Infrastructure and Standards Support

Can we bring a library interest to bear on standards work? Can we make sure important standards activity in the library and archival world has appropriate technical support? Our work here focuses on participating in needed architecture and standards work, supporting adoption and sometimes providing infrastructure support.

We also build and promote Web service prototypes that help to improve library catalogs, engage users and create mobile experiences. See how these services are being used by libraries, museums, and archives in the OCLC Web Services Application Gallery.

Current Activities

Preservation Health Check

OCLC Research and the Open Planets Foundation (OPF) are conducting a Preservation Health Check pilot to analyze the quality of preservation metadata created and in use by operational repository and deposit systems and evaluate the potential of such metadata for assessing digital preservation risks.

OCLC Linked Data Research

OCLC production units and OCLC Research are supporting the collaborative and the larger community with Linked Data-related research and standards activities, and are exploring Linked Data activities and applications.

PREMIS Maintenance Activity and Editorial Committee

OCLC Research participates in both the PREMIS Maintenance Activity and Editorial Committee. The Maintenance Activity is responsible for planning, organizing, and coordinating work and activities related to the PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata. The PREMIS Editorial Committee has specific responsibility for managing the Data Dictionary, including supporting its use and coordinating future updates and revisions.

info URI Registry

The “info” URI Registry was set up on behalf of NISO to identify and describe registered “info” URIs.

OAICat

OAICat is a Java Servlet implementation of the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) v2.0.

SRW/U

The SRW/U Open Source project offers software that implements both the SRW Web Service and the SRU REST model interface to databases. Included are interfaces that support DSpace and Lucene implementation and OCLC's Pears database.

PURL

PURLs (Persistent Uniform Resource Locators) are Web addresses that act as permanent identifiers in the face of a dynamic and changing Web infrastructure.

Some of the activities listed here have prototypes or demonstrations you can explore and play with. You can find a list of just those hands-on activities in ResearchWorks.

A few of these activities have generated software that you can download and build upon. Go to our software page for a list of only those activities.

The OCLC Research Library Partnership has sponsored the activities with this mark.

OCLC Research on YouTube

Check out the OCLC Research YouTube Channel for a fresh, succinct view of what OCLC Research staff are up to.