New at EDINA for 2001/2002

Latest version of Ovid interface

The Ovid interface has just got better. Used to deliver EDINA CAB Abstracts, EconLit, Inspec, MLA, PAIS, and Ulrich's Directory, improvements have been made to the Main Search Page, Titles Display and Citation Manager. A new Direct Export feature allows users to export citations using bibliographic management software. Other enhancements include Multifile and Deduping: allowing the user to search multiple available databases at once and remove duplicate records from the resulting search set.

New Quick Reference Guides, Quick Start Guides and instructions on using the Deduping option have been prepared and are available on the edina web site.

New version of SALSER

A new version of SALSER is also being launched. SALSER is the virtual union catalogue of serials held in Scotland. The basic functionality remains the same in the transfer of SALSER from WAIS (very old technology) into SiteSearch. This software will allow searching via Z39.50.

A second phase of development will address strategic and organisation issues, including maintaining the timeliness of the information, a problem for all union catalogues.

The new service will be released in October and will run in parallel with the current one before replacing it.

EDINA BIOSIS success

We are delighted to report the good news that over 90% of institutions subscribing to Biosis Previews with chest have opted for edina as their service provider. A big thank you for the expression of confidence in this 'market test'. You have our commitment to run a first class service; an early enhancement will be access to the Biosis Backfile. More Life Sciences Faculty news below.

Official Index to the Times

From October 2001 EDINA will host the Official Index to The Times (1906-80). This will complement the existing edina service Palmer's Index to The Times, which provides a searchable index to the entire contents of the daily editions of newspaper for 1790 to 1905. Subscription details have been determined by JISC and are available at the edina web site.

Digimap now offers more

Unlimited Land-Line.Plus® and 1:50,000 Raster maps now available. Details below.

5 year funding for UKBORDERS

The EDINA UKBORDERS service has secured continued funding under the ESRC/JISC 2001 census programme. As of 1 August 2001 further funding of UKBORDERS will allow edina to undertake significant redevelopment of the web interface. This redevelopment will bring significant advantages to the end user, facilitating greater access to both data and data formats.

Engineering Enhancements

Autoalerts come to EDINA Ei Compendex, along with more comprehensives cross-searching with EEVL. Ei Village2 gives greater coverage to engineering information. Details below.

T.C. Waugh (1946-2001)

Tom Waugh, who died in July, was an internationally-recognised pioneer in the field of geographical information systems from the days of computer-aided mapping; many will recognise the importance of GIMMS. After a career that began at the University of Edinburgh Geography Department and spanned most continents of the world, Tom worked at edina for the past 18 months on a variety of projects, including the Statistical Accounts of Scotland and the Gazetteer and Geo-Browser JISC 5/99 projects. Never simple, always generous and intelligent, we miss him yet.
Peter Burnhill, Director of EDINA

Digimap

Unlimited Land-Line.Plus®

EDINA is pleased to announce unlimited access to Land-Line.Plus for mapping. Changes to the agreement with Ordnance Survey means that the original 30% limit on this highly detailed dataset has been removed.

Changes have also been made to the amount of Land-Line.Plus data which can be downloaded. Each subscribing institution is now able to download 23,000 unique tiles per academic year for its own use (to date, no single institution has downloaded more than 4,000 unique tiles). The tiles are counted as they are downloaded, avoiding the need for any pre-selection process. Since the tile allowance comprises unique tiles, any number of students can download the same tile and it will only count as one against the total allowance. If a specific research project requires a significant amount of data, users should first contact their site representative.

1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster

The 1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster maps and data, which mirror the Ordnance Survey's popular Landranger series, have been made available through Digimap since 5 September. A 'neighbourhood view', containing the new data, has been added to the list of 'views'. This has a display scale of around 1:20 000 and provides an intermediate step between the detailed view (Land-Line.Plus data) and the local view (Meridian™ data).

Future developments will see updates to data available through Digimap, including Meridian2 and the new Strategi® data. Queries regarding subscriptions to Digimap or use of the service should be sent via email to edina@ed.ac.uk.

Life Sciences

Access to BIOSIS Back Data

Eduserv Chest have negotiated an agreement with BIOSIS Inc. to provide Biosis back data from 1969/70 to 1984. This new agreement is outside of and in addition to the current JISC supported agreement for BIOSIS Previews (1985 onwards); therefore subscribers will pay a separate data fee to Eduserv Chest.

EDINA is loading the BIOSIS back data, and will be offering access shortly, at no additional cost to subscribers of the current EDINA BIOSIS.

E-BioSci Platform

The E-BioSci platform, an initiative of the European Molecular Biology Organisation, aims to develop a common database structure and a suite of advanced search tools which will enable end users to navigate from a record in either a bibliographic database, a biological sequence database or elsewhere, to the full text of the relevant journal article or other types of information such as structures, images and animation.

Working closely with its associated E-BioSci partner, BIOME, the health and life sciences hub within the Resource Discovery Network (RDN), EDINA is one of eight E-BioSci partners from across Europe. Within the project, EDINA and BIOME are responsible for two work packages. The first package will:

• explore, develop and test ways of searching across distributed Internet-accessible Abstract & Index databases
• assess requirements for subject specific resource discovery

The second work package will:

• establish and maintain database and repository servers offering access to the biome specific gateway and other websites and to act as the UK node
• develop E-BioSci specific database(s)

Further information on the project.

Engineering

New Functionality for Compendex

The EDINA Ei Compendex service has a useful new feature: autoalert searches. This is an extension of saved searches where new references found in subsequent weekly updates are emailed to users automatically.

We have also made available an EndNote filter and a Z39.50 connection file for use with bibliographic software packages.

Expanded cross-searching with EEVL

EEVL has expanded to include Mathematics and Computing in its remit. Now the cross-search facility provided via the edina Compendex search interface will retrieve hits from catalogued web sites in maths and computing as well as engineering.

In addition, we have also added a direct link to the full EEVL website via the Compendex search screen. This includes features such as subject-specific search engines, bibliographic databases and links to other resources.

Ei Village

Another new link on the Compendex search screen is to Ei Engineering Village 2. This us-based service gives access to web site abstracts as well as various relevant remote databases, and Ei's own interface to the Compendex database.

Project News

EDINA Developments for Learning and Teaching

EDINA include developments aimed at providing future access services for a range of learning and teaching materials for use in both Higher and Further Education Institutions. Three such projects are Digimap e-MapScholar, Xgrain and Digimap for FE. Digimap e-MapScholar aims to promote and enhance the use of digital map data in learning and teaching, including the Ordnance Survey digital map data available through the EDINA Digimap service.

The project has commissioned a range of teaching case studies in different subject areas, which will include the materials given to the students, as well as teachers' descriptions and evaluations. They will generally be available by March 2002.

The project is also developing a range of software tools and supporting learning materials in the following areas:

• Working with Digital Map Data
• Data Integration
• Data Visualisation

Sample learning units were described at a User Requirements workshop held in July 2001 and demonstrated at the ALT-C conference, held at the University of Edinburgh in September. Xgrain's aim is to enhance and promote the use and usability in learning and teaching of specialist abstracting and indexing (A&I) and electronic table of contents services. It will enable students to cross-search bibliographic and tables of contents services and provide supporting learning and teaching materials. EDINA is working with 10 Learning and Teaching Associates from around the UK and the first Associates' workshop was held in April 2001. The user interface was discussed, along with ideas for the learning and teaching materials. Development of the underlying broker service and the user interface is currently progressing and the next Associates' workshop will be in January.

Digimap for FE is providing a trial service to a number of FE Colleges around the UK and is described in more detail in the FE Focus section of this newsletter. Funding is available in the project for a number of teaching case studies of the use of the Digimap service in FE.

RDN Activity in the DNER

EDINA welcomed the launch of the Resource Discovery Network (RDN) as subject-specific presentation for the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER). The DNER is now beginning to take shape, technologically and in terms of increasing co-operation among its component services, and so too is the RDN. The JISC's DNER Development Programme is funding a number of projects aimed at developing the RDN for learning and teaching, by development of subject portals or subject guides.

For more about the Subject Portal Development Programme (SPDP) see http://www.portal.ac.uk/. Its key goal is to give users the ability to search seamlessly from the RDN hubs across a wide range of resources. The partners are BIOME, EEVL and SOSIG.

EDINA is contributing cross-searching expertise to SPDF as an Associate Partner of EEVL. Similarly, the RDN portals will be the main client community for two brokers being developed by EDINA for the DNER.

Accordingly, the RDN is an Associate Partner on ZBLSA, which will locate services that can deliver journal articles; and Xgrain, which will facilitate cross-searching A&I databases from a subject portal. Both projects are part of a cluster of four projects, appropriately called JOIN-UP.
http://www.joinup.ac.uk

Numeric Datasets Report Available

A project to look at the use of numeric datasets by academic and post-graduate researchers, led by Edinburgh University Data Library, was completed in September. An enquiry based on a national teachers' survey and diverse case studies has led to a set of recommendations to encourage and promote use of the rich body of available data.

To request a copy of the printed report write to datalib@ed.ac.uk.

A Sense of Place

EDINA is set to play the role of a support partner to a consortium entitled 'A Sense of Place', led by the British Library and to be funded by the New Opportunities Fund.

The consortium plans to digitise and make accessible a large collection of cultural resources relating to places across Britain. The main focus is on use of these online resources by the 'life-long learner', especially those with interest in a particular locale.

The British Library's own project, 'In Place' will contribute 20 collections of documents, pictures and sound files. The University of Strathclyde is leading a second project, VISCONT, that will contribute material on Victorian social conditions, including key documentation from the LSE and The Stationery Office Ltd.

In addition to its contribution to local history through parish-based core statistical information, the University of Portsmouth will be contributing a systematic historical gazetteer and place-name thesaurus for Great Britain. Throughout the three-year project life and beyond, EDINA will provide project partners with hosting facilities and a gazetteer service to allow the addition of geographic terms in the metadata records being created in the project.

FE Focus

New EDINA Office

EDINA now has an office in St Helens College on Merseyside, in the Centre for ICT Developments at the Town Centre Campus. This innovative example of 'outreach' is aimed at helping us understand how to enhance our services for the diversity of need in the post-16 sector. Two members of edina staff are based there: Moira Massey, Learning and Teaching Projects Co-ordinator, and Debbie Kent, Learning and Teaching Projects Officer. As well as its activities in providing both Higher and Further Education programmes, St Helens creates online learning resources for staff development and for use in learning and teaching. St Helens was awarded Accredited Status by the Further Education Funding Council (replaced by the Learning and Skills Council).

St Helens Awareness Day

On 6 September, Emma Sutton and Peigi MacKillop from EDINA in Edinburgh joined Moira Massey to present an awareness raising day at St Helens College for teaching staff involved in the new Foundation Degrees. According to evaluations, lecturers were pleased with the day, especially the chance to see Digimap in action. (St Helens College is one of the Trial Sites in the Digimap for FE evaluation project.)

There were also sessions for examining and evaluating EDINA's bibliographic services. EDINA hope the bibliographic services will have a role in supporting it and information skills teaching at St Helens, as well as supporting subject teaching and literature searching.

Digimap in FE

The Digimap in FE project has the following objectives:

• determine which elements of Digimap are useful to FE
• assess demand for the Digimap in FE
• assess the subscription fees that FE colleges would be prepared to pay
• evaluate the costs involved in extending Digimap to FE
• evaluate the support structure for Digimap in fe and how this fits in with the JISC Regional Support Centres

The Digimap in FE Trial Sites are Bishop Burton Agricultural College, Beverley, East Yorkshire; Havering Sixth Form College, Essex; Lambeth College, London; Lauder College, Dunfermline; Newcastle College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; St Helens College, Merseyside; and Thurrock and Basildon College, Essex.

A full report of the evaluation will be made available to the JISC next summer. An interim report is due early in 2002.

Regional Support Centres

EDINA staff have attended the launches of several of the JISC Regional Support Centres (RSC). The RSCs (nine in England, one in Wales, one in Northern Ireland and two in Scotland) are run by partnerships/consortia of Higher Education and Further Education institutions. The RSCs support the provision of the JANET networking services by UKERNA and promote and support the use of networked resources in the FE sector. They run awareness raising and training activities for the Colleges in their areas. EDINA is involving relevant RSC staff in the Digimap in FE project and looks forward to close collaboration with the RSCs.

Other Activities

EDINA staff will attend the FERL 2001 Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon on 19 and 20 November 2001.

For further information about the use of any EDINA services in FE, please contact Moira Massey: Moira.Massey@ed.ac.uk

Forthcoming Events

Online Information exhibition at Olympia, London, 4-6 December 2001. EDINA will be at stand no. 423. For a free entrance ticket and further information, see: http://www.online-information.co.uk

Information for Scotland 8, at the University of Edinburgh Library, 16 November 2001. EDINA will have a stand at this free one-day conference.

About EDINA

EDINA, based at Edinburgh University Data Library, is a JISC-funded national datacentre. It offers the UK tertiary education and research community networked access to a library of data, information and research resources. All EDINA services are free of charge at the point of use. For information on institutional subscription fees, visit the EDINA web site, or contact us by email.

EDINA services are:

• AGDEX
• Art Abstracts
• Art Index Retrospective
• BIOSIS
• CAB Abstracts
• Digimap®
• EconLit
• Ei Compendex®
• ESPMD
• Inspec
• Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
• MLA International Bibliography
• PAIS International
• Palmer's Index to The Times
• SALSER
• Social Services Abstracts
• Sociological Abstracts
• The Statistical Accounts of Scotland
• UKBORDERS™
• Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory™

EDINA contacts
Helpdesk: Helen McVey, Paula Cuccurullo, Stuart Macdonald, and Barbara Morris,
Helen Chisholm (EDINA User Support Manager)
Alison Bayley (Manager, EDINA National Services)
Peter Burnhill (Director of EDINA)
Tel: 0131 650 3302
Fax: 0131 650 3308
Email: edina@ed.ac.uk
URL: http://edina.ac.uk

EDINA subscription and registration

Most EDINA services require the completion of a licence agreement before those services can be made available to users. Free 30-day trials are available for most of these services. Please see the EDINA web site for details of the requirements of individual services.

For UKBORDERS™, there is no fee for academic institutions within the UK, but a licence agreement must be signed (email edina@ed.ac.uk), and individual users must sign an End User Licence.

SALSER and the Statistical Accounts for Scotland are completely free services, with no subscription fee. No licence or prior registration is required.