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DNER COLLECTIONS UPDATE
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Issue 2, October 2001
(http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/)
DNER Collections Update is a regular e-mail newsletter
designed to inform those responsible for managing local and
institutional collections about DNER Collections activities
and developments.
Contents
1. HEFCE Content Policy Group
2. Collections
- Embase
- Crossfireplus
- Index to the Times (1790 - 1980)
3. E-journal and Database Usage Statistics
4. Collection Strategy
5. New DNER web site
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1. HEFCE Content Policy Group
There appears to be some concern about the role/remit
of the new HE Content Policy Group and its potential for
duplicating activities underway in the JISC's collection
programme. This new group is commissioning consultants to
advise on a system for regular community consultation
about, and prioritisation of, requests for content
acquisition or creation. It will NOT be developing new
mechanisms for actually acquiring or creating content, and
will rely on existing bodies (e.g. the JISC/DNER) to do
this.
Key points to be addressed by the consultancy include:
· an analysis of stakeholders and their interests
· an investigation into the potential mechanisms
through which on-line information priorities can be
obtained from HE staff, students and institutions
· how and by whom existing resources can be
identified for procurement, and content identified
for digitisation
· mapping of relevant specialists or groups who can
help to identify priorities and resources and a
mechanism for repeating this mapping regularly
Members of the group include:
Bahram Bekhradnia, Director of Policy, HEFCE
Mike Hopkins (University of Wales, Aberystwyth -
representing WFC)
Keith Duckitt (Learning and Skills Council - observer)
Malcolm Read (JISC Secretary)
Sheila Watt (Head of Teaching and Learning, HEFCE)
Paul Hubbard (Head of Strategic Projects, HEFCE)
Cliff Allan (Director, LTSN)
Alicia Wise (Assistant Director, Collections and
Communications, DNER)
John Slater (e-University)
Professor Harry Kroto (University of Sussex)
Professor Paul Bacsich (Director of Telematics, Sheffield
Hallam University)
Andrew Booth (Director, Flexible Learning Development Unit,
University of Leeds)
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2. Collections
- EMBASE
The Embase service at BIDS will end on 31 October
2001. For more information about the 4 service providers
offering access to Embase from 1 November, please see:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/collections/embase.html
- Crossfireplus
We are very pleased to announce that the Crossfireplus
service at MIMAS will be continued for a further 5 years.
CrossFire is a complete in-house chemical information
solution, covering over 200 years of primary literature.
The two databases, Beilstein (organic) and Gmelin
(inorganic), collectively comprise more than 9 million
organic, inorganic and organometallic compounds. This
agreement is being managed by CHEST for the JISC, and they
will circulate more information in due course.
- Index to the Times, 1790-1980
A new discovery tool has been added to the DNER
Collections. It is an index to articles published in The
London Times newspaper between 1790 and 1980, and
incorporates content from the Official Index to the Times
and Palmers Index to the Times. Both databases are
licensed in perpetuity from Chadwyck-Healey.
The service will be delivered from the EDINA data centre
starting 1 November, and subscriptions are open to any UK
further or higher education institution. Sites are invited
to arrange a one-time 90 day free trial at any time.
Licence forms and a full description to the service are now
available online at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/collections/oit.html
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3. Developing an International Code of Practice for
E-Journal and Database Usage Statistics
Reliable, consistent and compatible online usage
statistics are becoming an urgently needed and essential
resource for vendors, libraries and users. The development
of a single Code of Practice for e-journal and
database usage statistics came much closer when, in
September 2000, the Publishers and Libraries Solutions
(PALS) group of the JISC, the Publishers' Association (PA)
and the Association of Learned and Professional Society
Publishers (ALPSP) decided to set up the PALS Usage
Statistics Working Group.
The aim of the Working Group is to develop a Code of
Practice for vendor based e-journal and database usage
statistics. This will include guidance on: which data
elements should be measured; definitions of these data
elements; output report formats/ frequency/ granularity;
methods of delivery; methods of combining usage reports
from direct use and from use via intermediaries - including
gateways, aggregators, and electronic document delivery
vendors; methods of measuring remote usage of
institutionally licensed products; and methods of measuring
usage from caches and mirrors.
In June 2001, the group organised an international forum in
London, at which a set of draft proposals was discussed.
The forum was attended by some 55 representatives from the
vendor, standards and library communities and the outcome
was agreement on a substantial number of data elements and
their definitions, as well as on matters of output
and delivery. Outstanding issues were grouped into areas
and six sub-groups have been created to undertake further
work on understanding and resolving the issues concerned.
The work of the sub-groups is now successfully feeding into
the development of the Code, and it is hoped that a basic
Code of Practice will be available by Spring 2002.
For further information visit the Working Group's website
at:
http://www.usagestats.org/
You can comment on the work in progress by joining the
Usage listserv discussion group at [log in to unmask]
[http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/usage.html]
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4. Collection Strategy and supporting policies.
So far 40 responses have been received to JISC Circular
03/01, and sites who have not yet sent a formal reply to
this consultation are still very welcome to do so.
Relevant documents can be found at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/collections/coldev_policy.htm
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/collections/strategy.htm
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub01/charging.html
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5. New DNER web site
The DNER has recently been redesigned and relaunched
(http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/). Central to the thinking
behind the new web site has been two important
factors: firstly, the easier, more logical and
user-friendly organisation of information; and secondly,
the setting up of "User Views" which allows different User
Groups to access resources and information that are
appropriate to them.
There is also a greater emphasis on the collections that
are available to HE and FE institutions, both through the
User Views and through a simplified Collections section of
the web site.
We are keen to receive feedback from all our users in order
to improve the site still further. Please write to
[log in to unmask] with your feedback.
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Dr Philip Pothen
DNER/RDN Communications Manager,
JISC DNER Office,
King's College London,
Strand Bridge House,
3rd Floor,
138-142 The Strand,
London WC2R 1HH
Tel: 020 7848 2935
Mobile: 07887 564 006
Fax: 020 7848 2939
[log in to unmask]
