ICOLC 2005: Convengo internazionale di consorzi di biblioteche digitali

Report about some digital libraries consortia issues dealt at the ICOLC 2005 in Poznan.Relazione su alcune tematiche consortili legate alle biblioteche digitali emerse a Poznan in occasione del Convegno ICOLC 2005

Il MeSH parla anche italiano, Roma 27 Giugno 2006

Report about the meeting “Il MeSH parla anche italiano nella ricerca, l’editoria, la promozione della salute”, held in Rome on the 27 June.Resoconto del convegno “Il MeSH parla anche italiano nella ricerca, l’editoria, la promozione della salute”, tenutosi a Roma il 27 Giugno presso l’Istituto Superiore di Sanità

ICOLC 2006: SUSHI un nuovo strumento per la misurazione delle risorse elettroniche

Report about usage statistics of the ICOLC 2006 meeting (Roma, october).Relazione sulla sessione delle statistiche d'uso all'interno del convegno ICOLC 2006 (Roma, ottobre)

AAI: Autenticazione federata e biblioteche digitali

This article presents the description of an example of how the Shibboleth system works, underlining how the in-formation is exchanged between the components of the system. Moreover, it describes a first example of a federa-tion of digital libraries and it illustrates the main implications of the application of a federation on libraries and publishers that provide electronic publishing services.Questo articolo presenta la descrizione di un esempio di funzionamento del sistema Shibboleth mettendo in risalto come avviene lo scambio delle informazioni tra le varie componenti dello stesso sistema. Inoltre è presentato un primo esempio di federazione relativa alle biblioteche digitali, con l'illustrazione delle principali implicazioni che l'applicazione di una federazione ha sulle biblioteche e sugli editori fornitori dei servizi di editoria elettronica

The impact of e-journal access on Document Delivery Activities.

Electronic journals have become an important tool for scientists and medical practitioners over last few years. This paper reports the results of a survey undertaken at Biblioteca Centrale dell'Area Biomedica to determine the effects of e-journals availability on Document Delivery activities. Aim of the study was also to consider the cost-benefit aspects of the direct access to biomedical literature by library patrons. In 2003 our library gathered access to Elsevier ScienceDirect through CILEA mirror (about 1800 e-journals); we have also access by several years to the services of some others e-journals providers (Blackwell, Highwire, Ingenta, Ebsco, etc.). We have compared the data concerning DocDel Service during a six months period in 2003 with the statistical findings of a corresponding period in the year 2002 (http://pacs.unica.it/biblio/docdel2002.ppt). We have studied the number of potential users versus real users: the target population consisted of biomedical professors and researchers belonging to University of Cagliari. The results of the survey are shown in a series of tables and graphics. The statistical findings analysis indicate a considerable decrease (about 25%) of the number of documents requested and supplied by our DocDel Service. This also suggests that print journal usage decrease significantly with the introduction of online journals in favour of an increase in the number of articles directly retrieved by patrons. Due to higher availability of online documents, our patrons generally retrieve a number of documents greater than that usually requested to the library reducing drastically the working load of our DocDel Service staff

ICOLC 2005: Convengo internazionale di consorzi di biblioteche digitali

Report about some digital libraries consortia issues dealt at the ICOLC 2005 in Poznan.Relazione su alcune tematiche consortili legate alle biblioteche digitali emerse a Poznan in occasione del Convegno ICOLC 2005

The impact of e-journal access on DocDel Service activities

The rise of the first e-journal is a much debated question, however it is placed around 1990. They originally started as products in textual format sent by e-mail by specialised newsgroups in the technical-scientific field and in the biomedical area. In 1992, the first e-journal appeared on the Web and in 1997 publishers began to issue them at first in the Postscript or PCI formats and then in the more practical PDF format [1]. Over last few years electronic journals have become an important tool for scientists and medical practitioners. About 95% of biomedical journals is now available both electronically and/or in print. Internet growth and spreading and the availability of full text e-journals have contributed to increase patron expectations of instant retrieval of documents. In the summer 2003, an agreement with CILEA has provided the Biblioteca Centrale dell’Area Biomedica of Cagliari with access to a wide range of journals in electronic format through Elsevier ScienceDirect. The Library need to consider several issues when making this service available: providing access (user registration and authentication), user training and education, promotion of the service, usage statistic evaluation. Several departments of the University of Cagliari were targeted for an early introduction to the service. The “potential users” of Elsevier ScienceDirect consisted of people relatively familiar with using online version of scientific journals and retrieving articles. They were researchers belonging to the fields of biological sciences, medicine and other research fields related to life sciences. Library management decided to conduct a six months survey (July/December 2003) to assess the extent of e-journals use and in particular to determine their effects on DocDel Service activities. Aim of the study was also to consider the cost–benefit aspects of the direct access to biomedical literature by library patrons. Our expectation was that we would have a decrease in user requests for journals articles via our DocDel Service. Up to that time, DocDel activities have been very expensive and time consuming for Library staff, taking away human resources from other Library activities. We have studied two typologies of data and compared them to the data of a corresponding period in the year 2002: 1.Data provided by monthly statistical CILEA reports to determine e-journals use by Library patrons and staff. 2.Data relating monthly supplied documents by our DocDel Service to evaluate its performance after CILEA agreement. The results of the study show that the total number of downloaded articles amounts to 17.759, with an average of 2959,83 downloaded fulltext per month. Users have responded positively to the offered service. They have appreciated the convenience of desktop availability of biomedical literature and the possibility of retrieving documents twenty-four hours a day by-passing librarian intermediation. This is confirmed by the fact that Library patrons have retrieved 16.662 (94%) of the total downloaded articles and Library staff has retrieved only 1.097 (6%) articles. These findings point out a well done promotion of the service and the good results of our user’s education efforts. To achieve this goal the Library organizes periodically training sessions on its services and how to use them, especially about the use of electronic resources. Comparing data concerning DocDel Service (July/December 2003) with statistical findings of a corresponding period in the year 2002, we experienced a decrease by 27,98% in the number of requested and supplied documents. The requests were mainly restricted to older materials. The survey demonstrates that the availability of electronic journals has modified the evolution of Library DocDel Service. As a matter of fact the exponential growing that marked DocDel from 1999 to 2002 make us expect for 2003 an increase by 16% in the request and supply of documents both in print and in electronic format. On the contrary, results show that the number of articles supplied has gone down by 21,69% compared to the expected value. The most significant benefits experienced during the study period were a reduction in DocDel Staff workload, a reduction of direct cost of documents (borrowing, lending, copying, etc.), an increased fill rate and user satisfaction. The main difficulties we faced with were to handle technical problems and to make end users realised that not all journals are available electronically. The findings let us make some considerations about end user behaviour. Due to higher availability of online documents, our patrons generally broaden the range of articles read and retrieve a number of documents greater than that usually requested to the Library. In 2004, on the basis of aforesaid data and with the financial support of the “Fondazione Banco di Sardegna”, the Biblioteca Centrale dell’Area Biomedica decided to improve e-journals range gathering access to some other publishers. Our expectation for 2004 is a further decrease in DocDel requests related to a wider availability of electronic resources. We are now studying the correlation between the most downloaded journals and the rank reached by the same journals in ISI Impact Factor

AAI: Autenticazione federata e biblioteche digitali

This article presents the description of an example of how the Shibboleth system works, underlining how the in-formation is exchanged between the components of the system. Moreover, it describes a first example of a federa-tion of digital libraries and it illustrates the main implications of the application of a federation on libraries and publishers that provide electronic publishing services.Questo articolo presenta la descrizione di un esempio di funzionamento del sistema Shibboleth mettendo in risalto come avviene lo scambio delle informazioni tra le varie componenti dello stesso sistema. Inoltre è presentato un primo esempio di federazione relativa alle biblioteche digitali, con l'illustrazione delle principali implicazioni che l'applicazione di una federazione ha sulle biblioteche e sugli editori fornitori dei servizi di editoria elettronica

Il MeSH parla anche italiano, Roma 27 Giugno 2006

Report about the meeting “Il MeSH parla anche italiano nella ricerca, l’editoria, la promozione della salute”, held in Rome on the 27 June.Resoconto del convegno “Il MeSH parla anche italiano nella ricerca, l’editoria, la promozione della salute”, tenutosi a Roma il 27 Giugno presso l’Istituto Superiore di Sanità

Nuovi parametri nelle analisi statistiche di accesso alle risorse elettroniche digitali

Nell’ambito del consueto appuntamento annuale con Bibliocom, rassegna delle professioni, dei prodotti e dei servizi per la gestione dell’informazione e della conoscenza, svoltosi a Roma dal 27 al 29 ottobre, si è tenuto un seminario organizzato dal CASPUR,"La biblioteca digitale: statistiche d’uso. Studi ed esperienze a confronto". Il CILEA, all’interno dello stesso, ha presentato uno studio su nuovi parametri da utilizzarsi nelle analisi statistiche di accesso alle risorse elettroniche