Search |
Serials : Table Of Contents 10(2) : July 1997News from Serials, vol.10, no.2, July 1997 Please send News items to:
Recovery of ISSN UK operating costs It�s a time of financial stringency for many, and the British Library is no exception. Senior staff at the Library have been working to identify core activities in order to make sure that available resources are used in the most efficient way possible. The idea is that where activities do not relate to the BL'�s core activities, they should, if possible, make contributions to revenue through cost recovery. The ISSN UK Centre has been identified as a non-core activity. This doesn�t mean that the BL attaches less importance to it than before � rather the reverse! Plans to recover the cost of the ISSN service and make it self-financing will enable the Library to make improvements to the service, offer a high priority �express� option and confirm the place of ISSN UK within the BL and the UK library community. Various options for recovering costs have been explored, including sponsorship, outsourcing, charging for every assignment, subscription pricing, and recovering operating costs through an express service. A number of organisations were consulted, including the ISSN International centre, the ISSN Governing Board, the Periodical Publishers Association, the Serial Publishers Executive of the Publishers Association, and the Article Number Association. A questionnaire was sent out to the Centre�s 200 most frequent customers, and a workshop was held at the UK Serials Group Conference in April. From these consultations, it became clear that a sponsorship arrangement would not be acceptable since it was generally felt that the ISSN UK Centre should remain independent of commercial influence. Charging for every assignment, either item by item or by subscription, was the least preferred option, since it would deter smaller publishers from applying for ISSN, so reducing bibliographic control of the type of item which is in most need of it. Consultation suggested that usage of an express service would not raise sufficient money to fund the service on its own, but that in general customers would not object to paying to use the ISSN service. Analysis of statistics compiled within the Centre show that about a third of requests for ISSN come from customers who only ever make a single request, whilst half come from a group of about 200 regular customers. These factors were borne in mind in formulating a plan to enable the ISSN UK Centre to recover its operational costs: The first ISSN requested by each customer will be assigned free of charge; to obtain subsequent ISSN, a customer will have to pay an annual subscription charge. A basic subscription of �250 will entitle customers to up to five ISSN per year, with entitlement to additional ISSN available at �250 for five. In addition, urgent requests will be charged as two uses of the standard subscription service. Assignments to material which would not normally fall within the scope of the ISSN UK Centre will be priced individually, at a premium rate. A charge will also be levied against British Library users of the system, such as the Document Supply Centre. Requests from other ISSN Centres and assignments made at the discretion of the British Library to material received through legal deposit will continue to be free of charge. The assignment of a first ISSN free of charge ensures that numbers will still be assigned to the less commercial material which is in the greatest need of bibliographic control. The British Library Board has agreed in principle to this plan of action, and approval is being sought from the Secretary of State for National Heritage. Assuming that the plan is approved, the new service will start on 1 January 1998, and subscriptions will run for a calendar year. Full details will be sent to customers and interested parties in the Autumn. David Baron British Library ISSN UK Centre VAT on Electronic Journals There seems to be some confusion over the subject of VAT on electronic journals, so we have obtained an opinion from Jeff Wolf, VAT expert at Blackwell�s, which we hope will be helpful. "Electronic journals involve customers accessing via the Net an electronic copy of the journal held either on the publisher's or other hosting organisation�s server. This access may be mediated via other services. The charging of VAT is not dependent upon who owns the computer or where it is located. The location of the primary point of service is, however, of importance. The subscription price of the electronic journal to the customer may cover some or all of:- - the cost of enabling access to a journal�s content; - the right to read the contents of the journal (possibly also to download and print them); - other services such as password control and administration services. In this scenario the VAT position of a UK serials vendor or publisher is this: (a) If the customer is in the UK - charge UK VAT at 17.5% as this is a service provided wholly within the UK. (b) If the customer is 'in business' in another EU country - zero rate the sale. Evidence of the customer being 'in business' might be the possession of a VAT number in their own country. (c)If the customer is outside the EU - no VAT is chargeable. If the serials vendor or publisher is in another EU country, (a) above changes to charge local VAT to customers in the same country as the vendor. If the serials vendor or publisher is outside the EU, no VAT is chargeable to any customer. Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network Professor Bruce Royan, Chief Executive of SCRAN, has announced the plans for a �15m millennium project to build a networked multimedia resource base for the study, teaching and appreciation of history and material culture in Scotland. SCRAN�s modus operandi will be to grant-aid the digitisation of multimedia resources in exchange for a non-exclusive educational licence enabling their use in schools and universities. By the millennium, SCRAN will provide easy access to 1.5 million text records of historic monuments and the holdings of museums, galleries and archives, plus 100,000 related multimedia resources. Based on these resources, it will have grant-aided the production of some 100 multimedia essays for educational use. Further information: http://www.scran.ac.uk/ or join the discussion list scran@mailbase.ac.uk BUBL: A national information service for the higher education community BUBL has moved from UKOLN at Bath University to Strathclyde University Library. The new BUBL service is now available at: Please update any links and bookmarks to BUBL, and pass this message on to anyone at your site who maintains links. The new BUBL service has eight main components:
All material from the Web and Gopher servers of the old BUBL service has been integrated and reorganised. Most of the old gopher-based information is now stored in the BUBL Archive. The journals service has been greatly enhanced, with all titles searchable individually, collectively or by subject. The subject tree is now available via the BUBL LINK service, though some areas of LINK require further development. The old BUBL service is no longer being updated and may be withdrawn any time after 31 March 1997. Send any comments on the new service to bubl@bubl.ac.uk Further information: Alan Dawson, BUBL Information Service Manager, Andersonian Library, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NS, Scotland. Tel: 0141 548 4752; E-mail: a.dawson@strath.ac.uk New AcqLink service The new AcqLink service is now available as part of the BUBL LINK subject tree. This service aims to offer acquisitions librarians and other interested parties access to quality electronic resources worldwide. The following options are currently available:
Updates to the service will be included in the 020 Library and Information Science section of the regular BUBL LINK updates sent to LIS-Link; alternatively, these can be viewed in the LINK Home section accessible from the AcqLink menu bar at the top of each page. Further information: Catherine Nicholson, Acquisitions Librarian, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA. Tel: 0141 331 3852; Fax: 0141 331 3005; E-mail: C.Nicholson@gcal.ac.uk; AcqL ink for Acquisitions: http://link.bubl.ac.uk/acqlink/ Back Issues and Exchange Services Information has appeared on SERIALST about updates and additions to a web site called Back Issues and Exchange Services (of sources freely available over the Internet): http://www.uvm.edu/~bmaclenn/backexch.html This site currently includes links to nine sources or services in North America, Europe and the UK where you can post needs/wants lists. There is also a section that lists sources and provides links to and information about discussion lists and related webbed information for discussion or information about back issues, gifts, exchanges, etc, processes and processing in libraries. Contact: Birdie MacLennan, Serials Coordinator, University of Vermont, USA bmaclenn@uvmvm.uvm.edu; bmaclenn@zoo.uvm.edu Journal of Digital Information The Journal of Digital Information, JoDI, is a recently launched electronic journal (with no paper equivalent form) intended to serve the community of workers in the multidisciplinary field of digital information. It aims to be the primary electronic source for high quality refereed articles, and will also provide support for the online discussion of articles. The journal invites submissions on a wide variety of topics, for example: digital libraries, hypermedia systems, intelligent agents, information management, interfaces to digital information, social consequences of digital information and digital design. For details of how to submit articles to JoDI, refer to the JoDI web site at http://jodi.ecs.soton.ac.uk/ IEE Journals available online The new IEE Online Journal Service (IOJ) is now available from the IEE Web Site. Launched in January 1997, it contains all the IEE�s peer-reviewed journals from 1994 onwards. The online service also includes the new IEE Proceedings title: Software Engineering, the first issue of which appeared in February 1997. Further information: http://ioj.iee.org.uk/ Periodicals in Print The 14th edition of Periodicals in Print, 1997, is due for release later this year. Periodicals in Print is a comprehensive listing of serials publications from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Region. The 13th edition (1996) listed over 13,000 titles - over 10,000 Australian titles and more than 2,000 New Zealand titles. Over 6,500 publishers were listed with their names, addresses and wherever possible telephone, fax and e-mail contact references. The 1997 edition will feature WWW home pages as well. Further information: Megan Inglis, Marketing Manager, ISA Australia, PO Box 709, Toowong, QLD Australia 4066. Tel: +61 7 3371 7500; Fax: +61 7 3371 5566; E-mail: enq@isa.com.au; http://www.isa.com.au/ New report from TFPL TFPL announce the publication of Business Information in the Intranet Age, price �195. The report concludes that information managers and vendors will have to work in partnership if industry at large is to reap the very real benefits of Intranets. The alternative is chaos erupting at the heart of a company�s intellectual asset base. Although there are sound commercial reasons for a company to establish an Intranet, the report claims that it is lack of �barriers to entry� which has stimulated their rapid growth in business. Martin White, principal consultant at TFPL and the report�s author, claims that: ".. too often, an Intranet is established just because it can be. They can grow very rapidly for relatively low initial investment. But without effective planning for long-term development, virtual anarchy breaks out." Further information: Bindy Pease, TFPL.Tel: 0171 251 5522; Andy Maslen, Sunfish, Tel: 0181 932 7398 CASPR announces LibraryWorld 97 LibraryWorld 97 includes modules for patron management, report generation, catalog, circulation, serials control, acquisitions, import/export, union catalog, OPAC, multi-media documents, cross-platform, and Internet access. Further details : CASPR Inc, 100 Park Center Plaza, Suite 550, San Jose, CA 95113. Tel: 1-800 852 2777; 0-408 882 0600; Fax: 1-404 882 0608; http://www.caspr.com/; E-mail: custserv@caspr.com UMI launch two new services UMI�s Dissertation Abstracts Database is now available on the World Wide Web giving users free access to the most current three months� worth of dissertations and these titles, complete with abstracts Dissertation Express is a new delivery option for receiving on-demand copies of doctoral dissertations and masters theses. The service is aimed at academic staff, researchers and students who need fast, affordable access to primary research material. Further information: Suzanne O�Hare, Promotions Manager, UMI, The Old Hospital, Ardingly Road, Cuckfield, West Sussex, RH17 5JR, UK. E-mail: SOHare@ipiumi.demon.co.uk Tel: 01444 445000; Fax: 01444 445050; http://www.umi.com/ Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science: an electronic journal MCB University Press announce that the Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science is now available online via the Internet. The journal�s aim is to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of marketing and offers an international forum for both scholars and practitioners for the theoretical research and reflection on practice. View the journal home page on: http://www.mcb.co.uk/liblink/jmpams/jourhome.htm for access to sample articles, abstracts, keywords and to join the journal�s electronic mailing list TFPL Inc on the move TFPL Inc New York has moved to the New York Information Technology Centre at 55 Broad Street. This �wired� building offers �plug and play� access to networks and the Internet. Further information: Deidre Cossman, TFPL Inc, 55 Broad Street, Suite 20c, New York, NY 10004-2501, USA. (212) 269 4666; http://www.tfpl.com/ Abstracts in the New Technologies and Engineering (ANTE) Bowker-Saur have re-launched the abstracting and indexing title Current Technology Index (CTI) as ANTE, which will offer a new expanded coverage, easier to use formats and the addition of online access. Also available on CD-ROM. Bi-monthly print format: annual subscription �735 EC, $1,365 US, �795 ROW; CD-ROM: annual subscription with quarterly updates �875; online through DIALOG: file no. 238. A combined print and CD-ROM price is also available, from �1,250 (EC price). For more information or a demonstration disc of the CD-ROM: Clive Hawkins or Geraldine Turpie at Bowker-Saur on 01342 330100. Up-to-date Parliamentary information JUSTIS Parliament is a bibliographic database that is updated daily by experts in the House of Commons library and represents an index to all the proceedings, publications and collections of information for both Houses. It is available on annual subscription and costs �300 (+ VAT) for 180 minutes� access or �600 (+ VAT) for 420 minutes� access. Higher usage rates available on request. Further information: Context Ltd, Grand Union House, 20 Kentish Town Road, London NW1 9NR; Tel: +44 (0) 171 267 8989; Fax: +44 (0) 171 267 1133; e-mail: sales@context.co.uk The British Library and Elsevier Science cooperate on the use of electronic texts The British Library and Elsevier Science have reached agreement on the use of electronic versions of STM material to improve the availability of information to researchers and students. The agreement will allow the British Library to incorporate bibliographic data of over 1,200 journals produced by Elsevier Science directly into the Library�s current awareness products and, on an experimental basis, to use the electronic full text of some of these journals as a source for satisfying document delivery requests. The bibliographic information will be made available on the same day as the journals are received in the British Library through the Library�s comprehensive inside service. Elsevier Science journals: issue dispatch dates now available on the Internet As a new service to subscribers and subscription agents, the dispatch dates of each journal issue can now be found on the Elsevier Science journals home pages, making it possible to handle claims more efficiently: http://www.elsevier.com/; http://www.elsevier.nl/ Go to the home page of the journal(s) in question and follow the dispatch dates link for that journal. Go to the Dispatch Dates Archive at http://www.elsevier.nl/catalogue/dispatch/ where you can display the list of all titles and search for specific journals on keywords in the title Dispatch information is currently updated twice per week, but they expect to update the dispatch dates on a daily basis in the near future. Furthermore, each month users will be able to view and download the data in text form exactly as it appears in the Journals Dispatch List which is printed each month. Innovative and SLS (Information Systems) Ltd join forces Innovative Interfaces, Inc has completed a cash purchase of 100% of the shares of SLS, which has its head office in Bristol. They are committed to providing a continuity of support and service to the existing SLS LIBERTAS system, and a new release of LIBERTAS will be provided this summer. It is hoped existing SLS customers will also have access to many of Innovative�s new information technologies. Further information from: Mark Carden or Matt Kirkpatrick, Tel: 0117 975 1021 New CD-ROM from UMI UMI announce a new CD-ROM ProQuest® Applied Science and Technology PlusTM which combines the H W Wilson Company�s Applied Science and Technology database with full image articles from UMI. Subject areas covered include aeronautics, chemical engineering, computer technology and applications, electrical engineering, the food industry, mechanical engineering, nuclear engineering, physics, telecommunications and transportation. Further information: Jonathan Wynne, Area Sales & Marketing Manager, UMI, The Old Hospital, Ardingly Road, Cuckfield, West Sussex, RH17 5JR. E-mail: jwynne@ipiumi.demon.co.uk; Tel: 01444 445000; Fax: 01444 445050; http://www.umi.com/ BioMedNet adds Evaluated MEDLINE BioMedNet announces the debut of its Evaluated MEDLINE, which features:
Further information: Ellen Spernagel: ellen@cursci.co.uk or Barbara Sullivan: barbara@ny.cursci.com 13th Annual NASIG Conference This will be held June 18 - 21 1998 at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA. The theme is �Head in the clouds, feet on the ground: serials vision and common sense� There is a call for papers, workshops and preconferences. Proposals should be submitted via e-mail no later than 1 August 1997. Contact: Connie Foster, NASIG secretary. E-mail: rfosterc@wkyuvm.wku.edu 1996 NASIG Conference Proceedings The NASIG Board announces the availability of the printversion 1996 NASIG Conference Proceedings. The proceedings have reached such size that they now occupy four full issues (two physical pieces) of the journal, the Serials Librarian. This year they appear as volume 30, nos. 3/4 and volume 31, nos. 1/2 (1997). The NASIG Board and Haworth regrets that the proceedings are split across a volume and will be bound in separate volumes in many libraries. NASIG and Haworth will work together to prevent this happening in the future. The proceedings are also available as a single volume hardbound under the unique title. Further information: e-mail: getinfo@haworth.com The proceedings are also available electronically on NASIGWEB at the following address: http://nasig.ils.unc.edu/members/proceedings.1996/96proc_contents.html
Collection Manager Blackwell�s announce the introduction of Collection Manager, a Web interface to their New Titles System. Collection Manager enables librarians to select subjects from the Blackwell�s Subject Thesaurus, the library of Congress Classification system, their national Library of Medicine Thesaurus, Blackwell�s Author List, or libraries� own profiles in order to search Blackwell�s New Titles Database. It displays titles matching selected subjects or profiles, annotating each title with icons representing order status and action taken by Blackwell�s on behalf of the library. Future releases will include an ordering interacts, record delivery and the ability to interactively create and change library profiles as well as �what if� analysis. Collectionanager will be available on 28 June 1997. Further information: Kim Hallett, Blackwell�s, Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2ET. Tel: 01865 792792; Fax: 01865 262503; E-mail: kim.hallett@blackwell.co.uk Electronic Serials in Public Libraries Loughborough University�s Department of Information and Library Studies has been awarded funding for a project which aims to provide strategic information on the management, exploitation and effective use of newspapers, magazines and journals in both traditional and electronic formats, in UK public libraries. While the field of electronic scholarly publishing has been the focus of various research projects, less attention has been given to the publication of newspapers, popular magazines and e-zines, and their use and impact in public libraries. Serials as an information resource have generally suffered from neglect in UK public libraries, with serials budgets usually representing a low percentage of library expenditure. Electronic resources might offer opportunities for libraries to develop wider services where there was little or none before, a powerful incentive in developing a marketing strategy for raising the profile of public libraries. The project is funded by the British Library�s Research and Innovation Centre and will be undertaken by Prof. Margaret Evans, Dr. Cliff McKnight and Dr. Anne Morris, with Kate Brunskill as Researcher. There will be a combination of desk research, library case studies, focus groups, and observation of users� reactions to electronic serials. The research began in June 1997 and a report (including comparative economic models, and evaluative directory of electronic serials, and guidelines for the application of performance indicators to electronic serials) should be available around June 1998. Contact: Kate Brunskill, Department of Library and Information Studies, Loughborough University. Tel: 01509 223074; E-mail: K.L.Brunskill@lboro.ac.uk ALPSP celebrate their 25th birthday ALPSP held a celebration on Friday 16 May 1997 at the splendid House of the Royal Society Carlton House Terrace, London. Professor Scott, Professor of Education at the University of Leeds delivered the Jubilee Lecture on �The future of "learing" in a knowledge society�. This was followed by a reception which included a very tasty and appropriately decorated birthday cake. Return to Serials |