Trip Report: ExLibris System Seminar 2007

Participant: Erik Altmann

Summary: The Ex Libris System Seminar in Potsdam, (14/05/07 - 16/05/07) was an comprehensive seminar presenting topics across Ex Libris products. Presently the Max Planck Society uses


 * SFX for link resolving/providing relevant services/content based on the OpenURL standard, see vLib project
 * MetaLib for integration of resources/metasearching across resources, see vLib project
 * Aleph for MPG Library Opacs, see aleph project

= General impression =

Brilliant - lecturers appeared competent and aware of present and future requirements/development.

= Links and Resources =


 * seminar website - with information on all product tracks
 * presentations - (login required)

= Notes about single sessions =


 * SFX.GEN.001 - OpenURL 1.0 fundamentals; structure of OpenURL 1.0 based on question words (Q6)
 * SFX.IMP.001 - enhancing or augmenting SFX metadata (by adding local data to SFX and local objects, by adding local objects, or by source configuration and parsing of specific data from the OpenURL pid section).
 * SFX.IMP.003 - SFX exports, SFX API, A-Z list and more - contained introduction to SFX xml API and is thus relevant for any integration of MPG/SFX services (eSciDoc)
 * SFX.IMP.004 - Local SFX configuration
 * SFX.MNT.001 - Managing SFX to "Good Health" - system management, performance tuning, database management
 * MTL.IT.001 - Upgrade to MetaLib 4.00 - description of process (which is still a bit awkward because resource/user data cannot be synchronized conveniently before taking up production - enhancement is expected to be available within approx. two months time.
 * MTL.IMP.001 - Customization of MetaLib 4.00 UI (mainly css based)
 * MTL.IMP.002 - MetaLib X-Services. MetaLib X-Services do not have a Java/SOAP framework on top of proprietary xml services, in contrast to, for example, Aleph. Question: Can services still be integrated (eSciDoc) the way they are, or ought we to insist that a standard webservice interface is indispensable?
 * MTL.KB.001 - Initial Resource Analysis and Knowledge-Base debugging methods.
 * MTL.KB.002 - HTTP-based resource configuration - resources which cannot be integrated using the standard interface gateways (i.e. z39.50, proprietary ALEPH_X, or even SRU) - this is handled by external programs.
 * MTL.KB.003 - MetaLib Export/Import functionality - could be used to implement automatized workflows regarding maintenance of resource data.
 * MTL.MNT.001 - MetaLib 4.00 System Maintenance and Configuration - v4 performance sounds good (detailed testing of performance, server load, etc.) - no increase of server load to be expected (though new features require additional system resources, such as faceting/clustering of search results, which is outweighed by other factors, e.g. the use of Oracle 10).
 * GEN.MNT.001 - Oracle Maintenance and Configuration - general concept of MNT.001/002: run your system in maintenance mode vs. diagnostic and repair mode
 * GEN.MNT.002 - Routine Maintenance
 * GEN.OVR.001 - X-Services - cross-product overview of X-Services. Aleph even offers standardizes webservice interface (Java/SOAP JBOSS), whereas MetaLib does not (see above).
 * GEN.PDS.002 - sounds more promising as it turned out to be - rather general introduction to concept and philosophy of Shibboleth as a "trust system" rather than web SSO system.