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SCIS is more …..

Changes and challenges

2009 has been a year of change and challenge for SCIS and our user community. In early 2009, Anne Camfield retired as manager of SCIS. Anne joined SCIS in 2002 in a role focusing on product development and technical support and was appointed manager shortly thereafter. Anne oversaw the first redevelopment of the SCIS website; was involved in both the publication of the fifth edition of SCIS Subject Headings and the gestation of the Schools Online Thesaurus (ScOT); and ushered in many enhancements and upgrades to SCISWeb and other products. Leonie Bourke was appointed manager following Anne’s retirement. Leonie joined SCIS in 2000, becoming responsible for cataloguing, Voyager system support and special projects. With a strong background in cataloguing and bibliographic standards, and in collaborating with the education department agencies that support the SCIS service, Leonie is looking forward to continuing Anne’s work in improving and enhancing SCIS. Taking advantage of Web 2.0 tools, our redeveloped website now offers opportunities for us to be more proactive/flexible in offering information about our services and for you to contribute and share your comments.

Enhancing the resource discovery experience

If you have searched SCIS OPAC, you will have noticed the eye-catching book cover images. The majority of these images are provided to SCIS by Bowker. SCIS has negotiated an agreement with Bowker which allows us not only to make the SCIS OPAC look attractive, but to make the images available to you for display in your school’s online catalogue. However if you wish to use book cover images for another purpose, such as a blog or booklist, you will need to seek permission from the copyright owners.

SCIS catalogue record for ‘Pushing and pulling’ learning object

To make it even easier for you to get the book cover images, SCISWeb ordering now has an option to download any matching cover images once you have placed an order for SCIS records. Many library system vendors have streamlined the process of obtaining cover images, so check with your local system support team if in doubt about how to use the images in your system.

Records for learning objects published by The Le@rning Federation (TLF) now also link to colourful images which give a glimpse into the content of each learning activity, as in the example of the ‘Pushing and pulling’ assessment learning object on the bottom of this page.

You may also notice that records for TLF learning objects now include a link to Scootle. Anyone can use the search and browse tools of Scootle. To find out who can access the other features of Scootle, go to http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/p/accessing_scootle.

Scootle homepage

ScOT is more…..

Speaking of Scootle … Schools Online Thesaurus (ScOT) terms are the basis for the ‘Browse by topic’ function in Scootle. ScOT hierarchies have been carefully developed around curriculum areas to provide an intuitive browsing structure.

ScOT terms have been added to SCIS catalogue records since July 2006. Starting in 2009, ScOT terms are added to all records on the SCIS database, so there is now a large pool of records with ScOT terms. ScOT uses a natural language approach to discovery of resources rather than the ‘card catalogue’ type of pre-coordinated subject heading strings used by most traditional library systems. All current library systems work well with the traditional subject headings string approach; newer systems tend to be able to work with either or both approaches. Library system vendors should be able to provide advice on whether changing your SCISWeb preference to receive ScOT terms is a viable option for your system.

SCIS subscriptions 2010

The cost of a subscription to SCISWeb, SCIS Subject Headings Online and SCIS Authority Files will not increase in 2010. In October 2009, invoices will be dispatched to schools not covered by a bulk subscription. Look on our website for payment information: http://www.curriculum.edu.au/scis/