OACIS: Overview of a Collaborative Project Online Access to Consolidated Information on Serials For SCOPA, December 11, 2003

Review of goals: To create a freely available publicly accessible web site featuring a continuously updated union list of Middle Eastern serials –In all formats (including live web links) –From 20+ countries (ME as defined by LC) To lay foundations for the future, delivering widest possible information access –Expanded cooperation and participation –Document delivery/ILL –Digitization and preservation

OACIS founding libraries: Cornell University Ohio State University University of Michigan University of Pennsylvania University of Texas University of Washington Yale University Universitaets- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle, Germany Libraries in Beirut, Cairo, Damascus, Tunis,

Why now? ME has always been a key part of the world –Historically, economically, politically –Never more than today Scholars and librarians have cooperated on modest projects –CRL’s Middle East Microform Project (MEMP) –Khoury/Bates Directory, U Washington, 1991 –(But not across national boundaries or via technology Need for a significant set of digital building blocks that don’t exist yet

OACIS beginnings: US Department of Education Title VI program activates TICFIA portion in 1999 (stands for Technological Innovation & Cooperation for Foreign Information Access) All are three-year projects projects funded: Africa, Eurasia, Japan, Latin America, South Asia projects: Indonesia, Japan, Latin America, ME, Asia, language teaching, Africa, South Asia, Tibet

Collaborations through: Year 1: database creation, loading of serial records –Database expansion in US, Europe, Middle East Year 2: explore ILL/document delivery partnerships Year 3: create mirror sites, modest digitizing, identify future phases (such as preservation) Year 2-3: internships from ME to work on OACIS –Will enable participation from home library & beyond Synergies with other Title VI participants Presentations at conferences, workshops (ME, DL) Assessment by users, measuring success

Today: OACIS is mostly “On Target, On Time” (Some travel and internship setbacks because of volatile political situation) Recent accomplishments: –First full partners meeting (July in New Haven) –Discovered complementarities of Halle project and are beginning links to it –Offer of digitization by Texas –Prototype launched globally November 10 th, 2003 with thousands of bibliographical records –Interns for 2004 selected (Jordan, Syria)

Home Page -

Potential Middle Eastern Participants: University of Jordan, Jordan American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon Balamand University, Lebanon Tishreen University, Syria Assad National Library in Syria The American University in Cairo Arab Institute for Human Rights in Tunisia

Breaking MARC

Data Display Issues

On the Inside

Encoding 101

System Specifications The Open Source system consists of the following components: - Server operating system: Linux via Red Hat Web server: Apache Database: MySQL Application languages: PHP 4.3.0, JavaScript 2.0, HTML This system currently runs as a test environment on a purchased DELL Precision 350 with Intel Pentium 4 (2.26 GHz).

What’s Next? Middle Eastern Interns -Interns selected -First intern will concentrate on issues of inputting non- MARC catalog records into OACIS using entry forms. -Second intern will focus on questions of document delivery Adding new participant data -Beginning in February we will start adding content from non-partner institutions at a slow and steady pace so as not to disrupt continuous project work.

What’s Next? (2) Exploring linking and other synergies with our Halle partner’s MENALIB project Fleshing out our thinking and plans for document delivery Fleshing out our thinking and plans for digitizing Seeking sustainability