After mulling over some of the implications of the recently announced CHEST
deals for INSPEC and Compendex, I have some concerns which I wanted to air
with other colleagues.
For INSPEC the community has been given a number of suppliers to choose
from. Is there any reason why such a choice was not forthcoming for
Compendex, given that these datasets are complementary? It seems to me
that, for those institutions wanting to offer both services, the dice are
being loaded in favour of one supplier.
EDINA are offering a cross searching facility over both databases which is
desirable. However, it was made clear at a meeting I attended last week,
that EDINA Inspec is being offered via Ovid and EDINA Compendex via OCLC's
Sitesearch interface. The cross-searching facility will be achieved by a
Sitesearch 'overlay' based on Z39.50 technology and is presently under
development.
The situation with Compendex means a major change over in mid session with
consequent implications for training and documentation, and the possibility
that the functionality users are now well used to, will not necessarily be
available in the future. I am not looking forward to users' reactions!
And whatever happened to banded pricing structures? I thought this was a
major part of the JISC's future strategy in terms of increasing takeup?
Some clarification from JISC and CHEST would be welcome.
Chris
Chris Bailey
Sub-Librarian (Research Support)
Glasgow University Library
Hillhead Street
Glasgow G12 8QE
Tel: 0141-330-5637; Fax: 0141-330-4952
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
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