InterPublish is a web-based application for the automated monitoring, capture and distribution of internet content. 

The background

Libraries have always played the vital role of keeping patrons across the latest developments in their field.  In the past librarians have built extensive physical collections of paper-based publications. Now in the 21st century much news and information is published quickly and conveniently on the internet.  Increasingly documents may never find their way into paper publication.

The challenge for libraries is to keep across the volume of new and relevant content published on the internet, bring it to the attention of the library's patrons and retain and maintain it in electronic collections so it remains available.

Solution overview

InterPublish allows information professionals to identify collections of internet-based information sources (websites, RSS feeds, email inboxes)  to be routinely monitored for new documents that match the search queries of interest to different groups of patrons.  When new matching documents are found InterPublish extracts key metadata, such as date, author, title and transcript.  If a PDF file is attached to the web page, this will be downloaded. If not, Interpublish will capture the actual HTML pages as a PDF.

Captured documents are held in InterPublish's local database where they can be quickly reviewed and processed by the librarian.  Options available to the librarian include:

• delete the document
• modify the metadata associated with the document
• publish the document to matching interest group mailing lists
• publish the document to a collection held in a Koha or DSpace repository

Much of the functionality behind the scanning and capture process is configurable and can be tailored to the specific research requirements of each library.

Getting started

Prosentient Systems will help you configure InterPublish to scan target sites on a routine basis. If required, we can also assist you to set up a repository to warehouse an electronic collection of the documents you have captured.

Your task will be to review the results of InterPublish scans and, using a simple workflow, decide whether a document is something your patrons would like to know about and whether it should be added to your electronic collection.

Online documentation on the InterPublish application is provide using mouse-over tooltips and links to help pages. We recommend you start by visiting the page describing How InterPublish works and the Glossary of Terms to familiarise yourself with the details of the application and the terminology you will encounter.