Blue Electrode

The Falvey Library is pleased to announce the launch of our new Digital Library interface.

The new interface features a JavaScript-only page zoom, faster hierarchical browsing, and enhanced searching that includes both item and collection descriptions in the results.

The public front end is built on VuFind 2.0, which has not yet been officially released, but is available for testing here. The backend is running the latest beta version of VuDL (release spring 2013), which has been re-architected to use a Fedora-Commons repository.

A more detailed article describing the new Fedora-Commons data model and Solr integration is forthcoming.

For now, we encourage you to explore this new site, and to provide any feedback to us directly.

Posted for Demian Katz,  Library Tech Development Specialist:

As announced on January 20th, Villanova Digital Library content is now fully searchable through the library’s VuFind software.  You can perform a search using the box at the top of the page at http://digital.library.villanova.edu/.

In addition to helping you find documents more easily, VuFind offers several other useful features to anyone with a Villanova University login:

* You can build lists of favorites and add tags in order to more easily revisit records in the future or share them with others.
* You can post comments if you want to add notes to a record.

Even without a VU account, you can still take advantage of some new features:

* You can text or email records to friends (or to yourself, for future reference).
* Suggested MLA and APA citations are provided (although you may need to make manual adjustments for some records).

This is only the beginning of the melding of VuFind and the Digital Library.  Over the coming months, more features will be added and the experience will become even more seamless, allowing faster access to content with fewer clicks.  Stay tuned, and feel free to ask questions and offer suggestions in the meantime.  Feedback is always welcome as we work to continually improve our software.

Falvey’s Digital Library has just been upgraded with new backend software that will improve its ability to continue growing and improving the online collection. The Digital Library’s first incarnation was launched in August 2006. Over the course of 4 years, the DL’s collection grew to over 9,000 items, and a substantial software functionality wish-list.

• Add support for more file formats, so our collection can include a broader range of materials
• Incorporate an OCR process to facilitate full-text searching of collection content.
• Add support for inclusion of transcriptions with hand-written materials

Our initial software used a variety of technologies to achieve its goal of storing information about digital documents. Unfortunately, not all of these tools worked well together. While the new version of the software retains the METS metadata format and eXist-db XML database, it replaces nearly all of the other components with a suite of more closely-related technologies. The new, all-XML, all-Open-Source framework consists of the following components:

• METS XML schema – Library of Congress standard for describing digital objects.
• eXist-db – Native XML Database
• Orbeon Forms – Java-based XForms engine
• Tesseract – OCR Engine
• VuFind – Online Public Access Catalog

New Key Features:

Root level Document Attachment

Catalogers now have the ability to add document-level items to each object. The most relevant use of this feature is to attach a hand-transcribed, fully annotated companion document to a digitally scanned book. More information on this feature can be found here and a live example can be found by viewing the Lane Manuscript


AJAX-based metadata editor

The Orbeon forms Java-based XForms engine integrates with the YUI JavaScript Library providing a rich user interface for metadata editing.


Document layout and file attachment configurations

The system incorporates a batch-attach routine for adding multiple files (in our case the pages of a scanned book) to a digital object as a single operation. An interface is available to customize the arrangement and location of these files, as well as adding and deleting files when appropriate.


OAI harvestable

OAI/PMH is a standard for serving and harvesting metadata. The Digital Library is now fully harvestable using this standard.


In the coming months we will extend the software to include custom drivers for a VuFind front-end and modularize the metadata editor to support a wide-range of options including Dublin Core, MODS, EAD, and PREMIS support for preservation Metadata.

Our plan is to launch the software as a simple, open-source platform for preservation and presentation of digital collections. So stay tuned! We are targeting April 2011 for the Beta Release.

We are always looking for development partners! If you are interested, please contact us at digitallibrary@villanova.edu

A newly released and long awaited feature in the digital library software enables the display of transcribed content. When transcribed content is present in a digital library object, a new tab, designated Docs, is displayed. This tab will present the transcribed content as readable and downloadable files. Just click on the thumbnail icon of the file type. Most transcribed content is available in both smart-PDF and Word formats. We are very proud to bring this new feature to you!

Handwritten content is often difficult to decipher and, when digitized, not conducive to OCR. In parallel to the scanning of heritage materials, individual volunteers, staff, and students have been transcribing the writings from the past. Individual transcribers’ names are included. Now these letters and diaries can be read easily online as part of Villanova University’s Digital Library.

The first transcription to be included in the online collection is the Lane Manuscript. This contains the autobiographical manuscript of Samuel Alanson Lane (1815-1905). From January until May of 1835, Lane traveled around the U.S., looking for work in numerous cities, including New Orleans, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland, until finally settling in what would become his hometown, Akron, OH, on June 29, 1835. S. A. Lane was a dedicated follower and professional lecturer of the American temperance movement as well as an avid supporter and political participant for the Republican Party, formed in 1854. Perhaps Lane’s most interesting and daring pursuit, was his active participation in the mass emigration to California in search of fortune like many other easterners during the California Gold Rush, which kept Lane from his home and family in Akron for over two years. This manuscript covers his life and contains many depictions of 19th century American frontier life. An exhibit featuring the life and times of Samuel Lane is also available online.

While only a few transcriptions are online at present, over the coming weeks and months much new transcribed content will be available to delight and fascinate. On the technical front, we are quickly working to make these materials discoverable with keyword searching. Printed texts that have been OCRed will also have enhanced findability.

I would be remiss without acknowledging all who have toiled many long hours over these often cryptic documents filled with fragmentary words and sentences. Thank you! In addition much hard labor also went into the software enhancements that make such content available, so out of the many individuals involved, I would especially like to thank David Lacy for his hard work in bringing the best to our digital library software!

If you are interested in helping to bring historical materials alive, please consider volunteering. Just reach out and email us at: digitallibrary@villanova.edu