CPERS (Cooperative Purchasing & Electronic Resources Services) Blog

Information science degree-granting institutions are being encouraged by ProQuest to participate in its August 1, 2007 - July 31, 2008 Library Program (info.csa.com/libschool), which makes the cmpany's reference tools availalbe to students at no charge during the the school term.

Posted by Ed Keane at 12:43 PM | Permalink

Originallly posted on ERIL-L Digest - 25 Sep 2007 to 26 Sep 2007 (#2007-40)

Sources that Review Online Databases and E-Products

Charleston Advisor-print and online journal http://www.charlestonco.com/

(Subscription based journal, but does provide free reviews in every issue as well) Reviews are based on a scale of 1-5 stars. Can purchase an individual review for $35 Reviews are peer-reviewed by librarians Rating system: content (audience), searchability, price and contract options/ features. A Composite Score averaging these elements provides an "at a glance" rating which is prominently displayed near the top of each review.
Don't review just online databases do other products-360 search (Serials Solutions federated search) Some recent reviews: Children's Lit. Comprehensive Database January 2007 Teen Health and Wellness: Real Life, Real Answers-April 2007, pg 47-49

Choice Magazine (subscription required)
http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/choice/home.cfm
Reviews Academic databases
August issue is devoted to reviews
Buying Guide -includes short description of the product. This year they included the type of training and learning the vendor provides. They also include information about obtaining a trial and what they base their pricing
on-FTE, Flat fee, concurrent users. Some of the reviews in the August
issue are Bowker, BioOne, Project Muse, ReferenceUSA, Taylor and Francis

Databases-Peter's Picks and Pans
Peter Jasco-Library and Information Sciences Program Professor, University of Hawaii http://www2.hawaii.edu/~jacso/online-picks&pans.htm
Primarily scholarly databases, but does review some public library products such as the Gale Virtual Reference library.

Econtent Magazine-a good place to track industry news http://www.econtentmag.com/ Do a search on "database reviews"
Research, reporting, news, and analysis in the commercial and enterprise realms Some DB Reviews-Thomson Gale, Euromonitor, HW Wilson Children's Catalog,

Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship http://www.istl.org/07-summer/index.html
Reviews of scientific databases. Each issues has an "electronic resources reviews' section.

Journal of the Medical Library Association http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/tocrender.fcgi?journal=93&action=archive
See: Electronic Resource Reviews
Medical Reviews-reviews include major sections such as- Purpose and General Description, Contents, Intended Audience, Accessibility, Searching, Working with Results, Getting Help, Bottom Line and References

Library Journal
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Lots of reviews and RSS feeds. Categories of reviews include books, computer/media, reference, magazines and Xpress Reviews Easiest to find the reviews by searching for "database reviews". Cheryl LaGuardia provides lots of reviews of e-resources.

Library Media Connection (LMC) Subscription required http://www.linworth.com/ Reviews include some online database products. Focus is on K-12 products.

Lista-Library Information Science and Technology Abstracts http://www.ebscohost.com/thisTopic.php?topicID=205&marketID=20
Indexes nearly 600 periodicals, plus books, research reports, and proceedings

LJNetConnect-another source for technology and online database reviews.

LJ MarketPlace Database
Provides an industry overview and future trends in online databases http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6332160.html?industryid=47125&q=data
base+marketplace

Reference Reviews
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/journals/rr/jourinfo.jsp
(Emerald Press)-subscription required
In depth reviews of reference works in topical areas such as philosophy & religion, social sciences, business, language and literature, area studies, arts and more. Does review some e-resources, but mainly reviews reference monographs.

Savvy Searching Column by Peter Jasco
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~jacso/
Searching strategies; how search results are counted; relevancy ranking and order of results; in depth information on issues related to searching.

How Big is a Database Versus How a Database is Big. (great paper on understanding the difference between physical size, content, and accessibility of content.
http://www.jacso.info/PDFs/jacso-how-big-is-database-versus.pdf

School Library Journal
https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/subscribe.asp?
Columnist Shonda Brisco provides reviews of online products. Reviews includes cost and grade level.

Teacher Reference Center
http://www.ebscohost.com/thisTopic.php?topicID=205&marketID=20
Indexes over 260 titles including trade journals, periodicals, and books.
Also includes reviews of e-resources.

Wilson-Library Literature Index
http://www.hwwilson.com/Databases/liblit.htm#Index0
Provides indexing for over 400 journals, Coverage is from 1980-current.
There is also a full-text version which provides full text coverage from over 150 journals.

Posted by Ed Keane at 11:15 AM | Permalink

According to the September 1, 2007 issue of Library Journal, EBSCO purchased ten of Sage Publications indexes. Currently, each index is available in print only. Online versions, including back files and other functionality, such as unlimited use, remote accessibility, multidatabase searching, links to full text, etc., are expected to be available by October 2007.

Abstracts in Social Gerontology, Educational Administration Abstracts, Human Resources Abstracts, Peace Research Abstracts (formely called Peace Research Abstracts Journal), Sage Family Studies Abstracts (now called Family Studies Abstracts), Sage Public Administration Abstracts (now called Public Administration Abstracts), Sage Race Relation Abstracts (now called Race Relations Abstracts), Sage Urban Studies Abstracts (now called Urban Studies Abstracts), The Shock and Vibration Digest, Violence and Abuse Abstracts.

Posted by Ed Keane at 10:50 AM | Permalink

EBSCO will provide access to the databases from EBSCOhost interface, as well as from the original ABC-CLIO platform (through June 2008)

The release of access to these databases from the EBSCOhost interface will include the support of certain functionality available on the ABC-CLIO platform, in addition to EBSCOhost's many features.  Access to the ABC-CLIO and EBSCOhost platforms will be available from EBSCO's Select New Service screen (http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=cookie,ip,uid&profile=ehost&defaultdb=ahl [ahl represents America: History & Life; for Historical Abstracts, substitute hia for ahl at the end of the URL]).

Please visit EBSCO's Support Site (http://support.ebsco.com) to learn more about these features and all of EBSCO's products.

Posted by Ed Keane at 4:33 PM | Permalink

This fall Amazon will release the Kindle, a device which will allow users to wirelessly tap into Amazon's eBook store.  The device has the advantage over older readers that have to be connected to a computer.

More Kindle

Not to be outdone, Google will soon offer eBook users the opportunity to pay for the full version of copyrighted works.  Up until this point Google has made only limited excerpts of copyrighted books available as part of their Google Book Search Partner Program.  Unlike the Kindle, Google's eBooks must be read online.

More Google

Posted by Ed Keane at 11:17 AM | Permalink

OCLC has announced Net Library enhancements and changes:

Patron Site

• eAudiobooks can now have multiple subjects
  Our Collections department is now designating multiple subjects to new eAudiobook titles as they are being loaded to the patron site. Titles already on the site will be updated incrementally.
  Key Benefits:


• Popular titles can now appear in both the "popular" categories, such as popular-fiction, as well as the primary category of the title, such as mystery.


• As a result, discoverability of eAudiobook titles is greatly improved for both collection development librarians and library users


• Sorting search results
  The option to sort search results by "relevance" has been changed to "rank" to make the terminology easier to understand. This is a change in wording only, the functionality remains the same.

• Removal of the size cap for downloadable eBooks
  [Describe the limitation then describe the change] All new PDF books loaded will be eligible for offline checkout. The previous restriction of 300 Mb has been removed going forward.
  A determination will be made of existing titles with the size cap limitation as to whether we will reprocess them and make them eligible for offline checkout.


• Return of the Special Pricing Program designator
  TitleSelect is once again displaying the SPP designator that links to the program description page. This means that customers will again see when title is available as part of another product such as a Subject Set and link directly to the page for that product.

Posted by Rita Baladad at 2:17 PM | Permalink

OCLC announced two new enhancements to WorldCat Analysis:

1. You can now graph your analysis results by column (in addition to graphing by row). This makes it easier to graph data across multiple criteria (e.g. holdings in a publication date range by subject; holdings by subject in a particular format, etc.).
2. You can now limit your analysis by LC, Dewey, or NLM call number. This allows you to quickly drill-down to the most granular level of the Conspectus that contains the call number you are interested in.

Posted by Rita Baladad at 12:38 PM | Permalink

It’s time to start the renewal process for APA databases. The renewal period is January 1, 2008 – December 31, 2008. If you are not already an APA products subscriber, submit the following information and MINITEX will send you a pricing quote.

Please send the following information to MINITEX by September 28, 2007:

1. Most recent FTE


2. Which product(s) you are interested in


• PsycINFO


• PsycARTICLES


• PsycCRITIQUES


• PsycBOOKS


• PsycEXTRA


3. Your preferred vendor


• APA


• ProQuest Illumina


• EBSCO


• OVID


• OCLC

Information about these databases can be found on the APA Website. Note that PsycEXTRA is not available on ProQuest, OCLC, or OVID. Additionally, the ProQuest platform was terminated as of August 15, 2007. All ProQuest customers were (or are being) migrated to the CSA Illumina platform.

Send renewal (and new order) information to MINITEX.

Posted by Rita Baladad at 4:28 PM | Permalink

Current Issues in Health focuses on a wide range of health topics with articles selected by H.W. Wilson editors to offer a thorough and balanced overview. From eating disorders to food safety, from alternative medicine to cloning, from euthanasia to travel and health, here's where consumers can turn for information to enrich their understanding of issues at the leading edge of health and medicine.

• More than 50 topics to start, with 20 added to the database each year


• Some 30 full text articles per topic, hand-picked by Wilson editors to ensure thorough, unbiased coverage


• 100% full text database


• PDF page images deliver all illustrations, charts, graphs, and other graphical content

Posted by Rita Baladad at 4:17 PM | Permalink

Renewal notices have been sent for the 2008 Project MUSE subscription period. Please check your email.

See the Project MUSE website for 2008 pricing and new titles. All MINITEX institutions receive 5% off list price.To order or place your renewal, please use the MINITEX online order form. Note that the subscription period is January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008. Please send in all orders/renewals by October 10.

Should you have questions, please contact MINITEX.

Posted by Rita Baladad at 3:58 PM | Permalink