Apologies for cross-posting this reply to the lis-elib list as well as the
original...
Betsy Anagnostelis wrote:
>
> The JIBS User Group committee is holding its next meeting
> in early April. During our meetings we have the opportunity
> to discuss matters of concern to the user community with
> representatives of a range of JISC funded services, namely
> AHDS, BIDS, COPAC, Edina, NISS Biomedical Service. We would
> be very glad to hear of any issues that you might like us to
> raise. Please send your suggestions to Betsy Anagnostelis
I rather doubt that I will be there, but I wondered if JIBS members are at
all interested in the idea of the Distributed National Electronic Resource
(DNER, part of the JISC Strategy) and how it might be implemented by the
services. I think the idea of the DNER is quite exciting. Note "the" DNER
rather than several DNERs. To me this means things like the ability to
cross-search several datasets, perhaps in different data centres, for
example. Does it make sense to cross-search a specialist dataset in your
area, and also the ISI dataset? Or some other combination?
Also I wonder about whether there are ways of linking from abstracts in
some of these datasets to articles in the corresponding electronic journal
resources (and possibly vice versa, from journal article citations to the
references in the abstracting dataset). BIDS do something like this from
ISI to JournalsOnline, and other proprietors do the same in various ways,
but I tend to think this should if possible be more open, ie across
proprietorial boundaries. Digital Object Identifiers might be an important
technology here. There would of course be a point at which you could only
get the article or abstract if you or your institution were a subscriber,
or if you paid an access fee of some kind.
Playing with these ideas further, the eLib hybrid library projects imply
the possibility of integrating the access to several datasets possibly of
different kinds (eg online databases, local and remote CDs, OPACS etc)
with other kinds of services, eg document delivery. These could produce
subject-tailored services of great relevance, especially if they are also
integrated with the Internet-oriented subject-gateway services.
Some of these developments require the data centres to invest in new
technology such as Z39.50. Delays in these areas have more than once been
justified to me in terms of "that's not what the users want". I would be
interested in whether the JIBS people are as fired up by these
possibilities as I am, and see a corresponding need for this technology
investment.
--
Chris Rusbridge
Programme Director, Electronic Libraries Programme
The Library, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Phone 01203 524979 Fax 01203 524981
Email [log in to unmask]
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