CONTENTS

The need for alternatives for the provision of CDL-hosted abstracting and indexing (A&I) databases first described in Vol. 3, No. 18 of CDLINFO [ http://www.cdlib.org/news/cdlinfo/cdlinfo120600.html ] -and a strategy by which to investigate them has been endorsed by the University Librarians and the Systemwide Library and Scholarly Information Advisory Committee. The TSC is the systemwide advisory group for the process. The committee has been charged to make a recommendation by July 2001 as to which external vendors to pursue for the eight locally loaded databases and any of the Z39.50 databases which need to transition to new vendors. Implementation should be complete by July 2002 and parallel systems will be operated through December 2002 if necessary.

The committee began its work with four focal points: 1) a list of principles to guide selections for alternatives to the CDL-hosted databases, 2) a list of priority concerns for functionality, 3) a process for establishing and tracking comparisons between alternatives, and 4) ways to solicit input and share information about the process and its outcomes.

The TSC underscored the important role of Resource Liaisons and selector groups in the assessment of alternatives. Representative Resource Liaisons are forwarding initial evaluations of vendor functionality and usability, which are being collated with information on vendor coverage, current licensing information, if any, and development plans.

In the coming weeks committee members will be arranging campus discussions to review the goals and principles for database selection and to gather feedback. These meetings will provide an opportunity for staff not only to provide input regarding particular databases and desirable features, but also to discuss broader issues such as how to meet instructional and user needs in this time of transition.

Readers are encouraged to visit the transition web site or contact their campus representative on the Steering Committee for more information.
Peter Brueggeman (UCSD)
Andrea Duda (UCSB)
Min-Lin Fang (UCSF)
Cheryl Gomez (UCSC)
Gabriella Gray (UCLA)
Robert Heyer-Grey (UCD)
Patricia Iannuzzi (UCB)
John Ober (CDL)
Cathy Palmer (UCI)
John Tanno (UCR)
Laine Farley, ex officio (A&I Transition Project Manager)
Ellen Meltzer, ex officio (CDL Sr. Associate for Education, Usability and Outreach see related item in this issue)

2. CDL's Response to the Nature Publishing Co.'s Licensing Model

The CDL is aware of many refusals to license the digital version of Nature and of other letters sent to Nature on this issue, including Harvard's [see http://lib.harvard.edu/e-resources/details/n/naturexx.html].

3. Proxy Server Access

4. Co-Library Staff News - Melvyl and A&I Transition Positions

a. Ellen Meltzer

Since 1993 Ellen has been the Head of UC Berkeley's Teaching Library, which includes responsibility for the Media Resources Center, the Library Graphics Service, and the California Heritage K-12 Outreach Project. Recent highlights of Ellen's wide-ranging campus and UC roles include leading Berkeley's Public Electronic Access Systems Committee, serving on the campus Advisory Committee on Teaching, Learning and Technology, and on the Commission on Undergraduate Education. Ellen is a Past President of LAUC Systemwide, and serves on the CDL's Education Working Group.

b. Cristina Campbell

Cristina is currently the Chief Librarian of the UCB Public Health Library. She brings twenty years of experience in various management roles at the Public Health Library, including managing contract services for the California Department of Public Health. She has held leadership positions in librarywide activities related to collection development, interlibrary lending and document delivery, and public services. Recently, she chaired the Public Services Advisory Group for Public Services, which worked with the Systems Office on the development of Pathfinder, the web version of GLADIS. She has been very active in the Special Libraries Association, serving as the President and the Strategic Planning chair of the San Francisco Bay Region Chapter, and she received the chapter's Professional Achievement Award in September. In this capacity, she managed a number of programmatic and publishing activities.

Her CDL related activities include serving as the MEDLINE liaison and the resource liaison for Wiley Interscience.

c. Ann Jensen

Ann brings extensive public services experience to the project, including positions in the Kresge Engineering Library and Chemistry Library, and chair of the Public Service Advisory Group for Public Services at UCB. She has been active in instruction and training, participating in science instruction with The Teaching Library, and conducting various faculty seminars and staff training sessions.

In addition, she has been involved in a number of significant CDL activities. She was a member of the RFP Evaluation Steering Committee that evaluated vendor responses to the RFP for the Melvyl Union Catalog. She is currently the CDL Resource Liaison for the American Mathematical Society, and chaired the INSPEC Implementation Task Force when INSPEC was loaded on the Melvyl system.

d. Karen Coyle

Karen has been part of the "MELVYL family" since 1981. Early on she worked on input to the Union Catalog, and lately has been one of the primary developers on the locally mounted A&I databases. Her study of the feasibility of a virtual union catalog replacement for MELVYL was published in D-Lib in March, 2000. She was deeply involved in the development of the RFP for the next generation union catalog and was on the RFP steering committee. Karen is a well-known expert in library systems and metadata and has served on MARBI and Dublin Core committees. She is currently on the JSC e-book task force and is chairing the SOPAG committee on privacy in the electronic environment. She has published numerous articles and is the author of the ALA book "Coyle's Information Highway Handbook."

5. For More Information

a. CDL News

Remember also that reports, working documents, and status information of particular interest to library staff, are all available at http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/.

b. Contacts for Questions or Problems

• For immediate assistance, call the CDL Helpline at (510) 987-0555. Callers with TDD equipment, please call 1-800-735-2929 in California for the telephone relay operator.
• Send an e-mail message to cdl@www.cdlib.org.
• Click on "News" at http://www.dbs.cdlib.org/ (also known as http://www.melvyl.ucop.edu) for information about system outages, problems with particular databases, the status of a resource, etc.

For information about whether your UC campus has access to a particular electronic journal or Internet resource, contact your local collection development officer.

c. Information about CDLINFO

CDLINFO is designed to inform UC Librarians, and the UC community, about the progress of the CDL, policy issues under discussion, and newly available electronic resources. We hope that subscribers from the UC libraries will pass on selected information from the newsletter to faculty, staff, and students on their campuses, as appropriate. More complete information about the CDL, as well as the Directory of Collections and Services which leads to digital resources, is available at the CDL website at http://www.cdlib.org.

Eligible subscribers: UC library employees

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CDLINFO is also published on the web at http://www.cdlib.org/news/cdlinfo/

Frequency of publication: Biweekly, or as new information warrants.

Communicating with the Listserv: While the CDL Listserv does not accept submissions, subscribers are encouraged to send suggestions, thoughts, and comments on material in the Listserv or on related issues to the CDL at cdl@www.cdlib.org.