Wednesday, 11 September 2019

e-Rresources


Electronic Resources
             An electronic resource is any information source that the library provides access to in an electronic format. The library has purchased subscriptions to many electronic information resources in order to provide you with access to them free of charge.
The resources to which "electronic" applies (in the context of collections development) include: 
·         Online Electronic Resources
·         Web Sites - Open Access and Full-Text
·         Web Sites - Bibliographic
·         Electronic Journals
·         Data Files 
Definitions
      Electronic: defined by The Oxford Dictionary of New Words as an adjective relating to activities or processes mediated or enabled through the use of the computer, frequently by means of telecommunications links.
Internet: A network of networks which permit computers to communicate via a variety of languages called protocols. The internet may be used for electronic mail, discussion groups, file transfers, and web services. Protocols include FTP -file transfer protocol, HTTP - for the transfer of web pages from a server to a browser, and SMTP for e-mail transfer.
Web or World Wide Web (WWW): a portion of the Internet for the sharing of information using the HTTP protocol. It is incorrect to use it as synonymous with the Internet.
CD-ROM: Compact Disk-Read-Only Memory is a type of optical disk capable of storing large amounts of data which cannot be erased. A single CD-ROM has the storage capacity of 700 floppy disks or 300,000 text pages.
Online Electronic Resources
"Librarians invest time and resources in creating reference Web sites, because doing so extends four familiar library service functions into cyberspace: 1. Selection. 2. Endorsement. 3. Organization.               4. Cooperation.". Steven W. Sowards (1998)

       The Library's acquisitions budget will be used to pay for license fees to access fee-based web sites Current research and instructional needs must be supported. Online resource selection shares many criteria outlined for both print and other types of electronic resources.
Online Resource Evaluation: Basic Criteria
*Does additional software have to be downloaded or purchased to make use of the resource?
Is the web site well organized?
*Do the graphics and images support access to the substance of the resource?
*Do the table of contents or menus accurately reflect the content?
*Does the reputation of the source or sponsor of the site provide evidence for the accuracy of the information?
*If the site is a gateway, do the sites to which the links point have content relevant to the stated mission of the gateway?
*Is an e-mail address provided for the copyright/license holder, particularly in those instances when restrictions apply on the downloading of information?
*Is there clear evidence for the regular updating or maintenance of the web site?
*If a search engine is incorporated into the site, is it easy to use and does it support keyword (preferably Boolean) searching?
*Is the content scholarly, serious, and thorough?
*Is the site reliable, i.e. is it usually available, does the URL change infrequently, are the revisions and changes to the site genuine enhancements?
Web Sites - Open Access and Full-Text
This category of electronic resource constitutes the core of the Lib Guides on the Articles& Research Databases page.  Access is provided from the 
Library's homepage.
Selection
       The web sites to which we establish links on our homepage are selected with the research needs of undergraduate and graduate students in mind and are intended to expand the range of resources available to these students. Particular attention will be paid to the following:
      The information provided by the selected site will compensate for print monograph collections that are out of date and/or deficient in key subject areas. If significant to the subject of inquiry, attention will be paid to those scholarly, authoritative sites that have at least some Canadian content.
      The selection will be of benefit to students who are studying from a distance or who are infrequent visitors to campus. Particular attention will be given to the needs of graduate level students who are enrolled in distance courses.
Organization
Once selected, each site will be carefully annotated by the Collections & Archives Librarian or the assigned Liaison Librarian with information of specific interest to our patrons.
MSVU / Library - Subject Guides 
represents the current organization of web sites arranged under the 24 departments and programs that have been assigned allocation funds in the Library's acquisitions budget.
Among organizational schemes created by academic libraries is:
Luther College Course Guides
http://library.luther.edu/courseguides/guidelist.htm
Guides specific to individual courses are arranged by department. Each guide lists relevant print reference tools, scholarly article databases with annotations, websites with annotations and information on locating periodicals and using interlibrary loan.
Maintenance
 Among the important factors to consider will be frequency of updates, change of content, redesign, reassignment of responsibility. At that time a decision will be made whether to retain or remove our link to the site, and if the link is retained, whether to revise the annotation in a LibGuide. Visitors to the Electronic Library will be encouraged to comment on the E-Library's content and organization, and suggest sites for possible inclusion.

Gateway
INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collection
http://infomine.ucr.edu/
A cooperative effort of academic librarians to create a gateway to over 115,000 high quality scholarly education resources, both open access and fee-based, on the web. The advanced search and browse screen permits search strategies by field (keyword, description LCSH etc.), broad subject category, resource type.
Electronic Journals
       Electronic or e-journals are defined in the Harrod's Librarians' Glossary as "journals in which all aspects of preparation, refereeing, assembly, and distribution are carried out electronically."
In most instances the electronic journals to which MSVU subscribes have been bundled with current print subscriptions. Recently we have elected to subscribe to some titles as e-journals only. Some major publishers that provide electronic journal access to faculty and students at MSVU are Wiley, Elsevier, Royal Society of Chemistry, Springer and the American Chemical Society.
Note: In most instances, print or print/electronic subscriptions will be retained if the only electronic source is an aggregator (e.g. ProQuest or Ebsco) - embargoes are unacceptable. The preferred source for an electronic journal is from the publisher of the title.
Once a subscription to an e-journal is initiated, the journal will be catalogued for Novanet.
The library budget will not be used to support access to e-journals from computer labs or faculty offices unless comparable access is available from public areas of the library.
Electronic Journal Evaluation: Basic Criteria
When selecting e-journals, the following should be considered:
  1. Does access require the purchase and loading of special software, or the purchase of additional hardware like printers?
  2. Are the pages marked up to support text images and links, or scanned to replicate the print version, or does more than one format co-exist?
  3. Can the user download the full-text to disk or print it? Can the entire article be downloaded / printed, or only a single screen at a time?
  4. Does the e-journal have an index? Does it support full-text searching?
  5. Does the e-journal have features which are not available in the equivalent print version e.g. interactive links or links from footnotes?
  6. Once access to the electronic version is provided will the equivalent print subscription be cancelled, and if so, will the access fee be affected?
  7. What is the e-journal's archival capacity? Who is responsible for maintaining the archives? What guarantees are in place for the retrieval of back files?
  8. Are there license agreements to be signed at the time of ordering? What mechanisms must be in place to prevent unauthorized use?
  9. How is the subscription rate determined: by the number of simultaneous users, the number of access points, the number of passwords or IP addresses, enrolment, the maintenance of an equivalent print subscription?
Data Files
      For the purpose of the Collections Development Policy Manual, machine readable data files or MRDFs are defined somewhat narrowly as data files created at academic institutions for research purposes, or by government agencies for policy planning, and subsequently made available under license to researchers. The curricular and present or anticipated research needs of a sufficiently broad sector of the university community must justify the acquiring, archiving, and servicing of data files. At the very least, the license must give access to any member of the university community who can make use of the data for non-commercial purposes. Access to data files purchased or licensed for use by the Library should not be restricted to a single researcher.
Data Liberation Initiative (DLI)
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/dli.htm
provides university researchers and instructors not-for-profit use of a wide range of Statistics Canada data files and databases. The files may be distributed to member institutions on CD-ROM or downloaded via FTP from the DLI site by the University's designated DLI contact. Many data files are accessible from the server at the University of Western Ontario for DLI subscribers via Equinox.
A database of downloadable Statistics Canada Survey files (including the Censuses) has been made accessible to faculty and students at DLI member institutions. Researchers can access the Equinox site from work stations on campus, select variables of interest, download the data using a statistical package or, in many instances, display the data on screen in tabular form using Beyond 20/20 browser software.
Electronic Resource Funding
Most electronic resources, both multidisciplinary and subject-focused, are funded from  the Library's acquisitions budget. This line provides funds for aggregated databases such as Ebsco's Academic Search Premier and Proquest Research Library and full-text databases such as the electronic journals collection published by Wiley InterScience.

Canadian Research Knowledge Network National Site Licence that provides access to scholarly databases ( MathSciNet, Elsevier ScienceDirect etc.) is funded by its own line in the Library's acquisitions budget
Electronic Resource Licensing
A copy of the licensing agreement should be kept for easy referral in the appropriate department e..g. Reference or Serials, with a duplicate copy retained by the University Librarian. The head of each library unit is responsible for the submission of registration or warranty cards, and the maintenance of a file of documents pertaining to the resources purchased or licensed for use by the unit.
The University Librarian will review and sign licensing agreements, and will be consulted in decisions with respect to the lease or purchase of electronic data from acquisitions funds.
LIBLICENSE
http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/index.shtml
 provides useful information and assistance for academic librarians as they read and negotiate licenses with information providers, with the caution that this is a U.S. resource with references to U.S. laws.
Electronic Resource Evaluation: General Guidelines
Electronic resources are selected using many of the same criteria adopted for the selection of monographs and serials. Please refer to "Monographs: Selection Criteria" and "Serials: Selection and Review" in the Collections Development Policy Manual. Obviously the fundamental question to address during evaluation is whether the resource will contribute to the strength of the collection and the quality of service to our patrons. Content and authority is usually weighed more heavily than design or operational features during the evaluation process.
Among general questions to consider with respect to both open-access and fee-based electronic resource selection:
·         Is electronic or print the best medium to deliver the information?
·         Will the electronic resource enhance instruction and/or the acquisition of knowledge?
·         Does the product's interface and other features seem appropriate for, and usable by our patrons?
·         Does the software allow for both printing and downloading?
·         Will the resource require an excessive amount of time to learn and teach in order to be useful?
·         Does it use a search engine similar to those already used by patrons?
·         Do on-screen tutorials exist or will customized tutorials have to be prepared by reference / bibliographic instruction staff?
·         Does the resource incorporate useful support materials ,e.g. thesauri of search terms, function-specific help screens?
·         Are there similar resources available to compare with the one under consideration?
Questions appropriate for fee-based resources include:
Does the continuation of the print version impact favourably on the subscription cost of the electronic versions?
·         What is the reputation of the vendor for support and service?
·         Is the vendor's documentation thorough and clear?
·         Do updates of the support materials or the software upgrades arrive in a timely manner?
·         How compatible is the resource with library hardware and software, and will upgrading be required to ensure its optimal use?
·         Does the content justify the price?
·         Can the resource be networked?
·         In the instance of an electronic resource with a print equivalent, can it replace the print edition or does the latter have features that recommend duplicate subscriptions?

 There are several advantages:
       Our e-Resources provide access to literally thousands of magazines and newspapers—far more than the library could possibly subscribe to in paper format.
Some e-Resources include publication subscriptions dating back the last 10 years (or more!). While we do have backdated microfilm for a handful of newspapers, most magazines and newspapers are only kept for a period of months.
You can search our e-Resources to find articles on a particular subject from many different publications at the same time without having to search each publication separately.
They are especially useful for finding information not yet available in books, or obtaining up-to-date information on current events or issues. 
e-Resources provide us with authoritative, accurate, current, objective reference material not readily available through a search engine like Google (more on this later...).
e-Resources are free to library users, and if you have a BPL card you can access them from any computer with Internet access, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—you don’t have to wait for the library to open to access them!
Perhaps most important however, is that everyday more and more of our library resources become electronic. This trend is particularly noticeable as it applies to the information desk and reference questions. But this should come as no shock to the practiced Information Service provider—we’ve all watched as the Internet has become a staple in our tackle box of reference tools:
Need a postal code? Try www.canadapost.com
Need a movie review? Try www.imdb.com
Need an Ontario statute? Try www.e-laws.gov.on.ca
Need a phone number? Try www.canada411.com
Will everyone want a website instead of a book? No.

Are there risks incurred when we move away from print into the electronic? Of course.

Is this electronic system perfect? Not even close...

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't recognize the importance of this format or the benefits of it's use. It's also important we recognize that slowly but surely our trusted print standbys are being eked out by their cheaper (and arguably more convenient) electronic counterparts, whether we like it or not.

Advantages of e-resources
  1. Accessible – can be accessed from any computer on campus and usually any computer off campus, any time of the day or night, so there is no need to make a trip to the library
  2. Easily searchable - each journal can be searched quick and easy often through the complete full text of articles and via online index
  3. Speed - Articles/issues appear online before printed version is available
  4. Interactive - Rapid turnaround time means articles can be read, commented by the readers, amended quickly and greater feedback thru the web
  5. Links - Hypertext format should be exploited and links to related articles, information on other web sites, stable URLs for individual articles and email alerts when latest issue loaded.    
  6. Added Value - Advantages taken on the web is to add value by using animation, virtual reality and interactive mathematical charts.
  7. Inexpensive - savings can be made over printing costs, distribution costs and extra costs by new features.
Flexibility - E-journals evolved quickly. They are not tied to a format, printer, and distribution network
Disadvantages of e-resources
  1. Difficulty reading computer screens:
  2. limitations of computer monitor
  3. read information in the screen
       4.Often not included in indexing and abstracting services
       5. Search engines ignores PDF files
      6. Format that a large proportion of e-journal use
Archiving
If archive is guaranteed, physical storage can be saved
Perishable citation - once online, if websites change URLs citations disappear
Authenticity - authors concerned about establishing the source, authority of material in general, convinced reader for their credibility 

TYPES OF E-RESOURCE

E-journals and articles

E-journals are online journals and we have more than 60,000 of them. Journals are published regularly at varying frequencies: weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly – hence they are also referred to as periodicals. They contain up-to-date articles on recent topics.
The main types of journals you'll find in our collection are:
§  Academic (scholarly) – articles are written by researchers for researchers. They contain high quality information for academic work. Look out particularly for peer-reviewed journals, eg International Journal of Biomedical Computing and British Journal of Clinical Psychology. Articles from these journals have been evaluated by academics to make sure they are of the highest quality
§  Professional/trade – written or edited by professionals or practitioners in a specific field, aimed at individuals operating in this area and providing a platform for occupational news, discussions and professional practice issues, eg British Computer Society Review and the Psychologist
§  General – usually aimed at the general public with specific interest in a topic, eg Computeractive and the Economist
Articles are indispensable academic sources. Academic (scholarly) peer-reviewed journal articles provide good quality research material on a specific topic with a level of currency, detail and specificity that may not be found in books. Students at Westminster accessed nearly 1 million articles last year.

Databases

Databases are collections of high-quality information for academic research. The Library subscribes to nearly 200 databases for you to search and access the information you need for your assignments and research.
§  Databases are not uniform; they all have different content, focus, interfaces and functionality
§  Some provide access to full text content, some are bibliographic that give abstracts or indexes to help you identify the best sources for your research
§  Some are discipline specific, (eg PsycArticles for Psychology), some are multi-disciplinary, eg ScienceDirect
§  Some are aggregators, which means that they draw their content from many publishers, eg EbscoHOST; some are publishers’ own platforms, eg Taylor & Francis and Wiley Online
§  Most contain the latest information, others are archives offering historical depth to your research, eg Parliamentary Papers Online
§  Some provide articles (journal or newspaper) and some other types of information such as company information and statistics. There are also databases with images, films, TV and radio programmes
500,000 searches were carried out by Westminster students on databases last year. Databases are constantly updated, which means the information is very current. They are also academically scrutinised to make sure the information is reliable, which means you can use databases to find relevant, reliable, high quality, current, authoritative, specialised, scholarly pieces of information in a very efficient way.
Databases, like other e-resources, are available 24/7 on and off campus. If you know the name of a database you can search for it on Library Search, alternatively you can talk to your Academic Liaison Librarian to find appropriate databases.
For more information on how to search databases, have a look at our guidance on finding information.

Dictionaries and general reference

The library subscribes to Credo Reference, a comprehensive online reference resource. It includes several dictionaries, encyclopaedias, e-books, images and multimedia material across a wide range of subjects.
We also provide full access to a series of dictionaries from Oxford:
In addition, Library Search contains more than 270 online dictionaries on specific subjects, such as a dictionary of journalism.

Westminster Research - The University's research repository

Westminster Research is the online institutional repository of the University. It holds the research output of Westminster academics, including articles, books, PhD theses, research papers, reports, audio-visual material and more. Depending on the copyright status, some items are available as full text and some as bibliographic data.
The content of the repository can be searched on Library Search.
Repositories from other institutions can be searched via:
§  Institutional Repository Search - for UK academic repositories
§  OpenDOAR - Open access repositories around the world
§  CORE - An aggregated search from repositories around the world
§  OAIster - A union catalogue of more than 30 million items from 1500 institutions
You can also check our page on accessing e-resources from other libraries for more information and useful links on searching other collections.

Westminster Archives

The Westminster Archive Services collect, preserve and provide access to records created by staff and students of the University and its predecessors.
It's the central point of information about the University's history. Most of its collection can be searched on Library Search by selecting the Archive option in the drop down menu.
The main catalogue can also be accessed on the Archive Services pages. The archive does not hold operational information about the University.

Other catalogues

Sometimes you may want to search the collections of other universities and institutions. Below are some catalogues that allow you to carry out searches across the participating university libraries and institutions. 
Although access to electronic resources of other institutions is very limited due to the licensing terms, you may want to use the bibliographic information of items or use the print/physical copies where available.
§  Search25 is a regional resource discovery tool for London and South East. It includes academic libraries and some special collections. Access for most of the participating libraries is via a scheme called Sconul Access.
§  Copac is a cross searchable catalogue of the research libraries across the UK and Ireland.
§  The British Library public catalogue displays items from the UK’s national library.
§  WorldCat is the largest network of library content across the globe. 

E-theses and e-dissertations

§  EThOS (Electronic Theses Online Service) is the British Library’s UK doctoral research theses collection. An increasing number of theses are being digitised and made available for registered users free of charge. Many theses are freely available.
§  If the thesis you want has not been made electronically available, there is a charge of around £50 to digitise it. The digitisation process takes about 30 days. Members of staff and PhD students should contact the IDD team, who may request and pay for the digitisation on their behalf. We cannot meet the costs of digitisation for any other users. The site contains a small number of taught dissertations.
§  Dart-Europe  Gateway to European electronic research theses and dissertations

Help and guidance

If you need more help in using e-resources, your Academic Liaison Librarian is the best person to contact.
Alternatively, you can contact us through the Ask-a-Librarian service via the Service Desk for general e-resources related enquiries, including access queries.

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