Digital library activities in the Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Wuerttemberg

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kühn, Armin | Mainberger, Christof

Affiliations: Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Wuerttemberg, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany. Tel.: +49 7531 88 29 29; Fax.: +49 7531 88 37 03; E-mail: Armin.Kuehn@bsz-bw.de, Christof.Mainberger@bsz-bw.de; URL: http://www.bsz-bw.de

Abstract: The Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Wuerttemberg (Library Service Centre Baden Wuerttemberg) participates in several programms to expand well-tried methods of library work to a “Digital Library”. Those endevours are driven by the demand to integrate traditional library services with multimedia and the World Wide Web. Central results of this work are the metadata modell DLmeta and the Virtual Media Server. DLmeta is an extension of the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, which takes library aspects into account, supports workflow and realizes an object model that support document management. There are a XML representation of DLmeta for data-interchange and relational specifications. DLmeta is proposed to describe any kind of electronic media and is the basis for the Virtual Media Server. The Virtual Media Server is a central database for recording descriptions of multimedia objects, which reside on distributed object servers themselves. Besides the description, each record provides a link to the object and a link to a corresponding holding record in the union catalog of the Suedwestdeutscher Bibliotheksverbund. The retrieval is performed via the OPAC of the Union catalog or via specialized meta search engines. The Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum applies DLmeta and the Virtual Media Server to a wide range of multi-media objects. There are full text and university publications, audio- and video-files, digitized scores and teaching and learning material. Current projects deal, e.g., with the administration of unsystematically digitized stock, interdisciplinary cooperation of libraries, archives and museums, and multimedia objects, which are subject to continuous change.

DOI: 10.3233/ISU-2001-21101

Journal: Information Services & Use, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 1-7, 2001