|
|
|
|
TCDL Bulletin How Science Web Sites are Leveraging DLESE Search Web Services to Extend Value to their Users[Demo at JCDL 2006]
AbstractThis demonstration illustrates the use of two search services offered by the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) and shows how they have been used to create customized discovery interfaces for library resources in science Web sites. DescriptionDLESE's search Web services and APIs to give their users the same search capability and access to the same repository of resources as that of the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE). The process of incorporating DLESE search into a site is not complicated and is extremely flexible. It gives site users access to online resources beyond those offered on the site but that compliment the context of the Web environment in terms of subject matter, user groups and types of resources. This demonstration explores DLESE resources and shows some of the potential offered by the search Web services and APIs to place the DLESE collections at the finger tips of Web site visitors. We will demonstrate how the services and APIs are being used in real and potential cases that may inspire ideas for its use in your particular Web environment. DLESE provides free access to over 12,000 online science resources for educators, students and researchers studying the Earth as a system. The resources have been cataloged using XML schemas giving them inherent portability. The library search infrastructure offers flexible access to the Web services and APIs that have been built to allow remote access to the full range of metadata in the cataloged records. The search and discovery features of the library are available in two ways for use in Web sites and other applications. One is a Representational State Transfer (REST) based API for searching and accessing the library content and metadata in XML form. The other is a JavaScript API, which is particularly convenient for developers to use in Web pages as it requires no server-side installation whatsoever and is implemented by simply copying and pasting some JavaScript code onto one HTML page. DLESE provides simple user templates for both the REST and JavaScript services, with complete instructions for customizing the code for the particular types of application settings and searches desired. With the JavaScript API it is possible to apply the library to any Web site, adding the ability to customize a search in order to compliment the context of that site. DLESE engineers will be demonstrating this ability by showing examples of existing sites that are using the DLESE services, and demonstrating the ease with which they can be incorporated and customized within any site. You could leave the demonstration with customized code to paste into a page on your Web site that will bring the DLESE search to your Web environment. DLESE search REST service and JavaScript API will be demonstrated in Web contexts such as the following:
REFERENCES[1] Weatherley, J. 2005. A web service framework for embedding discovery services in distributed library interfaces. In Proceedings of the 5th ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (Denver, CO, USA, June 07 - 11, 2005). JCDL '05. ACM Press, New York, NY, 42-43. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1065385.1065394. © Copyright 2007 Lynne Davis and John Weatherley Top | Contents |