Reminder: MLA Bibliography and ArtAbstracts Migration

As discussed in a past CDLINFO (Vol. 3, No.8   http://www.cdlib.org/news/cdlinfo/cdlinfo061500.html#2), as of July 1 MLA Bibliography and ArtAbstracts will be provided by new vendors (SilverPlatter and H. W. Wilson respectively).

Note: As of July 1 the only access to these databases will be via the vendor web interfaces (SilverPlatter for MLA Bibliography and H.W. Wilson for Art Abstracts and Art Index Retrospective).  The Z39.50 access to MLA and ArtAbstracts in both the telnet and web CDL interfaces will be temporarily disabled as we transition to the new vendors.  As part of the transition these databases will be temporarily removed from the database menus in the CDL-hosted databases welcome screen the CDL web site; users attempting to access these databases via telnet will be redirected to the appropriate vendor web sites.  There will be a news announcement that users will be able to see under “What’s New” on the CDL-hosted databases welcome screen and in the database news in the telnet interface.   We are currently working with the vendors to make these databases available to users from the CDL interfaces via Z39.50 on July 19.

SearchLight Implication: On July 1 MLA and ArtAbstracts will be removed from SearchLight.  The new versions will be added within the next few weeks, either accessed through the Z39.50 interface or the native interface.  We intend to implement them via Z39.50 so that we can provide “instant gratification” to the CDL-hosted databases interface, but if the Z39.50 implementations are delayed we may use the native interfaces.  Starting July 1 there will be a “What’s New” link on the SearchLight search page; the latest information about the status of resources in SearchLight will be available on this page.