Evolving an in‐house system to integrate the management of digital collections

Abstract

PurposeTo describe the evolution of a content management system at the University of Maine Library that would function as a universal, extensible metadata repository, thereby eliminating the need to build separate databases for new digital collections, and facilitating both end‐user access and the management of electronic resources in an integrated technology environment.Design/methodology/approachBeginning with the development of a prototype system that mapped EAD encoded finding aids to a relational database, this paper discusses the evolution of this prototype into the design and implementation of a RDBMS (and continuing development of an object‐oriented database management systems (OODBMS) system) to actively manage digital objects and associated metadata. The key to the system design is metadata: extracting and mapping, transforming, and managing the processing of MARC‐based metadata into non‐MARC schemes to build digital collections. Other relevant CMS architecture issues discussed are the design of a functional bibliographic structure and utilities for metadata harvesting and indexing.FindingsProvides information on the use of the Dublin Core Abstract Model and a flexible and adaptable collection‐centric approach in the overall CMS architecture as implemented on a non‐MARC RDBMS, and provides an explanation of the advantages of an object oriented database system over the complexity of evolving relational database tables.Practical implicationsA useful source for the development of an in‐house CMS, and a contribution to the growing body of literature about the transformation of MARC‐based metadata for database design.Originality/valueThis paper is a case study of actual work conducted at the University of Maine Library. The RDBMS manages digital collections; the OODBMS manages digital video and other multimedia resources.