Ethos

Notes and Questions from the EPrints Presentation

Q: Going back to your OAI-PMH protocol for metadata harvesting, Google is no longer using that. They’ve moved over and are now using site maps as they said nobody was using it, or rather that nobody reputable was using it.
A: It’s never certain what Google are doing. When I looked at the stuff on Google regarding OAI, I think they were using OAI as an alternative to site maps
Q: Yes, they’ve stopped doing that now and site maps are what they are using now unfortunately.
A: Whenever we’ve talked to Google they’ve said they’re happy with EPrints because the web pages give them the route into the content because while Google talks about site maps and OAI, they’re not actually that interested in the metadata.
Q: Ok, so they’re going into your repository in a different way.
A: One of our frustrations is that when we ask Google how we can make their live easier, they say ‘put metadata in’. So we put metadata in and they ignore it. So we find that we’ve very carefully inserted all the creator’s names and all that sort of thing in the web page; and then they come along and find some completely random part of the page which they use in Google Scholar. So OAI as far as Google is concerned is really no use.

EThOS will:

Improving research theses access to those who need it

Improving post graduate research knowledge transfer to students

Creating a one stop electronic shop for all UK Theses

Promoting UK Higher Education post graduate research to the world

Contributing to the global knowledge pool