ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 44 | April 2000
Access to electronic resources
A wonderful range of electronic datasets is now available to libraries and library users, but there are significant problems and costs in providing access to these valuable resources. The National Library wishes to explore how Kineticas resource-sharing abilities can be used to improve access to electronic collections for Australian libraries.
To this end, the Library has appointed an Expert Advisory Group to explore the opportunities and ramifications for libraries of this burgeoning area. In the spirit of learning by doing, the Expert Group will conduct a pilot project to provide access to the Elsevier collection Science Direct. The National Library has purchased a collection of MARC records from OCLC, corresponding to the Science Direct collection. These records will undergo some bibliographic conversion, and will be loaded to the National Bibliographic Database (NBD) with location and availability information for the Australian libraries that subscribe to the collection.
The Science Direct pilot project will be used to investigate how Kinetica can improve national access to electronic resources, and will identify those issues which need special solutions. For example, the question of maintaining the currency and accuracy of the data is of particular concern, as resources are added and deleted from electronic collections over time. Libraries need to be alerted to these changes, and need to receive bibliographic records for new titles as they become available.
The first task for the Expert Group will be to advise the Library on issues concerning bibliographic standards for cataloguing Science Direct on the NBD. These include determining the preferred practice for reporting locations of collections and their availability (including licence conditions) for interlibrary document delivery.
The Group comprises eight people who have been selected for their expertise and their interest in electronic resources over recent years. Toby Burrows (University of Western Australia) has been nominated by the National Resource Sharing Working Group, which will have a particular interest in the practicalities of interlibrary document delivery. Ritva Matero (University of Western Australia) has been nominated by the CAUL Electronic Information Resources Committee. Other members of the group are Annette McNicol (Griffith University), Glenys Oxlee (Macquarie University), Roxanne Missingham (NLA), Jasmine Cameron (NLA) and Julia Trainor (NLA), who will convene the group. Secretarial support will be provided by Bemal Rajapatirana, Manager of the National Bibliographic Database.
Progress reports on the work of the group, especially the Science Direct pilot project, will be provided on the Librarys Internet discussion list Kinetica-L. If anyone has particular expertise that they would like to make available to the group, please contact the convenor Julia Trainor by email (jtrainor@nla.gov.au).
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: tford@nla.gov.au