D-Lib Magazine
September 2001

Volume 7 Number 9

ISSN 1082-9873

In Brief

HERON: Project into Service

Contributed by:
Sally Curry
HERON Project Manager
HERON Partnership
The University of Stirling, Scotland FK9 4LA, UK
<s.g.curry@stir.ac.uk>

HERON (Higher Education Resources ON demand) provides a unique copyright clearance and digitisation service for UK Higher Education Institutions (HEI's). Initiated in 1998 [1], it is run by a consortium of universities, the University of Stirling and Napier University in Scotland and South Bank University in London. The HERON consortium also included a commercial partner, the retail arm of the major academic bookseller Blackwells. In its first three years, the project was funded by the UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) [2] and by Blackwell Retail Ltd.

The HERON Project grew from the experience of earlier projects in the area of the provision and delivery of digitised resources to support learning and teaching in Higher Education [3]. These projects pinpointed key issues that had to be resolved before the widespread use of digitised texts would take place. Central to these were:

• the need for streamlining the copyright clearance process
• the need for reduced or shared costs of digitisation
• the availability of a critical mass of high demand digitised texts

HERON was created to provide a centralised solution to these problems.

HERON now provides a national copyright clearance service for UK HEIs. It also offers a digitisation service and delivers digitised material to requesting universities. Uniquely within the UK, HERON has been given Trusted Repository status by the CLA (Copyright Licensing Agency) [4] allowing us to store copies of digitised files for re-use (subject to copyright permission) without the costs and delay of re-digitisation.

Progress

In 1999/2000 HERON piloted its service with five universities - a number that quickly grew to seventeen. 2000/01 has been the first year of full service with membership growing to over forty universities. During July 2001, HERON has seen requests increase by 26% over last year.

HERON's experience has shown that most UK HEIs are at an early stage in the use of e-reserve and the incorporation of digitised extracts from commercially published materials into course reading lists and MLEs (Managed Learning Environments). However, once an example of effective provision has been established in an HEI, usage expands rapidly.

One of HERON's objectives has been to move from a project to self-supporting status. In its first three years it established without question the need for the type of service it provides:

• Universities who are new in the use of digitised course materials have turned to HERON with enthusiasm, not only for its primary services but also because of the high level of support and expertise offered to its members by HERON staff.

• Universities with greater experience in the use of digitised texts, have found that demand has outstripped their ability to supply materials and they have turned to HERON to allow them to scale up their programmes.

However, despite the economies of scale in the administration of such a service that HERON can offer, copyright clearance and digitisation do involve significant costs. In most instances, copyright fees must be paid to rights holders for every student in a course -- each time the course is run. HERON has found that, in the UK, where access to learning materials via academic libraries has traditionally been provided free at the point of use, universities are not yet ready to carry the full costs of such a service or to pass on costs to all categories of student.

The future for HERON

HERON was initially funded for three years and has now been given additional funding for a further year in order to identify a way forward for what is an increasingly valued service. HERON has already:

• created an enhanced request management system based directly on the needs of its users;

• automated and streamlined many of its processes;

• reformed the original consortium which is now a legal partnership amongst the three founding universities; and

• clarified and refined its legal agreements both with its members and suppliers.

The value of the HERON service is demonstrated by the growing numbers of its members and the increasing use of the service amongst many existing members. We have every expectation that the service will continue at its current performance level and expand to cover a wider range of educational institutions.

Further information about HERON is available at <http://www.HERON.ac.uk> or from the HERON Project Manager, Sally Curry <s.g.curry@stir.ac.uk>.

[1] HERON originally formed part of the UK Joint Information System Committee's eLib Electronic Libraries Programme <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib>, though it now functions under the auspices of the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner>.
[2] <http://www.jisc.ac.uk>
[3] SCOPE <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/projects/scope/>
ACORN <http://acorn.lboro.ac.uk/>
Project Phoenix <http://www.hud.ac.uk/schools/phoenix/pages/homepage.htm>. The findings of these projects were encapsulated in Halliday, L. (ed.) 1997, "The Impact of On Demand Publishing and Electronic Reserve on Students, Teaching and Libraries in Higher Education in the UK. JISC"
[4] <http://www.cla.co.uk>

CNRI Explores Maintenance of and Long-term Access to Computer Science Collections

Contributed by:
Constance McLindon
Vice President
Corporation for National Research Initiatives
Reston, Virginia, USA
<mclindon@cnri.reston.va.us>

The Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) is actively exploring alternative approaches for the maintenance of and/or access to key elements of computer science research material, both text and non-text, on a long-term basis.

CNRI plans to work with other groups also addressing important aspects of this domain. Among the potential sources of computer science material are the original Computer Science Technical Reports (CS-TR) collection, D-Lib Magazine, and the various test-suites that have been assembled by CNRI over the last ten years.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funded the CS-TR project, which developed network access to archives of technical computer science literature, with the goal of evolving knowledge in the field of information storage, search, and retrieval. DARPA has also provided funding for D-Lib Magazine and the test suite projects. More information about these projects may be found at the CNRI web site, <http://www.cnri.reston.va.us/>.

LEAF - Linking and Exploring Authority Files

Contributed by:
Ulrike Beermann
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Berlin, Germany
<Ulrike.Beermann@sbb.spk-berlin.de>

The LEAF project (Linking and Exploring Authority Files) started in March 2001. It is co-funded within the European IST-Programme and will run for three years. The LEAF consortium consists of fifteen partners from ten European countries, and the project work is co-ordinated by the Berlin State Library. A network of observing partners, aiming at the integration of a variety of needs and requirements, was set up. Our observing partners are institutions from all parts of Europe and the USA. They will get access to most project documentation and can advise the LEAF consortium at any stage.

LEAF aims at developing a model architecture for a distributed search system that will harvest already existing name authority files (for both person names and corporate bodies), thus bringing together diverse data as respects format, language and content. This data will be taken from a variety of cultural institutions in Europe including: libraries, archives, museums, and research and documentation centres.

The central idea of LEAF is to store the information retrieved from all participating data providers in a Common Name Authority File. Different name forms referring to the same person or corporate body will be linked together. Thus the user will have access to rich and complex authority information. As LEAF is planned to be integrated into the services of MALVINE (Manuscripts and Letters Via Integrated Networks in Europe, see <http://www.malvine.org>), the user will not only receive high quality biographical information but will also be informed about all documents in participating institutions that are connected to a particular person or corporate body.

• LEAF will be highly user friendly. Users will get a workspace for annotations of particular records and can thus enhance the quality of the records.

• Small institutions without electronic resources will have the option to add holdings information to a specific record, indicating that they own manuscript material connected to this record.

• Commercial agents will have the opportunity to add customised offers to specific records, e.g. manuscript dealers might add the information of a manuscript being for sale to a specific authority record.

The LEAF project will therefore contribute to the development of an open, distributed information market with many positive possibilities for a variety of big and small cultural institutions and for a variety of users. At present we are evaluating a recently completed user survey to optimise our services and to make sure that LEAF will really be based on actual user needs. We will inform the public about important project achievements in our Newsletter the first issue of which will be published by mid-October.

Please visit our website at <http://www.leaf-eu.org> to get further information about the project. You can also subscribe to the Newsletter at that website.

TermMaster: Software for Creating and Maintaining Thesauri and Ontologies

Contributed by:
Dagobert Soergel
Professor, College of Information Studies
University of Maryland, College Park
College Park, Maryland, USA.
<ds52@umail.umd.edu>

The construction and maintenance of thesauri and ontologies is complex business. It requires a database of many sources to exploit existing intellectual capital, the maintenance of a complex network of relationships of many types, distinction of application-specific subsets within an organization-wide thesaurus or ontology, and excellent facilities to produce meaningful presentations in print and on the Web. TermMaster, a legacy program developed over the years for the Alcohol and other Drug Thesaurus (http://etoh.niaaa.nih.gov/AODVol1/Aodthome.htm) supports these functions with a rich set of features; write to <ds52@umail.umd.edu> for a free pre-beta version (for non-commercial purposes). But be forewarned: the program was developed for use by a small number of knowledgeable staff; it rates high on power but low on usability; it runs under DOS, and all functions are invoked through configuration files. For a description and introductory user manual see <http://www.clis.umd.edu/faculty/soergel/dlthestut/SoergelTermMasterDoc.PDF>.

The following is a description of the more important capabilities of TermMaster.

General

Stores multiple thesauri/ontologies in an integrated thesaurus data base and tracks the origin(s) of each piece of information. Supports the construction of a new thesaurus/ontology based on several source thesauri. To facilitate comparisons, TermMaster stores terms as stems, with the appropriate singular or plural suffix given with each source in which the term occurs; where singular and plural have different meanings, this can be overridden.

Supports the creation, maintenance, and meaningful display of hierarchies.

Allows a large and extensible number of relationship types, including different types of scope notes.

Data Input

Accepts input files in several formats (produced with a word processor or by conversion from a machine-readable source), mainly hierarchical and alphabetical. Preserves the hierarchical structure and sequence of input files.

Does extensive input checking to assure formal correctness of input files.

Data Manipulation and Editing

Creates external term numbers (notations) expressing the hierarchy, building on "seed numbers" given for terms on the upper levels of the hierarchy.

Creates hierarchical cross-references implied by a hierarchic input file.

Checks thesaurus terms embedded in scope notes (marked by *___*), replaces any nonpreferred term with the descriptor, and adds the term number.

Comparison of Thesauri

Creates thesaurus comparison files that support the mapping from one thesaurus to another and the creation of complete thesauri. One option for a comparison file lists candidate terms that occur in one or more source thesauri but not in the target thesaurus under construction. Another option is to import conceptual relationships from any number of sources into a target thesaurus even if different thesauri use different terms to express these relationships. (TermMaster uses synonym relationships found in the target thesaurus and in the sources to accomplish this.)

Output Capabilities: Print, Web, export files

Print formats

Well-designed hierarchical displays (outline or entire hierarchy), giving the user complete control over formatting and over the information to be printed for each term: the user can specify groups of internal relationships to be treated as one external relationship (e.g., map AB, FT, ST, and ET to ST) and specify the sequence of these groups. One can print a quick hierarchy that lists just descriptors or an annotated hierarchy that gives scope notes and cross-references.

Alphabetical index of all terms (descriptors and nondescriptors) in KWOC format.

Annotated alphabetical list of all terms, if desired.

Web formats

HTML pages that maintain the user-friendly format of the printed pages, including the indented hierarchical arrangement. Cross-references are all active hyperlinks.

Input file for DB/TextWorks to set up a searchable thesaurus database on the Web. The descriptor records found are hyperlinked into the appropriate HTML thesaurus page so that the user can see a retrieved descriptor in its hierarchical context.

Data Export Files

Files in the native format of UMLS (Unified Medical Language System) and a delimited ASCII file of descriptors and their term numbers for input into a database management system.

A Sustainable, OAI-Based Implementation of NCSTRL

Contributed by:
Edward A. Fox
Professor, Computer Science
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
<fox@vt.edu>

Edward Fox, Jim French, Paul Jones, Kurt Maly, Michael Nelson, and Mohammad Zubair are leading an effort to work toward moving the Networked Computer Science Technical Reference Library (NCSTRL) into a sustainable, Open Archives Initiative (http://www.openarchives.org) conformant framework.

Virginia's Internet Technology Innovation Center (http://www.internettic.org) has provided $30K of support that will go largely to shifting NCSTRL into the OAI sphere, through efforts at Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, and Virginia Tech. Paul Jones and the team of ibiblio.org (see http://www.ibiblio.org) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, will run the EPrints software (see http://www.eprints.org) to help in this process. At Old Dominion University, the ARC (see http://arc.cs.odu.edu) and Kepler software (see http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april01/maly/04maly.html) will be used.

The initial work in this process should lead to an OAI-based operation of NCSTRL by October 2001, with four NCSTRL collections in Virginia demonstrating the feasibility of both saving the historical NCSTRL collection and pointing the way for a new paradigm of disseminating Computer Science technical reports. Our aim is to demonstrate that our approach can be linked with related projects -- e.g., the National Science Foundation’s National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technical Education Digital Library (NSDL) (see http://www.nsdl.nsf.gov) and the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (see other articles in this issue of D-Lib Magazine) -- and can be expanded to other disciplines as well. For the purpose of fully moving NCSTRL into the OAI world we will seek further funding.

There should be little impact initially on the operations at most NCSTRL sites, and the service at the NCSTRL web site at <http://www.ncstrl.org> should provide similar capabilities to what resulted from previous NCSTRL support. Those involved in NCSTRL or otherwise interested in this effort are encouraged to follow announcements that will appear by October at the web site located at <http://www.ncstrl.org>.

CETIS Learning Content Special Interest Group

Contributed by:
Lorna M. Campbell
Research Fellow
Centre for Academic Practice
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
<lmc@strath.ac.uk>
URL: <http://www.cetis.ac.uk/learning-content>

The Learning Content Special Interest Group (LC SIG) is one of four special interest groups recently established by the Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards (CETIS) <http://www.cetis.ac.uk>. The aim of these groups, which currently cover content, assessment, metadata and enterprise, is to raise the UK Further Education (FE)/ Higher Education (HE) sectors awareness of interoperability standards, evaluate and support institutions' uptake and implementation of these standards and track the development of relevant standards and specifications.

The Learning Content Special Interest Group will focus on the various standards and specifications which aim to define each stage in the production, packaging, management and delivery of interoperable learning resources. These include the IMS Global Learning Consortium's Content Packaging, Learning Design and Digital Repositories specifications and the Advanced Distributed Learning Network's Shared Content Object Reference Model (ADL SCORM). The LC SIG will also monitor the work of the CEN/ISSS Learning Technologies Workshop and will follow developments in the emerging field of educational modelling languages.

These specifications are of particular importance as they define the process required for the production and delivery of interoperable educational content from designing learning tasks, producing learning objects, packaging learning objects to produce lessons and modules, delivering these lessons to the learner through virtual learning environments and tracking the learners progress through the learning tasks. In addition, these specifications should help to facilitate the provision of flexible resources for life-long learning. It is crucial to emphasise that these specifications are not just of relevance to educational technologists and ICT developers. Interoperability specifications are of importance to all those involved in the FE/HE sector, whether lecturers developing learning resources, librarians managing collections and content repositories or senior managers investing in new institutional VLEs.

As learning content interoperability is such a wide ranging field with several key players developing related specifications, one of the LC SIG's key roles will be to advise FE/HE on the significance of the various bodies and the relevance of their specifications. In addition, the group will also gather the requirements of the FE/HE sector and feed these requirements back to CETIS and ultimately to the relevant standards and specifications bodies. Where possible the special interest group also aims to play an active role in the development of forthcoming content related specifications.

The Learning Content Special Interest Group will meet approximately every three months over the course of an eighteen-month period. The group has set aside a small amount of funding to commission FE/HE consultants to undertake specific tasks to test various aspects of the learning content standards and specifications. The first meeting of the LC SIG will take place at the University of Strathclyde on Friday 21st September. This meeting is open to all staff from the UK FE/HE sector. If you would like to attend this meeting please contact Lorna M. Campbell via email at <lmc@strath.ac.uk> or by phone at 0141 548 3072 no later than Wednesday 19th September. The group has also set up a mailing list, which can be joined at <http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/CETIS-LCI.html>.

The Learning Content Special Interest Group is being coordinated by Lorna M. Campbell of the University of Strathclyde and Charles Duncan of the University of Edinburgh in partnership with Steve Jeyes and Clive Church of Newark and Sherwood College. For further information on the LC SIG please visit the group's website at <http://www.cetis.ac.uk/learning-content> or e-mail <lmc@strath.ac.uk>.

New Organization and Discussion List for Electronic Resources

Contributed by:
Abigail Bordeaux
Electronic Resources Access Librarian
Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton, New York, USA
<bordeaux@binghamton.edu>

Joan Conger
Database Performance and Assessment Librarian
University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, USA
<jconger@arches.uga.edu>

Emily McElroy
Serials and Electronic Collections Librarian
Loyola University Health Sciences Library, Maywood, Illinois, USA
<emcelro@wpo.it.luc.edu>

A new organization and discussion list have been created to bring together librarians working with electronic resources.

Electronic Resources in Libraries (ERIL) is a grassroots response to the complexities of working with electronic resources. It will serve as an information and networking resource and as a place for library staff from all departments and types of libraries to interact. Participants in ERIL include staff from reference, instruction, technical services, systems and other areas-probably even some who do all of the above. Activities may include discussion of key issues, sharing solutions to common problems, and lobbying of vendors and publishers to develop their products in ways that will benefit libraries. ERIL will be a collaborative organization that will gather not at its own separate conference, but wherever members and participants express an interest.

The ERIL discussion list has been created as one way ER librarians can communicate. The list is open to librarians and library assistants and currently has approximately 1400 members. Discussion topics may include collection development policy, electronic journal holdings, use statistics, licensing and negotiation, product set-up and maintenance, instruction and specific product issues. To subscribe to ERIL, please send an e-mail with no subject and "subscribe ERIL-L Your-First-Name Your-Last-Name" in the body of the message to <LISTSERV@LISTSERV.BINGHAMTON.EDU>, or contact Abigail Bordeaux or Emily McElroy for more information.

An ERIL web site is in development to serve as a repository of information for participants and anyone interested in electronic resources. The URL for the site will be distributed to ERIL-L and other lists when the site becomes available.

African and Asian Visual Artists Archive

Contributed by:
Brenda Brinkley
Information Officer
Visual Arts Data Service
Farnham, United Kingdom
<info@vads.ahds.ac.uk>

The African and Asian Visual Artists Archive (Aavaa) is the most comprehensive slide archive of contemporary visual art by artists of African and Asian descent working in the UK since the post-war period. Nearly 2,000 images from this archive are available via the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) having been digitised as part of the JISC Image Digitisation Project (JIDI).

The slide collection is divided into two main areas: installation views of exhibitions and individual artists' work. The 12 artists residing on the VADS website represent an important cross range of artforms in the Aavaa slide collection. With works by recent graduates such as Amanda Francis (A Cosy Couple, 1997) to the early modernist sculptures of Ronald Moody (Midonz, 1937) who arrived in England in the 1920s. The exhibition slide collection contains key thematic shows such as "The Other Story", which was curated by Rasheed Araeen at the Hayward Gallery in 1989, as well as slides of shows curated at the Black Art Gallery in London, a gallery space that closed in the early 1990s.

Founded in Bristol by Eddie Chambers in 1989, Aavaa emerged at a time when institutions were opening up to the enriching potential of diversity in the visual arts. However, at the time of the archive's emergence there was a severe lack of information pertaining to the work of many of the artists we now see in the Aavaa collection -- artists who have made a significant contribution to the British and international arts scene. In 1995, the archive relocated to the University of East London where it is now based as a Research Centre led by David A. Bailey and Sonia Boyce.

VADS and Aavaa will collaborate again in the future to put more of this growing collection online thus providing an invaluable research tool for generations to come.

Aavaa is searchable online from <http://vads.ahds.ac.uk>.

Evaluation of the UK eLib Program

Contributed by:
Stephen Pinfield
Academic Services Librarian
University of Nottingham, UK
and DNER Program Consultant
<Stephen.Pinfield@Nottingham.ac.uk>

The summative evaluation report of the third and final phase of the UK eLib (Electronic Libraries) Program has now been published. It is available, along with the report for phases 1 and 2, at <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/other/intro.html>. In addition to the full report, there is also an eight-page overview document which summarizes the main conclusions and recommendations. The report was produced by ESYS limited, a consultancy company with experience of undertaking and evaluating technology applications programs in a number of fields, particularly space and defense. The evaluation therefore takes an independent view of the Program from outside the Higher Education library sector. ESYS also conducted the evaluation of eLib phases 1 and 2.

The eLib Program was a digital library development initiative that ran from 1994 to mid-2001 and was supported by the UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), a government-funded agency. Phases 1 and 2 ran in parallel from 1994 to 1997 and accounted for £15 million ($22 million). The two phases included 60 development projects, involving over 100 Higher Education Institutions in the UK. Phase 3 ran between 1998 and 2001 and accounted for over £4 million ($6 million). The 20 projects in phase 3 aimed to consolidate and extend the work of the earlier phases and covered a wide range of issues including Z39.50 development, 'hybrid library' research, digital preservation and digital text delivery.

The evaluation report discusses the activities of eLib3 in detail. It concludes that, in general terms, "eLib phase 3 was a successful program which has met most of its objectives and has had significant impacts for a program of its size." The impacts were not limited to just those institutions directly involved in project work, but have affected university libraries in general "by accelerating the uptake of new technologies in a practical, user service oriented way." Despite the general positive gloss on the Program, the report does highlight some more problematic areas, particularly associated with relationships with commercial suppliers, project exit strategies and scaling issues.

Although the eLib Program has now come to an end, a large number of projects and services that began their life within the Program are being continued in various forms. Also many of the learning outcomes associated with the program have been incorporated into the development strategy of the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER). The DNER <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner> is a major initiative to co-ordinate key digital library services at a national level in the UK. As well as co-ordinating digital library service delivery, the DNER office in London is also overseeing a development program which carries forward many of the important themes coming out of eLib.

California Digital Library Standards Documents

Contributed by:
John Ober
Director of Education and Strategic Innovation
California Digital Library
Oakland, California, USA
<john.ober@ucop.edu>

The California Digital Library (CDL) has recently adopted several guidelines for the use of standards in its collections and services. Notable among them are guidelines for the creation and encoding of digital objects, and best practices for the encoding of finding aids using the encoded archival description standard. The documents may be found at the CDL publications page at <http://www.cdlib.org/about/publications>.

CDL Digital Object Standard: Metadata, Content and Encoding states the minimum standards for encoding digital objects to be added to CDL collections. The document explains the CDL's adoption of an XML DTD -- based upon a DTD originally created for the Making of America II project -- as a means to encode administrative, structural, and descriptive metadata for the objects.

Digital Image Format Standards is a companion document that names CDL standards for the creation of digital image surrogates of primary source materials. The documents were written by CDL's advisory working group on Strategic Technology, Architecture and Standards, consisting of digital library experts, faculty, and researchers from throughout the University of California System, and were reviewed widely by CDL partners and experts from the field. Together the two pieces replace the earlier CDL Digital Image Collection Standards from 1999.

The Online Archive of California Best Practices Guidelines Version 1.0: Encoding New Finding Aids Using Encoded Archival Description, establishes a number of requirements for the consistent creation of encoded finding aids for the Online Archive of California (OAC). The OAC is a statewide digital resource that includes a single, searchable database of more than 5,000 finding aids to the contents of primary resource collections throughout California. In many cases, digital surrogates for the primary source materials are linked from the finding aids. Over 45 California-based cultural institutions contribute materials to the OAC. In addition to these institution-based collections there are virtual collections including the California Heritage Collection, the American Heritage Virtual Archive, the Japanese-American Relocation Digital Archive, and the Museums in the OAC collection. An expansion of OAC titled California Cultures is commencing this fall. The OAC website is available at <http://oac.cdlib.org>.

Announcing The Online Archive of New Mexico

Contributed by:
Kathlene Ferris
Online Archive of New Mexico
University of New Mexico General Library
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
<kferris@unm.edu>

The Online Archive of New Mexico, a database of historical source materials in New Mexico, is available for use at <http://eLibrary.unm.edu/oanm>. The result of a two-year collaborative project, the database contains information on over 1,000 archival collections. The material described covers more than four hundred years of New Mexico history in original documents located at four major repositories:

Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico General Library, Albuquerque

Fray Angélico Chávez History Library, Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe

New Mexico State Records Center & Archives, Santa Fe

Rio Grande Historical Collections, New Mexico State University Library, Las Cruces.

Designed for community users as well as academics, OANM helps researchers discover materials about New Mexico history. Researchers interested in local and family history, or topics related to ethnic and cultural studies, the history of art and architecture, archaeology, economics, environmental history, sociology, and political history will find OANM a useful tool for locating source documents. Collection materials also support broad studies of the American West, Mexico, and Latin America. Housed in New Mexico's archives and libraries, historical materials such as letters, diaries, maps, photographs, literary manuscripts, financial ledgers, research files, and government reports are significant resources for study. OANM provides detailed descriptions of all of these materials.

Information on collections can be found by searching the OANM database or through browsing lists of collection titles at the OANM web site. The site also contains more than 400 sample images (facsimiles) of documents and photographs. In addition, suggested exercises for use in elementary and secondary school classrooms are available.

The Online Archive of New Mexico was initiated by the New Mexico State Library and was funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Technical support is provided by the University of New Mexico General Library.

Further information is available at the OANM web site or by contacting Kathlene Ferris, University of New Mexico General Library, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1466, (tel) 505-277-7171, (email) <oanm@unm.edu>.

The ALA ASCLA and Texas Century Scholarships: Recruiting our Future to the Profession

Contributed by:
Ellen Perlow
Chair, ALA ASCLA Century Scholarship Diversity Initiative
Manager of Information Services
Texas Woman's University School of Library and Information Studies
Denton, Texas, USA
<eperlow@twu.edu>
Web: <http://twu.edu/~s_perlow/>

Our library and information science (LIS) profession needs professionals, expert in developing and managing accessible, universally designed knowledge resources, who will ensure open, equal, and universal access to information for the diverse communities we serve. Recruiting a diverse workforce also is a priority. To achieve our goals, we need to recruit into our LIS graduate programs creative people skilled in accessibility and assistive technology, in doing things differently, in "thinking out of the box."

To the rescue: The independently-funded American Library Association ASCLA Division Century Scholarship Diversity Initiative <http://www.ala.org/ascla/awards.html> and Texas Library Association's [TLA's ] matching Texas Century Scholarship: <http://www.txla.org/html/awards/scholar/century.html> that recruit people with differabilities into LIS programs and the profession.

The ALA ASCLA Century Scholarship now boasts two Century Scholars: Rebecca Van Scyoc (2000, University of Illinois) and Simon Healey (2001, University of Pittsburgh). We enlist your assistance in recruiting applicants for the 2002 ALA ASCLA Scholarship. Application Deadline: March 1, 2002.

ALA ASCLA Century Scholarship Criteria:

1. Acceptance to/enrollment in an ALA-accredited LIS program (see: <http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oa/lisdir.html>. No credit-hour limit;
2. Medical documentation of "differability" in accordance with The ADA Guidelines - Sec. 3. Definitions. 42 USC 12102, and personal statement of need for assistance;
3. American or Canadian citizenship; and
4. Award, currently to $2500 annually, for assistance otherwise not provided by the university or school.

Please see: <http://www.ala.org/ascla/awards.html> and <http://twu.edu/~s_perlow/centuryscholarship.html>

TLA's $2000 matching Texas Century Scholarship Criteria:

1. Recipient of an ALA ASCLA Century Scholarship;
2. Enrollment in one of the Texas ALA-accredited LIS programs; and
3. Agreement to work in a Texas library or information center for two years upon graduation.

Please see: <http://www.txla.org/html/awards/scholar/century.html>

• Look for other state, regional, special, and international LIS associations to follow Texas' lead.

• Look for the corporate sector, especially the Able-to-Work Consortium <http://www.abletowork.org> that advocates for inclusion in the American workforce, to hopefully become Century partners.

Century's time is now. Accessibility, accessible web and universal design, what our Century Scholars, people who do things differently, know and do best, now are speeding to the top of everyone's corporate, as well as personal agendas.

Why?

1. Thanks to the U.S. Access Board <http://www.access-board.gov>, under the new Section 508 accessibility standards authored by the Access Board's Doug Wakefield, by law, U.S. federal agencies now must procure only accessible electronic and information technology (see: <http://www.section508.gov/>. All U.S. federal websites are [becoming] accessible. Section 508's positive impact is filtering down quickly to the private sector. Especially in today's cost-conscious economy, having the U.S. government, a major customer, purchase only accessible products means that vendors will choose to manufacture accessible, universally designed products.

2. Even if we as people are supremely fortunate not to ever need to adapt, cope, compensate, or do things differently due to birth, illness, accident, natural disaster, or lifestyle choice, we all are aging. As we age, accessibility and adaptive capacity increasingly become keys to maintaining our quality of life.

Due to the universal relevance of accessibility in all our lives, everyone benefits from investment in the ALA and Texas Century Scholarship Diversity Initiatives and in our Century Scholars.

The ALA ASCLA and Texas Century Scholarship Diversity Initiatives: "Celebrating a New Century that Celebrates Diversity." For further information, please contact Ellen Perlow, Chair, ALA ASCLA Century Scholarship Committee, <eperlow@twu.edu> or <eperlow@hotmail.com>.
Tel: 940-898-2622.
ASCLA: <http://www.ala.org/ascla>.
Toll Free: 1-800-545-2433 ext. 4395.
Toll-Free TDD: 1-888-814-7692. Texas Library Association: <http://www.txla.org/>
Toll-Free Tel.: 1-800-580-2852

Web: <http://www.ala.org/ascla/centuryscholarship.html>
<http://twu.edu/~s_perlow/centuryscholarship.html>
<http://www.txla.org/html/awards/scholar/century.html>.

A New Enhancement for PADI: the Introduction of the PADIUpdate Database

Contributed by:
Susan Thomas
PADI Administrator
National & International Preservation Activities
National Library of Australia
<padi@nla.gov.au>

The National Library of Australia's new PADIUpdate database was released to the public on 27 June. The system acts as an interface for putting resources on the PADI website, an international subject gateway to resources on all aspects of digital preservation.

The PADI subject gateway

Many readers of D-Lib Magazine will already be familiar with PADI, which stands for Preserving Access to Digital Information. PADI serves to identify the current issues being addressed, the principal groups involved, and the main directions being explored in digital preservation.

The site includes news and conference information areas, links to policies developed by institutions managing digital materials, articles, projects and case study reports, and access to glossaries, bibliographies, journals and newsletters about preserving access to digital information. To date, users have been able to search for resources, suggest new resources and participate in PADI's discussion list, padiforum-l.

The PADIUpdate interface

With PADIUpdate, the National Library of Australia is now able to welcome international contributors to the database. Using a web-based interface, users from around the world are now able to directly contribute records to the PADI website, a function previously restricted to Library staff.

Access is available at three levels: indexers may submit new resources to the database; reviewers check data entry and resource selection; and the administrator maintains topic information and registers new clients to the system. It is anticipated that users of PADI will benefit from the broader coverage that contributors located globally can bring to the identification and selection of resources.

Using PADIUpdate

The system has been designed to be user friendly, with simple input forms, and an on-line Help Manual that can be accessed from each screen. After logging in, indexers are taken to a search screen that is used to check that the resource to be added is not already listed on PADI. From there contributors can access an input form for entering data in the required fields.

Once a contribution has been submitted, it will automatically be sent for review, currently a National Library of Australia staff member, who will also provide feedback.

Further information

• Further information about registering as an indexer for PADI is available from the PADI Administrator at <padi@nla.gov.au>. Comments on the system are also encouraged and should be directed to the same address.

• The PADIUpdate database is located at <http://www.nla.gov.au/padiupdate>.

• To visit the PADI website go to <http://www.nla.gov.au/padi>.

• PADI Selection Criteria are available at <http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/selection.html>.

Digitisation Solutions: Conference Organized by the Higher Education Digitisation Service

Contributed by:
Simon Tanner
Senior Digitisation Consultant (HEDS)
Higher Education Digitisation Service
University of Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
<S.G.Tanner@herts.ac.uk>

This important annual HEDS event held at The Royal Society was attended by over 170 people interested in digitisation or working on a digital library project. The conference addressed the main issues of digitisation as seen through the eyes of practitioners who have run and advised successful projects, with emphasis upon the following areas:

• Running a successful multi-partner project
• Recognizing the importance of strategy and planning
• Digitising audio and moving images
• Maximising productivity through careful workflow design
• Integrating data and metadata for delivery and preservation
• Promoting the digitised product
• Going beyond the project, finding funds to carry on

The papers/slides are available at the URL below. They span projects and experience from Higher Education and the public sector as well as information from experts in the field.

<http://heds.herts.ac.uk/conf2001/conf2001.html>

Survey on Electronic Serials

Contributed by:
Mark Jordan
Librarian / Analyst, Systems Division
W.A.C. Bennett Library, Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
<mjordan@sfu.ca >

Mark Jordan (Simon Fraser University, <http://www.lib.sfu.ca>) and David Kisly (Electronic Library Network, <http://www.eln.bc.ca/>) are implementing a survey titled "How Does Your Library Handle Electronic Serials? A General Survey". The survey's purpose is to gather information on how libraries of all types and sizes manage electronic, full-text serials, collectively referred to as "e-serials" and including electronic versions of refereed journals, magazines, newsletters, newspapers, etc.

The survey's focus is on the workflow and technical aspects of managing e-serials (for example, which library staff are involved in providing access to e-serials, or to what extent do libraries adhere to CONSER guidelines <http://www.loc.gov/acq/conser/module31.html> for linking to full text from their integrated library systems?) and to a lesser extent on collection policy issues (for example, how often do libraries negotiate changes to the terms and conditions of use outlined in license agreements for e-serials?). The survey is intended to serve as an environmental scan of how libraries are currently addressing the challenges of providing access to full-text electronic serials.

Staff from any type of library, anywhere in the world, are invited to participate in the survey. The aim is to collect one survey per library, not from multiple individuals from the same library. To support collaboration among colleagues from the same library, respondents may create a login "account" that they can share with their colleagues. An additional benefit of logging in is that after the survey closes, respondents may view their own library's results in relation to the aggregated results of the survey.

Respondents may complete the survey anonymously if they do not intend to collaborate with colleagues or do not want to view their library's results after the survey closes.

The closing date is September 30, 2001. Preliminary results of the survey will be presented at the Access 2001 Conference <http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/conferences/access2001>. Final results will be made available as well; their availability can be tracked at the survey URL.

The URL of the survey is <http://www.targetinform.com/eserials>.

Research Resources in Medical History

Contributed by:
Anna Grundy
The Administrator, Research Resources in Medical History
The British Library, Co-operation and Partnership Programme
London, United Kingdom
<anna.grundy@bl.uk>

Research Resources in Medical History was launched by the British Library and the Wellcome Trust in January 2001. It is a competitive grants scheme that will provide £1 million of non-recurrent funding over two years for the support of projects that improve the preservation of, or access to, medically important collections. Proposals to the scheme focusing on conservation work to save fragile and damaged materials are welcomed, as are proposals for the digitisation of original materials, for cataloguing from source materials, for converting catalogues to electronic formats, and for the creation of new gateways to, or surveys of, collections.

Just over £300,000 has recently been awarded to archival projects across the library, archive and museum domains. Grants will go to a number of institutions, including: London Metropolitan Archives, to complete the cataloguing of a range of hospital archives; the Borthwick Institute in York, to preserve the York NHS Trust archives; Exeter University, to catalogue the papers of the Royal Western Counties Institution at Starcross, a psychiatric hospital; and Dundee University, to catalogue, conserve, and digitise a range of important sets of papers relating to medicine.

A selection of 5,000 documents and photographs from the archives at Dundee University will be digitised to a high resolution using equipment purchased from other sources of funding and compressed for remote web access. The purpose of this will be two-fold. It will greatly increase access to the information contained within the records while also acting as a preservation tool, reducing handling and usage of the vulnerable originals.

The various projects that have been funded will open up access to documents as diverse as the records of the Court of Arches, relating to the prosecution of a midwife for practising without a licence in 1665, and Emma Durham's diary of 1879 as a nurse in the Zulu War. The first round of grants has focused entirely on archives but a number of printed book projects are under consideration for the next round.

Full details of the grants scheme, including information on how to apply, can be found at: <http://www.bl.uk/concord/medical-about.html>.

In the News

Recent Press Releases and Announcements

Roberta I. Shaffer Assumes Leadership of the Special Libraries Association

"Washington, D.C., September 4, 2001 -- Roberta I. Shaffer officially begins her tenure as the new Executive Director of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). In her new role, Shaffer will lead SLA through many new changes, including direction of new branding, membership redefinition, simplification strategies, and assessment of the Association's partnerships and programs. The Board of Directors appointed Shaffer as Executive Director-Designate in April. She succeeds David R. Bender, Ph.D. who retired in August as SLA's chief staff officer after twenty-two years of service."

The full press release is at <http://www.sla.org/content/memberservice/communication/pr/pressrelease/2124.cfm>.

Linda Evers Joins OCLC Institute

"DUBLIN, Ohio, Aug. 31, 2001 -- Linda M. Evers has been appointed associate director of the OCLC Institute."

"She has extensive experience as an instructional design manager, most recently with BISYS Fund Services, Columbus, Ohio, and also with the Gillette Company and Dynamics Research Corporation, both headquartered in Massachusetts."

The full press release is at <http://www.oclc.org/oclc/press/20010831.shtm>.

OCLC to Collaborate with National Library of Australia to Provide Gateway to WorldCat for Small Libraries

"DUBLIN, Ohio, Aug. 31, 2001 -- The National Library of Australia (NLA) and OCLC will provide small libraries in Australia with access to WorldCat (the OCLC Online Union Catalog) on a trial basis. Australian special, school, public and other small libraries will access WorldCat through the NLA's Kinetica service in 2002."

"...The National Library of Australia operates Kinetica, Australia's library network serving over 1,000 Australian libraries of all types. NLA's Kinetica provides access to over 33 million items held in Australian libraries."

The full press release is at <http://www.oclc.org/oclc/press/20010831a.shtm>.

IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellows Named for 2002

"DUBLIN, Ohio, August 21, 2001 -- The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and OCLC have awarded five IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellowships for 2002. OCLC and IFLA established the fellowships to support library and information science professionals who are in the early stages of their career development and from countries with developing economies."

"...The five fellowship recipients will participate in a specially designed four-week program in the United States April 29 - May 24, 2002.

The full press release is at <http://www.oclc.org/oclc/press/20010821.shtm>.

America's Heritage to Receive a Check-up

"Washington, DC -- The Heritage Health Index, which will for the first time measure the condition of the nation's collections, is being launched by Heritage Preservation, Inc. This survey is being developed by Heritage Preservation in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and with major funding from the Getty Grant Program."

"Through the Heritage Health Index, the condition of collections in the nation's museums, libraries, archives, and historical societies will be measured every four years. At present, no national survey is conducted regularly to produce credible statistics regarding the condition of the nation's artistic, historical, and scientific collections."

The full press release is at <http://www.imls.gov/whatsnew/current/081501.htm>.

Over 77,000 Digitized Works of Art Coming to WilsonWeb

"New York, NY and Pittsburgh, PA, August 8, 2001 -- The H.W. Wilson Company, publisher of such art reference databases as Art Full Text, Art Index, and Art Index Retrospective, and the Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) have agreed to a distribution relationship making The AMICO Library^TM available via WilsonWeb."

The full press release is at <http://www.amico.org/docs/press/pr.010808.Wilson.html>.

Senate Confirms President's Nomination of Former Texas State Librarian To Head Federal Library and Museum Agency

"Washington, DC -- Last night [12 July 2001], the United States Senate confirmed Robert Sidney Martin, Ph.D., a distinguished library professional and scholar to be Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is an independent Federal grant-making agency that supports the nation's libraries and museums."

"Dr. Martin, a librarian, archivist, administrator, and educator, is Professor and Interim Director of the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman's University. He joined the School's Faculty in 1999. Texas Woman's University is ranked by U. S. News and World Report as one of the top graduate programs in library and information studies in the nation."

The full press release is at <http://www.imls.gov/whatsnew/current/071301.htm>.

Sharing Information: Building Global Infrastructure for the Media Industries

"Washington - Geneva, August 7, 2001. The International DOI Foundation (IDF) and Japan-based Content ID Forum (cIDf) agreed to collaborate on building infrastructure for management of digital intellectual property. Both organizations develop specifications for content identification and metadata that enable e-commerce and rights transactions for copyrighted information."

"Norman Paskin, Director of the IDF, and Hiroshi Yasuda, President of cIDf, agreed, 'Convergence rather than divergence of the two systems will benefit the wider community of users. The similarity in approach of these two major initiatives was recognized as ground to reconcile differences to create interoperable infrastructure. IDF and cIDf will share information on system development and work with open collaborations such as participation in MPEG-21 (Moving Picture Experts Group).'"

The full press release is at <http://www.doi.org/news/010808-members-mtg.html>.

NFAIS Names Dan Duncan as Interim Executive Director

"Philadelphia, PA [20 July 2001] -- NFAIS (the National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services) today named Dan Duncan as Interim Executive Director of the organization, following the resignation in June of former Executive Director, Richard T. Kaser. Duncan assumes his new role as of August 1, 2001."

"NFAIS currently supports an active membership of more than 60 organizations and institutions, all part of a global information community. Formed in a post-Sputnik era with the intent of facilitating access to and dissemination of research, NFAIS has long been noted for its focus on research, education and community building in pursuit of that mission. Within the next few weeks, NFAIS embarks on a strategic planning process to identify new means of broadening the organization's appeal in today's information economy."

For more information, please contact Jill O'Neill at <jilloneill@nfais.org>.

NetLibrary Joins NISO

"Bethesda, Md., USA (July 26, 2001) -- NISO, the National Information Standards Organization, is pleased to welcome a new member, netLibrary, to its voting roster. The addition of this organization complements and extends NISO’s ability to develop standards for the changing Internet environment."

"netLibrary (www.netLibrary.com) is a leading provider of eBooks and Internet-based content management services. Hundreds of publishers of academic, professional, reference, and scholarly books have adopted netLibrary's digital rights management infrastructure. The organization develops, archives, hosts, and securely distributes eBooks and print-ready files through a variety of channels, including academic, corporate, public, and school libraries. netLibrary eBooks are full-text searchable and available for use on personal computers in online and offline formats. In the developing eBook environment, netLibrary’s expertise will be an invaluable asset to NISO and the community that NISO serves."

The full press release is at <http://www.niso.org/PR-netLibrary.html>.

OCLC Preservation Resources to Store Microfilm for CIC

"DUBLIN, Ohio, July 24, 2001 -- The Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) has awarded a contract to OCLC Preservation Resources for the storage of preservation microfilm and duplication services for six of its members."

"OCLC Preservation Resources will initially store in its print master storage vault more than 19,000 reels of microfilm for Penn State University, Ohio State University, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Iowa and University of Wisconsin-Madison. As more preservation film is produced, it will be added."

The full press release is at <http://www.oclc.org/oclc/press/20010724b_es.shtm>.

Per-article purchase available in OCLC Electronic Collections Online

"DUBLIN, Ohio, July 24, 2001 -- Purchase of individual electronic journal articles is now available from the OCLC FirstSearch Electronic Collections Online database on the OCLC FirstSearch service."

"This new feature enables libraries to complement their existing journal subscriptions and plan future subscriptions to electronic journals. This purchase option is available to all FirstSearch users."

The full press release is at <http://www.oclc.org/oclc/press/20010724b.shtm>.

Industrial Powers Tackle Digital Divide

From National Academies Science in the Headlines.

"July 24 -- Eight leading industrial nations have endorsed a plan to bridge the 'digital divide' with developing nations. Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States announced this week at a summit in Genoa, Italy, their approval of a plan to help poor countries gain better access to information and communications technology. Recently, National Academy of Sciences' President Bruce Alberts spoke on the importance of global access to science and technology. Several National Academies' reports also address how technology can be harnessed to promote economic development."

The news release is at <http://www.nationalacademies.org/headlines/>. The Final Statement of the 2001 G-8 Summit is at <http://www.genoa-g8.it/eng/attualita/primo_piano/primo_piano_13.html>.

Federal Agency Responds to Nation's Shortage of Librarians: Funds Recruitment, Education and Technology Training

"Washington, DC [17 July 2001] -- The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Federal agency that lends support to the nation's museums and libraries, responded to the nation's critical shortage of librarians by awarding today nearly $2 million to universities and colleges to recruit and educate students in library and information science. The awards also provide advanced training, especially in digital technologies, to professional librarians."

"'The technology revolution has created an information bedlam, and consequently, a dire need for professionally trained information specialists,' said Beverly Sheppard, Acting Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. 'Throughout history, librarians have organized and evaluated the information we collect to advance the course of human understanding. It is no different today. The librarians we recruit, educate, and train with these grants will harness the present chaos of the Information Age and transform it into an unprecedented Age of Knowledge.'"

The full press release is at <http://www.imls.gov/whatsnew/current/071701-1.htm>.

OCLC Collaborates to Develop Digital Archive of Web Documents

"DUBLIN, Ohio, July 17, 2001 -- OCLC, with input from several organizations, is developing a digital archive to track and preserve web-based documents that exist solely in electronic format."

"The goal of the Web Document Digital Archive project is to create a sustainable service to provide long-term access to web documents. The service will fill libraries' basic needs for identification, selection, capture, description, preservation, and access to documents that would not be accessible in the future otherwise."

"OCLC is seeking direct input on the project from a variety of institutions already focused on the issue: The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO); The Connecticut State Library; and the Joint Electronic Records Repository Initiative (JERRI), a partnership of the State Library of Ohio, the Ohio Historical Society's State Archives, the Ohio Supercomputer Center and the Ohio Department of Administrative Services."

The full press release is at <http://www.oclc.org/oclc/press/20010717b.shtm>.

CLIR to Award Dissertation Fellowships for Archival Research

From the May/June 2001 issue of CLIR Issues:

"In 2002, The Council on Library and Information Resources will begin to award dissertation fellowships for archival research in the humanities, with support from a recent grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation."

"Under the newly established Mellon Fellowship Program for Dissertation Research in Original Sources, CLIR will award up to 10 dissertation fellowships per year for three years. The fellowships will provide encouragement and opportunities for graduate students in any field in the humanities to do dissertation research using original primary materials."

"Information about the program, along with application guidelines, will be issued later this year."

Please monitor the CLIR web site at <http://www.clir.org/> for additional information.

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DOI: 10.1045/september2001-inbrief