Information Resources Integration: Impact on Library Research

Corazon M. NeraDirector of Libraries, Lyceum of the Philippines

Member, Board for Librarians, PRC

Outline of Presentation

1. Background: The Changing Environment

2. Models of Information Resources Integration

3. Consortium Initiatives in the Philippines

4. The Philippine E-Lib: Information Resources Integration Model

6. Recommendations

5. Impact on Library Research

7. Conclusions

Model A- Institutional Resources IntegrationModel A- Institutional Resources Integration

Lyceum of the Philippines Organizational ChartLyceum of the Philippines Organizational Chart

INTERFACEINTERFACE

5. Library and information resources

1. Each a provider of information and a user of information

2. Maintain research databases

3. Student Data

4. Staff profile

6. Disparate data and information sources

7. Managed independently

8. Access restricted

9. Ownership is well-defined10. Confidential

11. Applications developed to service the needs of the departments

TRUSTEES

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

MANCOM

TREASURER

PRESIDENT

ALUMNI AFFAIRS

INTERNAL AUDIT

COLLEGE OF LAW

MISATHLETICS

OFFICE

ACADEMIC COUNCIL

FINANCE

MEDICAL / DENTL

INSTITUTIONAL PLANNING &

DEV’T/OUTREACH PROGRAM

HUMAN RESOURCES

PROPERTY OFFICE

PURCHASING OFFICE

CASHIER

MARKETING

COUNCIL OF DEANS

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

ACCOUNTING

ADMINISTRATION

BUILDING MAINTENANCE

GENERL SERVICE

TRANSPORTATION

AGENCY

SECURITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

ADMINISTRATION

COLLEGE OF FOREIGN SERVICE

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT

STUDENT AFFAIRS OFFICE

GUIDANCE OFICE

COLLEGE OF ARTS &

SCIENCE

COLLEGE OF COMPUTER

STUDIES

COLLEGE OF INT’L HOSPITALITY MGT

COLLEGE OF NURSING

LIBRARIES

REGISTRAR’S OFFICE

ADMISSION OFFICE

Model B - InterLibrary Resources Integration Intramuros Consortium

I L C Navigator

Portal

Manila Bulletin

PLM

DOLE

Letran

Mapua Lyceum

OBJECTIVESOBJECTIVES

1. Integration of electronic resources2. Increase the use of resources

3. Make the admini- stration of the E-sources more efficient

4. One stop shop library provided content

SERVICESSERVICES

1. Allow end user / researchers to have access to interdi-sciplinary tools

2. High level service to researchers

3. Offer access to E-journals (via large number of inter-faces) not knowledgeable

4. Single point of access to journals, databases, open archives, open access journals and other e-resources

1. No-nonsense interface

2. High performance

3. Integration of open access information

4. Non-propriety

5. Library branding

Background: The Changing Environment

1. Libraries worldwide have long been a strong advocate of information resource integration.

2. It is not new and has existed for many years except now with the advent of new information technologies, it has been given a new breath.

3. The trend is for libraries to form a partnership to share resource.

4. Today, libraries tend to borrow from each other more so that they buy less.

5. No one library can collect all the literature in all interest and knowledge discipline. That libraries form relationships and collection development strategies. Each library collects in its specialty areas and makes conscious decision not purchase extensive materials in other areas.

6. Over the years a number of terms had been used to refer to this cooperative activities including as library cooperation, library networking, collaboration, resource sharing and consortia.

7. Resource sharing works, and resource sharing matters now and in any plausible future. A number of developments (technological) are making resource sharing faster, cheaper and more effective.

8. An online catalogue that can simultaneously search the collections of group of libraries is an essential component of resource-sharing cooperative. By implementing such a combine catalogue and other resource sharing arrangements, a library can expand the amount of material that’s currently available to its user’s.

The Changing Environment (con’t.)

9. The early growth in library networking was stimulated by the development of bibliographic utilities (OCLC, BLCMP, WLN, UTLAS, RLIN, etc) the largest of which built dedicated networks and centralized networks to enable bibliographic data sharing between network members.

10. With the emergence of bibliographic and citation databases, resource sharing has become more important. High-speed communications, a variety of computerized systems, and a document delivery services have all helped libraries improve resource sharing activities.

The Changing Environment (con’t.)

11. The use of technology to help users to customize their access to information resources. Library users who are web users expect customisation, interactivity and customer support. In other words, the approach should be user-focussed rather than library-focussed. Like flexible learning, access to information resources should be driven by user needs rather than institutional imperatives.

12. The use of “push technologies” to assist overloaded information users to select and evaluate resources as well as draw their attention to resources which may be of interest to them on the basis of user profiles or past use of resources in specific subject areas.

The Changing Environment (con’t.)

13. The need to put a human face on the virtual library. Many library web sites place too much emphasis on resources, collections and facts, while users really want an easy means to identify and contact staff who might be able to help them.

14. The need to co-opt existing technologies that have not been used in libraries, and take advantage of cooperative efforts in information access.

The Changing Environment (con’t.)

15. The traditional “bricks and mortar” model which was built around site-based services must be replaced by the “clicks and mortar” model, which is built around the e-commerce model of library service delivery. The key e-commerce technology that libraries should adopt is the portal. This will allow the library to know who its users are. This in turn will allow the library to inform the users of relevant information resources which fit the profile of the user, when the latter logs on to the portal. At the same time, the portal will allow users to customize their interface so that they need only view those resources in which they have an interest. The portal also has the capability of providing “human interaction” through chat, email and video conferencing facilities.

The Changing Environment (con’t.)

Consortium Initiatives in the Philippines

DOST-ESEP Consortium

Mendiola Consortium

Inter-Institutional Consortium (Taft)

Ortigas Center Library Consortium (OCLC) Inc.

European Studies Program

Davao Colleges and Universities Network

Intramuros Library Consortium

E-Library Network

ALINET (Mindanao)

The Philippine E-Lib: Information Resources Integration Model (http://portal.elib.gov.ph)

• Provide a portal that contains a union catalog of the holdings of the partners, and provide links to these resources.• Digitize resources which are produced locally such as, but not limited to theses and dissertations, scholarly publication in the humanities, social sciences, and science and technology, and materials that represent the country’s cultural heritage

• Share subscriptions of online databases and make these available to a wider audience• Facilitate access to these resources particularly to state universities and colleges (SUCS), and the Filipino citizenry in general.

Objectives

Partners

Department of Science Technology

National Library of the Philippines

Department of Agriculture

Commission on Higher Education

University of the Philippines

Available Resources

• Union Catalogue of the 5 partners

• Special Collections/Researches

• Online Resources

Databases

• EBSCO Complete Academic Package, includes Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, Biomedical Reference Collection Expanded Edition, Business Source, Computer Source, ERIC, Information Science & Technology Abstract, Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection, Sociological Collection & MAS Ultra.

• ACM Digital Library Association of Computing Machinery

• ACS by American Chemical Society

• AIP/APS by American Institute of Physics/American Physical Society

Databases (con’t.)

• ASTM Standards Database & Index on CD-ROM

• Britannica Online

• CAB Abstracts on plant science, animal science, human health, parasitology, ecology, forestry, soil science, food science & products, agricultural economics, biotechnology, etc.

• Compendex on broad engineering areas: mechanical, civil, environment, electrical, electromagnetics, structural, process, etc.

• IEEE Computer Society Library

Databases (con’t.)

• Project Euclid (Cornell University) on applied & theoretical mathematics, statistics, computer science

• XreferPlus includes full texts of 150 books from over 30 world class publishers on art, bilinguals, biography, business, dictionaries, encyclopedias, food, geography, history, language, etc.

Standard Features Provided

• Current awareness service

• Selective dissemination of information

• Full text downloading

• Literature searches

• Document delivery

• E-Journals subscription

• Mailing List

• Rapid, responsive and knowledgeable customer support (guaranteed 24 hours response time) 24/7

Guidelines on Use

Qualified Users

• All members of the participating agencies can have free access of the databases.

• Researchers from other colleges and universities, government agencies, private corporations or private individual may use the eLib resources subject to the rules and regulations of eLib.

Access to eLib Resources

• Downloading of any kind from the databases will be subject to appropriate fees.

• All request for downloading of any kind must go through the Portal.

Impact on Library Research/Recommendations

1. The library’s role has changed greatly over the years, and the pace of change have engulfed the institutions rapidly as we make increased use of information communication technologies. As we innovate, more is expected from libraries and information centers, equally more is expected from librarians.

2. Library users have higher and higher expectations to their libraries, in part because of what technology promises to deliver, and this in turn had a huge impact on library systems. Systems have to be able to deliver services to members, almost before they know they need those services, in order to stay relevant

3. No library is an island. No one library can say they have it all. Libraries need to form a cooperative mechanism, distribute services and share resources to stay useful to the community or country. Resource sharing should be part of important component of the library’s overall mission.

4. An online catalogue that can simultaneously search the collection of group libraries is an essential component of a resource sharing-cooperative. Such combined catalogue and other resource-sharing arrangements, a library can expand the amount of material that is available to users. Three approaches that might be adopted for instituting an online catalogues are as follows:

Impact on Library Research (con’t.)

4.1 Virtual Catalog: Libraries with physically separate catalogs can create a combined catalog “virtually” through a layer of additional software. Virtual catalogs can make use of the Z39.50 search-and-retrieval protocol by now a standard feature available in all library automation system. In order to create the virtual catalog, a piece of software is needed that will function as a gateway to the Z39.50 server component of each library’s integrated system. The gateway would provide the end-user with a Web-based interface for entering searches and viewing results. It would operate behind the scenes as a Z39.50 client, simultaneously communicating with each of the Z39.50 servers in the systems.

Impact on Library Research (con’t.)

4.2 Shared-System Union Cataloger: A more ambitious way of providing a multilibrary is for all the libraries to use of a single automation system. Since each of the records resides in the same database, it’s easy to provide the capability to search across all the libraries’ collections. This model of searching is more straightforward as it avoids the complex matrix of connections involved in the virtual catalog model. The shared-system approach for establishing a union should generally offer higher reliability and faster performance.

4.3 Inter Library Loan Issues: It is important to offer library users the capability to efficiently obtain materials that aren’t available locally from participating libraries. Thus the key feature of a virtual catalog environment is an integrated interlibrary loan (ILL) request capability.

Impact on Library Research (con’t.)

Conclusions

1. Information resources integration would benefit all. As managers, providers and end users of information be it for study, professional or informational needs or research, changes have to be made and positive steps undertaken to accommodate these ever changing environment for access to information.

2. Development of the nation means forging forward with a strong knowledge-based society that are educated, economically sound because they know how to use information effectively.

3. The Philippine eLib is a virtual reality hopefully.

References

Conference on Resource Integration: An Agenda For Change (2002: Brunei Darussalam). Proceedings.

Philippine eLib brochure (2004)

Nera, Corazon M. (2004). Resource Sharing and Networking: the Intramuros Consortium Experience.

(http://www.ubd.edu.bn/library/activities/nit2002/conf2002.htm)