Optimized Inter-Library Communication with Native XML Support

Organization Background

The North Suburban Library System (NSLS) was established in Wheeling, Illinois in 1965. The system provides services and support for Illinois libraries: public, school, academic, and special. It is one of 12 library systems in Illinois funded through a grant from the Illinois State Library.

The objective of the NSLS is to improve and develop libraries and library services through innovative and high quality support. The strategic direction of the NSLS encompasses the promotion of lifelong learning, the development of new models of services to ensure the survival of all types of libraries, and the provision of information tools necessary to assist in successful advocacy efforts.

The Project

With 12 regional libraries actively contributing content to the members’ website and with the encouragement of the Illinois State Library to work more collaboratively together, the NSLS decided it was time to centralize and formalize their knowledge base.More precisely, three systems (Lincoln Trails Library System, Northern Illinois Library System, and North Suburban Library System) partnered and began working on a Knowledge Management system that would enable all of them to easily share information and expertise between them.

As a first step towards inter-library collaboration, the libraries agreed to design a centralized knowledge base for managing the Events Calendar for Continuing Education. The intent was to organize and share valuable knowledge across the NLS. Should this project be successful, the idea was to grow the knowledge base and include additional library data.

The Challenge

Up to now, the libraries had been working separately, unable to share information: each had its own system to manage their events and was unable to leverage each others’ knowledge and know-how.

The centralized knowledge management system would need to handle various data formats coming from different data sources and store it into one single database.

Since all 12 regional libraries managed their event calendars and registrations through their own proprietary interface systems, they each had internal procedures and technologies in place for maintaining them.

As such, it was important for the administrators that the new knowledge management system did not interfere with the processes they were used to.

The libraries agreed that they needed a dynamic knowledge base which would be completely web-based and automatically updated: any modifications would be readily available to both end-users and administrators in real-time.

As with most projects, time and budget were a major concern for the libraries.

The Solution

BellCow conducted an exhaustive search of available XML tools and services. More specifically, they examined a few open source solutions. But after a thorough analysis, it was clear that they did not answer the specific needs for this project.

BellCow recommended the use of IXIASOFT’s TEXTML Server as the document repository for the Events Calendar Knowledge Base.

Events Calendar entry with defined indexed

Even though both Bellcow and NSLS had much more experience with traditional relational databases, they selected a native XML repository for this project, mostly for its flexibility, advanced searching capabilities, and speed of execution. Developing a solution based on a relational database would have taken them at least twice as long - meaning they would not have respected their time and budget constraints.

Altova’s Authentic was used as the XML editor for this project. Given that TEXTML Server already had a tight integration with Authentic, this decision was relatively easy. By interfacing with TEXTML Server, the Authentic Browser Plug-in allows XML documents to be retrieved from the repository and edited online via a browser plug-in.

Furthermore, XML SPY, another product in the Altova product line, was used to define the XML schema and stylesheets (XSLT) for the displayed search query results. By combining TEXTML Server and Authentic’s Browser Plug-in, administrators can easily add, retrieve or edit the XML documents to the Events Calendar knowledge base.

Results & Benefits

The Knowledge Base designed for the NSLS met its objectives and now provides a single point of reference for all Continuing Education Events. By centralizing their information in a native XML database, libraries are now enable easily share resources, reuse data, and reduces administration time.

Since all library systems have a shared mission and a similar membership to support, the continuing events areas are of interest to all library systems. As a result, the shared knowledge base enables the libraries to leverage each others’ knowledge. It also provides additional synergy between the systems in developing and offering more targeted continuing education programs.

End-users also enjoy the benefits of this new knowledge base and are now able to perform advanced searches such as combining keywords in the title and in the description fields, or on specific dates, instructors, and/or library systems.

Soon after the project was launched, additional requests were made to incorporate other types of functionalities. Extending the sorting capabilities, making the location of the event searchable, or even adding new elements to the Events Calendar for Continuing Education were brought forth as possible additions to the system. Because of TEXTML Server’s flexibility, these modifications were easily accommodated and indexes were updated seamlessly.

Additional bodies of knowledge are now under consideration to further exploit the application developed by BellCow. Thanks to the end-to-end XML architecture and extensibility of the application, it will be simple to modify the system for different requirements in future projects.

About TEXTML Server

TEXTML Server is a native XML database and search engine whose purpose is to store, index and retrieve XML content. It is the first embeddable XML server for OEMs and developers of XML applications. It was designed as an OEM product to build document-centric XML applications, such as web content management systems, knowledge management, or digital asset management systems where the content consists mostly of rich semi-structured information. The key advantages of TEXTML Server include the ability to combine full-text and metadata search, speed of execution, schema independence, ease of integration, and aggressive OEM-geared pricing model.