 |
 |
I see MLA's role in this as a middleman (or middleperson?): our performance standards are defined by MLA, and our bulk subscription contracts are negotiated by MLA. Influencing the latter to enable us to meet the former - or at least to provide the data for it relatively easily - strikes me as a good idea. But I'm young, naïve and optimistic. I've seen scads of OpenURL resolvers, fancy OPACs and miscellaneous portals doing federated search with varying degrees of success. The mythical middleware I have in mind would either be a separate entity to the OPAC, or something it doesn't necessarily search by default. When I'm in a library looking for a book, I only really care about books in that library: I'm not bothered about books in our other branches, and especially not entries from OED online et al. If I can't find that book, I might then be prepared to broaden the base of my search a little bit. For the OPACs in our libraries at least, shouldn't the search function be limited to stuff you can actually get your hands on, with the option of extending that search into the aether and pulling in results from other targets? It's a different story for off-site OPAC use, at least for me as a user: if I can't actually get my hands on anything immediately, I might as well see results from other branches, other library services, Amazon, Abe, DNB, Wikipedia... The only question is whether we can convince our users (and non-users) that our local/regional/national federated search platform will offer consistently higher-quality results than Google. If we can do that, then we'll have the necessary usage figures to show to our overlords. Michael (less cranky in the post-lunch/nearly-the-weekend environment) -----Original Message----- From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Oliver Davy Sent: 21 September 2007 13:32 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [LIS-PUB-LIBS] Online resources - KnowUK, OUP etc I don't think anyone (hopefully this includes the purse-string holders) can seriously doubt the value for money obtained from some online subscriptions if you compare them to some of the more obscure printed reference works. According to our cost-per-use analysis, every time one of our borrowers uses Ancestry, it costs us less than thirty pence. Oliver Davy Senior ICT Library Assistant Central Library Northumberland Square North Shields NE30 1QU ( Tel: (0191) 200 6294 + Courier Code D1 8 Email: [log in to unmask] Unless otherwise stated, opinions, conclusions and other information expressed in this message are personal and not those of North Tyneside Council. |---------+--------------------------------> | | Steven Heywood | | | <Steven.Heywood@ROCHD| | | ALE.GOV.UK> | | | Sent by: | | | "lis-pub-libs: UK | | | Public Libraries" | | | <LIS-PUB-LIBS@JISCMAI| | | L.AC.UK> | | | | | | | | | 21/09/2007 13:23 | | | Please respond to | | | Steven Heywood | | | | |---------+--------------------------------> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | To: [log in to unmask] | | cc: (bcc: Oliver Davy/ECS/ntc) | | Subject: Re: Online resources - KnowUK, OUP etc | >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Not too pedantic at all Michael. It's a major pain in the butt setting up a range of resources which each require the same thing a different way before they may (or may not in the case of British Standards. Grr!!!) be made available to our customers. There are ways of having automatically mediated access to these resources which could conceivably be developed into something along the lines you suggest but as things stand it would require each library authority to invent the wheel for itself, resources permitting. (The last two words being the killer bringing us back to Helen's original problem, sigh...). Steven Steven Heywood Systems Manager Rochdale Library Service Wheatsheaf Library Baillie Street Rochdale OL16 1JZ Tel: (01706) 924967 [log in to unmask] http://www.rochdale.gov.uk http://libraries.rochdale.gov.uk -----Original Message----- From: Stead, Michael [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 21 September 2007 12:41 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Online resources - KnowUK, OUP etc The big issue for me is that, as a user, I have to go to each of these accredited sources individually. Google goes to zillions of sources at the same time. It's just not worth the effort to log into multiple password-controlled sources. The Google approach might be a bit hit-and-miss in terms of quality, but at least it's easy enough to use. Even with IP-based access in the library, it's still a pain to go through this process. I think we'd get more value from a system that provided a single, customisable frontend to these resources, providing an aggregated search to cover all of them. Search once, read results from many sources. I'd like to see MLA advocating for (and maybe providing?) a much more joined-up way of using these resources. I'd also like to see them imposing standardised reporting requirements on the vendors of these systems, especially considering the advent of more meaningful measurement of virtual library visits. Each resource - the OUP bundle, British Standards, NewsUK etc. - provides its own statistics and has its own reporting standards. Wouldn't it be easier to compare usage (and value) if they all reported in the same way, via the same single access point? Or am I too pedantic? Publicity materials are definitely necessary, but the products need to meet librarians' *and* users' expectations of quality *and* functionality. Michael (who is apparently rather cranky today - sorry!) This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be legally privileged. They are intended solely for the intended addressee. If you are not the addressee please e-mail it back to the sender and then immediately, permanently delete it. Do not read, print, re-transmit, store or act in reliance on it. This e- mail may be monitored by Rochdale Council in accordance with current regulations. This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses currently known to the Council. However, the recipient is responsible for virus-checking before opening this message and any attachment. Unless otherwise stated, any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Rochdale Council. As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email and/or any response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless the information in the email and/or any response is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act. This email has been scanned for viruses and inappropriate content by Clearswift MIMEsweeper service. North Tyneside Council does not guarantee this email to be free of any viruses. It is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that this message and any attachments are virus free. This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be legally privileged. They are intended solely for the intended addressee. If you are not the addressee please e-mail it back to the sender and then immediately, permanently delete it. Do not read, print, re-transmit, store or act in reliance on it. This e-mail may be monitored by Bolton Council in accordance with current regulations. This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses currently known to Bolton Council. However, the recipient is responsible for virus-checking before opening this message and any attachment. Unless expressly stated to the contrary, any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Bolton Council. http://www.bolton.gov.uk