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COMMENT

Season's Greeetings to all readers of the Internet Resources Newsletter. We hope you all have an enjoyable festive season.

Our latest news is that the email version of this newsletter now has over 20,000 subscribers! A big thank you to all who have submitted sites over the last year, and for the emails of support that we have received. A special thank you, also, to Willco who distribute the email version.

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Internet Resources Newsletter by email or RSS

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Text version

A text only version of the Internet Resources Newsletter is available at: http://www.hw.ac.uk/cgi-bin/parser.pl/0304/www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html

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Here is this month's selection of news items of interest

Wiley Forms Partnership With American Institute of Chemical Engineers
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and John Wiley & Sons have signed an agreement to publish the Institute's three flagship journals.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=2137
From Managing Information

LISU Annual Library Statistics 2003
The latest edition of LISU’s annual compilation of statistics relating to libraries has now been published.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=2120
From Managing Information

Britain’s Most Accessible Websites Announced at Visionary Design Awards
Six winning sites were presented with Visionary Design Awards for their outstanding achievement ensuring access to their sites for blind and partially sighted people.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=2211
From Managing Information

Pakistan set to launch digital library
Pakistan is all set to launch in January 2004 its first digital library that will give universities and research institutes in the country access to about 5,000 international journals.
http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/view/71117/1/1138
From Digital Opportunity Channel

LookSmart Enhances Full-Text Article Search
By Zachary Rodgers
LookSmart has enhanced its FindArticles full-text article search service in an effort to boost search volume and create more paid listings inventory.
http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/3113131
From siliconvalley

One-Stop Gateway to Scotland's Culture Launched
The Scottish Library and Information Council has launched a new internet portal to provide access to quality information about the riches of Scotland's culture.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=2193
From Managing Information

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A-Z NEW & NOTABLE WEB SITES

AcademicBookTrade.co.uk

http://www.academicbooktrade.co.uk/

AcademicBookTrade.co.uk has been set up to give you an easy way of putting your used books back into circulation.

AGORA: Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture

http://www.aginternetwork.org/en/

The AGORA site provides access to over 400 journals from major scientific publishers in the fields of food, agriculture, environmental science and related social sciences. AGORA is available to students and researchers in qualifying not-for-profit institutions in eligible developing countries.

AIIM E-DOC Magazine

http://www.edocmagazine.com/

"AIIM E-DOC Magazine is an unrivalled and unbiased industry source for information on enterprise content management (ECM) topics that help management professionals worldwide make informed and effective technology decisions."

ASCE Career Connections

http://www.asce.org/careers/

"Engineering employers can post job listings in real time, track online activity to measure advertising results, search our resume database for matching candidates, and receive email notifications of new prospects. Engineers can post and update their resumes, search the job listing database, receive emails of jobs that match their profile, and apply for jobs directly from our website."

Asian Student Medical Journal

http://www.asmj.org/

Asian Student Medical Journal is owned and published by Virtualmed. The journal is managed entirely by Medical students, from Editing to Web-designing and hosting. The Journal contains articles that have been specially commissioned with medical students in mind. The Chief Editor is backed by a team of editors from different Medical Schools in Asia.

The Journal is published entirely on the Internet and is available free for Medical Students from our website or the mirror sites. The Journal is published in a continuously, rather than as discrete editions, so that readers can access the article at the earliest possible date.

Calicut Medical Journal

http://www.calicutmedicaljournal.org/

A Refereed Online Biomedical Journal published by the CMC Alumni Association.

Careerjet

http://www.careerjet.co.uk/

Careerjet is an employment search engine for the UK.

ContentScan

http://www.contentscan.com/

ContentScan is a publisher of the Dome family of online discipline-specific online information services. From one conveniently accessible location, the Dome searches across content categories that include; journal articles, books, grants, authors, web resources, and institutions. We currently offer the Communication Sciences and Disorders Dome, the NeuroDome, and the CancerDome will be launched soon.

Coolest Inventions 2003

http://www.time.com/time/2003/inventions/

From Time magazine.

CV Library

http://www.cv-library.co.uk/

"CV-LIBRARY is a new innovative site for people who are changing jobs, looking for work or just waiting for something better to come along. Anyone who is anyone can enter this site and complete an online CV. This CV will then be available to Employers/Recruiters looking to fill positions you may well suit. The job areas cover anything from management to skilled labourers, admin to consultancy, and the largest industry: IT. This new revolution will make looking for a job hassle free, cheap and available to all."

Data Protection for Websites and Intranets

http://www.freepint.com/issues/201103.htm#feature

An article by Paul Pedley in a recent issue of Free Pint.

EnerFax Daily

http://www.enernetenergy.com/

North America's Power Gas Information Source.

Engineering Systems Design and Analysis ESDA 2004

http://www.asmeconferences.org/ESDA04/

The University of Manchester will host the 7th Biennial ASME Conference on Engineering Systems Design and Analysis ESDA 2004 - to be held from 19 to 22 July 2004. The conference is sponsored by the UK and Ireland Section of ASME International and the University of Manchester and co-sponsored by the UK Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Loughborough University.

EPA Science Inventory

http://cfpub.epa.gov/si/

The EPA Science Inventory is a searchable Agency-wide catalog of science activities and scientific and technical work products (for example, risk assessments, technical studies and guidance, and research.)

ePrints UK Bath Workshop

http://www.rdn.ac.uk/projects/eprints-uk/workshops/bath/

6th February 2004, Venue: 8 West at the University of Bath. This workshop will be aimed at aimed at HE/FE librarians, information systems staff and academics and will be a very general introduction to the issues involved in setting up institutional eprint repositories.

ePrints UK Oxford Workshop

http://www.rdn.ac.uk/projects/eprints-uk/workshops/oxford/

Date: Monday 22nd March 2004

Venue: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Information on travelling to the Museum is available from the Museum Web site.

Focus: This workshop will be aimed at HE/FE librarians, information systems staff and academics and will be a very general introduction to the issues involved in setting up institutional eprint repositories.

European Conference on Digital Libraries (ECDL) 2004

http://www.ecdl2004.org/

September 12-17 2004 University of Bath, UK. ECDL 2004 is the 8th in the series of European Digital Library Conferences.

Feedroll...freshly rolled news feeds for your site

http://www.feedroll.com/rssviewer/

Allows you to select an RSS feed and customize it to match the look and feel of your site...then copy and paste the code.

First Virtual Communications

http://www.fvc.com/

A provider of rich media web conferencing and collaboration solutions.

Gallery of Mathematics

http://info.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ma/gallery/index.html

From the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Loughborough University.

Gary Price's List of Lists

http://www.specialissues.com/lol/

"Price's List of Lists (LOL) was started around 1998 and maintained by Gary Price for many years. The LOL grew, and Gary's commitment to other projects and speaking engagements made the upkeep of the LOL impossible. In late 2000, Gary approached Trip Wyckoff, of Specialissues.com, about taking over the upkeep and expansion of the LOL. By 2002 the online database and structure to maintain and organize the LOL was in place and in October 2002 the LOL was transferred to Specialissues.com."

Global Project and Manufacturing Management Symposium

http://www.mb.uni-siegen.de/d/ist1/Symposium2004/index.html

University of Siegen in Germany on the 6th and 7th of May, 2004.

Government Technology

http://www.governmenttechnologyuk.com/

The business magazine for public sector technology.

HomeTownLocator

http://gazetteer.hometownlocator.com/

Location information for 1.8 million physical and cultural features with links to maps and aerial photos:

Info@UK

http://www.britishcouncil.org/info@UK/bulletin.htm#current

The current issue of this guide to major UK Information Society developments and news is available.

Inxight

http://www.inxight.com/

Founded in 1997, Inxight is considered one of the world's leading providers of Unstructured Data Management solutions for accessing, analyzing and delivering information in all major languages.

Isilon

http://www.isilon.com/

Isilon provides intelligent storage systems that simplify the production, archiving, and delivery of digital content.

IT Disposal

http://www.itdisposal.co.uk/

IT Disposal offer the service of removal and recycling of your old IT Equipment free of charge.

JAM Recruitment

http://www.jamjobs.co.uk/

IT, Engineering and Defence recruitment agency.

KeepMedia

http://www.keepmedia.com/

KeepMedia is a premium content service, delivering current and archived articles from 140+ popular magazines and newspapers in one convenient location.

KnowUK Training Materials

http://www.learningbox.net/box1/knowuk/frontpageFE.htm

These will be useful for institutions that subscribe to the KnowUK service.

Language Analysis Systems

http://www.las-inc.com/

Language Analysis Systems is the world's recognized leader in providing multi-cultural name recognition software solutions for mission critical applications.

LISU Annual Library Statistics 2003

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/dis/lisu/als-exec-sum.pdf

The Executive Summary is available here.

LTSN Engineering Resource Database

http://www.ltsneng.ac.uk/er/resources/

This is a searchable list of all LTSN Engineering Resources.

Magus Research

http://www.magusresearch.com/

Magus Research provides a broad range of IP-based solutions, including website design and management, intranets, and a portfolio of information handling services.

MEPS (International) Ltd

http://www.meps.co.uk/

"MEPS (International) LTD is a leading consultancy company operating in the steel sector worldwide. The organisation was formed in 1979. Over the years we have undertaken a wide range of studies covering all aspects of the global steel scene."

NEWSPLAN London and the South East

http://www.newsplan.co.uk/

The NEWSPLAN London and the South East web-site provides details of about 2,500 titles of local newspapers, past and present, relating to the London and South East region of the United Kingdom.

NSTA Career Center

http://careers.nsta.org/

"This unique service provides a timely link between science education professionals seeking new positions and educational institutions with vacancies."

Oceanweather Inc

http://www.oceanweather.com/data/

Ocean observation data is available from this site.

Open Video Project

http://www.open-video.org/

The purpose of the Open Video Project is to collect and make available a repository of digitized video content for the digital video, multimedia retrieval, digital library, and other research communities.

OurNotepad.com

http://www.ournotepad.com/

OurNotepad.com was created as an easy-to-use alternative to more complex groupware and collaboration tools. The goal was to create a self-explanatory, no-nonsense interface, with fast-loading pages, enabling users to add or change information on the fly and easily share it with others.

OverDrive

http://www.overdrive.com/

Founded in 1986, OverDrive, Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise Digital Rights Management (DRM) and associated digital media solutions enabling the management and distribution of premium digital content over global networks.

palowireless

http://www.palowireless.com/

An internet guide to wireless technologies.

Parliamentary Information Technology Committee: PITCOM

http://www.pitcom.org.uk/

"The Parliamentary Information Technology Committee (known throughout the UK Parliament and public affairs field as PITCOM) is an "Associate Parliamentary Group" of the United Kingdom Parliament, formed in 1981. It exists to foster a clearer understanding by Parliamentarians of the significant public policy issues which arise from continued advance in the development and application of computing and telecommunications technologies."

Partner Relationship Management Online 2004

http://www.icohere.com/prm2004/

January 26-28, 2004. PRM Online 2004 is an international online (virtual) conference that addresses the toughest issues in managing strategic partnerships and channel relationships - issues related to managing people, processes and technology.

PeoplePlay UK

http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/

PeoplePlay UK aims to bring theatre history to life on the web and increase access to the Theatre Museum's collections for the non-specialist user. The site contains 1500 digitised images as well as structured learning packs offering guided tours through the collection and timeline histories. The site has been funded by the New Opportunities Fund and is part of the EnrichUK portal.

Personnel Online

http://www.personnelonline.com/

"Personnel Online is an interactive recruitment website, a centralised meeting point where potential meets opportunity.

This site is owned and operated by Anchorage Business Consultants Private Limited."

Process Register

http://www.processregister.com/

"Our Mission for the Process Industries:

To be the most prominent and useful online process industries directory.
To provide suppliers huge, focused and meaningful leads at a fraction of the cost of reaching such a group conventionally.
To provide buyers FREE, quick, easy, and powerful services for locating suppliers worldwide."

QL2 Software

http://www.ql2.com/

"QL2 Software tools and solutions empower the real time enterprise by locating and extracting information from unstructured data sources - the Web, email, on-line information services, internal documents - to support Business Activity Monitoring, Competitive Intelligence, Business Intelligence, and Knowledge Management applications."

Researcher's Companion

http://www.federalsurrey.ac.uk/researcherscompanion/

This provides online training in information retrieval skills and has been developed collaboratively between Library & Information Services staff at the University of Surrey and its sister institution, the University of Surrey Roehampton.

Scotland's Culture

http://www.scotlandsculture.org/

Scotland's Culture will be a one stop shop for electronic and physical resources, presenting the rich diversity of Scottish culture. You can search a selection of resources covering music, literature, sport, funding and events information.

SEEL: Systems Engineering Economics Laboratory

http://www.seel-telesis.com/

SEEL, the Systems Engineering Economics Laboratory is an applied research and development (ARD) facility concerned with the identification of improved techniques for using state of the art technology.

Spam: How it is hurting email and degrading life on the Internet

http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/pdfs/PIP_Spam_Report.pdf

A Pew Internet Project reports.

Syntech Systems Ltd

http://www.syntechsystems.com/

Syntech Systems Ltd is a new venture in telecommunications consultancy. Founded in 2002, the company has already made an impact and offers a wide range of services to clients in the fixed and mobile telecommunications market.

The Nonverbal Dictionary of Gestures, Signs & Body Language Cues

http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/diction1.htm

From 'Adam's-Apple-Jump' to 'Zygomatic Smile'

By David B. Givens.

TheScannery

http://www.thescannery.com/

The Scannery is an investor focused web search platform that only searches the websites of public companies from around the world.

UK Legacies

http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/

UK Legacies is a local history resource by the BBC. As well as offering content around a selection of historical themes - built up with stories from over 60 areas around the UK, there is also a developing web guide of local history resources, History programming guides and opportunities for people to contribute to the site.

Includes articles on the topics of Architectural Heritage, Immigration and Emigration, and Local legends.

Update on engineering information resources

http://www.eevl.ac.uk/presentations/engineeringupdate.ppt

At Online Information 2003 I gave a short presentation entitled "Update on engineering information resources". This Powerpoint presentation includes some slides which may seem odd without the commentary (especially the references to Muhammad Ali), but some slides may be useful to show what the main online services have been doing recently in the area of engineering.

VirtualMed

http://www.virtualmedonline.com/

"This website is edited and maintained by Vinod Scaria.

This website is an endeavor on my part to create a 'different' gateway for Medical Websites- a gateway which is informative and trustworthy, and in addition fostering, motivating and promoting research on e-health applications."

Votes for women

http://www.votesforwomen.org.uk/

This is a website celebrating 75 years of women's votes and an exhibition at The Women's Library, aimed at encouraging teenage girls to use their vote. It has been put together jointly by The Women's Library, the Fawcett Society, the Electoral Commission and British Telecommunications.

What Happened To My Searches On Google?

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3286181

An article in SearchEngineWatch by Danny Sullivan.

Whois Finder

http://www.whoisfinder.com/

WhoisFinder.com is a free whois lookup and domain search service that automatically queries all domain registrars and returns detailed domain name reports.

Wi-Fi Alliance

http://www.weca.net/OpenSection/index.asp

The Wi-Fi Alliance is a nonprofit international association formed in 1999 to certify interoperability of wireless Local Area Network products based on IEEE 802.11 specification.

Wireless LAN Association: WLANA

http://www.wlana.org/index.html

The educational trade association for the wireless local area networking industry.

Wireless Librarian

http://people.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/wireless/

The purpose of this page is to provide a space for documenting my experiences using wireless and to provide resources for other libraries and librarians going through the wireless experience.

Wireless Networking Mini-Tutorial

http://www.wkmn.com/newsite/wireless.html

An online tutorial.

Worldwide Ocean Optics Database: WOOD

http://wood.jhuapl.edu/

The Worldwide Ocean Optics Database is a collection of several hundred ocean optics data sets gathered over time that encompass much of the world's oceans.

PRESS RELEASES

**** Access to over 2,500 electronic journals via NESLi2 ****

JISC, The UK’s Joint Information Systems Committee, announced that it has secured agreements with seven major international publishers via NESLi2, the national electronic journals initiative for Higher and Further Education, since the launch of the new programme in June this year.

In the last two months, all universities and further education colleges in the United Kingdom have received details of agreements struck with ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers), Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Cambridge University Press, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Oxford University Press and Springer Verlag. The agreements mean that more than 2,500 e-journals will now be accessible in 2004 to all authorised users at each UK institution subscribing to the individual offers.

Discussions, and finalisation of agreements, are continuing with other publishers and it is anticipated that further announcements will be made in the coming weeks. These include Elsevier, Nature, Science and John Wiley & Sons. This will result in a further significant increase in the number of accessible e-journals for 2004.

The full press release is at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=nesli2_pr_191103

Notes:

NESLi2 was launched in June 2003 and covers subscription agreements for the years 2004 to 2006. It is the successor scheme to the original NESLI which ran from 1997-2002. NESLi2 has focussed its discussions on ten scholarly publishers for 2004, following an extensive Serials Requirements Survey undertaken in 2002. An eleventh consortium of publishers was added when it became clear that the ALPSP Learned Journals Collection would be available for libraries to order for 2004. The negotiations were handled by Content Complete Ltd on behalf of JISC. Five of the seven publishers are using the model NESLi2 Licence for Journals.

**** Education Image Gallery ****

EDINA is pleased to announce a new image service, the Education Image Gallery, using content licensed by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) from the world-famous Getty Images archive.

The Education Image Gallery will be available for institutional subscription from 5 January 2004; one-month free trials are available from 1 December 2003 and throughout the life of the service until 31 July 2007.

Users at subscribing institutions in Further and Higher Education will have access to an exciting collection of 50,000 images for use in learning, teaching and research. An initial 40,000 images will be available at the time of launch; the remaining 10,000 images will be selected in response to user feedback. Drawing on the vast resources of Hulton Archive, PhotoDisc and the Getty Images News Service (current events and sport), the service will offer approximately 3,000 images per decade from the late 19th century through the whole of the 20th century to the present-day, the 21st century.

Selected by leading academics, the images cover key subject areas across the curriculum including history, entertainment, sport, science, fashion, politics, music, conflict, film, art, leisure and women's studies. Each image is accompanied by extensive metadata, including keywords.

To obtain a free trial, to subscribe or to find out about institutional subscription rates, go to: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/coll_hultongetty.html

Enquiries about the Education Image Gallery service should be addressed to the EDINA Helpdesk at edina@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 3302, or go to the service web pages at: http://edina.ac.uk/eig

*** Engineering Information announces electronic backfile dating to 1884 ***

Engineering Information (http://www.ei.org), a division of Elsevier (www.elsevier.com), has announced the forthcoming availability of the Engineering Index Backfile. As of December 2003, the backfile will be available exclusively via the Engineering Village 2 (http://www.engineeringvillage2.org) platform.

Backfile subscribers will have desktop access to a breadth and depth of engineering literature coverage never before available to aid in their research. The Engineering Index has been the premiere information source abstracting and indexing engineering literature for over a century and forms the foundation of Compendex®, the world's most widely accepted bibliographic database covering the engineering field. Each volume of the Engineering Index, dating from 1884 through 1969, will be digitized to comprise the complete backfile.

The Engineering Index Backfile contains close to 2 million records and references major engineering innovations pioneered throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Citations for articles on the first internal combustion engine, the foundations of aviation, telecommunications and computing are among the advances contained within the backfile.

Contact: Nick.Turner@elsevier.com for details. Tel 020 7611 4552

**** UKOLUG is pleased to announce the launch of its new web site ****
http://www.ukolug.co.uk/

As well as information on forthcoming meetings, the site now has a series of fact sheets on hot topics such as pop-up blocking, referencing and Communities of Practice. The popular "Links" section is currently being updated with Tracy Kent's list on Reference Management the first to go live.

UKOLUG members will have exclusive access to both of the new newsletters online. This area is password protected.

Karen Blakeman
UKOLUG Hon. Secretary
karen.blakeman@rba.co.uk

**** Emerald launches digital signatures ****

In a world publishing first, leading international publisher, Emerald, has developed an online system of digital signatures for the process of copyright assignation. This will be delivered as part on an online submission and peer review delivery engine for authors and editors (JADE).

John Peters, editorial and author relations' director says, " We pride ourselves on a customer-focussed Copyright policy. Using Digital Signatures is a continuation of that ethos. For the first time Authors will be able to assign copyright online resulting in a more efficient article submission process, much shorter time to publication, and of course, the widest possible dissemination of their work."

Going live in Spring 2004, the new system will provide Emerald with a better, more legally robust solution for recording, data extraction and storage of the legal status of the articles and will be rolled out to all 130 Emerald journals in 2004. Entrust TruePass software underpins the digital signature solution, and was chosen for its superb track record in the development of secure online transactions. Using zero footprint encryption and digital signature technology, Entrust provides identification, verification and privacy capabilities to Emerald and its authors without necessitating software to be installed or configured on authors' computers.

For more information, contact:

Catherine Dhanjal, TheAnswer Ltd. Tel: 0208 655 0953/0794 166 9925

Catherine.dhanjal@theansweruk.com

**** Full text expansion for IBSS ****

The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) has significantly expanded its links to the full text of journal articles available via the BIDS interface at http://www.bids.ac.uk. In addition to existing links to over 700 journals via Ingenta, IBSS users can now also link to the full text of journal articles via JSTOR, Emerald Fulltext, Infotrieve and SpringerLink. The total number of journals with full text links from IBSS is now well over 1,000, which means that access is available to the full text of hundreds of thousands of individual journal articles.

The addition of JSTOR as a full text linking partner is an exciting step forward for IBSS. The new JSTOR links provide access to the full text of articles in back issues of numerous journals thus significantly enhancing the historical coverage of IBSS, whose records date back to 1951. The overlap between journals covered by JSTOR and IBSS is considerable particularly in the multidisciplinary collections: for Arts and Sciences I the overlap is 54%, for Arts and Sciences II 70% and for Business 83%. A full list of titles held by IBSS and JSTOR will be made available from the IBSS website at www.ibss.ac.uk.

The new full text links provided by JSTOR, Infotrieve, Emerald Fulltext and SpringerLink provide a valuable additional resource for researchers using IBSS, assisting them when searching for both current and historic data.

Further information available at:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/IBSS/news/pressReleases.htm

NETWORK NEWS

Athens News

Athens is an Access Management System for controlling access to web-based subscription services. The latest Athens news is available at:

http://www.athensams.net/news/

BUBL News

BUBL has retained a strong library element, but now provides a subject-based service to the academic and research community more generally, this via the BUBL LINK Subject Tree. The latest news from BUBL is available at:

http://bubl.ac.uk/news/

The latest updates to the BUBL LINK / 5:15 Catalogue of Internet Resources are available at:

http://bubl.ac.uk/link/updates/current.html

EEVL News

The latest news from EEVL, plus the latest additions to EEVL, The Hub for Engineering, Mathematics and Computing, is available at:

http://www.eevl.ac.uk/news.htm

SOSIG News

The latest additions to SOSIG (Social Science Information Gateway) are available at:

http://sosig.esrc.bris.ac.uk/roads/whats-new.html

EDINA Newsline

The latest issue of Edina (Edinburgh Data & INformation Access) Newsline can be found at:

http://edina.ed.ac.uk/newsline/

CHEST News

CHEST aims to obtain quality commercial software, datasets, training materials and other IT products for the Education and Research Community at low prices and attractive licence terms. The latest news from CHEST is available at:

http://www.chest.ac.uk/news.html

MIMAS News

MIMAS is a JISC-supported national data centre run by Manchester Computing, at the University of Manchester, to provide the following range of services to the academic community:

Flexible on-line access to strategic research and teaching datasets.
Access to key bibliographic information.
Access to specialist support and training.
Access to software packages and large-scale computing resources.

The latest news from MIMAS can be found at:

http://www.mimas.ac.uk/news.html

BIOME News

BIOME is a collection of gateways which provide access to evaluated, quality Internet resources in the health and life sciences, aimed at students, researchers, academics and practitioners. The latest news from BIOME can be found at:

http://biome.ac.uk/whatsnew/

Netskills: News

Netskills aims to help the UK HE community make effective use of the Internet for teaching, research and administration. The latest news from Netskills can be found at:

http://www.netskills.ac.uk/news/

What's new on Eldis

Electronic Development and Environment Information System. A gateway to information sources on development or the environment. What's new on Eldis can be found at:

http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/wnew.htm

What's New on Biz/ed

Biz/ed is a dedicated business and economics information gateway for students, teachers and lecturers.

http://www.bized.ac.uk/homeinfo/whatsnew.htm

AHDS Newsletter

The latest issue of the AHDS (Arts and Humanities Data Service) Newsletter can be found at:

http://ahds.ac.uk/newsletters.htm

JISCmail News

JSICmail provides electronic discussion lists for the UK higher education community.

http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/news/index.htm

UK Data Archive news

The UK Data Archive at the University of Essex houses the largest collection of accessible computer-readable data in the social sciences and humanities in the United Kingdom. It is a national resource centre, disseminating data throughout the United Kingdom and, by arrangement with other national archives, internationally.

http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/home/archiveNews.asp

CDS provides on-line access to a variety of quality databases in the field of Chemistry, plus support, training and advice. This is available (free of charge) to academics at UK Universities.

http://cds.dl.ac.uk/cds/

Your gateway to quality educational resources. Academic Info is an annotated subject directory tailored toward a college and university audience and is used by students, librarians, and researchers.

http://www.academicinfo.net/new.html

The Resource Discovery Network (RDN) is a cooperative network of independent subject-based service providers called hubs, coordinated by the Resource Discovery Network Centre (RDNC). It is a free Internet service dedicated to providing effective access to high quality Internet resources for the learning, teaching and research community.

http://www.rdn.ac.uk/news/

A new leaflet is available:
What the RDN can do for you: Further Education
http://www.rdn.ac.uk/publications/flyers/FEflyer.doc

The latest additions to Humbul, the humanities hub of the Resource Discovery Network (RDN).

http://www.humbul.ac.uk/output/new.php?int=30

BLOGORAMA

News about weblogs, RSS, etc:

A weblog (Blog for short) is an online diary of sorts that usually features daily or regular postings providing commentary, plus links to other sites.

For more information on blogs, the article: Search Engines: Weblog search engines http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue36/search-engines/ is a good place to start.

The Feedster Builder :: Create a Feed
http://feedster.com/builder.php?next=cfintro
Helps you create an RSS feed.

The Blogs popularity index
http://www.bloogz.com/rank.php
Bloogz Rank assesses how popular websites and the topics of Blogs are, according to the number of visitors and quotes that can be found.

Tim Bray on XML
http://www.edocmagazine.com/vault_articles.asp?ID=27204&header=e_columns_h
Contains some interesting thoughts, such as the following:
"RSS. It's a syndication format. It's a simple XML tag to describe what's changed about a website recently. Doesn't sound like much, except that there are programs called aggregators that poll websites and read the RSS every so often. For example, I don't go the New York Times' website anymore because I read the paper's RSS feed and I've got a little application that I check back with every so often that tells me when there is new stuff. I don't even really use the notion of the home page anymore because I'm notified when something new pops up on the sites that I like to read, enabling me to keep track of an immensely wider range of information. Anyone in the business of publishing info to an audience should think about implementing an RSS feed by this time next week. It's useful and falling-off-a-log easy." Tim Bray, quoted in AIIME-DOC Magazine

What Is RSS, and Why Should You Care?
by Amy Gahran
http://www.marketingprofs.com/3/gahran1.asp
An article from MarketingProfs.com

Beating Information Overload with News Aggregators
http://www.abanet.org/lpm/magazine/articles/v29is8an4.shtml
An article from LawPracticeManagement

http://www.sla.org/division/dite/bite/NovDec2003.pdf
This issue of b/ite (Bulletin of the Information Technology Division of SLA) has several articles on RSS.

Selected interesting blog's and RSS feeds

Various Canadian RSS feeds are available at:
http://news.gc.ca/cfmx/CCP/view/en/index.cfm?categoryid=12&category=ChooseYourNews

OCLC Research Announcements
http://oclc.org/research/announcements/
Their RSS fed is: http://oclc.org/research/announcements/oclc_research_announcements.rdf

New and Updated Resources from the UK Centre for Materials Education
http://www.materials.ac.uk/resources/newupdated.asp
the feed is at: http://www.materials.ac.uk/rss/newupdated091.xml

InfoToday Blog
http://www.infotodayblog.com/
Recent postings include reports from Online International 2003

The Telegraph - Education RSS feed
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/newsfeed/rss/education.xml

BOOK REVIEW

Review of: Developing Web Based Instruction: planning, designing, managing and evaluating for results
Edited by Elizabeth A.Dupuis
Facet Publising - Neal-Schuman New Library series: London,
ISBN: 1-85604-484-7
£44.95

As the information environment evolves - sometimes frighteningly fast - the challenge of how best to educate users is a constant one. As the book's forward says, 'Web based instruction is one of the most interesting responses to the revolution created in libraries to the combination of digital communication and the power of the internet.'

The book is split into three sections: Planning and management; Evaluation and assessment; and Design and development. In each section the editor, Elizabeth Dupuis - who was responsible for the University of Texas-Austin's TILT project - gives an introduction, and from there, different expert authors take a chapter each. Often the result of this kind of writing can be dis-jointed, however this book has avoided that fault, and the chapters flow and fit together excellently.

The first part, Planning and management, begins with the initial considering possibilities and gathering information, the basic "dos" and "don'ts'" of setting up a project, including problem areas and constraints. It then goes through budgets, teams, teaching methods and educational technology. The second section, Evaluation and assessment, is about making sure the end product you are working towards is right for the final user, which involves continual evaluation and feedback from those users through out the design process. This section is all about how best to achieve that feedback in a structured way. The third and final section, on Design and development, takes you through organising content, interactivity and site design.

This is - as we've come to expect from Facet - a down to earth, common sense book packed with excellent advice. It will be of great help to anyone looking at using the Web to provide new ways of reaching students or users, although it tends in places to be geared towards large-scale projects such as VLEs which with project teams.

Cath Ferguson

GET A LIFE! - LEISURE TIME

For that special occasion:
http://www.netflora.co.uk
Flowers delivered to London, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland with Interflora members Netflora.

Dead or Alive
http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf
This site tracks whether famous people are still alive or whether they have passed away.

Street Friends
http://www.streetfriends.co.uk/
This website allows you to register all the previous addresses you have lived at and add any details or memories you wish to share. This allows you to search for people you may have lost contact with and for them to find you.

Album Discographies
http://www.bsnpubs.com/discog.html

Rotary Action
http://www.rotaryaction.com/
A site devoted to airborne action

American Folklore
http://www.americanfolklore.net/
This folklore site contains retellings of American folktales, Native American myths and legends, tall tales, weather folklore and ghost stories from each and every one of the 50 United States.

Vinylswitch.com
http://www.vinylswitch.com/
Vinylswitch.com is run by music enthusiasts for music enthusiasts across every style and genre. It’s a one-stop community site where you can swap vinyl in any format and, as an upgraded member, choose records from a “Giveaway Bin”

32 Keys: A Collection of Ideas About Life
http://www.32keys.com/

This page is: http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn112/irn112.html

© 2004 Heriot-Watt University

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