InfoTech Briefs: EBSCO, Serials Solutions, Dialog

EBSCO database deal, Summon via smartphone, Dialog aiding unemployed librarians

Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 11/20/2009

• Two INIST-CNRS databases available on EBSCOhost
• Serials Solutions phones in Summon service
• Dialog offering free Dialindex service to out of work librarians

EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) and France’s Institut de l’Information Scientifique et Technique of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (INIST-CNRS) have signed an agreement making two INIST-CNRS databases available on EBSCOhost®. PASCAL is a multilingual, multidisciplinary database covering science, technology, and medicine. FRANCIS is a multidisciplinary database providing humanities and social sciences coverage. The agreement provides for extensive backfile coverage for both PASCAL and FRANCIS. PASCAL content is available back to 1984 and FRANCIS content is available back to 1972. EBSCO will be the first provider to offer FRANCIS archives from 1972 to 1984—previously FRANCIS was only available from 1984 to the present. Additionally, EMpact Sales™, the publisher representation group of EBSCO, has entered into an agreement with the publisher International Water Association (IWA) in which EMpact will serve as its sales agent. The agreement grants EMpact the rights to sell IWA’s electronic and print journals in Italy, Greece, Eastern Europe, United Kingdom, Nordics, Benelux, Ireland, and Latin America.

Four months after the commercial launch of its Summon™ web-scale discovery service, ProQuest’s Serials Solutions has launched a mobile application that enables instant searching of the breadth of a library’s collection from a smartphone. Users of any library with the Summon™ service now can search and retrieve digital content, such as full-text articles, and locate physical materials all from a single search box on their iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Palm, or Windows Mobile phones. Summons has also added Ingram Digital, which will provide metadata for all the titles in its MyiLibrary ebook platform. MyiLibrary has 185,000+ titles.

Dialog is coming to the aid of those information professionals who have lost their jobs in the economic downturn. The company is waiving standard Dialog start-up and service fees, offering free Dialindex® service and throwing in ten percent discount on Dialog usage to librarians and information professionals who have recently been laid off. The aim of the program is to help these professionals use Dialog’s powerful resources do their job search, retain and develop their search skills, and even do some independent consulting while they look for employment. Free access and discounts can be used for up to 12 months. Librarians and information professionals who have become unemployed since September 2008 are eligible. Click here to apply for the new program. “For many of these librarians, losing their job means losing their Dialog access, too,” said Suzanne BeDell, Dialog General Manager. “We want to be sure we’re there for them when they need us most.”