Discovery and access: publisher-library collaboration on standards

Library users want to discover and get access to relevant publi cations easily. In the UK, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) is developing an Information Environment that will enable more seamless discovery and access for the academic community, based on standards and protocols that allow online services to work together and become more interoperable. The PALS Metadata and Interoperability programmes were funded by the JISC to encourage publishers and libraries to work together using these standards and develop joint solutions for improving interoperability throughout the information chain. The second PALS programme ended in 2006 and demonstrated how the use of standards can improve discovery for users, improve electronic resource management for libraries, and improve the visibility of electronic publications. This article summarizes what the PALS 2 programme and its projects achieved.