In view of its origins in the library environment, Goobi often has to satisfy widely varying requirements. Methods can vary considerably between different countries and sometimes even between neighbouring institutions. To meet these requirements, Goobi can be configured in many different ways, mainly to allow users to set parameters for different projects and workflows.
The most important settings are made at project level and determine what should be the final outcome of the digitisation process. At this level, too, the administrator can decide which people to assign to a particular project. Projects involving special materials, for example, can only be released for processing by a limited range of users. This may be expedient where a project requires the use of specialist equipment that can only be operated by those with the corresponding skills. It is also possible to stipulate the form in which digitised texts are exported, e.g. to a presentation layer such as the intranda viewer. In most cases this will be the standardised METS / MODS format, which has now established itself internationally, although other formats are also possible. For the METS / MODS format in particular, the most important parameters are specified at the project configuration level.
Alongside these parameters, which can be configured via the user interface, it is possible to fine-tune a project much more precisely within the central configuration directory. This method is primarily used to establish parameters for the addition of new volumes or the validation of content.
As well as allowing the administrator to configure projects, Goobi provides a number of very detailed options for specifying behaviour in relation to individual workflows. As is the case with projects, here, too, there are no limits. Any number of workflows can be created via the user interface. Once specified, they apply to every volume that makes its way through the entire digitisation process on the basis of the selected workflow. This ensures that each volume is processed in exactly the right order as specified at the outset, e.g. for a project. In turn, any number of workflows can be defined for each project.
As well as specifying workflows, you can define very precisely the form in which new volumes are added in Goobi. The most common method for adding new volumes involves importing them from an existing catalogue. Using standardised interfaces (e.g. Z39.50) it is possible to search and obtain data from almost any catalogue, thus avoiding the need for time-consuming data capture. Goobi simply imports all the data for which it has been configured. Data can also be imported from other sources using other standardised interfaces. Thanks to the Universal Catalogue Interface and our own OAI Harvester, there are no obstacles to the automatic import of data from other sources.
