Overview
Background information on ABCD ISIS and libraries in the South BIREME's ISIS technology VLIR/UOS and the DOCBIBLAS project
'Product presentation' of ABCD Technology Modules overview
BACKGROUND INFO I
ISIS and libraries in the South : ISIS : UNESCO free text retrieval database,
multiplatform DOS/UNIX/Windows/WWW Widely used in the South, esp. Latin America Changed to FOSS since 2007
BIREME (WHO Brazil) runs advanced and high-volume applications on health information with ISIS and developed new technologies
BACKGROUND INFO II
VLIR/UOS decided to concentrate efforts on library development on 1 solution and granted a project fund 'Development Of and Capacity Building in ISIS-Based Library Automation Systems' (DOCBIBLAS, promoter : E. de Smet)
DOCBIBLAS joined with BIREME to integrate all library functions into one system:
ABCD (Automatisación de Bibliotécas y Centros de Documentación)
BACKGROUND INFO III
Flemish input into ABCD :
DOCBIBLAS budget for software development DOCBIBLAS project steering committee has evaluated,
monitored and advised on the development (members : R. De Keyser, P. Dekeyser, J. Desitter, J. Rademakers, E. de Smet)
P. Dekeyser (MARC-format) and E. de Smet (general supervision) made direct contributions
First international ABCD workshop held in Brussels (March 2009) with 20+ participants from 12 countries
DOCBIBLAS II approved : assistance with at least 5 VLIR/UOS partner university libraries for implementation of ABCD
BACKGROUND INFO IV
Therefore : mission of ABCD = To provide integrated library automation solution for
ISIS-users To serve as an alternative to KOHA /PMB (etc.) To try the impossible : combine typical 'low-end' users'
profile with high-end technology, e.g. allowing any database structure using ISIS Formatting Language for librarian-
oriented data-management including university library standards (MARC,
Z39.50, OAI...)
BACKGROUND INFO V
Development steps : Preparation/selection etc. from end of 2007 Announcement ISIS 3 Conference Rio 2008 Release 0.5 tested from October 2008 Actual release : 0.9 1st full release 1.0 : presented 3/12/2009
Workshops in Brussels (3/2009) and Buenos Aires (9/2009), Sao Paulo (12/2009), many more to follow
Product Presentation 0
Basic idea : University Libraries in the South deserve a suitable tool allowing them to fully serve their institutions and join the Information Society
Specifications for ABCD set by VLIR/UOS Experts group : FOSS, Multiplatform (Windows+Linux),
multilingual (English/French/Spanish/Portuguese) ISIS- and WWW-based MARC-compatible (+ other formats supported) Other standards : OAI, MODS/METS, Z39.50... Installer and full documentation + training
materials UNICODE (not yet fully implemented)
ABCD Product Presentation 1
Actual development : FOSS-team lead by BIREME (OPS/WHO Brazil)
Technology used in ABCD :
WWW (web-server, web-browser, Apache/PHP, CGI) ISIS (full-text retrieval, run-time relational, semi-
structured 'scheme-less' records) Javascript, AJAX for optimal local processing of data
and less data traffic Windows + Linux platforms Java, Webservices, MySQL (advanced loans), YAZ
(Z39.50)
ABCD MODULES : Database Administration
Allows creation/editing, selection of ANY structure
Pre-configured for MARC21 and CEPAL
Easy migration from ISIS-db's
Edit/translate all (help)screens
ABCD MODULES : Cataloging
Every-day's cataloger's toolbar with browsing, searching, listing, record editing, Z-39.50, reports, statistics and utilities
Authority control and validation
ABCD MODULES : Acquisitions
Deals with all steps in administrative procurement of objects
Creates 'inventory' DB from which loan-objects are created
ABCD MODULES : Site Manager (CMS)
Allows editing of ALL Site elements, including structure of the Site page
ABCD MODULES : Serials Control System
1800 pre-defined titles
Titles : ISSN Title+ : admin.
management 200 pre-defined
publication templates
Search function Union-catalog
ABCD MODULES : Advanced Loans Empweb
allows multi-server and -policies, JDBC, SQL-databases
based on 'pipe-lined' rules (no limits)
Practical info on ABCD
Download page : http://bvsmodelo.bvsalud.org/php/level.php?lang=en&component=31&item=13
DOCBIBLAS project contact :
ABCD FOSS platform (trac/svn/wiki) available at http://reddes.bvsalud.org/projects/abcd (will be fully opened end of September after release 1.0)
What's next ?
DOCBIBLAS II approved by VLIR/UOS : 2 years + budget to guide 5 partner univ. libraries in the implementation of ABCD
Many libraries in L.A and Africa have announced migration to ABCD
Further development to be embedded into new ISIS-FOSS community (lead by ICCI)
Many basic challenges remain... (connectivity, electr. power, staff capacity building)
FINALLY...
Some ideas for further discussion – actions: Interest for ABCD in Flanders/Belgium/Holland
?? Should Southern libraries automate ?
is it indeed viable ? or to be skipped all along ? (virtual libraries...)
Automation only by computer experts or also by librarians?
THANKS for your kind attention !
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