Greenstone (software)

Infobox Software
name = Greenstone Digital Library


caption = Greenstone's Graphical Librarian Interface (GLI) v2.80
developer = University of Waikato
latest_release_version = Greenstone2: 2.80, Greenstone3: 3.02
operating_system = Cross-platform
genre = Digital Libraries
license = GPL
website = [http://www.greenstone.org/ www.greenstone.org]

Greenstone Digital Library Software is a suite of software tools for building and distributing digital library collections. It is a composite tool for building digital library collections. It provides a new way of organizing information and publishing it on the Internet or on CD-ROM in the form of a fully-searchable, metadata-driven digital library. It is an open-source, multilingual software, issued under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

Greenstone is produced by the New Zealand Digital Library Project at the University of Waikato, and has been developed and distributed in cooperation with UNESCO and the Human Info NGO in Belgium. Its developers received the 2004 IFIP Namur award for “contributions to the awareness of social implications of information technology, and the need for an holistic approach in the use of information technology that takes account of social implications.” The company [http://www.dlconsulting.com/ DL Consulting] provides Greenstone commercial consulting, customization, support, maintenance and hosting services.

Greenstone is an easy to use software that can be used to build up large sets of digital documents into searcheable collections. It provides a Greenstone Librarians Interface (GLI) to help the librarians or information professionals to build up collections without knowing the hassles of computer programming.Installation, creation and customization of digital library collections by using Greenstone can be learnt by anyone familiar with compputer usage within a few days time. Training courses are regularly conducted at various places in the world.

Greenstone is capable of building up multi-media digital documents such as text,pdf,audio,video etc very easily. The text, pdf,html and similar documents are converted into Greenstone Archive Format (GAF)which is an xml equivalent format.The software au

External links

* [http://www.greenstone.org/ Greenstone Digital Library - Official page]
* [http://wiki.greenstone.org/ Greenstone Wiki]
* [http://eprints.rclis.org/9023/ Greenstone Beginner's Guide]
* [http://greenstonesupport.iimk.ac.in/documentation.htm Documentation page of Greenstone Support for South Asia]
* [http://www.nzdl.org/ The New Zealand Digital Library, hosted with Greenstone]
* [http://www.dlconsulting.com/ DL Consulting: A company that specializes in the Greenstone suite]
* [http://www.opalle.com/ Opalle Innovation] , who offer technical support and hosting services for Greenstone users

References

* Greenstone.org (University of Waikato). [http://www.greenstone.org The Official Greenstone website] . Retrieved 7 August 2007. (This website is a main official source of information about the Greenstone Digital Library Software.)
*See the Eprint Archive for a few easy-to-follow documents on Creation and Customization of Greenstone Digital Library Collections. [http://eprints.rclis.org/view/people/Rajasekharan,_K..html ]