Abstract
Since 2009, tens of thousands of rare and unique items have been made available online for research through the University of Houston Digital Library. Six years later, the Libraries' new digital initiatives call for a more dynamic digital repository infrastructure that is extensible, scalable, and interoperable. The Libraries’ mission and the mandate of its strategic directions drives the pursuit of seamless access and expanded digital collections. To answer the calls for technological change, the Libraries Administration appointed a Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) Implementation Task Force to explore, evaluate, test, recommend, and implement a more robust digital asset management system. This article focuses on the task force’s DAMS selection activities: needs assessment, systems evaluation, and systems testing. The authors also describe the task force’s DAMS recommendation based on the evaluation and testing data analysis, a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of each system, and system cost. Finally, the authors outline their DAMS implementation strategy comprised of a phased rollout with the following stages: system installation, data migration, and interface development.
Highlights
Since the launch of the University of Houston Digital Library (UHDL) in 2009, the UH Libraries have made tens of thousands of rare and unique items available online for research using CONTENTdm
The task force decided not to test CONTENTdm because of the system’s known functionalities that we identified through firsthand experience
During the first phase of Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) implementation, Web Services and Metadata and Digitization Services (MDS) will work closely together to install an open-source repository software stack based on Fedora, rewrite the current PHP front-end interface to provide public access to the data in the new system, and create metadata content models for the UHDL based on the Portland Common Data Model,[25] in consultation with the Coordinator of Digital Projects from Special Collections and other key stakeholders
Summary
Since the launch of the University of Houston Digital Library (UHDL) in 2009, the UH Libraries have made tens of thousands of rare and unique items available online for research using CONTENTdm. The. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LIBRARIES | JUNE 2016 new system will be designed with linked data in mind and will allow us to publish our digital collections as linked open data within the larger semantic web environment. The UH Libraries Strategic Directions set forth a mandate for us to “work assiduously to expand our unique and comprehensive collections that support curricula and spotlight research. We will pursue seamless access and expand digital collections to increase national recognition.”[1] To fulfill the UH Libraries’ mission and the mandate of our Strategic Directions, the UH Libraries administration appointed a Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) Implementation Task Force to explore, evaluate, test, recommend, and implement a more robust digital asset management system that would provide multiple modes of access to the UH Libraries’ unique collections and accommodate digital object production at a larger scale. Coordinate installation of the new DAMS and finish data migration Communicate the task force work to UH Libraries colleagues
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