Friday, July 20, 2007

Index to The Times, new agreement for 2007/08

Further to the consultation in the Spring, publicised on this blog, EDINA can now announce that it will continue to offer the Index to The Times, 1790-1980 service at the same subscription rates charged over the past few years i.e. from £55-716 for JISC institutional bands A-J.
The new one-year agreement covers the period 1 September 2007 to 31 August 2008 with free 30-day trials of the service offered beforehand by contacting edina@ed.ac.uk. Existing subscribers have been contacted separately regarding their continued access to the service.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

OVID SilverPlatter new platform

Just to repeat, what we knew in March:

"We are on schedule for release of the new platform in the fourth quarter.

"This is a major investment of resources, and it is also the focus of our development efforts in a number of areas - including usage reporting, access, and authentication."

Monday, July 16, 2007

JISC Collections Licensing Workshop: Copyright in the digital age

Copyright is a complex issue that confuses many and infuriates others. What you can do and cannot do in relation to the educational use of copyrighted digital resources is not clear and is complicated by myth, rumour and the Internet. It is now as easy to infringe upon the copyright of digital materials as it is for the infringement to be detected.

Following on from the popular workshop that was hosted in London earlier this year, JISC Collections is repeating this event, which will take place at the Millennium Point Thinktank events suite in central Birmingham on Friday, 7th September 2007. The workshop will focus on digital copying and issues relating to sharing between collaborative institutions. This will be of interest to librarians and all practitioners and teaching staff who use online content in their teaching.

Attendees will be introduced to the online interactive tool which demonstrates how online resources from JISC Collections can enable practitioners and institutions to resolve the common misconceptions and issues relating to the use of copyrighted digital and online resources in research, teaching and learning.

To book your place at this workshop, please complete the online registration form or contact Jane Anthony.

Further details can be found here.

JNT Association + JANET(UK)

Farewell to "UKERNA"

"On June 7th, The JNT Association officially changed its trading name from UKERNA to JANET(UK). This was done to bring the trading name in line with that of the JANET network and services, which are widely known throughout the UK and internationally.

"The change of trading name has caused no disruption to our service; all current contracts with third parties will continue to run as previously. This change is designed to reduce confusion and will simplify things for our customers and consolidate our operations under the JANET brand."

JISC Collections Workshop: Promoting and Embedding E-textbooks

This workshop will explore current promotional methods being utilised by librarians, publishers and aggregators to aid the embedding of monographs and e-textbooks into the learning environment of users.

It will provide an opportunity for librarians to discuss their role in promotion, to share ideas for future strategies and tools that harness Web 2.0 technologies and to identify the core issues that they would like publishers, aggregators and JISC Collections to tackle to ensure that monographs and e-textbooks are being fully embedding in their institutions.

A series of case studies will be presented in the morning, followed by break out sessions in the afternoon. This workshop will take place at the JISC Collections office in London on Friday 14th September 2007.

To book your place at this workshop, please complete the online registration form or contact Jane Anthony.

Further details can be found here.

Digimap - Ordnance Survey Collection, new two-year licence agreement is available

A new two-year licence is now available for access to the Digimap - Ordnance Survey Collection resource. Digimap - Ordnance Survey Collection is a JISC-funded service, provided by EDINA, that delivers Ordnance Survey map data, available either via download for use with appropriate application software such as GIS or CAD, or as maps generated by Digimap online. A simple mapping tool allows users to view and print maps of any location in Great Britain at a series of predefined scales; a more advanced mapping tool enables the user to specify map scale, area and content, as well as print maps at up to A0 in size.

Its uses range across the academic spectrum subject areas include agricultural and countryside management, archaeology, art & design, business studies, computer science, earth sciences, engineering, geography, healthcare sciences, history, management studies, retail management, skills for life, social care and policy, surveying, tourism and leisure, town and country planning.

N.B. Ordnance Survey is replacing Land-Line with OS MasterMap®. Digimap – Ordnance Survey Collection will therefore offer OS MasterMap from August 2007. OS MasterMap is a more complex data framework and is structurally different from Land-Line and other current Ordnance Survey products. Land-Line DATA will continue to be available through the existing Data Download tool until August 2008.

Further details can be found here.

Research Councils are now eligible to subscribe to Digimap - Ordnance Survey Collection

Ordnance Survey and JISC Collections are pleased to announce that Research Councils, subject to approval, are now eligible to subscribe to and access Ordnance Survey data through the Digimap service for educational purposes.

Research Councils wishing to benefit from this opportunity should first confirm eligibility by contacting Ordnance Survey at universityenquiries@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Full details about how to subscribe, once eligibility has been confirmed, may be found at http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/digimapos

Discovering e-books in science and technology: new JISC Collections licence is available for Knovel

Knovel is primarily a collection of authoritative science and technology e-books, combining reference content from more than 1,110 databases and reference works from over 40 international publishers and professional societies. Knovel is of value at a undergraduate, postgraduate or vocational level studying chemistry, engineering, life sciences and or materials science and related subject areas. Institutions can subscribe to Knovel for one, two or three years from 1st August 2007.

More than a collection of e-books, Knovel has embedded many of these e-books with analytic tools allowing users to sort and filter tables, locate points on graphs, manipulate data to their specific needs and solve equations without leaving the content they are viewing. Data is integrated onto the online research platform for easy information discovery and search tools locate information quickly using keywords and/or data values.

Additionally, certain product discounts have been built into the licence as institutions wishing to pay the license fees two years in advance will receive an additional 10% discount on the total applicable charge whilst institutions wishing to pay the license fees three years in advance will receive an additional 20% discount on the total applicable charge.

Further details can be found here.

New Royal Society of Chemistry Journals Archive agreement is available

A new licence is available for the Royal Society of Chemistry Journals Archive. The archive would have cost each UK higher institution up to £25,000. Due to JISC funding, the content is freely available, and institutions have the option of paying £50 to mount the resource locally, or paying an annual access fee for online delivery from the publisher’s web site.*

* Please note that the Fee for a specific year will be waived if an institution subscribes to the NESLi2 RSC Journals Agreement in that specific year.

Staff and students at institutions have more than 150 years of essential research at their fingertips. The Archive contains all articles published by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and its forerunner societies from 1841 to 2004. It covers many of the most significant developments in the history of chemistry, including articles that directly rewarded its authors with Nobel prizes.

Further details can be found here.

New Times Digital Archive agreement is available

The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985 provides convenient access to a library of back issues of this renowned newspaper online. By taking the microfilm collection of The Times (London) and producing a high-resolution digital format with searchable images, The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985 represents unprecedented access to one of the most highly regarded resources for the study of 19th and 20th century.

This resource can be used in a multitude of subject and course areas including history, housing studies, science and sociology.

Please note: The following new agreement is for one year only. In August 2008, following changes to the Times Digital Archive, there will be a new multi-year agreement put in place. Please contact the JISC Collections Helpdesk if you have any queries.

Further details can be found here.

New Ovid Arts Package agreement is available

The Ovid Arts Package is a collection of four Arts and Humanities 'Abstract and Indexing' databases, currently provided on the SilverPlatter platform. Each resource is available individually or can be combined and subject to a multi-product discount.

The Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) presents contemporary literature from 1973 to the present day on the visual arts from the 4th century to modern times. The BHA database indexes and abstracts art-related books, conference proceedings, dissertations, exhibition and dealers' catalogues, and articles from over 4,300 periodicals.

The Abstracts of Music Literature (RILM) covers international music scholarship, presenting significant writings from 1969 onward in the area of music - historical musicology, ethnomusicology, instruments and voice, performance practice and notation, dance, music therapy, theory and analysis, criticism, librarianship, and pedagogy. Sources include all types of media ranging from articles and ethnographic recordings to congress proceedings.

The Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (RIPM) provides annotated indexes to the content of complete runs of music journals published in 17 countries between approximately 1800 and 1950.

The International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) contains four databases of global film scholarship, featuring the International Index to Film/TV Periodicals.

Further details can be found here.

Frequently Answered Questions on subscribing, renewing JISC Collections licence agreements and invoicing

This FAQ section is intended to answer the common queries regarding the subscription process, renewals of existing agreements and invoicing.

Once an institution has submitted a Sub-Licence Agreement, the JISC Collections Helpdesk can normally invoice within 1 day of receipt of the licence. The JISC Collections Helpdesk are able to generate invoices for institutions at any time, even part way through a subscription period.

The JISC Collections cannot raise an invoice until they have received signed copies of the Sub-Licence Agreement. However they can raise a pre-payment invoice if institutions email or fax them a copy of the Sub-Licence Agreement, provided this is followed with a signed copy in the post. This can be particularly useful at this busy time of year and when institutions want to pre-pay before the end of the financial year.

Where a JISC Collections agreement will not be renewed, the JISC Collections will not be able to raise new invoices once that current agreement has come to an end. In those cases existing subscribing institutions will be contacted to notify them that the respective agreement will not be renewed.

If you have any further queries, please contact the JISC Collections Helpdesk at subscriptions@jisc.ac.uk or on 01235 857 734.

Digitisation Conference 2007

The JISC Digitisation Conference 2007 takes place in Cardiff, July 19-20 and for those unable to attend a blog has been set up at http://involve.jisc.ac.uk/wpmu/digitisation where a full programme and delegate list can be found. The blog is also a space for anyone with an interest in digitisation to join in the debate and interact with the conference, speakers and the delegates through commenting, asking questions and sharing views.

An e-Content Policy and Strategy Symposium has also been organised to precede the conference on July the 18th. This event is bringing together key figures in the field of digitisation and content to discuss policy, business models, economics, technical infrastructure and collaboration and to discuss ways to promote innovation in these respective areas. The full programme can be found on the Strategic Content Alliance blog, where the event will also be covered live on the day.

For more information on JISCs' £22 million Digitisation programme please visit: www.jisc.ac.uk/digitisation

For more information on the Strategic Content Alliance please visit: www.jisc.ac.uk/contentalliance

Friday, July 13, 2007

EndNote X1 released

I was able to attend the afternoon presentation and consultation organized by "Adept" and "Thomson" at the British Library, 13th June 2007

Web Seminars (webinars) are running to promote the new features of EndNote X1

Functionality with VLEs, specifically Blackboard, has been developed collaboratively.

For the future there will be improved Unicode support for Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters. [version twelve]

EndNote X1 (eleven) shipped in June but those present stressed the need for release ahead of the academic year i.e. earlier release if the product is to be tested and installed by HE users in Europe.

Web protocols are seen as more important in EndNote development than the traditional Z39.50 and this is reflected in a commitment to Thomson's EndNote Web

EndNote X1 is designed to work with Microsoft Office 2007 and Word and therefore has its own "ribbon" built in.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

MIMAS Open Forum

ESRC and JISC are funding MIMAS projects which give longterm security e.g. census work for ESRC until 2011, ESDS, Satellite Image Data, Intute until 2012.

Wellcome will fund the UK mirror repository: UK PubMedCentral

Keith Cole will be the next Director of MIMAS (from November) following Julia Chruszcz, and MIMAS will become an autonomous entity within the University of Manchester.

MIMAS has a new logo (still based on Saturn's rings) and has added a strapline: Quality Data and Information at the Core of Research, Learning and Teaching

Mark van Harmelen spoke on Web 2.0 technologies: effects on policy, learning and teaching

Stuart Smith showed some developments in delivering to mobile devices including XHTML-MP and "maxdox", see tinyurl.co.uk/vpj6

AIRDIP and other repository projects are centred on INTUTE (not just INFORMS) and include cross-searching of repositories and authority indexing of author names in repositories.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Education Image Gallery - New licence, new content

JISC Collections have recently concluded a lengthy renegotiation with Getty Images for a further three-year agreement to the Education Image Gallery service, run by EDINA. The prices are unchanged from the 2004-07 prices and set at the same, tiered annual rates for 2007-10. Existing subscribing sites have been contacted regarding the renewal process, and new subscribers are welcome as well. 30 day trials are available for those interested in evaluating the service prior to subscription.

One of the key changes of the new licence agreement is the ability to store images locally for use beyond the term of the licence agreement. In essence the service offers a copyright-cleared bank of electronic images for educational use, covering the history of photography and including images across all major subjects.

After resolving outstanding metadata issues, the monthly-update feed has been restored which adds between 200-300 topical images each month. Just loaded are 2,000 images covering October 2006 to May 2007. This feature will continue for the period of the new licence increasing the database size from 50,000 to 60,000 images.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

JORUM enhancement committee

At the March meeting of the JORUM Enhancement committee, the following enhancements were identified as a result of the JORUM user evaluation groups (in order of priority):
Better layout of resource information
Explanation of All / Any functions
Creation of training videos for putting JORUM content into VLEs
Incorporation of sound into JORUM training videos
Improvements to Basic search box
Change terminology of ‘Organisation’ view to ‘Navigation View’
Icons to represent common resource type (i.e. single file, Weblink, content package)
Simplification of registration process
Provide ability to link resources together
Show similar objects function
Improved layout for advanced search
Simplification of options for narrowing down a search
Ability to collate resources as subject collections
Tabbed approach to metadata
Improvement in ‘Refine results’ function
Automated reports for cataloguers to list resources they have worked on
Reserved area for remembering metadata pages
Ability to order content by date contributed
Allow users to tag content with additional metadata
Replace icons for preview and additional metadata with text links
Send to a friend option
Aggregation of resources in the system
Recommended resourcesImplementation of tag clouds