Table of contents: issue55

Custom-built Search Engines

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Phil Bradley reviews a means of enhancing the relevance of search results through the use of custom-built search engines.

Metadata for Learning Resources: An Update on Standards Activity for 2008

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Sarah Currier gives an overview of current initiatives in standards for educational metadata.

South African Repositories: Bridging Knowledge Divides

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Martie van Deventer and Heila Pienaar provide us with background to recent South African repository initiatives and detail an example of knowledge transfer from one institution to another.

Knowledge exchange is critical for development. 'Bridging the knowledge divide' does not only refer to the North-South divide. It also refers to the divide between richer and poorer countries within the same region as well as to the divide between larger and smaller organisations within one country. Lastly it refers to the divide between those individuals who have access to an environment that allows for rapid knowledge creation and those less fortunate.

Towards an Application Profile for Images

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Mick Eadie describes the development of the Dublin Core Images Application Profile project recently funded through the JISC.

Following on from the project to develop an application profile for scholarly works (SWAP)[1], the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has recently funded through its Repositories and Preservation Programme, a series of projects to establish Application Profiles in the areas of images, time-based media, geospatial data and learning objects [2].

Developing the Capability and Skills to Support EResearch

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Margaret Henty provides an Australian perspective on improving the environment in which eResearch is conducted through developing institutional capability and providing appropriate skills training.

The growing capacity of ICT to contribute to research of all kinds has excited researchers the world over as they invent new ways of conducting research and enjoy the benefits of bigger and more sophisticated computers and communications systems to support measurement, analysis, collaboration and publishing. The expanding rate of ICT development is matched by the numbers of people wanting to join in this funfest, by growth in the amount of data being generated, and by demands for new and improved hardware, software, networks, and data storage.

Intute Integration

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Angela Joyce, Jackie Wickham, Phil Cross and Chris Stephens describe Intute's ongoing Integration Project, which is promoting and developing integration of Intute content in the UK academic library community.

The evolution of the Web has changed the way that people access information. Web 2.0 technologies have allowed information providers to integrate their services in people's existing online spaces, and users expect to be able to synthesise, edit and customise content for their own specific purposes. Intute, the JISC-funded service that aims to offer the best of the Web for Higher and Further Education, has responded to these changes by developing a variety of integration services which offer flexible ways of delivering its content to users.

Implementing Ex Libris's PRIMO at the University of East Anglia

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Nick Lewis outlines the University of East Anglia's experience of implementing Ex Libris's Primo, a new search and retrieval interface for presenting the library catalogue and institutional databases and e-resources.

Research Libraries and the Power of the Co-operative

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

John MacColl considers the 'co-operative imperative' upon research libraries, and describes the work which the former Research Libraries Group is undertaking as part of OCLC.

RLG Programs became part of OCLC in the summer of 2006. In November of last year, RLG Programs announced the appointment of a European Director, John MacColl. This article explains the rationale behind the combination of RLG with the OCLC Office of Research, and describes the work programme of the new Programs and Research Group.

Digital Lives: Report of Interviews With the Creators of Personal Digital Collections

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Pete Williams, Ian Rowlands, Katrina Dean and Jeremy Leighton John describe initial findings of the AHRC-funded Digital Lives Research Project studying personal digital collections and their relationship with research repositories such as the British Library.