[WEB4LIB] web searchable full text journal list database

[Karen Harker]

Our library is doing this exact project right now.  The primary aim of the database is to help the collections development librarian manage the subscriptions and methods of access (including those that we access through databases).  But we will provide access to the titles and relevant info for clients, as well.

Some decisions we have had to make were:
1) How much information to include?
2) The ways of searching - we will provide keyword/exact title searching, a letter-by-letter alphabetical listing, and a broad subject list.
3) Many titles are accessible through several methods (online subscription, databases, aggregators (like Academic Press' IDEAL)).  Do we include all these different options?  We will be examining how often users access the databases from the current list of ejournals.  If it is not significant, we will not include these options.
4)  Which titles do we include?   We will try to include at the very least the publisher's site for every title for which we have a current subscription, even if full-text is not available.  Of course, we are adding full-text online subscriptions every week, so hopefully most titles will be full-text.
5)  Will users like this?  They love the current straight alphabetical list, but with the probability of adding hundreds of more titles, we feel that they would not love this list for long.

We will be using Access for the database, and ColdFusion for the search interface.

Hope this answers any questions you may have.

Karen R. Harker
UT Southwestern Medical Library
Dallas, Texas
http://www.swmed.edu/library/


>>> David Vose <dvose at binghamton.edu> 2/19/99 9:47:01 AM >>>

In order to provide better access to our increasing collection of
electronic journal resources (Academic Universe, SearchBank, Proquest,
Project Muse, JStor, etc.) we are considering creating a web-searchable
database of all the full text journals titles we have access to.  The
database would include the titles and, if available, the dates of full
text coverage. Patrons could perform a title search and, if we have
e-access, get a display with the title, dates of full text coverage and
a hot link to the vendor's database from which we access the journal. 

Although we catalog in our OPAC journals we access from smaller full
text collections like JStor and Project Muse, it is not practical in
many instances to have bib records in our OPAC for journals from larger
collections. Issues of staff time and the stability of journal
availability tend to prohibit such projects.

Our database would likely be built from the journal lists that the
various vendors provide from their sites. The biggest problem I can
foresee would be extracting the information we want from each of the
vendors individually formatted journal lists. Of course maintaining the
currency of the database will be a chore as well. I'm sure this isn't an
original idea, but I'm wondering if anyone else has attempted this and
what the outcome was? 

Thanks
-- 
David Vose
Binghamton University Libraries
(607) 777-4907