UKOLN invites proposals for two further eLib supporting studies:
1. Descriptive standards to enable/facilitate exchange of title, issue and
article metadata
2. Standards for terms of availability data
These studies result from recommendations made at the first MODELS
workshop in December 1995. Further information is available from:
<http://ukoln.ac.uk/models/models1.html>
1. Descriptive standards to enable/facilitate exchange of title, issue and
article metadata
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Definition
Metadata in this context is descriptive data about serials at different
levels (title, issue and article) which facilitates the discovery,
location and request of previously known or unknown items.
Scope
Library catalogues usually describe serials at title level only, with the
assumption that all the issues in the subscribed years are held, unless
the holdings statement specifies missing issues. (Often the last issue
received is noted, using data from check-in.) Differing practices for
transcribing and abbreviating serial titles have been an ongoing problem
in library catalogues and other services. This is compounded by the
tendency for journal titles, and issue sequences and frequencies to
change. There is no consistent approach to the recording of serial
holdings (although this is the subject of another supporting study).
Abstracting and indexing and table of contents services typically describe
individual articles; however they all have different approaches to the
description of resources. There is no consistency across the range of
services.
With the move towards distributed systems linked via search and retrieve
protocols, there is an increased need for standard serial descriptions at
all levels. A desirable scenario is for a user to be able to carry out a
distributed subject search across a range of resources, discover and
retrieve metadata for a relevant article, then locate several alternative
sources for obtaining the article (by matching the retrieved metadata
against metadata in holding resources), and request the document from the
preferred source. The links between these systems depend on standardised
metadata which can be mapped to each service.
The study will:
* define minimum level of description required for title, issue and
article, in order to effectively support the functions of discovery,
location and request
* examine existing practices
* examine relevant existing standards (formal and de facto)
* identify areas that are not covered by existing standards
* consider the advantages of standardisation
* identify required standardisation effort
* recommend how standardisation could be taken forward
* recommend appropriate use by eLib projects
* liaise with related activities (below)
* present a draft report at consultative meeting (below)
Related activities
* Study on standards for serials holdings data
* Study on standards for terms of availability data
* Study on abstracts: quality and availability in A&I services
* Meeting to promote the use of serial part identifiers (SICI, PII, DOI
etc); to be organised by BIC and UKOLN (March/April 1997)
* Consultative meeting on standards for serials/presentation of study
results (May 1997)
Funding
The total cost of the study is expected to be under 5,100 pounds,
including VAT if applicable.
2. Standards for terms of availability data
-------------------------------------------
Definition
For the purposes of this study, terms of availability (TOA) data is
understood to be the data provided by networked lending or delivery
services to convey various types of availability information appropriate
to the type of service. This might include the lending period, delivery
methods(s), supply time, charges, payment methods, copyright and
conditions of use. Currently there is no standardised format for recording
this data.
Scope
TOA data is potentially relevant to local library lending, inter-library
lending and document supply services. Documents could therefore be
returnable hard copy documents, non-returnable photocopies or
electronically delivered files. It is however appropriate to concentrate
on document supply services for this study, as users requesting articles
over a network are more likely to be using this type of service rather
than a local or inter-library returnable loan (partly because journal
issues are not usually loanable). There is also an increasing number of
electronic document delivery services becoming available.
Despite the concentration on issues for serials in this group of studies,
it is recognised that the recording of TOA data is likely to be generic to
a range of media types (monographs, A/V etc). The study should take this
into account. However, as a result of their format, there is more scope
for journal article delivery services than other material types.
In the discovery-locate-request cycle for journal articles, users are
likely to need to know TOA at several stages. It is especially important
where multiple potential suppliers are being consulted simultaneously. If
there are several options, the terms will naturally influence choice.
It is important that solutions developed here should not unnecessarily
reinvent wheels. The study should be aware of related wider work currently
being carried out.
The study will:
* identify desirable data elements to be included in TOA statements
* examine existing practices
* consider the advantages of access to uniform TOA data and the
implications of continued non-standardisation
* consider any implications for electronic journals
* identify any existing standards (formal or de facto) which may cover
some elements of TOA data eg UKMARC.
* identify areas that are not covered by identified standards
* identify required standardisation effort
* recommend how standardisation could be taken forward
* recommend appropriate use by eLib projects
* liaise with related activities (below)
* present a draft report at consultative meeting (below)
Related activities
* Study on standards for serials holdings data
* Study on descriptive standards to enable/facilitate exchange of title,
issue and article metadata
* Consultative meeting on standards for serials/presentation of study
results (May 1997)
Funding
The total cost of the study is expected to be under 3,700 pounds,
including VAT if applicable.
*The following information applies to both studies*
--------------------------------------------------
Proposals should:
* outline methodologies, timescales and deliverables
* itemise resources required to carry out the study, with costs
* indicate skills and expertise of the applicant.
Evaluation
Proposals will be evaluated by referees; the following criteria will be
used for evaluation purposes:
* demonstration of understanding of the issues (including technical)
* demonstration of ability to carry out the work required by the required
deadline
* proposer's experience and track record in carrying out similar work
* sound methodology
* appropriate use of resources.
Publication
It is intended that the final reports should be printed/published in
conjunction with eLib/JISC. Reports should be delivered in an
appropriate electronic format, to be agreed with UKOLN. Proposers should
be prepared to assign publication rights (including electronic) for the
study to JISC, or its nominee.
Timescale
Proposals should be submitted by 5pm on Friday 21 February 1997. Four
hard copies of the proposal are required and should be sent to Rosemary
Russell at UKOLN at the address below. The successful applicant will be
notified by 7 March.
The final reports for both studies will be required no later than Friday
30 May 1997.
Contact
Queries should be directed to Rosemary Russell at UKOLN.
------------------------------------------------------------
Rosemary Russell, UKOLN (UK Office for Library & Information
Networking), University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1225 826547; Fax: +44 (0)1225 826838
<URL: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/~lisrr/>
------------------------------------------------------------
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|
