Aims to give an overview of web services, related protocols, and examples of use.
This column simply provides a technical overview of technology directly related to the work of digital libraries and digital library services.
It is increasingly important for digital libraries to consider how internet‐based applications can share data and provide standardized means for exposing content and allow more sophisticated querying to occur. Web services, which is a model for this purpose, has been in development for several years and yet has not been widely adopted by libraries maintaining digital repositories and applications containing other digital content. The basic technology for web services is examined, along with several examples of web service protocols in use as well as several instances of how various organizations are taking advantage of those technologies.
Web services and related protocols hold much promise for digital libraries and digital repositories.
This column will be most useful for libraries and institutions that are beginning to think about incorporating web services into their current technical infrastructure. It is particularly important for digital libraries that maintain archival, rare materials and research archives to be aware of and use web services to share and syndicate their important and valuable content.
