Library information provider OCLC Research, US, has announced that it will host the TAI CHI Webinar on Umlaut on August 1, 2012, at 10 am PDT / 1 pm EDT (UTC 17:00). All are welcome to attend this free webinar to learn about this open source software that can be used as a front-end for an existing knowledge base.
Umlaut deals with specific known citations and full text from multiple data stores (link resolver, catalog, etc.), Amazon and Google links, ‘cited by’ links from licensed vendors, ‘search inside’ links to Amazon, Google, HathiTrust, or anything else one wants to write a plugin for. It gives users the ability to switch out the underlying knowledge base products with no interruption. It runs as Ruby on Rails application via an engine gem. Umlaut is also a ‘link resolver front-end’ for an existing knowledge base because it accepts requests in OpenURL format but has no knowledge base of its own.
In this webinar, Jonathan Rochkind, Senior Programmer/Analyst at the Sheridan Libraries at Johns Hopkins University, will demonstrate how Umlaut allows to de-couple your ‘link resolver’ user-facing UI from your underlying knowledge base products - theoretically making it possible to switch out one vendor's knowledge base product for another with no interruption to users. Umlaut is a buffer between your knowledge base product(s) and the world.
This is the thirteenth webinar in the OCLC Research Technical Advances for Innovation in Cultural Heritage Institutions (TAI CHI) Webinar Series developed to highlight specific innovative applications, often locally developed, that libraries, museums and archives may find effective in their own environments, as well as to teach technical staff new technologies and skills. Recordings of these webinars are made available on the OCLC Research website, in iTunes and on YouTube.
Webinar participation is free and open to all but advanced registration is required.
