Smart-Client Approaches to Digital Archiving of e-Journals

This paper presents the results of a research project undertaken by Prosentient Systems and partially funded by the ALIA 2007 research study grant. The focus of the project was a proof-of-concept implementation of a Smart Client application (easily deployed, supports both online and offline operation and uses a blend of local and web-based resources) for digital archiving of e-journal subscriptions held by special libraries. The particular objective of the project is the implementation of software for
e-journal archiving application that is cross-platform, light-weight (that is, can easily be installed on most desktop systems) and uses a balance of local and networked resources. An initial survey of 164 special libraries indicates that many libraries already encounter loss of subscription coverage from a range of causes, and that very few have an e-journal archiving strategy. The blend of local desktop deployment and centralised metadata repository differs from other peer-to-peer approaches to e-journal
archiving which require greater technical support. Deployment is simplified through a blend of local resource collection and use of web services to obtain journal metadata from a central repository. The research outcomes indicate that a cross-platform "Smart Client" approach to e-journal archiving is achievable and the presentation will review architectural design techniques that support cross-platform deployment and simple
installation using open source smart client tools. The research objective is to demonstrate the possibilities for open-source based approaches to local archiving suitable for installation in a special library context where information technology support may be minimal.