Document management traditionally has been a weak spot in Drupal because -file- management always has been a weak spot. D7 offers many improvements in this regard, but IMHO you had better stick with 6 for now.
I should think you'd be interested in primarily two modules:
1. Filefield and friends
2. File Framework
Filefield is the most popular, most supported method of uploading files. You should use this if at all possible.
File framework lets you do something of what you're talking about by offering automatic, background conversions of files to other formats. So, for example, if you have a .doc then it can be uploaded and converted into pdf. If you have a .doc, or a pdf that can be converted to text, then there is a text-only preview which shows in a disabled fieldset. (View but not download). But File Framework takes a LOT of finicky set up, has lots of dependencies, and is not planned to be ported to D7. So no upgrade path.
The problem with the 'view but not download' requirement is that it's virtually impossible to achieve. All you can do is set up roadblocks to make people have to work to nab your stuff. The disabled fieldset mentioned above would be one way to do this. Another way would be to integrate a flash based viewer. Do your research; there are viewers oriented to document display.
If you are scanning documents and not running them through some sort of text recognition software then you've got images, not text. This means that the content of your documents can't be indexed and searched. So tagging them will be crucial for you. (And file framework, mentioned above, is off the table).
For tagging you should make extensive use of taxonomy. You may also want to look at RDF. Combine this with apache solr and you've got the possibility for a really usable archive.
Addendum: assuming you are uploading images of documents into filefields, you would make each document a node, each page one of a multiple valued imagefield. You would then use a slideshow plugin (many available) to allow users to page through your documents.
On 11/25/2010 06:29 PM, Ayath ULLAH wrote:
Hi,
I've been looking through my school's archives and have found records dating back to well over a hundred years. It seems that nothing is in order and there is a lot to sort out. I would like to publish the documents onto a website and make it accessible to he public. I'd like to know if you know of Drupal applications which can be used to catalogue the data and make it searchable on a website. If there aren't any can you please suggest how I may be able toc reate my own. As I'm quite new to this concept let me know what should actually be in the database/catalogue (obviously things sucha s title,description and date have to be in there) I have alot of scanning to do- so I can publish everything. I was thinking of maybe doing it with an OPAC or Documnet Mangement System on Drupal - but I can't find any that will do the job. I'd like people to view the documnets on the webpage or on a lightbox but I don't want anyne to downlaod the files.
Please let me know if you have any ideas, suggestions, comments.
Many Thanks, ayathullah