New & Noteworthy

Citation

(2002), "New & Noteworthy", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 19 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2002.23919cab.001

New & Noteworthy

Fretwell-Downing Informatics (FDI) has launched its ZPORTAL. This Web environment extends the concept of cross-database searching by offering "one search" access to internal and external resources, whilst also providing a choice of content delivery methods, so taking the user from information discovery to content delivery within a single environment.

Rather than being tied into specific resources, ZPORTAL allows users the freedom to design the content of their portal to best suit their needs by including only the specific library catalogues, internal databases, intranet/Internet Web search engines, full-text databases and online services which best fit their requirements.

By integrating access to external information sources alongside internal resources, libraries and information centres can increase the value of their collections. For the user, ZPORTAL provides a personalised, reliable place to begin information discovery or research. Users can see information retrieved from Web sites, e-journals and library catalogues side by side in a single list.

ZPORTAL presents users with a choice of content delivery methods, which include open URL linking to link direct to e-journal subscriptions and ILL/document delivery for physical item delivery. As a result, ZPORTAL can manage access to both physical and electronic delivery options within a single, seamless environment for the user.

FDI's portal solution uses the latest open, standards-based architecture to enable information centres to provide the solution that best suits the needs of the user. With a choice of data publishing tools, ZPORTAL offers the freedom to integrate access to the most important and appropriate resources - irrespective of format or location.

The new portal solution acts as a one-stop shop for users, taking them from the initial need for information through to its delivery without having to use several different tools and applications.

Further information is available from Sarah Walton. Tel: +44 (0) 114 281 6040. E-mail: sarah.walton@ fdgroup.com URL: www.fdgroup.com/fdi

SwetsWise UK Launch

SwetsBlackwell launched SwetsWise in the UK during the 2001 Online Information Meeting in December 2001. Built on IBM technology, this Web-based subscription and information management service includes a subscription-specific approval procedure, designed especially to handle acquisitions of periodicals. It can be accessed directly via the Internet or through such e-procurement systems as Ariba, Commerce One and SAP.

Further information is available from Sarah Kellman. Tel: +31 252 435 584. E-mail: skellman@swets.nl URL: www.swetsblackwell.com

BIOTECHNOBASE.com

Elsevier Science Bibliographic Databases (ESBD) has announced the forthcoming release of BIOTECHNOBASE.com, the second of its bibliographic databases available via an intelligent gateway Web implementation.

According to Dr Rob van der Meer, Product Manager, "BIOTECHNOBASE.com is specifically designed to provide end-user searchers with fast, easy access, to the new, relevant biotechnology literature they need to compete successfully in the biotechnology arena. This gateway will offer extensive linking to full-text and other information sources as well as innovative functionality. The intelligent search engine will enable even novice users to carry out highly sophisticated, yet intuitive searches. The automatic email alerting service for preferred search profiles will give end users powerful tools to create their own personal virtual journal."

Providing direct access to the core of international scientific literature in biotechnology and the life sciences, BIOTECHNOBASE.com features:

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  weekly updates of about 2,000 new records;

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  easy-to-use interface;

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  record access via indexed terms and keywords, authors and journals;

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  coverage of 280 core journals plus selective coverage from more than 4,000 journals in relevant fields;

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  approximately 1.5 million bibliographic records from 1980 to the present, most with author abstracts;

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  links to full text;

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  Molecular Sequence Numbers and CAS Registry Numbers; and

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  automatic e-mail alerting service.

Sectors covered in BIOTECHNOBASE.com include: human and animal health care (biomedical developments, functional genomics and gene analyses, proteomics, diagnosis and diagnostics, molecular cellular monitoring, medical microbiology); (bio-) pharmaceutics (novel therapeutics, vaccines, gene therapy); foods and beverages (novel foods, nutriceuticals, functional foods); agri- and horticulture (plant and animal breeding, plant resistance and tolerance, biopesticides and bio-insecticides); environmental protection and control (bioremediation and biodegradation, biomonitoring and control, waste (water) and air pollution treatment, ecological risks and hazards assessment).

During the final stages of BIOTECHNOBASE.com development Elsevier Science Bibliographic Databases is offering users the opportunity to provide feedback on functionality and content by participating in free beta trials. Following EMBASE.com, BIOTECHNOBASE.com will become the latest addition to the Elsevier Science Bibliographic Databases family of Intelligent Gateways on the Internet. This Web implementation is designed to help users explore, pinpoint and utilise the wealth of validated information that ESBD's databases provide.

Further information is available from Rob van der Meer. Tel: +31 20 485 3261. E-mail: r.meer@elsevier.nl URL: www.elsevier.com

Australian Newspapers for Dialog

The Dialog Corporation has announced that it has expanded its collection of full-text content available through its online information services with the addition of ten Australian newspapers and periodicals published by John Fairfax Holdings Limited. The deal was executed through Fairfax's f2 Network.

The new content includes:

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  The Australian Financial Review (AFR). Published six days a week, AFR covers general business and financial news, as well as international affairs, politics, information technology, property, personal finance and the business of sports.

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  Business Review Weekly (BRW). Australia's only weekly business magazine, BRW includes coverage of corporate strategy, e-business and management trends, with in-depth reporting on such topics as marketing, emerging companies, tax, innovation, technology and investing.

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  The Age. Founded in 1854, The Age has a circulation of about 660,000 readers on weekdays and more than 1.04 million on Saturdays. The paper is noted for its commitment to quality journalism.

Also included in the Fairfax content are three other of the country's largest daily newspapers - The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, New South Wales), The Sun Herald (Sydney) and The Sunday Age, sister publication of The Age (Melbourne) - and two strong regional newspapers - The Newcastle Herald and The Illawarra Mercury (both from New South Wales).

The new Fairfax content is available through the Profound service's NewsLine section and will be available in early 2002 through the Dialog and DataStar services. With the addition of the Fairfax editorial content announced recently, the Profound service now includes more than 300 Australian publications and information sources and a total of more than 6,000 sources of news available for online searching.

Further information is available from Dorothy Briggs. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7940 6900. E-mail: dorothy_briggs@dialog.com URL: www.dialog.com

EU Web Site for SMEs

SME TechWeb is a new Web site for small and medium-sized companies that offers a single point of contact for online information and advice about EU research for SMEs. It is a direct replacement for the previous CORDIS SME Web site.

Complementing the existing range of information products aimed at SMEs (companies with fewer than 250 employees), SME TechWeb provides information on the Specific Measures for SMEs of the Fifth Framework Programme. It is designed to help SME owner/managers get the most from EU research, by guiding them through all the steps of a research project, from initial identification of needs to the commercial exploitation of results.

The site includes an explanation of the Special Measures on offer to SMEs, and provides the forms and guidance notes needed to submit a research proposal, along with a database offering examples of successful projects. There is also a glossary of terms to help newcomers understand EU research.

SME TechWeb will be updated regularly to provide the latest news of events, calls and regulatory developments. There are also links to other online sources of advice and information that are relevant to technology-oriented SMEs.

Further information is available at: www.cordis.lu/sme

Company Reports

A national catalogue of company annual reports held in UK libraries is now available online under the name of SCoRe (Search Company Reports) at www.score.ac.uk Full holdings of the extensive and historic company report collections at London Business School, Manchester Business School, Warwick University and Strathclyde University libraries and the British Library can be searched by company name, or browsed by industry sector or country of registration. In addition, collection descriptions and policies, contact and access details are given for a further 17 significant collections across the UK, via a sensitive map.

SCoRe is one of the key deliverables of a national project funded by the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP): "Company annual reports: assuring the distributed national print archive". The purpose of the project is to prevent the loss of endangered or unique company research materials through improving awareness of and access to company reports and related documents, and creating a National Collection Policy for this type of material.

Originally planned to run for one year, the project has now been extended until March 2002 thanks to additional RSLP funding.

Further information is available from Lindsay Jones. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7262 5050; ext 4241. E-mail: linjones@london.edu URL: www.score.ac.uk

BBC Award

BBC Online has received an award for its news site. It was awarded the prize for "Best European News Site" during the Content Summit '01, when the IP Top Awards 2001 were handed out. A team of experts from all over Europe nominated the sites for the news category and judged them on criteria such as "Content Quality", "User- Friendliness" and "Interaction".

Further information is available at www.iptop.com/release_winners2001.htm

TOXCENTER

Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) has introduced TOXCENTER, a database of toxicology information from pharmacological and chemical literature. The new file is available on the STN International online network and on the Web via STN on the Web and STN Easy.

TOXCENTER provides bibliographic information on the toxicological, pharmacological, biomedical and biochemical effects of drugs, chemicals and food, as well as methodology, industrial hygiene, and legal issues and standards. It contains more than 5 million records, and covers patents as well as scientific literature.

The material in TOXCENTER is derived from: CAplus (with CA records from 1947-present); MEDLINE (from 1958-present, including the MESH Thesaurus); BIOSIS (from 1969-present, including Relational Indexing); and IPA (International Pharmaceutical Abstracts) from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), with coverage from 1970-present.

CAS Registry Numbers appear in each of the four file segments, providing links to additional records in other STN files. Over 2.2 million unique substances are represented.

Further information is available from Eric Shively. Tel: +1 614 447 3847; E-mail: eshively@cas.org URL: www.cas.org

Hotel Freedonia

The market research firm The Freedonia Group, Inc. has launched Hotel Freedonia, a new Web-based product that is co-branded and customised for each corporate client to provide unlimited access for its employees to the Freedonia studies owned by the organisation. The Hotel Freedonia Web site is made available to a client corporation's employees via an exclusive link through the client's corporate intranet.

Further information from Clint Delafield. Tel: +1 440 684 9600. E-mail: cdelafield@freedoniagroup.com.

OSIRIS via Internet

Bureau van Dijk (BvD) has launched the Internet version of OSIRIS. Launched on CD-ROM in April 2001, OSIRIS is a complete global listed company database. It combines information from various specialist sources, namely World'Vest Base for industrial companies, Fitch for banks and Thomson Financial Insurance Solutions for the insurance companies, and provides various reports to reflect different accounting procedures and formats.

BvD has recently signed agreements with local information providers in Japan, Korea and China, which have increased coverage to 25,000 companies including banks and insurance companies.

In addition to accounts OSIRIS contains Reuters news, detailed earnings estimates and recommendations collated by JCF, a new stock data section provided by Fininfo and ratings from Standard and Poor's, Moody's and Fitch. Other recent additions include industry codes from Dow Jones and within the ownership section, researched by BvD's in-house consultants, the ability to identify and search by a company's degree of independence.

The financial information can be displayed in a range of formats with varying levels of detail and standardisation (including the "as reported" data and re-stated accounts), so users can carry out accurate cross-border searching and analysis, whilst still having the ability to drill right down to the raw data. BvD's other company information products are seamlessly linked to OSIRIS, so users can get detailed reports on private subsidiaries.

OSIRIS is also compatible with Moody's Financial Analyst (MFA), a widely used analysis and modelling tool. A link has been created to enable users to automatically import OSIRIS data into the MFA application.

As with BvD's other Internet products, OSIRIS offers users the choice of both easy and expert search modes. The expert search facility incorporates all of the advanced search and analysis features that are available on the CD-ROM.

Further information is available from Louise Green. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7549 5012. E-mail: louise.green@bvd.co.uk URL: www.bvdep.com

Chemistry Preprints

ChemWeb, Inc. has announced that chemists are now potentially able to retrieve data from articles live on the Chemistry Preprint Server (CPS) from a wide variety of Web-based resources.

The CPS is now fully compliant with version 1.1 of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) protocol, and is a registered data provider. The OAI develops and promotes interoperability standards that aim to facilitate the efficient dissemination of content - as a means of increasing the availability of scholarly communication.

The metadata for all articles submitted to the CPS is now available for harvesting by Web search engines or other preprint servers. Users of such OAI-compliant resources are then able to search through all of the information hosted on the CPS and link directly to the article of interest.

Further information is available from Bill Town. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7611 4364. E-mail: marketing@chemweb.com URL: http://preprint.chemweb. com or www.openarchives.org

Reference Manager 10

ISI ResearchSoft has released Reference Manager 10, a major upgrade to the software that streamlines the process of publishing research by providing a new level of integration with Microsoft Word, new ways to store links to online and Web-based research, and direct access to ISI Web of Science.

Reference Manager is designed for researchers, librarians, writers and students who need to find, import, manage and perfectly format reference data. It can be used to create articles for professional journals, grants, dissertations, theses, CVs, research papers and regulatory filings.

The new upgrade of Reference Manager offers:

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  Cite While You Write, new formatting that delivers a finished bibliography, as users cite references in the document;

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  travelling library, a facility to share documents for collaborative writing; the references travel with the document;

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  new fields for storing links to Web pages and files; users can store a virtual collection of links to full-text documents, PDF files, chemical structures and reactions, and related links and image files;

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  expanded linkages to the ISI Web of Knowledge platform; and

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  over 150 new content files, including output styles, import filters and connection files.

Reference Manager 10 is designed for Windows 98/ME/XP and Windows NT4/2000. The list price is US$395.95.

Further information is available from Nancy Matus. Tel: +1 760 438 5526; ext 332. E-mail: nancy.matus@isiresearchsoft.com URL: www.isiresearchsoft.com

Kluwer Journals via Ovid

Ovid Technologies has announced that over 700 Kluwer journals are to be made available via Ovid search software. The Kluwer Collection will provide direct bibliographic and PDF access to key titles in such areas as engineering, medicine, psychology and social sciences, agriculture, animal sciences and fisheries, biotechnology, chemistry and pharmaceuticals, geoscience, religion and philosophy, and linguistics.

Both Ovid and SilverPlatter databases will link to the journals, which can be purchased on an individual title basis or in subject-specific packages.

Further information is available from Steve Hawe. Tel: +44 (0) 20 8585 6445. E-mail: steve_hawe@ovid.com URL: www.ovid.com

FT Pro

FT.com, the Financial Times online operation, has launched FT Pro, a personalised global news, search and monitoring service designed for business executives. An annual fee based on the number of users provides unlimited access to the product, which delivers a tailored information retrieval system direct to the desktop. FT Pro gives access to 300 of the world's media sources and up to 10 million articles.

The service can also be delivered with a series of pre-set, sector-specific terms for searching. Information on FT Pro is updated throughout the day, with personal e-mail alerts, which can send relevant articles or stories to the user as they appear.

FT Pro has been developed in conjunction with divine Inc., a technology partner specialising in the knowledge management sector.

Further information is available from Joanna Manning-Cooper. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7873 4447. E-mail: joanna.manning-cooper@ft.com URL: www.ft.com

PsycINFO on ScienceDirect

ScienceDirect, a division of Elsevier Science, and the American Psychological Association have announced that PsycINFO is now available via the ScienceDirect platform. The PsycINFO bibliographic/ abstracts database contains more than 1.7 million references to psychological literature from 1887 to the present. It is updated weekly.

The integration of the PsycINFO database with the full-text article collection on ScienceDirect, plus backfiles of selected psychology journals and dynamic reference linking from Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, provides access to a critical mass of the world's literature in the field.

Freely enabled CrossRef links give access to over 10,000 journal titles from the major STM publishers. ScienceDirect also supports rich reference linking from the articles on ScienceDirect to records on PsycINFO. ScienceDirect e-mail alerts allows users to choose PsycINFO as their alerting tool.

Further information is available from Amanda Spiteri. Tel: +31 20 485 2677. E-mail: c.spiteri@sciencedirect.com URL: www.sciencedirect.com

Landolt-Börnstein goes Online

All 290 volumes of Landolt-Börnstein are now available online. This data collection on chemistry, physics and technology is integrated in Springer-Verlag's LINK portal.

Subscribers to the complete Landolt-Börnstein can now register to gain access to the online version. The volumes up to 1990 are available to Internet users at no charge. In the near future, non-subscribers will also be able to purchase individual articles from Landolt-Börnstein and to pay for them using a new invoicing system.

The printed version of Landolt-Börnstein was founded in 1883. It has been published in English since 1961.

Further information is available from Gertraud Griepke. Tel: +49 6221 487 8457. E-mail: griepke@springer.de URL: www.landolt-boernstein.com

ChemPort Enhancement

CAS has announced an "Enhanced Reference Linking" service for ChemPort. The enhancement will make it easier to find chemical substances and citations related to scientific journal articles on the Web. In addition to viewing a CAS record for the article or its full text, users of the new CAS service can choose to see the chemical substances discussed in the cited article and indexed by CAS scientists or a list of the "citing" documents that refer to the article.

Enhanced Reference Linking includes the option to pay for the additional information by point and click. Payment may be by credit card or via the user's STN account.

Publishers for which Enhanced Reference Linking is now available are ACS Publications, Academic Press, Blackwell Publishers, the American Institute of Physics, Institute of Physics, International Union of Crystallography, the Royal Society of Chemistry, Springer-Verlag and Catchword.

Some 135 publishers and more than 2,700 journals participate in ChemPort. The ChemPort Connection is incorporated into all CAS electronic search services, including STN Express, STN Easy, STN on the Web, SciFinder, SciFinder Scholar and CA on CD.

Further information is available from Eric Shively. Tel: +1 614 447 3847. E-mail: eshively@cas.org URL: www.chemport.org

WilsonWeb - Next Generation

The H.W. Wilson Company has announced that WilsonWeb - Next Generation, the total redesign of the WilsonWeb database service, will make its debut in Spring 2002. It will offer users:

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  more intuitive navigation;

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  detailed user statistics;

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  natural language searching;

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  power to search the complete text of articles;

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  relevance ranking of citations retrieved;

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  more administrative control and ability to customise interface features;

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  screen commands and navigation aids available from every screen;

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  database-specific subject term thesauri;

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  compliance with American Disabilities Association access standards;

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  Z39.50 standard client/server protocol; and

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  dynamic journal holdings indicator, linking to the library's OPAC.

Beta testing for WilsonWeb - Next Generation began in November 2001.

Further information is available from Roseward Sky. Tel: +1 718 588 8400; E-mail: rsky@hwwilson.com URL: www.hwwilson.com

OnlineBooks from Wiley InterScience

Wiley InterScience has launched Wiley InterScience OnlineBooks, an extensive database of scientific, technical and medical (STM) content that will be available as part of the Wiley InterScience online service. According to the publisher, Wiley InterScience OnlineBooks represents the next step in the evolution of digital information resources with the complete contents of essential print works re-purposed for the online environment.

Gregory St John, Vice-President and General Manager of Wiley InterScience, commented that "Wiley is pleased to be the first STM publisher to deliver to the desktops of its customers a fully searchable and browsable database that integrates the complete content of its scientific, technical and medical books with that of its online journals and reference works. Wiley InterScience OnlineBooks significantly enhances search capabilities". OnlineBooks delivers specific content together with snapshot chapter summaries.

Librarians will be able to purchase a licence for unlimited online access by authorised users. The associated usage figures will be useful for future collection management decisions.

Wiley InterScience OnlineBooks will integrate the content of Wiley InterScience journals and reference works with more than 200 of Wiley's STM titles by the end of 2002. It will be segmented into three main subject collections: Chemistry; Life and Medical Sciences; and Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications.

Further information is available from Allan Kimberley. Tel: +44 (0) 2083 263865. E-mail: kimallan@wiley.co.uk URL: www.interscience.wiley.com

Weldasearch on Dialog

Dialog and TWI have announced that Weldasearch is now available on Dialog. This database on welding and allied technologies contains more than 170,000 abstracts in the areas of joining metals, plastics and ceramics, metal and ceramic spraying, thermal cutting, brazing and soldering.

Articles are selected from journals, research reports, books, standards, patents, theses and special publications. Coverage is international, from 1967 to the present.

Further information is available from Peter Adams. Tel: +44 (0) 1223 891162; E-mail: peter.adams@twi.co.uk

Nerac/ISI Compatibility

ISI has announced connectivity between ISI ResearchSoft bibliographic software products and Nerac, Inc. databases. Subscribers to Nerac can now capture and organise the information retrieved through Nerac.com using EndNote, ProCite and Reference Manager. Nerac clients can use these programs to obtain Nerac content, search and organise the references, and create bibliographies. They may purchase any of the three products online at a discounted price.

Further information is available from Rodney Yancey. Tel: +1 215 386 0100; ext: 1396; E-mail: rodney.yancey @thomson.com URL: www.isinet.com

BioOne via FirstSearch

BioOne, a Web-based collection of 41 full-text bioscience journals, is now available through the OCLC FirstSearch Electronic Collections Online service. This collection is a collaborative effort among libraries, scientific societies, publishers and others whose goal is to offer scientific journals at reasonable prices. Publishers include scholarly and not-for-profit societies. BioOne was developed by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) and others.

The BioOne collection offers: full-text articles that are linked to citations in FirstSearch databases; a cost-effective alternative to high-priced, commercially-published journals; and guaranteed archival access to scientific society journals.

For further information Tel: +44 (0) 121 456 4656; E-mail: europe@oclc.org URL: www.oclc.org

My Humbul

The launch of My Humbul brings new functionality to the Humbul Humanities Hub, which provides access to online humanities resources. It is now possible for users of Humbul's growing database of evaluated sites to be directly alerted to new records relevant to their interests. With the introduction of My Humbul, users will no longer need to visit Humbul's Web site in order to discover what new records have been added.

My Humbul personalises the user's experience of Humbul. Once registered with My Humbul, users will be able to access Humbul's increased functionality, such as saved searches and an alerting service. The latter includes weekly e-mail notification of new records matching saved search parameters and new records in a chosen Humbul subject.

The core of the Humbul Humanities Hub is its searchable catalogue of evaluated online resources. A distributed network of subject specialist cataloguers based in partner organisations is responsible for finding, evaluating and completing the catalogue descriptions for each online resource. The database of evaluated resources is also available through the Resource Discovery Network (www.rdn.ac.uk ).

Further information is available from Randy Metcalfe. Tel: +44 (0) 1865 283 343; E-mail: < ahref="mailto:info@humbul.ac.uk">info@humbul.ac.uk URL: www.humbul.ac.uk

Plastics Dictionary

FIZ CHEMIE Berlin has released version 2.4 of the German-English, English-German electronic reference work "PolyVoc" which now contains more than 100,000 terms. The PolyVoc system, which was first published in 1995, effectively translates technical terms commonly used in plastics technology, macromolecular chemistry and related fields such as machine and tool construction or electronics technology. The system is quick to learn and easy to use and, contrary to printed dictionaries, the required translations are obtained within a fraction of a second.

The PolyVoc vocabulary is based upon texts contained in the literature database "KKF" (Kunststoffe Kautschuk Fasern/Plastics Rubber Fibers), which was produced jointly by the German Chemistry Information Centre, FIZ CHEMIE Berlin, and the German Plastics Institute (Deutsches Kunststoff-Institut (DKI)), and on the materials database "POLYMAT", also a joint product from FIZ CHEMIE Berlin and the DKI. In addition, optional features available within PolyVoc include a general dictionary from the Langenscheidt Publishing House containing over 100,000 terms in everyday use and an editor enabling users to generate their own customised dictionaries.

Further information is available from Dr Helmut Müller. Tel: +49 30 399 77 150; E-mail: mueller@fiz-chemie.de URL: www.chemistry.de

EuroStudies Gateway

SOSIG (Social Science Information Gateway) has introduced a new section dedicated to European Studies. The new EuroStudies gateway will provide access to Internet resources about Europe as a region, ranging from issues of international security to the introduction of the Euro. In addition, it will cover information provided by individual European countries, with a particular emphasis on those located in Central and Eastern Europe, which are generally under-represented on the Web.

Subject information specialists based at Information Services at the University of Birmingham are responsible for the content for the new EuroStudies gateway. They will be working closely with researchers based at the University's Centre for Environmental Research and Training (CERT) and the new European Research Institute (ERI), which brings together major research areas in Europe such as the Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES) and the Institute of German Studies (IGS).

EuroStudies will be significantly expanding and developing over the next few months. The plans in place include the provision of information about particular regions and the introduction of subject level headings within country or region sections.

Further information is available from Tracy Kent. E-mail: t.k.kent@bham.ac.uk URL: www.sosig.ac.uk/eurostudies

E-mail Security Testing Zone

GFI has launched an E-mail Security Testing Zone to enable organisations to check whether their e-mail systems are vulnerable to e-mail viruses and attacks. The zone, www.gfi.com/emailsecuritytest, allows visitors to discover instantly whether their system is secure against current and future e-mail threats, such as e-mails containing infected attachments, e-mails with malformed MIME headers, and HTML mails with embedded scripts.

Further information is available from Angelica Micallef Trigona. Tel: +356 21382418; E-mail: angelica@gfi.com; URL: www.gfi.com

Web Site Design Guidelines

Version 2 of the UK Government Web Site Design Guidelines is now available on the e-Envoy Web site at www.e-envoy.gov.uk/Webguidelines.htm It includes a framework for senior managers with a summary of main points of the Guidelines and changes from the first version.

A version of the Guidelines for use by local authority Web management teams is being developed by the Digital Communications team in consultation with representatives from local government. They will consult widely when a draft is available.

Further information is available from Helen Baigent. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7273 1403; E-mail: helen.baigent@resource.gov.uk URL: www.resource.gov.uk

Library Annual Reports

One output of the 15-month AHRB-funded research project into the value of the annual report in library history (briefly described in the Library History Newsletter, Summer 2000, pp. 26-8) has been a searchable database of some 500 UK public library annual reports between 1850 and 1914. This database has now been mounted on a server at the Department of Information and Library Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth at www.dils.aber.ac.uk/dils/an_rep and is freely available to anyone interested in using it.

The database consists of a very detailed subject index to the content of those 500 annual reports (all in the collection at the Thomas Parry Library, University of Wales Aberystwyth). It does not include images of those reports nor the actual texts themselves.

The Web site includes a link to an article in the Journal of the Association for History and Computing about how the database was created. The research team would be grateful for user feedback about the database.

Further information is available from Chris Baggs. E-mail: cmb@ABER.AC.UK

Dreamweaver Extension

Xara Online has announced the release of its Dreamweaver Extension, which enables Dreamweaver users to easily enhance their Web pages with the wide variety of Web page add-ons called Xara Modules. Xara Modules are designed to enable both novices and Web professionals to add features into their Web site including: custom Web graphics, animated photos, scrolling text effects, audio streaming, counters, trackers as well as the new form, mail list management and database services.

Dreamweaver users can download the free Extension, which will then automatically provide a new Insert Menu option, enabling users to create and edit Xara Modules directly. When the user has created a Module it is automatically placed in their Web page - no programming, HTML or scripting required. The download is available free from www.xaraonline.com

Further information is available from Sarah Hood. Tel: +44 (0) 1442 350315; E-mail: sarah@xaraonline.com URL: www.xaraonline.com

National Electronic Library for Health

Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries and the Department of Health (DoH) are jointly managing a project to investigate the feasibility of providing access to the National Electronic Library for Health (NeLH) via the Internet in public libraries. The DoH will provide the health-care information expertise for the project, whilst Resource will facilitate the project and research management.

Patients, the public and carers increasingly desire access to up-to-date, authoritative information on clinical and complementary medicine. NHS policy reports such as The NHS Plan, Information for Health, and Our Healthier Nation, emphasise the need to share information about health-care options and health-care service provision with NHS Direct Online as the "first port of call".

The National Electronic Library for Health (NeLH) is a World Wide Web based service (www.nelh.nhs.uk ), providing access to a range of quality-assured information resources to support better patient care. Established to provide fast and easy access for clinicians and managers, NeLH contains research evidence that will also be of interest and value to "knowledgeable patients".

Health Minister Lord Philip Hunt said: "Quality health care will increasingly be a partnership between the patient and the clinician based on shared access to the latest health advice. Making the NeLH available via public libraries is another step towards putting patients at the heart of the NHS modernisation."

Resource Chairman Lord Evans commented: "The People's Network, administered by Resource, will connect all public libraries to the Internet by the end of 2002 and will enable everyone to gain access to the information they need in their daily lives. Health information is surely one of the most fundamental categories."

Access to the NeLH will be provided in a number of public libraries in Birmingham and Hampshire for the purpose of the project. It will evaluate the usefulness of such provision, draw up guidelines for running continuing services, identify and address possible problem areas, such as confidentiality, and highlight potential benefits to end users, public libraries, and the NHS. The project will run until summer 2002 and will be coordinated by the Centre for Information Research at the University of Central England in Birmingham.

The project will support Resource's objective of encouraging links between public libraries and other information resources, to allow users access to the full range of public information.

Further information is available from Emma Wright. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7273 1459; E-mail: emma.wright@resource.gov.uk URL: www.resource.gov.uk

SwetsBlackwell Agreements with Scandinavian Consortia

SwetsBlackwell has announced consortium agreements in Iceland and Sweden. The company has arranged a national licence between the National Steering Committee of Iceland and six major STM publishers. The discussions were carried out by SwetsBlackwell's office in Copenhagen, in close collaboration with its head office in Lisse, The Netherlands.

Under the terms of the agreement, Icelandic libraries, government and academic institutions, as well as private citizens, will have full-text access to journals published by the following publishers: Academic Press (now part of Elsevier Science), Blackwell Publishing, S. Karger Publishers, Kluwer Academic Publishers and Springer-Verlag. Iceland's 283,000 inhabitants can now access more than 2,000 e-journals from their offices as well as their private homes. For the first time, publishers can analyse the "e-journal behaviour" of an entire nation.

Geert Visscher, CEO of Swets- Blackwell, commented: "It has been both a challenge and a privilege to work on a contract of such a singular nature. We were able to bring Swets- Blackwell's considerable experience of working with both libraries and publishers to the task." Peter Munksgaard, Director of SwetsBlackwell Denmark, added: "The size of the Icelandic population made the contract possible, but the publishers' willingness to walk down untrodden paths was a significant factor in its success. Giving access to everyone within a single country is an achievement of which all involved can be proud."

The Swedish Federation of County Councils (SFCC) consortium has appointed SwetsBlackwell to act as the handling agent for its electronic publications. The agreement with the consortium, whose official name is EiRA (Effective information Retrieval and Acquisition) is for a period of two years.

Under the terms of the agreement, SwetsBlackwell will be the principal supplier of electronic publications for the SFCC national hospital consortium, with all hospitals from 14 counties already on board. The content will be provided by Ovid Technologies Inc., which is the primary aggregator and provider of the five medical databases and 70 e-journals for this national consortium.

SwetsBlackwell has extensive international experience with various types of consortia within both the academic and the corporate sectors. They have been the Managing Agent for NESLI (National Electronic Site Licence Initiative) since 1998, and were recently reconfirmed in this role through 2002.

SFCC is responsible for matters of common interest to citizens that are too wide-reaching and costly for individual municipalities to manage on their own, such as health care, which is the focus of the majority of SFCC's efforts. Other areas include dental care, public transport, culture, higher and upper-secondary education, tourism, the environment, support for business and industry and regional growth and development.

Further information is available from Sarah Kellman. Tel: +31 252 435 584; E-mail: skellman@swets.nl URL: www.swetsblackwell.com

Endeavor Partnership with Openly Informatics

Endeavor Information Systems has entered into a partnership with Openly Informatics, Inc. to provide enhanced access to resources through Endeavor's LinkFinderPlus linking system. Endeavor will extend current capabilities on linking humanities resources by licensing software and a database from Openly Informatics.

JournalSeek, a knowledge database that facilitates links to over 7,700 electronic journals in the sciences and humanities, and Link.Openly, a system for generating links from bibliographic citation data, will be integrated into LinkFinderPlus. This combination of data, software and XML linking formulae provides more flexible linking capabilities and an expanded network of linking targets, increasing access with less effort for libraries employing LinkFinderPlus.

LinkFinderPlus is Endeavor's solution to provide comprehensive linking for all of the library's resources, regardless of the software or information vendor. It is available as a stand-alone product to work with any library system and is also available as a module of ENCompass, Endeavor's system for managing, searching and linking collections. Based on OpenURL, the emerging standard, LinkFinderPlus includes over 5,000 titles in the Knowledge Database.

Dr Eric Hellman, President of Openly Informatics, commented, "Libraries are transforming themselves from physical libraries into electronic libraries and are very rapidly becoming aware that linking is part of their core mission". He cited the evolution of linking from a solely publisher-based feature to a basic functionality that should be a mainstay for library automation vendor systems and libraries.

Further information is available from Penny Emke. Tel: +1 847 296 2200; URL: www.endinfosys.com

Quantum2

The Dialog Corporation has announced plans for the European roll-out of its Quantum2 development programme for information professionals. The programme provides networking opportunities as well as training and tools to enhance professional development. It focuses on strategies to develop leadership skills and demonstrate the value of professional services within organisations.

Programme materials include white papers on knowledge management and other key topics. They will be made available through the Quantum2 Web site, new Quantum2 workshop seminars, and ongoing communication with members.

Further information is available from Dorothy Briggs. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7940 6900; E-mail: dorothy_briggs@dialog.com URL: www.dialog.com

Haynes to Use dotEncrypt

Business Systems Group Ltd has announced that dotEncrypt is to be used by Haynes Publishing as a secure and controlled way of allowing customers to download chargeable content from its Web site. Customers needing to repair the car will be able to get instant access to Haynes' motor manual materials on its site, instead of having to wait for the post to arrive or the shops to open.

Haynes Publishing produces over 300 UK car and technical manuals and over 130 motor-cycle manuals. The dotEncrypt service packages content securely on the Internet, enabling publishers to maintain copyright and distribution control even after the content has been downloaded. It will enable Haynes to place its manuals on its Web site, so that customers can choose to download specific chapters.

Further information is available from Michael Collins. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7390 8645; E-mail: michael.collins@webgenerics.com URL: www.dotencrypt.com

Infotrieve Partnership with Emerald

Emerald has announced a partnership with Infotrieve, a document delivery and emerging e-content provider. Infotrieve will deliver complete-text (formatted text and graphics) articles from the Emerald databases. This is part of Infotrieve's ongoing strategy to simplify and automate the process of delivering published literature in a copyright protected environment.

Complete-text articles can be ordered by clicking on embedded links, which export a citation into Infotrieve's Web-based shopping cart. Many of the articles may be delivered on a pay-per-view basis in PDF format from Infotrieve's growing collection of e-content, which currently contains over 1.5 million articles. For articles not available for immediate download, Infotrieve will supply photocopies through the end user's preferred delivery method.

The partnership will cover the Emerald Full Text Database, Emerald Management Reviews and Emerald Abstracts.

Further information is available from Moyna Keenan. Tel: +44 (0) 1274 785135; E-mail: mkeenan@emeraldinsight.com URL: www.emerald-partnerships.com

Oxford ArchDigital

Oxford University's Institute of Archaeology has launched Oxford ArchDigital Limited (OAD), a new spin-out company to provide Information Technology training and consultancy services to individuals and organisations involved with the discovery, conservation and presentation of the past.

Traditionally the collection and analysis of archaeological data have been an extremely lengthy process due to the vast amounts of information that need to be examined, classified and presented. Advances in the flexibility, reliability and access to digital storage and analysis have caused archaeologists, museums, heritage bodies and historic preservation societies to move increasingly towards IT-based solutions. This is a process in which OAD co-founder Dr Gary Lock has been a prime mover.

"Owing to the complexity and interlinked nature of the data, the collection and analysis of archaeological and similar information are an extremely laborious process," notes Dr Lock. "IT gives us new not only ways to store and analyse the archaeological records but also new ways to present them. To do this effectively, one needs both an in-depth understanding of the past and advanced computer skills."

Fellow OAD co-founder Dr Tyler Bell has extensive experience in archaeological fieldwork and the high-end computer applications used to display and analyse archaeological data. He has developed numerous integrated data systems for research projects incorporating GIS (Geographic Information Systems), CAD and Web databases, and also builds computer reconstructions of ancient and modern architecture for "fly-throughs" and lighting studies.

In response to the increasing demand for practitioners to acquire the necessary IT skills, OAD offers a range of training modules, which are run from a dedicated facility in central Oxford. The courses are the responsibility of Dr Tom Evans, who has been involved with fieldwork and management in commercial archaeological companies in both the UK and USA. More recently he has specialised in the use and training of computer-based techniques in the analysis of complex archaeological datasets. The company's training modules are focused on the effective use of electronic data collection, management, analysis and presentation for individuals and organisations involved with the study of the past or geographically based research.

For further information. Tel: +44 (0) 1865 793043; E-mail: info@oxarchdigital.com URL: www.oxarchdigital.com

ICT Facilities in Richmond

The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames' Library and Information Services has launched its People's Network ICT facilities. Richmond is now providing access to online information via the Internet and delivering the benefits of lifelong learning. The scheme, which is managed by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries and funded by the New Opportunities Fund, aims to link the UK's 4,300 public libraries to the Internet by 2002.

Initially the Borough will offer access to 82 computers across all its libraries, followed by an additional 94 computers in the autumn of 2002. The public are now able to use the Internet, Web-based e-mail, word processing and other Microsoft Office and training packages. Future development plans for the People's Network in Richmond include laptops for public use in libraries and the launch of video conferencing at Richmond library.

Cllr William Treble, Executive Member for Voluntary Organisations and Leisure, praised the Network. He said: "This is a fantastic development for Richmond Library and Information Services, which has been made possible by the dedication and team working of the staff. The Network will be an online portal that will provide safe Internet surfing for children, easy access to a variety of borough services, and offer the opportunity for all to learn about computers. This is enhanced through links with the borough's partners - Richmond Adult Education College, and Richmond Tertiary College, who currently provide computer courses in selected libraries."

Further information is available from Sharon Kirkpatrick. Tel: +44 (0) 20 8940 0981. URL: www.richmond.gov.uk

Ambient Intelligence

INRIA, Philips Research and Thomson multimedia have announced the creation of the Ambient Intelligence Research and Development (AIR&D) consortium. The consortium's goal is to carry out research and to develop the new Ambient Intelligence technology that will be integrated in the design of tomorrow's homes.

Ambient Intelligence is based on three recent technological trends: Ubiquitous Computing, which consists of integrating microcomputers into everyday objects; Ubiquitous Communication, to let such objects communicate with one another and with users through a wireless network; and Intelligent User Interfaces that make it possible for users to control and interact with these objects in the most natural fashion possible. An example of this technology's relevance and application is that of the home and the car.

"Several years ago Philips Research proposed Ambient Intelligence as the way forward in how people interact with technology. Ambient Intelligence will create an environment that is sensitive, adaptive and responsive to the presence of people, in order to create the desired atmosphere and functionality. Researching the technologies to realise this vision is one of the core strategies of our research programme. Joining forces with other motivated players in the consumer electronics field and computer science helps to create a common platform, puts together all necessary capabilities and adds important momentum to this development," says Rick Harwig, Managing Director of Philips Research Eindhoven in The Netherlands.

According to Patrick Baudelaire, Vice-President Corporate Research at Thomson multimedia, "The AIR&D consortium on Ambient Intelligence is an element of our technology strategy to address the long-term evolution of digital products in the connected home and of the ways to enjoy digital contents using these interconnected products. It leverages the industrial and technical skills of its leading partners to offer a new generation of interconnected products and services".

"This consortium is in keeping with the transfer policy that INRIA has spelled out in its strategic plan. INRIA's objective, in particular in the field of software, where requests are very numerous, is to choose the best partners in France and in the world, the leaders in their field, to establish close ties, demonstrate the relevance of the work carried out at INRIA, maximise the impact of its research and develop its capacity for long-term analysis," says Bernard Larrouturou, Chairman and Managing Director of INRIA.

Further information is available from Christine Genest. Tel: +33 1 39 63 55 18; E-mail: christine.genest@inria.fr URL: www.inria.fr

Ovid for NHS-Scotland

Ovid Technologies Ltd has announced that it has been chosen by NHS-Scotland to be its principal provider of clinical information. All NHS staff in Scotland wil be able to access the information through Ovid's Web interface.

As well as being able to search the major clinical databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase and PsycINFO), the NHS staff will have access to a large collection of electronic full-text journals via Journals@Ovid.

Further information is available from Steve Hawe. Tel: +44 (0) 20 8585 6445; E-mail: steve_hawe@ovid.com URL: www.ovid.com

Mobile Numbers

The International Telecommunication Union has allocated the country code +878 and associated digits 10 to VISIONng Association. VISIONng will be the first organization to offer its members a unique Universal Personal Telecommunications Number (UPTN). The UPTN will allow global number portability regardless of geography or telecommunications carrier including those using new IP-based technologies. VISIONng is an international non-profit association that includes ITU-T sector member organisations. Its goal is to promote an open and harmonised architecture for IP-based applications.

Further information is available from Roy Blane. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7728 1276; E-mail: roy_blane@inmarsat.com URL: www.itu.int

Search Clustering Technology

Turbo10 Metasearch Engine has launched a new search engine clustering technology. Turbo10 automatically groups results into similar topic areas or "clusters", thereby enabling searchers to quickly "home in" on a relevant topic cluster and find a result quicker.

Turbo10.com's new clustering technology - "Turbo10 Topics" - lists the Top 10 related topic clusters for a search. At the centre of the technology is a unique, multilingual information retrieval algorithm that concurrently clusters results from other search engines. Turbo10 Topics are generated for each search and are listed in a pull-down menu at the top of the search results to help users refine their search. For example, a search on "salsa", Turbo10's algorithm identifies "dancing" and "recipes" as two distinct topics.

Together with Turbo10 Topics, Turbo10 has significantly reduced browsing time by taking the scroll bar out of searching and replacing it with a Search-o-Meter: a unique search tool that enables users to move quickly through the 10 results per page. Turbo10 searchers use forward and backward control buttons built into the Turbo10 interface to quickly flick through the search results. The Turbo10 Search-o-Meter also graphically shows searchers how far they have progressed through the results and enables searchers to instantly jump to anywhere in the result pages.

Further information is available from Megan Hamilton. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7987 5460; E-mail: megan@turbo10.com URL: www.turbo10.com

ERPANET

RLG has launched ERPANET (Electronic Resource Preservation and Access NETwork), a new initiative in digital preservation. Funded by the European Commission, ERPANET will create a European consortium whose role will be to provide a virtual clearing- house and knowledge-base on state-of-the-art developments in digital preservation. Additionally, the consortium will transfer expertise among individuals and institutions as well as develop an online and physical community focused on preservation.

The ERPANET Project involves collaboration between HATII at the University of Glasgow, Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv (Switzerland), Rijksarchiefdienst (The Netherlands), and the University of Urbino (Italy). It will make viable and visible information, best practice, and skills development in the area of digital preservation of cultural heritage and scientific objects.

ERPANET will bring together memory organisations (museums, libraries and archives), ICT and software industry, research institutions, government organisations (including local), entertainment and creative industries, and commercial sectors (including, for example, pharmaceuticals, petro-chemical and financial) to address the challenges posed by the widespread use of digital technologies. These challenges include lack of awareness, fragmentation of knowledge and skills amongst the stakeholder communities about how to handle existing preservation problems, and how to plan effectively for the future and the need to identify and focus on core research/problem areas.

Further information is available from Robin Dale. E-mail: robin.dale@notes.rlg.org URL: www.rlg.ac.uk/longterm

WMRC Agreement with Lexis-Nexis

The World Markets Research Centre (WMRC), the country and industry analysis and risk assessment service, today announced a distribution agreement with Lexis-Nexis, the provider of news, legal and business information solutions.

The agreement will see WMRC's country, economic, regulatory and industry-specific services distributed and sold by Lexis-Nexis to its customers internationally. It will broaden WMRC's international coverage and penetration of the MNC and SME market for its intelligence services, World Markets Analysis.

For Lexis-Nexis, the alliance further enhances the company's breadth of coverage through WMRC's eight services: Country Analysis & Forecast; Economic Forecasting; Country Analysis; Regulatory Analysis; Automotive; Energy; Health Care; and Telecoms.

Further information is available from Michelle Wilkinson-Rowe. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7452 5183; E-mail: m.wilkinsonrowe@wmrc.com URL: www.wmrc.com