ACM LAUNCHES NEW ACM DIGITAL LIBRARY INTERFACE

On November 1, 2010 ACM launched a significant update to its flagship product, The ACM Digital Library. This is the first major upgrade since the initial launch of the ACM DL more than a decade ago. The most immediate and notable changes are the rebranding of the Portal as The ACM Digital Library and the complete integration of the Guide to Computing Literature bibliographic database into the Digital Library itself. The changes create a simplified and more intuitive experience when searching for ACM and non-ACM articles through a single search interface than the previous system which required the user to conduct separate searches across the full-text and bibliographic databases. Among the long list of improvements is the redesigned citation pages, which now organize article information into a tabular format for easy access and usability, and detailed bibliometric data for every author and article contained in both the Digital Library and Guide. This makes the Digital Library the most comprehensive full-text and bibliographic database in existence, and a must-have subscription for every educational or research institution with a focus on computing or computer science.

The new site better organizes and integrates data and content at various levels and enables the user to more efficiently browse by author, publication type, special interest group, conference, and institution. In addition, the site includes many new social media features, such as the ability to comment, share, and post articles and links on various third party sites such as twitter, facebook, and a long list of other community-based sites. Easy integration with library systems utilizing SFX is also part of the upgrade, along with a number of soon to be announced library-specific capabilities, such as MARC 21 records for easy integration of ACM content into library catalogs and support for OpenID and Shibboleth authentication.

The following is a complete list of updates to the DL as part of the current release:        

  • ACM Rebrands the  “Portal” as the “ACM Digital Library”
  • Reorganized and redesigned article citation pages
  • Enhanced set of tools including RSS feeds, bibliographic exports and social network integration
  • Table of contents service (email and RSS) now available across all publications
  • Integrated book links to Safari and Amazon
  • Integration of ACM magazine websites (outside the DL) to allow for full-text delivery of articles through the associated site, (i.e. - html for CACM articles will bring the reader to the CACM web site for delivery)
  • Interactive commenting capability across all articles
  • Integration of conference information including web site links
  • Exposure of conference acceptance rates on proceeding papers
  • Integrated SFX mechanism for libraries
  • Cobranding of the Digital Library for library and corporate customers (A logo along with a URL and institution name can be displayed alongside the ACM Digital Library logo)
  • Extended browse capabilities, browse by books, periodicals, proceedings, publishers
  • Conference centric view of the Digital Library, including aggregated information and archives of all publications
  • Highlighting of authors and award winners
  • Exposure of ACM full-text articles by incorporating ACM diamond logo next to article on article results page
  • Geographic breakdown of conferences mapped across the world
  • Easy access to upcoming conferences
  • RSS feeds are available for new conference materials added to the DL
  • RSS feeds are available for upcoming conferences
  • Special Interest Group centric view of the Digital Library (Very similar to the conference view but focused on individual SIGs)
  • Revamped Binder facility
  • Create annotated bibliographies, full bibliographic exports and on-the-fly pdf compilations
  • Drag-and-drop organization tools
  • Share binders with colleagues
  • Enhanced sign-in and sign-up facility, (simple, fast and secure)
  • Quick and easy ability to purchase single articles, membership or DL subscriptions (Pay Pal, credit card capabilities, etc.)
  • Purchase print copies of magazine/journal issues and archived conference proceedings
  • Real-time inventory access
  • Integration with third party "article rental" company, Deep Dyve (currently being tested on an experimental basis)
  • Custom interface into The Encyclopedia of Computer Science (published in cooperation with Wiley on the ACM DL site)
  • Significant infrastructure enhancements to increase overall availability and throughput

The following features are under development and will be rolled out in the coming months:

  • Institutional Pages
  • Support for OpenID and Shibboleth
  • MARC 21 Records

For any comments or questions regarding this latest update to the ACM Digital Library, please contact ACM at (dl-info@acm.org).