Further to my blog post of 5 February, Copac and a number of related services from RLUK and Suncat will no longer exist from 31 July 2019. They are due to be replaced by a new range of Library Hub services from Jisc, based on data within the National Bibliographic Knowledgebase (NBK). Please take note if you use any of the following services:

• Copac
• Copac Collection Management (CCM) Tools
• RLUK record downloading (z39.50)
• Suncat

There are three “Library Hub” services, the most important one for discovery being Library Hub Discover, which takes over from Copac and SUNCAT and should have similar coverage. UCL’s holdings are now in this service, although I am undertaking a number of detailed tests and would appreciate any reports of missing or strange-looking records on Library Hub. Updates should now be weekly. You can restrict any search to UCL only, by putting “held-by:ucl” at the beginning of any search, e.g. this search for social media books by Daniel Miller. This should be useful for when Explore is unavailable. Real-time availability is not available on Library Hub Discover, but is planned.

The RLUK MARC record downloading service will be superseded by Library Hub Catalogue, a web and z39.50 service. I am currently looking at getting this set up on Alma and will send further information to relevant staff when this is ready.

The third service- Library Hub Compare– is not yet ready but is intended to replace CCM Tools and the SUNCAT Serials Comparison service. Further details will be provided when available.

Please note that all three Library Hub services are still being described by Jisc as “pilot” services but with the imminent retirement of Copac in particular it will be necessary to update practices and documentation.

More information

Jisc have provided a number of extra pages with information about Library Hub Discover, including a general About page, a more detailed FAQ, and lots of search tips in a Help page.

Feedback

Please let me know if you have any feedback, especially about how UCL’s data appears (or if it doesn’t). Jisc are also interested in getting feedback and you can fill in this questionnaire.

Copac and a number of related services will shortly be disappearing, to be replaced by new services from Jisc this summer. Jisc have been working on a new National Bibliographic Knowledgebase (NBK) with a view to replacing a number of popular national library services, including Copac, Copac Collection Management (CCM) Tools, RLUK record downloading (z39.50), and Suncat. There are currently three “Library Hub” services planned, two of which now have a pilot interface available:

• Library Hub Discover (search, to replace Copac). This is now available as a pilot with limited coverage to test now. There is a link to a feedback form on the Search page.
• Library Hub Catalogue (record download, to replace RLUK z39.50). I anticipate this simply replacing the RLUK profile in the Alma External Resources search although there is a web interface too. This is now available as a pilot with limited fields and data, but this is for libraries that have contributed to the NBK, which we have yet to do.
• Library Hub Compare (to supersede CCM Tools and the SUNCAT Serials Comparison service). There is no test version of this yet.

Jisc intends for all three to replace the existing services in July 2019. For more information about the Library Hub Services, see the About and FAQ pages. There is a little more information, including about the Compare service, in this post: Driving Transformation with the NBK – where have we got to and where next?. We intend to fully participate in the NBK so our records will be visible in the Library Hub services.