This section covers how to create, load, save and delete collections.

To create a new collection, open the "File" menu and choose "New". Several fields need to be filled out – but you can change their values later if you need to, in the Format view.

"Collection title" is the text displayed at the top of your collection's home page. It can be any length.

"Description of content" should describe, in as much detail as possible, what the collection is about. Use the [Enter] key to break it into paragraphs.

Finally you must specify whether the new collection will have the same appearance and metadata sets as an existing collection, or whether to start a default "New Collection". Default new collections have a standard configuration and use the Dublin Core metadata set. These can be changed later.

Click "OK" to create the collection.

Clicking "Cancel" returns you to the main screen immediately.

Save your work regularly by opening the "File" menu and choosing "Save". Saving a collection is not the same as making it ready for use in Greenstone (see Producing Your Collection).

The Librarian Interface protects your work by saving it whenever you exit the program or load another collection.

Collections are saved to a folder within your Greenstone installation's "collect" folder, named with a short version of the collection name. Documents are saved to the "import" sub-folder, and metadata is saved to "metadata.xml" files within this folder. Configuration information is saved to the "collect.cfg" file within the "etc" sub-folder. Some information is also saved in a file named for the collection and with file extension ".col".

To open an existing collection, choose "Open" from the "File" menu to get the Open Collection prompt. A list of your Greenstone collections appears. Select one to see its description, and click "Open" to load it.

In case more than one Greenstone Librarian Interface program is running concurrently, the relevant directories are "locked" to prevent interference. On opening a collection, a small temporary lock file is created in its folder. Before opening a collection, the Librarian Interface checks to ensure that no lock file already exists. However, when the Librarian Interface is exited prematurely the lock file is sometimes left in place. When you open such a collection, the Librarian asks if you want to "steal" control of it. Feel free to do so unless you think that someone else is currently working on the same collection.

When you open a collection that the Greenstone Librarian Interface did not create, the Dublin Core metadata set will be assigned to it, and any existing metadata will be imported just as it is when you drag in files with existing metadata. The process is described in the Importing Previously Assigned Metadata section.

To permanently delete collections from your Greenstone installation, choose "Delete…" from the "File" menu. A list of your collections appears. Select one to see its description, then tick the box at the bottom of the dialog and click "Delete". This action is irreversible, so be careful.