Annual Users' Meeting
21-22
August 2003
Stamford Grand Adelaide
Glenelg
South
Australia
| Innovation Award | Accommodation | Registration Form | Agenda | South Australian Organising Committee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kinetica Annual Report to the 2003 Users' Meeting
August 2003
- 1. Strategic overview
- 2. Results 2002-2003
- 3. Kinetica Chinese Japanese Korean Service
- 4. Kinetica enhancements
- 5. Projects
- 6. Supporting our customers
- 7. Your advice to Kinetica
1. Strategic overview
It was a year of significant activity for Kinetica in 2002-2003, especially focusing on connecting Australian libraries to the global network of resources and records to increase the efficiency of all Kinetica customers. The partnership formed with Australian libraries through Kinetica enables library operations to be cost effective and support services in the digital environment. Comments from Kinetica customers this year suggest that the service is a cornerstone of efficient library practice.
"The greatest result of our move to using the Kinetica Document Delivery service has been the increased recognition by the staff of the Institute of the important role the library can play in the teaching process. There has been a shift from seeing the library as a support partner to one of being an integral part in the teaching process, from curriculum development to resource acquisition. This has been, in part, due to the ease with which Kinetica allows our ILL librarian to locate items, place requests, track requests and the general faster pace of service We can now make a valuable contribution to a service network providing access to everyone."
"When I started I continued the historical practices in the library for a year and experienced the difficulty of locating material through a dated source and number of library catalogues. The time-consuming practice of original cataloguing was extremely good for practicing my cataloguing skills, but frustrating when so many other aspects of the library needed attention. The increase in library catalogues on the WWW increased the range of material the library could access searching for holdings was simple but incredibly tedious. Kinetica has changed all that. A time-saving of many hours over the year By using the Kinetica database I have saved time that I have been able to use in developing access to electronic journals, I have increased the material available to the library through interlibrary loan for a cost less than purchasing Serials in Australian Libraries CD-ROM each year."
"As the year 2000 approached, Y2K-compliance was the driving force for many a system upgrade We had been receiving catalogue cards from ABN, when we found Kinetica would no longer offer this option, it provided the impetus to finally automate the catalogue. We continue to regularly add holdings to Kinetica, upgrade bibliographic records and add original records we are particularly grateful for access to OCLC which was made available to small libraries who otherwise found it too expensive and too difficult to subscribe Being able to search on OCLC and other overseas databases for copy cataloguing is a great help."
"The Library backlog of - mainly pre-1970 - scientific technical reports totalled some 20 metres of shelving and had been lying in wait prior to 1988 and existed until 2002 With the Kinetica Search function and selection of RLG union catalogue database, and later OCLC WorldCat, we were able to find bibliographic records for the majority - 95 per cent - of the items we can now boast that we no longer have a cataloguing backlog."
This year produced an area of concern, namely the bankruptcy of ELiAS, the Belgian company that supplies key software products on which the Kinetica service is based. A new company, LibriCore, was established and has taken over support and development of the software used for Kinetica. The company commenced operations in January and has been providing support since that date in accordance with the sub-contracts that are in place.
National Bibliographic Database
Kinetica enables Australian libraries to be efficient through sharing of records and library resources. Contribution to the National Bibliographic Database (NBD) is essential for the benefits to be realised.
|
National Bibliographic Database in 2003:
|
Kinetica enables libraries to exchange records via online and offline methods. Cataloguers can create records online using the Kinetica Cataloguing Client or Web Input Form, and add holdings through KineticaWeb. Offline contributions are added via files of records provided by libraries. The most important issue for libraries is to determine which methods will best suit their workflow. Kinetica staff can provide assistance to libraries reviewing methods of contribution or for updating.
Kinetica: Future
The National Library has extended its agreement with IBM Australia and IBM GSA for a further two years to provide computer support to Kinetica. The National Library and IBM GSA have had a very successful partnership since 1998 when the initial contract was awarded. The future of Kinetica post the extended agreement has been a topic of considerable analysis: the Kinetica Advisory Committee (KAC) participated in a workshop in March 2003 to provide advice on the strategic needs of Australian libraries; and the National Library has established a Kinetica Futures Group, chaired by the Director-General. Further advice will be provided when the investigation has reached a conclusion, later this year.
Pricing
Kinetica pricing was reduced for many subscribers in 2003. Kinetica charges for offline contributors were reduced by 2 per cent to a 17 per cent discount. The 30 per cent discount for online contributors was maintained. Library schools now have free access to Kinetica services for library teaching. Search only customer charges were kept at the same level for 2003/2004.
Developments
Major developments over the past year include:
- improving the performance and capacity of Kinetica through a hardware upgrade; ·
- improving performance and capacity of the Chinese, Japanese and Korean database (CJK) through a hardware upgrade;
- increasing access to resources for cataloguing and interlending with the extension of access to OCLC's WorldCat and the addition of the Deutsche Bibliothek Database, the union catalogue of the records of the National Library of Germany;
- improving searching success with significant work on the quality of the NBD including enhancement of the Match/Merge program;
- enabling users of ISO/ILL compatible systems to use Kinetica Document Delivery (KDD) through their local system with the upgrading of the Kinetica Document Delivery system; and
- improving data coverage and access to resources through the Commonwealth Metadata Pilot and Public Libraries Portal projects.
Challenges for the future are to address major factors contributing to efficiencies for Kinetica customers. Some of the most significant projects targeted for 2002-2003 are:
- portals/channels: a need to assess how libraries wish to access the NBD and other databases in the future, and how to facilitate access for end users;
- improving the efficiency of libraries through increasing coverage of e-resources for Australian libraries including special materials such as ephemera;
- improving services to customers through functional enhancements to targeted Kinetica services;
- planning for the future of Kinetica post 2005;
- improving the success of searching through work on database quality; including a Batch*Link upgrade service designed to allow customers to more easily update records on the NBD with data from their local system;
- developing better access and charging models working with library sectors for site licences and consortia;
- developing international partnerships to enable Australian resources to be discovered around the globe - working with OCLC, RLG, and others; and
- increasing access for Australians to the resources of the Australian library network.
The Kinetica service continues to be a national service based on the cooperative efforts of libraries for over 22 years. Kinetica continues to provide services which increase the efficiency of Australian libraries.
2.
2.1. Access to collections and databases
Kinetica enables access to collections of Australian libraries providing and essential platform for efficient and effective resource discovery regionally, nationally and internationally. The following tables reflect the growth of the NBD over the past year.
NBD size as at 30 June 2003
| 2002-2003 | 2001-2002 | 2000-2001 | 1999-2000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bibliographic records | 14 015 188 | 13 015 628 | 12 149 739 | 11 082 765 |
| Authority records | 1 594 097 | 1 593 228 | 1 591 630 | 1 589 682 |
| Holdings * | 36 364 256 | 35 015 248 | 33 213 340 | 31 447 220 |
* Total holdings less deletions
NBD contribution
| ACTIVITY | 2002-2003 | 2001-2002 | 2000-2001 | 1999-2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holdings added* | 2.57m | 2.74m | 3.23 m | 1.46 m |
| Original cataloguing (online and batch) | 563 268 | 499 874 | 659 906 | 154 843 |
*Total holdings added
Authorities in 2002-2003 were contributed as follows:
| New headings | 1 606 |
| Changed headings | 8 945 |
| Deleted headings | 614 |
Discussion on the issue of authorities can be found in section 5.5 of this Report.
Holdings contribution: top ten contributors
| University of Western Sydney Library | 631 455 |
| New South Wales Public Libraries | 199 696 |
| Unilinc | 189 164 |
| Victorian Public Libraries | 173 238 |
| Monash University Library | 155 611 |
| National Library of Australia | 92 133 |
| Queensland Public Libraries | 83 539 |
| University of Adelaide Library | 83 526 |
| Deakin University Library | 68 350 |
| University of Melbourne Library | 49 003 |
Online original cataloguing contribution: top ten contributors
| National Library of Australia | 40 352 |
| State Library of New South Wales | 12 698 |
| Victorian Public Libraries | 12 577 |
| Queensland Public Libraries | 6 566 |
| New South Wales Public Libraries | 5 056 |
| State Library of Western Australia | 4 704 |
| CAVAL | 4 277 |
| University of Newcastle - Auchmuty Library | 3 190 |
| University of New South Wales | 3 156 |
| State Library of South Australia | 2 811 |
Authority records: top ten contributors
| National Library of Australia | 511 |
| State Library of New South Wales | 250 |
| State Library of Tasmania | 194 |
| State Library of South Australia | 127 |
| State Library of Victoria | 78 |
| Joint Theological College | 41 |
| Australian Department of Treasury | 30 |
| University of Newcastle Auchmuty Library | 25 |
| Flinders University | 24 |
| University of Adelaide | 21 |
2.2. Database searches
By increasing the range of databases available through Kinetica, Australian libraries can identify material and obtain cataloguing records for a wider range of material. One new database was added in 2002-2003: the Deutsche Bibliothek Database (DBD), the union catalogue of the records of the National Library of Germany. It contains records of all printed and electronic publications issued in Germany, published abroad in German, translated from German language publications, and works in any language about Germany. The DBD contains 6.5 million records.
The agreement with OCLC for access to WorldCat for special, public and school libraries was extended for three years and further cooperative activity under discussion includes:
- reciprocal access to the NBD for OCLC customers;
- development of library directories using the X.500 standard to enable interoperability for interlending; and
- exploration of access for all Australian libraries to WorldCat through Kinetica.
Kinetica's ongoing cooperation with RLG supports access to the RLG catalogue and agreement to the concept of the reciprocal access was reached in 2003.
All overseas databases can be searched at the standard Kinetica search charge, a considerable discount made possible through negotiation by Kinetica on behalf of Australian libraries.
By database
| 2002-2003 | 2001-2002 | 2000-2001 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBD | 5 987 756 | 5 787 514 | 5 913 788 |
| CJK | 4 303 | 3 934* | 11 480 |
| RLG | 94 955 | 126 233 | 179 470 |
| WorldCat | 17 053 | 3 652 | - |
| CURL | 15 132 | 3 628 | - |
| Te Puna | 8 393 | 4 932 | - |
| TOTAL | 6 127 592 | 5 929 823 | 6 104 738 |
* This figure represents searches of the CJK database through KineticaWeb only.
| 2002-2003 | 2001-2002 | 2000-2001 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| KineticaWeb | 3 455 258 | 3 313 675 | 3 669 800 |
| Z39.50 searching | 1 503 722 | 1 385 642 | 1 036 320 |
| Cataloguing client | 1 028 806 | 1 075 883 | 1 036 320 |
NBD searches by method of access
The NBD is the most heavily used database. KineticaWeb is the most commonly used interface to the NBD. An increasing use occurs through local OPAC interfaces to interrogate the NBD databases using Z39.50.
2.3. Quality of the National Bibliographic Database
The NBD is the cornerstone to resource sharing in Australian libraries. For the Australian library sector to operate effectively, the database needs to be up-to-date and able to support easy access to information with quality records and a minimum of duplication. Work over the year has focused on:
- · continuing to develop the matching and merging of records added to the database to ensure new records are added with minimal duplication; and
- · improving the quality of existing records on the NBD including a duplicate removal program.
At the 2002 KAUM a new project was announced to investigate the means by which records currently in the NBD could be reviewed with a view to reducing the number of duplicate records in the database. A pilot project was initiated using the Australian newspaper records. All Australian newspaper titles were identified and a contractor was engaged to manually review possible duplicates. Over 2 400 titles were handled in this way, and a duplication rate of 3 per cent was discovered. A total of 2 057 records were manually reviewed and 61 duplicates were deleted. Further work in 2003-2004 will include investigation of other subsets of data within the NBD and further automation of the process. The Australian newspapers project involved over four months full time work and has resulted in significant improvements to the discovery of Australian newspapers.
The testing of title matching in the AMICUS load program identified a problem with trailing blanks in titles resulting in non-matches and the addition of duplicate records to the NBD. This problem was rectified and also resulted in the cleanup of some 4 900 title headings containing trailing blanks.
Retrieval of spoken-word sound recordings on the NBD was improved with 1 278 records for this type of material upgraded to apply the correct material type code. These records were originally migrated from the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) with the material type code for 'musical sound recording' and have now been changed to reflect that they are in fact 'nonmusical sound recordings'. Duplicate removal projects including the investigation and de-duplication of Early English Newspapers microform collection sets are underway. A 28 per cent duplication rate in Early English Newspapers has been identified with 633 duplicate records having been deleted.
NBD maintenance activities also included the correction of subfields that lacked subfield codes, correction of Name/Title headings that used the old cataloguing practice of 'his/her {title of work}' rather than 'name . {title of work}', correction of some erroneous diacritics in Vietnamese language records, and the correction of some incorrect Leader codes.
Changes to the AMICUS load program were made to improve matching using Amicus Numbers, Library of Congress Control Numbers and Local System Numbers (LSN). Changes to Title matching to exclude the statement of responsibility has been coded and is ready for testing. The LSN change allows customers to set up a group of National Union Catalogue symbols (NUCs) so that as long as the target record has one of the NUCs attached it can be matched by LSN for holdings addition by any other NUC in the group.
A total of 33 586 records for theses were updated with a theses code to enable more efficient retrieval for this category of materials. Approximately 9 000 of these upgraded records met the criteria for 'Australian' theses and staff will investigate these to identify the source of the records and mechanisms that will ensure theses coding is applied correctly and consistently.
A total of 5 666 duplicate database entries were resolved. Staff specified enhancements to LSN matching that will enable libraries to add holdings, extending the update and delete facilities currently available. A total of 53 879 orphan headings have been deleted from the database since September 2002.
The cooperative efforts of a number of Kinetica's customers have enabled weekly enhancements to NBD records through the application of Table of Contents (TOC) records. In addition to the current subscription, the National Library purchased a retrospective set of TOC records, creating continuous coverage since 2000. A total of 80 000 TOC records have been loaded since December 2002.
Record exchange
- · Online contribution: Libraries can use the Cataloguing Client or Web Input Form for online bibliographic and holdings contributions. Increasing use of the Web Form, particularly for electronic resources, has increased access for all Kinetica customers. Holdings updates may also be contributed online through KineticaWeb Update database.
- · Offline contribution: The Batch*Link Gateway was further developed to provide users with automated delivery of file processing reports and reject record files. Libraries using either small or large systems can send records to Kinetica - from one person libraries to university libraries. Records are then in the NBD generally within 24 hours of receipt of the file. Work is proceeding on using new protocols, such as Open Archive Initiative (OAI) harvesting, to collect files of records on the Internet. 3 420 303 records were processed in 2002-2003 through Batch*Link. Of these records, 367 541 were new to the database.
- · Obtaining records: Records may be obtained from Kinetica either individually or in batches, in real time or through regular transfers. By determining their needs, libraries can choose the method which best suits their workflows. Customers working online can use the MARC*Link batch process or Remote TPSDLL real time downloading for delivering MARC records quickly to their local systems. The latter enables libraries to obtain a copy of a record within seconds for loading directly into their local system. Customers using the Batch*Link Gateway service may obtain MARC records from Kinetica either by direct Z39.50 searching from their local system clients or by ordering a regular product file, such as a holdings file.
There are approximately 500 users of the MARC*Link batch downloading facility and more than 100 users of the Remote TPSDLL. In 2002-2003 over 1.63 million records were downloaded from the NBD: 830 825 by MARC*Link users and 802 600 by Remote TPSDLL users.
Major electronic collection records sets added to the NBD include: Academic Search Premier, Australia New Zealand Reference Centre, Blackwell Synergy, Emerald fulltext, Masterfile Elite, Our Digital Island, ProQuest 5000 International, Wiley InterScience, and World Magazine Bank.
2.4. Customers
A total of 1 030 customers used Kinetica during 2002-2003. The two main types of organisations to join Kinetica during 2002-2003 were educational institutions and public libraries in addition to a number of small corporate libraries.
| Organisations | Individuals | |
|---|---|---|
| New customers | 32 | 2 |
| Cancellations | 21 | - |
| Net growth | 11 | 2 |
| Total customers | 1 030 |
Library closure is by far the biggest reason for cancellations. For the smaller libraries who ceased their subscriptions to Kinetica, most indicated that they would use the service through ILANET.
2.5. Kinetica Document Delivery
Kinetica Document Delivery plays a vital role in the Australian resource sharing environment. The following table details interlibrary loan activity on KDD during the year, compared with the previous three years.
| 2002-2003 | 2001-2002 | 2000-2001 | 1999-2000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ILL requests | 238 512 | 250 888 | 229 380 | 177 470 |
| Requests made using the KDD Payments Service | 185 314 | 197 044 | 177 067 | 145 942 |
| KDD Members | 543 | 539 | 596 | 471 |
Highlights in developments for KDD include the following:
- Software was upgraded in December 2002 to VDX 2.2.7. KDD now supports the ISO Interlibrary Loan Protocol and can interact with other interlibrary loan systems and databases. The first libraries to use their own interlibrary loan system to interoperate with KDD included Murdoch University in Western Australia and La Trobe University in Melbourne.
- A very successful trial was run with the Canada Institute of Scientific and Information (CISTI). Libraries are now able to have a single workflow where they search and request from remote databases using KDD. With the combined purchasing power of Australian libraries, Kinetica successfully negotiated a bulk discount for the use of the CISTI database.
- The National Library's contract with Research Libraries Group (RLG) for distribution of Ariel and technical support to Australian libraries, ceased at the end of March 2003 as a result of Infotrieve (USA) purchasing the Ariel software.
3. Kinetica Chinese Japanese Korean Service
This year's activities within Kinetica's CJK team have focused on upgrading of the hardware and to ensure the continuity and reliability of services.
3.1. Coverage of the CJK Database
In July 2003, the database contained more than 1 410 000 bibliographic records and 449 000 location records. This compares well with the 1 388 000 bibliographic and 425 000 holdings records listed in July last year (an increase of 22 000 bibliographic records and 24 000 holdings). To ensure that the database was up-to-date and user-friendly, 14 400 location records belonging to non-CJK service members were deleted.
Records for the CJK Database were sourced as follows:
| Source | 2002-2003 | 2001-02 |
|---|---|---|
| Library of Congress | 77 677 | 306 800* |
| Z39.50 RLIN | 8 472 | 9 900 |
| Z39.50 other (non-RLIN) | 6 398 | 1 560 |
| Members online contributions | 6 658 | 7 790 |
| Members off-line contributions (file loads) | 20 347 | 13 900 |
| Total | 119 552 | 339 950 |
* Includes National Diet Library records
To extend the coverage of the CJK database to include more public library records, over 12 600 City of Sydney Library's records, which were tested in the previous financial year, were all successfully loaded. Of these 10 300 were unique to the CJK database.
Almost 56 000 duplicate records were removed from the Pinyin database.
The CJK team obtained trial access to the Hong Kong Chinese Authority Names (HKCAN) database, providing the opportunity for a number of CJK members to sample this database.
3.2. System development
The hardware and operating system that supported Kinetica's CJK Service before June 2003 was over six years old. In order to ensure the continuity and reliability of the services provided to CJK libraries, in June 2003 the National Library successfully migrated the Innopac software that underpins the CJK system to a new Solaris 8 server.
In June 2003 the Innopac integrated management software was upgraded from Release 2002 Phase 1 to Release 2002 Phase 2. The main benefit this upgrade provides to users is improved editing functions in the Millennium Cataloguing module.
Another advance occurred in May 2003 when the CJK database was mounted as a target on KDD. This made automated CJK interlibrary lending and document delivery available to KDD customers through the KDD system.
Members were advised in 2002 to trial and adopt AnzioWin as the Telnet interface for the CJK character-based database. AnzioWin has a number of advantages when compared to Multilingual Application Support Service (MASS) including ease of installation, cost and compliance with latest operating systems and standards. Additional features include Notepad input and support for a larger repertoire of characters.
Subsequently all MASS users switched over to AnzioWin, and maintenance for mass software was terminated. The continued utility of MASS was discussed in detail at the 2002 Kinetica CJK Service Users Meeting and it was noted then that support for MASS would be discontinued. The product is no longer upgraded by the vendors and was expensive and complicated to install and maintain.
The Kinetica CJK website was moved to the National Library server at http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/cjk/ and underwent a thorough upgrade, making the site more user friendly and navigable.
4. Kinetica enhancements
4.1. Expert Advisory Group on Enhancements
The Expert Advisory Group on Enhancements, established at the last Annual User Meeting, undertook extensive consultation with Kinetica customers to consider proposals from Kinetica customers for future developments to the Kinetica Cataloguing Client, KineticaWeb and KDD services; facilitate discussion of requirements for future development; to prioritise development proposals; and report on its findings. Meetings were held in every state over November and December 2002 and over 270 recommendations for enhancements were considered.
Membership of the Group consisted of the following members:
| Mr Michael Aulich | Brisbane City Council Library Service |
| Ms Cheryl Brickell | Kinetica Customer Service, National Library of Australia |
| Ms Marian De Saxe | University of Sydney |
| Ms Jay Douglas | University of South Australia (to facilitate input from Kinetica State User groups) |
| Ms Kaye Hill | State Library of Western Australia (representing the Kinetica Advisory Committee) |
| Ms Patricia Scott | University of Adelaide (representing the Kinetica Advisory Committee) |
| Mr Rob Walls | Database Services, National Library of Australia |
| Ms Pamela Wansink | National Information and Library Service |
The members of the Group are to be congratulated for their dedication and extensive consideration of many complex issues. The final report to the National Library and the Kinetica Advisory Committee is available online at http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/eag_enhance.html.
All the recommendations have been reviewed to see if they can be delivered through development by the National Library, by the Kinetica contractor or whether the work would need to be done by the software supplier. Information on the timeframes and resource issues, particularly for the high priority recommendations, has been collected and reviewed by the National Library. Regular reviews of the enhancement process will take place annually using the Kinetica State User Meetings where key Library staff will provide overviews to customers of the status of enhancements
4.2. Enhancements implemented in 2002-2003
4.2.1. KineticaWeb
During the year the following enhancements were carried out in KineticaWeb.
- · Display of full name of library in the holdings field of Extended View (implemented May 2002).
- · Inclusion of the Deutsche Bibliothek Database as a Kinetica target database (implemented May 2002).
4.2.2. Kinetica Cataloguing Client
A complete review of the enhancements will occur when the next version of the software is available for testing, anticipated to be in late 2003.
4.2.3. Kinetica Document Delivery enhancements
The majority of the enhancements suggested by customers have been delivered with the implementation of the December upgrade. Enhancements delivered in 2002-2003 include the following:
- · Locations can be added or deleted using the check boxes on the create request screen and easily added or deleted on the preliminary rota screen.
- · Since upgrading in December 2002, timeout problems have significantly reduced.
- · KDD now links with commercial suppliers including CISTI and Infotrieve. End users can send requests to these suppliers and receive a single invoice for all interlibrary loan activity by taking advantage of the KDD Payments Service.
- · Customers can now search the CJK database via KDD.
- · Development of end user requesting from an external interface (via the Kinetica Public Library Portal), that is transmitted to KDD via formatted email using the ISO protocol - this success will enable the development of an ordering link from KinetciaWeb.
- · KDD now links with other local ILL management systems, eg. VDX, that are compliant with the ISO ILL Protocol standard.
- · KDD customers now receive an annual report summarising
their KDD payments service activity each financial year. The Report lists all
organisations that libraries have supplied to or requested from, including:
- · total number of loans and copies according to service level;
- · the average turnaround time from date the request originated to the date shipped;
- · total cost of inter-library loans by organisation; and
- · the average cost of inter-library loans by organisation.
- The Reports also include a chart comparing total monthly transactions the current and the previous year.
4.3. Future enhancements
4.3.1. KineticaWeb
Enhancements planned for in 2003-2004 include the following:
- · Inclusion of the Singapore Integrated Library Automation Services (SILAS) database as a Kinetica target database. SILAS is the National Library of Singapore's equivalent of Kinetica.
- · Setting the NBD Advanced Search screen as the default screen on login to Kinetica (planned implementation in August 2003).
- · Select All and Deselect All buttons to enable bulk selection/de-selection of records in Stored Records (planned implementation in August 2003).
- · Records to be displayed in Extended View when there are fewer than 3 records returned from a search (planned implementation in August 2003).
- · Users able to pick the number of records returned for viewing at the one time, from a list of options (planned implementation in August 2003).
Further work will occur on the list of enhancements when the next version of the software is available for testing, anticipated to be late 2003.
4.3.2. Kinetica Cataloguing Client
A complete review of the enhancements listed will occur when the next version of the software is available for testing, anticipated to be late 2003
4.3.3. Kinetica Document Delivery
With the implementation of the next software upgrade, anticipated in December 2003 the following enhancements will be delivered:
- · the ability for customers to sort libraries in the rota by state;
- · connecting KDD customers with new databases such as Te Puna (the New Zealand National Bibliographic Database); and
- · increasing the number of KDD customers requesting and supplying through their other ISO compliant Interlibrary Loan systems.
Further enhancements will be discussed with KDD users after the next software upgrade.
5. Projects
5.1. Cataloguing workflows
Kinetica engaged Ms Rona Wade and Ms Glenda Henderson of UNILINC Ltd. to report on cataloguing workflow options within Australian libraries generally, with a particular focus on Kinetica customer libraries' use of the Kinetica system.
The paper is available online (at http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/ workflowoptions.html) and outlines the various factors that impinge on cataloguing workflows. It outlines methods of working in the Kinetica environment that deliver effective and efficient cataloguing and prompt and timely delivery of information to the NBD, both essential elements in any best practice approach to cataloguing for Australian libraries.
5.2. Commonwealth Government online publications
A priority for the NBD is to increase the coverage of online Australian publications to enable customers to locate these resources and obtain records for their catalogues. Commonwealth Government publishing is now primarily online. A pilot project has commenced to enable access to government print and electronic documents and improve the coverage of digital government publishing on the NBD. Seven government departments have been invited to participate in the pilot that will review, research, test and evaluate issues relating to the use and collection of metadata for Commonwealth Government publications. Participants include the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Department of Health and Ageing, Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry, Department of the Treasury, Environment Australia, the Parliamentary Library and the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission.
A workshop has been run with all participants, as well as the National Archives of Australia and National Office for the Information Economy. Work is proceeding on the specification of conversion for records in test files received from participating agencies into a MARC format compatible with data already held in the NBD, and also on a paper describing the scope of data sought and standards to be applied to its form and content.
5.3. Public Library Portal
The Public Library Portal is an innovative project aimed at enhancing access to quality information resources in Australian libraries. The National Library of Australia is working in collaboration with five public libraries throughout Australia to develop the Portal. The Public Library Portal will commence in September 2003 and run as a trial project for one year. The Portal will provide rapid and easy access to the NBD, APAIS Full text, PictureAustralia and directories such as Australian Libraries Gateway (ALG).
The need for direct access by public libraries to the NBD emerged as a significant theme at the last Kinetica Users' Meeting in 2002, where a number of delegates expressed their desire to extend access to patrons.
Public library pilot sites include Brisbane City Council, Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service, Northern Region Libraries (Moree, New South Wales), Thuringowa Library Service and Southern Tablelands Regional Library Service (Goulburn, New South Wales).
The Pilot aims to deliver a prototype trialled in the five identified public libraries, a business plan, and a staged and comprehensive evaluation process.
5.4. Theses coverage
Records for theses on the NBD improve access to these materials for reference and interlending staff. As a part of the ongoing assessment of coverage of the NBD a survey was undertaken in late 2002 to collect information on the coverage of Australian print and digital theses. The survey updated surveys carried out in 1996 and 1998. The 2002 survey contained a number of new questions to ascertain not only the level of coverage for both print and electronic theses on the NBD, but also to determine causes for partial or non-reporting, identify other metadata repositories libraries were using and identify trends that might affect reporting in the future. The key findings from the survey are:
- 30 of the 38 libraries recorded all their higher degree print theses on the NBD, the other eight libraries indicated that they recorded some of their print theses on the NBD, most commonly partial coverage related to retrospective cataloguing backlogs;
- 10 of the 38 respondents reported that all of their electronic theses were on the NBD and three indicated that they recorded only some of their electronic theses on the NBD, where the library was also participating in the Australian Digital Theses (ADT) Program there was some indication that the practice was to provide a URL for the electronic version in the record for the print theses, 26 libraries did not record electronic theses on the NBD, primarily because their institutions did not yet collect or receive electronic theses;
- most libraries reported future trends would be to implement new software such as OAI for digital theses as a part of any Australian digital theses development; and
- a number of libraries improved their reporting of theses since 1998. These were predominantly libraries that had previously not supplied theses records to the NBD but were now contributing some or all of their theses.
The Kinetica Advisory Committee will consider issues relating to the coverage of and access to theses through the NBD at its August 2003 meeting. The full report of the survey is available on the web http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/austthesessurvey.html
5.5. Authorities
In June 2003 a survey was undertaken to ascertain the extent to which authority work is carried out on local systems and not on the NBD, and to determine the market for NBD records.
The survey results indicate that an increasing amount of authority work takes place on local systems, and not on the NBD. Major contributors of authority data continue to be the National Library of Australia and the State Libraries of New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria. Kinetica staff also rank high on the list, especially in amending and merging authority records.
It is pleasing to see that a number of university libraries also contribute to NBD authorities, as do two public libraries, Sutherland and Botany, and a number of government and special libraries. Special mention should be made of the contribution of the Joint Theological College in Melbourne, which features in the top ten for authority control activity on the NBD.
The report on the authority survey is now available on the Kinetica website at http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/eag_ad.html.
The KAC and the National Library are considering future initiatives to increase the contribution of authority data to the NBD.
5.6. Subject Heading Review Panel (SHRP)
The Subject Heading Review Panel (SHRP) has actively addressed issues relating to subject authority control. The panel consists of five members:
| Ms Bemal Rajapatirana | National Library of Australia |
| Ms Deirdre Kiorgaard | National Library of Australia |
| Ms Joan Moncrieff | Deakin University |
| Ms Judith Purser | University of Melbourne |
| Ms Jennifer Kerry | AIATSIS |
Major achievements for 2002-2003 included the following:
- after extensive consultation a proposal to replace the term 'Aborigines, Australian' with 'Aboriginal Australians' was prepared and forwarded to the Library of Congress (LC) who currently use 'Australian aborigines'. The proposal was accepted and work has proceeded on Aboriginal subject heading subdivisions and phrase headings.
- a proposal for the term Aboriginal Tasmanians has been accepted.
- nineteen Aboriginal language name headings have recently been approved by the LC.
- work is also being done on closing period subdivisions ending in 2001.
- the LC practice is being followed with regard to removing period subdivisions from headings for description and travel.
6. Supporting our customers
6.1. Help Desk
The Help Desk dealt with 6 108 requests this year compared with 8 134 last year. Of these 98 per cent of requests were answered within the service level, 59 per cent of requests came by telephone, and 41 per cent by email. The 25 per cent decline in use suggests that Kinetica customers are becoming more familiar with key service workflows, system issues and delivery options.
6.2. Training
Kinetica Training Agents conducted a number of courses in all states and territories.
| Course | Number | Trainees |
|---|---|---|
| KineticaWeb seminar | 2 | 6 |
| KineticaWeb Online | 40 | 244 |
| Kinetica Client | 13 | 46 |
| Kinetica Document Delivery | 28 | 159 |
Kinetica training is being reviewed and a survey of Kinetica Trainer Service Providers will be undertaken before December 2003. This survey will inform a strategic training paper that will be prepared for the KAC.
6.3. Web site and documentation
Kinetica launched its new-look website in May 2003 (http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/). Major developments have been the inclusion of better information on state user groups including dates of forthcoming meetings, better identification of training materials and updating of links.
Documentation has been regularly revised to reflect system changes. New guides produced this year include the following:
- Kinetica Document Delivery Manual, 6th edition, 2003;
- Learn Kinetica Document Delivery, 1st edition, 2003; and
- Searching the Deutsche Bibliothek Database.
The new KDD manual and workbooks were designed to ensure that trainers had consistent high quality training materials and have been very well received.
6.4. Kinetica email lists
The Kinetica email list continues to be well used for communication with approximately 30 messages a month. All Kinetica customers are encouraged to use the list to discuss issues relating to Kinetica. Information on subscribing to the list is available on the Kinetica website at http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/discussionlists.html#kinetica-l. An archive of messages posted to the Kinetica list is available online at http://www.nla.gov.au/list-archives/kinetica-l/
KDD-L continues to be an important source of information for KDD customers, and a forum for discussing ILL issues. A campaign was undertaken during the year to increase membership of the List, as it became apparent that a number of ILL practitioners were unaware of system problems and issues that had been posted to the list. ILL practitioners are strongly encouraged to monitor the KDD-L list. Information on subscribing to KDD-L is available on the Kinetica website at http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/discussionlists.html#kdd-l
CJK-L is likewise a forum for discussion on CJK related issues, and is well utilised by CJK members. Information on subscribing to CJK-L is available on the Kinetica website at http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/cjk/contact/cjk_l.html
6.5. Marketing
Kinetica has achieved a very high level of market coverage in Australian libraries. Because of the perceived saturation of the market any marketing and promotion activities have focused on developing knowledge of new products and supporting customer enquiries through the Help Desk. Kinetica has concentrated marketing activity on trade stands and communicated with customers through participation at the activities of the Online Conference, public library meetings and state user group.
6.6. Directories
The ALG and the Australian Interlibrary Resource Sharing (ILRS) Directory support resource sharing in Australian libraries. In 2002-2003 a campaign to encourage libraries to maintain their ALG data was undertaken, with more than 750 reminder emails sent to libraries, resulting in almost 600 updated entries.
Work continued on the development of an X500 version of the ILRS directory, to support the use of ISO ILL compliant interlibrary loan systems. These systems require a downloadable source of location data to support their interlibrary loan activity, and moving the ILRS directory to a format based on internationally recognised standards such as the X500 directory standard, will facilitate the use of the data for this purpose.
6.7. Kinetica products
Kinetica continued to produce a range of regular and one-off product files for customer libraries, for maintenance tasks and for special products. In 2002-2003 more than 8 million records were extracted as product files.
- Electronic Collection Sets. Kinetica's new MARC record service for electronic collections expanded significantly. Fifteen sets are now available with new titles being added as they are developed. Currently 17 customers purchase these sets and there is continuing interest from other libraries.
- Microform Collection Sets. Kinetica is currently developing a service to enhance access to a range of European microform collection sets held in Australian libraries. Libraries will be able to purchase selected sets with their holdings added to the MARC catalogue records. Initially over 50 microform collection sets will be available through this service.
- Special products. Kinetica also produces a range of special products, such as the Recent Australian Publications lists found at ( http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/auspub.html) and, with RMIT Publishing, Serials in Australian Libraries and library catalogues on CD-ROM. Individual requests include products designed to assist consortia in providing improved access to their collections or comparing NBD holdings for libraries planning mergers. Recent Australian Publications has been redeveloped and will be launched at the 2003 Kinetica Annual Users Meeting.
7. Your advice to Kinetica
7.1. User meetings/site visits
Kinetica user groups have met in all states and territories and discussed a wide range of issues. As well, Kinetica staff have given presentations to all user groups. Kinetica staff have also attended meetings of professional groups, such as state public library associations, One Person Australian Libraries (OPAL), ALIA Cataloguers, library technicians, health libraries and other special libraries groups. Visits have also been made to several regional centres. In addition all 20 top contributors have received site visits from staff within the Resource Sharing Division.
7.2. Kinetica Advisory Committee
The Kinetica Advisory Committee met three times during the year. Key agenda items were NBD quality issues, pricing, enhancements, authorities, theses coverage, electronic resources and the future options for the Kinetica service.
Pricing
The KAC Pricing Working Group, comprising Ms Doreen Parker (Victoria University), Mr Trevor Wakely (Bureau of Meteorology) and Ms Maxine Brodie (Macquarie University), reviewed Kinetica charges in 2002-2003, in consultation with Australian libraries. KAC gave considerable thought to the most appropriate needs of Kinetica customers and the National Library for future pricing of Kinetica services. Recommendations to the KAC have generated a new approach to pricing for 2003-2004.
The major recommendations effecting Kinetica customers included:
- · the acceptance and gradual implementation of a single discount level for contributors to the NBD; and
- · the waiving of charges to library schools for use of Kinetica in training library students.
Membership
Four new members joined the committee.
- · Ms Linda Luther, University Librarian, University of Tasmania, replaced Ms Doreen Parker, University Librarian, Victoria University of Technology as a representative of the Committee of Australian University Librarians.
- · Ms Elizabeth Ellis, State Library of New South Wales, replaced Ms Kaye Hill from the State Library of Western Australia, as representative of the Council of Australian State Libraries.
- · Mr Chris Taylor from the University of Queensland and Ms Judy Engall, Curriculum Support Directorate, New South Wales Department of Education and Training replaced Mr Trevor Wakely and Ms Jan Maslen as elected members.
On behalf of all Kinetica customers and staff thanks are extended to Ms Jan Maslen, Mr Trevor Wakely, Ms Doreen Parker and Ms Kaye Hill for their advice and support for Kinetica over many years.
Kinetica Advisory Committee Membership 2002-2003
| Chair/Deputy Chair | Members |
|---|---|
| Ms Jan Maslen | La Trobe University (to December 2002) |
| Ms Maxine Brodie | Macquarie University (from March 2003) |
| Mr Craig Anderson | Yarra Plenty Regional Library (from March 2003) |
| Mr John Arfield | University of Western Australia |
| Ms Elizabeth Ellis | State Library of New South Wales (from March 2003) |
| Ms Judy Engall | Curriculum Support Directorate, New South Wales Department of Education and Training (from December 2002) |
| Ms Pam Gatenby | National Library of Australia |
| Ms Kaye Hill | State Library of Western Australia (to March 2003) |
| Ms Linda Luther | University of Tasmania (from July 2003) |
| Ms Doreen Parker | Victoria University of Technology (to July 2003) |
| Ms May Priddle | Department of the Treasury |
| Ms Sherrey Quinn | Libraries Alive! Pty Ltd |
| Ms Patricia Scott | University of Adelaide |
| Mr Chris Taylor | University of Queensland (from December 2002) |
| Mr David Toll | National Library of Australia (to July 2003) |
| Mr Trevor Wakely | National Meteorological Library, Bureau of Meteorology (to December 2002) |