University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal) Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln April 2021 Terracotta Temple in West Bengal: Designing a Prototype Retrieval System Patit Paban Santra Library Professional Trainee Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, [email protected] Sibsankar Jana Assistant Professor University of Kalyani, [email protected] Amit Nath Research Scholar University of Kalyani, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Santra, Patit Paban Library Professional Trainee; Jana, Sibsankar Assistant Professor; and Nath, Amit Research Scholar, "Terracotta Temple in West Bengal: Designing a Prototype Retrieval System" (2021). Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 5242. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/5242 Terracotta Temple in West Bengal: Designing a Prototype Retrieval System Patit Paban Santraa Sibsankar Jana (Mentor)b Amit Nathc aLibrary Professional Trainee, Central Library, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, E-mail: [email protected] bAssistant Professor, Department of Library & Information Science, University of Kalyani, West Bengal, India, E-mail: [email protected] cResearch Scholar, Department of Library & Information Science, University of Kalyani, West Bengal, India, E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: This paper aims at how to create a retrieval system through designing a digital library by using open source GSDL software, which will help to store, collect, preserve and distribute all types of documents in digital format. It also describes how to create and integrate a new metadata schema (tc) for a particular domain (Terracotta) using GEMS. In this study, different types of textual information, images, and videos are collected about terracotta temples of the Bankura district of West Bengal. A domain-specific metadata schema using unique namespace 'tc' is created for describing terracotta resources and an HTML page is created for each terracotta temple for displaying in a retrieval system. Finally, a retrieval framework through GSDL software is created to search and retrieve the terracotta resources. Ultimately, a digital library or digital archive of “Terracotta temple in West Bengal” has been developed which is searchable through the web as well as offline/CD-ROM or portable media. It also describes steps about the organization and management of terracotta resources and archiving policy of terracotta cultural objects using open-source digital library software - GSDL. As there are no such standard metadata schemas for archival of terracotta temple resources of West Bengal as per our knowledge are concerned, this is a unique attempt to build such schema and design a prototype online as well as offline retrieval system by harvesting this schema. Keyword: Terracotta, GSDL, Digital archive, Digital library software, Metadata, Namespace, GEMS Introduction The term “terracotta” (Hasa, 2020) comes from the Italian word that means “baked earth” It refers to a piece of ceramic made using clay or mud baked in a potter’s kiln, which may glazed or unglazed. According to archaeologists and art historians, those clay objects are made without a potter's wheel mainly tiles or sculptures are known as terracotta and other clay objects made by potter's wheel are called pottery (Prathyaksha, 2016). Terracotta contains a high amount of iron oxide, a high-grade of weathered mixed with sand or with pulverized clay. The colour of terracotta varies according to geography and the amount of iron oxide of it, ranging from red and brown to white. In this paper, researcher selected West Bengal as a study area and special reference to the terracotta temple of Bankura district, because from ancient times West Bengal made a speciality of the terracotta temple with other related terracotta architecture. Most of the terracotta temples of West Bengal are found in Bishnupur, also called the city of temple, under the Bankura district. As we live in the netizen era, we aware of digital information, which is searchable by search engine though, network. Three are so many search engines for searching and retrieval of digital information. In this paper, researchers want to show how to create a digital library with open-source Greenstone Digital Library Software (GSDL) to locate, search, retrieve and disseminate authenticate information about terracotta temples of West Bengal. Why Greenstone? In this study, researchers have selected Greenstone Digital Library Software (GSDL) for creating a terracotta temple retrieval system. GSDL is open source software used for building a digital library (Parichi & Nisha, 2015). It is easily customizable software for building digital archives that can be used as an online as well as an offline retrieval system. By using this software, we can create our own metadata set according to the nature of the resources with a full-text search facility. It is a project of the New Zealand Digital Library that helps to collect, organize and search the information in a new way through the internet (Zhang et al., 2005). There are so many important features for selecting GSDL as digital library software in this study. It has a full-text search facility, fixable searching facility, support multiple collection format, available metadata, multilingual support, easily customizable, OAI-PMH support, and most important is 'Offline CD-ROM compatibility’. Literature Review This research paper deals with the terracotta temple (cultural object) as resources and GSDL as digital library software for searching and retrieving information about terracotta resources. As this paper merges two subject domains in one place, the literature review is shown under two facets namely ‘terracotta temple of West Bengal’ and ‘Open Sources digital library software - GSDL’. Regarding terracotta temples of West Bengal According to (Mangaonkar, 2011) the historical religious architecture of Bengal can be divided into three periods namely, Early Hindu (end of 12th century), Sultanate period (14th – early 16th century), and Hindu revival (16th – 19th century). There are so many types of terracotta temples in West Bengal according to size, structure, floor, type of roof (chalas), presence of the deity, etc. (Gupta, 2014). Incredible architectural and decorative skills can be traced through the terracotta temples of Bishnupur and these are unique pieces of art and architecture (Mandal et al., 2016). The article entitled “An Image Dataset of Bishnupur Terracotta Temples for Digital Heritage Research” (Ghorai et al., 2018) discussed the creation of a website for preserving the image of the terracotta temple of Bishnupur. This project is supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India. Bishnupur in the Bankura district has internationally recognized as one of the cultural heritages for its renowned terracotta made a temple, expressing the exotic sculptural beauty and architect of the Malla dynasty (Sen, 2018). Bankura is not only famous for the terracotta temple but also famous for the terracotta horse, which is considered as a symbol of artistic distinction of Indian rural handicrafts by the All India Handicrafts Board (Shaw, 2011). Regarding Open Sources digital library software Greenstone is used as an institutional repository software in an academic library. Institutional Repository is a concept in the library and information science domain where an institution can create a repository for collecting, managing, and developing scholarly documents of that Institution (Seshaiah, 2009). Another study depicted the design and development of institutional repositories (Anuradha, 2005). Due to the emergence of ICT, the new ways of information creation, storage, dissemination, and the scholarly communication process have also changed. According to (Verma & Madhusudhan, 2019) in their study stated that IRs are started growing in many academic institutions and IR is acted as a main scholarly digital repository of their faculties and students. A study entitled “Building Digital Collection with Greenstone: Development and Customization”, described all the process to develop and customize towards developing digital archive (Parvez et al., 2012). Greenstone Digital Library Software (GSDL) was invented by New Zealand Digital Library, University of Waikato. It is a comprehensive system for building digital library collections, by this software users can customize and design new collection structures (Bainbridge & Witten, 2004). Witten et al. (2001) explained that collections built with Greenstone offer effective full-text searching and metadata-based browsing facilities that are attractive and easy to use and GSDL interface which is helpful for people to create their digital library collections. A paper entitled “Application of Greenstone Digital Library (GSDL) Software in Newspapers Clippings” (Sonkar et al., 2005) stated the procedure towards designing and developing newspaper clippings through GSDL based on the defence- related article from the newspaper. Rathee carried out a study and reported through a paper entitled “Develop a multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) cause and effect factor model for the implementation of the Greenstone Digital Library (GSDL) software” (Rathee et al., 2020). The use of open source software especially for the creation of institutional repositories is