Current status of "Net Resource subject guide" of Chinese academic libraries

Abstract

Chinese Academic Library and Information System (CALIS), one of the most important public service system projects, was authorized and supported financially by the State Council of China. In order to integrate national investment, modern library service and advanced technology, abundant document resources of academic libraries and human resource, CALIS devotes to document guaranteed system construction, with focus on Chinese higher education digital library development. CALIS promotes information resource co-construction, co-communication and sharing among Chinese academic libraries. The long-term objective of CALIS will be concentrated on the service for Chinese higher education and the best usage of national huge investment. Among all the projects of CALIS, subject collection and navigation are the core. Currently, 46 academic libraries are applying for 204 subjects databases to be mounted on CALIS network. At last only 45 university's 157databasepassed are approved. All the experiences acquired from database construction as well as subject guide design should be summarized and investigated for resource sharing, online survey has been carried out by a group of scholars and this article is the result of the survey. It may be seen as the current report on Chinese academic information resource subject classification system construction. Methods used in this survey include online sampling. Taking approved databases for granted, data of subject guides and other related aspects are collected and analyzed. The academic libraries surveyed are all connected to China Education and Research Network (CERNET), which is the largest network for Chinese higher education. The geographical areas spread all over the country, excluding Hong Kong and Macao. The time period is limited with 2002-5 -1 to 2002-5-30. Objects of survey refer to distribution of subjects, structure of classification, information records, web page design, information retrieval system, the amount of information records.