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DNER COLLECTIONS UPDATE
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Issue 4, January 2002
(http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/)
DNER Collections Update is a regular e-mail newsletter
designed to inform those responsible for managing local and
institutional collections about DNER Collections activities
and developments.
Contents
1. AMICO and SCRAN
2. Web of Science Service
3. In brief
- KnowEurope
- Ordnance Survey sample data
- Philip Allan Reviews on Infotrac
- New Gale information pages
4. National Serials Requirements Survey
5. ATHENS information
6. Conference announcement: Higher Education and Textbooks
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1. AMICO and SCRAN
The AMICO Library is now available at JISC prices to UK
higher education institutions, delivered through the SCRAN
user interface and delivery service. For the past year,
AMICO has been available to UKHE through the RLG interface.
That service will continue, but some existing AMICO
licensees may wish to transfer to the SCRAN interface, and
many existing SCRAN users may now decide to take out an
AMICO licence as well. Regular training in the SCRAN
interface is available in the UK, and seamless
cross-searching between the two Libraries is supported,
giving one-stop access to almost a quarter of a million
multimedia learning resources.
Free trial of AMICO through SCRAN
Institutions are invited to sign up to access the AMICO
Library through SCRAN on a 30 day free trial basis. The
trial period can start on any day after 1 January 2002, so
if you have not already registered for the trial, a rapid
response would be advised. To sign up for the trial
contact:
Conal Anderson, e-mail: [log in to unmask], Tel: 0131 662
1211
About the AMICO Library
The Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) is a not-for-profit
organization of more than 30 major North American
institutions with collections of art, collaborating to
enable educational use of museum multimedia.
The 2001-2002 edition of The AMICO Library documents
approximately 78,000 different works of art, from
prehistoric goddess figures to contemporary installations.
More than simply an image database, works in The AMICO
Library are fully documented and may also include
curatorial text about the artwork, detailed provenance
information, multiple views of the work itself, and other
related multimedia. Subscribers to AMICO are able to
access and use the images for research, learning and
teaching purposes.
Very highly subsidised subscription rates are available to
UK Higher Education institutions for the next two years.
Further information will soon be made available on our
website at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/collections/amico.html
AMICO is not at present available at subsidised rates to
the FE community.
If you have any queries please feel free to contact Helen
McGlashan at [log in to unmask]
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2. Web of Science service
During autumn 2001, users and trainers of the ISI Web of
Science service have reported difficulties in accessing Web
of Science and in the search response times once connected.
This announcement informs users about the measures put in
place to meet demand in the spring term and to explore
options to improve service delivery in the longer term.
Usage for WoS increases every academic year, and the
service has also turned out to be much more resource hungry
than either ISI or the JISC originally estimated. The
service was designed to support 1000 concurrent users with
user response times for a simple search to be under 5
seconds. However, as a result of the resource intensive
nature of the Web of Science software, following demand
during the Autumn term we have learnt that despite one
additional upgrade, the configuration purchased is only able
to support around 800 - 850 concurrent users if adequate
search times are to be achieved.
In 2001 the JISC also funded an extension to the agreement
with ISI for a separate "training service" to be provided
from a separate ISI server. This ran from September to
December 2001and was set up to deal with the high volume of
WoS training that takes place in our institutions during the
Autumn term. The service was extended by ISI without
additional charge until the end of January pending
discussions between ISI, JISC and MIMAS. Following
a meeting on 9th January 2001 between JISC, ISI, MIMAS and
CHEST, the parties are pleased to announce that JISC is to
fund an extension to the WoS training service to 30
April 2002. This is intended to meet the anticipated
demand in the spring term. Use of the training service
during this period will also be broadened to complete
general access
Furthermore, JISC, MIMAS and ISI are investigating options
for an enhanced service through the use of additional
servers in the longer term, taking into account the
implications of additional features available through Web
of Science version 5. Further information will be announced
publicly in the coming weeks. Concurrency levels, turnaways,
response times and the training service are all monitored by
the MAU. The Web of Science Enhancement Committee
(comprising representatives of the user community, CHEST,
JISC, ISI and MIMAS) meets to discuss these performance
matters and enhancements to the Web of Science service.
As outlined above, the ISI Web of Science Training Service
will continue to be available from:
http://wos.mimas.ac.uk/training.html but
will be extended to complete general access.
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3. In brief
- KnowEurope
We are pleased to announce that KnowEurope from Proquest is
now available via ATHENS. For further details of this
collection available to FE colleges, please see:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/collections/licensing.html and
use the alphabet link to go to KnowEurope.
- Ordnance Survey sample data
The provision of Ordnance Survey sample data has been
withdrawn from the DNER. Sample data for all Ordnance
Survey products are available from the Ordnance Survey
website at:
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk.
Ordnance Survey data are also available through Digimap.
More information about this subscription service is
available at:
http://edina.ac.uk/digimap.
- Philip Allan Reviews on Infotrac
The publisher of the Philip Allan Reviews has put a 365 day
embargo on their inclusion in Infotrac. Gale Group have
accepted this condition as they know how useful these titles
are to FE. Although embargoes are quite common in
aggregated collections of e-journals, they are not usually
of this length and Gale Group are continuing to have high
level discussions with the publisher to attempt to reduce
this.
Articles are currently available from Sept 1999 to January
2000, except in the case of Modern History Review, Economic
Review and Sociology Review which Gale Group will be adding
shortly.
- New Gale information pages
Gale Group has just launched its new information pages for
the JISC deal to make Infotrac available to the FE
community. These can be found at:
http://www.galeuk.com/jisc/
There is also a link to this site from the Infotrac area of
our collections pages at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/collections/licensing.html
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4. National Serials Requirements Survey
In December 2001 the JISC Journals Working Group consulted
with the community (via site representatives) to identify
key publishers which might be involved in future national
negotiations. An equal number of FE and HE institutions
responded.
Further education institutions partiularly mentioned the
Phillip Allan Reviews, and it is pleasing that these titles
are now available within Infotrac. A range of individual
titles in health, law, leisure and the social sciences were
also mentioned.
Higher Education libraries expressed interest in a range of
publishers - several of whom are in discussion with
JISC/NESLI. There was a concern for more titles covering
art and design, languages and engineerng specialisms.
During the survey period, the JISC consultation on the
Economist began. It was noted that a number of
institutions expressed their interest in this title. Other
individual titles which were mentioned include Harvard
Business Review, Nature, New Scientist, Science, TES,
THES, and TLS.
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5. ATHENS information
Following requests from the community, and by request from
the JISC Content Working Group, please find below
information designed to help sites understand the service
delivery fees charged by the JISC or other information
providers for subscriptions taken up by institutions which
involve access through ATHENS.
ATHENS charges the following types of fees for every
collection which are paid for by the JISC and other
information providers:
1. Setup fee. This is a one off charge to cover the
assistance required from the ATHENS technical team to
advise and help with the implementation of the
most appropriate agent. List price = £450 / day.
2. Support and maintenance fee. This is an annual charge
proportional to the number of registered services to cover
on-going support and software updgrades. List price =
£2500.
3. Per subscriber fee. This is an annual charge per
subscribed site to cover Helpdesk support for users
accessing the online service, progressing queries and
allocation to sites. List price = £200 per institution.
These fees are in addition to the core service costs paid
for by the JISC on behalf of the community to cover ATHENS
running costs, and are therefore costs which the JISC and
other information providers (for subscriptions which are
not JISC-negotiated) pay for and therefore need in part to
meet through increased subscription costs.
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6. "Higher Education and Textbooks: the future - Resourcing
Universities for Lifelong Learning." - Conference
announcement
A day-long conference will take place on Wednesday 10th
April on the issues facing those with responsibility for
developing and providing resources to an expanding cohort
of students in higher education.
The conference is presented by The Publishers Association,
the Council of Academic and Professional Publishers and
City University's Department of Journalism.
Venue: Oliver Thompson Lecture Theatre, City University,
Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB
The conference will be a first-time dialogue between...
Creators - the authors of learning and teaching material
Academics - those with the task of delivering learning to
students
Policy makers - balancing demands of numbers, space, I.T.
investment, and budgets
Publishers - adapting to change, but how quickly?
Speakers will include Dr Hazel Woodward (University
Librarian and Director of Cranfield University Press &
Chair of the JISC e-Books Working Group).
10.15 Building the online learning environment: the view
from the JISC.
Booking details
Price of the day, including lunch, refreshments, and all
documentation: £195 (+ VAT)
For booking and further information contact:
Michele Cork, The Publishers Association, 29B Montague
Street, London WC1B 5BH
Tel: 020 7691 9191 Fax: 020 7691 9199
Email [log in to unmask]
Or visit http://www.publishers.org.uk
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Dr Philip Pothen
DNER/RDN Communications Manager,
JISC DNER Office,
King's College London,
Strand Bridge House,
3rd Floor,
138-142 The Strand,
London WC2R 1HH
Tel: 020 7848 2935
Mobile: 07887 564 006
Fax: 020 7848 2939
[log in to unmask]
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