IuCdlCollaboration/ProposedWork2005

Whenever I think of libraries, especially one such as the CDL, I feel like a kid in a candy store. So many exquisite delectables, many more than I can possibly eat; the glee of abundance; the joy of running around. It's not the most apt image, but it is a resonant one for me.

I made a non-New Year's New Year's resolution to spend more time at the CaliforniaDigitalLibrary, doing a lot more hands-on work. Here I want to write about what this kid wants to do in the candy store this year.

In the early part of the year, the focus is clearly on MetaSearch, specifically, work on the CaliforniaDigitalLibrary/MetasearchInfrastructure. Right now, we have implementing the X-server API interface to MetaLib in the ScholarsBox. We're still figuring out some of the API but have already run into some significant limitations. An immediate priority is figuring everything that is already there and identifying what would be good changes to have in the MetaLib interface.

Work is going well on the MetaSearch front -- but I have felt the tension between really nailing down a technical issue behind bibliographic metadata interoperability (see MarcXmlToOpenUrlCrosswalk) and getting back to being a user and making collections. (as in a Scholar's Box collection of Milosz books and articles). They should go hand in hand, but it's actually hard to jump back and forth.

Other ideas:

working with the images that are at the CDL and blending them with my own and others

[writing in progress...]