SobekCM (alternately Sobek and Sobek CM) is an
open-source software
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Ope ...
engine and suite of associated tools for
digital libraries
A digital library, also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, or a digital collection is an online database of digital objects that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital documents, or other digital ...
and digital repositories for galleries, libraries, archives, museums, colleges, universities, scholarly research projects as with the Digital Humanities, Research Data Collections, and more. The SobekCM software was developed initially at the
University of Florida Libraries by Mark V. Sullivan, with much input from UF and collaborative partners, and ongoing development supported by the full team at the UF Libraries and the larger collaborative community. The largest digital repositories powered by SobekCM are the
University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC) and the
Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC).
Within the
University of Florida Libraries, Mark Sullivan began developing SobekCM in June 2005. The system went live in April 2006. In September 2011, Florida'
Council of State University Librariesselected SobekCM to power digital libraries across the state with advanced functionality Development on SobekCM is active and ongoing, accelerated by numerous grants. In April 2012, the
Jean-Marie Derscheid collection hosted and supported through SobekCM was part of the
Center for Research Libraries
The Center for Research Libraries (also known by its acronym, CRL) is a consortium of North American universities, colleges, and independent research library, research libraries, based on a buy-in concept for membership of the consortia. The cons ...
' Primary Source Award for Access. In March 2012,
NEH awarded a grant to th
Historic St. Augustine project another digital collection powered and hosted with SobekCM. Other major grants awarded from 2012-2013 include: the Florida and Puerto Rico Digital Newspaper Project, funded by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP); Pioneer Days in Florida: Diaries and Letters from Settling the Sunshine State, 1800–1900, funded by
NHPRC; Archive of Haitian Religion and Culture, funded by NEH; and Diário de Pernambuco Digital Newspaper Project, funded by the Center for Research Libraries' Latin America Materials Project; and the Panama Canal - Preserving a Legacy, Celebrating a Centennial, Leveraging an Extraordinary Human Achievement, funded by
IMLS.
SobekCM is programmed in
C# has been released as
open-source software
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Ope ...
under
GNU GPL
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general ...
. The SobekCM software can be downloaded from the SobekCM Software Download Site and
SourceForge
SourceForge is a web service that offers software consumers a centralized online location to control and manage open-source software projects and research business software. It provides source code repository hosting, bug tracking, mirrori ...
. The site also includes documentation for installing and configuring the SobekCM software.
SobekCM Name
SobekCM is named in part for the Egyptian crocodile god,
Sobek
Sobek (also called Sebek or Sobki, cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲕ, Souk) was an ancient Egyptian deities, ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and elastic history and nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and is re ...
. SobekCM's name comes in part of the mythical Sobek's role as a collector of lost things, or "the idea that as a crocodile, Sobek is the best suited to collecting items upon the Nile." SobekCM is Sobek Content Management.
References
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External links
SobekCM Repository SoftwareSobekCM at the University of FloridaNew College of Florida Digital Collections powered by SobekCM
University of Florida Digital Collections powered by SobekCM
Digital Library of the Caribbean powered by SobekCM
Wolfsonian-FIU Digital Image Catalog powered by SobekCM
NewspaperCat a portal and record-only collection powered by SobekCM
Florida & Puerto Rico Digital Newspaper Project powered by SobekCM
*
Florida Digital Newspaper Library, powered by SobekCM
Video demonstration from 2011SobekCM Open Source METS Metadata Editorfrom the
University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries"Wolfsonian-FIU revamps website, launches digital images catalog" in ''FIU News''mentions Wolfsonian-FIU's use of SobekCM
SobekCM YouTube Channel
Free institutional repository software
Digital library software
Archival science
University of Florida