Vendor Selected for MLA IB

A new vendor has been selected for the Modern Language Association International Bibliography (MLA IB) and the MLA Directory.  MLA will remove its database from the current CDL-licensed platform, Ovid, at the end of June.

After careful review and analysis of several vendor platforms by UC English and American Literature Bibliographers, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) was selected as the new vendor.  CSA licenses other social sciences and humanities databases for UC.

The decision was made by the MLA review group using the database transition tools developed by the Tools and Services Working Group and the A&I Transition team.

There will be an overlap period with Ovid and CSA beginning in May and running simultaneously through June 30.  As of July 1, CSA will be the sole source for UC’s subscription to MLA IB.  Details about how to access the CSA version of MLA and training materials for the new platform will be shared via the campus Users Council representatives and will also appear in a later CDLINFO issue.

Thanks go to John Novak, Chair of the English and American Literature Bibliographers, and Rob Melton, MLA IB Resource Liaison, for sharing the leadership responsibilities for the transition.  The CDL, along with John and Rob, would like to thank members of the Literature Bibliographers Group, the Performing Arts bibliographers, and the numerous reference librarians and users on several campuses who assisted at various stages of the process, along with literature librarians at many other universities in the U.S. and Canada who shared their own decisions with us by email.