Project
Overview
The project aims to
aid researchers by extending existing collaborative collection
management work carried out within the framework of the Scottish
Confederation of University and Research Libraries (SCURL) into new
areas and investigating effective models for building and sustaining a
co-ordinated Scotland-wide distributed national resource. This would be
conveniently accessible to researchers via the Cairns distributed
catalogue, Research Collections Online (RCO), and SCURL inter-access
policies, and also hospitable to accommodating further new collaborative
initiatives among Scottish university and research libraries. In
addition to enhancing existing online assistance to help researchers
identify relevant collections, the project will also aim to provide
online information and other facilities to assist library staff in
jointly managing collaborative collection management processes in order
to get the best out of limited national resources.
SCURL's approach to
collaborative collection management is based on identifying and
recording collection strengths and weaknesses, making this information
readily accessible to contributing libraries, and jointly agreeing an
approach to sustaining the strengths and weaknesses. The project will
also aim to evaluate this approach with a view to identifying mechanisms
for improving its effectiveness. Although associated with CAIRNS, the
project does not duplicate it in any way, but aims to extend it into a
range of new areas. Funding has also been obtained from SEED for a
SCONE 'sister project'. The Research Support Libraries Programme
(RSLP), on behalf of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC),
has awarded the University of Strathclyde a grant of GBP 99,000 towards
this new project.
Project Elements and Associated Deliverables
The project will last two years and will comprise the elements listed below,
each of which has an associated deliverable. The nature of the deliverable is
indicated in square brackets.
-
Web-site development work to support the programme (including directory
information, inter-lending arrangements, access agreements, support
information for inter-institutional collection management etc.). [Web-site
and various web-based tools and documents].
-
Investigation of models for collection measurement in order to permit
effective cross-checks and a mechanism for continuous assessment of research
data. This is intended to investigate models for objective assessment.
[Report].
-
Evaluation of SCURL's approach to collaborative collection management with
a view to identifying mechanisms for improving its effectiveness (the approach
is based on identifying and recording collection strengths and weaknesses,
making this information readily accessible to contributing libraries, and
jointly agreeing an approach to sustaining the strengths and addressing the
weaknesses). [Report].
-
Identification of research level collections in the 'New Universities',
and other Higher Education Institutions in Scotland; extension of Research
Collections Online to include them, possibly applying an improved methodology
identified in the SEED 'sister project'. [Report].
-
Identification of an effective mechanism to automate the implementation of
the existing SCURL Expensive Purchases Online policy. [Specification and
service facet].
-
Development of a means of accommodating the Scottish datasets identified
as a result of the Scottish Datasets Project and an investigation of a model
for keeping this data current.
-
Investigation of possible means of accommodating the current Shared
Preservation Programme data and identification of an effective model for doing
so. [Specification and service facet].
-
Development of a means of holding information about national licences
(online resources, CD-ROMs etc.). [Specification and service facet].
-
Development of a way of providing distributed access to research papers
held online (e.g., electronic materials identified in the CATRIONA II project).
[Specification and service facet].
-
Inclusion of information about collaborative tenders implemented among
Scottish university and research libraries. [Specification and service
facet].
-
Integration of this new data with the ongoing development of CAIRNS, RCO
and the SEED-funded project to provide researchers with a finding tool that
will enable them to identify research materials distributed across Scotland
(and ultimately beyond). [Enhanced database and service].
-
Provision of guidance to researchers on how to search individual online
catalogues and of information about associated indexing practices.
[Specification and service facet].
-
Investigation of mapping of RCO Conspectus data to other collection
management subject schemes, nationally and internationally. [Specification
and service facet (if possible)].
-
Report on the project, including exit strategy and recommendations to
SCURL and others and proposals for future research and development to improve
the Scotland-wide information resource [Report].
-
Dissemination of project results within and beyond Scotland.
[various].
-
Demonstrator project illustrating the SCURL approach to collaborative
collection development. [Demonstrator].
|
