NSDL MatDL: Exploring Digital Library Roles

摘要

AprimarygoaloftheNSDLMaterialsDigitalLibrary(MatDL)istobringmaterialsscienceresearchandeducationclosertogether.MatDLisexploringthevariousrolesdigitallibrariescanserveinthematerialssciencecommunityincluding:1)supportingavirtuallab,2)developingmarkuplanguageapplications,and3)buildingtoolsformetadatacapture.MatDLisbeingintegratedintoanMITvirtuallaboratoryexperience.Earlystudentself-assessmentsurveyresultsexpressedpositiveopinionsofthepotentialvalueofMatDLinsupportingavirtuallabandinaccomplishingadditionaleducationalobjectives.Aseparatesurveysuggestedthattheeffectivenessofavirtuallabmayapproachthatofaphysicallabonsomelaboratorylearningobjectives.MatDLiscollaborativelydevelopingamaterialspropertygrapher(KSUandMIT)andasubmissiontool(KSUandU-M).MatMLisanextensiblemarkuplanguageforexchangingmaterialsinformationdevelopedbymaterialsdataexpertsinindustry,government,standardsorganizations,andprofessionalsocieties.Theweb-basedMatMLgrapherallowsstudentstocompareselectedmaterialspropertiesacrossapproximately80MatML-taggedmaterials.TheMatMLgrapheraddsvalueinthiseducationalcontextbyallowingstudentstoutilizerealpropertydatatomakeoptimalmaterialselectiondecisions.ThesubmissiontoolhasbeenintegratedintotheregularworkflowofU-Mstudentsandresearchersgeneratingnanostructureimages.Itpromptsusersfordomain-specificinformation,automaticallygeneratingandattachingkeywordsandeditabledescriptions.