“In this section you should set out any ideas you might have about future developments. It would be helpful to identify any changes in planned direction as well as any changes in proposed management and staffing arrangements.

Questions to be addressed:

What are the main objectives for the next reporting period?

What, if any, changes in overall direction are proposed?

How do you now envisage the future scenario for the product or services you are developing, beyond the project timeframe?”

7.1 Main objectives to summer 1997

Most of the project's focus for the next 12 months will be directed towards the launch of a more user-friendly beta service with considerably more resource description records.

7.1.1 Service Specification

The process of specifying the service will continue until launch of the Beta service, which is now scheduled for late May/early June 1997. This will involve the ratification by the Steering Group of existing reports and the production of a number of additional reports, which will feed into an evolving specification framework as illustrated in the table below:

ADAM Project Specification Framework
Phase Iunderway, to Q4 `96	Phase IIQ3&4 `96, Q1 '97	Phase IIIQ2 '97
Resource Selection Criteria
Vocabulary Strategy	ADAM Cataloguing
Cataloguing Rules/Procedural Manual	Policy*
Classification Scheme*
IAFA Report		ADAM Specification*
ROADS Report	ADAM Service
Relational Model for Metadata*	Technical Specification*
Technical Functional Requirements*

* To be produced during the next reporting period

The most challenging aspects to come are the creation of a suitable classification scheme to allow browsing of the records in the database, the development of a relational metadata model in consultation with other eLib/ANR personnel, and the production of a technical functional requirements statement detailing the technical capabilities of the service.

7.1.2 Prototype Service Implementation

Implementation of the service will take place concurrently with the specification process, culminating in the launch of a `beta' service in late May/early June 1997. This will involve the procurement and configuration of a relational database management system and ancillary components such as thesaurus searching, the importing of the existing collection of IAFA template text files, and designing a user-friendly interface.

7.1.3 Dissemination Programme

The Dissemination Programme will continue much as before, with a number of presentations already scheduled:

16 October, 1996	Presentation to the University of London Library Committee on the History of Art, Society of Antiquities
25 October 1996	Presentation to academic staff at Surrey Institute of Art & Design
5 or 6 December 1996	Presentation to CHArt (Computers and the History of Art) Conference
29 June, 1997	Presentation for the Library Association Audio-Visual Group event at Umbrella 4 conference, UMIST

7.1.4 Training & Awareness Programme

A programme of training and awareness events is currently being put together; the intention is to liaise with Netskills and other art & design projects to reduce the associated costs and provide a broader spectrum of information.

One date has been arranged so far for the next reporting period:

11 September 1996

ARLIS “Hands-On ADAM” visit

7.1.5 Consultation Phase II - prototype evaluation

The second phase of the consultation process will comprise a an iterative evaluation cycle, which will be carried out according to the guidelines produced by the Tavistock Institute for the eLib Programme wherever practicable.

The evaluation will involve a usability survey, structured and unstructured user observation, focus groups, automatic data logging, steering group input and ad-hoc/voluntary feedback.

7.1.6 Resource Discovery & Cataloguing

The process of resource discovery and cataloguing will continue as before, with a number of staff changes; Rebecca Bradshaw, who is currently employed as ADAM Resource Officer on a 0.9 full-time equivalent basis, will move to 0.4 FTE in December 1996, with the other 0.5 FTE being made up by Ann Lennon at the University of the West of England, who will work as ADAM Resource Officer for media-related resources. We are also in discussion with a potential volunteer who wishes to work for the project for a year.

The targets for records in the database are 500 records by the 3rd February 1997 and 1,000 records by the 1st August 1997.

7.1.7 Forthcoming Milestones

The following project milestones fall within the next reporting period:

3 October 1996	Steering Group Meeting
End of November 1996	Draft cataloguing policy completed
Mid February 1997	Draft ADAM Specification completed
Late February 1997	Steering Group Meeting
Late May 1997	Beta service launch event

7.2 Changes in direction

The original direction for the ADAM Project, as proposed in the original bid to FIGIT/ISSC, remains unchanged. However, these have augmented by a number of new directions, primarily the investigation of other standards for resource description, the use of a relational database management system for the storage of resource descriptions and the use of the Z39.50 distributed search and retrieval protocol in addition to WHOIS++.

7.3 Future scenario for SBIGs

As stated above, The manual approach to resource cataloguing is extremely labour-intensive, and is unlikely to remain a viable method for organising the diverse information resources of the Internet in the long term as the associated costs continue to increase and cheaper technology-driven solutions are developed.

The aspect of the service that seems to offer true value to end users is the subject-specific approach and the quality control that is inherent in the cataloguing process. It is envisaged that the emphasis of SBIG projects such as ADAM will begin to shift away from resource discovery and description, and will move increasingly towards the quality control, classification and peer review functions that users seem to value so highly.

Another useful role the SBIGs could provide is to host subject-specific centroid-servers, should the WHOIS++ protocol become use more widely in the future; in effect, the SBIGs could provide intelligent routing services for search queries.

However, it should be stressed that the necessary technology for automating the distributed query routing, searching and retrieving is not currently in widespread use, and therefore the subject-based information gateways will be able to offer a genuinely useful and valuable service for at least the period of eLib funding.