CONTENTS
- CDL Pre-release Web Site Available for Review
- CDL Milestones
- Contacts for Questions or Problems
- Information about the CDLINFO-L Listserv
1. CDL Pre-release Web Site Available for Review
CDL and other UC staff are eagerly anticipating the "opening" of the CDL via the release of its web site in January 1999. Despite the many activities of the CDL and its partners -- such as establishing shared collections principles and structures, licensing new resources for the UC system, opening the Environmental Information Project website, enhancing the Web version of Melvyl, and planning for its Request service (also known as PIR), to name a few -- an integrated web site is needed to serve as the gateway to the co-library. The availability of a pre-release of the CDL web site and the opportunity for comments and suggestions from UC Library staff and others brings the California Digital Library a step closer to opening. The pre-release is available at http://www2.cdlib.org/The current web site at http://www.cdlib.org, which opened in July 1998, contains background and descriptive information about the CDL and its recent activities. The pre-release reorganizes and updates that information. More importantly it provides a preview version of the browsable and searchable Directory of Collections and Services. The Directory was developed based on broad-ranging discussions with Library staff. It provides unified access to electronic journals, databases, and finding aids in the Online Archive of California, as well as descriptions of services. It complements the Melvyl Catalog and the many abstracting and indexing databases by directing people to those resources and to electronic journals and other resources as well. The Directory is designed to be collaboratively maintained and to allow a "campus view" of available digital resources at the user's choice. (See the Directory's User Guide at the pre-release site for more information.) Specific views, including subject-based views, can also be created for a particular library's "entrance" to the CDL.
From November through December you are encouraged to review this web site and to send comments and questions to the CDL via the online feedback form available from every page on the site. Comments will help the CDL adjust the site for the January public release and prepare for upgrades and changes in future releases. Major changes to the CDL are expected to be announced on a six-month (January and July) cycle. There will also be many additional review and evaluation activities, including user focus groups and surveys, analysis of usage statistics, and prioritizing by CDL workgroups.
We encourage you to browse the site and to send us your comments!
2. CDL Milestones
CDL Milestones are now posted on the new CDL informational web site [http://www.cdlib.org/] under News and Developments.3. 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 (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.
4. 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/