JASON NRW: express ordering and delivery system of journal articles
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040539 |
| Pages | 11-13 |
| Author | Friedrich Summann |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
JASON NRW: express
ordering and delivery
system of journal
articles
by Friedrich Summann, Bielefeld
University Library
The JASON system allows access to a local
bibliographic database including all journal
holdings of the North-Rhine Westphalia
University libraries; users are then able to
place direct orders for articles. Both traditional
and electronic distribution methods are used
so scanned articles can be delivered directly
to the user's workstation.
Introduction
The rapid development of electronic communica-
tion (especially via the Internet) has made it
possible to consider improvements to the inter-
library loan system. Within the German federal
state North-Rhine Westphalia, the combined local
journal holdings of the 15 university libraries
formed the basis for considerations to combine
direct and easy user access with a fast ordering and
delivery service. This led to the concept of the
system called JASON NRW (Journal Articles Sent
On demaNd).
The two components of the
express ordering and delivery
system
Ordering
The heart of the system is a database on hard disk
or CD-ROM within the local library network
which includes the local holdings data of the
member libraries. Data is supplied by the German
Periodicals Database (Zeitschriftendatenbank,
ZDB) in Berlin and the database is built at
Bielefeld using a database authoring system. It is
then distributed to the other libraries. Updating of
the data will be probably be carried out twice a
year but can easily be changed to another frequen-
cy. This database together with the retrieval
program form the ordering part. Access to the
database can be made available to the whole
library and university or it can be limited to
specified workstations. The database can be freely
accessed for bibliographical retrieval by library
users or
staff.
To use the integrated ordering
functions a connection must exist to the Internet.
Journals which can be ordered within the system
are marked at the database display interface. The
user is only allowed to order articles from these
journals. After pressing the hot-key for ordering,
the user has to complete an order form with the
article's bibliographic information and personal
data such as name, email address, fax number or
postal address. At present there are five possible
dispatch methods for required articles:
• standard mail directly to the user or the
library
• fax
• email to the user workstation
• email to user area inside the library network
• email to the library which offers print output
The dispatch methods available depend on the
local circumstances of the ordering and supplying
libraries. That information is fixed in a parameter
file and is analysed by the system while ordering a
specific article. The system therefore offers a list
of the relevant dispatch modes which are common
to both requesting library and the library which
owns the specific journal.
Delivery
This component is formed by software which
handles receiving of mail, scanning of articles and
sending of data. When an email message reaches a
library, the program prints out the order details
including bibliographic information on the desired
article, user data and the location of the journal. If
an electronic dispatch method is chosen the or-
dered article is then scanned. This procedure takes
two to three seconds per page using modern
VINE
96
(September 1994)
—11
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