The Library Digital Repository (LDR) of the University of Chicago
Library contains the digital component of the University of Chicago
Archives as well as other types of content. The traditional archival
model of transferring, accessioning and processing material is used to
build the LDR. Accessioning uses a forms-based web front end and a
relational database back end. Processing is accomplished by creating
Submission Information Packages (SIPs) in Turtle (Terse RDF Triple
Language) format from the accessions database in conformance to the
Europeana Data Model (EDM), which allows one to model the variety of
content types which exist in the LDR in a uniform manner. Using the
OAI-ORE (Open Archives Initiative Object Reuse and Exchange) model
underlying EDM, PREMIS-compliant technical metadata for digital
resources are recorded for digital masterfiles. Dissemination
Information Packages (DIPs) are created by means of SPARQL (SPARQL
Protocol and RDF Query Language) queries once the SIPs have been
loaded into an RDF triplestore. DIPs contain actionable URLs based on
the ARK (Archival Resource Key) identifiers assigned at the time of
accessioning. This lightweight approach has high "tensile strength":
it can handle a full workload with a relatively small amount of effort
expended in its development and maintenance.
