Networked Information in an International Context

A CONFERENCE ORGANISED BY UKOLN IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE BRITISH LIBRARY, CNI, CAUSE AND JISC

9th and 10th February 1996 at the Ramada Hotel, Heathrow, UK

THE SPONSORING ORGANISATIONS

COALITION FOR NETWORKED INFORMATION

The Coalition for Networked Information was founded in March 1990 to promote the creation and use of networked information resources and services that advance scholarship and intellectual productivity. The Coalition is a joint project of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), CAUSE (see below), and Educom. A task force of over 200 institutions and organisations provides the Coalition with insights, initiatives, and resources to pursue its mission. Members of the task force include higher education institutions, publishers, network service providers, computer companies, library networks and organisations, and public and state libraries. It is a truly diverse partnership of institutions and organisations with a common interest in realising the promise of networked information resources and services.

CAUSE

CAUSE is the association for managing and using information resources in higher education. An international non-profit association, CAUSE’s mission is to enable the transformational changes occurring in higher education through the effective management and use of information resources - technology, services, and information. The CAUSE membership includes more than 1,300 campuses and other educational organisations from all regions of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and several other countries - as well as 73 corporate members. Nearly 3,700 individuals participate in CAUSE as member representatives from their institutions.

THE BRITISH LIBRARY

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and contains over one hundred and fifty million items representing every age of written civilisation. The British Library exists to serve scholarship, research and innovation. It is the national archive of monographs and serials received by legal deposit. It provides Reading Room and enquiry services, as well as a range of document supply services for remote users. The Library’s Initiatives for Access programme is looking at how new digital and networking technologies can expand the use of its rich collections.

The British Library Research and Development Department is the main UK funding agency for research in the library and information field. It supports and disseminates the results of a wide range of projects. The Department has a number of other activities, including administering grants for cataloguing and preservation, research in the book world and special initiatives for the Department of National Heritage.

JOINT INFORMATION SYSTEMS COMMITTEE

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) was established on 1 April 1993 by the Higher Education Funding Councils for England, Scotland and Wales, and is now also supported by the Department of Education for Northern Ireland (DENI). The mission for JISC is "to stimulate and enable the cost effective exploitation of information systems and to provide a high quality national infrastructure for the UK higher education and research councils’ communities".

The main objectives of JISC are:

• to exercise vision and leadership in bringing about benefits to the higher education sector by the exploitation of information systems;
• to ensure the provision of a pervasive network infrastructure to the higher education and research councils’ communities;
• to ensure the provision of central data services where this is sensible on economic grounds;
• to promote the exploitation of new technologies as a service provision to the higher education community;
• to encourage and facilitate the development of information strategies in the higher education community.

UKOLN

The UK Office for Library and Information Networking (UKOLN) and its antecedent organisations have been based at the University of Bath for the last 18 years. It supports the UK library and information communities through research, co-ordination and awareness, and information services in the area of network information management. It has recently expanded and developed a work programme around distributed library and information systems, resource discovery and metadata, bibliographic management and public library networking. At the same time it is expanding its network information and event organisation services. UKOLN is funded by the British Library Research and Development Department and by JISC. Further information about UKOLN and its activities can be found at URL: http://ukoln.bath.ac.uk

British Library R&D Report 6250
© The British Library Board 1996
© Joint Information Systems Committee of the Higher Education Funding Bodies 1996

The opinions expressed in this report are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the sponsoring organisations.

RDD/C/187

The primary publication medium for this report is via the Internet at URL http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/papers/bl/rdr6250/
It may also be purchased as photocopies or microfiche from the British Thesis Service, British Library Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 7BQ.

This report of the conference was prepared by The Marc Fresko Consultancy Telephone +44 181 645 0080 E-mail marc@easynet.co.uk

Converted to HTML by Isobel Stark of UKOLN, July 1996