Loughborough College, a pilot site for this unique new service, has been joined by Stockport College, Somerset College of Arts and Technology (SCAT), North Devon College, South Downs College, Aberdeen College, Colchester College, Kingston College, Newcastle College and Tyne Metropolitan College.
Mark Callan, Librarian at Tyne Metropolitan College commented “As soon as I saw Aspire, I knew that it was what we needed. Our students have been getting very frustrated at the number of clicks that it takes to find information amongst our many and varied resources. Aspire will bring all the library supplied information together and deliver a comprehensive search, with just one click.”
The Aspire service brings together quality pay-for online e-resources, intranet and free internet based information resources, making them all available with one, easy-to-use search. In doing so, Aspire improves the visibility of online resources, promotes the existence of useful information and maximises the benefit that students get from the investment made in e-resources.
This positive response from the Further Education marketplace demonstrates that federated searching is no longer just for the Higher Education sector. Robin Murray, Managing Director at OCLC PICA Ltd is delighted with the response, “Aspire has been designed specifically to meet the needs of FE students and with FE College budgets in mind. The exceptional response from the marketplace, so early in the life of this new service, clearly demonstrates that we have listened to the needs of the sector and created a solution that can add real value to the service FE libraries can provide to their staff and students.”
The growth in Aspire subscribers has extended the range of resources that can be simultaneously searched alongside a library’s catalogue. Aspire can search Encyclopaedia Britannica, Gale Infotrac, Oxford Reference Series, Emerald Online, Grove Music, Grove Art, Issues Online, Childlink, eLawstudent, Literature Resource Centre, KnowUK and European Sources Online.
Aspire was launched on the 1st August 2006. For more information about the service contact Elisabeth Robinson e.robinson@oclcpica.org or visit http://aspire.hostedbyfdi.net
Aspire will be in action at the following events:
CILIP supplier showcase:
CILIP HQ,10 November
http://www.cilip.org.uk/training/suppliers/sss
RSC East Midlands:
LRC Forum: Managing access to electronic
resources , Leicester, 1st November
http://www.rsc-east-midlands.ac.uk/events/_month/upcoming.asp?id=292
JIBS Conference
Manchester, 22 November
http://www.jibs.ac.uk/
Online Information 2006
Olympia, London, 28th – 30th November
http://www.online-information.co.uk
