1 Libraries & the trade: converging standards? Paul Miller Interoperability Focus UK Office for Library & Information Networking (UKOLN) UKOLN is funded by the Library and Information Commission, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the Universities of Bath and Hull where staff are based.

2 The road to today… 1993 Joint Funding Council’s Review of Libraries (“The Follett Report”) – 1994– Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) –£15,000,000 over three years for Phases 1 and 2 – JFC Review – Library Provision for Research (“The Anderson Report”) –

3 JISC Joint Information Systems Committee –“…to stimulate and enable the cost–effective exploitation of information systems and to provide a high quality national network infrastructure…” –‘development’ not ‘research’ –Funded by ‘top–slice’ from the Higher Education Funding Councils for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland’s Department for Education –Now being joined by the FE sector –Funds SuperJANET, eLib, the JISC Data Centres, UKOLN, the Focus posts, etc.. See

4 eLib Electronic Libraries Programme Funded a large number of small/medium–size projects in three Phases –Plus supporting work such as the MODELS workshops Phases 1 & 2 (now complete) explored –Electronic Publishing –e.g. –Access to Network Resources (the Subject Gateways) –e.g. –Training services (e.g. Netskills), Pre–print services, etc.. See See

5 eLib Phase 3 Building upon success Hybrid Libraries Large scale resource discovery (Clumps) Preservation Turning successful Phase 1 & 2 projects into sustainable Services. See

6 Towards the future Distributed National Electronic Resource Policy aspiration of JISC Intended to provide greater access to JISC’s Current Content Collection –RDN –AHDS –University OPACs? –MIMAS/ EDINA/ Data Archive –JSTOR, Ingenta, Web of Science, etc. –EDUSERVE –COPAC –etc. See

7 Building the DNER Construction of various Portals to facilitate user–centric access ‘JISC Portal’ ? Data Centre Portals (EDINA, MIMAS…) Subject Portals (the RDN, etc.) A Journal Portal? Data Type Portals (images, movies, sound…) Institutional Portals (a Hybrid Library?) Personal Portals (Paul’s web!) Also providing other access to discrete resources. See

8 Building the DNER But how can we link these services together? See At the moment, Z39.50 is seen as the only feasible mechanism across the range of services JISC wish to offer. See activities/z3950/int_profile/bath/ See

9 Other standards To meet our expectations, the DNER will require more than just our adoption of Z39.50… Publishers/ data providers need Z too Advantageous clarification of ‘fair dealing’ and other rights Electronic clearance of rights Consistent – and usable – identification/ location Consistent description of resources and their subject Enhanced integration and usability Greater allowance for individual  item access, alongside current institution  run/series Enhanced Authentication capabilities Alternative cost models…

10 We all Z together… Difficult to integrate external resources within the DNER whilst they insist on only offering their own proprietary interfaces Web of Science, JSTOR, etc. Adding Z39.50 capability would open these resources up, and integrate them more fully with the rest of the Current Content Collection. See activities/z3950/int_profile/bath/ See

11 Who’s right on rights? How, exactly, do rights work for electronic resources? –Who can do what? –What can I keep when my subscription lapses? How can rights transactions be enacted quickly, securely, and unambiguously in an on–line environment? – –Imprimatur –E–Commerce Bill ? Time for some experiments? –5/99. See

12 Identification We need to be able to accurately and unambiguously identify resources –Ideally, the identifier should resolve to give us the resource –Appropriate copy issue –DOI looks like an important way forward here –JISC has now joined IDF –DOI–X worth exploring. See

13 Resource Description Rich descriptions remain valuable There is a need for simpler descriptions, suitable for use across a range of resource forms –Dublin Core remains important here, and JISC supports widespread use of DC across the UK –Current interest in DC–based description of Collections Description of ‘subject’ or ‘topic’ important –Not just to the DNER! –MODELS 11. See See

14 Pulling it all together… Opportunity for addressing many of these issues under current JISC call (5/99) Need for coherent direction from the centre –‘DNER Implementation Group’ Need to continue building bridges to data owners, other ‘networks’ and others Continued involvement in standards processes… …and greater emphasis upon using them together. See See