RSLP Call For Proposals (RSLP 99/1):
Full Bid: Collaborative Collection Management Strand

Contents 

1. Lead Funding Body    top

Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC).

2. SCONE in Context: Background, Other Funding, Related SCURL Initiatives    top

This proposal forms part of an ongoing programme of co-operative initiatives undertaken by SCURL over a number of years, built progressively and funded from a number of sources, including SCURL members' own budgets. These include the creation of the SALSER union database of journals held by SCURL members and the implementation of the Research Collections Online Database (RCO), which provides a database of subject descriptions of research and other collections held in SCURL member libraries, but does not at present include the collections of the 'new universities'. A current SCURL initiative in this area is the eLib funded 'clumps' project CAIRNS, which aims to provide a distributed union catalogue of SCURL institutions, amongst other things, together with an RCO based mechanism to allow researchers to identify the most likely CAIRNS distributed catalogues to search for collections relevant to their subject areas of interest. The SCONE project will seek to build on these projects by extending the RCO data to cover research level collections in the 'new universities' and HE institutions in Scotland and by laying the groundwork for the extension of both the CAIRNS distributed catalogue and the associated RCO based 'dynamic clumping' mechanism to HE institutions beyond the universities. It will also extend the information resource to cover datasets identified in the Scottish Datasets project and other research related electronic resources. In a related initiative, also intended to enhance the RCO database, SCURL has recently successfully applied to the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department (SEED) for additional funding to mount RCO data not currently online, to establish and agree an effective, low maintenance, and possibly distributed, mechanism for keeping the data current, and to investigate extending the data to include collections in public libraries. The aims of SCONE are complementary to both CAIRNS and the SEED projects but do not in any way duplicate them. Other relevant funded SCURL initiatives include the Shared Preservation and Scottish Datasets Projects.

3. Project Description    top

3.1 Purpose of the Project: Aims

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 addressing the 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' which will enable further complementary enhancements to be made to the RCO database.

3.2 Project Elements and Associated Deliverables    top

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].

3.3 Project Management; Financial reporting    top

The Project Team will be responsible for day to day project management, will comprise Dennis Nicholson (Project Director), the Project Officer, and the Project Assistant, and will normally meet weekly. The Project Management Committee will comprise the Project Team, together with representatives from the secondary lead sites: Glasgow University (representing 'ancient' universities), Abertay University (representing 'new' universities), and the National Library of Scotland (representing the non-University sector)). This will meet every two months. All other institutions will be represented via their membership of SHERAL, a Scottish acquisitions librarians group associated with SCURL which meets 2 or 3 times a year and through SCURL itself. Reports to SCURL would be via the SCURL Collections and Services Advisory Group which would receive regular reports from the Project Director. A Project Steering Group would also be set up. This will comprise a broad but appropriate mix of chief librarians, academics, acquisitions and reference librarians, representatives from the SEED and CAIRNS projects, and representatives from RSLP (if available), from any similar RSLP projects elsewhere, and from appropriate organisations such as SLIC. It would meet at the start of the project then at six monthly intervals. Financial reporting will be the responsibility of the Project Officer, who will prepare regular reports to the Project Director , Project Management Group, and the Project steering group.

3.4 Evaluation    top

Those aspects of the project relating to collaborative collection development will be evaluated by appropriate library staff in all participating libraries, but particularly those in the lead and secondary lead sites. Those aspects of the project relating to improving user access to collections will be evaluated by researchers and by reference staff in the lead and secondary lead sites and by reference staff in all participating sites. These activities will be monitored by the various project groups, as will all other project activities. If other RSLP projects are funded working in a similar area, SCONE will attempt to establish whether there is scope for reciprocal arrangements for external evaluation. This would take place towards the end of the project. The assumption is that with such an arrangement, no significant additional costs would be involved, since they would be built into the staff costs of the two projects.

3.5 Dissemination Strategy    top

Within the Consortium

Dissemination of information within the consortium would be via the project groups (including SCURL and SHERAL), an e-mail list, a SCONE web site, a SCONE awareness programme, and presentations.

Outwith the consortium

Dissemination of information outwith the consortium would be via the SCONE web site, postings to appropriate e-mail lists, papers and news items submitted to professional publications and presentations at seminars and conferences. Key progress reports would be sent to relevant organisations (e.g. SLIC). Consideration will be given to holding a one day conference after the project for which the aim would be to at least cover costs of the day.

To the academic and research community (public service aspects of the project)

This would be done via participating libraries own user education and information programmes, via the service itself and, possibly, via appropriate e-mail lists. Communication with participating libraries on aspects of the project of interest users would be carried out through the project management structure.

In addition to the above, the project team would be happy to include any other methods of dissemination proposed by RSLP, provided that project resources were sufficient to implement them.

3.6 Exit Strategy    top

SCONE is the latest strand of an ongoing programme of SCURL co-operative activities which also include RCO itself, the SEED project, and CAIRNS. SCURL recognises the need to make provision for the long term support of such initiatives and their outcomes and is currently discussing how this can best be managed and financed. Both SCONE and CAIRNS will be discussing the matter with SCURL on a regular basis over the next twelve months and will also contact other organisations such as SLIC to obtain their views and help. If these approaches do not bear fruit, other possibilities such as sponsorship and co-operative distributed support for the centralised aspects of the services will also be investigated.

4. Relationship to Programme Objectives    top

This proposal will meet all of the objectives of the RSLP Collaborative Collection Management programme listed under section A.2 of the call for proposals, in that through the SCONE Project, SCURL will take 'proactive steps to:

It also covers a number of areas identified as priorities as regards Collaborative Collection Management in that it contains aspects relevant to priorities listed in sections: F.1.2.1 F.1.2.3 F.1.2.6 F.1.2.7 F.1.2.9 as follows:
 

Enriched description at collection level to facilitate improved decision-making within a group of libraries about collection strengths Improvements to information about acquisitions prior to ordering to help avoid unnecessary duplication Establishment and evaluation of the costs and benefits of different approaches to the co-ordination of collection management and service delivery activities Examining how far it is practical to provide common access to research resources within a region (includes collaboration with CAIRNS clumps project) Examining the feasibility of improved access to distributed electronic resources.

5. Description and Significance of Collections; Expected Impact of Project    top

5. 1 Description of Collections    top

The overall aim of the SCURL initiative is to identify, sustain, develop and co-ordinate access to all significant research level collections in Scotland and to identify any weak areas of national coverage where development of the collection within Scotland or co-operative agreements outwith Scotland are required. SCONE is one building block in this ongoing programme (SALSER, RCO, CAIRNS and the SEED project are others). Detailed knowledge of the collections covered by SCONE is unavailable. Better information on this will be one outcome of the project. The original RCO covers the significant collections in the eight older Scottish universities, the two main public libraries and the National Library of Scotland. The aim of SCONE and the associated SEED funded project is to extend the collections covered by bringing in research level collections in the new universities and other Higher and Further Education institutions in Scotland and Scottish electronic resources of various kinds and investigating possible methods of extending the data to include research collections in public libraries.

5. 2 Significance of Collections    top

The SCONE project is not concerned with specific named collections. Rather, it aims to continue the work done within the RCO project and the SEED project, advancing further the extent to which the RCO database lists and describes important research collections held in Scottish libraries and elsewhere, thereby making the information readily accessible through RCO searching and browsing over WWW and Z39.50, and making the collections themselves accessible to researchers via the CAIRNS/RCO gateway. The significance of this ongoing work is that it will increasingly encompass all important research collections in Scotland, an enterprise that will benefit both, Scottish researchers interested in important Scottish research collections, whether regional, national or international in their significance, and international researchers interested in both collections on Scottish topics and internationally important collections in Scotland. The aim will be to gauge and record collection strengths. Some indication of content and numbers of items can be obtained form the following:

Examples of collections in universities not currently covered by RCO:
 

Report on the Scottish Datasets Project: http://datalib.ed.ac.uk/projects/scotinit/

5. 3 Expected Impact of Project    top

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.

6. Project Start and Finish Dates; Milestones; Annual Targets; Schedule    top

6. 1 Project Start and Finish Dates    top

The project would aim to start when project staff begin work in October 1999 and would end at the end of September 2002. Staff recruitment procedures would begin in August 1999. The tables below show planned project progress in terms of milestones and annual targets. An outline project schedule, showing start and end dates for individual project activities is presented at the end of this document.

6.2 Milestones; Annual Targets    top

7. Standards    top

SCURL used the Conspectus methodology developed in the US to provide a map of collections and current collecting intentions in SCURL libraries. This was then followed by the implementation of a programme for shared current collecting responsibilities (CCRs) among the libraries. In the associated CAIRNS project, UK and USMARC are utilised, as is the Z39.50 standard. In all other matters, the project managers would consult the eLib Standards Guidelines.

8. Lead Institution; Secondary Lead Sites; Other Participants; Experience    top

8.1 Lead Institution; Secondary Lead Sites; Other Participants    top

The lead site is Strathclyde University. Secondary lead sites: Glasgow University, Abertay University, National Library of Scotland. Other participants: Aberdeen University, Edinburgh University, Glasgow Caledonian University, Heriot Watt University, Napier University, Paisley University, Queen Margaret University College, The Robert Gordon University, St. Andrews University, Stirling University.

8.2 Experience of Participants    top

Key Staff and available expertise    top

Derek Law is Librarian and Director of Information Strategy at the University of Strathclyde. He was a member of the JISC from 1992-97 and chaired its sub-committee which developed policies and services for the provision of nationally networked information. While at King's College he successfully bid to host the AHDS of which he was acting Director in its initial phase. He has been or is a member of the Follett Committee and the eLib programme, of the Research Support Libraries Programme Management Committee (the Anderson Report implementation committee). He has undertaken joint research with libraries in Greece, Spain and Portugal and has an international reputation through frequent writing and lecturing on electronic information futures in general and on the development and role of national services in particular. Recent contracts awarded include that for the MALIBU hybrid library project.

Dennis Nicholson is Head of Library Systems at Strathclyde University and Director of the BUBL Information Service, a JISC-funded UK national service. He been responsible for, or played a key role in, a number of research projects relevant to aspects of this bid (CATRIONA, CATRIONA II, CAIRNS, RCO, SEED).

http://catriona2.lib.strath.ac.uk/catriona/ 

http://cairns.lib.strath.ac.uk/ 

http://piedra.lib.strath.ac.uk/cgi-bin/egwcgi/egwirtcl/mtargets.egw 

http://bubl.ac.uk/org/catriona/cat1rep.htm 

http://scurl.bubl.ac.uk/ 

Glasgow University Library, Abertay University Library and the National Library of Scotland, the secondary lead sites, are or were all actively involved in two or more of the CATRIONA II, CAIRNS, RCO, SEED projects. Glasgow is the primary lead site in CAIRNS (Strathclyde is secondary lead site), the National Library of Scotland is primary lead site in the SEED project (partnered by Strathclyde). Abertay have experience of managing research projects such as the eLib funded Ariadne.

9. Budget and Total Cost    top

* assumes 3.5% increase

10. Statement on Staffing    top

SCONE is looking for an appropriate mix of technical and LIS skills, together with a level of experience sufficient to ensure understanding of the issues and to enable a good level of communication with senior members of staff in participating institutions. However, we also feel that the project entails sufficient work to make it sensible to look for two members of staff for the two years of the project, one an experienced Library professional, the other an entry-level clerical worker or LIS student trainee (probably from the Strathclyde University Department of Information Science). The aim will be to find the best possible balance of skill-sets and person-hours we can within the available funds. The amount requested for staffing costs assumes a staffing mix close to the following examples:
 

ALC Grade III, 1st point on scale (30K) plus Clerical II, 1st point on scale (11K) ALC Grade III, top of scale (35.5K) plus .5 clerical 1 (5.5K)

The clerical level/trainee person would be delegated web and data updating work and similar duties under supervision and would also deal with general administration and project recording activities. Note that the RSLP requirement to detail numbers of items to be dealt with here is not appropriate to the SCONE project.

11. Policies on Access    top

The consortium members agree to meet the requirements on access to libraries and archives adopted by the RSLP Steering Group. SCURL members already adhere to SCONUL standards in this respect

12. Key Contact(s)    top

Senior institutional officer: Derek Law, University of Strathclyde

13. Long Term Commitment, Core Mission of Institutions    top

SCURL members are active participants in the SCURL approach to collaborative collection management where this does not conflict with the requirements of the individual institution concerned. There is a collective long-term commitment to SCURL's collaborative collection development policy which essentially covers all subjects and all disciplines.

14. Institutional Statements of Support    top

Institutional letters of support are included with this submission as a separate document.

Outline Schedule    top