CONTENTS

Work on what was formerly known as the UC-EAD (Encoded Archival Description) Project, now known as the Online Archive of California (OAC) Project, began in October 1996. The goal of the project is to convert to machine-readable form and make available in a union database the finding aids to the archival collections of UC and affiliate institutions. Current funding will underwrite project costs through September 1998, with additional funding being solicited for another year's work thereafter.

Between October 1996 and January 1997, project participants developed a work flow plan, agreed upon "best practices," ordered and installed equipment and software, and hired and trained six project staff, including a Finding Aid Conversion Specialist and five Electronic Publishing Assistants. Finding aid conversion began in February 1997, with four UC campuses (Berkeley, Davis, Los Angeles, and San Diego) converting their own material and the other five campuses sending theirs to Berkeley for conversion.

Initially, the project concentrated exclusively on converting UC finding aid content. Since October 1997, however, when LSTA funding for the project went into effect (and when the name of the initiative was changed from UC-EAD to OAC), the project has focused increased attention on conversion of finding aids from affiliate participants. There are currently about a dozen such affiliates, including three CSU campuses (Chico, Dominguez Hills, and Humboldt), a variety of private universities and libraries (e.g., Stanford and Huntington), the State Library and Historical Society, and others.

Through the end of April 1998, 1,800 finding aids have been converted to machine-readable form, representing over 40,000 pages of data from more than 20 project participants statewide. The OAC web site, which is to be a prominently featured component of the first release of the CDL's own web presence, can be accessed at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/findingaids/dynaweb.

(The information on STAT-USA was provided by Linda Kennedy, Head, Government Documents Department.)

STAT-USA/INTERNET, a product of the Department of Commerce, is a web-based subscription source of extensive and authoritative government-sponsored business, economic, and trade information data. It is updated daily.

STAT-USA on the web will enable campus-wide access to material that had previously been available either on CD-ROM or from limited depository library access (one password for each campus). The new subscription will provide unlimited access to multiple users at participating campuses.

As Linda Kennedy, Head, Government Documents Department, UC Davis, states, "STAT-USA will be heavily used by all those seeking trade statistics, marketing information, and current economic, business and financial statistics of all kinds." STAT-USA is comprised of two large files: State of the Nation and GLOBUS & NTDB. State of the Nation accesses the most recent statistical releases of the federal government: economic data and indicators, employment, price and productivity data, industry statistics, interest and bond rates and information on monetary policy, and much more. GLOBUS provides global business and trade opportunity leads. National Trade Data Bank files provide international trade statistics and market and country research.

The STAT-USA license is a collaborative effort between seven of the UC campuses (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz) and Stanford University and was acquired with the guidance of participating campus bibliographers. License arrangements will continue to be managed by the CDL.

John Ober, the CDL Assistant Director for Education and Communications, and Patrick Newell, Special Assistant to the CDL University Librarian, have arrived and have begun to assume their duties at the CDL. John is responsible for managing CDL communication and education programs and can be reached by phone at 510-987-0174 or via email at john.ober@ucop.edu. Patrick, as support to the University Librarian, will work with the senior management team of the CDL to develop and coordinate CDL projects. He can be contacted at 510-987-0370 or patrick.newell@ucop.edu.

The CDLINFO-L listserv is designed for UC library employees as a first step in CDL efforts to build an active communications program to inform the UC community about progress in creation of the CDL, policy issues under discussion, and newly available electronic resources.