UNESCO-USP Workshop on the
Greenstone Digital Library Software

University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji
September 12 - 15, 2005

Introduction

This workshop will promote the development and sharing of digital library collections using the freely available Greenstone Digital Library software. The aim is to train trainers, and participants are expected to promote digital library collection development by conducting similar programmes in their countries.

About the Greenstone Digital Library Software

Affordable software is a key requirement for successful development of digital libraries. Though it is possible today to create simple digital libraries using prevailing Web and database technologies, it would take a lot more effort to develop software and integrated functions such as metadata, object search and retrieval, access management and support for multiple document types.

It provides a new way of organizing information and publishing it on the Internet or on CD-ROM. It is open-source software, issued under the terms of the GNU General Public License. It is produced by the New Zealand Digital Library Project at the University of Waikato, and developed and distributed in cooperation with UNESCO and the Human Info NGO. The aim of Greenstone is to empower users, particularly in universities, libraries and other public service institutions, to build their own digital libraries. More details of the software and example digital libraries built using the software is available at http://www.greenstone.org.

Instructors

Mrs Katherine Don
Mr Michael Dewsnip
Dr Chi-Yu Huang

CD-ROM

The Greenstone software and all teaching material for this workshop is provided on the workshop CD-ROM, which contains

Schedule

Day 1
08:30-09:00    Welcome, introduce participants and instructors
09:00-10:00 Lecture 0: Introduction: What is a digital library; Greenstone: Overview of features
10:00-10:15Tea
10:15-11:00 Lecture 1: Greenstone installation; browsing example collections
11:00-12:15 Lab 1: Greenstone installation; browsing example collections
12:15-13:15Lunch
13:15-14:45Lecture 2: Librarian Interface: Building collections and adding metadata
14:45-15:00Tea
15:00-17:00 Lab 2: Librarian Interface: Building collections and adding metadata

Day 2
08:30-10:00    Lecture 3: Librarian Interface: Using metadata, simple collection configuration
10:00-10:15Tea
10:15-12:15 Lab 3: Librarian Interface: Using metadata, simple collection configuration
12:15-13:15Lunch
13:15-14:45Lecture 4: Librarian Interface: Advanced features
14:45-15:00Tea
15:00-17:00 Lab 4: Librarian Interface: Advanced features

Day 3
13:00-14:45   Lecture 5: Advanced formatting; creating a CD-ROM
14:45-15:00Tea
15:00-17:00 Lab 5: Advanced formatting; creating a CD-ROM

Day 4
08:30-10:00    Lecture 6: Advanced document types
10:00-10:15Tea
10:15-12:15 Lab 6: Advanced document types
12:15-13:15Lunch
13:15-17:00Optional Lectures:
Setting up Greenstone for your organization
Multilingual support and interface languages
Restricting access to documents
Scanning and OCR
How collection building works

Documentation

The above manuals are in English. French, Spanish, Russian and Kazakh versions of these manuals can be downloaded here.

Files for test collections