Ten years ago, UC Davis faculty, staff, and students used the Melvyl Catalog and Periodicals databases to identify books, journals, and media found in the UC Davis libraries and other UC libraries.  In addition, the Melvyl system was used to search 10 databases in subjects ranging from general (e.g. Current Contents and Mags) to highly specialized areas of medicine, physics, education, and geology.  Research and educational information was found mostly in print books and journals.

There were few options available to individuals who wanted to search the Melvyl system databases and to use library services without coming into the library in the early 1990's.  In those days, a person had to use telnet software to access the Melvyl databases from campus offices, labs, and homes. If they wished to renew library books they had to pick up a phone or visit the circulation desk to do so. Library staff themselves  were using technologies, such as gopher and archie for Internet-accessible resources and the web browser, Mosaic, was introduced in 1993.

Today, there is a richer variety of electronic and  resources to support research and educational interests. In fact, the library has converted many  print docs to digital formats. (see sidebar for more info).The card catalogs of today are online databases that allow library users to search from their home computers.

Recently, the library has been adding to its cache of online resources. While the Melvyl Catalog and Periodicals databases may still be searched to identify what materials are available in any of the UC libraries, there is now a new online catalog for access to the UC Davis Library's collections. The Harvest Library Catalog (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/HARVESTCATALOG)  is a local database of records describing the print and electronic books, journals, and media housed in our libraries or licensed for access by UC Davis faculty, staff, and students.  It features information showing the latest journal issue received, titles of books, journals, and other media that have been ordered, but not yet received, plus virtual library shelf browsing using call numbers.  Soon, the Melvyl Catalog and Periodicals databases will be merged into one Melvyl database that will offer  similar search features to the Harvest Library Catalog.

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Campus individuals can now also search over 213 databases (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/subjectsguide) covering many specializations and interdisciplinary fields and reach several thousand full-text journals and books.  Various commercial vendors, such as Ovid and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA), develop the discovery and presentation software that faculty, staff, and students use to find information in these databases.  The Melvyl-hosted databases, such as BIOSIS, Current Contents, Psych Abs, have been retired and are now available through these commercial interfaces.  One thing that hasn't changed over the years is the fact that the librarian subject specialists and Instructional Services staff (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/info/contact.html) are available and most willing to help UC Davis individuals to use the myriad of  databases effectively and efficiently.

Another new library tool for UC Davis faculty, staff, and students is the Harvest Library Portal (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/HARVESTPORTAL).  The portal features broadcast searching among several databases simultaneously and MyUCDavis-like functions, such as one's own private electronic bookshelf and space for customized saved searches to be run against one's pre-defined list of databases.  Initially, the Harvest Portal was implemented to allow simultaneous searching of both the Harvest Library Catalog and the Melvyl Catalog and Periodicals databases by entering search terms only once and retrieving results from all of these databases in a unified presentation.  In the future, more databases and other electronic resources will be added as well as new features that will help individuals navigate the wealth of resources that the library has. 

All of these library resources can be reached by pointing one's web browser to http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu.  UC Davis individuals who are using a commercial Internet service provider or DSL to access the library's resources can find instructions at http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/info/computers/remote.html. (The instructions are imperative since the  site is restricted to UC Davis affiliates only. There are legal and contractual requirements the Library needs to meet with its information providers.) For more information and assistance in using the wealth of library resources and services contact your librarian subject specialists (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/resources/colldevel.html).

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