Orbis/PORTALS
E-journal Workshop
May 9, 2002
E-journal Issues
Bonnie Parks - Oregon State University
Aggregations and Packages
What kinds of e-serial aggregations and
packages are available?
How can libraries provide access to titles and
content in these packages?
What are Aggregations?
(aka Aggravations)
• A collection of publications in electronic form,
commonly full-text versions of print journals.
• Some aggregations are stable and well maintained
(e.g. Project Muse, JSTOR)
• Some are of the “31 Flavors” variety (e.g. Lexis/Nexis,
Bell + Howell (Proquest))
Stable Aggregations
• Have a common element (usually publisher
or subject)
• Have complete full text (or, if not complete,
differences are made clear)
• Articles are accessible by journal title and
issue
• Stable title list (often aggregator notifies
subscriber of changes or additions to
collection)
• Close correspondence between print and
online (makes cataloging relatively easy)
Stable Aggregation : JSTOR
“31 Flavors”
• Large, amorphous collections
• Titles come and go (what’s available today
might not be available next month)
• Users frequently cannot designate specific
journal title and issue
• Often lack full text of a journal or some issues
of a particular journal
31 Flavors example : LexisNexis
How Do You Provide Access
to the various Electronic Journal
Packages in Your Library?
•
•
•
•
Catalog them and make available in OPAC?
A-Z list of journal titles?
Separate database?
Other means?
Sample E-journal Catalog Record
Sample A-Z E-journal List
Aggregators and the OPAC
• The library catalog should provide users with a
record of all selected and available material
regardless of format
• Users tend to expect aggregator database
titles to appear in the OPAC
• Conventional cataloging could solve problems
of aggregations, but most cataloging
departments do not have the resources to
provide this access)
Aggregator Access
In addition to access via the OPAC,
consider alternative means
– Through web lists, databases and gateways
– Through online indexes and databases
Access : Traditional Cataloging
Titles individually cataloged following the same
procedures as for other serials
Advantages
• Benefits of complete MARC records
(authorized subject headings, names,
classification)
• Consistency within the catalog
• Cataloging copy often available for larger
packages
Access : Traditional Cataloging
Disadvantages
– Cataloging e-serials can be more timeconsuming than cataloging print
– Since e-resources are prone to change,
more record maintenance is needed than
with print (and you thought maintaining
print serials was a lot of work!)
Access : Single-Record Approach
The single-record approach notes the existence of an
online version on the record for the print serial
Advantages
– Complete print serial records (authorized
subject headings, names, classification)
– Doesn’t require a lot of cataloging expertise
to add access points for online version
– Large packages can be processed with less
work on each title.
Example of Single-Record Approach
Access : Single-Record Approach
Disadvantages
– Cataloging is still required for titles not held
in print collection
– Loss of access points unique to electronic
version
• have the option of adding it locally, but
that, too, requires maintenance (e.g.
Adding 710 JSTOR (Organization) to all
your JSTOR titles)
– Still difficult to keep up with maintenance in
dynamic aggregators like Bell + Howell,
Ebsco, etc.
Access : Aggregator Record Sets
•MARC record sets are available from
several sources, e.g. OCLC (Worldcat),
Bell + Howell (Proquest), Ebsco
•Commercial services are developing
customized MARC record sets for a
variety of packages
Considerations when looking into
record sets
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•
•
•
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Record completeness
Maintenance and updates
Cost
Relation to records already in your catalog
Ease of removing records from your local
system
If your library’s subscription to 3,000 EBSCO titles
is cancelled today, how will get those records and
links out of your catalog tomorrow?
Some Questions to Ask
• How complete and authoritative are the records?
– E.g. Ebsco derives records from CONSER records, so
generally, the records are complete and authoritative
– Gale generates their records from their own data, which
doesn’t include authorized headings or complete description.
• Are record updates distributed? How frequently? Is
there an added cost? Per record? Per set? Per load?
• Is the entire record set redistributed or only records to
be deleted, added or changed? Maintenance and cost
issues here!
Access : Journal Title Lists
“In the beginning ...” users accessed e-journals
through alphabetic lists on web pages
These lists still are popular, though now there
are more and more titles to maintain!
Some libraries are unable to provide online
access through the catalog, so A-Z lists
continue to be be an option
Example of E-journal Database that Generates
Web Pages
(Scripps Research Institute)
Access : Separate Database
Some libraries have created a separate database
of their aggregator e-journal coverage
Advantage
•Requires no cataloging resources
Disadvantages
•Users must consult two sources to determine
journal holdings
•Still subject to maintenance
•Individual libraries must do the work themselves
•Potentially no subject or corporate body access
Example of Comprehensive Database
JAKE is probably one of the more well-known early
databases.
Access : Local Scripting
What is it?
Minimal records are created by the library from
vendor-supplied title/ISSN listing
Advantage
•Provides online access to large packages for which no
record set is available
Disadvantages
•Libraries must do the work themselves
•Vendor-supplied lists usually don’t include OPAC access
points (subject, corporate body) or title history
•If ISSN isn’t available, it’s tough to match records
Local Scripting and OSU :
the Ebsco Records Wizard
What is it?
– GUI-based collection of
vbscripts created by
Terry Reese
What does it do?
– Provides access to
individual Ebsco titles
– De-dups the Ebsco
Records sets on OCLC
number and ISBN
– Generates a new overlay
point
– Provides a method to
globally add/delete fields.
Ebsco Records Wizard:
Getting Help
The Ebsco Records Wizard uses a web-based
help system.
– System facilitates local use and remote use.
Help system and the program can be
downloaded from:
http://ucs.orst.edu/~reeset/ebsco/html/
Service Benefits : a comparison
April 2001 and April 2002 were used as a
test month for comparison.
Based on usage stats from these two
months, Ebsco usage increased by
approximately 70%.
15000
10000
Apr-01
Apr-02
5000
0
Logins
Service Benefits: a comparison
Moreover, including titles in the OPAC decreased the
amount of patron time needed to spend searching for a
resource. Again, using the same two test months, one
can see that they amount of searches performed on the
database actually went down 25%. This is due largely to
the fact that users are being taken directly to their desired
journal, rather then having to search each individual
subscription database for the Journal title.
40000
30000
Apr-01
Apr-02
20000
10000
0
Searches
Service Benefits: a comparison cont.
In addition to decreased searching on EBSCO, we can
see that many of the new users coming to EBSCO are
coming through Oasis. Again, using out two test months,
we can see that once the EBSCO records were provided
in the OPAC, they were immediately utilized.
6000
4000
Apr-01
Apr-02
2000
0
Searches
Accessing Ebsco Records
Ebsco Titles are now
accessible directly through
the library’s OPAC!
 On the right: an author
search in the OPAC. Using
this search, a patron can
locate all the Ebsco titles
currently in the local
catalog.
Accessing Ebsco Records cont.
All Ebsco records are
– Searchable within an electronic resources scope
– Are noted with [electronic resource] in the GMD for
easy identification
Accessing Ebsco Records cont.
Accessing titles via the catalog:
Other Means of Access :
Vendor Solutions
Vendor solutions cover a wide range of
possibilities including:
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•
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Printed lists
Title and holdings data
Record sets
Searchable tables of contents
Management information
Aggregations : Summary
• There are many ways to provide access to
serials in packages and aggregations
• Depending on the packages your library uses,
there might be one solution or several
solutions
• Libraries should include catalog access but
also should think beyond the catalog
• It’s all about ACCESS!
Suggested Reading
Li, Yiu-On and Shirley W. Leung. Computer Cataloging of
Electronic Journals in Unstabe Aggregator Databases: The
Hong Kong Baptist University Library Experience. Library
Resources and Technical Services 45, no. 4 (Oct. 2001): 198211.
PCC Standing Committee on Automation, 2nd Task Group on
Journals in Aggregator Databases. Final Report.
http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/aggtg2final.html
Schultz, Nathalie. E-Journal Database: A Long-Term Solution?
Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services 25,
(2001): 449-459.