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CEP 2000 Report

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Dear CEPites,

  Here attached my draft report on CEP activity in 2000. Please tear it
to pieces, correct it, tell me what I have forgotten, etc, etc, etc. No
holds barred. I've also attached my 2000 report on ICSTI since the CEP
report refers to this.

 Try and send your comments before I have the execsec and the ladies in
No. 2 at my heels, I've already sent in the budgets for the CEP and the
ICSTI representation.

H.

-- 
Howard Flack        http://www.unige.ch/crystal/ahdf/Howard.Flack.html
Laboratoire de Cristallographie               Phone: 41 (22) 702 62 49
24 quai Ernest-Ansermet             mailto:Howard.Flack@cryst.unige.ch
CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland                   Fax: 41 (22) 702 61 08

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<H2>IUCr 2000 Report - Committee on Electronic Publishing, Dissemination =
and Storage of Information</H2>

<P>
<I>Information Services</I>: The CEP has continued its task as editorial =
body for the on-line information services of the IUCr. The highest priori=
ty is set on providing up-to-date information of use to the whole crystal=
lographic community. The rebranding and restructuring of the site as a pr=
eliminary for the restyling of the existing pages is approaching completi=
on. The information services are now called under the general name <I>Cry=
stallography Online</I> in tune with <I>Crystallography Journals Online</=
I>. The style and structure of Crystallography Online emphasizes the diff=
erent aspects of crystallography and projects of the community rather tha=
n the IUCr as an institution. This change has also entailed a considerabl=
e amount of work, almost complete, by the Executive Secretary to produce =
a modernized set of web pages for the purely institutional part of the IU=
Cr. It is hoped that the restyling can be completed during 2001 and a new=
, young and enthusiastic editor appointed to continue the work on this mu=
ch-appreciated service. An important goal is to move towards an integrate=
d approach to the dissemination of information and news within the crysta=
llographic community by print and electronic means. To this purpose the C=
EP maintains contact with other important players in the field, such as t=
he editor of the IUCr Newsletter, to ensure the diffusion of valuable sou=
rces of information by all means available.


<P> =

In 1998 the R&D group at Chester made a relational data analysis for a ne=
w version of the World Directory of Crystallographers allowing a large de=
gree of automation in the maintenance of this important facility. Due to =
the heavy work load in 1999, caused by the introduction of Crystallograph=
y Journals Online, it was not possible to implement the redesigned WDC un=
til now. It is intended that this work should be carried out early in 200=
1.


<P>
<I>NeXus CD-ROM</I>: Under the continued leadership of L. M. D. Cranswick=
 1000 copies of a new version of the <I>Xtal NeXus; Virtual Crystallograp=
hic Internet on CD-ROM</I> were produced. These CD-ROMs are distributed f=
ree of charge to laboratories and scientists with an interest in crystall=
ography lacking adequate connection to the internet. The CD-ROMs contain =
public domain software and copies of web sites of interest to crystallogr=
aphers. The CD-ROMs was publicized through many channels in such a way th=
at scientists have to apply to receive a copy. Distribution at some meeti=
ngs to participants from the developing world was also undertaken. The IU=
Cr is most grateful to ICSU for financial help to this project but regret=
s that the change in ICSU policy has meant that no funding is available f=
rom this source in 2001. It is nevertheless intended to continue this pro=
ject and to report that almost all of the 1000 CD-ROMs have now been dist=
ributed.

<P>
<I>Crystallography Journals Online</I>: The online journal service has co=
ntinued to evolve. From 1st September 2000 online access was available on=
ly to subscribers of the print journals. The IUCr has become a member of =
CROSSREF, the organization offering a viable system which enables article=
 cross referencing between journals of different publishers to be impleme=
nted. Individual online article sale was implemented during 2000 and subs=
equently put into service. The scanning of back issues of all IUCr journa=
ls is advancing well and it is hoped that all back articles will be onlin=
e late in 2001 or early 2002. During 2000 a policy document concerning th=
e archiving of IUCr journals has been drafted and discussed amongst the C=
EP and other interested parties. It has now been submitted to the Executi=
ve Committee for discussion and approval.

<P> =

<I>Meeting attendance</I>: H. D. Flack (IUCr representative to ICSTI) and=
 Y. Epelboin attended the ICSTI/ICSU Press interactive workshop on <I>Dig=
ital Archiving: Bringing Issues and Stakeholders Together</I>, held on 30=
th - 31st January 2000 in Paris, France. As a result of attending this me=
eting, the first draft of a proposed IUCr policy on archiving was compose=
d for deliberation and discussion by the CEP. Moreover this meeting broug=
ht to our attention the initial report of an international working group =
convened by the IASTMP (International Association of STM Publishers) conc=
erned with <I>defining and certifying electronic publication in science</=
I>. It is in the interest of the IUCr that this work be completed and fin=
alized (there are severe difficulties of vocabulary in the initial report=
) as it will prove useful in achieving viable IUCr policies in two domain=
s. The first concerns archiving and the second is in the field of accepta=
nce standards for article submission to journals as concerns their prior =
distribution in print or electronic form as a preprint.

<P>
In May 2000, H. D. Flack (IUCr representative to ICSTI), P. Strickland an=
d B. McMahon attended the annual ICSTI meeting in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Th=
e collaboration of H. D. Flack and B. McMahon in the ICSTI review of the =
OAIS (Open Archival Information System) enabled an improved version of th=
e proposed IUCr archiving policy to be drafted. (Details of the ICSTI mee=
tings are given in the report of the ICSTI representative.) The same pers=
ons made a day visit to CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) following the IC=
STI meeting. The in-house processes for producing abstracts, attributing =
registry numbers, chemical names and diagrams by CAS were explained and t=
he CAS ChemPort facility was demonstrated. Discussions centred around the=
 electronic delivery by IUCr to CAS of electronic headers for abstracts a=
nd came to a satisfactory conclusion. In the course of the discussions th=
e problem of publications in electronic-only journals was raised as it ap=
peared that these were not integrated into the CAS system.

<P>
In October 2000 B. McMahon (IUCr representative to CODATA) attended the C=
ODATA 2000 conference in Baveno/Stresa, Italy. As the worlds of electroni=
c publishing and scientific data overlap considerably, it is a significan=
t advantage to the CEP that amongst its members one now finds the represe=
ntatives both to ICSTI and to CODATA. In November 2000, H. D. Flack visit=
ed the IUCr editorial office in Chester. This provided an excellent oppor=
tunity for discussions both within the CEP and with the Executive Secreta=
ry, the Editor-in-Chief, the Promotions representative and numerous other=
 members of staff in Chester. In February 2001, H. D. Flack, B. McMahon, =
P. Strickland and J. Helliwell will attend the ICSU - UNESCO meeting <I>E=
lectronic Publishing in Science</I> in Paris, France.

<P>
L. M. D. Cranswick, Y. Epelboin, H. D. Flack (Chair), B. McMahon, P. Stri=
ckland. 31st December 2000



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<H1>
IUCr 2000 Report - International Council for Scientific and Technical Inf=
ormation (ICSTI)
</H1>


<P>
The winter committee and discussion meeting was held in ICSU headquarters=
, Paris, France, 29th - 30th January 2000. This meeting enabled the busin=
ess of ICSTI to advance and provided an opportunity for reviewing the sta=
te of the various technical activities and issues concerned with informat=
ion policy. An important task concerned the policy to adopt for the repla=
cement of the ICSTI executive secretary due for retirement in September 2=
000. In the event the secretariat was put out to tender and from the offe=
rs received the ICSTI bureau selected the offer of IIA (Information Inter=
national Associates), a specialized consultancy established in the USA wi=
th whom ICSTI has had contacts for a considerable number of years. The ar=
rangement consists in the services of a part-time executive director expe=
rienced in stm publishing and a part-time secretary in Paris. =



<P> =

The above meeting was followed directly on 30th - 31st January by an ICST=
I/ICSU Press interactive workshop on <I>Digital Archiving: Bringing Issue=
s and Stakeholders Together</I>. Y. Epelboin, member of the IUCr's Commit=
tee on electronic publishing, dissemination and storage of information, a=
lso attended the workshop which had such success that it had to be held i=
n the UNESCO building as the ICSU headquarters proved to be too small. Th=
e principal speaker at the workshop was G. Hodge of IIA on <I>Beyond the =
ICSTI/CENDI Study: Setting the Stage</I>, and this was followed by sessio=
ns on <I>Models for Digital Archives</I> (T. van de Werf and C. Lupovici =
on  <I>The Open Archival Information System Framework as applied to Depos=
it Libraries in the NEDLIB project</I>, C. Lynch on <I>Open Archives: E-j=
ournal and E-print perspectives</I>, F. Pelle and S. Rozenfeld on <I>Elec=
tronic Archive Registry: The results of a URN-based experiment</I>), <I>T=
he Economics of sustainable archives</I> (J. T. Scott and T. Ingoldsby on=
 <I>The AIP Experience</I>, L. Pope on <I>The PubMedCentral Initiative</I=
> and K. Hunter on <I>The Elsevier Experience</I>) and <I>Policy and Stan=
dards Issues</I> (D. Marcum on <I>State of Legal Deposit Legislation</I>,=
 P. Gatenby on <I>Developing policy and best practice procedures at the N=
ational Library of Australia</I> and J. Rumble, <I>Emerging practices in =
the data community</I>). A presentation was also made by E. Sandewall on =
the initial deliberations of an international working group convened by t=
he IASTMP (International Association of STM Publishers) concerned with <I=
>defining and certifying electronic publication in science</I>. This appa=
rently rather dry subject is really of the utmost importance to a learned=
 society publisher such as the IUCr. The intention is to define clearly t=
he relationship between an electronic preprint and a final peer-reviewed =
publication in such a way as to achieve a balance between the rapidity of=
 the first with the authority and stability of the second. Such considera=
tions are more than useful in defining an archiving policy for the IUCr. =
The meeting as a whole provided a wonderful introduction and status repor=
t to electronic archiving in scientific publication and moreover the pres=
entation of the AIP was used by the chair of the IUCr's Committee on elec=
tronic publishing, dissemination and storage of information to produce th=
e first draft of a proposed IUCr policy on archiving.


<P>
<I>AGM 2000</I>: The annual meeting was held 19th - 22nd May in Columbus,=
 Ohio, USA, hosted by CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service). The IUCr's repres=
entative was accompanied to this meeting by the IUCr's managing editor an=
d the IUCr's Research and Development Officer. The three also paid a work=
ing visit to CAS after the ICSTI meeting. The main discussion session <I>=
Economic impacts of electronic publishing</I> on the 19th May was address=
ed by: R. J. Massie, CAS Director; M. Blume, AIP Editor-in-Chief; R. D. B=
ovenschulte, ACS Director; E. Pentz, CrossRef Executive Director; T. Ingo=
ldsby, AIP; J. Jordan, OCLC President; M. Wallin, KTHB; G. Giroud, EPO; T=
=2E Sanville, Ohiolink Executive Director. Due to the extremely poor weat=
her conditions around Detroit on the 18th May, this fascinating programme=
 was marred for the IUCr's representative by his absence at the morning s=
ession and advanced fatigue in the afternoon.

<P>
Some of ICSTI's projects are of particular relevance to the IUCr. One sho=
uld mention the IUPAC-CODATA-ICSTI project on the Standardization of Phys=
ico-Chemical Property Electronic Datafiles (IUCODIX) which seeks to bring=
 to the world of physical chemistry the advantages that CIF has brought t=
o crystallography. An INGENTA/ICSTI study will make an update to the 1996=
 ICSTI comparative study of access to journals through subscriptions and =
document delivery. It will investigate both the effect on journal subscri=
ptions of individual article sales and look to other aspects of user beha=
viour in an electronic environment. The IUCr representative and R&D manag=
er, amongst others, participated in the review of the OAIS (Open Archive =
Information System) reference model. This involved reading the voluminous=
 OAIS report and providing comments concerning its relevance and usefulne=
ss to the IUCr. These were collated and presented by G. Hodge at the meet=
ing and transmitted to the OAIS committee. OAIS is now well on its way to=
 becoming an ISO standard. It is our opinion that this model is highly re=
levant to the IUCr's electronic publication and archiving activity. Indee=
d the chairman of the CEP benefited directly from this experience by prod=
ucing a second draft of the proposed IUCr archive policy using the vocabu=
lary and terms of OAIS. This increases the clarity of the document immens=
ely.

<P>
At their annual meetings ICSTI invites short presentations from member or=
ganizations. The IUPAC representative presented their recent developments=
 including a commitment to CML (chemical markup language) and IChIP, the =
IUPAC chemical identifier project. Apparently IUPAC has taken the bold st=
ep of abolishing all commissions and now organizes its activities entirel=
y around projects. The undersigned presented the IUCr, and especially its=
 publishing activities, using the excellent slide presentation prepared i=
n Chester. JST presented JSTAGE, their Electronic Journal Publication and=
 Dissemination Center, which proved to be a system with several novel and=
 interesting features.

<P>
<I>Publications</I>: ICSTI maintains both a public web site at http://www=
=2Eicsti.org/ where the newsletter <I>ICSTI Forum</I>, published four tim=
es in 2000, and other general information are made available. A private s=
ection is available only to members, the IUCr representative sharing this=
 opportunity with the IUCr's committee on electronic publishing, dissemin=
ation and archival of information (CEP). Of particular interest to the IU=
Cr, Forum No. 33 of March 2000, presented some very interesting articles =
resulting from the ICSTI/ICSU digital archiving workshop held in Paris in=
 January 2000. Forum No. 34 presents information on digital libraries in =
Canada, No. 35 focuses on CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) and No. 36 is =
concerned with distance learning projects at DTIC and a presentation of t=
he National Library of Medicine in the USA.


<P> In 2001 the ICSTI winter committee meetings will be held in January i=
n Paris, France and the annual meeting will take place in the premises of=
 the European Patent Office in M=FCnich, Germany from 3rd to 7th May. For=
 the record, the 2002 annual meeting will take place at KTHB, Stockholm, =
Sweden and CISTI will host the 2003 meeting in Ottawa, Canada.

<P>
IUCr membership of ICSTI continues to fulfil its expectations by providin=
g a current source of documentation and personal contacts in the field of=
 scientific and technical information (electronic publishing).

<P>
H. D. Flack, 31st December 2000=

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