NASIG Newsletter

22nd CONFERENCE
STRATEGY SESSION 

Institutional Identifiers in the Journal Supply Chain
What’s Good, What’s Bad, What’s Missing
Don Chvatal, President, Ringgold, Inc.
Reported by Carol Green

Don Chvatal began the presentation with a definition of the journal supply chain.  Publishers, distributors, ILS and ERMS vendors, subscription software vendors, subscription agents, online hosting services, institutional subscribers and individual users are all participants in the supply chain.  Complex relationships exist among the participants and as a result, the journal supply chain is often disorganized and inefficient.

In January 2006, the British Library, HighWire Press, HighWire affiliated publishers, Ringgold, and Swets launched the Journal Supply Chain Efficiency Improvement, JSCEI, pilot project.  The goal was to create an institutional identifier that could be used in the supply chain from start to finish, thereby improving communication between publishers, agents, service providers, libraries, and users.  Standard use of an institutional identifier could help alleviate a number of problems associated with ordering/renewals, missing issues, loss of electronic access, and difficulty setting up initial access.  Chvatal talked in depth about other goals of the JSCEIP pilot, how institutional identifiers work, Ringgold’s Identify database, and Ringgold’s involvement with the project.

What’s good?  The use of institutional identifiers can lead to customer service improvements, for example, faster e-access activations and simplified pricing.  XML messaging can be used to enhance communication between participants.  Due to its success, the JSCEI project is being extended into 2007.

What’s bad and what’s missing?  Few systems exist to support the exchange of information between parties and there is a lack of working models for information exchange.  International standards and definitions need to be developed for institutional metadata.  Currently there is a lack of participation by ILS and ERMS vendors as well as libraries.

The pilot expansion will focus on weaknesses in the journal supply chain.  Fixing the chain requires participation from all parties.  Some of the things we as information professionals can do are to use the Identify database to maintain local information, provide constructive feedback, support NISO/input to standards, and encourage ILS and ERMS vendors to support the use of institutional identifiers.

See http://www.journalsupplychain.org/ and http://www.ringgold.com/.