As is the case with many of you, maintenance of our electronic resources requires updating multiple knowledge stores/databases/what have you.  We are currently maintaining data in our ILS (Innovative, includes ERM module), a homegrown SQL database that powers our A-Z lists, an open URL link resolver (SFX), and EZProxy.  With one exception everything has to be updated separately, they don’t talk to each other.  The exception is our ability to enter EZProxy information in the SQL database and run a script that uses it to update EZProxy. 

We still have to enter data at least 3 times when we get a new journal.  We have 10,000 electronic journals and, for all intents and purposes, no print.  And no aggregators.  So you can see this is a real problem!

If any of you have found ways to get data to and/or from your ILS, open URL link resolver, A-Z list, and/or proxy server (one-stop shopping is the ultimate, but if you have implemented ways to update only twice instead of 4 times I’ll take it!), can you please contact me so that I can follow up with you on the details?  We’re doing an environmental scan to find out what others have done so that we can decide on what to do and get out from under the staff-intensive way we’re working now.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Betty Landesman, M.A., M.L.S., M.S.
Digital Resources and Metadata Coordinator
National Institutes of Health Library
Building 10, Room 1L05
10 Center Drive, MSC1150
Bethesda, MD   20892-1150
Phone:  301-496-3527
Fax: 301-496-0254
E-mail: landesb@mail.nih.gov
http://nihlibrary.nih.gov/
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