Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) Updates & Updates to UFDC & More with SobekCM

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The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC), UF Digital Collections (UFDC), Florida Digital Newspaper Library, and many other collections hosted by the UF Libraries using the SobekCM Open Source Software now have an updated look. The older tabbed navigation on collection pages has been replaced with a simplified bar-style menu, like that of the item viewer which was just updated a few months ago.
In addition to the updated look, the internal structure has also been enriched.  The main menu is customizable by curators using through the online curator admin tools.  This is just one part of the totally updated, enhanced, and revamped administrator screens for online collections or aggregations. The new additions to the curator admin tools were made based on curator input specifically to empower curators in full control and ease management of their collections, including:

  1. Basic Information – This section contains the basic information about the aggregation, such as the full name, the shortened name used for breadcrumbs, the description, and the email contact.
  2. Collection Visibility – The values in this section determine if the collection is currently visible at all, whether it is eligible to appear on the collection list at the bottom of the parent page, and the collection button used in that case.
  3. Search Options – These options control how searching works within this aggregation, such as which search options are made publicly available.
  4. Results Options – The information in this section controls how search results or item browses appears. The facet options control which metadata values appear to the left of the results, to allow users to narrow their results. The search results values determine which options are available for viewing the results and what are the aggregation defaults. Finally, the result fields determines which values are displayed with each individual result in the result set in the collection.
  5. Metadata Browses – Curators can select metadata fields to include in the public metadata browses in this section.  This will expose all the metadata of the resources within this aggregation for public browsing.
  6. OAI/PMH Settings – Curators can use OAI-PMH to expose all the metadata of the resources within this aggregation for automatic harvesting by other repositories. Additionally, curators can choose to attach metadata to the collection-level OAI-PMH record.
  7. Appearance Options – These three settings have the most profound effects on the appearance of your aggregation, by forcing it to appear under a particular web skin, allowing a custom aggregation-level stylesheet, or completely overriding the system-generated home page for a custom home page HTML source file.
  8. Home Page Text – This section controls all the language-specific (and default) text which appears on the home page.
  9. Banners – This section shows all the existing language-specific banners for this aggregation and allows curators upload new banners for this aggregation.
  10. Highlights – This section controls which items are highlighted on your collection home page, and if the highlight rotate, or statically show one per day
  11. Child Pages – Child pages are pages related to the aggregation and allow additional information to be presented within the same aggregation branding. These can appear in the aggregation main menu, with any metadata browses pulled from the database, or you can set them to for no automatic visibility, in which case they are only accessible by links in the home page or other child pages that curators add.
  12. SubCollections – Curators can view existing subcollections or add new subcollections to this aggregation from this tab. Curators  full curatorial rights over any new subcollections they add.

In addition, curators can now edit the text of collection pages directly in the web interface, just like with WordPress, LibGuides, and other online web content management systems.
All of the great new and older tools will be covered in the upcoming training for curators and collection managers.  Most webinars are being presented twice, once with an emphasis on UFDC emphasis and once with an emphasis on Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC). Curators and those interested in being curators can attend either; these are really just more tailored and customized versions for the audiences, but the information applies for all. The trainings will also be recorded, with the recordings available online for future viewing ease.
Sobek for Curators and Collection Managers, Training Series
Training One: Introduction to SobekCM’s capabilities (John Nemmers)

  • LIVE – Thursday, November 14th, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM, Library West 211
  • WEBINARS (Webinar recordings will be posted once available):
  • Wednesday, November 20th, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM (http://ufsmathers.adobeconnect.com/sobek/ ) 

Training Two: Resource and Metadata Submission and Editing (Mark Sullivan)
This training is  a discussion of metadata in general in regards to SobekCM-based projects, and includes the following topics:
i.      Metadata for projects – existing v new
ii.      Importing records ( MARC, Spreadsheets, etc.. )
iii.      Adding a new item through the web interface
iv.      Adding new files/images to an existing item
v.      Editing metadata online
vi.      Adding spatial information to your item and geo-placing a map online

Training Three: QC Online Tool and Leveraging the Hierarchical Organization of Digital Resources (Mark Sullivan and John Nemmers)
This training will cover the QC Online Tool, including quick tips for frequent needs ( like selecting a main thumbnail, adding a page to a book where it was missed, processing a small item, and tracking production with item stats and status breakdowns.  In addition, we will discuss the hierarchical organization of resources as applied to newspapers, periodicals, and even archival material.  We will also demo the current work on adding more support for electronic finding guides (EADs).

Training Four: Managing Your Collection – Curator Tools (Mark Sullivan and Laurie Taylor)
This is an introduction to the curator and collection manager tools, including how to manage the collection online, edit home pages, change images, add child pages or collections, and generally control the look, feel, and behavior of your online collection.  This will discuss the tools as part of integrated digital and physical collection management, outreach, evaluation, and other Curator and Collection Manager activities.

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