October 6, 2008
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Expands Discovery of Special Collections in Encore
New Encore Harvester Integrates OAI-Compliant Metadata into Encore Search Results
Emeryville, CA - The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Libraries have successfully integrated seven of their special collections, representing over 200,000 items, into the Encore discovery services platform. The newly released Encore Harvester provides UNL with the means to integrate OAI-compliant metadata from multiple collections without the need for specialized technical resources. The Libraries harvested collections from industry-standard platforms - CONTENTdm®, Digital Commons™, and Tamino™-containing metadata formats including EAD, TEI, Qualified Dublin CoreSM, and Visual Resources Association Core. All of the content is now seamlessly integrated into the Encore search environment enhancing users' discovery power, providing more visibility of these collections within a single search of UNL materials, and generally promoting the services of the Libraries to the University community.
Amplifying Discovery
"We are bringing a number of fine, local collections into the thick of things by presenting them in Encore's catalog search-results," says Dee Ann Allison, Professor and Director of Computing Operations and Research Services. "It is very exciting to be an Encore development partner because Encore is a different kind of 'beast' from the traditional catalog. It's fascinating to see how all of these resources - print, archival, and electronic - fold together. Our in-depth searching portals for digital collections, such as our Willa Cather collection, are great resources. We know that people are finding our collections, but Encore will bring unique materials like these to the top in a general library search. For example, our Cather materials are spread across four data platforms but are brought together in a single Encore search. We hope Encore functions as a tool for the entire state and not just the UNL community."
Seven Harvesting Projects
Seven different projects are now harvested into Encore:
1) Image and Multimedia Database: This CONTENTdm database contains 174,000 objects across 74 unique collections, most of which support the University's art programs;
2) DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska-Lincoln: More than 28,000 research papers created by the UNL campus community as well as off-campus sources that are hosted on Digital Commons™ provided by bepress™;
3) University Archives: EAD-format finding aids for special collections including an Architectural Tour of Historic UNL, the Willa Cather Archive, Great Posters of the Great War, Nebraska U: A Collaborative History, Speculating the Frontier: The John McConihe Correspondence, and the Woodrow Wilson Archives at UNL;
4) The Birds of Nebraska Collection; 5) Willa Cather ephemera; 6) Lewis and Clark Journals; and 7) The Walt Whitman Archive-all TEI text documents including articles, letters and journals.
Encore users can now easily discover these special collections without having to understand how the library has organized the resources. Logged-in UNL users can add tags in the Encore environment for the harvested records, leveraging the knowledge of the research community and allowing more generalized searchers to refine results based on the specialized terms used in tags.
"It is important that libraries add value for their users at the point of a search," says Senior Product Manager Dinah Sanders. "By integrating these collections into Encore, UNL Libraries are truly making it 'all right here.'"
"Encore Harvester helps libraries promote their contribution to their community's information environment as well as make discovery simple in the truest sense of the word," adds Product Manager Rice Majors. "UNL has been a fabulous partner for Encore Harvester because of the energy of its staff, as well as the volume and breadth of its special collections."
About UNL University Libraries
A member of the Association of Research Libraries, the UNL University Libraries (Don L. Love Memorial Library and six branch libraries), together with the Marvin and Virginia Schmid Law Library, have a collection of over 2.9 million print volumes and more than 44,000 current serial subscriptions. The Libraries offer a variety of services and resources to visitors, including circulation services and access to Ask @ NU, CONTENTdm, NebraskAccess and other resources.
About Encore
The Encore discovery services platform (www.encoreforlibraries.com) transforms how users uncover the rich and varied resources the library has to offer by uniting content, community, and discovery. No matter which ILS a library uses-or its level of development resources or staff expertise-Encore provides a reliable solution that makes it easy to offer the latest information technologies. At its core is the Encore Framework developed using modern, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) software design principles. The Framework supports a suite of robust applications and Web Service offerings that can be tailored to meet the needs of any library. What's more, Encore Services provides a dedicated "Pit Crew" that backs the product with in-library installation, hosted options (SaaS), and more. With Encore, it's all right here.
CONTENTdm® is a registered trademark of OCLC, Inc. Digital Commons™ is a trademark of the Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress™). Dublin CoreSM is a service mark of OCLC, Inc. Tamino™ is a trademark of Software AG, Inc.