Tony Blair knocked out by fabulous
illuminated Qur'an
A magnificent Qur'an dating from the 14th century
is the first Islamic manuscript to benefit from the British Library's
Turning the Pages technology. The Qur'an was produced for
a Mamluk ruler of Egypt and is sumptuously
illustrated. more...
Improved library materials management flow in
Malaysia
Librarians know how much effort and how many pairs of hands are involved
in checking out a book, checking it in, shelving it and putting
it on reserve. And if it gets shelved in the wrong place sea
level might have risen two feet before it is found again. Enter VTLS and
TAGSYS who have recently installed RFID at UNITEM,
Malaysia. more...
Chat with a librarian of congress for those
hard to answer questions
The Library of Congress has launched a
live chat reference service. LC Librarians say that live chat adds
a new real time dimension to emailing because it enables
patrons to discuss their requirements through the net. The service is
supported by Questionpoint software mentioned in ACCESS
#41. more...
Higher value placed on content deployment but
demanding more from those who provide it
An American study has revealed that Global 2000 companies are
putting librarians and information professionals in strategic reporting relationships but they are also
asking them to serve more users and provide higher value
services. more...
Counting users is as frustrating as counting
sheep, until now that is
Have you ever
been frustrated by the lack of consistency
in measuring use
of databases, ejournals and so on? You're not alone. So the ARL along with
its Steering Group has put together Project COUNTER to develop a single, internationally
accepted code of practice for measuring online usage. Page 6
has the
story. more...
Are consortium deals the answer to what
librarians and publishers are looking for?
Site licensing
for consortia has been with us for a few
years now and continue to gather momentum in Asia. But what do
we know about their effects on library budgets, cooperation, publisher's
profits and so on? more...
South Asian research materials get digitised in
the USA
What does it tell us about our part of the world
that almost all the digital libraries concerning Asia are in the United
States and usually the product of American universities? One such is the Digital South Asia Library
which is digitising 250,000 photographs and 180,000
images.
more...
The Digital Library gets a biography
How long have digital libraries been part of our lives? Long enough for CLIR to publish a biography of the digital library. Three stages of growth are examined: young, maturing and adult. more...
Huge digitisation project to bring 150,000 books to the web
Gale has embarked on a mind boggling project to digitise more than 150,000 English language books published in the 18th century. What's more, they should all debut on the web by June 2003. more...
The Encyclopaedia Britannica was born
in 18th century Edinburgh. The first edition was published one
section at a time, rather like the novels of Charles Dickens one
hundred years later. The first "fascicle" appeared in 1768 and the
third in 1771. It proved to be a blockbuster. A second edition in 10
volumes appeared between 1777-84 and a third edition in 18 volumes
hit the genteel streets of Scotland in 1797.
Thereafter, new editions
appeared regularly, often with articles written by authors who were
famous or destined to become so. The 12th and 13th editions
commissioned articles from Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Marie
Curie, Leon Trotsky and Harry Houdini. The article Mass Production
was signed by Henry Ford but is believed to have been written by his
personal publicist. By the middle of the 20th century, Encyclopaedia
Britannica was the most successful 'knowledge bank' in the world.
Sold door to door it helped with homework and settled arguments. It
became a publishing phenomenon.
But then everything
started to go wrong. Computers almost killed this
encyclopaedic star. Microsoft beat Britannica into electronic
media with its own Encarta. And then there was Grolier and
other upstarts with inexpensive and electronic alternatives.
Suddenly, the old lady of learning and wisdom stumbled. During
the 1990s different owners tried different strategies to make
Britannica once more essential. But their efforts are a case
study in how not to market a service on the Web.
With a new
century came a new vision. Since the burst of the dot.com
bubble, Britannica has rationalised its Web products and gone
back into print media. Suddenly, a bright future beckons.
ACCESS met David Campbell, Managing Director Asia-Pacific,
Encyclopaedia Britannica Australia Ltd. who was visiting
Bangkok to sign a representation agreement with the iGroup.
Britannica
during the last 10 years has had a very confusing history:
being online, not being online, being free, being subscription
only... Where is the company today?
The last 10
years have been a difficult period for Britannica. This time
ten years ago the company was owned by the University of
Chicago. It faced difficulties with the introduction of
electronic encyclopaedia content. In the mid 1990s the company
was bought by J.E. Safra. When the dot.com bubble burst the
company re-evaluated its total business strategy. We have
returned to print in a big way. We've developed a new range of
online products. We're delivering content via wireless
technology. And the company's position now is more secure than
it has been for a long time.
What is
the difference between the electronic products?
This time last
year we had one main online product, Britannica Online. We had
Britannica.com which was a consumer portal and which at one
stage was free but is now a subscription site. We've developed
three new products in the last 12 months. In addition to
Britannica Online which is for institutional subscribers
especially libraries and universities, we have Britannica
Online Student Edition, positioned at the school market. It
introduces a lot of new content such as study guides, lesson
plans and learning modules. We've just launched the Merriam
Webster International Dictionary Online which we own and we've
also just launched an American online history product. In
October we'll launch World Data Analyst Online which is
statistical information able to be reviewed, manipulated and
downloaded. All the online titles are updated weekly by our
editorial team in Chicago. With regards to the CDs, we produce
a new CD every year but we also offer quarterly updates
through downloads to your PC.
Are the
databases locally hosted?
Because of the
size of the database it's not possible to download it for
local hosting. There is some content that can be hosted
locally but not the main database. We are talking to the
iGroup about providing additional content including an
encyclopaedic database but not the full Britannica, to be
hosted locally. If that happens there will be a lot of people
using a wealth of information and they will be served fast.
David Campbell, Managing
Director. Asia-Pacific, Encylopaedia Britannica Australia
Ltd.
What's
the difference between the data on the discs and the online
data?
Not very much.
The print, CD and online are based around the same database so
it's just a delivery mechanism. The online offers additional
products and services and it's updated regularly. The 2002 DVD contains over
6 hours of audio and video content. Whereas the
CD contains just over one hour and of course
the deluxe edition is on three CDs and the
DVD is on one.
What
products are you developing specifically for
Asia?
The main emphasis is for us to work
with publishers in each market and for them to look at our
products and license them to translate and produce local
versions. We're happy for publishers to add additional local
content but Britannica won't be looking to produce specific
products for specific markets.
Do
you see most of your revenue coming from
China?
In the short term we don't. But in
the medium to long term its impact will be felt. At the moment
we're trying to increase our distribution across the region.
So we see growth coming from all the markets.
Who
are your competitors?
It depends on the channels.
Britannica covers four separate channels: print, online,
electronic and syndicated content. And we have competitors in
each of those. For example in electronic our main competitor
is Microsoft with their Encarta product. For print there is
World Book and Groliers and they also have online offerings.
But Britannica is in the unique situation of having the
largest encyclopaedic databases in the world which gives us
the ability to create myriad new products. As we have been
producing these new products we're really becoming stand alone
as far as the market is concerned. We do compete with some of
these encyclopaedic companies online subscriptions and they
have the ability to undercut us. But we know that our product
is superior in depth and scope.
Have
you had the dubious honour to be pirated?
It is a problem and we do have an
issue with it in several markets. Thailand and Malaysia are
notable for that. As the Web becomes faster and more reliable
we expect to transition to online delivery. But certainly
there are some markets we're very concerned about.
What's planned in the next couple of
years?
We're working on several new
products. We've just released the 2002 print set whose dataset
is already being updated for the 2005 release. There's also
going to be more emphasis on student's products. Britannica
has always been regarded as a product for adults. So for
children and students we're developing new databases and that
allows us to produce products across all channels: CD, DVD and
online. In 2003 the Britannica atlas will return as will the
Almanac later in the year. And of course there'll be online
versions of all of these.
Britannica
during the last 10 years has had a very confusing history:
being online, not being online, being free, being subscription
only... Where is the company today?
