It should be evident from assorted announcements (including the
CHEST Data Messenger No. 95, 10/8/98) and related list-discussions
that the subscription and service arrangements for INSPEC are to be
different from the regular JISC/CHEST deals for bibliographic datasets.
This is something that the JISC national datacentres are having to
come to terms with as much as everyone else.
On this occasion, apparently in order to allow prompt delivery of a
high performance user interface by 1st September, the invitation
to run a service for INSPEC was opened up beyond the JISC
national datacentres, and collaboration with commercial providers
encouraged. Moreover, rather than designate a single service provider,
JISC / CHEST have created a market in which universities
and other higher education institutions will now have choice of service
provider.
You will have seen from earlier announcements that both
EDINA (with Ovid) and BIDS (with SilverPlatter) are to be
authorised service providers. Each will be solely reliant on the
subscriptions raised from HEIs to fund the running costs of the INSPEC
service(s).
Further information on all potential service providers is available on the
CHEST Web pages at
http://www.chest.ac.uk/datasets/inspec/inspec-intro.html.
Please note that the Table referred to there should state that the
EDINA/Ovid INSPEC service will also offer:
- *weekly* updates for the service;
- detailed end-user statistics.
For those interested, I have appended a brief statement about the
forthcoming EDINA-Ovid INSPEC service.
Margarete Tubby
************************************************************
More about the EDINA-Ovid INSPEC service
************************************************************
The planned launch date for the EDINA service onto JANET is 1st September.
To assist you in your decision-making, you can have a preview
of Ovid's user interface to INSPEC now, free of charge, by contacting
directly: Alex Lankester or Matthew Farris on tel: 0181 748 3777
email: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
Service Features:
In addition to weekly updates and detailed statistics, the
EDINA-Ovid INSPEC service will offer the following benefits
to subscribing institutions:
* User friendly, intuitive Ovid Web interface,
with full print, email and save capabilities
* Immediate integration within the Athens authentication system
* Extensive user-support, including training materials and workshops
* Z39.50 compatibility and commitment to interoperability within
the Distributed National Electronic Resource, with the prospect
of cross-linking to other services.
INSPEC is produced by the Institution of Electrical Engineers,
Further information may be found at
http://www.iee.org.uk/publish/inspec
=============================================================================
Margarete Tubby email: [log in to unmask]
tel: 0131 651 1203
EDINA User Services fax: 0131 650 3308
Edinburgh University Data Library
Main Library Building, George Square Information about EDINA:
Edinburgh email: [log in to unmask]
EH8 9LJ http://edina.ed.ac.uk
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