Exposing the deep web to increase access to library collections

Tony Boston, National Library of Australia. Email: tboston@nla.gov.au

Keywords

deep web, search engine harvesting, metadata harvesting, digital collections, digital libraries

Abstract

The National Library of Australia is making digital copies of special collection materials available over the Internet. About 100,000 collection items including pictures, maps, sheet music, manuscripts, and some books and serials have been made available online. This content is delivered dynamically from a database developed to manage the Library’s digital collections. Since 2002 the Library has been exposing this content to Internet search engines to increase access to the material and provide multiple discovery pathways for Library users. This paper documents lessons learned in exposing the deep web and presents statistics on increased web usage focussing particularly on the Library’s Pictures Collection. Application of technologies which can be used to share deep web content such as the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting are also explored.