The Document repository allows you to make available to your patron, in your catalogue, documents that are not subject to a licence. The distribution, download and lifespan of these documents are therefore unlimited.

Such documents may include, for example:

  • works in the public domain (without copyright or whose copyright has expired);
  • internal documents;
  • self-published works.

All features of the Document repository are available within a single screen, found under the menu item called Document Repositoryoin the administration site.

As an administrator, you can:

  • view the list of all documents in the Repository, along with their main metadata and current status;
  • add documents to the Repository;
  • remove documents from the Repository.

Viewing Documents

The contents of the Repository are presented as a table, where each line corresponds to a document. The columns display metadata included in the source file:

  • Status: Current status of the document.
  • Name: Name of the source file.
  • Title: Document's title.
  • Language: Document's language.
  • Date Added: Timestamp of the moment the document was added to the Repository.
  • Size: Size of the source file.

In addition to any Cantook Station messages, the screen also shows you how much disk space is used by your Repository.

The document list can be filtered according to document statuses.

Adding Documents

Adding a new document to the Repository is done in a few simple steps. Any document added to the Repository will be in one of the following 4 states:

  • Processing
  • Pending
  • In Catalogue
  • Failed

Selecting and Uploading a Source File

To upload a file, click on Select a file to add. The upload will start as soon as you've confirmed the selection in your browser's file selector.

Source File Verification

Once the upload is complete, the file name and timestamp will be displayed in the document list, along with the status Processing. This status means that Cantook Station is performing a series of basic checks, such as:

  • EpubCheck Validation. The EPUB file structure must meet the IDPF standards. Please note that the Repository currently only accepts the EPUB 2 and 3 formats.
  • Required Metadata. Every document added to the Repository must have a title and a language defined; otherwise an error will be raised.

Even if only a few fields are mandatory, your document's metadata should be as complete as possible.

If the uploaded file passes these initial checks, Cantook Station will extract relevant metadata and display it in the appropriate columns. The document is now ready to be added to the catalogue, and so its status has changed to Pending.

A Failed status displayed at this point means that the file did not pass the initial checks. The error raised by the validation process will be displayed, in red, on the corresponding line. You can then delete the line and try again, using a valid file.

Adding a Document to the Catalogue

A document that was successfully received and is marked Pending has been added to the queue. Cantook Station will add it to your catalogue during the next synchronization.

It may take up to 2 hours for a new document to appear in the catalogue.

The document list will reflect the addition of the a new document in various ways:

  • the document's status is now In Catalogue;
  • the document's title is now a link pointing to its detail screen;
  • a button now allows you to delete the document.

Metadata

Although there are several methods to update the EPUB metadata handled by Cantook Station, we recommend using an application like Calibre (https://calibre-ebook.com/download), freely available on all platforms, in order to create and maintain consistent metadata that meet EPUB standards.

  1. Subject classification Systems

    Currently, Cantook Station only accepts BISAC subject codes (http://bisg.org/page/bisacedition). Support for the THEMA classification system (http://www.editeur.org/151/Thema/) is scheduled for the coming months.

    You can add any BISAC subject code to a publication by entering its 9-character alphanumeric code in the dc:subject EPUB metadata field (Tags, in Calibre). Cantook Station will display the corresponding heading, in English or in French, depending on the context. For example, entering the BISAC code ARC000000 in Calibre's Tags field will associate the topic Architecture with the publication.

    (Note: Cantook Station supports standardized subject classification schemes only. Any data other than valid BISAC codes (2015 edition, 2016 coming during Summer 2017) entered in the dc:subject field (or Calibre's Tags) will be ignored.)

  2. Date

    Cantook Station uses the the dc:date EPUB field to retrieve the publication date for every document. However, Calibre exposes two date-related fields, Date and Published. The publication date has to be entered in Calibre's Published field. The Date field is specific to Calibre, and is ignored by Cantook Station.

  3. Cover Images

    To ensure that the cover image of your documents can be displayed in Cantook Station, make sure that the EPUB file includes a JPG or PNG image file designated as the main cover image (a link to an external resource will not work). You can add a cover image to an EPUB file using Calibre: Simply select the file you want to use and regenerate the EPUB file.

Deleting Documents

Documents can be deleted from the catalogue at any time. Clicking on the corresponding Delete (" X ") button and confirming will permanently remove the document from your catalogue.

Deleting a document is immediate and irreversible.