The minutes of the latest Datasets meeting are available

Vicki

Datasets have had an initial meeting to look at possible purchases/subscriptions for 2010/2011. A list has been drafted of staff suggestions and products that have ben recently showcased to us, and we have had some discussion over the possibilities. I am still waiting for pricing for a couple of products, but the information is available in Wishlist summary and the brief pricing list.

This list is just to let you all know the products that are currently on our radar.
Vicki

Just a recap on changes to the newspaper display and management of newspaper subscriptions since our purchase of Library PressDisplay.

All current newspaper subscriptions in the Central Library will continue until their expiry, and we will continue to display them. Please note that there are no changes planned for Macmillan Brown Library papers. We will, however, be removing donated newspapers from Central Library display, sometime this week. We will continue to subscribe to the Press for all libraries, for the next 3 months, after which time we will consult with users, and review this. We will be moving some of the subscribed newspaper content to the New Periodicals Display, depending on its size. Some of the tabloid sizes are already displayed on the Periodical Display stand, so there are a few inconsistencies. We will be putting notices on the newspaper display stands highlighting the changes, and directing users to Library PressDisplay.

Thank you
Vicki

The Datasets Group met yesterday and discussed a range of issues.

Currently received print serials:
Library IT has devised a report which identifies currently received serials, both donated and subscribed, using call number ranges. Datasets recommends that a focus be made on reviewing donated material, and cancelling material that is deemed no longer relevant. It was suggested that this work could be done by the Information Librarians, using appropriate call number ranges. Timeline for completion by end of April. Some consultation on a case by case basis may be necessary. Vicki will send out details once report has been tweaked.

Financial Reports Collection:
This is an area that needs work – decisions need to be made about the future of this collection, and other annual report material within the Library collections. We may be able to provide organisations such as NZX with copies for digitisation. The Group recommended the establishment of a project group to determine future moves.

PressDisplay: We talked about over whether we should continue with a hard copy of the Press for all libraries, or just a single copy for Central, or none at all. It was decided to leave things as they are for now, and review in 3 months time to give us time to see how well PressDisplay performs. All other subscription papers covered by Press Display will be cancelled, and donated material (Asian languages material in particular) on Newspaper Stand will be removed. There are better options now available via PressDisplay.

New Serial orders: More information about the process of acquiring new journals is needed. Collection Services will work on putting together a template outlining the steps needed, and criteria for any supporting cases.

E-Books: LLT has delegated responsibility for reveiwing e-book practice to Datasets. The group will need to regularly review progress on ebook purchases, report to LLT on progress and recommend changes. This will include reviewing progress and recommending changes to process or suppliers – we have just moved to EBL and Ebrary -and recommendations on what should be purchased in ebook format. In 2010 we are purchasing any monograph that is available as an ebook, except where the electronic version is of lesser quality e.g. art books.. There are user, collections and technical issues involved in purchasing ebooks. A session for library staff is planned for 13th April, at 2pm.

Make up of Datasets: It was also felt that we should be reporting on a more regular/formal basis to LLT and BLT. Some discussion on membership of Datasets, and it was suggested that other people could be included depending on topics being discussed, eg E-books. Cynthia will look at the Electronic Resources Management SOP terms of reference as these may need updating.

PressDisplay is the world’s largest online newspaper and magazine collection, providing full text, colour, e-image access to over 1400 of the world’s publications, from over 70 countries and in 37 languages. We trialled it before Christmas and the product has now become available via the EPIC national consorium. We hope to have access shortly. This product was well received during the trial period and offers a much needed boost to our newspaper resources. Our users are constantly asking for more international papers, and this could help meet that need. We have signed up for the EPIC deal and hope to have access shortly. We will have a 15 seat licence.

Having such a resource in our collection will have an impact on our current print newspaper subscriptions and donations, and there are some important points to note.

PressDisplay is not an archive – most titles have the latest 6o days, though some do offer slightly longer.
Offers a very good selection of NZ dailies and regional papers – including the Press, Dominion Post, NZ Herald, Sunday Star Times (but not the ODT )

At this stage we will maintain our hardcopy subscriptions to the Press, but this will be reviewed in 3 months.

However, we will be looking at cancelling some other titles which are covered by PressDisplay. In particular, this will affect the Guardian, the Independent, the Weekend Australian, and the Dominion Post. We will also be considering removing some of the foreign language newspapers that we currently receive. PressDisplay offers a much more extensive range of publications which are of a far better quality. A review of our current newspaper holdings would be the basis of any decisions that will be made, and an analysis of the coverage supplied by PressDisplay.

Vicki

The Datasets Group met recently and discussed a number of major resources currently under review.
PressDisplay which we trialled before Christmas may possibly be included in our EPIC package, so we are awaiting the outcome of negotiations.
We also looked at replacing WorldWide Political Science Abstracts (CSA/ProQuest) with Political Science Complete (EBSCO) and we do plan to proceed with this, following very positive feedback from the recent trial. There are issues for us as far as our SUMMON discovery tool, and the current stand off between ProQuest and EBSCO regarding the indexing of each others products, and we have expressed concern to the vendors over this situation. We are also interested in subscribing to CINAHL, for 2010, and this has been agreed to. Again this is another EBSCO database so we need to send a very clear message to EBSCO and ProQuest that we will be watching this situation closely, and reviewing our protfolio accordingly.
Other matters that came up included the disposal of the some of the Times microfilm, which is now available via the Times Digital archive. We have invested a considerable sum in this over the years and while we may not recover costs on this, we plan to offer it to Gombe University, rather than discard it completely.

We also reviewed the products purchased in 2009, and a spreadsheet has been compiled listing our major acquisitions over the past year. A list of backfiles still of interest is also included for future reference, plus a desiderata sheet for products Purchase list 2009

The Datasets Group met this afternoon to look at options for the provision of electronic access to newspapers for 2010. This was partially in response to a need to reduce the size of the current display in the Central Library, but has also been on our agenda for some time. There is considerable demand for international newspapers, and there are a couple of good options worthy of further exploration. We will be organising trials in the next few days for Press Display (A ProQuest product), and NewsBank, which we have looked at before. Christchurch City Libraries implemented PressDisplay earlier this year, and it has proved extremely popular.

Vicki

Access has been restored.

Vicki

We seem to have lost access to the OED Online. I have contacted the vendor and will let you know when access has been restored. In the meantime users could be directed to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, also available electronically, which is working. Alternatively there are numerous print dictionaries in our collection which are also still working…

Vicki

Access to American Chemical Society titles has now been restored.

Vicki