Department of Collection Development is in charge of collection development in the National Science Library (NSL) of Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). While guaranteeing the quality of traditional basic functions, in order to improve the documental collection development model in a digital context, we’ve gathered the resources and working forces within NSL by setting up the ‘NSL collection development task force’ and enforcing cooperation among main library and its branches. With innovation in the organizational structure and technology, as well as the optimization of resource distribution within the NSL library system, we’ve managed to achieve large progress in the ability to provide documental resource to the whole institution.
With years of effort, CAS has built up an institutional documental resource and information system mainly consisted of digital resources, formed an integrated and united service system for the whole institution, and effectively improved documental resource and information service for CAS. Based on the user-centered principle, we’ve been emphasizing providing service to every departmental institute of CAS, and built a basic model around digital resource and e-first mode with a system combining contribution from and support to both CAS and the departmental institutes. By playing an active role in the construction of the nationwide platform and gaining more budgetary support, CAS has completed transforming from a print-based departmental purchase model to a digital-based online documental collection development and group purchase model planned on the institutional level.
1. Introducing e-resource for CAS
With the development of integrated CAS documental resource and information system, based on detailed demand-distribution analysis and innovative resource introducing methods, we continued to optimize resource distribution within our system, explore new possibilities outside the library, and managed to enlarge resource introduction with limited documental resource budget via a variety of methods.
By the end of 2008, the total CAS foreign language digital collection of CAS has reached 9,668 current journals, 168,000 thesis and dissertations, 190,000 volumes of proceedings, and 19,000 books, including reference books. The number for Chinese resources is 8,813 journals, 434,100 thesis and dissertations.
2. Collecting print resource for CAS
During the development of digital-based online documental collection development and group purchase model planned on the institutional level, we continued to integrate and build the print resource collection. Meanwhile, as the science library of National Science and Technology Library (NSTL), we are responsible for purchasing and preserving print journals in basic science and high technology fields. In 2008 NSL has subscribed to 2,333 foreign language journals and 1,203 kinds of non-journal documents which contain 1,274 volumes, as well as 16 CDs.
3. Long-term digital preservation
We’ve been positively participating in long-term digital preservation tasks related to negotiating, reaching agreements, receiving preservation data, preservation methods and models, long-term preservation management and service, and have included long-term digital preservation into our collection development work flow and set up a complete management and performance system.
4. Developing and integrating independent resources
The Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD) was founded in 1989. It is the first citation database in China, and is called “the SCI of China”. It contains thousands of core periodicals and other outstanding journals in science and technology, as well as in management, and has currently accumulated over 3,000,000 full-text records and 17,000,000 citation records dating from 1989 till now. Some special services based on CSCD include science and technology document citation retrieving, document bibliometric factors, science and technology journals citation factors, and intelligence analysis.
The National Journal Union Catalog Database is the largest journal union catalog database in China developed by CAS over the last 30 years. It contains more than 100,000 kinds of journals in Chinese, western language, Japanese, and Russian from more than 500 domestic documental intelligence organizations, and provides strong support for journal resource sharing with the nation. In the last few years, we have made valuable exploration in organizing digital resource, and have realized the transformation from union catalog to multi-resource, multi-type integrated service system by developing the digital repository of union catalog.
The next goal of independent resources is to build up a documental database platform, which enables the retrieving, acquiring, and evaluating of resources within CAS, even the whole nation by putting together citation databases, union catalog database and NSTL resource database. We’ve also made efforts in speeding the internationalization of our citation database to form globally accepted Chinese database product. Works have also been done to enforce the integration of Chinese citation database and NSTL database, and to combine the result with e-resource-repository-based union catalog integrated service system in order to build the top-class global document retrieving and acquiring information platform to provide superb service for self-innovated research.
5. Developing comprehensive science and technology information resource
Scholarly communication in the digital context has brought new requirements for collection development, we have to adjust the collection development model, make movements from traditional document resource to comprehensive science and technology information resources, from purchase-centered collection development to collection development open to collection and organizing. This is our emphasis in the new historical period. In this field, we have already started research in SKE, which has aimed to build a comprehensive technology information communication and management platform embedded in the whole research process. Currently pilot projects of this platform have been set up in departmental institutes including the South-west Bio-diversity Base and Institute of Botany.
