Title: OpenWMS: Workflow Management System for Digital Objects

Version No: 2.0-beta

Version Date: Oct-Nov 2009

Description:
The OpenWMS is a platform-independent, open source, web-accessible system that can be used as a standalone application or integrated with other repository architectures by a wide range of organizations. It provides a complete metadata creation system for analog and digital materials, with services to ingest objects and metadata into a Fedora repository and to export these objects and metadata, individually and in bulk in METS/XML Wrapper.

• Event-based data model for management and rights documentation
• Capability to customize the look and feel of the metadata input and to add default values to data elements
• Ability to customize and add vocabularies to data elements
• Unicode and CJK vernacular character support
• Mapping and import metadata and digital files from standard and in-house formats
• Export digital object in METS/XML Wrapper

This is a core to ingest digital objects into the Institutional Fedora Repository (RUcore) developed at the Rutgers University Libraries. The cataloging module in OpenWMS is based on the Library of Congress version of OpenMIC.

Major Features :

Full METS support
The OpenWMS features a METS data architecture which can be used in any METS-based or METS-compliant environment. It uses MODS as an underlying metadata schema for descriptive metadata, NISO/AES standard for technical metadata and PREMIS for source and rights metadata. It outputs an XML wrapper for the METS components as a single object for export.

Event-based data model
The OpenWMS data model is primarily an event-based data model, intended to document what happens to a resource at a specific time and place. Preservation and condition events, provenance events, rights events, and descriptive events document what happens to a resource throughout its lifecycle. Details of events can include associated entities (such as an exhibit curator) and associated objects (such as an exhibit catalog). Resource management for analog and digital information formats
The bibliographic utility employs the source object, and the entity that is described in the METS source Source MD (source metadata), as the first generation of information controlled by the metadata-creating organization. This is often an analog object a photograph, a slide image of an art work, or a print manuscript. Technical details of the digital object are captured in the METS TechMD (technical metadata) area of the Administrative metadata section, and successive modifications to the digital object are tracked in the bibliographic utility through the DigiProvMD (digital provenance metadata) area.

Customization capabilities

• Utility Configuration

  The configuration module allows an organization to configure the metadata schema, set up required metadata element, setup system policies, and file handling policies according to their specific needs.

• Templates

  Templates enable the user to increase both efficiency and accuracy when applying metadata to multiple objects in a collection. Templates allow an organization to select mandatory data elements and to automatically supply default values for elements in the metadata. Templates can be modified and proliferated as warranted for a digital project.

• Vocabularies

  New values can be added to existing vocabulary lists, and new vocabulary lists themselves can be established in the bibliographic utility. Access to this feature is configurable by the organization in order to limit or expand authorization to control vocabularies based on the organization's local needs and staff resources.

Digital File Handling
The OpenWMS supports digital files in all formats. It is delivered with Image Magic, open source software, to create presentation formats from tiff images to jpeg and pdf formats. The organizations can configure the archival file types and presentation file types according to their specific needs.

Import and Export
The bibliographic utility supports batch import of metadata in XML and TXT format at present. This is easily expandable to other formats. It also supports batch export of metadata in METS and TXT format at present. This is also easily expandable to other formats.

Operating System or Platform Dependencies:
Solaris; Linux

Other Application Dependencies:
MySQL 4.0 or above; PostgreSQL 6.0 or above; PHP 4.0 or above

Installation:
Approximately 30 minutes.
Instructions

Sample Scenario(s) of Use:

Library or archive with Fedora repository

Library or archive with other repository (e.g., DSpace repository)

Library or archive with no repository

A library or archive which lacks current repository architecture can use the bibliographic utility as a "placeholder" for a full repository. Resources can be cataloged in the bibliographic utility and the cataloging can be maintained indefinitely in the MySQL/PostgreSQL database component of the utility. A copy of the MySQL/PostgreSQL database can be exported into a search and retrieval facility, such as Lucene or Zebra for searching purposes. Searching against live database is not encouraged since catalogers may be updating or adding to it. Links may be provided to the digitized resource, on a networked server, via the Identifier field, until you have a full METS implementation that can use structural links to access versions of the resource is available.

Contact: Kalaivani Ananthan, Digital Library Applications Manager
Rutgers University Libraries
Phone: 732-445-5896
Email: rucore_os@email.rutgers.edu