About JOIN-UP

The JOIN-UP Programme consists of four projects, which are as follows:

Xgrain (pronounced "cross grain") - Cross-Searching Specialist Abstracting and Indexing Databases for Learning and Teaching

Xgrain is led by EDINA, working with the Resource Discovery Network (RDN), UKOLN (University of Bath) and BIDS as Associate Partners.

Xgrain addresses the Discover part of the DNER structure. Funded under both the DNER and the Learning and Teaching strands of the JISC 5/99 call, it is intended that this project will deliver:

1. The development of a Z39.50-compliant broker for use by DNER portals (such as the RDN subject portals) and local institution-level portals, to carry out cross-searching of specialist A & I databases hosted at the JISC National Datacentres and Tables of Contents services.
2. The development of a portal, or end-user facility, to allow users to conduct easy searching across the A & I databases, using a simple sub-set of fields and requiring a single Athens log-on.
3. An investigation of the requirements analysis for an A & I portal that would meet the needs of learning and teaching, either directly as an end-user portal, or in support of online learning environments, created as part of the JISC 5/99 programme.

ZBLSA - Z39.50 Broker to Locate Serials and Articles

ZBLSA addresses the Locate part of the DNER structure, specifically by providing linkages to services for which there are pre-existing rights of access.

It is intended that this project will deliver a pilot version of an independent location broker that will enhance the operation of DNER portals, by locating information on services (including holdings and electronic full text services) available on serials, and returning this information to the portal via Z39.50 or HTTP, as appropriate. The principal 'client community' for ZBLSA will be A & I database services run at the JISC National Datacentres, and the RDN subject portals.

DOCUSEND - integrating document delivery services

DOCUSEND is led by King's College, London, in partnership with the Lamda Board member sites - Leeds University, London School of Economics, Manchester Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester University, Salford University, UMIST, University College London and the University of Westminster.

DOCUSEND addresses the Request part of the DNER structure, complementing ZBLSA, by linking to services for which there are no pre-existing rights of access, providing Inter-Library Loan (ILL) and related payment services.

DOCUSEND's goal is to test and work towards an integrated document delivery service, wherever possible supplying an electronic version of the requested article. Where no electronic version or service is available, DOCUSEND will forward the request to a conventional ILL supplier of the requester's choice.

ZETOC - Electronic Table of Contents, based on the Z39.50 protocol

ZETOC is led by the British Library, in partnership with MIMAS.

The newly funded ZETOC service provides Z39.50-compliant access to the British Library's Electronic Table of Contents (ETOC). The database contains details of approximately 20,000 current journals and 16,000 conference proceedings published per year, covering all subject areas.

The ZETOC enhancement project that forms part of the JOIN-UP Programme will develop an alerting service, based on the Z39.50 version of the ETOC database, and will also develop a service covering the Locate/Request/Access strands of the DNER, that may be regarded as seamless by the end-user.

Inclusion of ZETOC in the JOIN-UP Programme offers the opportunity to investigate how one set of unified, otherwise vertically-integrated, resources could plug into the DNER, inter-connecting horizontally with other JOIN-UP components, thus offering complementary content and services.

Conclusion

The individual strengths of the four constituent projects, reinforced and further developed by the additional benefits and synergy of working together in Programme JOIN-UP, offer exciting opportunities to the tertiary education sector in the UK. The architecture developed under JOIN-UP has the potential to be infinitely extensible and hospitable to other related services, thereby providing a key contribution to the developing DNER.