The JISC information environment service registry: providing a catalogue of resources for portals

The JISC Information Environment Service Registry (IESR) (http://www.mimas.ac.uk/iesr/) contains quality descriptions of collections of resources available to researchers, learners and teachers within UK Higher and Further Education. Alongside the collection descriptions, which enable resource discovery, are technical details of the `informational' services that provide access to them, enabling determination of the best access option to a collection of interest. The IESR also contains descriptions of `transactional' services that are not based on an explicit collection but provide a significant service, for example an institution's OpenURL resolver. Additionally the IESR contains details of the parties (agents) that own the collections and administer the services