The User Side of DSpace

Today I returned to MIT’s DSpace and looked at the public side and its user interface, driven by Jakarta Lucene [do you know her?]. I also rummaged through some of the material posted by the various Communities. Stumbled across a biography of a possible relative, Edward Furber Miller (Furber being my maiden name). Born in 1866, he was a Professor of Steam Engineering and headed the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Institute from 1911 to 1933! See https://dspace.mit.edu/html/1721.1/5558/miller.html.

I gleaned some good ideas for what could be done at UC in the way of sci/tech repository material. I also added more acronyms and terms to my posting.

Lunch break was exciting. I sat at a picnic table between the library and the lakeshore, enjoying the brisk air and blue sky. I ran to the car to get my water bottle, and returned to find my sandwich dumped on the table and a seagull flying away with the plastic wrap! Luckily the plastic wrap unfolded and left the sandwich for me. I chased after the seagull and recovered the plastic wrap, lest the bird choke on it.

This afternoon it was time to switch gears and take a look at the USC Digital Archive. That is where I will be working just 12 days from now. I thought it a good idea to see what their content and interface look like. You can see it at http://digarc.usc.edu:8089/cispubsearch/ . They focus on the history of Los Angeles for the most part. I will be working under Barbara Shepard, who went to USC from the Getty Museum. USC is using Documentum, the software that OhioLINK is using for its institutional repository. An interesting aside is that CCM Dean Lowry’s wife used to work at the Getty in an office next to Barbara. I am to take greetings when I go.

During breaks I succumb to the fiction that surrounds me in this little library. I discovered a book – The Life of Pi – that was recommended by two sources, Sudhindra Rao, grad assistant at my library, and friend Elizabeth Hill, member of the local book club. They just finished reading it. I am not able to check books out, as my township does not support this library, so I sneak peeks at the book when I tire of the computer, or when the transmission slows down. When done, I practice my rusty skills in shelving fiction, aided by the gap on the shelf and the interesting neighboring book, Harvard Yard.