CDLINFO LISTSERV, October 31, 2002 Vol.5 No. 19 Issue
CONTENTS
- CDL Database Transitions
- A & I Database Transition "Canned" Answers
- UC-eLinks Activated on NISC Databases
- El Mel Tells October Issue
- New Resource Available
- University of California Press eScholarship Editions
- Image Searching and Browsing in OAC
- Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) Migrated to GaleNet Interface (Linda Kennedy, UCD)
- For More Information
- CDL News
- Contacts for Questions or Problems
- Information about CDLINFO
1. CDL Database Transitions
a. A & I Database Transition “Canned” Answers
The CDL receives queries and complaints about the new vendor versions of the A & I journal article databases via CDL Feedback or from campus librarians. Jayne Dickson, CDL Information Services Analyst, who so carefully and diplomatically answers these, has created a web page where these “canned answers” can be found. Your campus library staff may adapt these, when a response to a puzzled (or unhappy) library user is needed. We will continue to update this Web site.
http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/sharedcoll/a-i-trans/cannedanswers.html
Many thanks to Jayne.
b. UC-eLinks Activated on NISC Databases
After a test period, and additional development on the part of NISC, UC-eLinks was activated Thursday, October 24, 2002, on the following CDL-licensed NISC databases:
--Family & Society Studies Worldwide
--Left Index
--RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (1967 - Present)
--RIPM: International Index to Nineteenth-Century Music Periodicals
--Sexual Diversity Studies: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Abstracts
--Women's Resources International
It has not yet been activated on these NISC databases:
--African Studies
--Black Studies Database: Kaiser Index to Black Resources
Since these latter two databases have records drawn from a variety of sources,
more development work must be completed on NISC’s part before the links
will be reliable for linking to appropriate targets via UC-eLinks.
c. El Mel Tells October Issue
See the latest October issue of El Mel Tells for articles on Command Searching
in Melvyl-T, loading the campus snapshots, and continued profiles of CDL staff
involved in the creation of Melvyl-T.
http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/elmeltells/emtv1n4.html
2. New Resource Available
NOTE: New resources listed below are not yet in the CDL Directory of Collections and Services; they will be added within the next 2 weeks. You can access them directly from the URL provided.
A list of recently added content is always available at: http://www.cdlib.org/news/whatsnew.html#recentadds
a. University of California Press eScholarship Editions
On October 28 the CDL released the first 500 University of California Press eScholarship Editions http://escholarship.cdlib.org/ucpress/ . Three hundred of the titles, many of which are out of print, are now available to the public; the rest are restricted to University of California faculty, staff, and students only.
The URL for each available title will appear in Melvyl soon along with the rest of the cataloging information. Records will also be in WorldCat sometime next month. The books cover a range of topics in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences; quite a few are currently used in courses.
These electronic editions are made available through a CDL-sponsored purchase from netLibrary of 1,500 electronic book files on behalf of the UC community. eScholarship, which supports experiments in the production and dissemination of scholarly communications, converted the books into fully searchable XML. They represent another element of the continuing partnership between the UC Press (http://www.ucpress.edu/) and eScholarship http://escholarship.cdlib.org/ .
Features of University of California Press eScholarship Editions include the
ability to:
-Browse by author, title, and subject
-Search metadata
---Extensive metadata includes author, title, one-paragraph book synopses, Library
of Congress subject headings, UC Press subject terms
-Search full text
---Hit counts are displayed alongside the tables of contents (with number of
times the term occurs in each chapter). When a book section is selected, the
user is sent to the first occurrence of the term. Each occurrence is highlighted
in the text, with navigation arrows to allow for easy maneuvering through chapter
and book
-Find a full citation, including URL, for every book
Although the website is the best place to find an up-to-the-minute list of titles available, a complete list can also be found on Melvyl by doing a title search on eScholarship editions (once the records are in Melvyl).
Titles are being released in stages. By Fall 2003 there will be 1500 books available online; about 350 will be available to the public, the rest will be limited to the UC community. Major milestones will be announced in CDLINFO. Please feel free to link to http://escholarship.cdlib.org/ucpress/from any relevant pages.
3. Image Searching and Browsing in OAC
New image search and browse features are now available at the Online Archive of California (OAC) http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ .
The image search and browse addition is part of a "soft release" since OAC will undergo a major re-design in early 2003; at that time, the site will integrate access to images, electronic texts (oral histories and documents) and finding aids.
The browse option is available from a link on the Image Search page. This feature was developed as part of the Pacific Bell 21st Century Literacies Initiative at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Science. CDL staff (Rosalie Lack and Brian Tingle) are collaborating with the UCLA research team to develop and test audience specific (for example various levels of K-12) webpages for accessing digital content. More information about this project can be found at http://www.newliteracies.gseis.ucla.edu/. As part of the project, a hierarchy of terms was developed and applied to organizing the OAC image collection. Currently the images are browsable by six broad categories: History, Nature, People, Places, Society and Technology. This hierarchy system will allow for expansion, should the concept merit further development.
During the coming year, we will gather additional data about the utility of accessing digital content by doing formal usability testing of the integrated OAC website, and through the IMLS funded MOAC II project (mentioned in CDLInfo September 26, 2002 http://www.cdlib.org/news/cdlinfo/cdlinfo092602.html#3. MOAC II partners will use the new evaluation grant to examine the usefulness of digital resources for four selected user groups: K-12 teachers, University students, academics in the Humanities and Social Sciences and museum professionals, librarians and archivists.
4. Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) Migrated to GaleNet Interface (Linda Kennedy, UCD)
The Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) has migrated from its original Primary Source Media (PSM) interface to a more fully functional GaleNet interface. Gale involved CDL staff and the DDRS resource liaison heavily in the development of the functionality of the new interface.
DDRS is a full-text database of more than 75,000 digitized declassified documents obtained from presidential libraries. These libraries receive declassified documents from the White House, the CIA, the FBI, the State Department, and other agencies.
CDL pages now point to the new DDRS interface. The CDL directory page at http://www.cdlib.org/hlp/directory/ddrs.html directs you to a specific address per campus that facilitates collection of campus-level statistics. Campus addresses have been disseminated by CDL for use on campus web pages. The old DDRS interface will remain up at http://www.ddrs.psmedia.com/ through the end of 2002 to allow other subscribers to transition.
Features of the new interface:
The new interface enhances displays and searches with subject descriptors (using
an uncontrolled vocabulary). The descriptors are important because most documents
don't have a true title, and because they often provide needed context. For
example, a document about the Vietnam war may not refer to "Vietnam War."
A document discussing Secretary of
State Kissinger's point of view may refer to him only as "the Secretary."
The subject descriptors form what DDRS refers to as the "Document Abstract,"
which also displays in the list of hits.
The new interface offers both keyword and full-text searching. Full-text searches Author, Document Classification Level, Document Title, Document Abstract, Document Text (the full text of the document), and Subject descriptors. Keyword searches the same fields as Full-text, except it searches just the first 50 characters of the document text.
Basic Search and Advanced searches continue to be offered. The Basic Search offers search by keyword or full-text. In the advanced search, you may search title, keyword, full-text or source institution and also limit by date issued, date declassified, document type, classification level, source institution, completeness, and by number of pages. The date limits include both specific date and date range capability.
The Results or hit list offers more complete citations, and it is easy to navigate
between pages of hits. Results are no longer limited to 300 hits.
The default display sorts by issue date, most recent first. You can also sort
by relevancy, limited to the top 200 records. The user may now view and print
the page images in PDF mode (Adobe Acrobat) in ten page increments.
The text version can be printed only page by page.
The Help section and Search Tips are significantly improved, and the database is far more usable than in the PSM version.
A backlog of digitized documents is in the process of being added to the DDRS web database; currently, the database includes documents declassified between 1948 and 2000.
Please direct comments and suggestions about the new interface to Linda Kennedy, DDRS Resource liaison, at lmkennedy@ucdavis.edu.
5. For More Information
a. CDL News
Several items of interest, including "Milestones," yearly highlights, "What's New," and previous issues of CDLINFO are posted on the CDL Web site [http://www.cdlib.org/] under News. 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 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 "What’s New" at [http://www.dbs.cdlib.org/]
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 that leads to digital resources, is available at the CDL Website at [http://www.cdlib.org/].
Eligible subscribers: UC library employees
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