Dear Jean
Thanks for this. I hope that my response to the other query has answered
most of your question. If not, please come back.
With regard running parallel services (lending microform and digitising
from paper), we simply can't afford to run 2 services. As I said in the
other email (and tried - unsuccessfully - to explain below) 'loan' of a
thesis doesn't just mean picking it up and sending it out - we have to
copy each and every one. That involves film reproduction, chemical
processing, posting out and tracking the loan. Believe it or not, we
throw away the copy when it is returned. This is because theses are
rarely asked for twice!
Usage of the microform service is in serious decline and we are at a
point where it is no longer viable
I am not at my desk for much of the time at the moment as I am working
with technical staff on getting EThOS working, but I will endeavour to
answer questions if I can and will post updates to the list.
I most sincerely apologise that we were not live yesterday - we are
working extremely hard to get the system working.
Anthony
-----Original Message-----
From: UK discussion list for electronic theses and dissertations
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of JI Bradford,
Information Management
Sent: 15 October 2008 13:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: EThOS status 13:00 15/10 (and the microform service)
Dear Anthony
I think the question which ILL Librarians want answered is why the
British Library cannot continue to lend the microforms already in its
stock, while we wait for EThOS to build up its coverage. We understand
perfectly why BL cannot continue to add to the microforms and is
introducing EThOS. In fact from the e-mails I have seen, we welcome
EThOS as making theses available much more widely and easily than
before.
No-one from the BL has provided an answer that I have seen to the
question why microforms of theses already in place at Boston Spa cannot
be lent as before if the thesis is not yet contained in EThOS. Unless
BL continue to make microforms available which they already possess, we
are being denied access to many theses including I believe those from
Cambridge University.
If you can give me an answer to this question, I'd be very grateful and
so would a lot of other ILL librarians
Jean
--On 15 October 2008 13:11 +0100 "Troman, Anthony"
<[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
> Dear Colleagues
>
> PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR ILL LIBRARIAN IF THEY DON'T ALREADY
> RECEIVE IT
>
> We are now narrowing down the causes of our performance issues with
> EThOS. Once identified we can work out how to fix it.
>
> In the meantime, please reassure your researchers/users/customers that
> the service is coming shortly and to keep checking the ethos.ac.uk
> website and the service itself.
>
> I realise you are in the front line and must have to field difficult
> questions and I apologise once again for the delay.
>
> A number of people have asked why we can't reinstate the microform
> service or run it in parallel. In short, it is losing huge sums of
> money and cannot be sustained. It has only lasted this long because we
> knew EThOS is coming along. Otherwise, some very difficult questions
> about the service would have had to be addressed. Reading below, I
> hope you can understand why the microform service cannot be continued.
>
> Here are some facts:
>
>
> The British Library thesis microform service:
> * is over 30 years old
> * has never been updated
> * supplies on out of date formats (microform) which can be read by
> fewer and fewer people leading to more and more returns & refunds
> * copies a thesis every time it is supplied (including when loaned)
> * is slow -- supply times of up to 6 weeks
> * does not support Open Access
> * is manually intensive and therefore expensive
> * is run on a commercial basis (the researcher pays)
> * is unsustainable and is losing increasingly large sums of money
> each year
>
>
>
> The current British Library microform service does NOT offer a
> positive view of UK Higher Education to researchers in the UK and
> around the world.
>
>
>
> EThOS:
> * does NOT replace the current microform system -- the microform
> system is unsustainable
> * does NOT digitise from microform due to the poor quality achieved
> (black & white, edited, 2nd generation copy, etc.)
> * supports immediate online desktop delivery to researchers the
> world over
> * meets the expectations of the modern day information seeker
> * generates e-content by digitising paper theses currently held on
> library shelves around the country
> * adds e-content to institutional repositories by returning
> digitised theses to the originating institution
> * only creates a copy once -- downloads and hard copy are generated
> from the digitally stored copy
> * preserves theses from participating institutions in perpetuity
> * supports the Open Access aspirations of UK HE
> * is operated on a cost-recovery basis by The British Library
----------------------
Jean I. Bradford
Serials and Inter-Library Document Supply University of Bristol
Information Services Arts and Social Sciences Library Tyndall Avenue
Bristol BS8 1TJ
Tel: 0117 331 8367 Fax: 0117 925 5334
[log in to unmask]
VAT No. GB 139085946
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