Secure Digital Libraries

Digital libraries are an integration of complex computer and information systems that could benefit from a formal approach to design. There are various design aspects to consider in a digital library; a crucial aspect is security. Security often is a requirement in digital libraries that should be considered during the design process and not as an add-on feature.

5S provides a DL modeling framework, to define all the aspects of a digital library. It covers the different formats and types of digital objects stored, how they are grouped and organized, what sequence of operations occur in the digital library, how the objects will be represented, and who is part of the digital library community. However, the 5S descriptive language (5SL) previously did not cover the essential security requirements in a digital library.

The goal of this research is to extend the 5S framework to describe the security requirements in digital library. An XML schema was developed to describe the necessary security requirements in a digital library, and some of the essential features of the digital library design. This work explains the key security requirements needed in a digital library from the 5S perspective and how the framework can be extended to include these requirements. The extended 5SL was applied to a case study on the Egyptian University Libraries Consortium.