Eldis OnDisc : Feasibility study for document caching and CD-ROM creation and distribution project
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This report documents the Institute of Development Studies' investigation into the feasibility of creating Eldis OnDisc, a CD-ROM derived from their extensive website of development information. This report provides: background to the proposal, description of how the feasibility study was conducted, findings from the user survey, publisher survey, and other interviews, recommended next steps, and suggested budget. Annexes include user and publisher surveys, potential copyright agreements, and user and publisher responses to their proposal. The report concludes that there is a substantial market for offline distribution of Eldis-identified documents, and that publishers and distributors seem very interested in participating in this. Key findings from the survey are that: users still have problems accessing full text on the internet and have a need for offline access to such content, for both their own work and that of their colleagues; publishers are generally willing to release copyright, but there is a major logistical task in collecting the agreements although there is a growing interest in open-source content provision; users see value in a range of disc formats, including both single subject and multiple subject discs; and finally, small scale, high-impact distribution is possible. The business case for Eldis' involvement in such distribution is leverage of the IDS network of information service consumers