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
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. Email: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
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Skype: kenchadconsulting Twitter: @KenChad
Open Library Systems Specifications: <http://libtechrfp.wikispaces.com/>
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