Digital Commons Network^™

Untangling The Jungle Of E-Journal Access Issues Using Crm Software, Carol Ann Borchert

Carol Ann Borchert

Librarians have been struggling for years with the variety of issues arising while troubleshooting access to electronic journals. This article outlines the advantages and disadvantages of using a Customer Relations Management (CRM) software, originally designed for a call center, to communicate with patrons and track access issues. Utilizing the email software used by the Reference Department at the University of South Florida, we assign incidents, correspond with patrons and staff, write internal notes, maintain transactions, and pull statistics. Hopefully, library vendors will develop software oriented to the needs of libraries to assist in managing access problems for e-journals.

The Impact Of Grey Literature In Advancing Global Karst Research, Todd A. Chavez, Anna Perrault, Pete Reehling, Courtney Crummit

Todd A. Chavez

This presentation presents the findings of a survey of karst researchers from around the globe. The data suggests that karst research is heavily dependent on access to grey literature, yet formal efforts to organize for access and to preserve this important information is weak.

A Snapshot Of The Body Of Karst Literature, Sarah E. Fratesi, Lee Florea, Todd A. Chavez, H. Len Vacher

Todd A. Chavez

The pace of research in cave and karst science is increasing. The inherent multidisciplinary nature of the field exacerbates the need for globalized communication. The field, however, is served by a literature that is dispersed across far-flung topical journals, government publications, and club newsletters. As part of an inter-institutional project to globalize karst information (KIP, the Karst Information Portal), the USF Library undertook a structured battery of literature searches to map the domain of karst literature. The administrators of the KIP will use these data to design strategies to aggregate and evaluate the representation of information within the KIP.

The …

The Global Karst Digital Portal: An Emerging Collaboratorium, Robert Brinkmann, Todd A. Chavez, Louise Hose, Diana Northup

Todd A. Chavez

The National Cave and Karst Research Institute, the University of South Florida, and the University of New Mexico have developed a network portal to enhance information access and improved communication within the national and international karst community. The partnership developed an on-line digital portal with free access to a variety of information. This holistic undertaking seeks to bring karst research forward in the digital age. In addition, the project creates global connections by including a user-generated submission process for enhancing the diversity of materials available through the portal. We are currently transforming A Guide to Speleological Literature of the English …

Digital Dilemmas: The Transformation Of Scholarly Discourse In The Humanities, Anna H. Perrault

Anna H. Perrault

The last two decades of the 20th century brought rapid and cataclysmic change to the industrialized world with the introduction and then invasion of computer technology into every aspect of life. Dissemination of scholarly research in many disciplines had migrated from journals and books produced by scholarly societies and university presses to the for-profit sector. As the corporate publishers began reaping profits from the scholarly enterprise, electronic publication and “taking back” the publication of research were solutions proposed to make the dissemination of research affordable for academe. The research library and scholarly publishing communities are collaborating in the establishment of …