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Resource sharing digital libraries: a case study of Taiwan’s InfoSpring Digital Library Project Hao-Ren Ke*, Ruei-Chuan Chang National Chiao Tung University, 1001 Ta-Hsueh Road, Hsinchu, Taiwan Abstract The InfoSpring Digital Library Project conducted by National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) is a project to establish mirror sites in Taiwan for well-known reference databases and full-text electronic journals. The role of NCTU in this project is to provide the hardware (including servers and storage space) and network infrastructure, system maintenance and data update. By means of resource sharing, universities and industries in Taiwan can access the databases loaded in the InfoSpring Digital Library under certain subscription agreements. Realizing the importance of resource sharing, libraries in Taiwan have organized a consortium to decide which databases to be hosted in Taiwan and negotiate competitive prices with information providers. This paper presents the motivation, current status, experiences, and future directions of the InfoSpring Project and introduces the Taiwanese library consortium which it services. © 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Easy access to up-to-date research information is important for all researchers. Traditionally, research information has been available in paper or CD-ROM formats, but today the World Wide Web is increasingly viewed by information providers as a more suitable medium for their reference databases and full-text research journals. Through the Web, users can retrieve the research information they need from any location in 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Moreover, many Web-based databases are equipped with more powerful functions or provide more information than their traditional paper- or CD-ROM-based counterparts. * Corresponding author. Tel.: 11-886-3-5712121, ext, 52622; fax: 11-886-3-5718925. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (H.-R. Ke). Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services 24 (2000) 371–377 1464-9055/00/$ – see front matter © 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S1464-9055(00)00136-6

Resource sharing digital libraries: a case study of Taiwan’s InfoSpring Digital Library Project

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Resource sharing digital libraries: a case study ofTaiwan’s InfoSpring Digital Library Project

Hao-Ren Ke*, Ruei-Chuan Chang

National Chiao Tung University, 1001 Ta-Hsueh Road, Hsinchu, Taiwan

Abstract

The InfoSpring Digital Library Project conducted by National Chiao Tung University (NCTU)is a project to establish mirror sites in Taiwan for well-known reference databases and full-textelectronic journals. The role of NCTU in this project is to provide the hardware (including serversand storage space) and network infrastructure, system maintenance and data update. By means ofresource sharing, universities and industries in Taiwan can access the databases loaded in theInfoSpring Digital Library under certain subscription agreements. Realizing the importance ofresource sharing, libraries in Taiwan have organized a consortium to decide which databases to behosted in Taiwan and negotiate competitive prices with information providers. This paper presentsthe motivation, current status, experiences, and future directions of the InfoSpring Project andintroduces the Taiwanese library consortium which it services. © 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. Allrights reserved.

1. Introduction

Easy access to up-to-date research information is important for all researchers. Traditionally,research information has been available in paper or CD-ROM formats, but today the World WideWeb is increasingly viewed by information providers as a more suitable medium for theirreference databases and full-text research journals. Through the Web, users can retrieve theresearch information they need from any location in 24 hours a day, seven days a week.Moreover, many Web-based databases are equipped with more powerful functions or providemore information than their traditional paper- or CD-ROM-based counterparts.

* Corresponding author. Tel.:11-886-3-5712121, ext, 52622; fax:11-886-3-5718925.E-mail addresses:[email protected] (H.-R. Ke).

Library Collections, Acquisitions,& Technical Services 24 (2000) 371–377

1464-9055/00/$ – see front matter © 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.PII: S1464-9055(00)00136-6

Although Web-based resources have many advantages, the reality is that most of them arebased in the USA or Europe. Due to inadequate Internet bandwidth and the resultingbottleneck of Internet communications between Taiwan and these regions, researchers inTaiwan for the most part have been unable to utilize these Web-based services conveniently.In 1995 Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) decided to overcome thisproblem by investing in servers and storage space for NCTU-based mirror sites for databasesdeemed most important to its research staff.

After negotiations with numerous information providers, several of them agreed to haveNCTU mirror sites for their research databases. Since then, a few well-known referencedatabases and full-text electronic journals have been successfully hosted by the University,and NCTU’s researchers are able to access them locally. From the lessons learned inimplementing and managing the project NCTU knows that it is difficult for many otherorganizations in Taiwan to follow its model. But resource sharing is a viable alternative, andNCTU has begun an experimental sharing of the Web-based services which it hosts withother organizations in Taiwan, if they subscribe to the databases from the publishers. Thisresource-sharing experiment is called the InfoSpring Digital Library Project. The InfoSpringProject has been under way for about four years. The purpose of this paper is to describe thehistory, current status and future of this project. It also outlines lessons learned from theproject and its impact on Taiwanese libraries.

2. Lessons from the NCTU Mirror Sites

The original intention was for NCTU to act as a research database host for its ownresearchers. However, from the experience of managing these databases for in-house needs,the University recognized that it would be difficult for many other Taiwanese organizationsto develop a similar in-house digital library. Three factors emerged as particular problems inthis regard: server and storage costs, technical knowledge, subscription costs.

2.1. Server/storage costs

To implement an effective and efficient Web-based research database service, powerfulservers are essential. In addition the storage requirement for databases, especially fore-journals, is enormous. The formats of many e-journals are images or PDF files, and onaverage each page needs about 80K for storage. Taking Elsevier’s 10001 e-journals as anexample, it is estimated that about 200GB is needed for one year’s issues, including thestorage space for index files and other metafiles. NCTU has allocated more than $500,000 forthe purchase of local servers and storage, but not every organization in Taiwan has a robustenough budget to meet such costs.

2.2. Technical knowledge

It is vital to integrate the expertise of both computer specialists and library scienceprofessionals to provide a high quality Web-based research database service. Accordingly,

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the President of NCTU appointed the Director of the Library and the Director of theComputer Center to the project, fostering sharing of expertise across disciplines. However,in a majority of Taiwan universities there is little cooperation between computer and libraryspecialists, and not much evidence that this can be changed easily.

2.3. Subscription fees

Although Web-based access to research databases is becoming increasingly popular,subscription fees remain high, and prohibitive for many institutions. In Taiwan, everyuniversity suffers from the expensive subscription fee, because the budget for subscribing toresearch information is cut off year by year, and more seriously, the subscription fee isincreased every year.

The first two difficulties can be resolved smoothly in Taiwan if the concept of resourcesharing is well implemented. Eager to make a contribution to Taiwan’s research activities,NCTU is willing to share databases installed in NCTU with any organization in Taiwan thatfirst subscribes to those databases from the information providers.

NCTU enjoys two advantages that have assisted in establishing this service. First, as aTANet (Taiwan Academic Network) center for the high technology Hsinchu area, theUniversity has T3 and ATM OC12 links to the TANet backbone and links to five universitiesand more than 100 research organizations, as well as to primary and high schools. Addi-tionally, NCTU also has T1 leased lines to the largest commercial ISPs in Taiwan. Therefore,the network bandwidth from NCTU to other organizations in the country is more thanadequate. Second, with its expertise in science and technology, NCTU is capable of settingup and maintaining local database servers. On the basis of these capabilities several pub-lishers initially agreed with the concept of a common site in Taiwan for their databases, andfrom this the InfoSpring Project was born.

The InfoSpring Project is beneficial for both participant organizations and informationproviders. The participant organizations can retrieve required information more quickly fromNCTU servers than from US or European servers without server, storage or manpower costs.The information providers are able to expand their market and provide better services inTaiwan without investing in additional servers, storage capacity, networks, or manpower.

3. Current status of the Infospring Project

At present more than 100 reference databases and 250 e-journals from five informationproviders are being hosted by NCTU; their status is shown in Table 1. More than 10organizations have trial access by agreement with the information providers, and eachorganization is responsible for negotiating its own agreement. Several organizations sub-scribe to the databases of OVID, EI, and CSA. As for the Elsevier and ISI databases,currently only NCTU subscribes, and a consortial subscription price is under negotiation. Inaddition to these databases, NCTU has been discussing with other information providers(among them IEEE, Springer-Verlag, and Academic Press) the possibility of bringing theirdatabases to Taiwan. To promote the InfoSpring Project and attract more members, there is

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a Web site at,http://www.infospring.nctu.edu.tw.. This introduces the project and brieflydescribes each database currently available.

4. Resource sharing consortium for research information

As noted above, three factors emerged as particular problems in the early stages - serverand storage costs, technical knowledge, subscription costs –and a robust resource-sharingpolicy has been able to address the first two adequately. To solve the third problem aconsortial approach to price negotiations seemed most viable. Accordingly, inspired byInfoSpring and gaining from the experience of other library consortia (see References), aconsortium has been established in Taiwan for this very purpose.

The consortium consists of STIC (Science and Technology Information Center, a gov-ernment organization under the jurisdiction of the National Science Council of Taiwan) andseveral other libraries in Taiwan. It has two responsibilities: to decide which databases areto be hosted in Taiwan and to negotiate with information providers for the best possiblepricing. Representatives from STIC and 10 major university libraries act as the consortiumcommittee. Questionnaires and other approaches are employed to evaluate the importance ofspecific databases for each library. After the committee determines that a specific databaseshould be hosted on InfoSpring, it then begins negotiating with the information provider. The

Table 1Current status of the databases in InfoSpring

Information Provider Databases Setup Time Subscribers Hardware

Elsevier Science EES full-text E-Journals(EES has 10001 E-journals. Currently, 226E-journals are hosted inNCTU)

June 1996 NCTU Sun Ultra II168 MHz CPU*2,256 MB RAMStorage: 150 G

Cambridge ScientificAbstracts (CSA)

801 reference databases Jan. 1997 NCTU and other11 organizations

DEC Alpha Server4000, 128 MB RAMStorage: 70 GB

OVID 201 reference or full-text databases, includingINSPEC MLAMEDLINE

April 1997 NCTU and other 7organizations

SUN Ultra II168 MHz CPU*2,256 MB RAMStorage: 80 GB

ISI SCI SSCI July 1997 NCTU Sun Ultra II168 MHz CPU*2,256 MB RAMStorage: 60 GB

EngineerInformation (EI)

EI Compendex Weband EI Villagea

March 1998 NCTU and other15 organizations

Sun Ultra II300 MHz CPU*2,512 MB RAMStorage: 60 GB

a The server and storage space for EI Compendex Web and EI Village are supported by STIC.

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information provider presents a draft proposal and pricing structure, and the committeepasses this information to consortium members for comment. Then the committee calls ameeting of the information provider and consortium members interested in the specificdatabase. In the meeting the information provider presents its proposal, answers questionsfrom consortium members, etc. This process is repeated until consortium members and theinformation provider reaches an agreement. Until September 1998, the consortium hasdiscussed subscriptions with EI, Elsevier, IEEE, and ISI for the databases listed in Table 1.Among these the consortium has signed a contract with EI (151 members subscribe). In thenear future, the consortium will discuss subscriptions with Academic Press, Springer-Verlagand other information providers.

5. Impact of Infospring

The InfoSpring Project has had a significant impact on Taiwanese libraries in a number ofways. This section details these impacts.

5.1. Expedite a shift in research information services

Although retrieving research information through Web-based systems is a growing trendin many countries, individual libraries in Taiwan have hesitated to offer this kind of serviceto their users. The InfoSpring Project works around this conservatism and installs andmaintains mirror sites for databases locally in Taiwan so that the access speed is improvedsignificantly, thereby giving Taiwan’s libraries more motivation to join the Web trend.Additionally, a few libraries in Taiwan are not certain whether their users like Web-basedresearch databases. From user responses to trial access, libraries can collect enough infor-mation to determine whether it is appropriate for them to offer this service.

5.2. Expedite resource sharing

The InfoSpring Project is a large-scale undertaking that realizes the goal of resourcesharing. The organizations joining the project can give their users a more efficient researchinformation service without significant investment. The success of the InfoSpring Projectproves the effectiveness of resource sharing, and libraries in Taiwan can apply this model toother large-scale collaborative projects such as inter-library loan and document deliveryservices.

5.3. Integrate library and computer services

In the last two decades library services have been revolutionized by computer andcommunications technologies. In Taiwan library and computer services are like two parallelprofessions, with little integration between them. The InfoSpring Project demonstrates theeffectiveness of integrating the expertise from these two fields. Now, learning from NCTU’s

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experiences, more universities in Taiwan are beginning to integrate their libraries andcomputer centers.

5.4. Establish a Consortium Model for research information

One side benefit of the InfoSpring Project has been the establishment of a libraryconsortium for research information, which implements a resource sharing policy andprovides some leverage when negotiating contracts with information providers.

5.5. Attract Government Funding

Unlike OhioLINK and other well-known library consortia which have support fromgovernment, NCTU has invested in all of the necessary servers, storage capacity, andmanpower from the beginning. In four years the value of this project has been proved,especially with regard to Taiwan’s research activities. As a consequence, Taiwan’s NationalInformation Infrastructure Project has begun granting funds to InfoSpring, particularlythrough STIC.

6. Future prospects

For the InfoSpring Project to remain successful and viable, the range of services needs toexpand. Accordingly, the project will be active on three fronts in coming years.

6.1. Expand research information service

Currently Infospring is planning to set up local sites in Taiwan for US Patent, IEEE IELWeb version, and Springer-Verlag’s Link service. In addition the project is working withdomestic publishers to develop arrangements for hosting their databases.

6.2. Research and development

Integrating computer and communication technologies to offer better library servicesis another primary goal. To accomplish this, the project is cooperating with otherorganizations (such as STIC) to develop systems for enhancing library services andsupporting a resource sharing policy. For example, one ongoing project is to create aunion catalog and holdings database of medical journals for assisting document deliveryservice. This project is funded by the Ministry of Education and involves the participa-tion of 16 major medical libraries.

Although the fastest way to set up a mirror site for a database is to bring its data and searchengine to Taiwan, in some cases the publisher does not allow that option. Springer-Verlag’sLink service is one such case. Springer-Verlag agrees to place the table of contents and

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bibliographic records of its journals in Taiwan, but NCTU must develop the software forindexing and searching the bibliographic records.

7. Conclusions

Retrieving information as quickly as possible is important to every researcher, andNCTU’s InfoSpring Digital Library Project seeks to satisfy this need. The primary task ofInfoSpring is to host locally in Taiwan those reference databases and e-journals relevant tothe country’s research activities. Organizations joining the project can subscribe to andaccess databases installed in InfoSpring without investing in servers, storage capacity oradditional manpower. To select appropriate databases for InfoSpring and secure the bestpossible pricing, a resource sharing library consortium has been founded, and this seems thebest alternative for future resource building among academic and research institutions inTaiwan.

References

[1] ILCSO. The Illinois Library Computer System Organization. http://ilcso.aiss.uiuc.edu/Web/About.html.[2] OhioLINK. Ohio Library and Information Network. http://www.ohiolink.edu.[3] Ressler, S., Trefzger B. Development of the NIST Virtual Library. IEEE Internet Computing v. 1 (October

1997):35–41.[4] Tex-Share. TexShare Library Resource Sharing Program. http://www.texshare.edu.

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