HyperLib Toolkit available in public domain
*********************************************************************
HyperLib - one of the EC-projects under the Specific Programme of Research
and Technological Development in the field of Telematic Systems
of General Interest (Area 5: Libraries) - is a collaborative project
between the University of Loughborough (UK) and the University of Antwerp
(B). The project started in 1993 and was completed in December
1995.
The project aimed to improve access to the library services
of the University of Antwerp and thereby enhance the librarys utility
to its users. The project adopted a human factors oriented design
methodology to ensure that the revised computer interface achieved
the advances intended for as wide a spectrum of the librarys users
as is possible. In order to achieve a system that is both effective
and easy to use the project partners took the approach of graphical
user interfaces supporting dynamic hypertext linking.
The project focused on two implementations: electronic user guides
and database related resources (an academic bibliography, a navigation tool
for subject classification and a webbed OPAC). The technology of the
project is based on M database (ISO/IEC 11756), SGML (ISO 8879), WWW
and HTML.
At the Closing Meeting of the project (December 1995), the project partners
proposed as part of their exploitation plan to put parts of the HyperLib
developments in public domain. At the beginning of 1996 work started on
adapting software modules in order to achieve a higher degree of
portability to other systems and platforms. As a result of these
efforts, the HyperLib Toolkit is now available in public domain.
The current version of the HyperLib Toolkit allows the production of
hypertext books in HTML format from an SGML instance. These SGML instances
should be conform to the HyperLib DTD and can be produced with a
any SGML editor. The same SGML instance can also be used to generate
PostScript files for hardcopy output. As this part of the software is
currently under revision, the HyperLib Toolkit only handles the HTML
output.
Products that are related to the exploitation of database resources
(Academic Bibliography, Subject Navigation Network and Webbed OPAC)
are not part of the toolkit, mostly because these products are closely
related to the specific technical and library environment at the University
of Antwerp and thus cannot be ported easily to other operating environments.
The HyperLib Toolkit can be installed on any platform capable of handling
Perl-scripts. The installation procedure and the complete functionality
of the toolkit is documented on the WWW
(http://www.ua.ac.be/MAN/HLBSW)
In brief, The HyperLib Toolkit allows you to publish hypertext structured books
on the Web. In fact a HyperLib document is an SGML instance conforming to
the HyperLib Document Type Definition (DTD) and it is built from a sequence
of topics. A topic being the smallest addressable unit in the hypertext book,
can contain structured text (headings, paragraphs, lists), embedded elements
(foreground and background images) and hypertext references to other topics
within the same manual, to other HyperLib manuals or guides, to other local
or remote HTML documents on the Web or to Internet services in general
(telnet, ftp, Gopher...). All topics are organised in a hierarchical network of
parents and siblings. As a result all topics are defined with a
unique location in this hypertext network.
The primary benefit of the toolkit is that it allows an organisation such as a
library to fully document its services and thus provide a way to support it's
distant users (both end users and librarians). Because SGML was chosen as the
structuring language of the documents, all documents obtain the same look
and feel. Finally the toolkit allows easy management of permanently updated
versions of (end) user documentation.
General questions concerning the HyperLib project can be directed to
Julien Van Borm
University of Antwerp
UIA-Library
PB 13
B-2610 Antwerp
Tel: +32-3-820 21 41
Fax: +32-3-820 21 59
Email: jborm@lib.uia.ac.be
Technical questions concerning the HyperLib Toolkit can be directed to
Richard Philips
University of Antwerp
Library Automation Team
PB 13
B-2610 Antwerp
Tel: +32-3-820 21 57
Fax: +32-3-820 21 59
Email: rphilips@lib.ua.ac.be
More information on the HyperLib project is available from the
HyperLib Electronic Document Store at
http://www.ua.ac.be/docstore.html
BACK TO
*********************************************************************