North Country Reference and Research Resources Council 7 Commerce Lane Canton, NY 13617 (315) 386-4569

June/July 1999

Page 3

Database Access Agreements Are Finalized The North Country Reference & Research Resources Council recently finalized an agreement to purchase the Wilson OmniFile Full Text Select and OCLC WorldCat databases for North Country libraries. The FirstSearch data base that libraries received last year expires on June 30 and will not be renewed. Analysis of our FirstSearch use over the last year showed that our libraries used Wilson Select and WorldCat far more than any other features in the FirstSearch package. Consequently, we have tried to replace those sources for North Country libraries. Wilson OmniFile Full Text Select will actually be a significant improvement in database access as it contains more full text journals than the Wilson Select product. Wilson OmniFile Full Text Select is a multidisciplinary, 100 percent full text database providing full text, along with indexing and abstracts, from the following Wilson databases: Wilson Business Abstracts Full Text Education Abstracts Full Text General Science Abstracts Full Text Humanities Abstracts Full Text Readers’ Guide Abstracts Full Text Social Sciences Abstracts Full Text Full text, along with indexing and abstracts, is also available for select journals from Applied Science & Technology Index, Art Abstracts, Library Literature, Biological & Agricultural Index, and Library Literature. A list of journals indexed is available at: www.hwwilson.com/DDescriptions/MDS.HTM (click on "Journal List"). Access to Wilson OmniFile Select will be available via the Internet to all libraries in the region, beginning July 1, 1999. If your library is a NorthNet user, you will automatically be enrolled. If your Internet access is through another service provider, you must send your IP address or IP address range, to the Council as soon as possible. Send the information to the attention of Bridget Doyle, email: doyle@northnet.org Along with Wilson select, the other database from the FirstSearch project most commonly used was OCLC's WorldCat. WorldCat contains more than 4,000,000 records of any type of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries. It includes manuscripts written as early as the 12th Century. The Council has negotiated the purchase of several simultaneous user ports for WorldCat. All of last year's FirstSearch libraries are eligible for access to WorldCat, but new authorizations will be required. The new authorizations will be sent over the summer. School library authorizations will be sent to system offices. WorldCat will be available August 1, 1999. Both of these resources will be acquired through the Regional Bibliographic Data Bases Program and will, therefore, be offered to all libraries at no charge. The Council continues to offer access to Encyclopedia Britannica. The new FTE price for Britannica Online starting in July 1999 will be $ .33 per FTE. (Britannica online has a formula for counting public, school, and non-profit libraries.) Please call the Council office for more information.