Reference Collection comparison with e-resources

[David Vess]

Hi All

Has anyone else out there compared their reference collection with
Paratext's Reference Universe? Has anyone attempted such a comparison
with another product Rex?

As a graduate assistant for our Library's central public services
committee last year, I was charged with comparing the undrgrad print
rex collection with the Rex Universe product. My comparison was to be
a baseline titles comparison, nothing too earth shattering. I planned
to do this with bib info of our undergrad rex collection and bib info
supplied by paratext. Of course, it was easy to get all the bib
records of our print undergrad collection but I was never able to get
bib info from Paratext. Our e-resources person wasn't able to either.

The only info I could get about the titles in the Rex Univ. product
was a very long pdf which only lists: Reference Title, Date,
Publisher, E-Resource. (I was just hoping for ISBN numbers.) This
pdf isn't machine processable in anyway so even that data can't be
manipulated or used in a meaningful manner w/o black magic and/or
intimate knowledge of regular expressions. ;-)

Anyone else tried something or even attempted to evaluate a
beautifully, elegantly crafted print rex collection against a product
that's supposed to replace it? ;-)

I'm now working on another project here as a visiting librarian but
I'll never forget this little foray in collection development.

best,
david

--
David Vess
Visiting IMLS Portal Librarian & Assistant Professor of Library
Administration
Grainger Engineering Library Information Center
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1301 West Springfield Avenue
Urbana, Illinois 61801
email: ve...@uiuc.edu

[Fitz]

David,

I'm also quite interested in learning more about Reference Universe. I
posted a question about it on the ILI-L listserv, but I didn't receive
any replies. I think I'll try LIBREF-L next.

Where were you able to find a PDF list of the titles?

For what it's worth, I found an old excel file from the Council of
Australian University Librarians that lists titles included in their
subscription.

So...is anyone out there using Reference Universe? What has your
experience been with it?

Thanks,
Megan

--
Megan Fitzgibbons
Liaison Librarian
McGill University

> email: v...@uiuc.edu

[David Vess]

Hi Megan!

First of all, I'm very sorry I didn't reply in a more timely fashion.
I've filtered my inbox to death and think it's not such a good idea. I
find I'm not keeping on top of all my folders that messages are being
directed to. [eyes crossed]

As for your question. I couldn't find the pdf title list very easily.
It's available from the "Search Ref univ" link on their main page.
-> http://refuniv.odyssi.com/
-> Click on "Begin Searching"
-> The link "Title List" is to the top right on their search screen by
the links, "About" and "Help."

I'm not sure if this page is sniffing my IP (in a subscribers range)
and showing me this link. I wonder if you can't see it. I'm guessing
you're not subscribed to it yet? It's also just easy to miss.

Do drop a line back to me about this (anyone else as well) as I'm
really interested in assessment of e-resources against a beautifully
hand-crafted rex collections like ours in Undergrad Library.

best,
david vess

[Fitz]

Hi David,

Nope, I'm not able to see the list since we are not subscribers.
Perhaps our library should just set up a trial to find out more. I had
just wanted to do some preliminary investigating to see how other
folks feel about it.

Megan