New & Noteworthy

Citation

(2000), "New & Noteworthy", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 17 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2000.23917hab.002

New & Noteworthy

OCLCDevelops Global Resource Sharing Access Capability

OCLC has formed the Global Sharing Program to foster international resource sharing. The program formalizes rules for borrowing and lending beyond state and national boundaries with the purpose of enabling participating libraries to identify lending partners around the world and the materials they hold in WorldCat, and to process international interlibrary loan (ILL) transactions.

Knowing "which institutions are willing to conduct interlibrary loan transactions across international borders" has been one of the biggest challenges among libraries, according to Cathy Kellum, manager of the Global Sharing Program and consulting product support specialist in Resource Sharing Product Management.

The primary requirements for joining the Global Sharing Program are as follows:

The OCLC ILL Fee Management service is the only payment method accepted.

Fax or Internet document delivery, such as Ariel, is the only delivery method for non-returnable material that can be used.

Airmail or courier is the only delivery method for returnable material that can be used.

Lending to all participants in the group is mandatory.

Currently 30 libraries are participating in the Global Sharing Program including the Library of Congress (USA), CISTI (Canada), University of Queensland (Australia), and the National Library of Education (Denmark).

OCLCCooperative Online Resource Catalog Debuts

The OCLC Cooperative Online Resource Catalog (CORC) is now available as a regular service. Built cooperatively with nearly 500 libraries over the past 18 months, CORC is a Web-based system for building bibliographic records and pathfinders (subject bibliographies) for electronic resources.

According to a recent OCLC release, the goal of CORC is to enable libraries worldwide working cooperatively "to make local resources available to the world and to make quality global resources available to local library users."

According to the release, future releases of the CORC service will support cataloging of all materials, vernacular languages, and a database architecture that will virtually extend WorldCat to additional resource descriptions such as reviews, biographies, and tables of contents. This extended WorldCat will be a key element to an integrated suite of Web-based services that are planned, including selection and ordering of content from other third-party providers.

A CORC toolkit, based on technology developed at OCLC, supports automated record creation, authority control, URL maintenance, and pathfinder creation. Libraries using CORC can subscribe to the WebDewey service for access to the latest version of the enhanced Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) database (updated quarterly) and use of an automatic classification tool to generate candidate DDC numbers during record creation. The WebDewey service includes selected Library of Congress subject headings, linked to the LC authority files, that have been intellectually mapped to Dewey numbers by the DDC editors and statistically mapped to Dewey numbers in OCLC's WorldCat database.

OCLC: 6565 Frantz Road, Dublin, Ohio 43017-3395; (614) 764-6000, fax (614) 764-6096, http://www.oclc.org

National University of Singapore LibrarySelects 3M Digital ID System

3M Library Systems and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Library will introduce an integrated system of digital identification technology to the university's libraries. According to a recent release, the project involves two million books and materials across six libraries, making it the largest library site to implement radio frequency identification (RFID) in the world.

NUS Library has selected the 3M Digital Identification System to integrate and further automate its six libraries. The system includes a suite of products that identify and track library materials by a "smart label" affixed to each item.

NUS Library will use the 3M Digital Identification System Conversion Station to facilitate the transition from optical bar codes to digital identification tags. Each tag includes a tiny antenna and microprocessor chip that contains information unique to the item it marks. The tags will be decoded via radio frequency waves so items can be tracked as they enter, move about, and exit the library with patrons. The 3M Digital Identification System is the cornerstone of 3M Library System's Materials Flow Management concept, which seeks to optimize this flow of materials.

The 3M Digital Identification System will be used within the NUS libraries to find lost items, properly shelve items, and take inventory. Patron checkout integrates magnetic security with detection systems located at the exits and entrances of the libraries. Students can return materials at any of 15 book drops located around the campus because Smart Remote Bookdrop systems integrate digital identification technology that enables them to accept and identify items, dispense receipts to borrowers, and check items back into the library's automation system.

The 3M^TM Digital Identification System is expected to be fully operational in the Central Library from June 2001. NUS expects to complete the project for the entire six library system in 2002.

National University of Singapore Library: www.lib.nus.edu.sg

Geological Society of AmericaExploring E-Collaboration

The Geological Society of America (GSA), which publishes two major geoscience journals, Geology and GSA Bulletin, has announced that it is exploring a collaboration with EPIC (the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia) and SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) to launch a new electronic aggregation of major geoscience journals. The proposed collaboration would offer full texts of earth science society journals to library subscribers on the Web on a shared platform to help reduce development costs and subscription prices.

The journals would be hosted and distributed on the Internet as part of Columbia Earthscape http://www.earthscape.org, an earth sciences Web resource that integrates research, teaching, and public policy dimensions of earth sciences. GSA's journals and those of other earth science societies would be available as a section of Earthscape, with the content of the journals fully searchable as part of the larger publication. Columbia Earthscape was developed by EPIC, a joint program of the Columbia University Press, Columbia University Libraries, and Columbia University Computing Center.

Geological Society of America: c/o Ann Cairns, Director of Strategic Communication and Marketing, acairns@geosociety.org, and Peg Lehr, Chief Operating Officer/Director of Publications, plehr@geosociety.org

Merrimack Valley Library ConsortiumMigrates to epixtech's Horizon

The Merrimack Valley Library Consortium has chosen epixtech's Horizon system to automate its 36 public libraries in northeastern Massachusetts. Merrimack Valley Library Consortium serves a wide range of public libraries from very large public libraries with a wide range of programs and circulation, to small public libraries that serve the quaint coastal towns of northern Massachusetts. The libraries will use the Horizon system for many services including renewals, hold requests, interlibrary requests, and reviewing borrower information and borrower account review.

The Merrimack Valley Library Consortium (MVLC) began in 1983 to provide all sizes of libraries in the northeastern section of Massachusetts with interlibrary loans, delivery of materials, automation, continuing education, and consulting. MVLC is a cooperative, funded by its member libraries. Its purchase of Horizon was made possible by grants from the State of Massachusetts and the LSTA.

Merrimack Valley Library Consortium: c/o Bill Manson, Executive Director; (978) 475-7115, bmanson@mailserv.mvlc.lib.ma.us

Ex LibrisBeta Testing SFX

SFX, the context-sensitive reference-linking solution, originating in research work by Herbert Van de Sompel at Ghent University in Belgium and now owned by Ex Libris, enters a new phase as beta testing gets underway in some US libraries.

SFX Beta Test sites include Los Alamos National Laboratory, Harvard University Library, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Vanderbilt University, and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). These institutions are making their e-collections interoperable with the SFX solution, while involving information industry vendors from whom they license data. According to an Ex Libris release, many of these information providers have already enabled their resources to work with SFX through implementation of the OpenURL, a generic, public syntax to allow for metadata transportation and interoperability between information resources and service components. The OpenURL specification can be found at http://www.sfxit.com/OpenURL

An SFX beta training sessions held at Harvard University provided the opportunity for the beta testers to meet and learn from the original SFX development team from Ghent, and from staff of the Ex Libris Information Services Division. Ghent University already offers SFX extended services to its users.

For further details on SFX visit http://www.sfxit.com

Ex LibrisSigns SUNY Contract

Ex Libris has signed a contract with SUNY and has begun work on the project, according to an Ex Libris release. SUNY, the State University of New York, selected ALEPH in October 1999 and contract negotiations on the project began immediately. Concurrent with the negotiations, Ex Libris opened an East Coast office in order to provide local support for the project. ALEPH500 is now poised to become the core library management system (LMS) for the SUNYConnect initiative, which will provide access to the entire SUNY library collection of 18 million volumes while integrating technology-based resources and capabilities with traditional library services.

SUNY is a unified system of public higher education institutions with 64 campuses, representing 71 libraries comprised of community colleges, two-year colleges of technology, specialized and statutory colleges, traditional four-year colleges, research university campuses, and academic health science centers. Serving nearly 400,000 students, SUNY is the nation's largest single, most diverse, multi-campus higher education system.

Ex Libris: c/o Carl Grant, (773) 404-5527, cgrant@exlibris-usa.com

Gaylord Information SystemsTo Automate East Mississippi Regional Libary

East Mississippi Regional Library (EMRL) has selected Gaylord Information Systems' (GIS) GALAXY system as its automation solution. The EMRL system consists of Bay Springs Municipal Library, Enterprise Public Library, Louin Public Library, Pachuta Public Library, Quitman Public Library (EMRL headquarters), Shubuta Public Library, Stonewall Public Library, and Mary Weems Parker Memorial Library in Heidelberg, Mississippi.

EMRL's GALAXY system will be deployed on a DEC AlphaServer 800 5/500 processor configured with 128MB to support 200 simultaneous users. Two 4.3GB disk drives will provide enough disk storage to accommodate EMRL's current database of 60,000 MARC records plus a 100 percent anticipated growth in database size. The Ethernet network will use the DECnet network protocol. Other standard network topologies and protocols, such as TCP/IP, can also be used. The GALAXY system can operate on LANs using the PATHWORKS network operating system, as well as on X.25-based WANs.

GIS will stage the library's system at its Syracuse, New York, offices. The staging includes setup and testing of the GALAXY software and hardware, and loading and testing the library's converted data files. GIS technicians will install all components, including cables and connectors.

Approximately 70 percent of funding for EMRL's automation project was provided through the Library Services and Technology Act. The total grant of $101,491 will be distributed over a two-year period. Thirty percent matching funds of $31,706 will be provided by nongovernment sources. The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Mississippi Library Commission are grant administrators.

Gaylord Information Systems: c/o Michael J. Frasciello, Corporate Communications, PO Box 4901, Syracuse, New York 13221-4901; (800) 272-3414 #372, frasciello@gaylord.com