The Scholars Portal Project will provide software tools that allow an academic library to supply a community of users with a single point of Web access that can reach a full array of diverse, high-quality information resources and deliver material directly to the user's desktop. Initially, it will use Fretwell-Downing's ZPORTAL and several related products as a base. Once deployed, ZPORTAL will offer cross-domain searching of licensed and open Web content in a range of subject fields from multiple institutions. The portal will then aggregate and integrate search results. In time, the designers plan to add other improvements, such as the integration of searching within local online learning and course environments, links to 24/7 digital reference services for immediate consultation with reference librarians, transfer of orders to document delivery outlets, etc.

Selected in part for its readiness and experience in advancing priority enhancements, FD develops open, standards-based solutions that are designed to integrate with each other and with other components from third parties. This should let libraries that use the Scholars Portal Project software mix and match FD's tools. FD has led a number of successful research and development projects before, especially in the U.K.

Current plans anticipate that, in most academic environments, the tools developed through the Scholars Portal Project will function as a library channel within a university-wide portal. The project grew out of an ARL Scholars Portal Working Group that was set up in 2000 to explore how best to establish a collaborative research library presence on the Web. The Scholars Portal Project will demonstrate the viability of that vision with one vendor's products, although plans don't limit future software development to any single vendor. ARL planners hope the project will encourage other vendors to enter the marketplace with competitive tools to advance portal functionality. ARL will continue to monitor available software tools that can "meet the needs of the 21st-century academic Web user."

Seven of ARL's major member libraries—the University of Southern California (USC), University of California-San Diego, Dartmouth College, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Iowa State University, and the University of Utah—will collaborate on the initial release of the Scholars Portal Project. Over the course of the 3-year undertaking, ARL plans to expand the number of participating libraries. Mary E. Jackson, ARL's senior program officer for access services, notes that several other ARL members have expressed serious interest in joining the project. "We're now welcoming all other ARL members. Not all will be interested, but the project has the ability to handle any number. It's anyone's guess what the eventual number will be."

Jerry Campbell, chief information officer and dean of University Libraries at USC, chaired the ARL Scholars Portal Working Group. In the announcement, he said: "Fretwell-Downing, Inc. is not the only portal game in town. We selected them to work with us in this project for two reasons. The first reason is that we believe FD's existing ZPORTAL product suite will work together to take us significantly down the road toward achieving our initial project goals. And secondly, the leadership of the company shares our vision of a portal and has committed to bearing some of the costs of developmental work that will lead to enhancements that both we and FD see as important."

FD president Robin Murray said: "I believe that the FD/ARL library partnership is a landmark initiative that will deliver measurable improvements to information provision within universities in the U.S. and Canada and beyond.... We welcome the opportunity to work with ARL libraries. This partnership will enable ZPORTAL to deliver more services to assist academics and scholars along the path from information discovery to content delivery."

Within the next few months, the seven participating libraries will implement the current version of FD's ZPORTAL product suite, with options to add the VDX resource sharing system. Initially, applications will focus on selected undergraduate courses. Working with input from the teaching faculty, the project plans to improve, refine, expand, and evaluate capabilities and applications over the next 3 years. Participating libraries provide finances for the project, with FD contributing some of the costs of developmental work for enhancements. Jackson will serve as part-time project manager and will be the liaison between the libraries and FD, as well as between the project and the research library community. For more information, go to http://www.arl.org/access/scholarsportal.

Participation in the Working Group involves a commitment of as little as $5,000. The installation of the software can cost in the "low six figures," according to Campbell. Jackson said that the contributions from each organization cover annual maintenance, copies of the software, legal fees, built-in developmental costs, and her own part-time support. Individual institutions may also choose to arrange for special services or developments with FD. Though such individual efforts would involve separate payments, Jackson expected that the knowledge gained through developing improvements would be shared and "folded into the product."

According to both Campbell and Jackson, the goal is to make accessing resources as simple for the user as possible—something like Google. However, advanced options will exist for users with greater demands and skills. Each library can set its own goals for customizing service, such as designating "appropriate copies" or eliminating duplication.

In the opinion of project planners, the process of working with the Scholars Portal Project itself seems to have great promise. Jackson anticipates that participants will all have a variety of experiences with making things work. "So if someone tries something, they will share and increase everyone's understanding on what works.... Sharing the information will let us learn how to use the software options in the best way." As more vendors come into the program or the FD software encounters more proprietary software-based digital content collections, Jackson hopes that ARL's Scholars Portal Project forms "one strong voice to content providers. I'm hoping that we can help build a community of companies building products for the library community and can effect new vendor relations. With all the players working together, we may be able to set new standards."