Introduction

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Note

Introducing the EHRI use case

“The mission of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) is to support the Holocaust research community by building a digital infrastructure and facilitating human networks. EHRI provides online access to information about dispersed sources relating to the Holocaust through its Online Portal, and tools and methods that enable researchers and archivists to collaboratively work with such sources.”

The EHRI web site

In order to collect information on dispersed archives across Europe -and the rest of the world- that hold Holocaust-related collections the Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is used as the format for information dissemination; the ResourceSync Framework may be used as the transportation and synchronization mechanism.

Metadata Publishing Tool is the subject of this documentation. Examples in this introduction and the rest of the documentation will sometimes use the EHRI use case to describe the working of the tool.

ResourceSync

The ResourceSync Framework Specification describes a synchronization framework for the web consisting of various capabilities that allow third-party systems to remain synchronized with a server’s evolving resources. More precisely the ResourceSync Framework describes the communication between Source and Destination aimed at synchronizing one or more resources. Communication utilizes http and an extension on the sitemap protocol, an xml-based format for expressing metadata, relevant for synchronization.

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Fig. 1. External logistics. The ResourceSync Framework Specification at work. Collection Holding Institutions expose content and ResourceSync metadata on their web servers. The central hub (in this case the EHRI Portal) is actively collecting resources and keeping them in sync with the aid of published sitemaps.

We can say that the ResourceSync Specification is a perfect fit for solving the external logistics when it comes to synchronizing resources between a central Destination and various Sources. Figure 1. depicts the external logistics.

When the resources we are trying to synchronize are not web-resources by them selves but instead stem from information systems, databases or other places within an organization, we are faced with other problems, which we can qualify as related to internal logistics.

Metadata Publishing Tool

Metadata Publishing Tool is an application that solves various problems related to the internal logistics:

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Fig. 2. Internal logistics. Metadata Publishing Tool at work.

Figure 2. depicts internal logistics and the role of Metadata Publishing Tool. The situation described may be exemplary for Collection Holding Institutions (CHI’s) within the EHRI infrastructure, although different situations may equally be applicable. Metadata Publishing Tool is an application that is deployed on your laptop or local work station. From there you collect and select resources, create the ResourceSync sitemaps, export resources and sitemaps to your web server and verify the exposed URL’s.

Configuration of Metadata Publishing Tool may need the hand and insight of a technically skilled person. Once configured it can be managed by archivists and other content-savvy users that do not necessarily have technical skills.

This documentation

This documentation starts with describing how to install Metadata Publishing Tool on various operating Systems in the Installation pages. Each tab or wizard page of the application is the subject of the other chapters. There are Help buttons on each tab or wizard page that link to the relevant chapters in this documentation. Finally there is a Glossary on terms used throughout this documentation. .. and an appendix that handles various use cases that may be applicable to your situation on your institution.