CONTENTS
- CDL Welcomes David Walker as New CDL-T Director
- PsycINFO Database Regeneration Test
- CDL Directory Release Phase II - Comments requested by DECEMBER 10, 1999
- Searchlight
- Georef Thesaurus
- Links to UC Press Electronic Books
- Adaptable Outreach and Instructional Materials
- Online Surveying Software Available
- CDL-hosted Database Statistics
- STIC Task Force Change
- For More Information
- CDL News
- Contacts for Questions or Problems
- Information about CDLINFO
1. CDL Welcomes David Walker as New CDL-T Director
CDL is pleased to announce the appointment of David Walker as Director, California Digital Library (CDL) Technologies, effective December 1, 1999. David will provide leadership for the ongoing technical design and implementation of the CDL. He will report in Information Resources & Communications (IR&C) and will belong to the senior management teams for both IR&C and the CDL.David brings to his position broad technical and management experience, successes in planning and implementing large systems, deep understanding of the technical requirements for a digital library, and a long commitment to the University. He comes to UCOP from Cox Communications, Orange County, where he has been Engineering Manager for Commercial Broadband Services since 1997. However, before entering the private sector, David spent 20 years in increasingly responsible technical positions at UC. He rose from systems programmer to Assistant Director for Strategic Activities and Advanced Technology at Irvine, where he planned and implemented a number of major strategic initiatives to provide computing and communications services to the campus. He then moved to the San Diego campus to become Director of Telecommunications.
David participated in the planning phase of the UC Digital Library, which eventually led to the CDL, and is the author of numerous network plans, technical architecture plans, and technical policies. He frequently speaks and writes on these and related issues. In addition to the CDL planning process, David participated in UC's Task Force on Telecommunications Needs for Distance Learning, and was a member of two review teams for campus network projects. He is active in the California Internet Federation, CERFnet, and other technical groups.
David is a graduate of UC Irvine with a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.S. in Information and Computer Science. He also completed five years of graduate work in Information and Computer Science at Irvine.
The CDL is fortunate to be able to draw on David's extensive technical and management experience. Please join us in welcoming him back to the University.
2. PsycINFO Database Regeneration Test
Please test the latest regeneration of the PscyINFO database, which makes available new indexes and reduces the number of limits on searches, making more things directly searchable in the database. For example, General Terms (or Topics) is a new index that retrieves references on frequently researched psychological topics. English is now the only language designated as limit only. And the Population Groups "Inpatient" and "Outpatient" are now directly searchable.For the web version, go to [http://merlin.ucop.edu/meltst/?CSdb=psy].
For the telnet version, type USE PUBOLTST, then PSYC. The new General Topic index can be searched using F GT
Please send your comments to cdl@www.cdlib.org.
SearchLight comes in two flavors: Sciences and Engineering and Social Sciences & Humanities. SearchLight for "Sciences and Engineering" will help you locate articles and other materials in the areas of science and engineering, biological and medical sciences, and the physical sciences. SearchLight for the "Social Sciences and Humanities" will help discovery of articles and other materials in the areas of arts and humanities, social sciences, history, area studies, interdisciplinary topics, and ethnic studies.
Campuses will be able to profile how SearchLight will appear to their users, including the resources and campus-licensed databases that will be searched. Members of the SearchLight project team are working with the UC members of the Users Council to coordinate campus customization during the test period.
[http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/jan2000/#searchlight]
Please send comments to cdl@www.cdlib.org.
[http://merlin.ucop.edu/meltst/?CSdb=cat]
Example search: Do an exact title search on "some trouble with cows".
The page now provides descriptive as well as instructional material by resource. Included are links to CDL and/or campus-created user guides as well as guides created by external vendors.
Resources are listed only for which CDL has user guides or outreach materials. Materials will be added regularly, especially those connected with CDL releases. CDL will continue to work with HOPS, instructional librarians, and CDL Resource Liaisons to identify additional materials.
This tool is available for all campus libraries. The terms of the license agreement are that UC Libraries can publish up to 15 concurrent surveys for a year.
A detailed "how to" guide for this new service is available on the CDL Libstaff site from the CDL Education and Applied Research page [http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/education/evaluation/]. If you are interested in using this service, please contact Rosalie Lack at Rosalie.Lack@ucop.edu.
This decision has been made in consultation with the STIC Task Force, the Joint Steering Committee on Shared Collections (JSCSC), SOPAG, and CDC. In order to strengthen the link from the Joint Steering Committee to the science bibliographers, Susan Starr, AUL for Sciences at UCSD, has been appointed to the Joint Steering Committee on Shared Collections. The Joint Steering Committee will be responsible for ongoing adjustments to publisher priorities, the further extension of the journal licensing program beyond the sciences (psychology and business/economics bibliographers identified electronic journals as their top digital priority), and collaborative adjustments to the print and electronic holdings within the journal packages. Although the JSCSC works primarily with CDC and SOPAG and communicates with all bibliographer groups, the STIC campus contacts will remain in place for the remainder of the academic year to facilitate communication with science bibliographers.
Remember also that reports, working documents, and status information of
particular interest to library staff, are all available at
http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/.
For information about whether your UC campus has access to a particular
electronic journal or Internet resource, contact your local collection
development officer.
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
To subscribe for email distribution: Please send the following line to listserv@listserv.ucop.edu:
SUBSCRIBE CDLINFO-L (your name)
CDLINFO is also published on the web at http://www.cdlib.org/news/cdlinfo/
Frequency of publication: Biweekly, 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@www.cdlib.org.
3. CDL Directory Release Phase II -- Comments requested by DECEMBER 10, 1999
Several new functions have been added to the test site for the January, 2000 CDL Release at [http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/jan2000/].
a. Searchlight
On November 15, 1999, SearchLight opened in test mode. Searchlight is a multi-resource search tool with which you can search across multiple resources at the same time, including the Melvyl Catalog, CDL-hosted Databases, campus-licensed databases, electronic journals (e.g., Elsevier, JSTOR), the CDL Directory, the Online Archive of California, reference tools (e.g., Encyclopedia Britannnica), and Infomine. It was based on the successful Database Advisor developed by UCSD.
b. Georef Thesaurus
Please test the GeoRef thesaurus, now available in Subject and Power searches at
[http://merlin.ucop.edu/meltst/?CSdb=georef]
c. Links to UC Press Electronic Books
The full content of approximately 60 UC Press backlist books (made available via the SCAN project) has been linked from the Melvyl Catalog (additional links from WCAT, RCAT, and book reviews in CDL-hosted databases are under analysis).
4. Adaptable Outreach and Instructional Materials
Responding to input from the Education Working Group and others, CDL has modified the existing Adaptable Outreach Materials page on the CDL Libstaff site and added new materials (such as a FAQ about the use of the CDL collection). The new page is still available from the Communications and Publications page of the Libstaff section [http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/comm/outreach/].
5. Online Surveying Software Available
The CDL has licensed an online survey service called "Websurveyor". This new service allows you to create and publish online surveys without writing HTML code or hosting the survey on your web server. The CDL is using the service to assist with evaluation and feedback efforts for the January release.
6. CDL-hosted Database Statistics
Remember that use statistics for CDL-hosted databases are available at [http://www.cdlib.org/inside/assess/melvyl_system_web/].
7. STIC Task Force Change
The Science Technology and Industry Collection Task Force (STIC Task Force) has completed its main work and its role will now be subsumed within the CDL Joint Steering Committee on Shared Collections. The Task Force, appointed through librarians' recommendations in 1997 before the establishment of the CDL, identified priority publishers for the Universitywide electronic journal licensing program, conducted an exemplary consultative process with faculty (some 2000 faculty were involved in helping to set priorities), and communicated regularly with the STIC Contacts. Task Force members are Susan Starr (currently chair, SD), Andrea Duda (SB), Catherine Soehner (SC), Katie A. Frohmberg (B), Anita Colby (LA), Barbara Schader (LA), Julia Kochi (SF), Jo Anne Boorkman (D), Julia Gelfand (I), Beverlee French (CDL), Laine Farley (CDL), Mary Engle (CDL), Charlene Baldwin (R), and Karen Cargille (SD).
8. For More Information
a. CDL News
Several items of interest, including "Milestones," "Highlights 1997-1998,"
"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!
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:
c. Information about CDLINFO