Scholars Portal is pleased to announce the beta release of the new Scholars Portal Books platform. We invite users at OCUL schools to search, read, and download on the new platform, and to send any feedback or concerns to books@scholarsportal.info

booksbeta.scholarsportal.info

This platform will become the default books platform in July 2018. All previously linked and bookmarked books will continue to be accessible at the same URL throughout the transition.

Collections currently available on Books Beta

 

* these collections no longer receive updates

 

Collections being loaded this week to Books Beta

 

Collections coming up


About the redevelopment

The Scholars Portal Books platform was released in 2009, when the ebook landscape looked significantly different. Consultation with the OCUL community indicated significant interest in renewing the platform, both to end reliance on software that is no longer supported, and to better be able to serve up content as it’s packaged and purchased today. In late 2014 the OCUL Directors approved funding for a two year redevelopment project.

The Scholars Portal Books platform has been completely redesigned from the ground up. All indexing and retrieval is now handled using MarkLogic, and our new built-in-house HTML reader delivers a significantly enhanced in-browser reading experience. Books metadata is now being loaded into MarkLogic in the BITS XML format, ending our reliance on MARC records to load content.

A new administrative interface will allow eresource staff to view their entitlements and license terms, and to generate KBART lists, MARC collections, and usage reports on the fly.

Redevelopment Timeline

Scope of the staff-only beta release

Scope of the Winter 2018 public beta release release 

Scope of the Spring 208 full release


The Scholars Portal Books team is: Bartek Kawula, Sadia Khwaja, Ivan Jankovic, Sunil Manikonda, Ravit David, Annie Thomas Selvarajan, Bikram Singh, Jacqueline Whyte Appleby


With support from Anika Ervin-Ward, Kate Davis, Amaz Taufique, Thara Savio, Harpinder Singh, and Carlos McGregor Muro.

With thanks to the Books Reinvestment Working Group for their efforts in developing initial functional requirements:

George Duimovich, Carleton University (CHAIR); Sharon Bosnell, Trent University; Evelyn Smith, Brock University; Jennifer Easter, University of Guelph; Marlene Van Ballegooie, University of Toronto; Klara Maidenberg, University of Toronto; Carol Stephenson, Wilfrid Laurier (now COPPUL); David Fiander, Western University