Association of Research Libraries (ARL®)

The Scholars Portal initiative arose from discussions that transpired amongst a number of ARL Directors during the first Keystone Conference. The initiative was refined during discussion group sessions held during the October 2000 ARL Meeting and during the Library of Congress Bicentennial Conference in November 2000. The initiative gained real momentum with the establishment of the ARL Scholars Portal Working Group, chaired by Jerry Campbell (USC) and including Ken Frazier (Wisconsin), Olivia Madison (Iowa State), Brian Schottlaender (UCSD), Carla Stoffle (Arizona), Jerome Yarvakovsky (Boston College), and the three Sarahs: Michalak (Utah), Pritchard (UCSB), and Thomas (Cornell). Throughout, the deliberations of the Working Group have benefited enormously from input received from various ARL colleagues, including, collectively, those on the ARL Access Committee.

Two cornerstone principles have motivated the Working Group in its deliberations:

• access to disparate electronic resources and services can be improved through integration, both within a single institution and between multiple institutions; and
• efforts to effect such integration should leverage work already being carried out in ARL libraries, rather than requiring new work of those libraries.

The initial emphasis of the Working Group has been on developing specifications (conceptual, functional, and technical) for a "super discovery tool" (SDT) that aggregates, integrates, and delivers licensed and openly available digital content across a broad range of subject fields and from multiple institutions. The Working Group has taken seriously comments received from a number of ARL colleagues that it is neither necessary nor particularly desirable that ARL develop the SDT itself, and has, thus, been scanning the environment to identify potential partners (commercial and otherwise) with whom to collaborate in the tool’s development.

To date, the Working Group has identified potential partners with whom discussions have been initiated, including:

• Northern Light Technology, Inc.
• Fretwell-Downing (developers of "ZPortal")
• OCLC
• RLG
• UK’s JISC/DNER (conceived to be "intellectual collaborators")
  Other potential partners brought to the Working Group’s attention by ARL and other colleagues include:
• Google (web search engine)
• Blue Angel (developer of the software MetaStar)
• LearnTech (creator of Hyperfolio)
• Sea Change (software developers)
• ExLibris (developers of MetaLib and licensors of SFX)

It is not clear to the Working Group whether it is either necessary or desirable that we collaborate with only one of these potential partners to the exclusion of others. Nor is it clear what business model (or models) might make sense in working with any such partners. What is clear is that we need to balance the impetus to move ahead expeditiously with the need to further refine our thinking as regards functional specifications for the SDT and our due diligence obligations. Monetary contributions toward advancing the Working Group’s agenda have already been received from some discussants; Jaia Barrett is happy to talk with other institutions interested in contributing similarly.

It is important to note that SDT development is only the initial focus of the Working Group’s attention. We envision the ARL community developing a suite of scholarly productivity tools and services, of which the SDT will be but one feature. In fact, the Working Group finds itself growing increasingly dissatisfied with the word "Portal" in the phrase "Scholars Portal" (although we continue to use the phrase for convenience’s sake) because:

• Everyone thinks they know what it means, and everyone thinks it means something different.
• It inadequately conveys the notion of the full suite of tools and services the Working Group envisions.

"Scholars Workbench" and "Scholars Toolbox" are alternative terms the Working Group has considered.

BECS 24 May 2001

The Scholars Portal Working Group also issued a report during the ARL Membership Meeting May 23–25, 2001. It is available on the ARL website at http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/portals/report-may-01.shtml.