Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

1. Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues Jüri Järs Director Tallinn University of Technology Library Akadeemia tee 7 12611 Tallinn, Estonia Phone: 372 6203564 Fax: 372 6203561 E-mail: jars@lib.ttu.ee http://www.lib.ttu.ee/ Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

2. Topics: • Preconditions and institutions • Legislation issues • Coordinated collections development • Creating common databases • Joint supply of electronic resources • About other common projects Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

3. Preconditions: • the object of cooperation • the will to cooperate • organisers-coordinators • “the rules of the game”(regulations, agreements, contracts) • executors-implementators • tools and connections for cooperation • the roof under which the cooperation could be realized Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

4. Main institutions: • Estonian Librarians Association, ELA(founded in 1923, reestablished in 1988)committees of bibliography collections development education and trainingclassification and indexingterminologyrare bookssection of special librariesworking group of distance learningroundtable of the directors of research libraries Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

5. Estonian Libraries Network (ELNET) Consortium(founded in 1996)working groups of MARC-cataloguinganalytical descriptionauthority filesretrospective conversionmusic, art and cartographicliteratureperiodicalscirculation • technical issueselectronic acquisitionsdigital library • virtual library Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

6. Council of Research Libraries (formed in 2002by the Ministry of Education and Research) Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

7. About legislation: some milestones • 2000 Development plan of Estonian libraries • 2001 Organisation of Research &Development Act • 2002 Requirements for a research library Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

8. Requirements for a research library: • the main task (specified in statutes) is to collect, to process, to store and to make available the information supporting research and development activities • the destination group is research workers • public access to free of charge basic services • the availability of the system for selecting adequate information and the conditions for preserving and using it • the collections are developed at least in two subject areas from the following: natural sciences, technological sciences, medical sciences, agricultural sciences, social sciences, humanities • the collections are described and classified according to the international standards which are valid in Estonia • the library carries out research and development activities, publishes reports of its activities, is engaged in acquainting the research and development institutions and researchers, creates bibliographical databases • the collections are reflected in the common electronic catalogue of Estonian libraries (ESTER) Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

9. About legislation: some milestones • 2000 Development plan of Estonian libraries • 2001 Organisation of Research &Development Act • 2002 Requirements for a research library Rules for nominating research libraries First research libraries nominated Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

10. Nominated research libraries: • Tartu University Library (2002) • Tallinn Technical University Library (2002) • Tallinn Pedagogical University Library (2002) • Estonian Agricultural University Library (2004) Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

11. About legislation: some milestones • 2000 Development plan of Estonian libraries • 2001 Organisation of Research &Development Act • 2002 Requirements for a research libraryRules for nominating research librariesFirst research libraries nominated 2003 First funding received according to the Act 2004 The regulation about funding principlesand common acquisition plan Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

12. Coordinated collections development: history • 1960s Union catalogue of foreign periodicalsCommission of collections at State Libr. Committee • 1970s Union catalogue of foreign books Joint study of collections and their use • 1980s Second joint study of collections and their use • 1990s Committee of collections development at ELA • 1994 Regulations of the Ministry of Culture Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

13. common acquisition plan with 57 responsibility areas • three acquisition depth levels specified: • A - as completely as possibleB - selected itemsC - few selected items • division of tasks between 15 research and special libraries Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

14. Shortcomings: • no additional funding for fulfilling the specified tasks • no online information system available for sharing data about the existing collections and current orders • the acquisition levels were library-oriented • the classification scheme (57 subject areas) was toogeneral and complicated to use it in practice Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

15. RLG Conspectus by goals and activities: • assessment of available collections • specifying acquisition goals and priorities • coordination of current acquisitions • preservation and withdrawal of collections • strategical planning • guaranteeing necessary funding Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

16. RLG Conspectus: acquisition depth indicators • 0 - out of scope • 1 - minimal level • 2 - basic information level • 3 - study support level • 4 - research support level • 5 - comprehensive (maximal) level Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

17. Complete acquisition matrix of research libraries • By UDC and using three acquisition depth levels: • basic information level • study support level • research support level Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

18. Creating common databases • 1974 Database of foreign books (30 libraries) • 1980s PC-based not standardized, incompatible solutions • 1990 Database of foreign periodicals (20 libraries) • 1992 Working group of library automation at ELA • 1993 Common principles of library automation Information System of Estonian Libraries • 1996 ELNET Consortium • 1998 Integrated library system live Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

19. Integrated library system - “all in one”: • database of Estonian national bibliography • database of CIP records (books in print) • union catalogue of participating libraries • tool for storing and managing the local data (acquisitions, patrons, circulations etc) of each member library • centre for distributing bibliographic records • source for coordinated collections development Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

20. Shared database (ESTER) contains data about: • books • periodicals • sheet music • maps • sound recordings • articles from Estonian journals • links to selected electronic documents Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

21. Only one bibliographic record for each title towhich participating libraries: • add their unique data (shared MARC21 9XX fields) • link their item records • Harmonized “rules of the game”: • unified cataloguing rules • Estonian Subject Headings • UDC numbers Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

22. Economies in expenses: • man-power • information technology • staff training • Advantages: • quality of the unified database • end-user can make searches under one constant interfaceeither in the catalogue of one libraryor in the union catalogue of ELNET libraries Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

23. Supply of electronic resources • 1998 Trials of paid online databases • 1999EBSCO databases jointly purchased by 3 libraries • 2000OSI eIFL project • 2001 ELNET Consortium as negotiator and contractor 2002Central support 64 000 euros 2003Central support 500 000 euros 2004Central support 800 000 euros Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

24. ELNET Consortium offers access to: • 8 e-journal packages (more than 10 000 titles) • 5 abstract databases • 4 other packages (factographical, dictionaries, etc) • Consortium-wide licenses2 – 9 participating libraries depending on databases • EBSCO country-wide licensemore than 100 libraries and institutions have access • a “big deal” may be a very good deal Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

25. Advantages: • the same financial resources enable cooperatinglibraries to buy more because of their bigger critical mass • the negotiations are complicated and there is not enough professional competency in each library • it is more probable to achieve the optimum solution in price and performance • the trials of non-subscribed databases are organized centrally Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

26. Standardization: joint projects case by case • 1991 Estonian Communication Format published • 1993 Estonian UDC project started • 1996 Creation of Estonian Subject Headings started • 1999 Estonian UDC published • 1999 Estonian Subject Headings published 1990 Translation and adaptation of the CCF started Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

27. 1999 Permanent working group of standardization at the National Library • What do the libraries need? • Estonian National Standard • Translated International Standard • National Library standard • International Standard is acceptable Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

28. Established as Estonian National Standards: • Library performance indicators • International library statistics • Standard of librarian profession Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

29. Some performance indicators for university libraries: • acquisition expenses per student • library maintenance expenses per student • library staff (FTE) per student • computer-based workplaces per student • percent of students passing through the information retrieval courses Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

30. Translated international standards: • ISBN, ISSN, country codes • Dublin Core metadata elements • Library terminology • Transliteration from Cyrillic alphabet Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

31. Web-based defining dictionary with equivalents in • English, Russian, German, Finnish and French • about 3000 library terms Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

32. Established as National Library standards: • IFLA ISBDs • Format for bibliographic databases Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

33. Joint projects of retrospective conversion Different projects started in 1999 and 2000 thanks to • OpenEstonia FoundationOpen Society InstituteAndrew W. Mellon Foundation • Estonian publications - in terminating phase • 4 mln volumes in electronic catalogue ESTER • 12 mln volumes in collections of participating libraries Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

34. Digitation from microfilms • The aim of the joint project is • to make the content of microfilmed documentseasily available for the end-user in electronic form • 2002 special scanner was obtained, tuned up and tested • technology for saving and desrcibing the image files • 2003 software for indexing image files • web-based solution for open access • 2004 15 titles from 1857-1920 of digitized Estonian newspapers available for public use Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

35. Creating common information portal • 2001 – 2002 concept, basic principles and requirements • The goal is to introduce for end-users an informationportalwhich allows: • secure • single point • multi-protocolsearching against the variety of sources • licensed full-text or citation databases • local digital collections • web sites • search engines • Z39.50 databases • library catalogues Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

36. Estonian diacritics • Cyrillic alphabet • 2003 MetaFind software was tested and evaluated The metasearch software must be able to search in Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues

37. Cooperation between Estonian research libraries: integration and resource sharing issues