National data management

KB+ provides institutions with a centrally maintained knowledge base of data relevant to the management of subscribed resources. Maintenance of the knowledge base is undertaken by staff at Jisc. A lot of the data that has been created is available under a CC0 licence and available from the Exports page

KB+ includes:

• Comprehensive title and package information for all JISC Collections agreements, including details of issue entitlements/coverage

• Comprehensive title and package information for non-JISC Collections agreements, based on institutional priorities

• Licence information for the above, including ONIX-PL, documentation and interpretation from the JISC collections licence specialist

• Specific institutional entitlements – where they are available JISC Collections will pre-populate institutional accounts with agreements they subscribe to

The data itself is updated on an ongoing basis by the KB+ team.

Local data management

• While the aim of KB+ is to undertake as much work at the national level as possible, the service also allows institutions to manage details of their own licences, subscriptions, entitlements and documentation

• Institutions can create details of local subscriptions based on the central data in the system. Since KB+ includes a format-neutral document store, they are also able to save any local information they wish alongside their licences and subscriptions

• All institutional accounts are secured and private

• Updates – including notifications and alerts – are available

• The KB+ team at Jisc maintains the data in KB+ on an ongoing basis

• During the renewals period, participating institutions receive updates of new data. This information is also shared with system vendors and link resolvers

• The built-in communication areas are also used to provide information on data to users of KB+, such as changes within packages

Software requirements

• All software is managed centrally as part of the service; there are no local software requirements

• Access to the service is via the UK Access Management Federation (https://www.jisc.ac.uk/uk-federation)

Hardware requirements

As KB+ is a hosted service, institutions are not required to support any hardware to use it.

Software development and maintenance

The KB+ team:

• Continually strives to improve and develop KB+ with regular updates

• Responds to user-driven enhancement requests

• Gathers feedback from the community to develop the service

• Implements quarterly system health checks

• Runs monthly software updates

• Prepares adhoc updates for high-priority fixes

Availability

The system is available on a 24/7/365 basis, apart from scheduled downtime and maintenance. Users are given as much notice as possible of scheduled maintenance.

Reports and exports

KB+ provides a range of reports and exports based on subscriptions, licences, etc., which can be outputted in various formats, such as those appropriate for system vendors.

Functionality

KB+ enables members to:

• Search for titles, packages, subscriptions and licences

• Create subscriptions, institution-specific packages and local licences

• Review subscriptions, licences, package information and renewal information

• Update licence, package and subscription information

• Delete licences, packages, subscriptions, etc

• Share information with members of their institution or across the KB+ community

• Collaborate with other users

• Store documentation in any format alongside subscription and licence information

• Create notes alongside subscriptions and licences

• Download subscriptions, licences and title information

• Compare licences, subscriptions and packages

• Calculate cost per use using the financial information module

• Display title information alongside licence properties

Interoperability

• KB+ supports exports to third-party systems – Ex Libris, EBSCO, Proquest, OCLC, Innovative, etc. are all currently making use of package information and increasingly of licence information provided by KB+. We intend this process to be a dynamic one that occurs without the need for institutional management, thus reducing the burden on the institution

• An API is available to support the transfer of publication information data

• KB+ is working with JUSP and other Jisc Library Support Services to support the exchange of data between the two services. JUSP supplies headline journal-usage figures for inclusion in KB+. These are exported from JUSP into KB+ using an API. Also, KB+ and JUSP share a core titles facility, which is maintained at KB+ and regularly imported/updated on JUSP

Licensing and IPR of the system and data

• Metadata for publication information is made available under a CC0 licence

• Local data is private to the institution, with the option to make it public to other users of the system

• All institutional data is the property of the institution, with a licence granted to Jisc to make use of it