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JISC Collections Strategy, 2004–2006

1. Mission statements

The JISC Mission:

‘To provide world-class leadership in innovative use of ICT to support education and research’

The JISC Collection Team Mission:

‘To negotiate for and where appropriate to license quality assured electronic materials that will provide the JISC community with a range of resources to support education and research’

2. Collection Building

The following four distinct areas inform JISC’s collection-building activity. In each year, JISC aims to provide a range of new resources from each of these areas:

Heritage Collections
Definition: Digitised images of rare and inaccessible material such as journal back files and books.
Rationale: The provision of online resources such as these allows researchers, teachers and students unlimited access to primary source materials otherwise only available at a limited number of specialist libraries. Heritage collections allow lecturers and teachers to assign the most challenging of tasks without worrying about the depth of library resources available while allowing researchers to follow lines of enquiry that would not otherwise be possible.

Innovative Resources
Definition: An innovative online resource is one that enriches the student experience in a new way or provides for creative teaching or original research. Innovation may also apply to new business models that provide the JISC community with cost-effective access to online resources.
Rationale: Planned seed funding is sometimes required so that the JISC community can try out innovative resources or business models. Such funding – usually provided through subsidised subscription rates – provides for the type of experimentation that can lead to cultural change. This seed funding also provides JISC with an influential voice with publishers in the development of content for the JISC community. The JISC community will not ultimately adopt all innovations but measured risk-taking in the form of non-recoverable subsidy is essential to allow for assessment and testing of new types of online resources. Such funding also contributes to a growing knowledge bank and informs future collection building and developments.

Specialist Resources
Definition: Resources that provide high value to those teaching or studying in a particular discipline. The specialist nature of these resources sometimes means that they are prohibitively expensive at the normal commercial rates.
Rationale: JISC-funded negotiations and licensing can ensure that such resources are available to the JISC community at subscription prices and on terms and conditions that would not usually be possible.

Mature Resources
Description: Electronic resources progress through a life cycle – many beginning life as innovative or specialist resources. As the use of these resources in the JISC community becomes well established they move through the cycle to mature. Continual evaluation is required to assess where a particular resource or type of resource is in this life cycle and its value to the JISC community. This is a fast-paced and rapidly developing environment and not all resources stand the test of time. JISC will not necessarily continue to support all resources as they enter the mature phase of their cycle. However, JISC will continue to negotiate or license resources that are well established and relevant and where the publisher’s use of JISC Model Licence and the realistic JISC-banded subscription rates are well established.
Rationale: Negotiation at the national level for mature resources ensures that JISC continues to exert influence over terms and conditions and subscription price. It also ensures that JISC leads in the development and implementation of new business models that provide cost and/or other benefits for its community.

2.1 Economic models

The economic models required to build the national collections are dynamic and will continue to be so. Therefore, JISC will keep the models utilised by the Collections Team under review. Nevertheless, the following models provide a framework for negotiations for content acquisition.

Heritage Collections
The static nature and high value of these scholarly collections allows JISC to provide access and financial benefit to the JISC community through perpetual licences at a national level. This means a one-off payment, which allows JISC to make the resource available to all the institutions within its community.

JISC is sometimes able to make one-time payments to publishers for the content in Heritage Collections; in such cases sustainability of the content is not an issue and institutions are not required to pay subscription fees towards the cost of content. However, the cost of the data hosting and delivery service is ongoing and in order to ensure that these services are sustainable, institutions are required to pay access fees.

Innovative Resources
Such resources can originate from the commercial sector or from the JISC community. The JISC national data centres often play an important part in developing exemplar services for the educational community. JISC provides the planned subsidy; in most cases the subsidy will decrease so that new resources, services or models recover their costs after five-years. There are exceptional cases where full cost recovery is not possible and long-term subsidy is required in order to ensure the JISC community has access to important resources.

Specialist Resources
Careful consultation with the JISC community should ensure that subscription take-up is predicted accurately. This means that JISC can negotiate excellent terms for its community and recover all payments made to publishers and content owners. Exceptionally it will not be possible to recover all such payments in the short term and planned subsidy may be required for essential resources.

Mature Resources
There are two methods employed in this area. In the first of these methods, JISC or its agent undertakes negotiation at a national level but the contractual relationship (licence agreement) is directly between the publisher and the subscribing institutions. Under this model, the JISC Collections Team may outsource the negotiation activity, as is already the case with the NESLi2 journal negotiations.

In the second of these methods, JISC enters into a direct relationship with the publisher as licensee and then in turn sub-licenses it to the JISC community. In such cases, there is no financial risk to JISC in terms of advance payment but there is a cost to JISC through its activities in endorsing and promoting the resource, collecting subscriptions and passing those subscriptions to the publishers. However, such an arrangement provides JISC with an influential voice and enables it to negotiate agreements that provide the JISC community with excellent value for money.

2.2 Resource evaluation and framework

The Information Environment is very fast moving and users’ requirement and expectations change rapidly. Developments in virtual learning and research environments increasingly provide opportunities for non-linear and multimedia content which contribute in a new and innovative way to the whole educational experience.

Against this background the Collections Team will develop a framework and tools for resource evaluation. This will take account of the lifecycle of resources as they move, for example, from innovation to maturity, as well as reviewing resources that may cease to contribute effectively to the collection portfolio and so may need to be removed. JISC will commission a study to establish a lifecycle evaluation framework that will include transparent criteria for product evaluation and compliance with Information Environment standards. This study will provide the JISC community with clear and consistent checklists and indicators on the content, interface, interoperability and other standards of individual resources.

3. Collections Team Working Groups

Six Working Groups support the Collections Team in acquiring online resources for the higher and further education communities. The Working Groups are up made of representatives from the educational community and each group meets three times each year. Typically, there are five members from the further education community and five members from the higher education community in each group. In addition, there may be representatives from external agencies when they can provide expertise in a particular acquisition area. The six format-based groups cover the following areas:

3.1 Remit of the Working Groups

Journals Working Group
Provides the Collections Team with advice at a strategic level about the NESLi2 scheme, the JISC-managed journal negotiation project. Each year NESLi2 negotiates the best possible agreements with the ten journal publishers selected by a survey of the JISC community. The Journals Working Group is also responsible for developing and advancing strategy for cost-effective content acquisition and delivery of journals, which takes account of the dynamic nature of the journals marketplace and the changing and evolving needs of the JISC community.

Back to: 3. Collections Team Working Groups

e-books Working Group
Provides leadership on economic, cultural and technical issues, and advice on embedding the use of e-books within the JISC community. JISC usually negotiates with e-books publishers based on the endorsement model only (where JISC does not take any financial risk and does not make any advance payment to the publisher).

Back to: 3. Collections Team Working Groups

Images Working Group
The use of digital images in research and education is still relatively new; the need for images in education is still emerging. The Images Working Group aims to enable the enhanced availability and use of image material for learning and teaching and research in the JISC communities, for example, by promoting exemplars that demonstrate how the images in the Education Image Gallery directly support the teaching of the National Curriculum in Further Education.

As a result of the innovative nature of images in education and research, most libraries are able to allocate only limited funds for subscriptions to image collections. The Images Working Group endorsed the launch of the JISC Education Image Gallery in January 2004. This is the first JISC service designed specifically to provide a fully searchable collection of images for use in further and higher education. The Images Working Group is responsible for raising awareness and promoting the use of this service. It is also responsible for using the experience gained from the Education Image Gallery Service to develop and advance the strategy for increasing the range of images available to the JISC community. Such expansion of the collections of moving images will endeavour to provide long-term sustainability while taking account of the price-sensitive nature of these collections and thus the likely need for subsidised subscription rates.

Back to: 3. Collections Team Working Groups

Moving Pictures and Sound Working Group
The use of online moving images and sound in research and education is very new; the applications of these digitised resources are only just emerging. The Moving Images and Sound Working Group steers the development of Education Media Online (EMOL). This is the first JISC service designed specifically to provide the JISC community with a collection of moving images and sound for use in research and education. The Working Group intends that this service will be freely available to the JISC community until July 2005.

This Group also provides the JISC Executive with advice about two JISC CSR Digitisation Programme projects (The British Library Archival Sound Recordings and the ITN Newsfilm Online).

The Group is responsible for raising awareness and promoting the use of the EMOL Service and other JISC digitised collections. It is also responsible for using the experience gained from the EMOL Service to develop and advance the strategy for increasing the range of moving image and sound collections available to the JISC community. Such expansion of the collections of moving images will endeavour to provide long-term sustainability while taking account of the price-sensitive nature of these collections and thus the likely need for subsidised subscription rates.

Back to: 3. Collections Team Working Groups

Geospatial Working Group
Geospatial Information Data at the usual commercial rates would be prohibitively expensive for the JISC community. However, JISC has been able to provide the research and education community with the Ordnance Survey Data through the subsidised and groundbreaking DIGIMAP service. The Geospatial Working Group will provide advice and guidance on the development of the DIGIMAP successor, which will deliver the highly advanced Ordnance Survey MasterMap data to the JISC community.

The Group will also provide advice on the setting up of a new service to provide the LANDMARK Historic Map Data. The JISC community has not had access to this data before and has no experience of their use, so there will also be an emphasis on developing and promoting their applications in education.

In addition, the Geospatial Working Group will continue to advise the JISC Collections Team on building a comprehensive collection of Geospatial Data.

Back to: 3. Collections Team Working Groups

Learning Materials Working Group
The use of online learning materials in education is very new. The applications of these resources are only just emerging and as yet there is only a limited amount of learning material available from the commercial sector. The Learning Materials Working Group will provide advice and guidance as JISC endeavours to form partnerships with publishers, business and commercial organisations, and the education sector to develop online resources that meet the emerging needs of the JISC community.

In addition, the Learning Materials Working Group will continue to provide evaluation and advice about potential new acquisitions and in particular their value in education. It is recognised that the agenda of the Working Group may, at times, overlap with that of the other Working Groups. Members of the group, as well as the Collections Team, will keep a watching brief and advise on where collaboration is required.

Back to: 3. Collections Team Working Groups

3.2  Resource Discovery Working Group

In addition to the six areas outlined above the Collections Team needs to take into account the continual changes in the resource discovery environment. Developments in this area affect decisions taken on the licensing of abstracting and indexing databases, but also more generally and fundamentally they influence emerging trends in the Information Environment. At the time of writing, UKOLN is undertaking a resource discovery landscaping study. JISC will constitute a Resource Discovery Working Group to take forward the findings of this study.

A number of organisations license and purchase Primary Research Data on behalf of the research and education communities. JISC will set up a regular forum for sharing and collaboration between these groups.

4. Virtual Subject Group

The JISC Collections Team also requires collection building and product evaluation advice from subject experts. Such expertise provides a different perspective to that provided by the format-based Working Groups, informing the Collections Team on subject-related issues and also on user needs and types of use within the disciplines.

Membership will include teachers, researchers, information professionals and subject experts from the Higher Education Academy and professional societies. The Virtual Groups will liaise with other established user groups within the educational community and provide the JISC Collections Team with evaluation of specific online resources and gaps in the collection portfolio.

The eight subject areas are as follows:

These groups cover the discipline areas identified by the Research Assessment Exercise, the Higher Education Academy and the further education curriculum.

5. Collections Team Strategic Aims

Strategic aims for the JISC Collections Team: