NERS voting ballot
The first NERS Content voting cycle has been organized in the first half of 2018. The aim of the Content voting cycle was to have new content collections/targets/databases added into all Ex Libris ProQuest KnowledgeBases (Alma CZ, SFX KB, 360 KB) and indices (Primo Central, Summon). Thank you to all the ELUNA and IGeLU members who submitted requests, voted and helped strengthen the voice of the Ex Libris user community!
Before the voting ballot starts, old CKB and newly added requests were first reviewed to remove duplicates, requests that did not fit in the Content category, and requests for content that is already included in all KBs and indexes. More than 250 Content requests were reviewed before being made available for voting.
Here are the top ten vote winners. Included in the top 10 are the top from each of the 4 regional groups that were highlighted this voting cycle (Danish language, English language [ANZREG], German language and Spanish language). Some of these are already in knowledge bases, and not in the indexes (Summon and Primo Central Index), and vice versa; we are requesting that these resources be added by Ex Libris to all KBs and indexes when feasible.
| Rank | Title | ReqID | Regional Group |
| #1 | PsycINFO | 3574 | |
| #2 | MathSciNet | 3478 | |
| #3 | American Chemical Society | 3515 | |
| #4 | HeinOnline | 3468 | |
| #5 | Mediearkivet & Atekst | 5978 | Danish Language |
| #6 | Lovdata | 5980 | Norwegian Language |
| #7 | Cristin | 5979 | Norwegian Language |
| #8 | CCH Online | 3629 | English Language (ANZREG) |
| #9 | Digitale Bibliothek des Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum (FREE) | 5393 | German Language |
| #10 | eBooks UPC | 3523 | Spanish Language |
The cooperation of vendors/publishers, not always a guarantee, is necessary for content to actually be added. If a resource cannot be added, we will move the next-highest vote winners (“Plan B”) up into the top 10. These are the next highest vote winners, including at least one from each of the regional groups: Juridika (Norwegian language), The Cochrane Library, EBSCO eBooks and Audiobooks, Westlaw, Times Digital Archive 1785-2010, Kanopy, World Health Organization IRIS, Journals@Ovid, Philosopher’s Index, RILM International Repertory of Music Literature, Beck Online (German language), AustLit (English Language [ANZREG]), Teatro Español del Siglo de Oro (Spanish language), Revistas CSIC (Spanish language), Karnov Group (Danish language).
Thanks again to everyone who voted! The Content WG and Ex Libris will keep the community informed on the progress in the upcoming months.
We will be doing another cycle of NERS content voting in the second half of 2018.
Institutional Repository Program
The Content WG is also providing feedback on the program to add Institutional Repositories to discovery indices, regarding documentation and requirements for new IRs, updating, and open access issues. Ex Libris is reviewing the IR program to address these concerns. Ex Libris should update the community at the next IGeLU Conference and via the Knowledge Center soon.
MLA International Bibliography
While the Content WG spends time and effort to get new content added into the KBs and indexes, we have also to regret that the MLA has decided to grant access to the MLA International Bibliography exclusively via EBSCO, for both dedicated and discovery access. As a consequence, MLA IB records should be removed from Primo Central Index and Summon from 2019. This decision does seem to be a significant step back for the concepts of customer choice and is unfortunately in contradiction with the NISO RP-19-2014 Open Discovery Initiative framework that promotes transparency in discovery. The Primo and Summon communities do not understand the MLA’s choice that leads to less diversity, a loss of data for discovery tool users, and isolation of the MLA IB records on the sole EBSCOhost interface. We believe that freedom of choice is fundamental to libraries’ work! IGeLU and ELUNA SCs have reacted to the MLA’s decision and have invited the society for an open discussion.
IGeLU 2018
This year, the Content Working Group Business Meeting will be followed by a dedicated Content Q&A session with Ex Libris. This CWG meeting is open to all conference attendees interested in KBs (Alma, SFX, 360) and indexes (Primo Central, Summon) and will include a report on the activities of the Content Working Group in 2017-2018 and an open discussion about what the CWG should focus on from 2019. Use the form at https://goo.gl/forms/Tp0dA986UsPloqFm2 (topic: Content (KBs and Indexes)) to submit your questions to Ex Libris! The meeting will be held on Tuesday August 21 at 4:45pm.
Ex Libris will share their plans about Content and update the community on the latest developments during session “Ex Libris Content: To Infinity and Beyond!” on Wednesday August 22 at 2:45pm.
François Renaville, Content WG coordinator for IGeLU
Kathy Varjabedian, Content WG coordinator for ELUNA