Issue 27, 2015-01-21

Editorial Introduction: A Brand New Year

Terry Reese

by Terry Reese Happy New Year!  Issue 27 marks the first issue of 2015, a fresh start to a new year.  And an interesting year I think it will be, for both the Code4Lib community and the Journal; especially the Journal as we embark on our first special issue with a guest editorial committee and […]

Digital forensics on a shoestring: a case study from the University of Victoria

John Durno and Jerry Trofimchuk

While much has been written on the increasing importance of digital forensics in archival workflows, most of the literature focuses on theoretical issues or establishing best practices in the abstract. Where case studies exist, most have been written from the perspective of larger organizations with well-resourced digital forensics facilities. However organizations of any size are increasingly likely to receive donations of born-digital material on outdated media, and a need exists for more modest solutions to the problem of acquiring and preserving their contents. This case study outlines the development of a small-scale digital forensics program at the University of Victoria using inexpensive components and open source software, funded by a $2000 research grant from the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL).

Homegrown WorldCat Reclamation: Utilizing OCLC’s WorldCat Metadata API to Reconcile Your Library’s Holdings

Sarah Johnston

OCLC’s WorldCat Metadata API now allows libraries to set and delete their OCLC holdings without using Connexion or Batch Services. St. Olaf College Libraries had used up our “one free turn” at a reclamation several years ago. Unfortunately due to the normal inconsistencies that accumulate over time, as well as problems with holdings being set for us by external entities, we had reached a point where we were once again in need of reconciling our holdings with OCLC’s. This time we wanted to accomplish the reclamation in a low-cost way that would also allow us to have more local control over the process. Using the WorldCat Search API and Metadata API in tandem, we first retrieved all OCLC numbers with holdings currently set and deleted these holdings with a fairly simple Perl script. We then pulled from our local catalog all the OCLC numbers for which we wanted holdings set and updated again using the Metadata API. The result, in the words of one of our catalogers, is that “For the first time since I got here, 15 years ago, I feel our holdings finally reflect what we really own.” In this article, I will discuss the issues to consider if you wish to do a similar project with your OCLC holdings, share the Perl scripts I wrote for processing, and reflect on the pros and cons of the process overall.

Using Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics to track DSpace metadata fields as custom dimensions

Suzanna Conrad

DSpace can be problematic for those interested in tracking download and pageview statistics granularly. Some libraries have implemented code to track events on websites and some have experimented with using Google Tag Manager to automate event tagging in DSpace. While these approaches make it possible to track download statistics, granular details such as authors, content types, titles, advisors, and other fields for which metadata exist are generally not tracked in DSpace or Google Analytics without coding. Moreover, it can be time consuming to track and assess pageview data and relate that data back to particular metadata fields. This article will detail the learning process of incorporating custom dimensions for tracking these detailed fields including trial and error attempts to use the data import function manually in Google Analytics, to automate the data import using Google APIs, and finally to automate the collection of dimension data in Google Tag Manager by mimicking SEO practices for capturing meta tags. This specific case study refers to using Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics with DSpace; however, this method may also be applied to other types of websites or systems.

Using SemanticScuttle for managing lists of recommended resources on a library website

Tomasz Neugebauer, Pamela Carson, and Stephen Krujelskis

Concordia University Libraries has adopted SemanticScuttle, an open source and locally-hosted PHP/MySQL application for social bookmarking, as an alternative to Delicious for managing lists of recommended resources on the library’s website. Two implementations for displaying feed content from SemanticScuttle were developed: (1) using the Google Feed API and (2) using direct SQL access to SemanticScuttle’s database.

Training the Next Generation of Open Source Developers: A Case Study of OSU Libraries & Press’ Technology Training Program

Evviva Weinraub Lajoie, Trey Terrell and Mike Eaton

The Emerging Technologies & Services department at Oregon State University Libraries & Press has implemented a training program for our technology student employees on how and why they should engage in Open Source community development. This article will outline what they’ve done to implement this program, discuss the benefits they’ve seen as a result of these changes, and will talk about what they viewed as necessary to build and promote a culture of engagement in open communities.

Communication Between Devices in the Viola Document Delivery System

Theodor Tolstoy

Viola is a newly developed document delivery system that handles incoming and outgoing requests for printed books, articles, sharing electronic resources, and other document delivery services on the local level in a library organisation. An important part of Viola is the stack fetching Android application that enables librarians to collect books in the open and closed stacks in an efficient manner using a smartphone and a Bluetooth connected portable printer. The aim of this article is to show how information is transferred between systems and devices in Viola. The article presents code examples from Viola that use current .NET technologies. The examples span from the creation of high-level REST-based JSON APIs to byte array communication with a Bluetooth connected printer and the reading of RFID tags.

Please note that code examples in this article are for illustration purposes only. Null checking and other exception handling has been removed for clarity. Code that is separated in Viola for testability and other reasons has been brought together to make it more readable.

Query Translation in Europeana

Péter Király

Europeana – a database containing European digital cultural heritage objects – recently introduced query translation in order to aid users in searching the collections regardless of language. The user enters query terms, and the portal searches for those terms in multiple languages. This article discusses the technical details of query translation with the aim of assisting similar projects to implement similar features.

ISSN 1940-5758