Discovery services are electronic resources used in college and university libraries which combine enormous amounts of content, including databases, knowledge bases, the library’s catalog, the packages of titles the library leases, and the titles that the library has access to through its consortium. Given the heroic amount of information they present, it is impossible for the discovery service to correct and complete poor or missing metadata. They receive new content every day; they are responsible for thousands of titles. As a result, those titles with poor or missing metadata – wrong or multiple ISBNs, for example, or illegibly scanned TOCs – cannot work within the platform. This means in turn that users who search within the resource will not discover that title.

This is the exact problem ProtoView was designed to solve. Working from the publisher’s electronic books and content, or from print books, we create descriptive abstracts and robust metadata that we send to the discovery services. The librarians, vendors, content providers, and discovery services representatives at ER&L are looking for ways to efficiently present publisher content so it will be discovered by today’s users.
Discovery services are electronic resources used in college and university libraries which combine enormous amounts of content, including databases, knowledge bases, the library’s catalog, the packages of titles the library leases, and the titles that the library has access to through its consortium. Given the heroic amount of information they present, it is impossible for the discovery service to correct and complete poor or missing metadata. They receive new content every day; they are responsible for thousands of titles. As a result, those titles with poor or missing metadata – wrong or multiple ISBNs, for example, or illegibly scanned TOCs – cannot work within the platform. This means in turn that users who search within the resource will not discover that title.

This is the exact problem ProtoView was designed to solve. Working from the publisher’s electronic books and content, or from print books, we create descriptive abstracts and robust metadata that we send to the discovery services. The librarians, vendors, content providers, and discovery services representatives at ER&L are looking for ways to efficiently present publisher content so it will be discovered by today’s users.

This is a fascinating time, as users – students, faculty, researchers – are accustomed to Google, and they personally own amazingly robust electronic devices that change how they discover and consume content. Keeping up with the expectations of these users is perhaps the main challenge these systems face. What was evident was that quality of metadata and the presence of abstracts were key factors for making discovery succeed.

A warm welcome to our newest customers

• American Thoracic Society
• ARTstor
• World Bank Publications

Cambridge University Press completes a full Ringgold Audit of customer data

We are very pleased to confirm that Ringgold and Cambridge University Press have been working together over the past year to clean,  de-duplicate and disambiguate CUP’s customer data, in preparation for a major systems implementation. “Ringgold is proud to be working with Cambridge University Press to provide data services and records from the Identify institutional authority database to help establish a clean, accurate, and well-structured data infrastructure. The CUP effort represents an example of best-practices in action”, says Jay Henry, CMO, Ringgold.

Identify User Group Meetings

Whether you are a seasoned Identify Database user or have just received your first set of Identify Audit files, Ringgold wants to see you at the 2015 Identify User Group meetings. Join us for updates, new implementation ideas, and a chance to contribute to the future of Identify. Meetings will take place May 29  3:00pm-6:30pm in Arlington VA (following SSP) and September 9, 10am-1pm in London (prior to ALPSP). Contact us for registraton details.

Diane Cogan joins Ringgold as Sales Director, UK and Europe

We are delighted to announce that Diane Cogan is joining Ringgold in a new, expanded role as Sales Director, UK and Europe on 6th April 2015. Diane has worked in the STEM publishing industry for over 35 years, and has worked with Ringgold as a Sales Consultant since 2010. We are pleased that Diane’s experience and expertise will be available to the benefit of our staff and customers for years to come.

Upcoming Presentations

We are delighted to be speaking at various events this Spring:

Diane Cogan,  Sales Director UK and Europe, will be joining the panel at a discussion entitled ‘You Made the Move to Open Access, What’s Next for Your Business?’ hosted by Copyright Clearance Center at the London Book Fair. The discussion will take place at 4.00-5.00 pm on Tuesday 14th April at The Faculty, Olympia. For more information see www.copyright.com/london.

Jay Henry, Ringgold’s Chief Marketing Officer, will be at the Council of Science Editors Annual Conference in Philadelphia discussing Emerging Standards: Data and Data Exchange in Scholarly Publishing on Sunday 17 May.

Christine Orr, Sales Director for North America, is speaking at SSP on Wednesday May 27. This pre-meeting seminar will address Implementing Next Generation ID Standards for the New Machine Age: ‘The Ties That Find’.

Jean Brodahl will be presenting in the Previews Session: New and Noteworthy Product Presentations at SSP on Thursday 28 May. She will focus on ProtoView and how it helps publishers increase the profile of their content within the scholarly supply chain.

Ringgold Expanded Metadata Update

As we’ve been reporting, the amount of descriptive institutional data to be included in the Identify Database is expanding. Vigorous internal testing continues as we ensure all exports will accommodate the new data elements; we plan to release alpha test data via the database export, API, and audit files. Alpha test clients will be notified shortly; we will then engage a wider group of clients for beta testing.

Customer Support and Easter Availability

Ringgold services will be operating normally over the Easter weekend, April 3-6 but with reduced staffing levels for the UK Bank Holidays. We will, however, deal with any general or technical enquiries promptly upon our return. Please send any issues or questions to info@ringgold.com.

Validate be available as usual, with customers receiving reports as normal. Identify will be updated on April 6 as normal.

Customer Support

For quick answers concerning Ringgold products, our customer support website is available 24/7. Find help for all of our products and easy access to user guides, editorial policies and news. Access to online support can be found from within CDO, Identify and Validate. We are keen to ensure that your staff are getting the most from our products and services. Let us know if there is any information or training your team may need – get armed to drive your sales in 2015.

Consortium Directory Online Update

In recent years consortia have been expanding significantly in developing nations. This reflects the continuing importance of consortia, but it is also the result of the work of organizations like the World Bank, INASP, and EIFL. For example, EIFL supported the establishment of three consortia in Africa and in the Pacific region in 2014. Consequently the geographic coverage of consortium records in CDO is widening: since the start of the year we have added profiles from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Angola, Namibia, Tanzania, Fiji, and Nicaragua to our database. In addition, we are continually updating existing CDO records.

If you have a suggestion for a CDO profile, contact us at cdo.support@ringgold.com or use our feedback form on the CDO site – our editor Moritz Schick will research it thoroughly, and add details to the database.