Making Digital Libraries Flexible, Scalable and Reliable: Reengineering the MARIAN System in JAVA

There is a great need for digital libraries that are flexible, scalable, and reliable. Few such systems exist. Little is known about how to build them. This thesis addresses these problems by enhancing a prototype digital library system with the aim of making it more flexible, scalable, and reliable. We hypothesize that: 1) adding a new (user information) layer and maintaining weak coupling in the design of a digital library system can help achieve system flexibility; 2) optimizing network connection usage and facilitating distribution of computation and disk operations in system design can help achieve system scalability; and 3) applying good software processes can help university students produce a very reliable system. Approaches based on the above hypothesis were used in the project of Reengineering the MARIAN System in Java. The results of the project and experiments verified the correctness of the hypothesis. The results of this thesis may help inform future digital library design and implementation projects to produce flexible, scalable, and reliable systems.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Computer Science

Department dc:contributor.department

Computer Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1999

Author dc:creator

• Zhao, Jianxin

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Fox, Edward A.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Henry, Sallie M.
• Kafura, Dennis G.

• Online Public Access Catalog
• Digital Library
• User Information Layer
• Personalization
• Project Management
• Reengineering

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Dc Identifier Other

etd-070499-204531

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78146