Bibliographic Databases in the
Sciences and Engineering:
Are They Going to Survive?
Nevenka Zdravkovska & Bob Kackley
University of Maryland, College Park,
Maryland, USA
Background on the University
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Background on Sciences/Engineering @ UMD
Clark School of Engineering
Engineering
Aerospace engineering
Computer engineering
Electrical engineering
Civil engineering
Mechanical engineering
17th
8th
17th
14th
21st
24th
College of Computer, Mathematical & Physical Sciences
Computer Science
13th
Artificial intelligence
9th
Systems
12th
Programming languages
17th
Mathematics
21st
Applied mathematics
12th
Physics
13th
Atomic, molecular, optical
5th
Plasma physics
2nd
Quantum physics
9th
Nuclear physics
10th
Condensed matter, solid state 13th
Elementary particles/string theory13th
2008 U.S. News & World Report Graduate Rankings
Fountain in front of the Math Building
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Background on the Libraries & EPSL
• UM’s 8 libraries
• Engineering &
Physical Sciences
Library (EPSL) largest
of the branches
– 13 permanent staff (6
professional librarians)
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Collections
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Journals Cancellation
• Serials inflation in early 2000’s at rate of
10%/year (DBs at 8%/year)
• Cancellations in total UM Libraries Budget:
FY02- 2%, FY03-5%, FY04-2.5%
• Began 2nd Review in 8/2005 with creation
of 25% target into 3 prioritized segments
• Still, UM Libraries had worse materials’
cuts in FY07-8%, FY08-9%, FY09-5%
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Free Journal Tools
• EnginFactor – Ranking and Mapping Scientific
Knowledge
http://eigenfactor.org/
• SJR SCImago Journal and Country Ranking
http://www.scimagojr.com/
• Journal-Ranking.com
http://www.journal-ranking.com/ranking/web/index.html
• Journal Info (Lund University)
http://jinfo.lub.lu.se/
• Eureka – Science Journal Watch
http://www.eurekajournalwatch.org/index.php/Main_Page
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Bibliographic Databases
• FY09 Databases and Serials Received Equal
Scrutiny budget-wise
• Overlap already on journals in many databases
• Report that Google Scholar indexes 90% of
recent engineering research?????????
• 2008 Univ. of British Columbia dropped INSPEC
-- we followed suit despite loss of subject area
comprehensiveness
• But potentially will save much $ in the future???
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Databases Comparison Tools
• CUFTS: Open Source Serials
Management
– http://researcher.sfu.ca/cufts
• JISC (Joint Information Systems
Committee) Academic Database
Assessment Tool
– http://www.jisc-adat.com/adat/home.pl
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Cancelled Databases
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
ABI Inform
Access Science
Ageline
Alternative Press Index
Annotated Bibliography of English Studies, eff. January 1, 2009
Arts & Humanities Search
Biography Index
Books in Print
Index of Christian Art, eff. May 31, 2008
INSPEC (we will retain access to INSPEC Archive--Science
Abstracts 1868 - 1968)
• Lexis-Nexis Government Periodicals Index
• NTIS, eff. October 1, 2008
• Polling the Nations, eff. April 7, 2008
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Cost/Search
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Free Databases
•
•
•
•
•
•
Scitopia.com - http://www.scitopia.com
NTIS.gov - http://www.ntis.gov
Worldcat.org – www.worldcat.org
USPTO.gov - http://www.uspto.gov
Espacenet.com – http://ep.espacenet.com
Pubmed Central http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov
• Agricola – http://agricola.nal.usda.gov
• ERIC – http://www.eric.ed.gov
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On Demand Databases
• 1998 at Georgetown University library, INSPEC
via OCLC – was cut ($20K/yr)
• INSPEC via DATASTAR (European Dialog now
owned by Proquest) on Pay-Per-View then
• Successful plan for less than original
designation of $5K – so, BIOSIS Previews
added as well in that fashion
• Future of databases as well as journals ???
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Conclusion
“The research needs of the 21st century
revolve around finding new truths ….
not confirming that which is already
known”
Wallace, Danny P. 2007. Academic Library and Research in the
Twenty-First Century: Linking Practice and Research. Journal of
Academic Librarianship 33: 529-531
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Thank You!
nevenka@umd.edu
rkackley@umd.edu
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