A Web Hub for Developing Administrative Metadata for
Electronic Resource Management

DLF Electronic Resource Management Initiative steering group: Ivy Anderson (Harvard), Adam Chandler (Cornell University), Sharon Farb (UCLA), Tim Jewell (University of Washingon), Kimberly Parker (Yale); Angelo Riggio (UCLA), Nathan Robertson (Johns Hopkins)

Tim Jewell
University of Washington
email: tjewell@u.washington.edu

• Survey libraries
  • Tim Jewell's survey data, 2001-04-23
• Create Web site
• Create email list
• Begin identification of a starting set of common elements
• Draft a a conceptual Entity-Relationship model
• NISO/DLF Workshop on
  Standards for Electronic Resource Management
  
• ALA Annual Meeting
  • Date: 6/14 (Friday)
    Place: Georgia World Congress Center, room B304
    Time: 4:30-6:30.
• DLF Fall Forum 2002, "Birds of a Feather" session, Tuesday, November 5, 4:00 p.m.
• ALA Mid-Winter 2003: (1) Friday, January 24th: ALCTS Symposium on Managing Electronic Resources; (2) Friday, January 24th: 7:30-9:30 p.m., Wyndham Franklin Plaza, Philadelphia Ballroom. The steering group will also hold an open information sharing meeting for librarians, vendors and publishers interested in these developments. An agenda will be set closer to the conference, but we will probably begin with a status report on the initiative from members of the steering committee and provide time for discussion of it and local developments. (This meeting will once again be sponsored by the ALCTS Technical Services Directors of Large Research Libraries -- whose support is again gratefully acknowledged!)

DLF Electronic Resource
Management Initiative

• Problem Definition/Road Map: Our ad hoc, grassroots effort has assembled an extensive collection of documents relevant to the management of electronic resources. This report is intended to gather the most valuable data and conclusions into one document. It will include an overview of existing or proposed standards and XML schemas, and their relationships to the work being undertaken.
• Working Documents: These specifications, standards, and best practices are expected to be useful in drafting system specifications, as well as directing vendors' development efforts. They will be made available via the web, and will include:
  - Workflow Diagram
  - Functional Specifications
  - Entity Relationship Diagram
  - Data Elements and Definitions
  - XML Schema
• Final Report. This will integrate the Problem Definition/Road Map report and working documents as they exist in the summer of 2003, reach appropriate conclusions, and identify issues and future research questions.
  

• California Digital Library
  • Rosalie Lack provided us with the table structure behind the database CDL is using to manage their licensing information.
• Cornell University
  • Calhoun, Karen, et al. "CORC at Cornell Project: Final Report: Appendix 1: Data Fields to Support Selection and Acquisitions Activities." 11 December 1999.
  • Chandler, Adam. "An Application Profile and Prototype Metadata Management System for Licensed Electronic Resources." Research proposal: Samuel Lazerow Fellowship, Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association. 1 December 2000.
• Emory University

• Selden Deemer of Emory University Libraries posted an interesting Request for Proposal, relevant to this work on e-license management. It begins:

  "This document solicits proposals from qualified vendors to provide an electronic journals data file service to be used by Emory University Libraries for management purposes. Ideally, coverage includes all full text electronic journals to which members of the Emory University community have access as a result of subscription arrangements with individual publishers or through aggregators."

• Griffith University Library
  • Griffith University Library Electronic Resources Database (ERD) - The ERD has been designed in MS Access (with data stored in Oracle) and as at June 2001 contains approx. 8800 records for full-text ejournals. Ejournal data is extracted from enhanced catalog records (GEAC ADVANCE) and loaded into the ERD. In addition Excel file lists of ejournal data can be imported for new products that have not yet been cataloged. (See also: presentation by Nathalie Shultz: "Ejournal databases : a long-term solution?")
• Johns Hopkins University Library
  • The Hopkins Electronic Resources ManagEment System includes a good deal of very interesting and valuable documentation, available on the HERMES Web site. See also, Nathan Robertson's 2002 ALA Midwinter presentation.
• Kansas State University
  • Char Simser writes: "K-State has developed a database for tracking these things, our intent being the ability for libraries in the Kansas Regents' group to share information. The database has several levels of access - you can see the 'public' view at http://proton.lib.ksu.edu/databases/ejournal/main.jsp (works best with IE). The staff and administrator views offer additional contract data concerning administrator user ID & pswds, contacts, membership numbers, running reports, adding new titles, etc. The school logo would be used to identify universities' 'holdings' - each school is able to modify as needed its contract details. We've introduced our database to the Regents' Libraries Database Consortium - they love the concept but haven't embraced it yet - mostly likely because of time and staffing issues."
• MIT
  • VERA- Virtual Electronic Resource Access. VERA is a FileMaker Pro based database that provides an easy interface with essential descriptive and user information readily available, a license tracking system, and ease of maintenance and other functionality. Provides clear, iconographic links to information for users. For a full discussion, see Nicole Hennig, "Improving Access to E-Journals and Databases at the MIT Libraries: Building a Database-Backed Web Site Caller 'Vera'".
• Penn State University
  • ERLIC- (Electronic Resources Licensing and Information Center). Microsoft Access-based system that provides multiple tracking and management functions and meshes with Penn State's online catalog. A record for each resource links to information about the Order Status, Info/Access Status, Info/Usage Statistics, and Payment History. It also maintains licensing information and has report generating capabilities with the reports in a variety of formats. The ERLIC software is available (without technical support) on a shareware basis, along with a tour of functions. [Note: ERLIC is replaced by Lib-Lion.] Bob Alan, Head of Serials, has kindly shared his NASIG 2002 powerpoint presentation, "Keeping Track of Electronic Resources To Keep Track of Them."
• The Tri-College Consortium (Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore colleges)
  • According to Norm Medeiros, Coordinator, Bibliographic and Digital Services at Haverford College, the Consortium has created an e-resources tracking system (ERTS) to help manage license details. Information regarding the work is available at: http://www.haverford.edu/library/erts/
• UCLA
  • UCLA is developing a Digital Acquisitions Database and has provided drafts of several helpful internal documents, including a Data Elements Spreadsheet, a graphic of their Conceptual Design, a Data Elements Dictionary, and a Policy Discussion Document that includes a set of working principles. Readers should be aware that these are very much works in progress, and are subject to change. See also, Sharon Farb's 2002 ALA midwinter presentation.
• University of Georgia
• Joan Conger of the University of Georgia Libraries is leading development of their Electronic Resources Management System. The purpose of the system is "to order, track, renew, and maintain electronic resources, collect use statistics and support access."
• University of Minnesota
  • The Electronic Resources Steering Committee drafted "Inventory Database Specifications" as a guide to building a local system for managing electronic resources.
• University of Washington
  • Jewel, Tim. Draft Plan and Discussion Paper Terms and Definitions for Managing Electronic Resources and Terminology Grid. August 2001. [Word and Excel format]
  • Jewell, Tim. Elicense survey data: appendix from a forthcoming Digital Library Federation report. April 2001. [Excel format]
  • Jewell, Tim. Selection and Presentation of Commercially Available Electronic Resources: Issues and Practices. Council on Library and Information Resources, July 2001.
• Yale University
  • Thanks to Kimberly Parker for providing an ER diagram to their Online Journals and Databases system.

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