Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Kyle Banerjee]

On Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 7:15 AM, Matt Sherman 
wrote:

> Thanks for all the advice folks, this gives me a lot to look into.  You all
> have certainly made me table MySQL, so now to look into PostgreSQL, Solr,
> XTF, and some of these other technologies to see what would be the best
> fit.
>

For a project like this, you can make just about any solution work.

Maintaining apps that depend on technologies you don't use for anything
else is a pain, so I'd be inclined to avoid the overhead of learning
something new for this project unless is a part of your long term
objectives.

For example, solr or postgres are both viable here, but those two
applications are good for very different types of purposes. So if you use
one of those, pick the one that will be the most useful down the road.

kyle

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Conal Tuohy]

Since you mention the requirement to publish and maintain it on the web,
another (NoSQL) option for your data storage would be a SPARQL graph store
(such as Apache Fuseki). Loading the data would involve transforming each
citation into an RDF graph and storing it as a named graph with an HTTP
PUT, or transforming each volume to a SPARQL update query to insert your
1250 graphs in one query. Maintenance of data can be achieved simply with
GET and PUT to read and write individual graphs (records) which is dead
easy to connect to an HTML form, and you can use the SPARQL query language
for all your search needs. Because the SPARQL family of protocols are
already web protocols it can be a very simple architecture. It would also
be trivially easy to publish the RDF as linked data by installing Pubby or
similar in front of the SPARQL query service.

Of course it may be that the RDF skillset is a step too far (it's not as
widely known as RDBMS), but if you do have someone in your team with basic
RDF skills it's worth considering as it could be a very simple solution if
so.
On 17 Apr 2016 00:15, "Matt Sherman"  wrote:

> Thanks for all the advice folks, this gives me a lot to look into.  You all
> have certainly made me table MySQL, so now to look into PostgreSQL, Solr,
> XTF, and some of these other technologies to see what would be the best
> fit.  It is always so helpful pinging this group as you all have so many
> helpful suggestions.
>
> On Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 6:09 AM, Jean-Claude Dauphin  >
> wrote:
>
> > Hi Matt,
> >
> > You may wish to give a try to J-ISIS
> >
> > https://kenai.com/projects/j-isis/downloads
> >
> > With J-ISIS, you can create a searchable database with a couple of
> clicks.
> > It uses Berkeley Database as persistence manager and Lucene for indexing
> > and searching.
> > The user can concentrate on the domain and to what he want to achieve. No
> > need to be an expert in relational dabases and SQL. Furthermore, you get
> > suggestions of term indexed when making a particular query.
> >
> > Web-JISIS is a web application prototype that allows to browse and search
> > J-ISIS databases.
> >
> > I can help if you need.
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> > Jean-Claude
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 2:07 AM, Matt Sherman 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Well, we've got one volume done, with about 1,250 bibliographies, but
> > there
> > > are 3 other volumes to convert. So at the end of the day probably about
> > > 5,000 entries.  Though the how is to make it intractable via the web
> and
> > > hopefully letting scholars in the field continue to add to the database
> > > once it is online.
> > >
> > > On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 7:38 PM, Kyle Banerjee <
> kyle.baner...@gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 11:53 AM, Roy Tennant 
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > In my experience, for a number of use cases, including possibly
> this
> > > one,
> > > > > a database is overkill. Often, flat files in a directory system
> > indexed
> > > > by
> > > > > something like Solr is plenty and you avoid the inevitable
> headaches
> > of
> > > > > being a database administrator. Backup, for example, is a snap and
> > > easily
> > > > > automated.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > I'm with Roy -- no need to use a chain saw to cut butter.
> > > >
> > > > Out of curiosity, since the use case is an annotated bibliography,
> how
> > > much
> > > > stuff do you have? If you have only a few thousand entries in
> delimited
> > > > text, flat files could be easier and more effective than other
> options.
> > > >
> > > > kyle
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Jean-Claude Dauphin
> >
> > jc.daup...@gmail.com
> >
> >
> > http://kenai.com/projects/j-isis/
> > http://www.unesco.org/isis/
> > http://www.unesco.org/idams/
> > http://www.greenstone.org
> >
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Matt Sherman]

Thanks for all the advice folks, this gives me a lot to look into.  You all
have certainly made me table MySQL, so now to look into PostgreSQL, Solr,
XTF, and some of these other technologies to see what would be the best
fit.  It is always so helpful pinging this group as you all have so many
helpful suggestions.

On Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 6:09 AM, Jean-Claude Dauphin 
wrote:

> Hi Matt,
>
> You may wish to give a try to J-ISIS
>
> https://kenai.com/projects/j-isis/downloads
>
> With J-ISIS, you can create a searchable database with a couple of clicks.
> It uses Berkeley Database as persistence manager and Lucene for indexing
> and searching.
> The user can concentrate on the domain and to what he want to achieve. No
> need to be an expert in relational dabases and SQL. Furthermore, you get
> suggestions of term indexed when making a particular query.
>
> Web-JISIS is a web application prototype that allows to browse and search
> J-ISIS databases.
>
> I can help if you need.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Jean-Claude
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 2:07 AM, Matt Sherman 
> wrote:
>
> > Well, we've got one volume done, with about 1,250 bibliographies, but
> there
> > are 3 other volumes to convert. So at the end of the day probably about
> > 5,000 entries.  Though the how is to make it intractable via the web and
> > hopefully letting scholars in the field continue to add to the database
> > once it is online.
> >
> > On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 7:38 PM, Kyle Banerjee 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 11:53 AM, Roy Tennant 
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > In my experience, for a number of use cases, including possibly this
> > one,
> > > > a database is overkill. Often, flat files in a directory system
> indexed
> > > by
> > > > something like Solr is plenty and you avoid the inevitable headaches
> of
> > > > being a database administrator. Backup, for example, is a snap and
> > easily
> > > > automated.
> > > >
> > >
> > > I'm with Roy -- no need to use a chain saw to cut butter.
> > >
> > > Out of curiosity, since the use case is an annotated bibliography, how
> > much
> > > stuff do you have? If you have only a few thousand entries in delimited
> > > text, flat files could be easier and more effective than other options.
> > >
> > > kyle
> > >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Jean-Claude Dauphin
>
> jc.daup...@gmail.com
>
>
> http://kenai.com/projects/j-isis/
> http://www.unesco.org/isis/
> http://www.unesco.org/idams/
> http://www.greenstone.org
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Jean-Claude Dauphin]

Hi Matt,

You may wish to give a try to J-ISIS

https://kenai.com/projects/j-isis/downloads

With J-ISIS, you can create a searchable database with a couple of clicks.
It uses Berkeley Database as persistence manager and Lucene for indexing
and searching.
The user can concentrate on the domain and to what he want to achieve. No
need to be an expert in relational dabases and SQL. Furthermore, you get
suggestions of term indexed when making a particular query.

Web-JISIS is a web application prototype that allows to browse and search
J-ISIS databases.

I can help if you need.

Best wishes,

Jean-Claude


On Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 2:07 AM, Matt Sherman 
wrote:

> Well, we've got one volume done, with about 1,250 bibliographies, but there
> are 3 other volumes to convert. So at the end of the day probably about
> 5,000 entries.  Though the how is to make it intractable via the web and
> hopefully letting scholars in the field continue to add to the database
> once it is online.
>
> On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 7:38 PM, Kyle Banerjee 
> wrote:
>
> > On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 11:53 AM, Roy Tennant 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > In my experience, for a number of use cases, including possibly this
> one,
> > > a database is overkill. Often, flat files in a directory system indexed
> > by
> > > something like Solr is plenty and you avoid the inevitable headaches of
> > > being a database administrator. Backup, for example, is a snap and
> easily
> > > automated.
> > >
> >
> > I'm with Roy -- no need to use a chain saw to cut butter.
> >
> > Out of curiosity, since the use case is an annotated bibliography, how
> much
> > stuff do you have? If you have only a few thousand entries in delimited
> > text, flat files could be easier and more effective than other options.
> >
> > kyle
> >
>



-- 
Jean-Claude Dauphin

jc.daup...@gmail.com


http://kenai.com/projects/j-isis/
http://www.unesco.org/isis/
http://www.unesco.org/idams/
http://www.greenstone.org

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Matt Sherman]

Well, we've got one volume done, with about 1,250 bibliographies, but there
are 3 other volumes to convert. So at the end of the day probably about
5,000 entries.  Though the how is to make it intractable via the web and
hopefully letting scholars in the field continue to add to the database
once it is online.

On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 7:38 PM, Kyle Banerjee 
wrote:

> On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 11:53 AM, Roy Tennant 
> wrote:
>
> > In my experience, for a number of use cases, including possibly this one,
> > a database is overkill. Often, flat files in a directory system indexed
> by
> > something like Solr is plenty and you avoid the inevitable headaches of
> > being a database administrator. Backup, for example, is a snap and easily
> > automated.
> >
>
> I'm with Roy -- no need to use a chain saw to cut butter.
>
> Out of curiosity, since the use case is an annotated bibliography, how much
> stuff do you have? If you have only a few thousand entries in delimited
> text, flat files could be easier and more effective than other options.
>
> kyle
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Kyle Banerjee]

On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 11:53 AM, Roy Tennant  wrote:

> In my experience, for a number of use cases, including possibly this one,
> a database is overkill. Often, flat files in a directory system indexed by
> something like Solr is plenty and you avoid the inevitable headaches of
> being a database administrator. Backup, for example, is a snap and easily
> automated.
>

I'm with Roy -- no need to use a chain saw to cut butter.

Out of curiosity, since the use case is an annotated bibliography, how much
stuff do you have? If you have only a few thousand entries in delimited
text, flat files could be easier and more effective than other options.

kyle

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Cary Gordon]

We use MySQL and now mostly Maria. While I agree that PostgeSQL might be
technically advantageous in some ways, its ubiquity and the easy
availability of many free and paid support options make it a great choice.

That said, I think you should examine and explore the possibilities offered
by Solr or Elastisearch. Those would likely by my tools of choice for your
scenario.

Of course, I would probably wrap this in Drupal either way ;)

Cary

On Friday, April 15, 2016, Adam Constabaris 
wrote:

> Hi Matt,
>
> It's very hard to provide a responsible recommendation without further
> details, so this is just going to be a quick overview of *relational
> database* options.  It might be that some of the other recommendations fit
> your needs better.  For example, if your users aren't at ease with SQL,
> Solr or ElasticSearch might be better..
>
> Consider SQLite.  It's nearly everywhere (public domain, embedded in tons
> of things).  There's a Firefox extension that will let you work with it
> through the browser if you don't want to do things from the command line.
> SQLite isn't a multi user server, it's more a file format.  The database is
> a single file that you can ship around.  You can build a 'self contained'
> web application on top of it, which can make deployment much easier.
>
> As befits its nature, it's a bit loose with data types (e.g. you can insert
> strings into numeric column types).  But there's a lot to be said in its
> favour.
>
> MySQL (or MariaDB) are reasonable choices,  It does a lot of things very
> well, and it's very easy to get started with, and lots of documentation.
> You will need to pay attention if your data is multilingual and/or
> "non-Latin".
>
> I will second the suggestion to look at PostgreSQL: it's almost as
> available as MySQL, and tends to adhere closer to SQL standards than MySQL
> (e.g. window functions), and it's fast, and its data storage model makes
> for some nice features (e.g. you can update a table's structure while
> others are querying it, which is great for availability).  It supports
> "foreign data wrappers" which let you query other data sources in
> PostgresSQL (https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Foreign_data_wrappers)
>
> It's worth mentioning that recent versions of PostgreSQL have a JSON column
> type (and the most recent versions support functions that let you query
> inside JSON-valued columns).  For some time, it has supported functional
> indexes:
> http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/indexes-expressional.html
>
>
> These two features together mean you can index 'into' a JSON-valued column
> to get fast searching over more loosely structured data, so these versions
> of PostgreSQL also give you many of the advantages touted for NoSQL systems
> while still giving you a standardized query language and traditional ACID
> "guarantees."
>
> HTH,
>
> AC
>
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 2:18 PM, Matt Sherman  >
> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
> > database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
> > working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
> > While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
> > now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default
> line
> > of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
> > online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
> > systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in
> one
> > approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.
> >
> > Matt Sherman
> >
>


-- 
Cary Gordon
The Cherry Hill Company
http://chillco.com

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Haitz, Lisa (haitzlm)]

What technologies are you comfortable with for CRUD? That may help inform your 
choice of data source. Do you want full text searching? Will this project live 
on a web page when completed?

As well- are there existing databases program available for you to add yours to?

How many records are contained in the data?


Cheers!




On 4/15/16, 2:32 PM, "Code for Libraries on behalf of Matt Sherman" 
 wrote:

>Well, this is a side project with just 2 of us working on it, and I have
>the tech skills so it is more of what I need to learn to make it work.
>
>On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 2:22 PM, Ethan Gruber  wrote:
>
>> There are countless ways to approach the problem, but I suggest beginning
>> with tools that are within the area of expertise of your staff. Mapping
>> disparate structured formats into a single Solr instance for fast search
>> and retrieval is one possibility.
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 2:18 PM, Matt Sherman 
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Hi all,
>> >
>> > I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
>> > database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
>> > working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
>> > While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
>> > now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default
>> line
>> > of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
>> > online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
>> > systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in
>> one
>> > approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.
>> >
>> > Matt Sherman
>> >
>>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[William Denton]

On 15 April 2016, Roy Tennant wrote:

In my experience, for a number of use cases, including possibly this one, a 
database is overkill. Often, flat files in a directory system indexed by 
something like Solr is plenty and you avoid the inevitable headaches of being 
a database administrator. Backup, for example, is a snap and easily automated.


And if you want to turn the bib into a web site, then it's easy to use a static 
site generator like Jekyll:  put a few lines of metadata at the top of each 
file, set up a template, and bingo, there's your site.


Bill
--
William Denton ↔  Toronto, Canada ↔  https://www.miskatonic.org/

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Roy Tennant]

In my experience, for a number of use cases, including possibly this one, a 
database is overkill. Often, flat files in a directory system indexed by 
something like Solr is plenty and you avoid the inevitable headaches of being a 
database administrator. Backup, for example, is a snap and easily automated.
Roy

> On Apr 15, 2016, at 11:37 AM, Scancella, John <j...@loc.gov> wrote:
> 
> I would definitely pick postgres over mysql. It has all of the same features 
> and more, plus it is easier to use (in my own opinion).
> 
> But before I even pick a database I would consider these:
> What are the speed requirements? 
> How do you plan on doing searching? 
> How much data? 
> Does it need to be redundant? 
> What about clustering? 
> Geographically diverse for faster local retrieval? 
> What languages or other technologies do you plan on interfacing with?
> 
> and then, based on those answers more questions will arise.
> Best of luck!
> 
> From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Ben Cail 
> [benjamin_c...@brown.edu]
> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 2:23 PM
> To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?
> 
> I would suggest looking at postgresql <http://www.postgresql.org/>. It
> may not be as widely used as mysql, but it is used a lot, and it's a
> high-quality piece of database software. It's also free.
> 
> -Ben
> 
>> On 04/15/2016 02:18 PM, Matt Sherman wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
>> database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
>> working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
>> While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
>> now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default line
>> of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
>> online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
>> systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in one
>> approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.
>> 
>> Matt Sherman

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Adam Constabaris]

Hi Matt,

It's very hard to provide a responsible recommendation without further
details, so this is just going to be a quick overview of *relational
database* options.  It might be that some of the other recommendations fit
your needs better.  For example, if your users aren't at ease with SQL,
Solr or ElasticSearch might be better..

Consider SQLite.  It's nearly everywhere (public domain, embedded in tons
of things).  There's a Firefox extension that will let you work with it
through the browser if you don't want to do things from the command line.
SQLite isn't a multi user server, it's more a file format.  The database is
a single file that you can ship around.  You can build a 'self contained'
web application on top of it, which can make deployment much easier.

As befits its nature, it's a bit loose with data types (e.g. you can insert
strings into numeric column types).  But there's a lot to be said in its
favour.

MySQL (or MariaDB) are reasonable choices,  It does a lot of things very
well, and it's very easy to get started with, and lots of documentation.
You will need to pay attention if your data is multilingual and/or
"non-Latin".

I will second the suggestion to look at PostgreSQL: it's almost as
available as MySQL, and tends to adhere closer to SQL standards than MySQL
(e.g. window functions), and it's fast, and its data storage model makes
for some nice features (e.g. you can update a table's structure while
others are querying it, which is great for availability).  It supports
"foreign data wrappers" which let you query other data sources in
PostgresSQL (https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Foreign_data_wrappers)

It's worth mentioning that recent versions of PostgreSQL have a JSON column
type (and the most recent versions support functions that let you query
inside JSON-valued columns).  For some time, it has supported functional
indexes: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/indexes-expressional.html


These two features together mean you can index 'into' a JSON-valued column
to get fast searching over more loosely structured data, so these versions
of PostgreSQL also give you many of the advantages touted for NoSQL systems
while still giving you a standardized query language and traditional ACID
"guarantees."

HTH,

AC



On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 2:18 PM, Matt Sherman 
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
> database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
> working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
> While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
> now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default line
> of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
> online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
> systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in one
> approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> Matt Sherman
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Matt Sherman]

It is OCRed text that we've forced in the a delimited text file format.  So
there are a lot of ways we can spin it.  I am just not as familiar with the
storage/query systems we could put it in.

On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 2:44 PM, Gregory Murray 
wrote:

> Matt,
>
> If the annotated bibliography is already in XML form, or if the data it is
> suited to a hierarchical structure, you may want to consider using a
> native XML database (the most common open-source ones are eXist and BaseX)
> and querying it with XQuery.
>
> Greg
>
>
>
> On 4/15/16, 2:18 PM, "Code for Libraries on behalf of Matt Sherman"
>  wrote:
>
> >Hi all,
> >
> >I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
> >database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
> >working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
> >While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
> >now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default line
> >of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
> >online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
> >systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in one
> >approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.
> >
> >Matt Sherman
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Gregory Murray]

Matt,

If the annotated bibliography is already in XML form, or if the data it is
suited to a hierarchical structure, you may want to consider using a
native XML database (the most common open-source ones are eXist and BaseX)
and querying it with XQuery.

Greg



On 4/15/16, 2:18 PM, "Code for Libraries on behalf of Matt Sherman"
 wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
>database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
>working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
>While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
>now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default line
>of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
>online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
>systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in one
>approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.
>
>Matt Sherman

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Chris Gray]

Have a look at http://grimoire.ca/mysql/choose-something-else:

   "Considering MySQL? Use something else. Already on MySQL? Migrate.
   For every successful project built on MySQL, you could uncover a
   history of time wasted mitigating MySQL's inadequacies, masked by a
   hard-won, but meaningless, sense of accomplishment over the effort
   spent making MySQL behave."

PostgreSQL is a much better option and a sounder investment for the future.

Chris

On 16-04-15 02:23 PM, Ben Cail wrote:
I would suggest looking at postgresql . It 
may not be as widely used as mysql, but it is used a lot, and it's a 
high-quality piece of database software. It's also free.


-Ben

On 04/15/2016 02:18 PM, Matt Sherman wrote:

Hi all,

I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
database software for a digital project I am collaborating on. We are
working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable 
database.

While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default 
line

of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time 
in one

approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.

Matt Sherman

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Scancella, John]

I would definitely pick postgres over mysql. It has all of the same features 
and more, plus it is easier to use (in my own opinion).

But before I even pick a database I would consider these:
What are the speed requirements? 
How do you plan on doing searching? 
How much data? 
Does it need to be redundant? 
What about clustering? 
Geographically diverse for faster local retrieval? 
What languages or other technologies do you plan on interfacing with?

and then, based on those answers more questions will arise.
Best of luck!

From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Ben Cail 
[benjamin_c...@brown.edu]
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 2:23 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

I would suggest looking at postgresql <http://www.postgresql.org/>. It
may not be as widely used as mysql, but it is used a lot, and it's a
high-quality piece of database software. It's also free.

-Ben

On 04/15/2016 02:18 PM, Matt Sherman wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
> database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
> working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
> While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
> now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default line
> of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
> online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
> systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in one
> approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> Matt Sherman

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Matt Sherman]

Well, this is a side project with just 2 of us working on it, and I have
the tech skills so it is more of what I need to learn to make it work.

On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 2:22 PM, Ethan Gruber  wrote:

> There are countless ways to approach the problem, but I suggest beginning
> with tools that are within the area of expertise of your staff. Mapping
> disparate structured formats into a single Solr instance for fast search
> and retrieval is one possibility.
>
> On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 2:18 PM, Matt Sherman 
> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
> > database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
> > working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
> > While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
> > now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default
> line
> > of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
> > online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
> > systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in
> one
> > approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.
> >
> > Matt Sherman
> >
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Miles Fidelman]

It might be worth checking out some existing solutions to the problem.

Zotero is a pretty good tool for collecting, organizing, and sharing 
citation data - open source, works through a browser plug-in, 
collaboration capabilities (though the server code is a bit harder to 
get one's hands on).


For database, you might also look at noSQL options.  eXist 
(http://exist-db.org) is an open source XML database that's pretty 
extensively used for cataloguing type applications.  CouchDB is also 
kind of interesting, and easy to use.


Miles Fidelman




On 4/15/16 2:22 PM, Ethan Gruber wrote:

There are countless ways to approach the problem, but I suggest beginning
with tools that are within the area of expertise of your staff. Mapping
disparate structured formats into a single Solr instance for fast search
and retrieval is one possibility.

On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 2:18 PM, Matt Sherman 
wrote:


Hi all,

I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default line
of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in one
approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.

Matt Sherman



--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.   Yogi Berra

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Ben Cail]

I would suggest looking at postgresql . It 
may not be as widely used as mysql, but it is used a lot, and it's a 
high-quality piece of database software. It's also free.


-Ben

On 04/15/2016 02:18 PM, Matt Sherman wrote:

Hi all,

I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default line
of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in one
approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.

Matt Sherman

Re: [CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Ethan Gruber]

There are countless ways to approach the problem, but I suggest beginning
with tools that are within the area of expertise of your staff. Mapping
disparate structured formats into a single Solr instance for fast search
and retrieval is one possibility.

On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 2:18 PM, Matt Sherman 
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
> database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
> working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
> While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
> now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default line
> of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
> online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
> systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in one
> approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> Matt Sherman
>

[CODE4LIB] Good Database Software for a Digital Project?

[Matt Sherman]

Hi all,

I am looking to pick the group brain as to what might be the most useful
database software for a digital project I am collaborating on.  We are
working on converting an annotated bibliography to a searchable database.
While I have the data in a few structured formats, we need to figure out
now what to actually put it in so that it can be queried.  My default line
of thinking is to try a MySQL since it is free and used ubiquitously
online, but I wanted to see if there were any other database or software
systems that we should also consider before investing a lot of time in one
approach.  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.

Matt Sherman