Organization > Committees > Digital Initiatives Advisory Group > Projects
The Fedora Project
The Fedora project was funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to build an open-source digital object repository management system based on the Flexible Extensible Digital Object and Repository Architecture (Fedora). The new system demonstrates how distributed digital library architecture can be deployed using web-based technologies, including XML and Web services.
Jointly developed by the University of Virginia and Cornell University, the system completely implements the Fedora architecture that was originally conceived of at Cornell. Fedora is a general-purpose digital object repository system that can be used in whole or part to support a variety of use cases including: institutional repositories, digital libraries, content management, digital asset management, scholarly publishing, and digital preservation.
Version 1.2 of the software contains a number of significant new features, including content versioning, the complete implementation of the Fedora Management interface, and major additions to the Fedora Administrator client to enable object creation and editing. With the advent of content versioning, the Fedora Access interfaces now support date-time stamped requests, so that a client can "go back in time" and see a digital object as it looked in the past. Additionally, this release provides a migration utility for mass export and mass ingest of objects from either directories or other repositories. The migration utility enables the moving of objects from older versions of Fedora repositories into the lastest version. It also is of general utility for copying or moving objects among repositories, for unloading repositories, and for bulk ingest of objects. The Fedora software is aimed at providing a repository that can handle one million objects efficiently using only open source software.
Upcoming versions of the software will add important functionality, such as Shibboleth-based authentication, fine-grained policy enforcement, workflow support, enhanced preservation features, and performance enhancements to support extremely large repositories.
In the first phase of the project, UVa implemented a prototype repository based on the Fedora™ architecture using a relational database combined with Java servlets that provide a web interface. The first phase UVa production repository is scheduled to launch in 2004. Fedora™ is intended to leave a great deal of room for a repository to develop to serve local needs while providing enough structure to guarantee interoperability with other repositories.
Ann Whiteside
Director, Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library
Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library
University of Virginia
February 2004
