Science, Technology and Industry Collection

In its October 1996 report, the Executive Working Group for the University of California Digital Library recommended that the Science, Technology and Industry Collection (STIC) become the first collection of the California Digital Library.  The Working Group’s recommendation recognized that 
•	“Much of the electronic content that we have begun to amass and is likely to be available over the next 3 years is in the areas of science, technology and medicine; many early electronic journal experiments have concluded that a critical mass of titles is an essential ingredient of success.”
•	STIC would “provide an important laboratory for us to deal with the organizational, technical, financial, policy, human resource and training issues in a real life setting.”  
•	“Solving the fiscal crisis in the sciences through the development of a new and more sustainable business model for scientific communication will go a substantial way in solving the general funding crisis in libraries and help to restore stability to funding for humanities materials.” 
•	“President Atkinson has recently identified new areas of outreach to the business community, beyond the initial area of biotechnology.  They are information technology and manufacturing engineering.  Certainly, all three of these outreach areas would find a logical home within this strategic initiative.”

In the fall of 1997, Richard Lucier, Special Assistant to the University of California President for Library Planning, convened the Science, Technology and Industry Task Force (STIC) to assist in developing the collection recommended by the Working Group.  The Task Force consists of Alison Bunting (UCLA), Beverlee French (UCD), Katie Frohmberg (UCB), Locke Morrisey (UCI), and Susan Starr (UCSD/UCOP).  Stella Bentley (UCSB) was also previously a member of the Task Force. 

The Task Force recommendations discussed below are designed to create a collection that will:

•	Provide scholarly material in a convenient and timely way to faculty and students in the sciences, facilitating their current research activities and building support for electronic access.
•	Serve as an opportunity to learn and plan for future California Digital Library (CDL) collections.
•	Serve as an opportunity to develop partnerships with business and industry.

Recommendation #1: Collection Strategy

The California Digital Library will provide access to a wide range of materials; plans call for both traditional published literature and research materials produced by UC faculty and students to be part of the CDL.   As the first collection of the CDL, STIC should also include both traditional library materials and non-traditional content and formats.  Recognizing that both funds for acquiring electronic content and experience with providing access to digital collections are limited, we recommend the following strategy for building STIC:

1.	To quickly develop the critical mass that past experience suggests is required for faculty acceptance, include, at the outset, high quality journal literature from those publishers who provide coverage of a broad range of disciplines from the Life, Health, and Physical Sciences and Engineering. 
2.	To begin to create the in-depth collections that are to be a feature of the CDL, add additional journal literature in selected areas as funds permit and as content becomes available.  In order to attract industry partners, begin with two of the areas that the University has identified for industry outreach: biotechnology and computer science (information technology).
3.	To allow STIC to serve as a laboratory for learning and planning for future CDL collections, gradually add other types of content.  Formats other than electronic journals or monographs present a variety of challenging issues; we have much less experience in identifying this literature or in constructing models for service and access.   To facilitate our discussion of these issues, we recommend focusing our initial efforts to include other types of content again in the two areas the University has identified for industry outreach: biotechnology and computer science.

Recommendation #2: Published Journal Selection

1998 Calendar Year:

Subscriptions for STIC that begin in 1998 must necessarily be selected on a purely pragmatic basis.  Not only is time very short, but funds are restricted, the number of titles available electronically from publishers of well-established research journals is small, and most publishers are not offering libraries title-by-title selection.   STIC should therefore focus in 1998 on journals from the most respected publishers in science and technology.  A list of these publishers has been developed based on a survey of science librarians on the six campuses represented on STIC (UCI, UCD, UCLA, UCSB, UCSD and UCB) in January of 1997.

Following the three step strategy outlined above, we recommend that highest priority be given to the publishers on this list who provide both high quality research journals and broad coverage of the Life, Health and Physical Sciences and Engineering.   Publishers who focus on biotechnology and computer sciences should also have priority for 1998.  Content from the remaining publishers should be added as funds permit.   If funds do not extend to all the desirable titles or publishers, the following principles can be used to select among them:

1.	Select material from disciplines whose use patterns make them most ready for electronic access.

2.	Select titles that are both indexed in a MELVYL A&I database and have URL’s that allow us to link citations from MELWEB directly to journal full-text.

3.	Select material from society presses in disciplines in which society publications are of equal or primary importance to users.

4.	Select material of likely interest to possible industrial partners.

1999 Calendar Year:

For 1999 subscriptions, decisions regarding published journal content should be made in a more systematic manner and, publishers permitting, on a title-by-title basis.   A variety of data should be collected in 1998 to assist us in making these decisions.  Sources of data should include:

•	Faculty recommendations 
Faculty involved in the LPAI have indicated that they wish to be involved in planning for the digital library and its collections.  STIC recommends that campus librarians contact faculty in the fall of 1998 and winter of 1999 to ask them for recommendations and to make them aware of the CDL and plans for the initial STIC collection.  STIC will hold workshops in the fall of 1998 to discuss these outreach efforts with campus bibliographers.

•	Campus bibliographer recommendations 
STIC contacts have recently been appointed on each campus not represented on STIC to assist in collecting recommendations from campus bibliographers.  The advisory structure under development for the CDL (see below) should also provide mechanisms for appropriate bibliographer involvement in all CDL collection development activities, including STIC.

•	Studies of UC citation patterns in Science Citation Index
Preliminary studies of the titles cited by UC faculty have proved useful in identifying publishers of significant content in computer science and biotechnology.  These studies should be extended to other areas of the sciences.

•	Campus data on journal usage
Many UC science libraries have collected data on the use of titles in their collections.  While this data was intended largely for use in cancellation projects, it should also provide useful information on the most important titles for STIC.

Data from all of the above sources should be integrated and evaluated in 1998 in preparation for 1999 subscriptions.

Recommendation #3: Non-journal Literature

As noted above, developing access methods and service models for literature other than electronic journals will likely require considerable time and effort.  STIC therefore recommends concentrating initial efforts to provide access to this literature on just two areas, biotechnology and computer science.  Before proceeding to add content in these areas, focus groups of faculty, facilitated by appropriate campus bibliographers, should be convened to help us to gain a better understanding of the kinds of literature that should be included.   Similar focus groups should be held with appropriate members of the business community to identify the types of literature that would encourage partnerships between the CDL and business and industry.   Examples of non-journal literature suitable for STIC include:

Computer Science
Access to UC technical reports in computer science or to algorithms.

Biotechnology
Access to patents, genomic data, or videotapes of guest lecturers at UC campuses. 

General
A digital version of a current UC publication, a suite of science dictionaries, or digitized handbooks.

Recommendation #4: Responsibilities for planning

Responsibility for planning and implementing STIC in 1997-98 and 1998-99 should continue to rest with the current STIC Task Force.  The Task Force should interact closely with the bibliographers on each campus.

Discussions of the advisory structure for the CDL are now underway as part of the Library Planning and Action Initiative.  Once the STIC collection is established, probably by the end of 1999, the Task Force should be discharged and the ongoing advisory structure of the CDL, including campus librarians, faculty, and other stakeholders, should become responsible for further collection development in these content areas.

The CDL should put procedures in place so that individual faculty can easily communicate newly identified needs for content.  MELWEB, the CDL Web Site, email, or other similar means should be used to encourage faculty to communicate with the CDL staff.  CDL staff should then be responsible for gathering information on suggested titles and submitting it to relevant CDL collection advisory groups for consultation and decisions. 

September 11, 1997