The
eXtensible Catalog (XC) is working to design and develop a set
of open-source applications that will provide libraries with an
alternative way to reveal their collections to library users. XC will
provide easy access to all resources (both digital and physical
collections) across a variety of databases, metadata schemas and
standards, and will enable library content to be revealed through other
services that libraries may already be using, such as content
management systems and learning management systems. XC will also make
library collections more web-accessible by revealing them through web
search engines.
Since XC software will be open source, it will be
available for download at no cost. Libraries will be able to adopt,
customize and extend the software to meet local needs. In
addition, a not-for-profit organization will be formed to
provide the infrastructure to incorporate community contributions to
the code base, encourage collaboration, and provide maintenance and
upgrades.
The project is hosted at the University of Rochester
and funded through a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation Scholarly Communications Program as well as through
significant contributions from and in collaboration with XC partner
institutions. The project is in a design and development phase until
July 2009, at which point the software will be released under an
open-source license.
Please visit our project website at http://www.extensiblecatalog.org
for a more complete overview of the eXtensible Catalog project and the
software we are creating. The software we are creating has several
components, that we are calling toolkits. The software code
repositories for the project are:
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