News
| Pages | 203-210 |
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045292 |
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
News
The Electronic Library
scene
The Technology Collaboration Agree-
ment signed by SilverPlatter and
CARL Corporation is symptomatic of
the way boundaries between electronic
delivery technologies are eroding.
CDROM specialist SilverPlatter and
CARL, a provider of integrated library
systems and document delivery serv-
ices,
made the agreement to work to-
gether long term with the aim of cutting
out duplication and complementing
each other's strengths.
'No single organisation can succeed
as an island,' commented CARL CEO
Ward Shaw, who expects the collabora-
tion with SilverPlatter to result in faster
and more comprehensive delivery.
According to SilverPlatter's Euro-
pean PR Manager, Liam Chambers, the
agreement signals the company's inten-
tion to
diversity.
'CDROM has been our
main vehicle till now,' he said. 'We are
now looking increasingly at alliances
with other electronic information
providers. This includes allowing ac-
cess to our data from within third-party
library systems.'
Another, more unlikely collabora-
tion has been announced between the
Vatican Library and
IBM.
Together they
will create
a
digital image database con-
taining full text of a sample of printed
volumes, manuscripts and artwork. The
partnership will also examine the feasi-
bility of using various electronic media
to distribute the images to scholars
worldwide. In the meantime, the li-
brary's two million-entry
pre-1985
card
catalogue will be available online.
Founded in the mid-1400s, the Vatican
Library houses over 150 000 manu-
scripts, a million printed books and
100
000 drawings and prints.
A three-part OCLC project to make
corrections to the Online Union Catalog
is due to end this summer. After over a
year, the Automated Authority Control
Project draws to a close with an eight-
week trawl through the catalogue to
correct over
two
million personal name
headings. Last year, the project
amended 1.1 million corporate name
entries in the Catalog and made 1.9 mil-
lion corrections to Library of Congress
subject headings. The catalogue now
runs to some 30 million bibliographic
records. In March, Southern Illinois
University at Carbondale entered
the
50
millionth OCLC electronic interlibrary
loan request.
Back in Europe, work has begun on
a two-year project designed to help li-
brary staff deal with information over-
load. With funding from the EC's DG
XIII, Project URN (Library Informa-
tion Enquiry and Referral Network)
will develop an international informa-
tion enquiry and referral service for
both research and public libraries. The
intention is that the system will make it
easier for librarians to locate and assess
various sources of information.
The pilot scheme will operate be-
tween Belgium, Portugal and the UK.
Project members are the Universities of
Aveiro and Brussels, plus, in the UK,
the Business Information Network,
London and South Eastern Library Re-
gion and University College, London.
UK libraries should benefit further
from a study into how they can more
successfully exploit European sources
of funding. Generated by the Centre for
Research in Library and Information
Management at the University of Cen-
tral Lancashire, the study will list the
various EU-funded programmes avail-
able,
identify the ethos of each pro-
gramme so UK institutions can better
target their efforts, and propose ways to
overcome barriers such
as
language and
unfamiliarity with EC
bureaucracy.
The
Opportunities
for Libraries in Europe
Study, funded by the British Library
Research and Development Depart-
ment, is due to report in June.
Still with the UK library scene, re-
sponses to the government's Green Pa-
per outlining proposals for a Library
and Information Commission are now
being considered. The government
would like to see the Commission com-
prise a dozen or so information profes-
sionals, independent experts and library
users.
Copies of
The
Proposed New Li-
brary and Information Commission: A
Consultation Paper are available from
the Department of National Heritage.
While European librarians are learn-
ing how best to present themselves to
those holding the EC purse
strings,
their
North American counterparts are going
back to school this month to learn how
best to present themselves
to
their
users.
The Harvard Business School ap-
proach to customer service will be
taught to over 10 000 librarians via a
satellite teleseminar. This four-hour
'electronic classroom' will link up over
350 libraries, colleges, universities and
businesses to hear lectures from Har-
vard Professors W. Earl Sasser Jr and
James L. Heskett, and to see video case
studies of libraries in Atlanta, Boston,
Columbus, Tucson and Seward. The
program
is
a pilot for
a
series on
the
role
of libraries in
the
era of electronic infor-
mation and is sponsored by Dynix.
Data Research has come to the res-
cue of patrons of three public libraries in
the Los Angeles area, Valencia Library
and nearby Newhall and Canyon Coun-
try Libraries, which lost much of their
periodical collection during
the
January
earthquakes. By autumn, the company
will have linked all three libraries to
IAC's full-text databases, giving their
customers access to articles from a
three-year file of over 150 magazines.
All access fees are being waived, Data
Research said.
The spirit of cooperation was in evi-
dence
in
Washington where Europe was
represented for the first time among the
Users'
Groups at VTLS' 12th Annual
Meeting. A 30-member European dele-
gation was present among 160 people
from 22 US states and nine other coun-
tries.
User Group Chair Bob Holzmann
stressed the 'concerted effort' VTLS is
making to involve European col-
leagues. The meeting, held separately
The Electronic Library, Vol. 12, No. 3, June 1994 203
To continue reading
Request your trial