Ringgold has exciting news this month, including our acquisition of Book News, details of our new service Validate, staff changes, and details of future events we’ll be attending, including the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Ringgold acquires Book News Inc

Ringgold has acquired 100% ownership of Book News Inc, an Oregon company that has been serving publishers for many years by creating abstracts of their new monographs in academic and scholarly subjects and distributing them to libraries and aggregators. These abstracts serve libraries by providing independent descriptive overviews of new titles, aiding librarians and scholars in their selection and purchase for developing their collections.

Ringgold’s vision is to expand Book News by developing new services for publishers, especially in the provision of enhanced book metadata for all titles and abstracting services for e-books. For information about Book News, please contact us.

Ringgold Challenge interim results

Thank you to those who have taken part in The Ringgold Challenge so far. The survey has highlighted some potential areas on which improvements can be focussed, and you have helped to create a core data set against which future progress can be measured.

Some headline results are:

• 76% of respondents considered that data could be managed more effectively.
• Only 15% of respondents had actually calculated the size of their market and their penetration of it.
• Of those respondents that publish both books and journals, 41% had not tried to integrate subscription / purchase data (for example, to enable cross-marketing of related titles).
• Only 20% of respondents indicated that they have a defined process for keeping customer records up to date.
• Respondents estimated that inefficiencies resulting from poor data are resulting in an average loss of 156 hours per month.

Click here to participate in the survey if you have not already done so.

New Product – Validate

Validate enables Ringgold’s Identify customers to obtain Ringgold IDs for institutions which are not currently held in the Identify Database and with immediate effect. Ringgold’s staff and researchers manually check all entries made in the Validate system. The next working day, clients receive a report of the accepted and rejected records, with any associated corrections.

The advantages are numerous; you are able to obtain a new Ringgold number for addition into multiple internal systems and to use that number to link systems together. Use cases include:

• Entry of a new customer, for ordering and fulfilment for both online and print products
• Entry of a new author affiliation, for submissions systems
• Entry of a new prospective customer, for CRM databases

Staff Changes

There has been a new permanent appointment at Ringgold. We welcome Phil Nicholson as our new Data Manager within the Production Team. Phil was previously Data Governance Manager at the Royal Society of Chemistry.

As part of a reorganisation:- Ralph Shoffner is now Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Don Chvatal Chief Operating Officer, is President of Ringgold Inc and of Book News Inc. Laura Cox becomes Chief Marketing Officer and Jay Henry VP of Marketing at Book News, becomes VP of Sales and Marketing for Ringgold and will be responsible for North America.

Types Project

We have been working on the types project for some time. The customer consultation process took a little longer than anticipated and we have undergone extensive testing of the new schema for classifying institutions. We will be unveiling the final taxonomy at the Frankfurt Book Fair, please contact Laura Cox if you would like to book an appointment to discuss the types project, or drop an email through to receive a copy of the new schema after the book fair.

Customer Support

We have produced brand new user guides for Identify and CDO. Organised in easy-to-find sections, they are intended to help answer any queries you may have while using our products. To receive copies please contact our Customer Support Manager Gisele Rawlins who will be happy to send by email.

Need a question answered? You may also be interested to know that we now have a dedicated Customer Support contact on Skype. Direct message us or call us for free with a Skype account, we are very happy to answer your Identify or CDO questions. Find us at ‘ringgoldinc’, Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm (UK and US hours).

Are you sure your staff are getting the best out of our databases? Do you have new employees or are you new to Ringgold’s services? Contact Us to discuss your training requirements, including refresher and new-starter training, with our dedicated Customer Support Manager – we’re always here to help.

Identify Database Update

Identify is now at over 330,000 records, with a whopping 31,500 records added from June to September 2012. We have been working hard to ensure comprehensive coverage of USA schools, with the database total now at over 40,000 records. Many US public libraries have also been added, with each of the 50 largest (by population) cities’ public library systems now having records for all branches.

French universities are regrouping as part of IDEX project. We are amending Identify Database records accordingly. Universita degli Studi di Camerino and Universita degli Studi di Parma (IT) have restructured. Identify has been updated to reflect this news, too.

Our editorial policy has been extended to include academic programs and all site offices for corporate and government organizations, including factories, laboratories and correctional facilities. We are also now making records for hospital departments.

Consortium Directory Online (CDO) Updates

The following consortia have been added recently:

Albania
– Electronic Resources for Albania (ERA2012)

Canada
– Reseau universitaire integre de sante de l’Universite de Montreal (RUIS de l’UdeM)

India
– Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Health Sciences Library Network (BFUHS-HSLIBNET)

Philippines
– Philippines eLib Project

United States
– Buffalo Independent Secondary Schools Network (BISSNET)
– Health Sciences Librarians of Illinois (HSLI)
– Health Sciences Library Association of New Jersey (HSLANJ)
– Libraries in Clackamas County (LINCC)
– Library Consortium of Health Institutions in Buffalo (LCHIB)
– Milwaukee County Federated Library System (MCFLS)

If you have any suggestions for future developments to CDO, or wish to provide us with any feedback, please contact us at info@ringgold.com

Other News

Chief Marketing Officer Laura Cox has joined the UKSG marketing committee.

Ringgold now has it’s own YouTube channel! Take a look at our product demo videos at www.youtube.com/ringgoldinc

Follow us on Twitter for all the latest Ringgold announcements, news, and technical status of our products.

Events

Ringgold will be attending the following events in the next few weeks:

• STM Annual Conference, 9 October 2012, Frankfurt, Germany
• Frankfurt Book Fair, Hall 4.2, Stand N444. 10-14 October 2012, Frankfurt, Germany.
• Charleston Conference, 7-10 November, Charleston, SC.

If you would like to arrange an appointment, please contact us at info@ringgold.com