Building Library Information Systems in Times of Vanishing Developer Resources

Although many libraries have acknowledged the fact that digitization will not disappear, development staff remains a rare resource. In order to cope with this challenge, the Berlin State Library has evaluated different repositories with respect to aspects such as their integratability into the Java-based microservice core architecture of the library, their data model flexibility and - most important - their support of parameterizable front-ends to decrease development effort. 

Consequently, the Berlin State Library has implemented Fedora 4 in various productive usage scenarios as a repository solution for common library use cases that has proven a perfect fit for existing microservices of the library such as the identity management domain or a SRU gateway. 

The presentation will give an overview of the current usage areas of Fedora 4, its positioning in the existent microservice-based infrastructure and the current project business of the Berlin State Library, and outline limitations and caveats of Fedora 4 from a technical and management perspective. The presentation concludes with an outlook on future usage scenarios such as linked data applications.