Dear all,
Thanks for this discussion which I have found very useful. Sounds as if
Scotland compares well with the rest of the UK. I am about to start writing
a book about information literacy and lifelong learning and clearly free
online access to electronic resources is an issue to mention.
Best wishes
John
Dr. John Crawford,
Trustee,
Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals,
And Trustee, Leadhills Heritage Trust,
Home address
21 Polbae Crescent,
Eaglesham,
Glasgow,
G76 0LW
Email [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: A general Library and Information Science list for news and
discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ken Chad
Sent: 31 August 2011 16:41
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: National reference resources and national catalogue
Great idea . It sounds like that the percentage of the Scottish population
with access will be very high...
Ken
Ken Chad Consulting Ltd
Tel +44 (0)7788 727 845. Email: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
[log in to unmask] <http://www.kenchadconsulting.com/>
www.kenchadconsulting.com
Skype: kenchadconsulting Twitter: @KenChad
Open Library Systems Specifications: <http://libtechrfp.wikispaces.com/>
http://libtechrfp.wikispaces.com
From: Gillian Hanlon [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 31 August 2011 12:54
To: Ken Chad
Cc: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: National reference resources and national catalogue
Hi Ken,
In Scotland, the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) manages a
national subscription to a package of electronic resources, which are
selected through negotiation with local authority partners. The package
includes 6 services at the moment and all but one of the Scottish local
authorities subscribe to one or more of the resources included. Over and
above this, many library services also subscribe to additional electronic
resources not included in the package.
Although SLIC holds information about which Scottish libraries subscribe to
which electronic resources, we've never applied this information to finding
the percentage of the population with access. However, I agree that this
could be a useful promotional stat and would be happy to draw together the
figures and circulate the info for Scotland.
As regards promotion of electronic resources, I think that this has always
been an issue for libraries. However, we're finding that the Ask Scotland
virtual reference service is having the effect of encouraging use by the
librarians themselves - as they seek quick access to quality information -
as well as offering an opportunity to promote the resources to users -
telling the user here's where I found this and did you know that you can
access this through your library? It's true that many people still don't
realise libraries offer this type of service so I think we have to take
every opportunity to tell them!
Best wishes,
Gillian Hanlon
Senior Information Officer, SLIC
On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 10:10 AM, Ken Chad <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
The Guardian has picked up the (somewhat old news) about the combined
Regions/OCLC UK national catalogue initiative
http://lglibtech.wikispaces.com/National+Catalogue. It set me thinking about
national access to online *reference* resources
The (already in existence) *Welsh* National Catalogue -'Cat Cymru' -also
includes links to online reference resources. Looking at individual UK
library websites it seems most (all?) have free online access to some great
resources such as Encyclopaedia Britannica, OED and lots more.
Does anyone know what percentage of the UK population has free online access
to say Britannica? Is it universal for UK public libraries to offer this?
Have I missed this data? Do CILIP, MLA, CyMAL, SLIC know? Have any of the
library campaigns been promoting the fact that libraries give *everyone* (or
whatever the statistic is) free online access to......' Have I missed that?
Maybe this information is something we could share in the Local Government
Library Technology (LGLibTech) wiki?
An article in the Guardian back in may reported on Enfield's work to promote
these resources
'Enfield boosts digital reference role. London borough has trained staff to
increase public's use of online reference sources'. By Mark Say Guardian
Professional 25 May 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2011/may/25/enfield-d
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2011/may/25/enfield-
d%0d%0aigital-refence-library-staff-training-increases-usage>
igital-refence-library-staff-training-increases-usage
It reported: 'Most local authorities now have a portfolio of digital
reference sources, most coming at a cost beyond the pockets of the regular
library user, but there is evidence that they are not widely used. Brown
says that over the past five years the Enfield Library Service has built up
a range of digital resources - including encyclopaedias, the legal database
LexisNexis Butterworths and the Lexis Direct business information database -
but several were not being widely used. In some cases there were less than
100 searches a year on resources that cost thousands of pounds, which was
poor value for money'
Is that situation general?
Ken
Ken Chad Consulting Ltd
Tel +44 (0)7788 727 845 <tel:%2B44%20%280%297788%20727%20845> . Email:
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
[log in to unmask] <http://www.kenchadconsulting.com/>
www.kenchadconsulting.com
Skype: kenchadconsulting Twitter: @KenChad
Open Library Systems Specifications: <http://libtechrfp.wikispaces.com/>
http://libtechrfp.wikispaces.com
--
Gillian Hanlon
Senior Information Officer, SLIC/CILIPS
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