CONTENTS
- Joint Steering Committee on Shared Collections Plans (by Alan Ritch)
- Joan Gargano Appointed Director, CDL Technologies
- Brian Schottlaender to Serve on a Part-Time Basis as Senior Associate to the CDL University Librarian
- Fine-Tuning Improves Response Time for the Melvyl Web Interface
- New Resources Available
- CDL Milestones
- Contacts for Questions or Problems
- Information about the CDLINFO-L Listserv
1. Joint Steering Committee on Shared Collections Plans (by Alan Ritch)
Having laid the foundations of the Science, Technology and Industry Collection (STIC), the California Digital Library (CDL) is entering a new phase of collection building, anticipating the development of collections in other disciplines. Earlier this year, the CDL Operations and Planning Advisory Group (OPAG) coordinated the preparation of a series of case studies, which analyzed the digital collection potential of the major academic areas. This quick exercise served to identify the range of digital information already available and the variety of challenges and opportunities that confront different disciplines. It also stimulated keen interest among bibliographers in many fields. The new CDL advisory group, the Joint Steering Committee for Shared Collections (JSC) will cultivate this widespread interest, by gathering information on potential collection content from formally charged UC selector groups and others with common collection interests.OPAG's successor, the Systemwide Operations and Planning Group (SOPAG), has recommended collection-building in all areas. The JSC will distribute surveys to selected librarians in the groups mentioned above and to those who can comment on other significant areas, asking them to identify three kinds of digital information from their fields: commercial or other external content, available for purchase or licensing; content in the public domain, usually via the Web; UC textual or visual resources, particularly unique resources, that are already in digital form or whose scholarly value would be greatly enhanced by digitization. The survey will be the first phase in the JSC's ongoing consultation with librarians and faculty. Responses will be returned by November 15, allowing enough time for the respondents to consult with faculty and librarians at both general and non-general campus libraries.
Several selector groups, especially those formally charged by the Collection Development Committee (CDC) and those with an established record of cooperative collection development, already have structures in place for efficient consultation and consensus building. The CDL promises to stimulate similar cooperation for selectors in fields not yet formally represented. The JSC welcomes advice from librarians in all subject fields and with diverse responsibilities, but encourages individuals to consolidate their contributions with those of colleagues who share their interests.
Within the JSC, coordination of the surveys will be shared as follows: Cindy Shelton (UCLA) will handle the Humanities, including Literature, History, Linguistics, Women's Studies, Classics, Philosophy and Religion; Barbara Kornstein (UCB), the Social Sciences, including Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Education, Economics, Business, Political Science, Geography, and Ethnic Studies; Alan Ritch (UCSC), the Arts, including Art, Music, and Performing Arts; Clinton Howard (UCD), Area Studies; and Beverlee French (CDL) will continue to work with the STIC liaisons in building collections in the sciences, including Environmental Studies. The JSC is drafting a document, which will build on the earlier Collection Framework, Matrix, and Principles documents, and will be used to assess and prioritize content described in the survey responses.
2. Joan Gargano Appointed Director, CDL Technologies
M. Stuart Lynn, Associate Vice President, Information Resources & Communications (IR&C), and Richard Lucier, University Librarian and Executive Director, California Digital Library, are pleased to announce the appointment of Joan Gargano as Director, CDL Technologies, effective September 1, 1998. Joan will provide leadership for the technical design and implementation of the CDL. She will report in IR&C and will belong to the senior management teams for both IR&C and the CDL. IR&C, a department of the Business and Finance Division, is responsible for developing and managing Universitywide information systems and networks, providing computing and telecommunications services to UCOP, and coordinating the development of Universitywide information and computing policies.Joan comes to UC Office of the President from the Davis campus, where she is currently the Director, Distributed Computing Analysis and Support. In that position, she is responsible for charting strategic directions for information system architectures and overseeing systems design and implementation. She has played a key role in campus and Universitywide strategic planning for information technology, including serving as chair of the Universitywide Authentication Workgroup. She has also been active in national and statewide information technology and policy initiatives, including participation in the Coalition for Networked Information initiative on Institution-Wide Information Strategies, the Golden State Education Network Communications Task Force, the Internet Engineering Task Force, K-12 Workgroup, and the Instructional Technology Networking Consortium.
Joan is a graduate of UC Davis and holds an MBA in Management Information Systems.
The CDL is fortunate to be able to draw on her extensive management, technical, and outreach experience as it builds shared digital collections and services to serve the academic information needs of the University and the State.
3. Brian Schottlaender to Serve on a Part-Time Basis as Senior Associate to the CDL University Librarian
We are pleased to announce that Brian Schottlaender will join the California Digital Library on a 20% FTE-basis as Senior Associate to the University Librarian. He continues his responsibilities as Associate University Librarian for Collections & Technical Services at UCLA. His leadership of the Online Archive of California project (formerly UC-EAD) exemplifies his deep interest in and experience with digital publishing, access technologies, metadata issues, and special collections. Brian will work closely with Beverlee French, Associate Director, Shared Collections and Services, and the Shared Collections Steering Committee to develop and implement collection policies for primary source, non-commercially produced scholarly resources, particularly those that are part of the UC Libraries' special collections, and to develop criteria for prioritizing the deployment of such resources.Mr. Schottlaender was previously Assistant University Librarian for Technical Services at UCLA, Assistant Head of Cataloging in UCLA's Young Research Library, and Librarywide Coordinator of Retrospective Conversion at UCLA. Prior to coming to UC, he was Coordinator of the Wright American Fiction Project at the University of Arizona and a cataloguer at Indiana University. Mr. Schottlaender holds a BA (with honors) in German from the University of Texas at Austin and an MLS from Indiana University.
4. Fine-Tuning Improves Response Time for the Melvyl Web Interface
Response time for displays in Melvyl Web interface searches has improved considerably during the past week, returning to the same level of performance as before the Statewide Serials Database records were loaded. While we did not identify a single cause of the problem, we have made a series of changes to improve the efficiency of reading the serials records and formatting them for display. The addition of the new records with many holdings appears to have crossed a threshold that made a significant difference in performance. In the process of tracking the problem, we found a number of other elements, which we have now tuned for better performance.For about 50 titles with the largest number of holdings, we suppressed the holdings display as a temporary measure. The holdings displays for these titles will be reinstated late next week.
We plan to continue to monitor performance and make adjustments in anticipation of an increased load in the Fall.
As always, calls and feedback from librarians and users is critical in helping us identify and resolve problems, and we appreciate your help on this issue.
5. New Resources Available
Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) Available via the Melvyl Web Interface (with input from Harold Colson, UC San Diego)The Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/law/GLINv1/GLIN.html> is now available via the Melvyl Web interface by clicking on Resources in the menu bar, then clicking on Selected Internet Resources, then GLIN. Produced by the Law Library of Congress, GLIN is available free of charge to the public. It contains over 46,000 citations on the national laws of more than 35 countries. The emphasis is predominantly Latin American, but additional countries are being added. Presently, GLIN consists primarily of searchable legal abstracts in English of laws and regulations enacted since 1976, but the full texts of items of legislation in the original languages are now being added for some nations.
To search GLIN, click on Search in the sidebar, enter as Guest, choose a country of interest, enter search terms for subject, etc., and then click on Query. Users can also search the Guide to Law On-Line, an annotated hypertext guide to international sources of information on government and law.
GLIN replaces the World Law Index - Hispanic Legislation, which has been available via RLG's Eureka system. RLG's version is no longer being updated, and access to the RLG version will cease September 30.
Access to Sociological Abstracts Changing August 14
Access to Sociological Abstracts is changing from OCLC to Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) [http://www.csa.com/htbin/dbsel.cgi?username=cgtry28&access=cgtry2828]. Following broad consultation with the User Services Group and others, this change was made to improve access and reduce costs. Until August 14, users can search Sociological Abstracts as one of the database choices or by clicking on Resources in the menu bar, then on Selected Internet Resources, then Sociological Abstracts. After August 14, SocAbstracts will no longer be available as a choice in the list of databases searchable using Melvyl commands; only the CSA version will be accessible.Sociological Abstracts via Cambridge Scientific Abstracts contains over 514,000 citations from over 2,600 journals, books, conference papers, and dissertations in sociology and related fields. It also includes Social Planning/Policy & Development Abstracts (SOPODA) as a subfile, providing additional literature on a range of policy issues in the social sciences.
The database is available to UC faculty, students, and staff.
Additional Access to ERIC Database via Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
In addition to accessing the ERIC database via the Stanford system or via OCLC's FirstSearch system, users can now access ERIC via Cambridge Scientific Abstracts [http://www.csa.com/htbin/dbsel.cgi?username=cgtry28&access=cgtry2828] by clicking on Resources in the menu bar, then on Selected Internet Resources, then ERIC (via Cambridge Scientific Abstracts).ERIC via Cambridge Scientific Abstracts contains over 950,000 citations from journals, conference proceedings, curricula, and research reports in the fields of education and related social sciences. Access via Stanford and FirstSearch will continue for now.
The database is available to UC faculty, students, and staff.
6. CDL Milestones
CDL Milestones are now posted on the new CDL informational web site [http://www.cdlib.org/] under News and Developments.7. Contacts for Questions or Problems
If you have problems accessing or using the Melvyl system or have questions, including questions about the status of electronic journal collections and Internet resources, you can contact CDL staff in one of the following ways:
- 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 melvyl@www.melvyl.ucop.edu.
- Click on "News" on the Melvyl web system (
For information about whether your UC campus has access to a particular electronic journal or Internet resource, contact your local collection development officer.
8. Information about the CDLINFO-L Listserv
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.
We hope that subscribers from the UC libraries will pass on selected
information from the listserv to faculty, staff, and students on their
campuses, as appropriate. As a next step in developing a communications
program to reach UC faculty, staff, and students, as well as others outside
of UC who may be interested in our activities, we have launched a web site
with descriptive information about the CDL (
Eligible subscribers: UC library employees
To subscribe: Please send the following line to listserv@listserv.ucop.edu
Frequency of publication: Biweekly, generally on the 1st and 15th of each
month, 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@ucop.edu.
SUBSCRIBE CDLINFO-L /your name/