Melvyl’s Central Index is expanding

CDL will now activate CDL-managed Tier 2 databases in Melvyl’s Central Index. This was the recommendation of the Melvyl Configuration and Electronic Resources Project Team, and the Council of University Librarians endorsed it on September 14, 2015.

Why is this important?

Fewer campuses are participating in Tier 1 licenses with all ten campuses and more are participating in Tier 2 licenses with four or more campuses. By expanding our activation model to include CDL-managed Tier 2’s, this means more databases will continue to be available for campuses in Central Index. By adding Tier 2’s to Central Index, patrons will have access to more of the resources to which campuses subscribe.

What does this mean for staff, faculty and students?

Campuses will have access to more licensed content in search results. Each campus will experience different search results depending on the resources they license.
The project team discussed this new model with public services librarians, in particular the digital reference librarians, since this directly affects their daily work. We have heard from library staff that for the most part, they are ready to embrace the addition of Tier 2 resources in the Central Index.

How much more will be available in Central Index?

Currently, CDL has eighty-nine Tier 1 databases activated in Central Index. Twenty-seven more databases can now be activated as a result of adding CDL-managed Tier 2s.
At this time, the project team did not recommend adding locally managed Tier 3 campus licenses to Central Index. The amount of effort was much higher for both the campuses and CDL for the small number of databases to be gained.

Overall, about 25% of CDL-managed licensed databases are currently available in Central Index. This percentage does not include remote databases, which must be accessed via Z39.50. CDL’s policy is not to activate these databases. See Melvyl Central Index Procedures for more information.

Before databases can be made available in Central Index, OCLC must successfully negotiate with the database provider, implement a metadata upload process, receive a critical mass of the database’s content, and more. This process is typically lengthy, often spanning more than a year. So, even though CDL may license a database, it doesn’t mean that database is available in Central Index. The good news is OCLC continues to add content regularly.

You can expect to see the new content in search results starting the week of October 19.

Learn more about Melvyl’s Central Index on the CDL website.