Dear All,

Apologies for the delay in sending this summary to the list: my
original message got swallowed up with the general lis-link problems
we have been having over the last week.

I received several replies in response to my query about cataloguing
full text journals available via Infotrac databases.  I hope those
who replied won't mind me using a couple of the very useful URLs
quoted as examples.

It seems we are not alone at MMU in struggling to find a solution!

Some people get around the problem by providing access to e-journals
via a separate list of journals on their web pages, rather than via
the Library catalogue. This gives more scope to include guidance
from the web page about how to search for a specific journal title,
i.e. using the advanced search function.
For example, see the e-journals site at Durham University:

http://www.dur.ac.uk/Library/ej/index.htm

and click on the entry for Economist (U.K.)

However, for those of us who use the Library catalogue as
the access route for e-journals, there is usually only provision to
include a single URL, with little space for help or explanation.

This means balancing the positive of letting users know the
journals are available, and the negative of only leading them half way
to them from the catalogue.

Some people have decided to work with what they can, and have
catalogued providing a URL to the front page of Infotrac, or to the
Infomark page for the journal, which does give users the option to
refine the search further.

Another idea in use at the University of Canterbury, was to create a
web page which explains how to find an individual title on Infotrac,
and which could be used as the URL link from a catalogue record.  Tim
Stedman explained that they are still working on the look of the
page, and that they had trouble creating a stable InfoMark for the
Advanced Search screen, but nonetheless I think this could be a very
useful idea which we might explore at MMU.

http://library.canterbury.ac.nz/database/infomark.shtml

In general, there was dissatisfaction with the difficulties
encountered, and some comparisons were drawn with other full text
providers.  Perhaps it may be worth while lobbying our contacts at
Gale in the hope that they may be able to work on producing a better
solution for us?

Thanks for all your help.  If I come across any other ideas or
solutions, I will let you know.

Diana.


-----Original Message-----
From: Diana Massam [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 05 April 2001 16:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Full text journals on Infotrac


Dear All,

I have a problem relating to the cataloguing of some elctronic
journals, and would be grateful for some advice.

Here at Manchester Metropolitan University we create catalogue
records for our full text electronic journals, so that there is a link
from the web library catalogue directly to the contents page of each
individual journal.  The URL used obviously varies according to the
service provider e.g. Ingenta, Catchword, Emerald.  I'm sure many
others do the same!

However, we have come up with a problem in cataloguing the full text
journals available via the various Infotrac databases such as General
Business File International, Expanded Academic ASAP, Computer Database
etc.

The URLs (or 'Infomarks') provided to us by  the suppliers as links to
the individual journal titles included in the databases don't provide
a neat link to a contents page, or list of issues.  Instead they link
only to a list of individual articles from the journal in
chronological order.  The only way for a user to access a specific
article in a particular issue is to page through the entire list until
they find it.  We are of the opinion that this is not at all helpful
to our users, and are therefore reluctant to provide links such as
these in our catalogue.

Have any other list members come across this problem
with Infotrac full text journals?  If so, have you found any
solutions to the problem or have you decided to live with it?

Any advice or opinions on the topic would be gratefully received.

Thanks,

Diana Massam.

**********************************
Diana Massam
Deputy Site Librarian
Aytoun Library
Manchester Metropolitan University
MANCHESTER
M1 3GH

Tel: 0161 2473092
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
*********************************