TOCRoSSFunny how I was mentioning incorporating more information into library catalogues for users (see post), as today I came across a post from the panlibus blog discussing a new JISC funded project called TOCRoSS (table of contents by really simple syndication), which is a new ten month joint project between Emerald, the University of Derby and Talis.

It aims to develop an RSS news feed service that automatically pushes publisher and e-journal information to into catalogues.

The press release states that “With TOCRoSS in place, e-journal table of content data will be fed automatically into library catalogues without the need for cataloguing, classification or data entry. This will improve the accuracy of records, save time for library staff, and deliver a more integrated OPAC experience to library users. It will be of particular value to academic libraries where students often choose search engines such as Google over the library catalogue and the myriad of databases for tracking down articles and information”

Paul Evans, from Emerald publishing, is quoted as saying “Cataloguing journals and articles has, up until now, been considered a ‘luxury’ in resource terms by many academic institutions. Once TOCRoSS is complete, cataloguing journal articles becomes automatic and the commonly asked question ‘Why can’t I find any articles on the OPAC?’ becomes obsolete.”

Similiarly, Richard Wallis of Talis comments “RSS has, up until now, been used to deliver news-feeds or alerts of blog postings to individual’s desktops. This simple, yet powerful technology has many potential applications for machine to machine communications. TOCRoSS will demonstrate how the innovative application of simple technologies enables the delivery of services that previously would not have been viable”

It’s really a very exciting prospect, I can remember very well the problems concerning the integration of electronic journals, articles, databases and the library catalogue at my last university. I feel this project will prove to be a real step forward in providing users with a great way to access all of the library’s services from a single point of access - quick, efficient, and enhancing retreival. As they also point out it will encourage students to access these journals, which as I remember, I only really did for the first time in the final year of my undergrad course. I think that making these more accessible and easily searchable will no doubt increase their usage and students’ awareness of them also. I wait with baited breath for the next update on the project…

You can also read about the main aims, objectives and outcomes of the project on the JISC website.