JISC

The focus of Xgrain is the ‘discovery’ of journal articles and the like; having the intention of making best use of the JISC-funded Abstract & Indexing (A&I) database services that form part of the DNER and having particular regard to cross-searching and the ways in which A&I databases can be presented for use in learning and teaching.

The DNER currently offers a range of high quality, specialised A&I database and electronic tables of contents (ETOC) services providing key discovery facilities for references to journal articles and other information objects that can be accessed from the desktop. However, there is evidence that they are under used, especially in learning and teaching. This is attributed to a lack of interconnectivity between the services and a perception that they may be too complex for use by undergraduates, while not apparently offering any great advantages in terms of learning.

Xgrain aims to address these underlying problems by developing a broker that will offer ‘shallow’ cross-searching of A&I databases across the DNER (using the Z39.50 protocol among others), with the facility to be transferred into native user interfaces for indepth searching.

Xgrain is part of Join-UP, a cluster of four projects (Xgrain, Docusend, zetoc and ZBLSA) which aims to realise the full potential of bibliographic services by informing users about the location of third-party services on the materials referenced therein and the means, where appropriate, to connect automatically to request and delivery mechanisms. Join-UP contributes to the Discover/Locate/Request/Access structure of the DNER.

Aims and Objectives

The project aim is to enhance and promote the use and usability of specialist A&I database and ETOC services across the DNER in learning and teaching, as well as research.

The project objectives are to:

• Provide a broker for use by DNER portals and local institutions that will enable cross-searching between Z39.50-compliant A&I database and ETOC services
• Provide a cross-search portal to enable the end user to carry out ‘shallow’ cross-searching of specialist A&I database and ETOC services and ‘in-depth’ searching of the native interfaces where required
• Work with 10 Learning and Teaching Associate Sites to undertake a user requirements analysis and participate in the development of learning and teaching materials to support the use of the cross-searching portal in the classroom and other learning environments and to promote its use in learning and teaching
• Develop the cross-searching portal for learning and teaching, by providing content-level descriptions of the services and adding appropriate content for learning and teaching purposes

Project design

The project is designed to result in the provision within the first year of two online facilities of service quality for the DNER content infrastructure.

1. The first is a broker offering portals within the DNER (in particular the Resource Discovery Network  [RDN] hubs and local institutions the means to carry out coordinated searching across Z39.50 targets on diverse A&I and ETOC services.
2. An end user portal to allow students, researchers and academics to conduct easy cross-searching using a simple sub-set of fields and requiring a single Athens (the JISC’s preferred authentication service) login. The interface will also allow the end user to conduct in depth searches in the native database interfaces and access non-Z compliant services, such as the Web of Science at MIMAS, using the http protocol.

Finally, Xgrain will undertake a requirements analysis for the enhancement of the cross-searching portal for use in learning and teaching. Further research is needed to match the content and functionality of the portal to the requirements of learning and teaching within the context of the emerging subject-based portals provided both by the RDN and the  Learning and Teaching Support Network Subject Centres and local institution-based portals.

Summative evaluation of the Xgrain project will be provided by the Information Management Research Institute (IMRI) at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. The team will examine the perceived and real usefulness of the cross-search portal, enhanced for learning and teaching and its impact on lecturing staff, students and local user support staff.

Outcomes

The student-centred model of education recognises that the ability to find, use and evaluate information is essential in a society increasingly dependent upon the knowledge of its citizens for wealth creation. Within the skill set expected of graduates, the ability to find and evaluate information from primary data sources and the development of research skills are becoming ever more important.

The challenge for Xgrain is to realise the potential role of the specialist bibliographic services currently available within the DNER in supporting the development of information and information literacy skills in graduates. It is anticipated that successive versions of the cross search portal, enhanced for use in learning and teaching, will include:

• User friendly presentation to allow selection by subject areas, degree of specificity and level of complexity
• Modularised learning materials that explain such concepts as broad versus shallow searching, search techniques and fitness for purpose selection
• Support materials for lecturing staff that are likely to include pedagogical justifications for using reference databases to support the development of information literacy skills in students and case studies of the successful use of the cross-search portal in learning and teaching
• Local information pages customisable by participating sites and effectively offering aspects of a ‘proxy’ local portal

The involvement of the user community, as described above, is crucial to the success of the cross-search portal, both in terms of its design, functionality and accessibility and its impact, uptake and use by the community.

• BIDS, University of Bath
• IMRI, School of Information Studies, University of Northumbria at Newcastle
• RDNC, King’s College London
• UKOLN, University of Bath