Gold RushElectronic Resource Discovery

and Management System

George Machovec (george@coalliance.org)

Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries

http://goldrush.coalliance.org

Goal

• To create a central digital registry of databases, electronic journals and other full-text resources available on the Internet. – Public interface– Staff module– OpenURL resolver

The Problem

• Libraries are spending increasing amounts on electronic resources

• Patrons and librarians are unable to find many of these resources (many not cataloged)

• We have purchased access to many full-text resources…we just don’t know what & where!

• Full-text within aggregations are especially difficult to find

Why Consortial?

• Project of the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries. A service with no technical expertise required

• Many patrons have affiliations with several libraries

• Single libraries may not have the financial and technical resources

• Want to look at overlap of electronic resources to minimize duplication

• Allows us to leverage our collective resources

Initial Participants

• Auraria • CU/Boulder• CU/Health Sciences• CSU• Colo School of Mines• Denver Public Library

• Univ of Northern Colorado

• University of Denver• University of

Denver/Law• Regis University• Univ of Wyoming

Features: Public Mode

• Web interface with easy to use pull-down menus or input forms

• Ability to easily change your site “identity” for those with multiple affiliations. You can select regional “partners” to appear on your public interface

• A variety of searching options• Ability to limit searches

Features: Public Mode

• Offer links to local OPACs or union catalogs• Ability to search full-text journals within

aggregations or from stand-alone publishers• Ability to search abstracting/indexing and other

provider-level resources (for example, how do I get to Medline as an Auraria student)

• Database category searching• Includes BOTH full-text as well as where titles are

indexed/abstracted

Features: Staff Mode

• Powerful report generator that compares content from different aggregators and databases even if you don’t subscribe.

• Reporting and collection development tools for overlap studies and other analyses.

• Security management system that creates and manages local logins

Features: Staff Mode

• Ownership should be easily added at the provider (aggregator) or journal title level

• Electronic resource subscription management– Links to contracts (full-text)

– Subscription management (e.g. pricing, terms, dates, key contacts, contract provisions).

– Email notification of expiring contracts

– Links to review sources (e.g. The Charleston Advisor)

Technical Details

• MySQL is the database engine

• ColdFusion provides the Web interface

• Operates on a Sun E250 Server

• Current database >50,000 journal titles (FT + A&I)

>400 providers

Building & Maintenance

• Original metadata from Jake that we cleaned-up and enhanced (Jake no longer used)

• All new metadata directly from providers. Constant updating

• Have harvested some local OPACs for subject headings and some local ownership

Building & Maintenance

• Sites responsible for aggregator, database or journal title “ownership” tagging.

• Automated tagging for individual electronic serials is possible when they are cataloged in a local OPAC

• Sites can brand and customize the public interface to a limited extent

Limitations

 Vendors or aggregators must supply at least some minimal brief record information that can parsed, loaded and then matched against other resources. If this data cannot be provided it would have to be hand entered or skipped

Project Timeline

• Full release of Gold Rush for both public and staff mode is scheduled for June 2002

• Summer 2002 will see additional public and staff module enhancements

• Available to other libraries around the US in fall 2002 (summer demo logins available)

• OpenURL compliance by end of calendar year 2002

Future Enhancements

• Ability to export select metadata for loading in local OPACs or other purposes (2003)

• Ability to load local library datasets for creating a complete “one stop” search for electronic journals (2003)

• Growing flexibility in local control of interface design and management

Expanded Availability

• Available for libraries outside of the Colorado Alliance in three “packages.” Consortial discounts will apply.– Reports package only– Full access to staff and public interface

modules– Full access to staff and public interface as well

as using the system as an OpenURL resolver