Use of Handles at the National Agricultural Library

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Use of Handles at the National Agricultural
Library

• Getting a Handle on Federal Information
  Persistent Identification Using Handlesa CENDI
  Workshop
• Sherry L. Davids
• January 29, 2003

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Todays Discussion

• Background
• Why Handles?
• How we use Handles
• Maintaining Handles
• Conclusion

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Background

• In early 2001, NAL began to become aware of the
  need to incorporate metadata into digital
  objects
• to facilitate retrievability of those objects
• to facilitate creation of bibliographic records
  for those objects.

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Background

• A task force, consisting of representatives from
  each of the Librarys three divisions, was
  formed and the NAL Metadata Element Set was
  developed.
• In July of 2001, the NAL Metadata Element Set was
  officially approved by the NAL Management Team.
• From that point on, NAL staff were required to
  incorporate metadata into all digital objects
  that they created, including both original
  documents and digitized versions of publications
  formerly available only in print.

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Background

• The NAL Metadata Element Set is based on the
  Dublin Core Metadata Element Set and can be
  accessed at
• http//www.nal.usda.gov/cataloging/TEMPLATE2.pdf

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(No Transcript)
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Why Handles?

• At the same time the Metadata Task Force was
  working to develop the NAL Metadata Element Set,
  the question of providing permanent access to
  NAL-created electronic resources arose.
• A second task force was formed to look into
  problem, and after extensive research we narrowed
  the possible solutions to two
• - Handles
• - PURLS

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Why Handles?

• Handles
• Developed by the Corporation for National
  Research Initiatives (CNRI)
• Being used by DTIC and DOD and was being
  considered by other CENDI and FLICC libraries
• Handles were an implementation of URNs they were
  location independent
• CNRI would allow us to register up to 5,000 names
  on their server at no cost - this was attractive
  to us, especially at the beginning phase
• If NAL were to decide to run our own handle
  server at some later time, the change would be
  easy to accomplish
• the only change needed would be to make would be
  to make an entry in the naming authority register

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Why Handles?

• PURLS (Persistent Uniform Resource Locators)
• Developed by OCLC (Online Computer Library
  Center, a global library cooperative that serves
  more than 42,000 libraries around the world)
• Intended (at least initially) to be a short-term,
  partial solution to the resource-naming problem
• Not location independent
• Rumors (at the time) that OCLC was going to
  discontinue supporting PURLS

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Why Handles
NAL decided that Handles best suited our needs
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Use of Handles at NAL
THE NAL METADATA TEMPLATE The NAL Metadata
Template (online fill-in form) was developed to
facilitate metadata creation by NAL staff. Staff
members must register and obtain a password in
order to access the template
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Use of Handles at NAL
SHOW TEMPLATE
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Use of Handles at NAL
SHOW TEMPLATE
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Use of Handles at NAL

• NAL IDENTIFIER
• A key metadata element is the NAL Identifier.
  This identifier is a unique combination of
  letters and numbers assigned to every electronic
  resource created by NAL staff. The NAL
  identifier is automatically generated when
  metadata is created using NALs online template
  (fill-in form).
• Example of an NAL Identifier
• NAL0000000c

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Use of Handles at NAL

• The Identifier becomes part of the Handle.
• http//hdl.handle.net/1030.28/NAL0000000c

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Resolves to URL
SHOW TEMPLATE
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Use of Handles at NAL

• The Process
• NAL staff member creates a digital object
• New resource
• Digitized version of print resource
• Create metadata for the object using the NAL
  metadata template
• Submit the template

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Use of Handles at NAL

• When the metadata is submitted, four things
  happen
• 1. HTML Metadata tags are generated which can be
  copied and pasted directly into the electronic
  resource

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Use of Handles at NAL
NAL Metadata Tags ltTITLEgt "Who Will Pay for
On-Farm Environmental Improvements in the 21st
Century?" lt/TITLEgt ltMETA content"Dublin Core
Metadata Template (NAL Metadata)"gt ltMETA
nameNAL.Title content"Who Will Pay for
On-Farm Environmental Improvements in the 21st
Century?"gt ltMETA nameNAL.Creator
Scheme"PersonalName" content"Clark,
Andy"gt ltMETA nameNAL.Creator
Scheme"PersonalName" content"Gagnon, Stuart
R."gt ltMETA nameNAL.Subject.Keyword
content"agricultural economics"gt ltMETA
nameNAL.Subject.NAL Thesaurus
content"agricultural economics"gt
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Use of Handles at NAL
ltMETA nameNAL.Description content""Agricultu
re in the United States has historically produced
a food supply that is relatively inexpensive.
That benefits our society. However, agriculture,
like other land uses, can have negative impacts
on the natural environment. That detracts from
our quality of life. To counter this, many people
are working toward the goal of protecting the
environment while maintaining the agricultural
producer's ability to operate a viable enterprise
that provides an adequate standard of living,
contributes to the community and produces high
quality, affordable food.""gt ltMETA
nameNAL.Publisher content"National
Agricultural Library"gt ltMETA nameNAL.Date.Creat
ed content"2000-05-11" Scheme"ISO8601"gt ltMETA
nameNAL.Date.Issued content"2000-04-00"
Scheme"ISO8601"gt ltMETA nameNAL.Date.Modified
content"2001-08-15" Scheme"ISO8601" gt
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Use of Handles at NAL
ltMETA nameNAL.Resource.Availability
content"No Guarantee"gt ltMETA nameNAL.Type
content"Text"gt ltMETA nameNAL.Content.Stability
content"Permanence Not Guaranteed"gt ltMETA
nameNAL.Format content"text/html"gt ltMETA
nameNAL.Identifier content"http//www.nal.usda.g
ov/wqic/Bibliographies/agecon.html" Scheme"URL"
gt ltMETA nameNAL.Identifier.NAL
content"hdl.handle.net/1030.28/NAL0000000c"gt ltMET
A nameNAL.Source content"SRB 2000-01"
Scheme"Free text" gt ltMETA nameNAL.Language
content"eng"gt ltMETA nameNAL.Coverage.Jurisdict
ion content"united states"gt ltMETA
nameNAL.Rights content"Public
Domain"gt lt/headgt
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Use of Handles at NAL

• The metadata record is deposited in a MySQL
  database maintained at NAL
• The Handle is registered with CNRI
• An e-mail message is sent to NALs technical
  services staff notifying them that metadata has
  been created.

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Use of Handles at NAL

• The e-mail message
• Alerts Technical Services staff that a digital
  object has been created.
• Contains the metadata for the object, which
  provides TSD staff with enough information to
  enable them to search AGRICOLA (AGRICultural
  OnLine Access, a bibliographic database of
  citations to the agricultural literature created
  by the National Agricultural Library and its
  cooperators) to determine whether a bibliographic
  record for the resource already exists.

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Use of Handles at NAL
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Use of Handles at NAL

• If a record already exists, it will be modified
  by adding the following information
• if the bib record is for the print version of the
  resource, a note will be added saying that an
  electronic version of the resource is available
  and the Handle will be added to the record
• If the bib record is for the electronic version
  of the resource, the cataloger will replace the
  URL with the Handle
• If no bibliographic record for the item exists,
  the item will be cataloged and added to AGRICOLA

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Use of Handles at NAL
Modified Bibliographic Record for a Print
Resource now available electronically 2 070 0
aS21.D27 b S64 no. 2000-01 3 072 0 E100 4
074 0095-A-03 5 086 0 A 17.242000-01 6
090 S441 b .W49 2000 7 090 b 8 049
AGLL 9 245 00 Who will pay for on-farm
environmental improvements in the 2lst century?
b a resource guide / c Compiled by Andy Clark
... et al.. 10 246 3 Who will pay for on
farm environmental improvements in the 2lst
century 11 260 Beltsville, Md. b USDA,
ARS, National Agricultural Library, c 2000 12
300 63 p. b ill. c 28 cm.
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Use of Handles at NAL
13 490 1 Special reference briefs series, x
1052-536X v SRB 2000-01 14 500 Shipping
list no. 2000-0261-P. 15 500 "April
2000." 16 500 Includes index. 17 530
Also available via remote access. 18 650 0
Sustainable agriculture z United States v
Bibliography. 18 650 0 Sustainable agriculture
z United States v Bibliography. 19 650 0
Sustainable agriculture z United States x
Computer network resources. 20 650 0
Agriculture x Environmental aspects z United
States x Finance x Computer network
resources. 21 650 0 Agricultural pollution z
United States v Bibliography. 23 700 1 Clark,
Andy. 24 710 2 National Agricultural Library
(U.S.) 25 830 0 Special reference briefs v
NAL-SRB. 2000-01. 26 856 41 u
http//hdl.handle.net/1030.28/NAL0000000c
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Use of Handles at NAL
CREATING NEW BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORDS FROM
METADATA Currently, the process of creating new
bibliographic records from metadata is a
semi-automatic process - The cataloger copies
the URL from the metadata contained in the e-mail
message and copies it into OCLCs Connexion
(cataloging interface)
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Use of Handles at NAL
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Use of Handles at NAL
- Connexion program extracts the metadata from
the resource and creates a preliminary
bibliographic record
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Use of Handles at NAL
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Use of Handles at NAL

• The cataloger cleans up the preliminary
  record, referring to the metadata in the e-mail
  message as necessary
• The cataloger adds the Handle to the
  bibliographic record

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Use of Handles at NAL
We have had preliminary talks with OCLC about
developing a procedure to export the NAL metadata
records directly to Connexion, which would create
the bibliographic records from the metadata and
deposit the records directly into the Connexion
database
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Use of Handles at NAL
The completed bibliographic record is exported to
AGRICOLA from Connexion.
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Use of Handles at NAL
NAL customers search the AGRICOLA site for the
resources they require. Records for resources in
electronic form for which we have created
metadata will contain a Handle all the customer
need do is click on the Handle to retrieve the
resource.
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Use of Handles at NAL
Any item to which NAL has assigned a handle can
also be retrieved from the CNRI
site http//hdl.handle.net/ in the text box
fill in the handle (NALs ID and the
identification number) 1030.28/NAL0000000c
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Maintaining Handles
- NAL staff are required to inform the Cataloging
Branch whenever the URL of a resource to which a
handle has been assigned - Cataloging branch
staff edit the records in NALs MySQL database
and also in the CNRI Handle system so that the
Handle will continue to resolve to the resource
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Conclusion

• It has been a lengthy process
• - to develop the metadata element set for NAL
• - to develop the identifier system
• - to research and select a naming system
• - to educate staff as to the importance of
  metadata and Handles
• - to educate staff on how to create metadata
• registering metadata creators
• to maintain records in the MySQL
  database and the CNRI repository when a URL for
  a resource
• changes

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Conclusion
However, we feel that the effort has been well
worth it because - Electronic resources created
by NAL staff have increased accessibility - thr
ough bibliographic records in AGRICOLA - throu
gh OCLCs Connexion - through CNRI - through
standard search engines because of the
metadata embedded in them
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Conclusion
- Bibliographic records containing URLs for
electronic resources have to be modified every
time a URL changes. - Bibliographic records
containing Handles will not have to be edited
when a resource moves to a different directory
or server or is renamed.
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Contact Information Sherry L. Davids National
Agricultural Library 301-504-5729 sdavids_at_nal.usda
.gov