Board business
Membership review
The Board is continuing its review of membership and recommendations will be presented to the Members’ meeting in March, inviting members to consider changes to the membership criteria and categories. A review of the Rights and Responsibilities of the CURL members will also be undertaken as part of the ongoing review.

RUGIT
A very useful meeting took place at the last Board meeting with representatives from the Research Universities' Group for IT (RUGIT) (http://www.rugit.ac.uk/), an organisation whose membership comprises the IT directors of the Russell Group. It was agreed that the two organisations could fruitfully work together on a number of areas of shared interest:

Reducing the sectoral divide between the NHS and the higher education sector
Issues related to distance learning, courseware development and managed learning environments
Research Grid and the research councils - information gathering to be a major focus of activity at this stage

The next meeting of the Board (http://www.curl.ac.uk/about/boardindex.htm) will be on 16 March at UCL (University College London)

CURL Strategic Directions and Taskforces
Resource Description and Discovery Steering Group
A brief proposal went to the February meeting of the JISC Committee on Electronic Information to indicate an ongoing need for COPAC development. A fuller proposal will be formulated in due course, taking account of the recommendations of the UK NUC.

The Archives Hub (http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/) will be launched on 13 March in Manchester. The project is now fully staffed and is making good progress.

The next meeting of RD&D (http://www.curl.ac.uk/about/GroupsRDD.htm) is on 5 March at the University of London Library.

Resource Management Taskforce
The Taskforce developed an exciting and detailed programme of potential future activity at its meeting on 25 January, focussing on the five key areas of

Retention
Preservation
Digitisation
Access
Collaborative acquisition

The programme of activity for each of these areas will be presented at the Members’ meeting in March for further discussion.

The Resource Management Taskforce (http://www.curl.ac.uk/about/GroupsRM.htm) will next meet on 9 April at the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine.

Scholarly Communications Taskforce
The Taskforce last met on 22 January. The Group has continued to keep a high profile with a number of key players in the area of electronic publishing, including publishers and other groups interested in the area of scholarly communications in the electronic environment. The group is taking the lead in addressing the issues surrounding electronic publishing.

In particular, CURL has been active in raising concerns about the proposed Reed Elsevier and Harcourt merger, and this has contributed to the UK Government referring the deal to the Competition Commission, to which CURL has now been invited to give evidence. However, CURL continues to have bilateral discussions with Elsevier and Academic Press about pricing and other issues.

Jointly with SCONUL and the JISC, CURL co-hosted a visit by representatives of SPARC to consider the creation of a European SPARC group. The visit was very successful and there was enthusiasm among the UK and European library communities for this initiative. A small working group is to take it forward. An article about the visit was published in The Times Higher Education Supplement (http://www.thes.co.uk) on Friday 23 February.

The Scholarly Communications Taskforce’s
(http://www.curl.ac.uk/about/GroupsSC.htm) next meeting will be on 3 April.

Staffing Resources Taskforce
At its meeting on 16 January, the Taskforce developed further the programme for the June conference on continuing professional development. Through case studies, presentations and discussion the conference will offer staff in CURL libraries an excellent opportunity to evaluate and consider in some detail the skills they need to develop their careers at a time when the environment is changing rapidly around them.
An announcement about the conference is on the web pages at http://www.curl.ac.uk/about/conferences.htm

The next meeting of the Staffing Resources Taskforce will be on 19 March in London.

Teaching and Learning Taskforce
At its meeting on 8 February the Taskforce considered the possibility of a professional survey of changes in learning methodology and also looked at potential collections for digitisation and nineteenth century ephemera was noted as one area which might benefit significantly from digitisation.
The next meeting of the Teaching and Learning Taskforce will be held on 18 May.

Latest news and developments

RSLP Collection Analysis
CURL and RSLP have just agreed the co-funding of a collection analysis project. The project will map library collections against Conspectus headings using iCAS software developed by OCLC/Lacey. The project will produce an analysis of overlap and uniqueness for each library participating in the project as well as across all six participants. It will also identify potential for further development in the area of collection mapping and could be an important tool for collection development.
There are three CURL and three non-CURL libraries participating in the project:

Edinburgh University Library
Hull University Library
Imperial College (including the Science Museum)
Liverpool University Library
Natural History Museum Library
SOAS

These libraries reflect a mix of those with specialist collections and those with broader collections as well as a range of different classification schemes, some standard and others in-house or hybrid systems.

UKNUC
The UKNUC (http://www.uknuc.shef.ac.uk/) (UK National Union catalogue) Feasibility Study will be presenting its findings and recommendations to the community on 28 February.

Projects

CURL-Shares Interlending Project
Last November CURL began a new interlending project. The rich research resources of CURL libraries will be shared among project participants using RLG’s RLIN and ILL Manager systems.

Like the CURL interlending pilot of 1997, this project focuses on monographs, although not exclusively, and builds on the lessons learned from that earlier initiative. There was always the intention that a new, improved scheme would rise from the ashes once the time and circumstances were right. That time is now. A combination of events has created the right conditions for a big bang launch of a new interlending pilot.

Last year’s policy shift at BL aimed at making DSC more competitive in the high volume, quick turnaround, dog eat dog, every man for himself, jungle of article supply. As copies became cheaper loans suddenly became a lot more expensive, and conducting searches, previously subsumed under the all-in-one cost of an ILL transaction, became a separate chargeable activity. ILL staff naturally turned to COPAC as a location source. Usage statistics of COPAC http://copac.ac.uk/about/stats/ - show the steady increase since 1996 and the recent surge since October 2000 when the new BLDSC policy came into effect. However, simply finding a location through COPAC may not be enough to escape a search fee if the request has to be passed to BLDSC for verification and/or forwarding to a backup library. Meanwhile, developments within COPAC itself saw the availability of real-time circulation data for some of the contributing libraries – a significant boost to ILL operations. Requesting and processing ILL transactions through the use of a common, reliable interface was something sorely missing from the first CURL pilot. RLG’s RLIN software solves that problem. I have to say however that I’ve never warmed to RLIN – it performs admirably but looks like the back end of a bus. Thankfully RLG has been busy developing a new product –ILL Manager – designed to answer the dreams of ILL librarians everywhere.

With such a benevolent climate the new CURL monograph interlending pilot burst forth last November. Libraries from 5 institutions began using RLIN to request items from each other. Following training, a further 6 institutions joined in February, with four more set to join shortly. So, by March we should have 15 institutions, representing many libraries, taking part. Financial management, covering payments and debits to/from libraries of $7 for each item supplied, will be handled by RLG, as will the provision of statistical data. An interim report on the pilot’s progress will be compiled after approximately 6 months, with a final report coming at the official end in December.

Statistics for the first 3 months show fairly light traffic – 43 loans and 4 copies supplied, 21 requests unfilled. Although this should grow significantly we still won’t be talking telephone numbers. But with DSC targeting the article market there is a gap developing in location finding and monograph supply. CONARLS has launched a scheme for its various Regional members to help fill that gap. While CURL libraries may not wish to set themselves up as document supply centres, they may be content to fill a small niche on the basis of mutual benefit.

For me the most exciting part of the pilot lies not in the document delivery but in the chance to see how an innovative, important piece of ILL management software – ILL Manager - adapts and performs in a UK setting. The libraries of Oxford, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Trinity Dublin have volunteered as test sites for the new software. Dennis Massie, the human face of ILL Manager, will be coming over from the States in March to demonstrate it to CURL ILL staff. A PowerPoint demo gives a taste of what we can expect. See ILL Manager on the RLG website.

What happens when the pilot runs its course remains to be seen. I expect and hope it will continue on its present basis. Expansion is always a possibility but will probably depend on the take-up of ILL Manager, which will itself depend on how satisfied librarians are with their ILL current systems - some of them newly acquired. Restricting any continuation to within CURL retains the likelihood of a quid pro quo benefit for libraries, whereas going beyond increases the tendency for CURL libraries to become document supply centres, something I’m not sure would be particularly welcomed.

Stephen Prowse
King’s College London

19th Century Pamphlets: CURL project to provide enhanced access to nineteenth century pamphlet collections (1801-1914)

There are currently 16 out of 21 partner institutions cataloguing for the project. Another two have already completed their part of the work and the remaining three are scheduled to start later in the year. A total of 37,674 records, ie 21% of the project’s overall target, were produced by the end of December 2000. Recruitment problems have now been resolved in all partner institutions, except London (Senate House), where a project staff post has had to be re-advertised, and Oxford, who failed to begin cataloguing in November 2000 as planned. It is hoped that Oxford will now able to appoint their first full-time project staff by March 2001.

The overall hit rate, calculated on the basis of the total number of records downloaded from external databases, has been stagnating around 35%, although some partner libraries have achieved much higher figures than others, in particular, Sheffield (74 % with CURL, RLIN and OCLC), Reading (60% with CURL), Newcastle (59% with CURL, RLIN and OCLC), and Birmingham (53% with CURL, RLIN and Talis). One positive way of looking at it is that the CURL database is being enriched with a high number of new records!

The CURL database is also the database which has so far provided the partner institutions with the highest number of records to download. By the end of December 2000 the breakdown of the number of records downloaded from external bibliographic databases was as follows: 46% from CURL (as opposed to 38% in July 2000), 29% from RLIN (28% in July 2000), 19% from OCLC (16% in July 2000) and 5% from Talis (as in July 2000).

A bid for the remaining 4651 unallocated records was organised among the partners in December 2000. The bid has resulted in three partners – Bristol, Whipple and Newcastle – taking on some extra records. There now remain only 1129 unallocated records.

To find out more about the project, visit the project web site at: http://www2.is.bham.ac.uk/rslp/pamphlets/pamphlets.htm

Marie-Pierre Détraz
RSLP Project Manager

Ensemble: Towards a Distributed National Library Resource for Music

There are currently 10 out of 14 partner institutions cataloguing for the project (the Extension to Ensemble has been integrated in the original project as soon as Birmingham was awarded the RSLP grant in August 2000). A total of 24,987 records, ie 14% of the project’s overall target, were produced by the end of December 2000. Some partner institutions are still experiencing some staff difficulties for a number of reasons including staff illness and recruitment problems: Birmingham, Cambridge and London are all in the process of advertising jobs for extra Ensemble project staff. Nottingham, who was scheduled to start in January 2001, has been unable to do so, as they didn’t receive any applications for the project cataloguing post they advertised in November 2000. The post has now been re-advertised and it is hoped that they will have someone in place by mid-March 2000.

The overall hit rate, calculated on the basis of the total number of records downloaded from external databases, is around 35%. However, when calculated exclusively on the basis of the figures provided by the partners who use external databases (the three conservatoires are not in a position yet, for financial or/and technical reasons, to download from external databases), the hit rate is above 50% (53% in December 2000). There has been some particularly good figures coming from Manchester (78% with CURL, RLIN and especially Talis), Glasgow (66% with CURL, RLIN and OCLC), Edinburgh (61% especially with OCLC), Oxford (68% especially with RLIN and without including the Popular Songs, for which they do not search databases) and Birmingham (59% with CURL, RLIN and especially Talis).

In the case of Ensemble RLIN and Talis are the databases which have so far provided the partner institutions with the highest number of records to download. By the end of December 2000 the breakdown of the number of records downloaded from external bibliographic databases was as follows: 32% from RLIN, 28% from Talis, 20% from CURL and 20% from OCLC. The OCLC figure is quite high given the fact that only three partners, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Oxford, use this database.

Both Cambridge and Oxford have started on their Popular Songs and Glasgow have started doing some 1801-1850 material.

To find out more about the project, visit the project web site at: http://www2.is.bham.ac.uk/rslp/ensemble/ensemble.htm

Marie-Pierre Détraz
RSLP Project Manager

Revelation: Unlocking Research Resources for 19th and 20th Century Church History and Christian Theology

Revelation, which was set up in August 2000 as a result of the RSLP second round of bidding, is now well underway. It has greatly benefited from the fact that it is managed by the same project management team as 19th Century Pamphlets and Ensemble. The project management expertise gained during the first year of RSLP and the infrastructural arrangements that were already in place when Revelation started in August 2000 have reduced the ramp-up time that most new projects encounter quite substantially.
There are currently 7 out of 10 partner institutions cataloguing for the project. Another two are now planning to begin by March 2001 and the last one is scheduled to begin in August 2001. The cataloguing began as early as October 2000 and a total of 11,382 records, ie 8% of the project’s overall target, were produced by the end of December 2000. There has not been any significant recruitment problems on Revelation, although two of the partners had to begin a month later than planned.

The overall hit rate, calculated on the basis of the total number of records downloaded from external databases, has been very encouraging from the very beginning. It was 85% in December 2000 with Manchester achieving a quite remarkable 99.7 figure (with CURL, RLIN and Talis).

The CURL database is the database which has so far provided the partner institutions with the highest number of records to download. By the end of December 2000 the breakdown of the number of records downloaded from external bibliographic databases was as follows: 57% from CURL, 23% from RLIN, 15% from OCLC and 5% from Talis.

Progress has also been made with the mapping component of the project. We have recently appointed a project officer, whose responsibility it will be to develop and implement the web-based guide over a period of 18 months from February 2000 to July 2002.

To find out more about the project, visit the project web site at: http://www2.is.bham.ac.uk/rslp/revelation/revelation.htm

Marie-Pierre Détraz
RSLP Project Manager

RSLP retroconversion project for material in Arabic and Persian

Six libraries are participating in a collaborative retrospective conversion project for material in Arabic and Persian, funded by the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP). They are the University Libraries of Manchester (lead site), Durham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Oxford and SOAS. Manchester kicked off the project in February 2000, with the other partners starting at intervals over the following year. Work will continue until July 2002, by which time it is hoped that records for over 60,000 items will have been added to local catalogues.

While the RSLP funding was a not-to-be-missed opportunity, 1999 was an 'interesting' time to be planning a retrospective conversion programme for Arabic script material. Unicode wasn't yet widely available and none of the main library management systems could accommodate non-Roman script. However, developments in this area were imminent and it seemed undesirable to create computer catalogue records solely in transliteration (i.e. with the original script transcribed into the Roman alphabet). To 'future proof' the conversion work, the libraries needed to be able to create, edit and store records containing both the usual transliterated elements and a parallel set of fields holding the bibliographic description in the original script. Fortunately this was possible using RLIN.

Most UK libraries use RLIN for cataloguing by simply importing copies of existing records into their local system. It is possible, however, to catalogue within RLIN, using the RLIN interface to create, derive and amend catalogue records. This facility offered the partner libraries the opportunity to create and edit records with both Roman and non-Roman script fields, with the records immediately available for use by the other libraries.

Those partner libraries that use the MARC21 bibliographic format can import into their local database the full records they create, even if they cannot as yet edit or display the script fields locally. Libraries that are using the UK MARC format have the problem that the MARC21 to UK MARC conversion programs cannot handle the script fields. These libraries can only load the transliterated part of the records into their local catalogues now, and have to defer taking the full records either until they move to MARC21, or acquire the facility to locally edit the original script in the records.

Hit rates against the RLIN Database have been good - averaging over 80%. However, less than a third of the matched records have Arabic script. Adding original script to the other two-thirds of the derived records, as well as to all original cataloguing, has proved a very time-consuming process.

The technical developments believed two years ago to be on the horizon are indeed materialising. Two of the partner libraries, Durham and SOAS, are in the process of implementing the Innopac Arabic script module, so will soon be able to display records in the original script on their local OPACs.

RLG has recently released a new version of the RLIN end-user interface, Eureka, which has the ability to display records in original script. This should mean that Arabic script records for all material catalogued under the project can be displayed. Unfortunately, this facility only works correctly when using the Internet Explorer browser, which has (so far) stopped the Project Manager from evaluating it fully.

COPAC is considering implementing support for non-Roman script, but has deferred any development work until after the conversion of the CURL database to MARC21. Until then, only the transliterated elements of the records created by Durham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester and Oxford will be added to the CURL Database.

For more information on the project and the partner libraries' Middle Eastern collections, please visit the project website at: http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/rslp_mes/

Shirley Perry
John Rylands University Library Manchester

CEDARS

The joint CEDARS/OCLC/RLG/UKOLN conference on digital preservation took place in York in December and was an outstanding success. The conference considered current issues in digital preservation and before the main conference also held a workshop on Information Infrastructures for Digital Preservation which considered the infrastructures needed for long term preservation.

For further information see 2000 Preservation Conference on the RLG website.

Diary

• Resource Description and Discovery Steering Group - 5 March at ULL
• ILL Manager training for CURL-Shares - 8 March in Manchester
• CURL-Shares meeting - 9 March in Manchester
• Launch of Archives Hub - 13 March in Manchester
• Board Meeting - 16 March at UCL
• Staffing Resources - 19 March in London
• Members Meeting & AGM - 27 – 28 March in Cambridge
• Scholarly Communications - 3 April in Edinburgh
• Resource Management - 9 April at Wellcome
• Fundraising - 9 April at UCL 
• Teaching and Learning - 18 May
• Continuing Professional Development Conference (4th CURL Annual Conference) - 25 - 26 June in Manchester
• Members Meeting - 25 September

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