Distributed Archives Transaction System

FAIN: HD-50311-08

Mississippi State University (Mississippi State, MS 39762-5227)
Paul Frederick Jacobs (Project Director: October 2007 to July 2010)

Development of open source web tools for accessing online digitized collections in the humanities via a system that communicates with multiple database types while protecting the integrity of the original data sets.

This project will develop tools for accessing digitized collections in the humanities via a system that provides universal communication with multiple database types and that simultaneously protects the integrity of original data sets. Because the proposed system cuts across database types and sources, in order to establish ease in gathering information, it will offer an efficient way to conduct research. A user will come to a single site to collect data, rather than having to construct individual searches at each of many sites. Key to this project is the integrity of data sources. Unlike other projects, this system will not possess (copies of) databases or sources; nor will it change databases or data sources in order for information to be gathered. This feature permits alteration by data owners to occur routinely and for changes to appear at once. Importance of the project is the shift from site-specific searches to a single seamless search across multiple sites.