Dear Jean and colleagues
Thanks for your email - I haven't signed up to the e-theses list, I guess I
have better do so as I am missing out on various pieces of information. I
can understand some of the answers but the bit about 6 weeks supply sounds
rather far-fetched. We normally get them within a few days and also I don't
understand about them copying a theses every time they supply- what's this
about? Also our readers only pay £3 for an ILL but with Ethos they may (if
the awarding University doesn't pay) have to pay £41.50 to view (if they
are the first researcher).
However, I don't think that what we feel will change their minds and I
guess we will just have to put up with the situation and deal with some
unhappy readers!
Best wishes
Alison Zammer
Inter-Library Loans
Cambridge University Library
West Road
Cambridge
CB3 9DR
Tel: ++44 1223 333039
On Oct 15 2008, JI Bradford, Information Management wrote:
>Dear ILL colleagues
>
>This message came on the E-Theses list and I thought you might like to see
>it and my response.
>
>Jean
>
>---------- Forwarded Message ----------
>Date: 15 October 2008 13:22 +0100
>From: "JI Bradford, Information Management" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: UK discussion list for electronic theses and dissertations
><[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
>
>---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
>
>
>
>----------------------
>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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