NBD Biblion – Media Information and Production System
NBD Biblion offers products, services and expertise in the field of media and content. They are the largest supplier of information and purchase advice for Public Libraries and (school) media centers in the Netherlands. They also supply many of the books available in libraries. For this reason, hundreds of new titles of books and other media arrive at NBD Biblion every week. Each title is then classified and reviewed by NBD editors and reviewers. As a result they can provide up-to-date information about every newly published title.
We created the Media Information and Production System (MIPS) specifically for this purpose. A custom title registration and production system for managing many NBD production processes. NBD Biblion now uses MIPS to describe and catalog hundreds of new titles every month. In particular the software regulates and monitors the planning and workflow. It can therefore monitor the progress of each title through the system. In addition, the software manages payouts to reviewers, exporting the details for processing by Equens.
Oracle Text search technology
We firstly produced a complete functional and technical design. This was based on use of a central Oracle database and advanced search technology. Our engineers then went on to develop the Media Information and Production System. MIPS consists of a number of customized Windows applications, web applications and web services. We initially made use of Autonomy for indexing and classifying the database contents. However, we later introduced Oracle Text search technology. This is a standard part of Oracle, and is ideal for indexing unstructured text/XML information. We could therefore combine both structured (SQL) and unstructured searches, making data more easily accessible.
Oracle Text search technology
We firstly produced a complete functional and technical design. This was based on use of a central Oracle database and advanced search technology. Our engineers then went on to develop the Media Information and Production System. MIPS consists of a number of customized Windows applications, web applications and web services. We initially made use of Autonomy for indexing and classifying the database contents. However, we later introduced Oracle Text search technology. This is a standard part of Oracle, and is ideal for indexing unstructured text/XML information. We could therefore combine both structured (SQL) and unstructured searches, making data more easily accessible.
MIPS Connectivity
- PICA (OCLC) – part of the title data is maintained using the Common Automated Cataloging System (GGC). In MIPS this data is imported and integrated with content that is maintained within MIPS. When exchanging data with other systems, title data is merged and exported as if from a single source.
- MoM (More over Media) – MoM is closely connected to MIPS. It serves as a publication platform for the delivery of reviews, text abstracts and author profiles.
- Website reviewers – MIPS includes a web application for use by third parties who enter and update reviews.
- FRS asset management system – a link has been developed with the BSL asset management system FRS. FRS manages multimedia documents, such as book covers, tables of content, flap texts. The integration means covers can be retrieved and displayed using the title, author, ISBN and other search attributes.
At BSL, you have come to the right place for…
Expert in search technologies
BSL has expertise in using a range of search technologies. These include Autonomy, Exalead, Oracle Text, Elastic Search and Sybase FTS. These technologies can index documents, spreadsheets, webpages and multimedia so that the entire content can be searched. The search engines use language intelligence to recognize words, sentences and synonyms. As a result, our software can find contents almost instantly. Even within archives containing millions of documents. We can also use automatic classification and semantic technologies to select the most relevant information. And to extract meaning from the content.
Continuous improvement
We have made many improvements since we first delivered the Media Information and Production system. In particular, we have also added many new features. These changes usually arise from feedback from the NBD Media production team. Not only from the content managers, but frequently from content editors/reviewers too. NBD Biblion consequently uses MIPS within more and more production processes. As a result, the content is re-purposed. Furthermore, we have also integrated the system with external processes and systems.Third parties have access to MIPS information using web-service API’s designed and developed by BSL.
Simplification of complex processes
The Media Information and Production system transforms the complex workflow procedures and media management activities carried out by NBD Biblion into a series of easy-to-use software modules. Using this unique system, another key point is that NBD Biblion can now manage the entire production workflow in-house.
“It was a wonderful and challenging project. We created the functional / technical design, the Oracle data model and user interfaces. We’ve integrated MIPS with many systems, including links to national web platforms using XML and web-services. It’s included many facets of modern ICT projects, and used successfully by our customer for many years. We’ve continuously enhanced MIPS to meet their changing needs, and changing standards. It’s a system about which all of us are very proud.”
