successful and capable of being
  automated using FTP and reports
• Definitely not new

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Unicorn Linking to the VLE

• Searching the catalogue to find items
• Using the 856 field to link to objects in the VLE

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Unicorn - Searching

• Using the Webcat or a Z39.50 client
• to find a MARC record with a URL pointing to a
  Domino document or an Authorware tutorial

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What Is Z39.50

• A search and retrieval protocol which enables
  clients and servers from different vendors to
  communicate with each other
• Searches are mapped from Z39.50 to the local
  search protocol and can be run against more than
  one target at a time

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Z39.50

• Not the easiest feature of Unicorn to use
• Not understood by network staff
• - Frequently firewall issues
• When access is achieved
• - Often error messages

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Z39.50 search

• Should have 6 attributes each given a numerical
  value e.g.
• Use - such as title, author or ISSN
• Relation - equal, greater than, less than
• Position - any position in field, first
• Structure - word, word list or phrase
• Truncation - right hand truncation or do not
  truncate
• Completeness - complete field, incomplete subfield

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Unicorn Bath Z Server Behaviour

• FIND TITLE KEYWORD FISH
• Attribute Value Name
• use 4 title (keyword indexing policy)
• relation 3 equal
• position 3 any position in field
  (keyword)
• structure 2 word
• truncation 100 do not truncate
• completeness 1 incomplete subfield

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Where does it go wrong?

• Most vendors do not document their Z39.50 servers
  capabilities
• Some vendor documentation is inaccurate
• Many exhibit default behaviour when they receive
  attribute combinations they dont support giving
  unreliable search results
• All six attributes are not compulsory

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Current State Of Z Implementations
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Current State Of Z Implementations
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Z Answers

• A recent development in Sirsi is the delivery of
  preconfigured search name maps for each vendors
  server
• U2003 clients can send all 6 attribute values for
  a Z search
• Use the Bath profile to fully define searches and
  make Z39.50 work

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Bath Profile

• Bath profile defines which of the combinations of
  attributes a Bath compliant server should be able
  to handle and the nature of the response. A core
  set of requirements.
• University of North Texas is able to test a
  Z39.50 server for compliance

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Z39.50 and Talking Systems

• To meet our aim of searching across disparate
  sources standardisation was needed.
• For this reason it was decided that our server
  should be made Bath profile compliant.
• A consultant was needed!

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Our consultant

• Slavko Manojlovich
• Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Sirsis Z39.50 guru!

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Changes to Unicorn

• A new format for Dublin Core records
• A new Library policy (ELECTRONIC! A godsend for
  E-books, journals and databases and the best bit
  of the whole project)
• New keyword indexes, name, title, subject and
  number for each format

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Keyword Indexes

• The changes to the keyword indexes for each MARC
  field took about 4 days work, following the
  specification from Texas.
• The result was a Bath Profile compliant server,
  one of the first if not the first in the UK.

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The end of the project

• Work will continue to make links between the
  systems
• The project showed that the SCORM approach is
  complex and difficult to apply across the
  institution
• Bath profile provides a good basis for e-learning
  content discovery.

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• Slavko Manojlovich
• Z39.50 clients and servers the current state of
  affairs. http//nofish.library.mun.ca/stlouisu2003
  .ppt
• Peter Gethin
• Why the Bath profile makes Z39.50 work
• Liber Quarterly 11(4), pp. 372- 381

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Useful links

• Dr Eds SCORM course
• www.jcasolutions.com/SC12/index.html
• Paul Miller
• Z39.50 for all
• www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue21/z3950/intro.html