DLF E-resource Management Initiative

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 10:25:29 -0500
From: Kimberly Parker <kimberly.parker@YALE.EDU>
Subject: DLF E-resource Management Initiative, etc.

Posted on behalf of Tim Jewell.  Apologies for the cross posting.

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On behalf of the steering group mentioned below, I would like to make
readers of this list aware of the good news that the Digital Library
Federation (DLF) has established an Electronic Resource Management Initiative.
(Some related upcoming discussion opportunities at ALA Midwinter are
mentioned at the end of the summary.)

Tim Jewell
University of Washington
Steering Group Chair
DLF Electronic Resource Management Initiative

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1. DLF Electronic Resource Management Initiative. The steering group that
helped organize a May NISO/DLF Workshop on Standards for Electronic
Resource Management (see
http://www.library.cornell.edu/cts/elicensestudy/nisodlf/)
has continued working via conference call since then. The group developed
and submitted a successful proposal to the Digital Library Federation to
create an Electronic Resource Management Initiative, which aims to:

a. Describe the architectures needed to manage large collections
of licensed electronic resources

b. Establish lists of appropriate supporting data elements and
common definitions

c. Write and publish XML Schemas/DTDs.

d. Identify and promote appropriate best practices and standards to
support data interchange of licensing information

The initiative was recently announce in CLIR Issues (No. 30,
November/December). A fuller description and list of "deliverables" can be
seen at http://www.diglib.org/standards/dlf-erm02.htm.

The members of the steering group are all excited to have this opportunity
to extend and formalize the work done so far, and look forward to
communicating actively with members of the library and vendor/publisher
communities in the months ahead.

2. Meetings at the DLF Fall Forum. The initiative's steering group held a
couple of working sessions at the DLF Fall Forum that resulted in important
refinements to a shared understanding of the problems to be addressed and to
the most useful approach to doing so, as well as a Birds of A Feather
session during the conference. (A summary should be available soon on the
DLF web site: http://www.diglib.org/forums.htm.)

3. Data Elements and Volunteers. At the open meeting on E-resource
management held by the group at the American Library Association conference
(ALA) last June, it was decided to enlist the help of volunteers to help
review and refine the lists of data elements within the 3 areas of prime
interest: Description, Licensing, and Access and Administration, and a
number of people came forward to help with that work. Members of the
steering group expect to be following up and contacting those volunteers
again soon -- once the data element lists have undergone some more review.

4. Meeting/discussion opportunities. If you are interested in the initiative
and plan to attend ALA midwinter, you will have two opportunities to hear
more about it and the steering group's progress toward the initiative's
goals:

-- ALCTS Symposium on Managing Electronic Resources. Tim Jewell (chair of
the steering group) will be one of several speakers for the preconference
planned for Friday, January 24th at ALA Midwinter. His presentation will
focus on some of the best and most interesting features of the local
systems described on the Web Hub
(http://www.library.cornell.edu/cts/elicensestudy/home.html), and provide
an overview of the DLF initiative and the prospects for establishing
relevant standards.

-- Open Discussion on E-resource management. The evening of the 24th
(7:30-9:30 p.m. in the Wyndham Franklin Plaza, Philadelphia Ballroom) the
steering group will also hold an open information sharing meeting for
librarians, vendors and publishers interested in these developments. An
agenda will be set closer to the conference, but we will probably begin with
a status report on the initiative from members of the steering committee and
provide time for discussion of it and local developments. (This meeting will
once again be sponsored by the ALCTS Technical Services Directors of Large
Research Libraries -- whose support is again gratefully acknowledged!)