GrottoCenter Blog

We have undertaken to build a global digital library dedicated to the underground environment. As part of this project, we have just set up two servers that allow libraries to easily retrieve everything contained in the Grottocenter BBS. https://wiki.grottocenter.org/wiki/GrottoCenter:En/OAI_and_Z39.50_servers Among the initial partners in this project is the Belgian Speleology Federation. During her internship at the Maison de la Speleologie, Camille worked with Nathalie and Loran to contact all the clubs to obtain authorization to archive their publications. Nathalie is currently digitizing the documents that have not yet been digitized. The first results, which everyone can benefit from, are as follows: The publications of the Charleroi Speleology Club are available https://grottocenter.org/ui/documents/208875 As well as those of the Belgian Speleology Club https://grottocenter.org/ui/documents/21672 https://grottocenter.org/ui/documents/230092 The Liège Speleology Club make...

Camille Renard and Yohann Schatt, engineering students at Polytech Montpellier, have just completed an internship as part of the project, led by the International Union of Speleology, to create a global digital library on Karst and the underground environment. The first partners of this project are, in addition to the UIS and its commissions, the Italian Speleological Society (SSI), the Belgian speleological organizations (UBS, Maison de la Speleologie, Spéléo J), the SCNAT through the scientific commission of the Swiss Speleological Society and the Wikicaves association, which organized these courses and participated in their financing. Thank you all. Camille completed her internship in Namur with Nathalie Gouffiol, librarian at the Maison de la Spéléologie. She developed a fully functional OAI-PMH server that allowed Nathalie to retrieve analyses for articles from the journal Regards and integrate them into her database. To achieve this, Camille relied on the OAI standard as well ...

Work continues to organize the sharing of data on the underground environment. Speleoteca has been under ODbL license for a few days now. This will allow data exchanges with the BBS on Grottocenter and with the Maison de la Speleologie de Namur (Speleo J) without having to submit a request, as all three databases are under the same license.

As part of ongoing efforts to facilitate data exchange between documentation centers dealing with the underground world and karst, the Namur Underground Heritage Library has recently placed its database under the ODbL license. This allows for automatic data exchange with other libraries using the same license, particularly with BBS data accessible on Grottocenter.

You now have access to explanations of all the features, as well as an FAQ listing the questions we receive. The menu has been expanded, and translations are underway. If you'd like to contribute to the translation process, it's very simple: create an account by editing the page corresponding to the language you speak.

As part of her internship at the Maison de la Speleologie - Spéléo J - in Namur, Camille is contacting all the Belgian clubs to ask if they agree to have their journals, publications, and topos archived and made freely accessible. If you are interested and have not received the message directly, you can contact the Wikicaves association https://fr.wikicaves.org/contact Nathalie and Camille are working on digitizing the documents and will need a helping hand: don't hesitate to contact them if you have some free time this month.