Roddy MacLeodEEVL Manager

Heriot Watt University Library

USTLG Meeting

“Access to e-resources”

17th June 2004

Movies

• Setting the scene

• Development of plot

• Main action

• Finale– Happy ending– Sad ending– Keep in suspense

Background to EEVL

Some recent developments

Subject Portal Demonstrator

New EEVL Portal: the movie

Background

• EEVL, the Internet guide to engineering, mathematics and computing

• Available since 1996 at: www.eevl.ac.uk• Part of the Resource Discovery Network

– network of subject based information services

• One of 8 ‘Hubs’ covering different subject areas

• Free service

Catalogue

• Internet Resource Catalogue of over 10,000 quality resources – Best of the Web– E-Books, Conference Papers, Patents, Standards,

Government Publications, Thesis/Dissertation, Journals, Higher Education, Further Education, Society/Institution, Company/Commercial, Recruitment/Employment, Government, Publishers, Product News, Product Information, Image/Video, International agency, Project Web Site, Research Centre, Learning Material, Mailing List, Event Announcement, FAQ, Database, Reference, Resource Guide, Contracts/Procurement, Legislation/Regulation, Software, Library catalogues, Statistics.

Typical EEVL Record

Title: National Grid for Learning URL: http://www.ngfl.gov.uk/Description: This site provides links to educational resources on the

Internet. These include lesson plans, learning materials, advice, and links to government and library sites. It is part of the Government's National Grid for Learning strategy to help learners and educators in the UK benefit from information and communications technology (ICT).

Resources: GovernmentResource Guide/Directory

Computing Classification: Computing Milieux->Computers And Education->Computers And

Education (General) Computer Applications->Administrative Data Processing

more…

Why?

Help people (especially within UK HE/FE) find good quality networked material.

“Search engines do not evaluate, quantify, check, confirm or otherwise ensure that we’re finding good-quality information.”

Phil Bradley, Online Conference 2003

Other Services

• Recent Advances in Manufacturing (RAM)• Engineering E-journal Search Engine

– Updated version soon. Versions for Mathematics and Computing, soon.

• Offshore Engineering Information Service• Virtual Training Suite (VTS) Web Tutorials• Specialist databases (LCD, Jet

Impingement)

Other Services

• USTLG Contact Database

• Free Printed Trade Publications to Qualified Professionals – 120 subs per month.

• Book storeMonthly

offers -

big discounts

Recent Developments

• Current awareness section updated– Internet/books/articles/conferences

• Four new Teaching & Learning resources RSS feeds

• Booklets: Information sources in Engineering/Computing/Mathematics– New editions being planned

EEVL and VLEs & Portals

• EEVL Search box in other sites• Z39.50 protocol to search EEVL catalogue from

within other portals• Embedding the latest EEVL News and new

resource lists (plus teaching & learning) via RSS • Including the Virtual Training Suite within VLEs• Use EEVL to find suitable content for institutional

portals• “EEVL, VLEs, Institutional and Library Portals”

Ariadne issue 39 www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue39/eevl/

OneSteps

• OneStep Jobs– Aggregates job announcements– New content added. More to come.

• OneStep Industry News– Aggregates subject news items– New content added. More to come.

• New OneStep posters available

Future Developments

• Add L&T resources to Catalogue (RDN/LTSN Project)• Add resources of interest to FE to Catalogue (RDNFE

Project)• Maths Events listings• Investigating Hot Topics• Considering new OneStep services

– L&T resource announcements– Research funding announcements– New book announcements– Professional society news

• Journal Table of Contents aggregation by subject

Subject Portal Demonstrator

Subject Portal Demonstrator

• Search for the best web sites, books, details of articles, full text e-documents, the latest industry news, job announcements and more…

• Search by subject: Engineering, Mathematics or Computing, or all three together

• Search multiple content sources• Search free and subscription-based sources from

various publishers• Set up alerts, save searches, email results, and

select from available sources

Subject Portal Demonstrator

• Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS)• Home page:

– Navigation– Basic search box– Welcome and Explanation– Login

Subject Portal Demonstrator

• Search results – no ‘Brandscape!’• Results delivered by type of resource

– Best of the web– Books– Abstracts/Indexes of Articles– e-documents (full text)– Industry news– Job Announcements…

Subject Portal Demonstrator

• No login required to search or browse freely available sources

• Login (MyPortal Account)– Free, and enables stored searches, alerts, etc

• Login via Athens– Enables searching of subscription-based content

(where authorised) as well as freely available content, plus enables stored searches, alerts, etc.

Subject Portal Demonstrator

• Fancy search stuff – Advanced search– Exact phrase searching, Boolean searching, etc– Search from selected from databases– Create ‘landscapes/profiles’

Subject Portal Demonstrator

• Databases– EEVL Catalogue, PSIgate Catalogue, COPAC,

ZETOC, RAM, Inspec, Inderscience, IoP, CSA, NACA, Langley Technical Report Server, Computer Science Preprint Server, Mathematics Preprint Server, Mathematics ArXiv, Euclid, Aeronautical Research Council

• News & Jobs– 52 RSS feeds; 13 RSS feeds

Subject Portal Demonstrator

• Add more free content

• Add more subscription databases

• Add full-text subject search engine target

• ePrint archives

• Technical reports

• Patents

• Standards

Subject Portal / Institutional Portal

• Institutional portal - Webmaster– Include EEVL Catalogue in database search– Help identify subject databases from EEVL– Help identify subject news, jobs, and other RSS

feeds from EEVL– EEVL encourages publishers produce content– Include other possible content from EEVL– Use SPP portal software?

Subject Portal / Institutional Portal

• Institutional portal user– Institutional portal always user’s 1st port of call– Search subscribed databases– Cross-search EEVL Catalogue– Access to local information– Access to VLE– Access to the Internet, Google, etc

Subject Portal / Institutional Portal

• Arrive at EEVL after searching Google

• Arrive at EEVL when looking for ‘extra’ information

• Get additional information from using EEVL - Hot Topics, Bookstore, magazine subscriptions, specialist databases

Subject Portal / Institutional Portal

• Use EEVL if institution has no portal

‘Portal’ Developments

• New EEVL site, December 2004

• Integrate ‘portal’ and other services

• Better design

• ‘Trusted broker’ subject-based service.

Subject Portal Demonstrator

• Funding position unclear

• Investment funding from Heriot Watt

• Need to generate income– Sponsorship, publishers, etc

• Need feedback - positive/negative

EEVL Portal