Hybrid Electronic Access and Delivery in the Library Networked Environment

Introduction to HeadLine

Aims of the Project

Description

HEADLINE (Hybrid Electronic Access and Delivery in the Library Networked Environment) was one of the Hybrid Libraries projects funded under the Electronic Libraries (eLib) Phase 3 programme of the UK Higher Education Joint Information Systems Committee. This three-year project began in January 1998 and its aims were to design and implement a working model of the hybrid library. Working in accordance with the aims of the Hybrid Libraries programme HeadLine's model was based around the user, with a user-dependent environment as a fundamental part of the project design.The system had access, via the login process, to the user's administrative details such as status, subject area and registered courses, and was able to use this information to provide a tailored and supportive environment. The system also retained feedback from the user's actions, providing a mechanism for the user profile to develop with time.

Resources

The project made use of the diverse resources available at the partner sites and users were able to access the following types of material:

• Local course-related materials - reading lists, exam papers etc;
• Catalogues (local consortium catalogues, M25, clumps via Z39.50, COPAC etc);
• Primary sources (electronic journals, DECOMATE, locally digitised materials);
• Secondary sources (BIDS, IBSS, ECONLit, SOSIG, Biz/Ed);
• Financial datasets;
• Government information;

The access media and delivery methods for these resources differ greatly and delivery methods range from proprietary Windows interfaces to Web-based products. Formats also can be numeric, graphical, bibliographic or full-text. Because of this, the project team was faced with a number of interesting, technical, copyright and licensing problems to solve. A Resource Data Model (RDM) containing metadata associated with the PIEs resources presented users with a whole range of information resources all accessible through the one interface. However, copyright and licensing restrictions for various resources was controlled within the RDM which could identify users and define access rights.

Evaluation and Dissemination

Throughout the course of the project, evaluation assisted with project design and was used to gain user feedback on the model. Phase One of the evaluation sought opinions from student users within the partner institutions while Phase Two widened its scope to guests and more experienced users of the PIE. Guest access to the service was introduced in October 2000 and the additional feedback from the wider library community contributed to the final results. Feedback was in the form of completed online questionnaires and provided valuable information on users' experiences of the PIE. Results of the evaluation contributed towards improvements in design, content and delivery of the service and will also inform the developments of any possible future hybrid library projects. The results and findings of the evaluation have been communicated throughout the academic, library and higher education community. The HeadLine Website (http://www.headline.ac.uk) has been the focus for much dissemination but the team has also used journal articles, conferences and other activities to publicise the project.

For a list of dissemination achievements and to read articles on the project see Published Documents and Dissemination.

Key Deliverables

The project aims were to develop the following:

• A working model for consistent access to library materials regardless of physical form, transferable across broad subject disciplines and a range of different higher education environments;
• A user-dependent dynamic Web environment within which to manage individual access to the resource base;
• Mechanisms for incorporating user feedback and evaluation into the design, content and delivery of the service;
• Exploration of licensing and copyright issues involved in providing access to the broad range of hybrid library materials;
• Continuous dissemination of results and progress of the project.

The project partners were the London School of Economics, the London Business School and the University of Hertfordshire. Development work was carried out at the LSE and the LBS, with all three sites participating in developing the user requirements model, testing the model and contributing to user evaluation studies. Due to their diversity of structure, subject focus and student population, the sites provided a good cross-section of the user profiles and organisational situations found in higher education institutions. In this way portability of the model between various sites and environments was ensured.

Contacts

Please note that because the HeadLine project is now finished the people below might not be contactable through the specified email addresses and phone numbers. Should you experience difficulties contacting anyone then please use the general HeadLine contact details.