Reports of Conferences,Institutes, and Seminars

This quarter's column features a report from the NISO/NASIG Webinar: Playing the Numbers: Best Practices in Acquiring, Interpreting and Applying Usage Statistics, offered online May 21, 2014; and the American Library Association Annual Conference, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 26-July 1, 2014.     

The library web: Case studies in web site creation and implementation

Abstract

In May 2003, the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) held a strategy meeting to look at issues surrounding standardization of metasearch systems. The goal of the workshop was to examine the state of the art in metasearch and ways of building consensus to move forward. This article describes the work that has been going on with NISO metasearch activity since that initial meeting.     

Encountering COUNTER 5

Abstract

To make fiscally and academically responsible selection and deselection of subscribed content, it is critically important to have reasonably accessible usage data for those resources. To this end, the organizers of Project Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources (COUNTER) initiated the development of a standard known as the COUNTER Code of Practice. Beginning with the year 2019, COUNTER 5 standardized usage reports are available for most commercially published electronic information resources such as online journals, aggregated research databases, and ebooks. This column explores some of the differences between the COUNTER 5 Title Master Report-Journal Report (TR-JR1) report and the COUNTER 4 JR1 report for online journal usage and offers some assistance in extracting specific data from the TR-JR1 report that is not as readily visible as it was in COUNTER 4 reports.     

Reports of Conferences,Institutes, and Seminars

Five reports cover the 2009 Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians Conference, the COUNTER and Usage Data webinar, the 2009 Acquisitions Institute at Timberline Lodge, the 2009 North American Serials Interest Group Conference, and selected sessions of the 2009 annual conference of the American Library Association in Chicago, Illinois.     

2011 MOBIUS Conference

The twelfth annual MOBIUS Conference was held June 7–9, 2011, at the Holiday Inn Executive Center in Columbia, Missouri. The MOBIUS consortium of Missouri is currently composed of fifty-nine academic libraries, two public libraries, and the Missouri State Library. The conference offered various opportunities, including a keynote address by Meredith Farkas and a networking dessert session on the first night. The second day featured six concurrent sessions, each having six different presentations, along with delicious food, generous door prizes, and the chance to meet with vendors. The third day consisted of four different four-hour post-conference training sessions. Presentations are available for download from the conference Web site.¹     

2008 North American Serials Interest Group Conference: Taking the Sting out of Serials!

Abstract

The twelfth annual MOBIUS Conference was held June 7–9, 2011, at the Holiday Inn Executive Center in Columbia, Missouri. The MOBIUS consortium of Missouri is currently composed of fifty-nine academic libraries, two public libraries, and the Missouri State Library. The conference offered various opportunities, including a keynote address by Meredith Farkas and a networking dessert session on the first night. The second day featured six concurrent sessions, each having six different presentations, along with delicious food, generous door prizes, and the chance to meet with vendors. The third day consisted of four different four-hour post-conference training sessions. Presentations are available for download from the conference Web site.¹     

The NISO Metasearch Workshop

Abstract

This article describes a workshop held by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) to look at issues involving metasearch systems. The goal of the workshop was to bring together integrated library system vendors, metasearch system vendors, and information providers, such as publishers and aggregators, to determine if there were some areas that were ripe for either standardization or defining guidelines and best practices. Serials Review 2003; 29:256–257.     

Reports of Conferences, Institutes, and Seminars

The Scholarly Communication Interest Group of the New England Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries sponsored a workshop titled “Partnering with Faculty: Scholarly Communication Conversations,” held on July 29, 2010, at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts. Partnering with EBSCO and the North American Serials Interest Group, Mississippi State University (MSU) Libraries hosted the ninth MidSouth eResource Symposium at MSU's Mitchell Memorial Library in Starkville, Mississippi, on Thursday, September 16, 2010. ITHAKA Sustainable Scholarship was a two-day meeting at the Westin Times Square, New York City, September 27-28, 2010. Finally, published herein is a summary of the NISO Webinar “It's Only as Good as the Metadata: Improving OpenURL and Knowledge Base Quality,” held October 13, 2010.     

Government Publications

Abstract

The Scholarly Communication Interest Group of the New England Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries sponsored a workshop titled “Partnering with Faculty: Scholarly Communication Conversations,” held on July 29, 2010, at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts. Partnering with EBSCO and the North American Serials Interest Group, Mississippi State University (MSU) Libraries hosted the ninth MidSouth eResource Symposium at MSU's Mitchell Memorial Library in Starkville, Mississippi, on Thursday, September 16, 2010. ITHAKA Sustainable Scholarship was a two-day meeting at the Westin Times Square, New York City, September 27–28, 2010. Finally, published herein is a summary of the NISO Webinar “It's Only as Good as the Metadata: Improving OpenURL and Knowledge Base Quality,” held October 13, 2010.     

Challenges and Opportunities of Open Access: A Panel Discussion

This year's panel discussion, moderated by Beverly Dowdy, offered three perspectives on the current and future trends in open access (OA) from David Crotty, a senior editor from a prominent university publisher; Beth Bernhardt, an assistant dean for collection development and scholarly communications at an academic library; and Dr. Paige Hall Smith, an associate professor at a large state university. Each discussed different opportunities and challenges that open access presents. A question-and-answer period followed, prompting further discussion of the points brought up during the presentations, as well as related issues.     

Moving to a World of More Seamless Single Sign-on Access: NISO’s RA21 Recommended Practice

Abstract

In this Standards Update column, Todd Carpenter, Executive Director of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), provides a preview of NISO’s upcoming RA21 Recommended Practice for single sign-on systems. Carpenter describes previous attempts at single sign-on standards, the essential difficulties in authenticating users, and how RA21 will address these issues while ensuring the privacy of user data.     

U.K. Little Magazines: An Introductory Survey

Abstract

Standards are essential to guide both technical and information management in providing access to and delivery of content. Standards development, implementation, and use help the information community meet the needs of its users. The information community grapples with a myriad of methods for providing access to content and capturing transaction level information about access to and use of content. Publishers struggle with ways to manage increased content flow. The author discusses the 2002 revision of the Standard for Library Statistics, NISO Z39.7 (NISO is the National Information Standards Organization, a nonprofit association founded in 1939 and accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)), and the research and assessment that went into its evolution from a static index of data elements to a Web-based data dictionary embracing U.S. and international metrics for describing and measuring information services and delivery.     

NISO's Networked References Standards Committee

This article describes an effort being undertaken by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) to develop a standard for collaborative networked-based reference services. Many technologies can be employed in such efforts, but the basic characteristic of such services is the ability of a user to submit questions and receive answers and information by electronic means. Serials Review 2002; 28:342–343.     

Reports of Conferences,Institutes, and Seminars

This quarter's column features a report from the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference, held March 25–28, 2015, in Portland, OR; a couple of reports from the Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians (OVGTSL) Conference, held May 18–20 in Terre Haute, IN; one report from NASIG, held May 27–30 in Washington, DC; and several reports from the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, held June 25–30 in San Francisco, CA. Topics discussed range from scholarly publishing, copyright and authors’ rights—including as they relate to zines—privacy and analytics, and linked data.     

NISO's Networked References Standards Committee

Abstract

This article describes an effort being undertaken by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) to develop a standard for collaborative networked-based reference services. Many technologies can be employed in such efforts, but the basic characteristic of such services is the ability of a user to submit questions and receive answers and information by electronic means. Serials Review 2002; 28:342–343.     

Assessing and communicating heterogeneity of treatment effects for patient subpopulations: Keynote and panel discussion on communicating heterogeneous treatment effects across populations

How do we communicate nuanced regulatory information to different audiences, recognizing that the consumer audience is very different from the physician audience? In particular, how do we communicate the heterogeneity of treatment effects - the potential differences in treatment effects based on sex, race, and age? That is a fundamental question at the heart of this panel discussion. Each panelist addressed a specific “challenge question” during their 5-minute presentation, and the list of questions is provided. The presentations were followed by a question and answer session with members of the audience and the panelists.     

ONIX for Serials—The NISO/EDItEUR Joint Working Party

This article describes Online Information Exchange (ONIX) for Serials, a set of XML-based messages parallel to the ONIX for Books format described in an earlier “Standards Update.” These messages are being developed by a joint working party of National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and EDItEUR, the European EDI organization that oversees ONIX development and maintenance. The article describes the messages, their development, and some of the applications in which it is envisioned the messages will be used.