the three steps of the process had to mesh with one another in order to
achieve success. Moreover, as open-source systems, Srepod and
OAIster understandably could not provide extensive personalized
technical support.
We also encountered compatibility issues because, as mentioned
above, we modified the Dublin Core template when cataloging the
bookplates. During the harvesting process, we discovered that OAI
gateways and harvesters require strict compliance of metadata with
the simple Dublin Core schema (i.e., the basic fifteen fields). We were
able to solve this problem by retaining our specialized, bookplatespecific fields while adding the standard fields we had previously
excluded. We thus ended up with two metadata templates—the
specialized fields and the standard Dublin Core fields—in the same
record, with duplicated values in some of the fields (for example, the
values in our specialized Artist field were duplicated exactly in the
Dublin Core Creator field). In our Luna Insight presentation, only the
specialized fields were displayed; when we harvested for OAI, only the
Dublin Core fields were harvested.
Perhaps no other problems encountered during this project were
as perplexing and complicated as those surrounding OAI compliancy.
Confronting these issues provided us with a greater understanding
and appreciation of the complexity of the process, but it also brought
home the fact that, without considerable personalized technical
support, it was difficult to fulfill an important requirement of the
grant initiative. We also understood that it would be unfair to expect
any system to be able to provide that level of guidance. It was very
much a learning experience, and our systems librarian documented
each step of the process, from the generation of the static repository
files with the Luna Insight software to the final registration of the
collection with OAI ster.