Tietolinja

Tietolinja
01/2006

Abstracts in English 1/2006

 

The first steps of library automation in Finland

In the 21st century the library user will sit comfortably at home. On his desk he has a machine that looks like a television. It is connected to a computer in a library. He also has a telex for sending his questions to the computer - - (1969)

This article takes us back to the 1970's when Finnish libraries were building their first intergrated library system, using the Swedish LIBRIS software that only worked on Swedish made Saab computers. It is a long and rocky road from there to where we are now; yet many of the problems seem oddly familiar still today.

The article is based on Jyrki Ilva's research on the history of the IT Task Force, which later became the Automation Unit of Finnish Research Libraries. In those days it sorted under the Ministry of Education; nowadays it is incorporated into the Helsinki University Library and is known as the Database Services Department. It still is the unit responsible for the ILS of research libraries in Finland, and for other IT systems as well.

For further information, please, contact:

Mr. Jyrki llva, Project Coordinator
Helsinki University Library / Database Services
POB 26, FIN-00014 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI, Finland
Email: jyrki.ilva(at)helsinki.fi

 

EDCL 2005 - new digital library trends

The objective of EDCL, the European Conference for Digital Libraries, is to promote communication between different disciplines and sectories. It combines both theoretical research and practical applications. 

The topics discussed in EDCL 2005 included e.g. automation of harvesting and organising digital contents, P2P applications in library context, query formulation problems and targeting digitisation projects.

This is a report on the conference by Esa-Pekka Keskitalo and Pasi Kurvinen of the Helsinki University Library. The proceedings are available in a conference publication:

Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries : 9th European Conference, ECDL 2005, Vienna, Austria, September 18-23, 2005 : Proceedings / Andreas Rauber, Stavros Christodoulakis, A Min Tjoa [Eds.]. -(Lecture Notes in Computer Science, ISSN 0302-9743 ; 3652.) - 545 s. -
ISBN 3-540-28767-1

 

Library services vs. Google Scholar?

Google Scholar, which currently is still a beta relase, is one of the Google web services. It is designed for searching scientific documents. It enables linking to library applications for direct access (with e.g. SFX) or finding holdings information in a library catalogue.

This article is based on a SWOT analysis made by the Helsinki University Library staff. The objective was to list both the advantages and the threats Google Scholar prsesents to traditional library services. Background information is provided by the Metasearch systems vs Federated search workshop at ELAG 2005 and Tamar Sadeh's article on the same subject.

For further information, please, contact:

Mr. Ari Rouvari, Project Manager
Helsinki University Library / Electronic Library Services
POB 26, FIN-00014 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI, Finland
Email: ari.rouvari(at)helsinki.fi

See also:

Metasearch systems versus Federated search Workshop report sub-group 1. ELAG 2005 http://elag2005.web.cern.ch/elag2005/media/WS8_1report.ppt

Sadeh, Tamar 2006: Google Scholar Versus Metasearch Systems. HEP Libraries Webzine issue 12 / March 2006. http://library.cern.ch/heplw/12/papers/1/

 

Google and E-thesis

Unlike libraries the open access publishers tend to see Google not a a threat but as a dear friend. This article is based on the log statistics of the Helsinki University electronic dissertations service, E-thesis. The author describes Google's role as a gateway to the service and also discusses this issue in a larger context.

For further information, please, contact:

Mr. Jyrki llva, Project Coordinator
Helsinki University Library / Database Services
POB 26, FIN-00014 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI, Finland
Email: jyrki.ilva(at)helsinki.fi

 

Information and documentation standards in 2006

The ISO Technical Committee 46 (Information and documentation) had a conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in February 2006. Several subcommittees and working groups also held their own meetings there.

In this article Juha Hakala reports on the conference. He also discusses the latest developments in Information and Documentation standardisation in general, including the revision of the ISSN, DOI and ISTC.

For further information, please, contact:

Mr. Juha Hakala, Director of IT
Helsinki University Library
POB 26, FIN-00014 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI, Finland
Email: juha.hakala(at)helsinki.fi

 

HUL supports creation of Open Access archives

The Helsinki University Library participates in a project for promoting Open Access publishing in Finland, funded by the Ministry of Education. HUL supports libraries in the technical problems involved with building Open Access archives.

Currently HUL is evaluating three open source solutions:  Eprints (http://www.eprints.org/), DSpace (http://www.dspace.org) ja CDSWare (http://cdsware.cern.ch/). The final selection will porobably be made in May this year.

For further information, please, contact:

Mr. Jyrki llva, Project Coordinator
Helsinki University Library / Database Services
POB 26, FIN-00014 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI, Finland
Email: jyrki.ilva(at)helsinki.fi

Mr. Esa-Pekka Keskitalo, Systems Analyst
Helsinki University Library / Database Services
POB 26, FIN-00014 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI, Finland
Email: esa-pekka.keskitalo(at)helsinki.fi

 

MetaIndex for NELLI portal

MetaIndex is the latest tool for the NELLI information retrieval portal. It was implemented in the beginning of 2006. It is an extension of the MetaLib software, and it is designed for building virtual collections using OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting).

The authors discuss its potential and give practical advice to libraries who wish to use this extension.

For further information, please, contact:

Mr. Ari Rouvari, Project Manager
Helsinki University Library / Electronic Library Services
POB 26, FIN-00014 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI, Finland
Email: ari.rouvari(at)helsinki.fi

Mr. Ere Maijala, Systems Analyst
Helsinki University Library / Electronic Library Services
POB 26, FIN-00014 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI, Finland
Email: ere.maijala(at)helsinki.fi

 


Tietolinja 01/2006

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