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Current
Digital Library Linkages Projects
Summary
of Objectives
Using
an Internet-based document delivery component of
the ISTEC Advanced Library Linkages initiative,
provide delivery of Ibero-American science and technology
publications worldwide. Expanding on the successful
Library Linkages pilot project, use the 27 ISTEC
-member library holdings to create the first Ibero-American
Science and Technology union list data base. Establish
an interactive atmosphere between scientists, engineers
and librarians and provide sufficient baseline data
to permit spinoff research in Electronic Library
Services.
Target
Audience and Beneficiaries
For the delivery of information from Ibero-American
S&T researchers, the target audience will be
the worldwide community of co-researchers from
outside of Ibero-America. It is anticipated
that a secondary audience will be Ibero-American
researchers who will have expanded access to
research going on within their own region.
The primary beneficiaries will be Ibero-American
scientists whose research will be accessible
to the world, and who will have new avenues
for regional collaboration. Through thi s bibliographic
access and document delivery program, Ibero-American
research will become an integrated part of
mainstream scientific activity. Once the level
of awareness is raised, it is expected that
multidisciplinary audiences willjoin in the
benefi ts of library linkages.
Site
visits
The
keystone to the ISTEC Information Accessand
Exchange Project, site visits to ISTEC member
libraries will be made to evaluate library
facilities and analyze the state of electronic
library access and development, collect data
on holdings, and fo rge collegial relationships.
Recognition of the differences in each institution's
information infrastructure - as demonstrated
by its library collections - is imperative.
Directing librarians at the sites are in a
position to identify and obtain appropriate
indexes and data bases from their respective
countries. Recruitment of library staff and
attention to the public relations work that
they carry out with research facult y and students
who use the programs and services is vital
to long range success of the program. Professional
exchange, the strongest element of the site
visit, renders an unquantifiable product from
common cause and mutual respect. Obtaining
raw data of serials owned by each institution,
whether that data is in paper for or CD-ROM,
is a new and central component of this project.
This information combined with the UNM holdings
will lead to a Union List of Serial Holdings
in Science and Technology for ISTEC. While
analyzing the level of electronic library use,
particular attention will be paid to current
document delivery efforts, the development
of on-line catalogs and the possibility of
inputting collections data directly into th
e planned data base.
Training
Seminars
"Research
via Internet" training provides researchers
with electronic investigative skills for the
Internet. The sessions also aim at creating
an efficient, independent user community, as
well as a uniformity of vision and goal with
regard to free and public document access.
Changes take place quickly at the local level
at each ISTEC institution and on the international
level through the Internet. AsISTEC institutions
upgrade their networks and as their libraries
develop more advanced electroni c access to
their collections, it is critical that faculty,
students and librarians link current traditional
information-seeking skills with the electronic
environment. Training sessions are focused
on access to the on-line catalogue of the University
of New Mexico and other data bases available
through the catalogue such as CARL, UnCover
and, most recently, Expanded Academic Index.
FirstSearch, a service of OCLC which offers
access to over forty interdisciplinary data
bases from all academic disciplines, is also
taught. Because students and faculty may not
have had access to the international indexing
and abstracting indexes that are now so easily
available through th e Internet, the basic
foundations of indexing and abstracting services
have to be taught along with the electronic
access environment. Due to a wide variety of
search systems on the Internet, instruction
in basic concepts of author, title, keyword,
brows e, and subject searches in the electronic
environment is offered. Exposure to a selection
of available data bases and their search engines
is a prerequisite for effective and efficient
searching. In addition to receiving training
in filtered, Internet n avigational skills,
attendees receive instruction in requesting
materials available at UNM through the existing
ISTEC document delivery system. The current
training seminar offers a technical module
for librarians only. Because librarians by
the nature of their profession are familiar
with organizational issues and searching techniques,
these presentations have a stronger, more uniform
base to build from and are much more detailed
and complex. Beyond technical information,
ISTEC Library Linkages goals are discussed
and the cooperation of the librarians is encouraged.
It is through librarians that the foundation
for continuity is developed; th us, librarians
are responsible for carrying out "multiplier
effect" activities for searching and document
delivery. Clearly, each library handles the
service according to its facilities, but the
overall goals and outcomes are agreed upon.
Librarians have known for a long time that
through word of mouth and personal experience,
students and faculty encourage their own peers
to take advantage of access to electronic data
bases. Pilot project trainingseminars have
attracted up to two hundre d and fifty faculty
and students over an average three-day period.
Each site is responsible for advertising the
seminars as they see fit and for providing
the training facilities which include workstations
for practice searching. For the planned project
, pilot training materials will be enhanced
with translation of key documents, on-line
instruction and further consideration of file
transfer protocols.
Evaluation
Through
periodic evaluation and analysis, the program
will focus on the real research needs of involved
students and faculty. Analysis will be based
on data from baseline questionnaires (see Annex
2), access logs to the databases made available
on t he network and actual request data collected
at delivery sites. The independence of students
and faculty vs.librarian-promoted and assisted
service, will be of interest. Users of the
service will be queried on identification of
the material requested, assistance received,
and whether or not the material received was
useful. As the service grows, users will need
to prioritize and evaluate their requests at
the front end. It is important that the users'
knowledge be developed in this area in order
that the service not be overburdened by extraneous
requests which are not used once delivered.
While independence of the user is a goal, the
level of review and interaction by the librarian
at the institution making the requests will
also be continually moni tored. Determining
the right amount of review that adds to effectiveness
without hindering timeliness will be part of
a semi-annual evaluation. A six-month analysis
of project success should be presented by each
site manager; these semi-annual reports, w
hich will also summarize Internet and local
electronic environment changes, will be compiled
after two years for a final analysis and recommendation
of follow-on projects.
Dissemination
of Project Results
Current distributed dissemination methods
will be continued and upgraded. In addition
to each participating institution's chosen
path for best informing their university population,
ISTEC headquarters announces project results
to members in monthly e-mail messages and reviews
the year's progress at its annual General Assembly
meeting. We will continue to seek presentation
selection at concerned conferences held by
the Special Libraries Alliance and the Coalition
for Networked Information. The proj ect has
been nominated for presentation at a proposed
1995 NSF-OAS conference on Computer Applications
for Teacher Support and Training. A new WEB
home page outlining the Library Linkage efforts
is available via the Internet. The Project
Director is the editor of an electronic journal
sponsored by the Association of College and
Research Libraries of the American Library
Association. The journal, Issues in Science
and Technology Librarianship, is distributed
via Internet to over 900 subscribers.
Short-
and Long-Term Impact
For
the first time, U.S. scholars will have access
to current waves in Ibero-American Science
and Technology. In the short term, an augmentation
in cooperative research - and a reduction in
repetitive efforts - is anticipated. The already
proven desire to locate exact information and
to obtain that information quickly will cause
librarians to upgrade their staff in electronic
library searching and document delivery and
relook at traditional reference and interlibrary
loan services. U.S. access to Iberi an and
Latin American publications will lead to greater
citing of those works, thus greater frequency
of listings in U.S. citation indexes, whirling
Ibero-American science and technology research
into the mainstream. The Organization of American
States is pledging to see all Latin American
countries connected to the Internet by the
end of 1994. Connection and use are two very
different things: the proposed project exploits
the common knowledge of free and public lib
rary access for user introduction to a vaster
selection of references and tothe basic concepts
of riding the Internet. Existing and new Internet
tools for electronic libraries will gradually
be incorporated according to demands in education
and research .
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