Statewide Database Licensing Project - Fall 2000 Trials
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(Note from the Washington State Library:  In order to participate in the Fall 2000 Washington State Databases Trial, each vendor was asked to address questions the Statewide Database Licensing Committee felt were most critical in order for library staff to evaluate products and vendors.  Please contact the vendor's representative, listed below, for additional information on this product.)

1. Describe the database product(s). Include information on subject scope, percentage of full-text, dates of coverage, target audience (including age ranges), and how often the contents are updated. 

ExtraLib

ExtraLib is an advanced on-line service for specialized medical information from the three popular medical databases - MEDLINE (with PreMEDLINE), CINAHL and the Cochrane Library, with full dates coverage. MEDLINE and CINAHL contain bibliographic records and the Cochrane Library is a full-text document collection. The content in ExtraLib is updated weekly for MEDLINE, monthly for CINAHL and quarterly for the Cochrane Library.

ExtraLib is excellent solution for institutions that seek to satisfy the information needs of their members regardless of their searching skills. The unique search interface in ExtraLib helps both experienced and novice information seekers such as physicians, nurses, students, etc. successfully find information on their own even though there is no help from a librarian to formulate the search query.

ExtraLib is a universal service that combines the traditional features of typical search interface with several unique advantages:

  1. Concept Mapping search functionality. This means that users can enter queries in everyday language and retrieve accurate, high quality results, not missing any information from the databases as they usually do undertaking a search individually. For example a search for "advil" is automatically mapped to "ibuprofen", the acronym "adhd" to its full name "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder". The typical search query in ExtraLib could be expressed in the sentence "scientific evidence of a gene associated with Alzheimer's disease", which addresses both the search habits of growing number of users and their desire to get reliable results quickly, avoiding iterative searching procedures. However, more experienced users are equipped in ExtraLib with variety of limits as well as Boolean/Thesaurus search options that help them to achieve even more precise search results.
  2. Links to full-text on-line. ExtraLib offers article-level linking to the full-text of 1,400 on-line journals and currently over 50 of them are with free access. Viewing MEDLINE citations users are provided with direct link to the article's full-text, if it is posted on-line. This service allows libraries effectively consolidate existing electronic subscriptions as well as organize the access to the constantly growing number of free journal content.
  3. Electronic Tables of Contents. In ExtraLib users are able to select list of preferred journals to receive their electronic Tables of Contents (TOCs) with every new journal issue. Users register their own TOCs accounts, which allow them to access the 4,000 medical journal database and browse/view/select to receive its TOCs. The TOCs are linked with the MEDLINE citations of the articles and from there users can go to the full-text directly if it is available on-line.
  4. Library Holdings Capability. ExtraLib enables librarians integrate the local catalog information with the bibliographic records of the included databases. This means that users are altered by a librarian-customized message if the journal is held in the library. In addition, users can limit searches to just titles for which a holding exists. This messaging system can be also used to notify users about Username and Password combination to access articles on-line, if the library maintains such electronic journal subscriptions. Librarians create customized holdings lists and messages using the Local Holdings Maintenance program that provides a "pick list" of journal names (The utility is available from the following URL: http://www.kfinder.com/newweb/Institutions/localholdings.html)
  5. Database Integration within ExtraLib. Once identified the article of their interest in CINAHL, users can expand their search the much broader MEDLINE. This search is done with "finding similar" titles, authors or subjects. Another type of integration are the Cochrane' references, which are linked to the MEDLINE citations directly and from there to the full-text if there is an appropriate on-line link.
  6. Interface Customization. ExtraLib provides multiple levels of customization. Librarians can customize its front page adding diverse information about the library - forms ready for printing, lists of locally held journals and books, site maps, borrowing policy and many more. This information is hosted on Aries' servers, which guarantees its fault free operation. For an additional fee Aries offers full customization of the Browser based screen design. This means that the look-and-feel of the ExtraLib interface is changed to fit-in the overall design of an existing Web site. The changes include layout, color scheme, logos etc. In addition, the interface default settings (e.g. displayed limit fields, default ranking options etc) can be set to match specific preferences.
  7. Alerting service. Users can save searches in ExtraLib and have them run with every new update of MEDLINE. The results are mailed on their e-mail, containing hot-links to the citations for quick reference.

In its standard package ExtraLib includes the databases that satisfy the information needs of the entire staff of a medical institution - physicians, nurses, allied health workers, students. However ExtraLib can be upgraded on request with additional medical databases such as PsycINFO, CancerLit, HealthSTAR, etc.

2. What are the hardware and software requirements for using all the features of the product?

Any configuration that supports Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape 4.0 or up.

3. Is remote access included for the subscription price?  If there are additional charges or requirements in order to offer remote access, please describe.   What methods of remote access are supported?

At this time there are no remote access fees provided that the individuals belong to the same geographic institution. Access for other categories of users is subject to the policies of the appropriate information provider.

4. Please discuss any methods or assistance you offer regarding remote access patron verification and authentication.

Authentication can be provided in a variety of ways:

  1. IP Checking 
  2. Group Username and Password 
  3. Log-in URL. This "secret" URL provides automatic log-in to the databases an includes a refer check to confirm that the log-on originated from your Institution. The benefit of this approach is that the Institution controls access to the URL and can therefore administer its own authorization regime.

5. What end user delivery options, such as printing, emailing or faxing results, are available beyond just viewing results on the computer monitor?

Users can select articles from a summary results page using check-boxes. The selected articles can then be

6. What customer training is provided, and at what cost?

ExtraLib is unique in offering a "gentle slope" user interface. This means that even novice end-users are able to immediately obtain high quality search results by entering queries in natural language, and then gradually become familiar with the more traditional search utilities such as Boolean logic and Thesaurus browsing. Users learn by doing. In addition, ExtraLib incorporates on-online help directory that is accessed through "question marks" that provide in-context help.

7. What customer and technical support is provided, including hours of operation.

Aries Customer and Technical support is available Monday trough Friday 9am until 5.30pm EST at 978-975-7570. 24 hours technical assistance is available via e-mail and technical help at http://www.kfinder.com/newweb/CustomerService/techassist.html 

8. Describe the statistics you provide, and discuss whether your statistical reporting complies with guidelines developed by the International Coalition of Library Consortia which may be found at www.library.yale.edu/consortia/webstats.html .

For each institutional customer we record aggregated statistical information such as: length of search sessions, number of database searches, number of selections/limits used, number of summaries and documents (abstracts) viewed. This statistics is available upon request on monthly, quarterly or yearly basis. For reasons of privacy, we do not track or record any individual search strings.

9. Describe your pricing structure or formula for the product. If there are additional costs for retrieving full text, describe the pricing for this service. 

The subscription to ExtraLib is based on Concurrent Users (CU). In its standard package - MEDLINE (with PreMEDLINE), CINAHL and the Cochrane Library, ExtraLib is available in two combinations:

1 CU - $2,495
3 CU - $2,995

10.  If a library subscribes to any of your products as a result of this trial, will their future subscription rates continue to reflect any savings or discount they may receive today?

Renewals are subject to the pricing policies at the time of renewal.

11. What is the minimum participation level (however you care to define it) that would be needed to allow participating libraries to receive a discount? What is the minimum discount for a group buy? Please clarify how you would treat existing library customers with regard to a group buy.

If there is an interest in consortium agreement Aries will handle it separately and will discuss its details with the participating libraries. Any discounts will depend on the number and size of the institutions as well as database configurations they will require. Existing Aries customers are invited to join the group purchasing outside their existing contracts with Aries.

12.  Please indicate whether libraries from Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and/or Hawaii would be eligible to participate in the group buying process.

Aries will be pleased to have libraries form Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii.

13.  Please provide name and contact information should libraries wish to make further inquires.

The contact person at Aries Systems for the libraries' requests is

Kiril Rachev
9am - 5.30 pm ET at tel. 978-975-7570
email [email protected]