Glossary -- A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

NDLP Glossary - C

cache

An intermediate storage area. Pronounced "cash." Computer systems use the technique of caching to improve performance of many processes by storing recently and/or frequently accessed data or program instructions.

• Some computers have a small amount of cache memory (say 64 kilobytes - 64K) from which information can be retrieved faster than RAM (random access memory), of which there may be several megabytes (say 8 megabytes - 8Meg).
• Many computer systems allow use of some RAM as disk cache to eliminate repeated retrieval of the same blocks of data from disk.
• Caching is particularly beneficial for distributed systems, such as the World Wide Web, in which computers operate in collaboration over a network. WWW browsers use memory and/or disk on the user's computer to save copies of files that have been retrieved over the Internet. This allows users to "flip" backwards and forwards through retrieved WWW "pages" without repeatedly downloading each page.

For large-scale systems like the WWW, intermediate server computers can maintain caches for an entire community. For example, a caching server for WWW pages at the University of Michigan might always have a copy of the Library of Congress Home Page ready to deliver to its users, only retrieving a copy across the Internet from LC when it detects that the page has been updated. This server improves response time for University of Michigan users and eliminates unnecessary traffic on the Internet. See http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january96/ncsa/01mcgrath.html for an article discussing the importance of caching for digital libraries.

CBD

Commerce Business Daily. This publication lists notices of proposed government procurement actions, contract awards, sales of government property, and other procurement information. CBD is accessible on the WWW to subscribers at http://cos.gdb.org/repos/cbd/cbd-intro.html.

LC posts Requests for Proposal (RFPs) for digitization contracts in the Commerce Business Daily.

CIMI

Consortium for the Computer Interchange of Museum Information. This consortium is developing a "profile" for Z39.50 to facilitate distributed access to museum catalogs.

CIS

Copyright Image System. Used in Copyright Office. Incoming applications are scanned. Page images can be retrieved. System for use primarily within Copyright Office.

CNRI

Corporation for National Research Initiatives. A non-profit research organization with whom LC is developing a prototype repository, which takes advantage of CNRI's handles as URNs, and handle-server to resolve the location-independent handles into physical locators.

Relevant NDLP documentation sections:

• Handle-Server

COINS

Copyright Office In-process System. A Library of Congress application for handling applications for copyright registration.

collection

An NDLP collection may be:

• a coherent archival entity (e.g., the Papers of Abraham Lincoln; Manuscript Division),
• a cumulative grouping held by a Library special collections division (e.g., the Paper Prints Collection; Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division),
• or an anthology collection assembled by the NDLP itself.

COPICS

Copyright Office Publication and Interactive Cataloging System. Runs on the Library's IBM mainframe system.

CORBA

Common Object Request Broker Architecture.

CORDS

Copyright Office Registration, Recordation, and Deposit System. Under development with CNRI. Uses same repository and handle-server as the NDLP prototype.

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NDLP Glossary - C -
(5/3/96)