"INDEX ISLAMICUS ONLINE"
A representative of the Brill Publishers, Mr. Albert Hoffstädt attended
the recent summer meeting of the British Middle East Libraries Committee
(MELCOM UK) to report on Index Islamicus. His talk consisted mainly of
proposals for enhancing the value of both the print and the online
version. Among a range of possibilities Brill are looking into are:
1) incorporating material in Middle Eastern and Islamic languages
2) putting in more links to full-text versions (a feature so far only very
partially available)
3) enabling users to check whether a particular article or book is
available in their institution’s catalogue
4) more regular updates of both print and online/cd-rom, and, therewith,
earlier notice of recent materials
Including any of the extra features may raise the price of the
subscription to the Index Islamicus. A way of limiting price increases
would be to reduce the coverage Index Islamicus currently offers (keeping
in mind the increase of the number of academic titles by an estimate of
14% a year), and Brill would be interested in knowing what priorities
users have. For example, would users be prepared to see any of the
following categories of material removed, e.g. because the information can
be easily retrieved elsewhere as well:
1) journal articles
2) chapters in collective volumes
3) monographs
4) book reviews
or would they be willing to see the coverage of Index Islamicus restricted
to just the Middle East as distinct from the whole Islamic world.
It is rare that users of major bibliographical services have the
opportunity to influence the evolution of their favourite database, so I
would urge anyone with an interest in Index Islamicus Online to contact
both Albert Hoffstadt ([log in to unmask]) and the editor of Index
Islamicus, Heather Bleaney ([log in to unmask]) to give their views.
Paul Auchterlonie
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