 Vol 3.3: Autumn 1998 |
In Newsline 3.3EDINA and EEVL working to build the DNER: EDINA to host Ei Compendex® and InspecCelebrating Resources in Art and Design Data Libraries and Data Librarians The Best Laid Schemes Ei Compendex®: Managing the Transition BIOSIS UEF - An Update Staff News About EDINA |
by Alison Bayley
DNER
In the last issue of Newsline, Margarete Tubby wrote of the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER). It has since been announced that EDINA is to host two of the principal datasets for Engineering and related disciplines: Ei Compendex® and Inspec. Through cooperation with other bodies, EDINA aims to help establish a real DNER for Engineering.
To ensure the success of the EDINA Ei Compendex® service, EDINA will collaborate with Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library (EEVL), the subject-based gateway for engineering hosted by Heriot-Watt University, and with the CTIs in Engineering and in the Built Environment, as well as with the data vendors. EDINA will be responsible for user interface design and implementation, system maintenance, data updating, security, and Helpdesk. EEVL will offer subject support, and together EDINA and EEVL will offer training and promotion.
Users will be able to use Ei Compendex® search terms with the EEVL database, which searches 3,500 engineering web sites, organised by subject and source type.
EDINA services, through use of the Z39.50 protocol, offer a degree of interoperability with other electronic library resources in the DNER. The simultaneous searching of Ei Compendex® and Inspec is planned for 1999. In addition, other relevant resources, if available with a Z-target, could also be included in the simultaneous search. EDINA's commitment to inter-working and interoperability is intended to help users move along the discover->locate->request->access chain within the DNER.
Inspec
Inspec, which has been available as an EDINA service from 1st September, is produced by the Institution of Electrical Engineers. It is the leading English-language bibliographic information service for international scientific and technical literature in physics, electrical engineering, electronics, communications, control engineering, computers and computing, and information technology
(http://www.iee.org.uk/publish/inspec/).
The Eduserv Chest deal for Inspec follows a new pattern: two subscriptions are required, one to Eduserv Chest for the data, and one to a data service provider (DSP). Also, instead of one DSP winning the contract to provide the service to the UK academic community in a competitive tendering exercise, several DSPs were encouraged to fulfil certain criteria in order to qualify to host Inspec and thereby qualify as JISC Authorised Inspec Service Providers (JAISPs). Details of successful JAISPs are published by Eduserv Chest. EDINA is a JAISP, and naturally we hope you will subscribe to EDINA as your DSP.
The timescale for mounting the service was limited, and the JAISPs were encouraged to seek collaboration with commercial service providers. EDINA is in collaboration with Ovid.
Ei Compendex®
Ei Compendex®, published by Engineering Information Inc. (Ei), is the most comprehensive interdisciplinary engineering database in the world.
Ei Compendex® together with Ei Page One, hosted for the last five years by BIDS, was subject to a new deal between Eduserv Chest and Ei for the next subscription period. Following competitive tendering in the usual way, the contract to run the Ei Compendex® and Page One service was awarded to EDINA, who put in a joint bid with EEVL. EDINA intends to launch the service on 6 December 1998. However, at time of writing (4 November), we have received only a sample of the Ei Compendex® data and await similar data for Page One. Subject to receiving the current and back data files in the near future, a trial of version 1.0 of the EDINA interface will be available from 6 December. The EDINA service will offer the possibility of searching Ei Compendex® and Page One either simultaneously or independently. In order to avoid unnecessary disruption to users, it is anticipated that the BIDS service will be available until 30th June 1999.
by Margarete Tubby
On 24th September some 80 delegates to the CHArt 98 conference (Computers and the History of Art) joined invited guests at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to celebrate the launch of ADAM, the Art, Design, Architecture and Media Information Gateway.
ADAM is being developed as a discovery tool for useful, quality-assured information on the Internet in such subject areas as fine art, design, architecture, applied arts, media, museum studies and related fields. Not surprisingly, EDINA Art Abstracts is one of the resources catalogued by ADAM: it helps users find references and abstracts to articles and other published material relevant to precisely these subject areas.
We at EDINA were delighted to help ensure sufficient provision for everybody to raise their glasses. After all, we too had reason to celebrate, as we enter the first full academic year with the Art Abstracts service as part of our collection.
Among the party-goers were representatives of the JISC Committee for Electronic Information (CEI) and its Secretariat, Visual Arts Data Services (VADS), Computers in Teaching Initiative in Art & Design (CTIAD) and other members of the Pavilion Group. The Pavilion Group -- named after its birthplace, the Brighton Pavilion -- is an informal collective of projects and initiatives whose broad aims are to support and enhance teaching and learning in art and design in Higher Education through the application of information technology. EDINA, as the service provider for Art Abstracts, is a member of the group, and the celebration was an excellent opportunity to discuss the encouraging experience of joint training and seminar activities with VADS, CTIAD and ADAM, and to explore opportunities for future collaboration.
After toasts had been raised to ADAM and EDINA, guests took the opportunity to view an exhibition of the services offered by members of the Pavilion Group.
Further information on the services and organisations mentioned above:
EDINA Art Abstracts: http://edina.ac.uk/art-abstracts/
For a free institution wide 30-day trial contact the EDINA
helpdesk.
ADAM: http://adam.ac.uk
CTIAD: http://www.bton.ac.uk/ctiad/ (link no longer works)
VADS: http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/
by Robin Rice, Data Librarian
The Edinburgh University Data Library, located in the Main Library on George Square, was created in 1983 specifically to serve university researchers by providing reference for, access to, and assistance with machine-readable datasets. In addition to helping local users, the Data Library now also hosts the EDINA national services. I joined the User Support team as Data Librarian this October, from the University of Wisconsin Data and Program Library Service (http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu).
Origins
Data libraries in European and North American universities began to spring up in the 1960's as a response to increased demands, particularly by social scientists, for access to large-scale survey data collected for administrative or research purposes. These special libraries were developed on a model of service that reflected the secondary analysis needs of quantitative social science researchers. Statistical software is used to manipulate non-aggregated records, e.g. individual cases, to discover new correlations or patterns that may provide evidence for scientific hypotheses.
The International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology (IASSIST) was formed in 1974 to help this new class of service providers learn from one another about how best to serve their patrons. IASSIST holds international conferences annually on a theme of current interest to help its members keep up with technology and trends in higher education. In 1993 the conference was hosted in Edinburgh by the Data Library.
Data Libraries Today
Data libraries focus on providing knowledgeable reference service for a universe of data files in various computer formats and their documentation (codebooks, methodology reports, questionnaires). Data libraries liaise with national data archives and statistical agencies, streamlining user requests and registrations, and offer personal assistance when problems with a dataset arise. In addition they can provide services such as creating subsets of complex datasets for analysis or classroom exercises. Other data libraries in the UK include the London School of Economics and Oxford University.
The web address of the Edinburgh University Data Library is http://datalib.ed.ac.uk/
by Margarete Tubby
Eduserv Chest has an onerous and often time-consuming task negotiating dataset deals on behalf of the academic community. And so it was with Ei Compendex®. In September the JISC decided that EDINA, in cooperation with EEVL, would provide the Ei Compendex® service for the next five years, starting during December 1998. Eduserv Chest and Ei are, at time of writing, still working to conclude the negotiations to everyone's advantage. See the Eduserv Chest web site at http://www.eduserv.org.uk/chest/for latest details on the agreement.
In the meantime, we have now received sample Ei Compendex® and Page One data and are working to build the databases and implement the EDINA interface.
While we are delighted to be making progress on the technical side of service implementation, we know that there is more to a good service than functionality. We are very aware of the difficulties posed by a switch in service, especially in mid-session. However, the timing was a consequence of dates set in prior agreements.
The following 'transition package' is offered to attempt to minimise the disruption for end-users and the burden to local library staff.
Service timetable
It is our intention to have a trial service operating from December 6th. In order to ease the transition for existing users of Ei Compendex®, it is anticipated that the BIDS service will continue until 30th June 1999.
User IDs and passwords
To allow easy continued use of Ei Compendex®, EDINA will accept logins from ATHENS shared access accounts to Ei Compendex® until the end of the academic year 98/99. However, the EDINA Ei Compendex® service will exploit the functionality afforded by personal ATHENS accounts, e.g. user profiles, easy saving of searches, etc. This level of functionality will not be available to users of shared access accounts.
Documentation
Many sites prepared new Ei Compendex® documentation for the start of the academic year. Unfortunately, this will become redundant. We therefore propose to distribute useful quantities of Reference Cards for the EDINA service free to subscribing sites in December. (The normal price is £12 per 100 copies.)
Should any amendments to this transition package become necessary we will, of course, let you know you via email (minimally on the edina-all and chest-Compendex® mailbase lists). Information will also be posted on our web pages.
We do hope that the measures described above will help site representatives and users alike. If you have any questions please get in touch with the EDINA Helpdesk.
by John Murison
In an issue of Newsline earlier this year we described the new Universal Electronic Format (UEF) being produced by BIOSIS Inc -- the firm which supplies us with the data to run the EDINA BIOSIS service -- and the implications of the new format on the service.
At the time of writing, we receive current BIOSIS updates in the old format. However, this is soon to change, and BIOSIS Inc will supply us with updates in both the old format and UEF during 1998; thereafter only UEF will be provided.
Concerning changes to the BIOSIS user interface, we had hoped to provide for searching of old and new format BIOSIS databases at the same time. This has not proved feasible, so at the start of a BIOSIS session the user will instead be asked to choose between the old format (1985--1998) or the new format (1993 onwards). The old format data will not be updated after mid-December 1998.
During November and early December we intend to carry out extensive field trials of the new UEF-based BIOSIS service. We will then make any adjustments required, in light of the experience, and switch the main service over to the new interface in the New Year.
If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch with the EDINA Helpdesk as soon as possible.
We are planning to introduce an EDINA BIOSIS web service by mid-1999.
Success brings opportunity: as reported on Page 1, EDINA is pleased report success in the bids to host Inspec and Ei Compendex®. But success also brings a timetable.
The work on EDINA service developments, featured in the previous edition of Newsline, has been progressing well, but resources have had to be applied to accommodate the contractual obligations of Inspec and Ei Compendex®. Therefore, not all developments were operational by the start of this academic session.
Please contact the EDINA Helpdesk if you require more information on likely dates.
*http://www.robertburns.org/works/
by Paul Milne
As the new EDINA Documentation Officer, I'd like to introduce myself, Paul Milne, as well as report other staff changes.
I started at EDINA on 1st August, after working for six years at Moray House Institute of Education, also in Edinburgh. At Moray House I worked first in the Design Studio, through which all the Institute's printed documentation passed. From the Design Studio I was seconded to work on web projects for the Department of Science, Technology, Maths and Computing.
My remit is to oversee the authoring, design and
publication of both printed and web-based materials. As far as the web
is concerned, the responsibility for the delivery of the on-line
services lies elsewhere, although I have input into design and
implementation issues.
Robin Rice, the author of the article on page 2, was
recently appointed as the University
of Edinburgh Data Librarian, and began work on 1st
October. Robin has come from the post of Special Librarian at the Data
and Programme Library Service of the University of Wisconsin,
in Madison. Although her job is to support users at the University
of Edinburgh, we at EDINA hope to benefit from her experience of
research data.
Ciaran Wills began working at EDINA in the summer of
1996,
as a student part-timer on the Digimap project. In July of
this year Ciaran was given a six-month contract as
replacement Software Engineer. Last month he interviewed successfully
to earn a 3-year contract as Software Engineer for the
Infrastructure Team. Well done, Ciaran!
A few words were said in Issue 3.2 about Claudia
Gröpl, who helps keep the EDINA office
running smoothly, in addition to providing Helpdesk cover.
She has kindly allowed her picture to appear in this issue.
Further staff developments: We are in the process of appointing two more members of staff: another Software Engineer, as well as an Data Library Assistant.
EDINA, based at Edinburgh University Data Library, is a JISC-funded national datacentre. It offers the UK higher education and research community networked access to a library of data, information and research resources. All EDINA services are available free of charge to members of UK higher education institutions for academic use, although university subscription and end-user registration is required for some services.
EDINA services are:
EDINA Art Abstracts
EDINA BIOSIS
EDINA Ei Compendex®
EDINA Inspec
EDINA Palmer's Index to The Times
EDINA PCI
EDINA ESPMD
Ordnance Survey Strategi
SALSER
UKBORDERS™
EDINA subscription and registration
Some EDINA services require the completion of a licence agreement before those services can be made available to users. Free 30-day trials are available for most of these services.
For most services, licence agreements must be obtained from Eduserv Chest (email chest@chest.ac.uk) and a subscription fee must be paid. Individual users must register locally at their library. If in doubt, check with the EDINA website.
For UKBORDERS™, there is no fee for academic institutions within the UK, but a licence agreement must be signed (email edina@ed.ac.uk) and individual users must sign an End User Licence.
For Ordnance Survey Strategi, each institution is required to hold a current and valid Ordnance Survey Educational Copyright Licence in addition to a subscription to EDINA. Contact EDINA in the first instance (email edina@ed.ac.uk).
SALSER is a completely free service, with no subscription fee. No licence or prior registration is required.
EDINA contacts
Helen Kerr and Claudia Gröpl (Helpdesk)
Margarete Tubby (User Services Manager)
Alison Bayley (Manager, EDINA National Services)
Peter Burnhill (Director of EDINA)
Tel: 0131 650 3302
Fax: 0131 650 3308
Email: edina@ed.ac.uk
URL: http://edina.ac.uk
Reference cards
Reference cards for most EDINA services are available for purchase at
£12/100. They are also available free from the EDINA Web pages in PDF
and PostScript formats.
EDINA Newsline is published four time a year by the Edinburgh University Data Library. Suggestions and comments on Newsline may be sent to edina@ed.ac.uk.
The final issue of Volume 3 of Newsline will appear in January 1999. Volume 4 will begin in March 1999.