An XML infrastructure for archives, libraries and museums: resource discovery in the COVAX project
Program: electronic library and information systems
ISSN: 0033-0337
Article publication date: 1 June 2002
Abstract
Although the idea of collaborative distributed resource discovery systems in libraries, museums and archives is not new, XML (extensible markup language) offers a new technical basis for development. Contemporary Culture Virtual Archive in XML (COVAX) is a project that has used XML to build ‘’middleware” that enables integrated searches via the Web for materials held in libraries, archives and museums, including electronic resources. Materials described in so‐called legacy systems have been converted to XML formats, using publicly available standards, including MARC, EAD (Encoded Archival Description), Amico‐2‐in‐1 and TEI (Text Encoding Initiative). A metasearch engine has been developed to allow searching of distributed repositories that store records in native XML format collections using database products such as TEXTML or TAMINO. Benefits and disadvantages of XML technology are discussed and the COVAX architecture and end‐user prototype solution are described.
Keywords
Citation
Yeates, R. (2002), "An XML infrastructure for archives, libraries and museums: resource discovery in the COVAX project", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 72-88. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330210429172
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited