WebDewey and ESS

1
WebDewey and ESS

• Giles Martin
• for the EPC Meeting
• October 12-14, 2005

2
WebDewey new features

• OPAC linking
• Browse Manual
• in DDC order
• includes references
• Segmentation
• will just mark end of Abridged number, and not
  start of Standard Subdivision

3
What the ESS should support

• Editorial revision of the DDC
• Mapping of DDC to other vocabularies, e.g., LCSH
  and Sears
• Translation of the DDC into other languages
• Printed versions of the DDC
• WebDewey versions
• New uses, e.g., web services, Dewey wikis

4
Who will use the ESS

• Editorial staff
• Translators
• EPC members
• Outside reviewers
• Licensees
• Perhaps end users of DDC
• who will see the output of the ESS

5
Rights of users

• Create and delete user accounts, and set
  permissions for other users
• Create a database, and give control of a database
  or part of a database to a user
• Create new records in a database
• Change records
• Read records
• Add comments to a database
• Link outside thesauri to DDC numbers
• Link DDC numbers to WorldCat records

6
Issues

• Transfer of data from existing ESS
• Integration with Connexion
• Build or buy?
• One database or many?
• MARC Classification Format
• Relative Index
• Character set
• XML and new representation formats
• Timely transmission of additions and changes to
  translators, licensees, users

7
Transfer of data from existing ESS

• Data in current ESS
• Data in Excel spreadsheets (People, Places
  Things)
• Translation data in XML format similar to OCLC's
  WebDewey input
• Translation data in other formats, including
  Microsoft Word

8
Integration with Connexion

• Frequency and length of time to update WebDewey
• Provision for mapped LCSH, etc., in ESS
• Links to authority files

9
Build or buy?

• In-house expertise, including familiarity with
  MARC Format and with Connexion
• Uniqueness of DDC problems

10
One database or many?

• Different editions
• Full vs. Abridged
• Translations
• Separate publications, e.g., 200 Religion
• Draft developments

11
MARC Classification Format

• Already use some fields in ESS
• Need to map all present fields
• Need to deal with formatting tags for the print
  edition, i.e., content versus presentation

12
Relative Index

• Use MARC Authorities Format?
• The RI as an authority file
• Control at heading and subdivision level

13
Character set

• Move to Unicode in
• Connexion
• MARC Classification Format
• Special characters for romanization of Arabic,
  Cyrillic, etc., e.g., alif, ayn, hard sign, soft
  sign
• Non-roman characters?

14
XML and new representation formats

• XML distributions to translators and other
  licensed users
• New representations of DDC and relationships

15
Timely transmission of additions and changes

• Translators, licensees and users need faster
  cycle than the present quarterly cycle
• RSS feed?