Hi Margaret/List members
We have had two "reapply via EThOS" responses to requests we thought we were getting under the wire on Friday. I phoned customer services to ask how about it, given the delay in EThOS, only to be told there was no way and we would just have to wait. I was not best pleased! These requests are required quite quickly so we are having to put our hopes in the awarding institutions being prepared to lend their paper copies. Is this the experience generally ? Perhaps the British Thesis service could explain why they can't continue to supply us with microfilms as least in the interim until EThOS is up and running.
Cheers
Chris Beevers
Document Delivery Supervisor
University of Huddersfield
Tel. 01484 472051
-----Original Message-----
From: For interlibrary-loan and document supply services. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Margaret Dillon
Sent: 16 October 2008 10:19
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: EThOS status 13:00 15/10 (and the microform service) (fwd)
Dear Colleagues
Why on earth have BL been copying a microfilm every time it loaned? No wonder it cost a fortune. Why has this practice not been queried before? Is this what happens with American ones held on microfilm/fiches?
Is this an area where FIL could play a part, organising an information day or liasing with BL? In the end the supply of etheses may not be an Interlending issue but because there is currently an issue for our researchers and access to theses is uncertain any information would be welcome.
Regards
Margaret Dillon
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mrs Margaret Dillon
Interlending and Document Supply
J B Morrell Library
University of York
Heslington
York
YO10 5DD
United Kingdom
01904 433876
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-----Original Message-----
From: For interlibrary-loan and document supply services.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of A.M. Zammer
Sent: 16 October 2008 09:59
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: EThOS status 13:00 15/10 (and the microform service) (fwd)
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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