AUTOMATED COMPUTER ON-LINE LIBRARY

THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THIS RESEARCH PROGRAM IS TO DEVELOP A WORKING "NAVY OCEANOGRAPHIC ELECTRONIC LIBRARY SYSTEM" (NOELS) FOR USE BY THE NAVY OCEANOGRAPHIC COMMUNITY. THE SYNEX PROPOSAL IS UNIQUE INTHAT NOELS WILL BE PROTOTYPED AND DEMONSTRATED IN PHASE I. IN PHASE II, NOELS WILL BE MORE FULLY DEVELOPED USING DEMONSTRATIONS OF ENHANCEMENTS AT PREDETERMINED MILESTONES. BY THE END OF PHASE II, NOELSWILL BE A FULLY OPERATIONAL SYSTEM SERVING THE INFORMATION NEEDS OF OCEANOGRAPHIC TECHNICIANS. SYNEX IS EXPERIENCED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OFLARGE SCALE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS AND HAS EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH ELECTRONIC LIBRARY REQUIREMENTS. AN IMPORTANT OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH EFFORT IS TO EXTEND THE CURRENT STATE OF ON-LINE LIBRARY SYSTEMS. THE PROGRAM PROPOSED FOR THIS SBIR IS DIVIDED INTO FOUR (4) TASKS. TAKEN TOGETHER, THEY YIELD NOT ONLY A DEMONSTRABLE PROTOTYPE, BUT A BASELINE THAT OFFERS MODULAR COMPONENTS INCLUDING: (1) DOCUMENT ACQUISITION; (2) USER FRONT END, WHICH IS COMPOSED OF A BROWSER AND SEARCH/RETRIEVAL INTER-FACE; AND (3) DATABASE MANAGEMENT. NOELS WILL UTILIZE COMMERCIAL-OFF-THE-SHELF PRODUCTS WHEREVER POSSIBLE. IN ADDITION, SYNEX WILL INVESTIGATE EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS HANDWRITING DIGITIZATION AND DOCUMENT IMAGING FOR INCORPORATION INTO THE FINAL NOEL SOLUTION.