eXtensible Catalog Revamps Website, Phase Two of Design Begins in Earnest
RSSJosh Hadro -- Library Journal, 10/21/2008
- eXtensible Catalog project website updated, converted from WordPress to Drupal
- Revamp comes during phase two of the project, on track for July 2009 completion
- More information posted on project background, development partners, and participation options
As reported by LJ Digital Libraries blogger Roy Tennant and others, the Mellon-funded eXtensible Catalog (XC) project from the University of Rochester has received a major upgrade to its web presence. Transitioning from a WordPress blog to a Drupal site featuring significantly more background and framework information, the shift signals the ramping up of the project’s second phase of coding and software design in which the XC will make the transition from a planning architecture to a workable and distributable set of open source software components.
The eXtensible Catalog, scheduled to be released summer 2009, will serve as both a new interface as well as a means for managing library metadata, including MARC, Dublin Core, and FRBRized metadata, according to the new site, which also adds that the project hopes to initiate "a next phase of development to integrate the benefits of the RDA metadata standard once it is released." In addition, XC “will enable library content to be revealed through other services that libraries may already be using, such as content management systems and learning management systems.”
Development partners are already onboard to design “connectors” to other ILS software like Innovative’s Millennium, Ex Libris’ Aleph and Voyager systems, and the open source Koha and Evergreen ILSs, as well as the Blackboard learning management systems (LMS). Partners are also being sought to help integrate XC with SirsiDynix’s Unicorn ILS and the open source Sakai LMS.
The XC project is of great interest to the open source and library software communities in terms of the major funding it has received and the breadth of support already committed at this stage in its design, and is being closely watched as more details are divulged. The project has funds totaling $2.8 million from grants and support from the University of Rochester and partner institutions, including a $749,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in October 2007 to support the current second phase of the project.
