1. Activities and progress

This section of the report concerns activities and progress made by SCOPE in relation to the Project proposal and SCOPE's contract with eLib. It identifies the achievements of the Project team subsequent to the Year 1 Annual Report.

1.1 Major activities undertaken by the project

1.1.1 Copyright

• Keeping abreast of development on copyright issues relating to electronic media.
• Participating in debate with stakeholder groups on issues raised by on-demand publishing in electronic libraries, via electronic mailing lists, and at relevant conferences and workshops.
• Identifying rights holders for material targeted for SCOPE use.
• Negotiating terms on which SCOPE may use an expanded range of copyright materials; the range of sociology materials was increased in depth and other subject areas were added to those materials.

1.1.2 Library

• Working with library representatives to identify courses suitable for SCOPE resources and to supply reading lists to the copyright unit in the correct format and on schedule.
• Liaising with academics and librarians to supply materials of a sufficiently high quality to the Technical Unit.
• Initiating discussion in consortium member institutions (CMIs) about who should pay for texts delivered online.
• Surveying IT facilities in member institutions prior to development of the online delivery system, Cactus.
• Revising Letter of Understanding to take account of comments made by member institutions and the Data Protection Act.

1.1.3 Production

• Digitizing, formatting, and proof-reading copyright materials to be included in course packs and in the SCOPE electronic resource bank.
• Participating in debate with stakeholder groups on issues raised by on-demand publishing in electronic libraries, via electronic mailing lists, and at relevant conferences.
• Producing course packs from hard copy and from electronic copy received directly from copyright holders.
• Developing the SCOPE online delivery system, Cactus.

1.1.4 Publicity

(Details in Appendix F)

• Presenting SCOPE findings at relevant fora and thus generating feedback from all stakeholder groups.
• Submitting papers to journals and magazines as appropriate.
• Raising the profile of the project in electronic discussion as appropriate.
• Maintaining up-to-date web pages.
• Reporting regularly to Scottish Confederation of University and Research Library (SCURL) representatives.
• Organizing and holding meetings of representatives from SCOPE CMIs.

1.1.5 Evaluation

• In accordance with the SCOPE Evaluation Plan (9 May 1996), conducting and co-ordinating focus groups and structured interviews, and administering questionnaires as appropriate with a view to monitoring the impact of SCOPE on all stakeholder groups. Evaluation activities focused on resources supplied to students during Year 2 and stimulated initial discussion of the issues raised by online delivery of SCOPE resources.

1.2 Effects of any changes made to the project plan in the light of the experience of the first year of the project and indicated in The Year 1 Annual Report

The SCOPE Year 1 Annual Report indicated that SCOPE would 'seek less formal agreements with a core of "favoured publishers"' with a view to progressing towards online delivery. SCOPE has agreed terms on a less formal basis with a tiny minority of publishers. However, we have increased significantly the number of formal agreements secured with publishers and, generally these are based on the SCOPE model contract.

The Year 1 Annual Report also indicated that SCOPE would seek to produce materials that 'generate profit and thus subsidize more expensive copyright items.' During Year 2 we produced a manual titled Document Production Using Microsoft Word 6 which was an enormous success within the target institution (a print run of 450 copies sold out). A text on Banking, Finance & Money written by a prominent academic working in a SCOPE CMI was also successful. The latter text will be available more widely within the consortium during Year 3 both for online access and in hard copy as appropriate. (For example, specific chapters may be included as constituent parts in more general course packs or the whole work may be reproduced as a course pack).

1.3 The main objectives or targets during the period and how far the Project Team has been successful in meeting them

1.3.1 Year 2 general objectives

1.3.1.1 TO ADD ARTICLES TO THE RESOURCE BANK BEYOND 'CORE READING' LISTS.

This has been achieved. During Years 1 and 2 of the Project, resources were delivered in the form of course packs although terms of use agreed with publishers allow SCOPE to deliver these materials online when appropriate. Course packs produced to date have each consisted of approximately 10-12 essential readings. With a view to piloting our online delivery system by offering to students a broad range of materials in their subject area, the SCOPE team accepted for copyright clearance a list of 70 high-demand items required by an undergraduate sociology class at one of the CMIs. This list represents all of the materials selected for the short-loan collection and goes beyond 'core reading'. To date, permission has been secured to digitize more than half of these materials which will be available online in the Spring semester of 1998.

1.3.1.2 TO INCLUDE IN THE RESOURCE BANK TEXTS PREPARED BY ACADEMIC STAFF AT SCOPE CMIS

This also has been achieved (see above).

1.3.1.3 TO INVESTIGATE THE WILLINGNESS OF INSTITUTIONS TO SHARE TEXTS

The three academics supplying the Project with their own teaching materials have been willing to share these resources with other institutions. However, one benefit of SCOPE resources is that they may be tailored to local needs, e.g. to software/hardware configuration at a specific institution. Clearly, these latter materials will be less useful at other institutions.

1.3.2 Year 2 technical objectives

1.3.2.1 TO TRANSMIT SCOPE RESOURCES OVER JANET AND MAKE THEM AVAILABLE ONLINE AT ONE OR MORE SCOPE CMIS

The SCOPE online delivery system has been developed. Unfortunately, owing to illness, the system was not complete in time for a Spring pilot. Nevertheless, the system has been demonstrated to and has been well received by a variety of stakeholder groups including publishers, and we are on target for reaching the original delivery milestone in year 3.

1.3.2.2 TO OFFER THE FACILITY TO CUSTOMIZE COURSE PACKS FOR LOCAL PRINTING OF MULTIPLE COPIES AT ONE OR MORE CMI

To date, there has been no demand for local printing of multiple copies at CMIs: central printing costs are very competitive. Since user surveys have consistently shown that much of course packs go unread and that students are particularly concerned about relevance to their own particular needs, as well as value for money, attention has focused on the feasibility of permitting students to customise packs to their individual needs. Campus booksellers have been involved in discussions on delivery mechanisms. The SCOPE team has identified some problems but will endeavour to overcome these with a view to offering this service before the Project end-date, and this service may be offered at one or more SCOPE CMIs during the Spring 1998 semester.

1.3.2.3 TO INCLUDE AMONG SCOPE RESOURCES MATERIALS THAT ARE TECHNICALLY CHALLENGING FOR PRODUCTION STAFF

The subject area that SCOPE selected for its technical content is engineering. SCOPE production staff digitized required reading material for an undergraduate engineering module at one CMI. This work was challenging as the Technical Unit was required to typeset mathematical content and to convert and manipulate graphic images which had been constructed using a word-processing package. The Technical Manager overcame difficulties and produced a course pack that was considered to be both useful and good value for money by staff and students using it. Material that has been processed for production of course packs posed no further difficulty with regard to delivery online for viewing and printing.

1.3.2.4 TO ESTABLISH DESELECTION PROCEDURES FOR OUTDATED AND LESS POPULAR MATERIALS AND ARTICLES

There has been no requirement for deselection procedures in Year 2 of the Project and we have delayed development of appropriate procedures. We have started to negotiate arrangements for archiving digitized material that is not required for immediate use. A non-use retention clause is now included in the SCOPE contract for future SCOPE-publisher agreements.

1.3.2.5 DEVELOPMENT OF AN ONLINE DELIVERY SYSTEM WHICH SATISFIES COPYRIGHT HOLDERS THAT MATERIAL TRANSMITTED OVER THE NETWORK AND DELIVERED ONLINE IS SECURE

The SCOPE Technical Manager developed such a system early in 1997. Development costs were well within budget and included some input from a commercial company. The SCOPE system, called Cactus, has five levels of security. Several publishers have seen the system demonstrated already and were impressed by its security features. One large academic publisher has requested a second demonstration for technical staff from the company. Cactus is cross platform and will not require libraries to invest in additional hardware; only minimal investment in software is required to install the system.

1.4 Outputs produced from SCOPE activities (such as prototypes, models, demonstrator services, actual services, events, reports etc.)

• Three course packs for an undergraduate sociology class at one institution in Autumn 1996
• A course pack for economics students in Autumn 1996, written by a member of academic staff at a SCOPE CMI; the material will be updated for use in 1997.
• A course pack for engineering students in Spring 1997 consisting of copyright materials and notes written by academics at a CMI; this pack will be updated for use in 1997 and will be amended for use by students of medical engineering in Autumn 1997.
• A workbook for Word 6 was written by academics at a CMI and will be reprinted for 1997
• Agreements for licensing on-demand publishing in SCOPE CMIs with more than 40 copyright holders in addition to those secured during Year 1 of the Project.
• In accordance with the PRINCE project management model, all SCOPE activities are documented thoroughly; copies of the resulting reports are sent to the JISC.
• A document-delivery system incorporating five levels of security for network transmission and online delivery at SCOPE CMIs.

1.5 Particular successes to report

• SCOPE circulated a functional specification for our online delivery system in Spring 1996 and invited commercial companies to bid for the development project. None of the bids received covered the requirements specified and companies advised SCOPE that development of the system would cost in excess of £100K. SCOPE had budgeted only £12K for the development project. During Year 2 of the SCOPE Project, the Technical Manager has developed, within budget, a system that meets the specification, has been praised highly by several significant publishers, and will require of academic libraries only minimal investment in software.
• The Cactus system circumvents some security loopholes that continue to be described generally as impossible to address. SCOPE has developed a system at the leading edge of ECMS technology.
• The SCOPE model agreement has been accepted by a wide range of academic publishers. It would appear that during Year 2 of the Project we reaped the benefit of work invested from the beginning in developing a contract that is acceptable to a majority of academic publishers. The contract is lengthy and negotiation on its detail can take time but a thorough approach in appreciated by most publishers; their relationship with SCOPE is very clear when terms are finally agreed. Several publishers have made it clear to SCOPE team members that they consider SCOPE's approach to be a 'well thought out', 'real world' approach that will survive beyond eLib rather than a short-term 'fix' for the purposes of the Project. For these reasons, the rights director of one large journal publisher which usually rejects applications from libraries to digitize its material, is at present engaging in negotiation with SCOPE with a view to licensing on-demand publishing in the SCOPE consortium member libraries.
• SCOPE now has a sufficient number of agreements with publishers to offer a 'critical mass' of materials to sociology students in the classes supplied with SCOPE resources to date. As SCOPE expands the number of subject areas covered, many reading lists are likely to contain readings selected from texts published by these companies; they tend to publish materials that would be useful at least throughout the social science faculty. During Year 3 of the Project, the number of agreements will increase further so that a 'critical mass' in other subject areas may be available before the Project ends in its present form.
• SCOPE produced course packs consisting of material written in-house by academics at SCOPE CMIs. These packs were very successful and a significant proportion of the production costs was recovered, including a mark-up for overheads.
• In common with other projects, SCOPE has experienced difficulty in persuading students to participate in evaluation activities. However, the Project's success in this area was improved significantly during Year 2; focus groups were very well attended during the autumn 1996 semester. We believe this success to be related to the fact that evaluation was scheduled to follow immediately after lectures and to the material incentives offered to students; the latter consisted of 'goody bags' containing beer and chocolate.

[Contents]