On January 1, 2013, the Center for Research Libraries assumed responsibility for maintenance and further development of the JISC Academic Database Assessment Tool (ADAT), created and previously maintained by JISC Collections. Initiated in 2006, ADAT is a unique and widely used source of comparative information about the content and delivery platforms of major academic databases. ADAT is designed to guide e-resources specialists in determining the scope and value of major bibliographic and full-text databases, and to help libraries make informed decisions about investing in those databases.
Under CRL’s management, ADAT will now augment the other resources for research library decision-makers provided in CRL’s Global Resources Forum, a program of webinars, topic guides, and analytical tools.
Since its creation, ADAT was managed for JISC Collections by DataSalon, a commercial service provider. DataSalon collected and aggregated source data from various providers. Users should note that the accuracy of data in the journal title lists depends upon the quality and currency of information provided by the publishers. Over the next few years, CRL and JISC Collections will work to expand the information available to UK, U.S., and Canadian research libraries about both commercial and open access databases.
This collaborative effort is an outgrowth of the partnership formed in January 2012 between CRL, JISC Collections, and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network. The three national consortia are combining expertise and resources to improve access to major humanities and social science databases, and are working together to better support their respective national and regional research priorities and strategies.
JISC Collections is a division of JISC Collections and Janet Ltd. It supports the procurement of digital content for education and research in the UK, through negotiation, acquisition, and dissemination of shared knowledge about e-resource acquisition and research.
The British firm DataSalon provides customer insight solutions, specializing in integrating data sources into a consolidated view. DataSalon’s numerous publisher clients include the American Institute of Physics, BMJ Group, IOP Publishing, and Oxford University Press.
