News 27 of 50

Picture comment : Ismail Fahmi (right) working with George Tan and Teresa Wong

George Tan, Database Manager at Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), Singapore, was getting worried. The service provider which has been hosting AMIC's databases for the past five years is ceasing its operation. George has to find another solution quickly, and it looked like it was going to be very costly. Help came through Maria Ng, mentor to the PAN community, who "match-made" George with Ismail Fahmi, a key researcher at the Institute Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia.

In 1999, as part of the PAN R&D grant work, Ismail had developed ISIS Online, a library search system, together with the Ganesha Digital Library (GDL) system. These systems are now the core drivers of the Indonesian Digital Library Network, offering access to the rich information resources of 25 major libraries in Indonesia. The systems are written in PHP scripting language and runs on Apache web server software, MySql database software, and Swish-e search engine, all of which are open source software freely available to users.

PAN arranged to fly Ismail to Singapore for a week at the end of April to help George convert his databases, using ISIS Online and GDL's search facility. The result is now a fully functional AMIC database search which does not cost an arm and a leg, since the software is open source. The databases are now hosted by PAN. George says the system yields even better quality search results than his previous commercial application. "I'm so happy, and so is my librarian!" says George. During the course of the week, Ismail also showed PAN's technical staff, Dominic Soh and Teresa Wong, how to install and maintain the ISIS Online software so that PAN can continue to service AMIC and other potential new library-type partners. At the meeting to round-up the productive week, Maria Ng said with a broad smile, "The PAN gotong royong spirit is alive and well!".

2002-07-05

News 27 of 50