Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education Who and what might collection descriptions be for? Dr Alicia Wise Assistant DNER Director Joint Information Systems Committee

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education Outline The UK’s Distributed National Electronic Resource DNER Collections Sample collection descriptions Potential audiences for these collection descriptions Some challenges

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education In the UK the JISC is... The Joint Information Systems Committee Funded by the further and higher education funding councils in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales through top-sliced money Not a single committee, but a nested committee structure responsible for stimulating the innovative use of IT in learning, teaching, and research

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education The JISC…. Provides the network to all colleges and universities in the Uk Provides an environment for delivering electronic materials essential for learning, teaching, and research Funds research and development Raises awareness, and provides support and training SuperJANET Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) the eLib Programme, ATHENS authentication, Managed Learning Environments and many others with government, senior managers and staff ‘at the coal face’

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education The DNER is... The Distributed National Electronic Resource A vision driving JISC’s informational activity behind-the- scenes for some time that is now being surfaced A managed collection delivered through a coherent information environment supported by advisory, preservation and other services. Strategy for joined-up activity locally, regionally, nationally, and cross-sectorally

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education Advice and support Information environment Collection development and management Content delivery services Collections Fusion Services Middleware Presentation Services Collections Creation Use Preservation Evaluation

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education DNER Collections Multimedia Moving Images Journals Bibliographic databases Sounds Images Indexed websites Maps Abstracts Learning Materials Catalogues

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education DNER Collections 3-Year Collection Strategy supported by policies for: – Charging – Collection Development – Licensing Terms – Preservation Working Groups Focused on: – Books – Discovery Tools – Geospatial Resources – Images – Journals – Learning Materials – Moving Pictures and Sound – Research Output

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education Collection Descriptions Over 206 collections including: – 10,000 + books – 50+ discovery tools (abstracts, indices, citation records, internet resource descriptions) – National mapping data & satellite imagery – 250,000+ images – journal titles and 2 e- print servers – 30+ learning modules – Newsreels, videos, sounds – research output from arts, humanities, and social sciences

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education Access database containing fields: – ID – Title – Alternative Title – Description – Subject main term 1 (plus two subterms) – Subject main term 2 (plus two subterms) – Subject main term 3 (plus two subterms) – Type 1 – Type 2 – Size – Spatial Coverage – Temporal Coverage – Hierarchical relationship (sub/super groups) – Access users – Access conditions – End Date – Notes – Location (URL) – Alternative Location (URL)

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education Sample Collection Description 86 JSTOR JSTOR is a database that includes the non-current issues of a minimum of 100 important research journals in a variety of fields. Journals are digitised back to the first issue published (many of which date from the 19th century) and continue to a date no General Electronic journals 19th century-present HE only Subs 31/07/2003

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education Sample Collection Description 135 London College of Fashion College Archive VADS: London College of Fashion College Archive The London College of Fashion College Archive is a collection of historical materials which chronicle the history of the College from its origins as two early needle trade schools up until the 1970s. This database contains images of black- and-white and se Creative arts & media, Art & design Humanities, History Images - still 20th century-present FE, HE Permanent e/lcf_description.html

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education ‘Audiences’ for Collection Descriptions People – Collection Managers – Collection Owners e.g. publishers – Those who use collection: Subscribers (individuals or organisational reps) Teachers looking for appropriate materials Researchers looking for appropriate information – Those who don’t use collection but might like to Machines – Fusion Services (e.g. managed learning environments, portals) – Commercial portal service providers (e.g. ingenta, TDNet, etc.) – Publishers and aggregators offering value-added services (e.g. Sirus) – Online catalogues

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education Challenges We absolutely, without a doubt, need a standard way of describing both electronic and print collections Unclear who/what the current generation of descriptions are for… – To support users we need to target remote users and aid discovery, convey authority, provide links to information about access requirements including costs, use some kind of terminology control – To support collection managers we need links to acquisitions documentation (e.g. contracts, purchase orders), collection lifecycle information, usage statistics, training tools, and circulation tools. We also need information about individuals who have created the collection descriptions. – To support collection creators/owners we need to present this information to users in an attractive and agreed way.

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting Further and Higher Education Challenges, 2 We need tools to support the creation of collection descriptions and their maintenance and use – Commission/share online tools or info about the tools available. These need to facilitate description creation, downloading, integration, and targeting at users – Collection users, creators/owners, managers don’t appear to have time to keep descriptions up to date – There is a huge mountain of new e-materials piling up…. we need to get on top of this at the point of creation, and trace through as collection moves to delivery home or preservation facility – International standard preferable to UK-only standard