CDLINFO LISTSERV, September 27, 2001, Vol.4, No.17

CONTENTS

1. CDL Database Transitions
   1. CDL-Hosted MEDLINE/HealthSTAR Updates to Retire
   2. MELVYL Staff Survey Results
2. New Resource Liaisons Appointed
3. Library Staff News
   1. Suzanne Samuel Joins the CDL
      
4. For More Information
   1. CDL News
   2. Contacts for Questions or Problems
   3. Information about CDLINFO

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1. CDL Database Transitions

a. CDL-Hosted MEDLINE/HealthSTAR Updates to Retire

As part of the CDL-hosted MEDLINE/HealthSTAR retirement this 12/21/01, MEDLINE Updates will cease later this fall when the last file is loaded from NLM. Messages will be sent to MEDLINE Update subscribers on Friday, September 28 informing them of this fact, along with second and third reminders October 15 and November 5. The email messages will provide links to documents created by the MEDLINE Transition Task Force describing how to create updates for PubMed. Users can set up an update alerting service for PubMed called BioMail.

Detailed information regarding the retirement of MEDLINE Update will be sent to the Transition Steering Committee, Users Council and MEDLINE Liaisons on each campus.

b. Melvyl Staff Survey Results

In the Melvyl Staff Survey, conducted earlier this summer, staff weighed in on their uses of the current Melvyl database. Not surprisingly, it is heavily used for an array of "behind the scenes" purposes--for bibliographic checking for acquisitions, cataloging, serials information, collection development, and interlibrary services, as well as for its public services uses.

The good news is, what we had most hoped would happen did in fact happen--we verified that the new version of Melvyl, based on Aleph software, will support the kinds of searches staff most wish to conduct. Many users mentioned wanting to have telnet access, as well as command line searching in the web based catalog. Both of these will be available. Staff cited important ways of searching Melvyl--by format, exact title, series, report number, and using truncation (even better in the Aleph version with front, internal and end truncation!)--all of which will be possible in the new Melvyl.

Displaying MARC fields was also ranked highly, and this also will be available. In fact, a user will be able to display the complete record from a particular campus. Other new features to be offered in the Aleph version of the catalog include: searching in the notes field, by publisher, or by conference words. The ability to browse headings by subject, author, title fields, and call numbers will be available. Displays similar to review, short and long will be offered, and users will be able to define custom displays. They will also be able to limit retrieval to records linked to electronic full text.

The responses you submitted have been important in helping CDL staff build the new database, ensuring that desired functions either exist or are enhanced. Your input helped us consider issues we might not have addressed as thoroughly as we did in building the new database. There will be some features we now have in our current configuration of Melvyl that will be different in the new version. When the RLIN bibliographic file (RCAT) and WCAT move to their native modes, for example, these databases will no longer be available from a single interface. Campus library and CDL staff are still evaluating how to best provide access to these databases from the new Melvyl.

Many thanks to all of you who responded to the survey; we very much appreciate your input. A summary of the report is available at: http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/catalog/teams/education/staffsurvey/melvylstaff_survey_summary.pdf . The raw data from the 265 responses are available at: http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/catalog/teams/education/staffsurvey/ .

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2. New Resource Liaisons Appointed

Below is a list of recent Resource Liaison appointees. Resource Liaisons are responsible for researching, reviewing, and monitoring their assigned resource(s) in order to maintain quality service to users. More information about the Resource Liaison program is available at: http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/sharedcoll/liaisons/

Alan Michelson - Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
Christine Bunting - Bibliography of the History of Art; Index to 19th Century Art Periodicals; SCIPIO
David Gilbert - New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
David Rios - BioOne
Diane Childs - ERIC via CSA
Diane Fortner - American Institute of Physics
Harold Colson - Academic Universe
Jane Faulkner - Literature Online (LION)
Jenny Reiswig - MD Consult
Jill Woolums - Books in Print
Jim Church - Index to Current Urban Documents
Kathryn Wayne - Art Bibliographies Modern
Kay Collins - GPO Database; GPO Gate
Lise Snyder - Associations Unlimited
Martha Ramirez - RLIN Bibliographic Database
Mary Larsgaard - American Metrological Society
Michael Yonezawa - Project MUSE
Rita Costello - STAT-USA
Rob Melton - MLA Bibliography
Sherri Barnes - North American Women's Letters and Diaries
Susan Moon - Art Abstracts & Art Index Retrospective

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3. Library Staff News

a. Suzanne Samuel Joins the CDL

Suzanne Samuel joined the CDL staff on September 24th as eScholarship Projects Coordinator. Suzanne comes to the new position with publishing, editing, marketing, and project management experience. She is very excited to be joining the eScholarship team and we are thrilled to have her.

Suzanne comes to CDL from UC Berkeley Extension Online where she trained, coached, and advised instructors in the development of online classes. Before working at the Extension, Suzanne was senior editor at Avalon Travel Publishing where she was on the forefront of Avalon's first steps into the electronic realm. At Avalon, Suzanne's responsibilities included formulation and implementation of a plan for digitization of legacy data, as well as the creation of XML-coded content for a new book series with both digital and print applications.

Suzanne became versed in academic and scholarly publishing at the University of California Press. During her six years at the Press, she held positions in Editing, Acquisitions, Marketing, and Electronic Publishing. She played an integral role in evaluating and adopting emerging technologies at the Press--for print-on-demand, content management, and conversion of SGML to XML--and worked directly with authors and potential authors to discuss these innovations. With her extensive experience, capability, and curiosity, Suzanne is sure to be a great asset for the eScholarship program.

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4. For More Information

a. CDL News

Several items of interest, including "Milestones," "Progress Reports," "What's New," and previous issues of CDLINFO are posted on the CDL web site (http://www.cdlib.org/) under News and Developments. Please share news of this resource with your colleagues!

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

If you have problems accessing or using the 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 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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