Introduction
In 2007, a research project was undertaken by Prosentient Systems, partially funded by
the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) 2007 research study grant.
This paper presents the design principles and proof-of-concept results for a Smart
Client application for digital archiving of e-journal subscriptions for special libraries. A
“Smart Client” application optimises resources locally and through web services
connectivity, and can operate in both an offline and online manner. The particular
objective of the project is the implementation of software for e-journal archiving
application that is cross-platform, light-weight (e.g. can easily be installed on most
desktop systems) and uses a balance of local and networked resources. Such an
approach has application both to special libraries and to libraries in developing
countries where internet connection may be unreliable.