In this month's edition of the ERA eNewsletter we have some feedback from VALA, a sector report from our Deputy Chair, Geoff Strempel and information about the 2008 product poll.

Please also have a look at updates received from EBSCO Publishing and WorldBook and the Gateways article on ERA.

Feedback from VALA

VALA provided a great opportunity to meet with librarians, vendors and colleagues to talk about ERA. Many conference delegates came to the National Library stand to talk to National Library staff about its services and take a few Libraries Australia chocolates.

Fiona Rigby (EPIC), who manages New Zealand's equivalent to ERA, attended the conference and we were able to discuss New Zealand's experience with national licensing. [Pictured above left with Nikki Darby].

Kate Davis (ERA Executive Committee) gave a presentation on the final day entitled "Be my buddy: IM and the future of virtual reference".

ERA vendors were also highly represented with exhibition stands for ProQuest, EBSCO Publishing, Gale Cengage Learning and Oxford Uinversity Press.

Public Library Sector - Message from Kate Davis

Public libraries are often the libraries of first resort for a large proportion of the general community. ERA offers public libraries an unprecedented opportunity to connect Australians with authoritative, current, relevant electronic resources.

To date, more than 50 public library services have taken up ERA subscriptions, representing a significant improvement in access to quality online information for all Australians.

If you want to know more about ERA or discuss issues of importance to the public library sector please feel free to get in contact with either myself [pictured] or Geoff Strempel.

2008 Product Poll

The annual Product Poll for this year will run from 25 March to 29 April 2008.

It is important that libraries interested in joining ERA for the first time, or are intending to renew their subscriptions, indicate their intentions by completing the online product poll.   

The ERA product poll is intended to establish the level of library interest in subscriptions to the resources offered on the ERA Product List and help coordinate subscription details with vendors.

Register here if you would like to receive an email reminder when the product poll is open.

Want to know more about the product poll?

Product updates

EBSCOhost: New Visual Search Redesign

A completely redesigned Visual Search option, complete with two user interface styles to choose from, has just been released ahead of schedule to EBSCOhost customers. The new design (featuring two search styles) replaces the original Visual Search option on all applicable interfaces.

Also New on EBSCOhost: Image Quick View - EBSCO Publishing has released an exciting new Image Quick View.

World Book Web

• World Book Kids – developed for Primary school students.
• World Book Online Reference Center – 40,000+ Encyclopedia and reference articles with content correlated to state curricula criteria.
• World Book Advanced – Tailored for the needs of students at secondary level and beyond. Integrates primary and secondary source documents in a single database.

Gateways Article

This month's issue of the Gateways contains an article about the positive response to ERA.

Key Dates to Remember

• 25 March
  ERA Product Poll Opens
• 29 April
  ERA Product Poll Closes
• 1 July
  New Subscription Cycle Commences