News
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045451 |
| Pages | 95-100 |
| Published date | 01 February 1996 |
| Date | 01 February 1996 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
News
The electronic library
scene
Users of electronic information came
under the spotlight at the OCLC Users
Council meeting in February.
The
coun-
cil comprises librarians from networks
and other partners who contribute to the
OCLC Online Union Catalog, and as
well as representing the interests of
OCLC member libraries it advises
OCLC on strategic direction. One of its
resolutions was to encourage OCLC's
continued contributions in support of
the North American Interlibrary Loan
and Document Delivery Project, the
goals of which
are to
maximise access to
research resources while minimising
the costs associated with that access.
OCLC itself intends to be active on a
number of fronts in
1996.
Financial sub-
sidies will be offered for libraries to
trade
in
their older workstations for new
ones;
also, libraries will be involved in
an Internet resource cataloguing project
and OCLC's Web interface for elec-
tronic journals will be enhanced.
Indeed, OCLC plans to make the
Web 'the cornerstone of its reference
service strategy', according to vice
president Rick Noble, and a step in this
direction is that OCLC's FirstSearch
service is now available over the Web,
using a Web browser. Much of
FirstSearch Web will provide the same
functions as the current, telnet-based
service — searching, database choices,
document ordering options and so forth
— but changes include improved read-
ability on screen, browsing of search
results, and hyperlinks to extend their
search to other Web sites. Users can
connect to FirstSearch Web using the
same authorisation numbers and pass-
words as for 'normal' FirstSearch, and
standard FirstSearch pricing applies.
One service now available through
FirstSearch, by whatever
means,
is
Net-
First, a directory of Internet-accessible
resources. The initial release of the da-
tabase contains nearly 40 000 records
and covers Web
sites,
listservs and other
types of discussion lists, Usenet news-
groups, and anonymous FTP sites. The
database is updated weekly and is ex-
pected to grow by over 10 000 records a
month, and as it does so other resources
such as electronic journals, gopher sites
and library catalogues will be added.
NetFirst is also available through
OCLC's Epic online reference service.
The World Wide Web continues to
weave: SilverPlatter now allows ac-
cess to its database collection by Web
and by Z39.50 client software. Web ac-
cess requires a forms-capable browser:
gateway software is loaded on the serv-
er, and Web clients can use the standard
interface form or create their own. The
Z39.50 access uses the interface, com-
mands and search methods of the user's
local Z39.50 search systems.
EBSCO also has plans for 1996 —
to increase the number of full text titles
covered
to
over
1500,
and
the
number of
titles abstracted and indexed to over
3800.
The plans are in response to in-
creasing demands for title coverage
from academic and public libraries. The
second quarter of this year will also see
the completion of a project announced
last August, in which EBSCO's Edito-
rial department is to expand the full text
backfiles for 500 publications to 1990.
EBSCO Publishing will also be of-
fering three additional full-text data-
bases this year. Academic Search
FullTEXT 1,000 indexes and abstracts
2600 academic journals, and provides
the full text of 1000 of them. The data-
base will be available online through
EBSCOhost and through EBSCO's Da-
tabase Licensing Program in the year's
fourth quarter. Business Source Plus,
now available on CDROM, indexes and
abstracts 600 titles in general business
and related titles, and offers the full text
of
200
of them. Health Source Plus in-
dexes and abstracts 500 journals on a
range of health topics, and also gives
full text for 200 of them. This database
will be available on CDROM, online
via EBSCOhost, and through the Data-
base Licensing Program.
Finally, EBSCO is projecting a base
increase for 1997 subscriptions of 9-
11%.
This is slightly lower than for
1996 subscriptions and is based on in-
formation received from publishers in
the first quarter of this year.
A service was launched at Febru-
ary's Computers in Libraries Interna-
tional exhibition that provides access to
full lookalike pages of 178 journals.
Only UK universities can retrieve full
text but all Internet users can search and
retrieve abstracts free of charge. Ab-
stracts on the service, Ideal from Aca-
demic Press, are in HTML format so
can be viewed by any Web browser; an
Adobe Acrobat view (available from
Adobe's Web site, http://www.adobe
.com) is needed to view the full text.
Ideal can be searched by title, author,
institution, subject categories, and al-
phabetical list of journals.
Finally, a new CDROM first pub-
lished last year has been awarded first
place in the Electronic category of the
European Information Association's
1995 awards for the best European in-
formation sources. European Research
and Development Database from
Bowker-Saur contains over 20 000 or-
ganisation records covering commer-
cial,
government and academic research
projects, and 100 000 contact names —
10 000 with biographical information.
The CDROM is priced at £995 for an
annual subscription and its content is
also available in two print volumes, Di-
rectory of European R&D and Who's
Who
in European R&D.
The European Information Asso-
ciation, for anyone wondering, is an in-
ternational body of information special-
ists concerned with developing,
coordinating and improving informa-
tion about
the
European
Union.
It can be
contacted at +44 (0)161 228 3691.
The Electronic Library, Vol. 14, No. 2, April 1996 95
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