Greenstone: Open source digital library software with end-user collection building

Abstract

The Greenstone digital library software is an open-source system for the construction and presentation of information collections. Collections built with Greenstone offer effective full-text searching and metadata-based browsing facilities that are attractive and easy to use. Moreover, they are easily maintainable an can be augmented and rebuilt entirely automatically. The system is extensible: software “plugins” accommodate different document and metadata types. Greenstone incorporates an interface that makes it easy for people to create their own library collections. Collections may be built and served locally from the user’s own web server, or (given appropriate permissions) remotely on a shared digital library host. End users can easily build new collections styled after existing ones from material on the Web or from their local files (or both), and collections can be updated and new ones brought on-line at any time.