This paper examines EASY, a two‐year document delivery pilot project run jointly by Ingenta and Lancaster University. The main aim of the project is to test the feasibility of…
Abstract
This paper examines EASY, a two‐year document delivery pilot project run jointly by Ingenta and Lancaster University. The main aim of the project is to test the feasibility of satisfying inter‐library loan (ILL) requests directly from publishers’ digital files. These requests would otherwise have been satisfied by either photocopying or scanning by the supplying library and sent either to the requesting library or directly to the end‐user. The service is not a separate ILL service; using the OpenURL standard it is designed to be integrated with and complement existing ILL services. The concept is being tested with ILLOS, Lancaster’s widely implemented inter‐library loan management system, working alongside Ingenta’s electronic full‐text document supply service. The second phase of the project will consider extending the service beyond ILLOS and Ingenta to other suppliers and other interlending document request management systems.
Details
Keywords
The Web of Science (WoS) database has been intro‐duced recently by The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), but no applications of it have yet been described as far as I am…
Abstract
The Web of Science (WoS) database has been intro‐duced recently by The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), but no applications of it have yet been described as far as I am aware. It is compiled from 8,000 journals providing some 130,000 articles annually, covered in the combined Science (1974 onwards), Social Sciences (1972 onwards) and Arts & Humanities (1975 onwards) Citation Indexes. New journals continue to be added. At present the storage requirements for this data is about 11.5 Gbytes.
BIDS (Bath Information & Data Services) has been running end‐user bibliographic database services since February 1991. Since then, the service has seen steady growth in the number…
Abstract
BIDS (Bath Information & Data Services) has been running end‐user bibliographic database services since February 1991. Since then, the service has seen steady growth in the number of users, the number of sites subscribing, the range of databases and the facilities provided for users. There is evidence of a widespread awareness of BIDS services, both within the UK academic community, and elsewhere, in industry and overseas. This paper outlines the development of the BIDS service, and the facilities it currently offers. It reviews the growth of the service and looks at the lessons learned. In particular it will look at how user feedback is being taken into account in re‐implementing the service on a new platform. It will also review the way in which different support strategies have worked in practice, and consider how the use of network tools such as the World Wide Web could help provide effective end‐user support to this and other similar services.
Data showing BIDS ISI usage by members of the University of Birmingham are analysed for the period October 1991 to September 1997. It is shown that there has been a relatively…
Abstract
Data showing BIDS ISI usage by members of the University of Birmingham are analysed for the period October 1991 to September 1997. It is shown that there has been a relatively consistent rise in the total usage of the service at Birmingham, correlating with national trends. The pattern of usage reflects the shape of the academic year. Usage of ISI is considerably higher than other BIDS services. Various factors are identified which help to explain the comparative “success” of ISI.
Details
Keywords
The BIDS ISI Data Service is the first online end‐user bibliographic data service freely available to anyone from a subscribing higher education institution in the United Kingdom…
Abstract
The BIDS ISI Data Service is the first online end‐user bibliographic data service freely available to anyone from a subscribing higher education institution in the United Kingdom. Most U.K. universities and many other teaching and research organisations have taken out subscriptions, and accesses currently exceed 7,500 per week. The service, operated from the campus of the University of Bath by BIDS (Bath Information & Data Services), is the result of an agreement reached between CHEST (the Combined Higher Education Software Team who negotiate with software and data suppliers on behalf of the U.K. academic community) and ISI (the Institute for Scientific Information, USA). The service is described, an account is given of how it came into being, and an assessment is made of some of the likely effects on the activities of computer centres, libraries, and academics. It concludes with a review of likely future BIDS ISI developments.
Presents a summary of the latest in the series of international conferences on interlending and document supply. Whilst co‐operation between researchers, publishers and librarians…
Abstract
Presents a summary of the latest in the series of international conferences on interlending and document supply. Whilst co‐operation between researchers, publishers and librarians was the main theme of the Conference, other topics discussed included union catalogues, standards, digitisation and national systems.
Details
Keywords
The Electronic Library recently received a disappointed e‐mail asking why the journal, with a title like that, wasn't available electronically. A very good question, which is only…
Abstract
The Electronic Library recently received a disappointed e‐mail asking why the journal, with a title like that, wasn't available electronically. A very good question, which is only partially answered by the fact that the journal is 15 years old and came into the world when the Internet was half its present age and a fraction of its size, CDs were an embryonic technology and the World Wide Web just didn't exist. E‐journals are now here to stay and any publisher worth its salt is looking at how its publications, too, can be made available in this manner. There is inevitably a very large element of keeping up with the neighbours involved — no one wants to seem to lag behind the competition — and too many companies plainly are not flunking the matter through before launching their electronic products. We have no desire to go broke or to launch an unviable product in the name of progress, and perhaps that is why we have so far erred on the side of caution: but believe me, we are working on it.
Abstract
Details
Keywords
COPAC is the new OPAC providing a unified interface to the consolidated database of the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL). This paper provides a brief overview of…
Abstract
COPAC is the new OPAC providing a unified interface to the consolidated database of the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL). This paper provides a brief overview of the background to CURL and the COPAC project, describing the main content of the COPAC database. Having multiple contributors to the database inevitably results in some record duplication. Deduplication and record consolidation are being carried out in the production of the COPAC database and the general procedures involved are described. COPAC is accessible via a Text interface and a Web interface. Each interface is discussed using example screens to illustrate the search process. Now that the initial COPAC service is in operation, further developments are taking place across several fronts and these are described briefly.