Incorporating electronic products into the acquisitions workflow in a small college library

Electronic products have changed the number of options available for individualizing the acquisitions workflow. Individual preferences and cost-effectiveness determine the mix of print with electronic products for each selector, with some advantages of the electronic medium being desktop availability at each workstation, the ease of electronic transfer of bibliographic information for ordering, access to the latest ordering information available, electronic searching capability, and e-mail alerts. Some of the electronic products choices used at Saint Mary’s College, a small, liberal arts oriented college, are discussed briefly.     

Thomson Scientific's expanding Web of Knowledge: beyond citation databases and current awareness services

As end-user demand for easy access to electronic full text continues to climb, an increasing number of information providers are combining that access with their other products and services, making navigating their Web sites by librarians seeking information on a given product or service more daunting than ever. One such provider of a complex array of products and services is Thomson Scientific. This paper looks at some of the many products and tools available from two of Thomson Scientific's businesses, Thomson ISI and Thomson ResearchSoft. Among the items of most interest to health sciences and veterinary librarians and their users are the variety of databases available via the ISI Web of Knowledge platform and the information management products available from ResearchSoft.     

Computerized Access to Government Publications at Colorado State University Libraries

The quality of reference assistance for library users seeking information from government publications has recently been called into question. Concurrently, advances in electronic technology offer means to substantially improve access to government information. Colorado State University Libraries has several computer systems available to access its documents collection, which is separately shelved. These systems include RLIN, CARL, NOTIS, and a number of CD-ROM products. Use of each system is examined, and examples of reference inquiries are given. In general, practice at Colorado State indicates that availability of electronic systems does not improve access to government publications and enables reference staff to successfully negotiate documents queries. Fragmentation and privatization of government files, however, threaten to undo the gains thus achieved.     

An Annotated List of Magazines Published in Nigeria

An annotated list of Nigerian magazines of a general nature is presented. Basic ordering information is given as available, for each title.     

Trends in information technology and private sector activities

As the largest single producer, consumer, and disseminator of information in the United States, the Federal government has enormous power to influence the development and diffusion of new information technologies. Through the use of electronic information systems, it also has the opportunity to make more government information readily available to more public users. Defining the appropriate uses of, and controls on, this power are of critical importance in determining whether the government will be a positive or a negative force, particularly with respect to the private sector. Although there has always been, and probably always will be, some competition between government and private sector information products and services, there is agreement that the laws and policies regulating government information practices do not, and should not, require or permit a Federal agency to provide information products and services in the same manner as a private company. Federal agencies must be careful not to exploit the power inherent in electronic data systems by providing nonessential services to the public simply because the capability to provide such services exists. Instead the government should assume an affirmative obligation to review each electronic information activity carefully in order to avoid unnecessary government interference in the marketplace for information products and services. Further, as the government becomes increasingly involved in the use of electronic collection and dissemination, it must also learn to differentiate among levels of service and requirements of various user communities. Positions of the Association of Research Libraries, the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and the Information Industry Association are presented and are shown to be in surprising harmony with the policies of OMB Circular A-130 and the views of the House Committee on Government Operations. The Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR system and recent development in distribution og government information on CD-ROM are reviewed as examples of the implementation of these policies.     

Using expert evaluations to complete centralized library systems

An interactive system of expert evaluations of offers made by the Russian and foreign information market of scientific literature issued in both printed and electronic form is described. The system supports the database of experts and the periodically updated database of offers of the information market. An expert evaluation is carried out over the internet from a special division of the LNS RAS site, access to which is available only to authorized users, i.e., experts. Expert selectors make decisions about ordering various editions for funding from the centralized library system by analyzing tables formed based on processed results from expert evaluations with the help of specially created software tools.     

Statistics,standards, and electronic media

The author describes the need for statistical information gathering and standard definitions for electronic publication. Data on nonprint products will soon be available for some sectors of the industry, but as data gathering expands, the difficulties of consistency increase. At some point, the desire to complile data on the use of electronic publications may conflict with the user’s privacy rights.     

电子期刊许可使用在高校图书馆应用的现状、问题和对策

在电子环境下，期刊许可使用是高校图书馆采购和获取电子期刊的重要方式。本文拟就我国目前高校图书馆电子期刊使用的现状以及使用过程中出现的问题提出相应的对策。     

Texas Woman's University and White House Communications on the Internet

During the course of the 1992 United States Presidential campaign, electronic discussion lists were established on Bitnet which allowed "subscribers" to openly discuss issues relevant to each candidate's campaign. A discussion list was formed for each of the three candidates. In the summer of 1992, the Clinton and Bush campaigns began posting full-text documents (speeches, interviews, platform positions, etc.) to each respective list on Bitnet, making available information that was almost nonexistent in any other format to faculty and students at Texas Woman's University. It was soon discovered that these documents were available elsewhere, but only through the Internet, and they were readily accessible for the taking. Organizations such as the federally sponsored Hermes Project and the National Public Telecmuting Network (NPTN) also provided access to these documents. The reference department at TWU soon took advantage of this information, and with the realization that most of the university community was still alien to electronic file transfer and Bitnet discussion lists, decided to make these documents available in a more traditional manner by retrieving them either through the discussion list or through one if the their organizations providing campaign documents via the Intemet. This article documents the reference department as an instrumental part in using the IInternet in the acquisistion of these campaign documents both before and after the November election for use by faculty and students, as well as members of the city Denton, Texas.     

Partners on the net: FDLP partnering to coordinate remote access to internet-based government information

In June 1996, the Government Printing Office (GPO) published a plan for its transition to a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). This plan assumes that federal information policy requires that the FDLP provide permanent public access to remotely-accessible electronic government information products and indicates that such access will be provided through a network of partnerships comprised of the GPO, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), federal agencies, and FDLP libraries. GPO has established its first library partnership in this FDLP network with the University of Chicago at Illinois' Richard J. Daley Library and the Department of State (DOS) to ensure that DOS materials will be available for permanent public access through the FDLP. To extend the partnership network to publishing agencies, a partnership has been arranged with the Department of Energy (DOE) to ensure direct FDLP access to technical reports maintained on a DOE World Wide Web site.     

Integrating and Advertising Government Publications Internally and Externally: A Guide for Documents Librarians

ABSTRACT

Government publications contain a wealth of information. In an effort to increase the usage of these important publications, the staff at Bierce Library, University of Akron, use the following strategies to integrate and advertise government publications into the library activities and the community: (1) cataloging the publications so they appear on the local online catalog as well as the statewide catalog, (2) integrating them into the bibliographic instruction program, (3) listing them in pathfinders as sources on various topics, (4) making them a focus of “hot topics” such as health care reform, (5) presenting and promoting special workshops on specialized government databases such as the National Trade Data Bank and GPO Access (using the flyer approach), (6) visiting your Congressional Representative's Office to increase awareness of the information available in Depository Libraries to his/her constituents, (7) discussing these avenues at state groups, (8) including these methods in conferences, and (9) joining forces with other Documents Librarians in the area to create a depository brochure announcing hours, services, and highlights of each depository collection, and making this information available on a web page. The above strategies are generic enough that libraries can easily implement them into their programs.

The effect of these strategies is measured by an increased use of government publications. This can be monitored with circulation statistics and use of electronic products. The results are inconclusive if only circulation statistics are used.     

The Scholarly Communication of the Future: From Book Information to Problem Solving

As long as scientists discuss scientific problems and communicate with each other, scholarly communication is an essential part of scientific activities. In the very ancient time the scholarly communication was only an oral tradition, a face to face communication. Later on, the written form of communication has taken place. Since the invention of movable printing types by Gutenberg the scholarly communication was preferable in written and printed form. Since 15 years the revolution has taken place with the digital information, which is now available for scholarly communication. There was a paradigm shift from the printed and oral tradition to a new digital electronic science communication. In the future the traditional printed book information for scientific communication will be replaced by problem solving portals with all electronic and digital tools.     

高校进口期刊纸本版与电子版重复引进问题

进口期刊纸本版与电子版重复逐年加大，在高价学术期刊方面尤为严重。文章列举了产生问题的原因，并对两种版本进行了得失分析，提出了强化订购策略和建立灵活多样的购买形式等对策。     

国内图书馆收藏的电子资源分析

针对国内几个主要图书馆收藏电子资源的情况,做了一些调查分析,并指出采购工作中存在的问题。     

Rethinking the Reference Collection: Exploring Benchmarks and E-Book Availability

Librarians in the Health Sciences Library System at the University of Pittsburgh explored the possibility of developing an electronic reference collection that would replace the print reference collection, thus providing access to these valuable materials to a widely dispersed user population. The librarians evaluated the print reference collection and standard collection development lists as potential benchmarks for the electronic collection, and they determined which books were available in electronic format. They decided that the low availability of electronic versions of titles in each benchmark group rendered the creation of an electronic reference collection using either benchmark impractical.     

Making sense of the electronic resource marketplace: trends in health-related electronic resources.

Changes in the practice of medicine and technological developments offer librarians unprecedented opportunities to select and organize electronic resources, use the Web to deliver content throughout the organization, and improve knowledge at the point of need. The confusing array of available products, access routes, and pricing plans makes it difficult to anticipate the needs of users, identify the top resources, budget effectively, make sound collection management decisions, and organize the resources effectively and seamlessly. The electronic resource marketplace requires much vigilance, considerable patience, and continuous evaluation. There are several strategies that librarians can employ to stay ahead of the electronic resource curve, including taking advantage of free trials from publishers; marketing free trials and involving users in evaluating new products; watching and testing products marketed to the clientele; agreeing to beta test new products and services; working with aggregators or republishers; joining vendor advisory boards; benchmarking institutional resources against five to eight competitors; and forming or joining a consortium for group negotiating and purchasing. This article provides a brief snapshot of leading biomedical resources; showcases several libraries that have excelled in identifying, acquiring, and organizing electronic resources; and discusses strategies and trends of potential interest to biomedical librarians, especially those working in hospital settings.     

Rethinking the reference collection: exploring benchmarks and e-book availability

Librarians in the Health Sciences Library System at the University of Pittsburgh explored the possibility of developing an electronic reference collection that would replace the print reference collection, thus providing access to these valuable materials to a widely dispersed user population. The librarians evaluated the print reference collection and standard collection development lists as potential benchmarks for the electronic collection, and they determined which books were available in electronic format. They decided that the low availability of electronic versions of titles in each benchmark group rendered the creation of an electronic reference collection using either benchmark impractical.     

ERM on a Shoestring: Betting on an Alternative Solution

Some libraries are not ready, willing, or able to make a big commitment to an expensive electronic resources management system. But, with a bit of creativity and flexibility, librarians can come up with alternatives that will effectively manage the information they need at little or no additional cost. Although makeshift solutions may not be ideal, presenters Jennifer Watson and Dalene Hawthorne stress the importance of getting started with the task of gathering information about one's electronic resources in some workable way and using whatever tools are available.