SRB Projects: NSDL/UCAR


Funding Agency Period 2002-2006 People Reagan Moore (PI) Charles Cowart Contact Charles Cowart More Info www.nsdl.org nsdl.nsf.gov comm.nsdlib.org	About the NSDL/UCAR project
	NSDL is the acronym for the National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital Library. "The NSDL will offer, via the Internet, high-quality materials for science, mathematics, engineering and technology education." NSDL will provide dependable and authoritative information not only to educators but to anyone, anywhere in the world, at any time. The NSDL went online in December, 2002.
	Role of Storage Resource Broker in NSDL/UCAR
	The Storage Resource Broker is used to create a persistent digital archive of the NSDL Metadata Repository. The Metadata Repository contains references to information contained within the World Wide Web. SRB routinely harvests metadata records through the Repository's OAI interface; these records are then stored as datasets in SRB. SRB then 'crawls' referenced web sites and stores periodic 'snapshots' of the data. Archived sites can then be reached through SRB's HTTP portal. SRB's archive service allows educators to develop curricula based upon a specific version of a site, sites that have disappeared due to lack of funding, etc. SRB will also play an important role in detecting when content has changed, and whether it is appropriate educational material.
	Project Status & Milestones
	Dec 5th: NSDL goes online with SRB archives of the Paleontological Research Institution collection. May 1st: UCSD begins harvesting from MR and creating a persistent archive of both the MR and the referenced content. UCSD provides technical documentation on the persistent archive.