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Heriot Watt University

Heriot-Watt University Library

Heriot-Watt University Library

Issue 98 - November 2002

Edited by:

Roddy MacLeod (R.A.MacLeod@hw.ac.uk),

Catherine Ure and Catherine Ferguson.

COMMENT

Computing books at discount

Here's a good deal - new computing books at big discount for EEVL users at: http://www.it-minds.com/goto/eevl

Thanks to an arrangement with the Pearson Education publisher, you can now buy computing books (over 5,000 titles are available), with at least 15% discount and in some cases up to 50% discount. The arrangement includes books from Prentice Hall, Addison Wesley, Sams, Que, New Riders, Adobe Press, Macromedia Press and Cisco Press. The books on offer include not only technical titles, such as Inside XML, by Steve Holzner, but also more general works such as How to use the Internet, by Rogers Cadenhead. Not only that, but some titles come with a free one-month trial of the Safari service. Safari is an online reference library of nearly 1,000 computing titles giving instant access to reliable and up-to-date information online.

Other News

I was tickled pink to find out that I had been inducted into the Internet Librarian Hall of Fame http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/lrc/fame.htm The Hall of Fame is organised by Richland College Library in Texas, and features librarians who have contributed towards integrating the Internet and the World Wide Web into library services. Its an honour to be associated with the other members of the Hall of Fame, who include such well-known personalities such as Marylaine Block, Gary Price (for more about Gary, see below), Greg Notess, Barbara Quint and William Hann (who edits the ever-popular Free Pint newsletter)

There's a bumper selection of new and notable Web sites in this month's Newsletter. See below for details.

Weblogs

Weblogs are still in the news. Some are undoubtedly rather a waste of time, others are very informative.

One of the best weblogs for those interested in the information world is The Virtual Acquisition Shelf http://resourceshelf.freepint.com/ maintained by Gary Price, the author of the excellent book: The Invisible Web, which was reviewed in the Internet Resources Newsletter some time ago. The Virtual Acquisition Shelf is updated daily, but if you can't remember to visit the site each day, try subscribing to the email weekly update, which gives highlights from the weblog. You can do this from: http://resourceshelf.freepint.com/update/ .

Incidentally, Gary Price is giving a pre-conference workshop at this year's Online Information conference, entitled: 'Accessing authoritative information on the web', which will cover search engine news, search tips and techniques and an update about accessing material on the Invisible Web. For more details see the Online Information 2002 web site. Online Information 2002 will be held 3-5 December, Olympia Grand Hall, London, UK. For a recent article on search engines by Gary Price, in Searcher magazine, see: http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct02/price.htm

Another good Library weblog that I've made use of is Library News Daily http://www.lights.com/scott/ Here you can read the latest on databases, conferences, services, software, vendors...

TheBookseller.com http://www.thebookseller.com/ has a BookBlog, giving daily news and comment.

If you want to search across the contents of many weblogs, try Daypop http://www.daypop.com/ Daypop also includes an updated list of hot topics in the weblogging community http://www.daypop.com/top/ But don't try this early November, as the site is due to be down for a week or two. You can also search RSS headlines from Daypop (through the NewsIsFree service: http://www.newsisfree.com/ ), making it another useful way of keeping up with the news.

ScaryDuck http://scaryduck.blogspot.com/ was the winner of the The Guardian Online Best British Blog.

Another highly rated weblog is UK Environment http://www.ukenvironment.org/

The Internet Scout now has a Weblog: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/weblog/

blogdex http://blogdex.media.mit.edu/ is another site worth visiting. It "focuses on the referential information provided by weblogs, or the links that people place on their sites. By amalgamating these pointers, we can get an instantaneous look at internet fashion from democratic means."

A recent article about Blogging for Business by Rod Chapman in Information Highways is available at: http://www.informationhighways.net/mag/mcurrent/02dec06.html

Worth checking out is NewsSeer http://newsseer.com/ a news service that 'learns' what your interests are.

Random quote:

"The average web page has a life of just 60 days - after that, it's history." Saga magazine, July 2002

Here are this month's news items of interest

Software Boss Claims Public Sector Wastes Millions of Pounds
When it comes to adopting new technology and procedures, the public sector is in danger of being ripped off to the tune of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money, according to the chief executive officer of Procession plc.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=870

Earth Science Web Site Provides New Tool for Deaf Students
An online library of Earth-system science resources could help upgrade science education for deaf students and keep them interested, says a researcher involved with the project.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=930

60 Percent of UK Employees Stressed by IT Problems
Mercury Interactive Corporation has released the findings of a survey (conducted by BMRB International) regarding how IT problems affect employee stress and productivity levels in the workplace.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=924

IDC Research: Over 60 billion daily email messages to be sent
The total number of email messages sent daily will exceed 60 billion worldwide by 2006, according to an IDC forecast.
http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358417&rel=true

Internet Resources Newsletter by email

Over 9,000 people now subscribe to the email version of this Newsletter. Many thanks to Free Pint who distribute the email version. To subscribe, at no cost, go to http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html

Text version

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

A-Z NEW & NOTABLE WEB SITES

16th ASCE Engineering Mechanics Conference: EM2003

http://www.ce.washington.edu/em2003

The 16th Engineering Mechanics Conference (EM 2003) of the American Society of Civil Engineers will be held on the University of Washington campus in Seattle. This annual conference of the ASCE Engineering Mechanics Technical Division attracts researchers from academia and industry from around the world to present their recent research.

4th International Conference on Information Communication Technologies in Education

http://www.ineag.gr/ICICTE/

"We are pleased to announce that the Research and Training Institute of the East Aegean (INEAG, Samos Island, Greece) and the University College of the Fraser Valley (UCFV, British Columbia, Canada), with the participation of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens will host the Fourth International Conference on Information Communication Technologies in Education, July 3-5, 2003, on Samos Island, Greece."

AccessToLaw

http://www.accesstolaw.com/

Legal Resources selected & annotated by Inner Temple Library

AlphaSearch

http://www.woodlander.co.uk/alphasearch/

Forestry, Woodland and Arboriculture Data Base for the UK.

ALT-C 2003

http://www.shef.ac.uk/alt/

The 10th international conference of the Association for Learning Technology will be hosted jointly by Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield, 8-10 Sept, 2003.

American Society for Information Science and Technology: October issue

http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Oct-02/index.html

The October issue of this online journal is now available. It is "a vehicle for sharing news and information regarding developments in the fields of information science and technology, including policy and political developments; and an avenue for publishing opinions and quality, brief articles on timely, controversial, or non-research developments in the information science field. "

Applause

http://www.applausesw.org.uk/

A site showcasing the history of theatre in SW England, created by a partnership of Plymouth Library, University and Theatre Royal amongst others, and features a database spanning three centuries of theatre, a comprehensive show production section and more.

archINFORM

http://www.archINFORM.de/

A German architecture site.

Ariadne Issue 33

http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue33/

The latest issue of Ariadne, which is published every three months by UKOLN, is available.

Asia Engineering Marketing

http://www.aem.com.hk/

Asia Engineering Marketing provides one-stop marketing services in China for international engineering clients.

Athens for Education

http://www.athens.ac.uk/

Athens have redesigned their Web pages.

"The Athens Access Management System provides users with single sign on to numerous web-based services throughout the UK and overseas."

AuRoRA Project

http://www.aurora-project.com/

The AuRoRA Project studies how a mobile robot can become a "toy", and a therapeutic tool for getting children with autism interested in coordinated and synchronized interactions with the environment.

AVEL: Sustainability Knowledge Network

http://avel.edu.au/

AVEL has changed.

"We have decided to showcase new and emerging issues in engineering, as well as incorporate the traditional subject areas that AVEL covered. The result is AVEL Sustainability Knowledge Network.

Our vision is to create a web space that brings people and information together around the overlapping themes of engineering, new technologies and the imperatives of sustainability as it impacts on a diverse range of industry and community sectors."

Axis Engineering

http://www.axis-eng.org/

"AXIS exists to understand, and help fulfil, engineering and manufacturing industry's short, medium and long term needs. It is a �1m funded strategic working partnership between employers, colleges, training providers, local councils and agencies to provide a comprehensive centre of excellence that matches training provision with business needs."

Basic Research Resources for City & Regional Planning

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/basplan.html

From UC Berkeley Library.

BlogTree.com

http://www.blogtree.com/

"BlogTree.com is a web site that maintains a database of blog relationships and allows you to browse blogs' pedigree. You can register your blog(s) and note which blogs inspired them (their parents). You can then notify the parent blog's author, as well as authors of any blogs that you think your blog inspired, about BlogTree.com and encourage them to register their blogs and note their parent blogs. As more and more blog authors participate, unrelated families of blogs will find common ancestors or descendants."

Building the best

http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/B/buildingthebest/index.html

This is the Web site of the excellent Channel 4 series of the same name.

Burke's Peerage and Gentry

http://www.burkes-peerage.net/

Subscription-based service. Information about Britain's titled and landed families.

BusinessLaw.gov

http://www.businesslaw.gov/

BusinessLaw.gov is an online resource guide designed to provide legal and regulatory information to America's small businesses.

CareerOneStop

http://www.careeronestop.org/

"In line with the Department of Labor's vision for America's Labor Market Information System, the CareerOneStop portal, operating as a federal-state partnership, is funded by grants to states. This powerful suite of tools includes America's Job Bank (AJB), America's Career InfoNet, and America's Service Locator. Each product offers a unique solution to the overwhelming demands of today's labor market from the perspective of the job seeker, the employer, and the public workforce community."

CC-interop: COPAC / Clumps Continuing Technical Cooperation Project

http://ccinterop.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/

CC-interop is a JISC funded collaborative project, involving the M25 Systems Team, CDLR, MIMAS and RIDING and builds on the expertise acquired in recent years in the area of union catalogues, both physical and virtual, aiming to take the JISC vision of the Information Environment ever closer.

Center for Rural Affairs

student book exchange

"The Center for Rural Affairs, a private, non-profit organization, is working to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities."

Centre for Science and Environment

http://www.cseindia.org/

"The Centre for Science and Environment is one of India's leading environmental NGOs with a deep interest in sustainable natural resource management. CSE's strategy of "knowledge based activism" has won it wide respect and admiration for the quality of its campaigns, research and publications which are trying to bring about change in an extremely difficult situation."

CITSCAPES

http://www.citscapes.ac.uk/

"The CITSCAPES Project was commissioned by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to investigate student ICT Literacy and provision in Higher and Further Education in the UK. This site is a key resource for professionals active in developing ICT Literacy and e-learning provision."

City Sites

http://artsweb.bham.ac.uk/citysites/

City Sites is an inter- and multi-disciplinary study of the iconography, spatial forms and visual and literary cultures of New York and Chicago in the period 1870s to 1930s.

Civiljobs.co.uk

http://www.civiljobs.co.uk/

"Civiljobs.co.uk is the premier online recruitment site which specialises in the UK civil engineering industry."

ComputerScienceWeb

http://www.compsciweb.com/

ComputerScienceWeb provides: - An integrated search of journal articles and preprints - Services to facilitate research in twelve categories in computer science.

Computing Trends: How really ready are people for e-government and e-commerce?

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/abstracts/computing/trends/

An article by David Penfold.

Creating Environments for Learning: VLEs, MLEs, digital libraries and middleware

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/02/cel.html

A JISC Conference, 3rd December, National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham.

Crofters Commission

http://www.crofterscommission.org.uk/

Mission is to promote a thriving and sustainable crofting community."

Cryptology ePrint Archive

http://eprint.iacr.org/

The Cryptology ePrint Archive provides rapid access to recent research in cryptology.

Culture Online

http://www.cultureonline.gov.uk/

From the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

CyberHood

http://www.thecyberhood.net/

Mission is to build a virtual community where students, scholars, practitioners, and social activists, who want to change urban society and improve the plight of people of color, can find each other, share information, exchange ideas, and build professional relationships. Goal is to build a community that encourages dialogue, facilitates research, and spawns joint ventures.

Cybrarian

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/cybrarianproject/

The aim of this site is to give you details of the Department for Education and Skills' Cybrarian Project. This project is being managed by the e-Learning Strategy Unit within the Department.

The vision for Cybrarian is "to assist in decreasing the digital divide by facilitating access to the internet and to learning opportunities for those who currently do not, or cannot, use the internet because of a lack of skills or confidence or because of physical or cognitive disabilities".

Deals For Students

http://www.dealsforstudents.co.uk/

This site requires registration, and includes various deals, competitions, etc.

DETR Materials Information Exchange

http://cig.bre.co.uk/connet/mie/

This exchange allows the construction industry to buy and sell used, second hand and un-utilised construction materials over the Internet.

Digital Bridges

http://bridges.lib.lehigh.edu/

There are thirty books in the Digital Bridges Collection, published from 1811 to 1899. All the books are in English. A short description of each book, a glossary of terms, personal names, and bridge names are included in the Collection.

Digital Library for Earth System Education: DLESE

http://www.dlese.org/

"DLESE stands for the Digital Library for Earth System Education. It is a grassroots, community-based effort involving teachers, students, and scientists working together to create a library of educational resources and services to support Earth system science education, at all levels, in both formal and informal settings. DLESE resources include electronic materials for both teachers and learners such as lesson plans, maps, images, data sets, visualizations, assessment activities, curriculum, online courses, and much more. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, DLESE is being designed, built, and governed by community members from around the country."

Domain Name Essentials

http://www.dnessentials.com/

A site that features domain name guides, news, tutorials and directories of providers; it aims to be a "one stop shop" for domain name information.

Down to Earth

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/

"In May 1992, the Society for Environmental Communications started India's only science and environment fortnightly, Down To Earth (DTE).

Over the years the magazine has informed and inspired people about environmental threats facing India and the world -- a dimension underplayed in mainstream media.Circulation figures are not a true indicator of the wide reach of the magazine: DTE has become a reading habit in 400 out of about 500 districts of the country -- more than any other Indian newspaper or magazine."

Education Index

http://www.educationindex.com/

An annotated guide to the best education-related sites on the Web.

Educational Computing & Technology

http://www.ect.hobsons.com/

The Web site of the print magazine.

Effective Writing: How Good Copy Can Make Your Information Work Harder

http://www.freepint.com/issues/031002.htm#tips

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

Engineering Learning Link: ELL

http://www.ell.org.uk/

It is a one-stop-shop where you can find out about and gain access to engineering related training.

EuroStudies

http://www.sosig.ac.uk/eurostudies/

This is a new section of the Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG).

Evidence Based Librarianship: EBL

http://www.ualberta.ca/~pryan/EBL2003.html

Call for papers for this conference at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on June 4th-6th, 2003.

experiencedevelopment.org

http://www.experiencedevelopment.org/

The site is designed for UK students interested in, and/or studying some aspect of international development, but anyone looking for information on the sector will find the site useful.

Fuel Cell Today

http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/index/

"Fuel Cell Today is the global internet portal which aims to accelerate the commercialisation of fuel cells - the clean and efficient technology for generating electricity which is poised to become the leading energy source of the 21st century. Existing for the global fuel cell community, Fuel Cell Today is without bias towards any single organisation, fuel cell technology or application. It serves everyone who is or wants to be part of this dynamic new industry, from research scientists and marketers to journalists and end users. "

Game On - the Conference

http://www.ltscotland.com/news/gameon.asp

"Exploring the Potential of Computer Games in Learning 20-21 November 2002 Royal Museum, Chambers Street - Edinburgh"

GeographyIQ

http://www.geographyiq.com/

GeographyIQ is an online world atlas packed with geographic, economic, political, historical and cultural information. In addition, GeographyIQ brings together a number of other resources including maps, flags, currency conversion as well as climate and time zone information.

GetTech

http://www.gettech.org/

"GetTech, through its gettech.org web site and collateral materials, will help you prepare students (in fun ways) for tomorrow's great jobs."

Globe of Blogs

http://www.globeofblogs.com/

A blog directory.

Harvesting Institutional Resources in Scotland Testbed: HaIRST

http://cdlr.strath.ac.uk/projects/projects-hairst.html

"The HaIRST, Harvesting Institutional Resources in Scotland Testbed, project involves a consortium consisting of the ten Glasgow FE colleges, and one 'ancient', one 'modern', and one 'new' university to support research into the design, development and implementation of a pilot service to provide stable ongoing UK-wide access to locally created learning and research resources in HE and FE institutions in Scotland, the aim being to investigate and advise on requirements in respect of changes in institutional cultures, policies, strategies, and organisational structures, as well as on technical and metadata level considerations."

Hojmark.NET

http://www.hojmark.net/

Links to networking sites.

iDoFind.com

http://idofind.com/

A 'Web finder'

IMechE Conferences and Events

www.imeche.org.uk/conferencesandevents

"The IMechE organises technical conferences, seminars, workshops and social functions for the Mechanical Engineering community. Designed by engineers for engineers, we welcome both members and non-members to attend these events. "

indiabook.com

http://indiabook.com/

An India search engine and web Directory.

INFORMS Student Union

http://www.isr.umd.edu/~jwh2/iol/

The INFORMS Student Union aims to be the preeminent Web site for students and recent graduates in OR/MS and related fields.

International Building Performance Simulation Association: IBPSA

http://www.ibpsa.org/

IBPSA (the International Building Performance Simulation Association) is a non-profit international society of building performance simulation researchers, developers and practitioners, dedicated to improving the built environment.

International Neural Network Society

http://www.inns.org/

The International (INNS), European (ENNS), and Japanese (JNNS) Neural Network Societies are associations of scientists, engineers, students, and others seeking to learn about and advance our understanding of the modeling of behavioral and brain processes, and the application of neural modeling concepts to technological problems.

International Powder Metallurgy Directory: IPMD

http://www.ipmd.net/

The 10th Edition of the International Powder Metallurgy Directory (IPMD) is now available to purchase from the publishers.

International Conference on the Future of the Book

http://book-conference.com/

Cairns, Australia, 22-24 April 2003.

IT Learning Materials

http://www.itlearningmaterials.com/

"A comprehensive range of teaching information ranging from Lesson Plans, E-Learning and Curriculum Issues through to Educational Governing Bodies and Associated Links."

JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service

http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/jiscpas

This service, funded by JISC, is based in the Information Management Research Institute at Northumbria University. The service, which was inaugurated in September 2002, aims to raise awareness of plagiarism in the academic community.

Journal of Microwaves and Optoelectronics

http://www.jmo.ene.unb.br/

The Journal of Microwaves and Optoelectronics, published by the Brazilian Microwave and Optoelectronics Society (SBMO), is a professional, refereed publication devoted to disseminating technical information in the areas of Microwaves, Optoelectronics and Electromagnetics

juiced

http://www.juiced.co.uk/

The student web site from The Daily Telegraph

Keeping Up Web Page

http://staff.philau.edu/bells/keepup/

Written by Steven Bell, the Keeping Up Web Page is designed to help library and information science professionals develop and maintain a program of self-guided professional development.

L'ex-Libris

http://www.lexlibris.com/

French used books.

LEARN Information Literacy Initiative: LILI

http://www.tafe.sa.edu.au/lili/

Award winning information literacy module.

Learning Technologies

http://www.learningtechnologies.co.uk/

Learning Technologies is undisputedly the UK's leading IT training and e-learning event and this year's event attracted over 2,500 visitors and more than 100 exhibitors.

M4 Corridor

http://www.m4corridor.co.uk/

"M4 Corridor Ltd is a business infrastructure consultancy helping companies who are considering locating, relocating or expanding into the M4 corridor. We help them with what are essentially their two biggest assets: their people and their buildings. Amongst other things we recruit the highest quality staff for employers across the region, and we help relocating companies with the search and selection process involved in finding new business premises."

Includes job vacancy information.

Major Search Engines

http://searchenginewatch.com/links/major.html

By SearchEngineWatch.com Staff.

Mapping Asia

http://www.asiamap.ac.uk/

Mapping Asia is a tool to improve access to UK library holdings for researchers working in all subject areas of the humanities and social sciences relating to Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

MarketingFile.com

http://marketingfile.com/

Offers a range of direct marketing data (mailing, telemarketing, fax lists) in the UK. Payment is required for data downloaded.

This is an 'up-front' web site, giving details of the mailing lists on offer, with price indications, etc. It looks like a very useful site for those who want lists of people for direct marketing.

Media Online Focus: October issue

http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/publications/mediaonline.html

The October 2002 edition of Media Online Focus the supplement of Viewfinder is available online from this page.

Mobile Manufacturers Forum: MMF

http://www.mmfai.org/

The MMF is an international association of radio communications equipment manufacturers whose members include Alcatel, Ericsson, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Philips, Sagem, Siemens and Sony Ericsson.

MuslimHeritage.com

http://www.muslimheritage.com/

"MuslimHeritage.com, a unique online Education Community, that brings together Muslims and Non-Muslims seeking to advance Civilisation through the study of Muslim Heritage. Pioneered by the Foundation for Science Technology and Civilisation (FSTC Limited) in the UK, it is an ambitious project that aims to raise global awareness on the importance and relevance of Muslim Heritage and its mostly unaccounted contribution to current world civilisation."

National Building Museum

http://www.nbm.org/home.html

The NBM is located in Washington, DC.

Natural Environment Research Council

http://www.nerc.ac.uk/

Mission is: "to promote and support, by any means, high quality basic, strategic and applied research, survey, long-term environmental monitoring and related postgraduate training in terrestrial, marine and freshwater biology and Earth, atmospheric, hydrological, oceanographic and polar sciences and Earth observation..."

New Urbanism

http://www.NewUrbanism.org/

"NEW URBANISM is the most important planning movement this century, and is about creating a better future for us all. It is an international movement to reform the design of the built environment, and is about raising our quality of life and standard of living by creating better places to live. New Urbanism is the revival of our lost art of place-making, and is essentially a re-ordering of the built environment into the form of complete cities, towns, villages, and neighborhoods - the way communities have been built for centuries around the world. New Urbanism involves fixing and infilling cities, as well as the creation of compact new towns and villages."

News Sources 2001 - 2002 Directory

http://npc.press.org/newssources/index.shtml

From the National Press Club.

NewsSeer

http://newsseer.com/

An 'intelligent' news and current events service and search engine.

Noise

http://www.noisenet.ws/

Science stories for 16-19 year-olds.

Nstein

http://www.nstein.com/

Computer-aided indexing for e-publishers.

Online Educa Berlin 2002

http://www.online-educa.com/

"Europe's leading International Conference for Technology Supported Learning & Training"

The 8th Online Educa, the international conference for technology-supported education and training, is taking place from November 27 - 29, 2002 at Berlin's Hotel Inter-Continental.

Online Information 2002

http://www.online-information.co.uk/online/

This big conference will take place 3-5 December, London.

Open Access to Hidden Resources

http://www.oaforum.org/workshops/

2nd Workshop: 6-7th December 2002 in Lisbon.

OpticsNotes

http://www.opticsnotes.com/

An Index of Optics & Photonics Tutorials, References, & Resources.

Peer Review

http://www.parliament.uk/post/pn182.pdf

A paper from the Parliamentary office of Science & Technology.

Phonetics and Linguistics

http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/toc/set_eresource.htm

On these pages you can find some materials of interest to students of Phonetics, Linguistics and the English Language.

PlanWeb

http://www.planweb.co.uk/

The Internet Information Resource for Town Planners and the Land and Property Professions from Peter Thorpe Consulting.

Presenting natiOnal Resources To Audiences Locally: PORTAL

http://www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/

"Academic Services Interactive Media at the University of Hull, working in partnership with UKOLN, has been successful in bidding to the Joint Information Systems Committee's (JISC) recent call for proposals under the FAIR Programme. The project, Presenting natiOnal Resources To Audiences Locally (PORTAL), will run over 18 months, and is funded to explore issues around the deployment and use of portals within the higher and further education community."

Problem-Based Learning Directory

http://interact.bton.ac.uk/pbl/

"This web site will provide access to a growing list of academic departments around the world, who use Problem-Based Learning (PBL). It may be useful to those who are:

� thinking of starting a brand new programme using PBL
� changing a traditional course to one using a PBL approach
� already using PBL, and wanting to network � planning research into PBL"

Proceedings of the European Conference on e-Government

http://www.mcil.co.uk/2-proceedings-eceg2002.htm

Held at St Catherine's College Oxford, 1-2 October 2002.

The proceedings of the above conference are now available to purchase:

Quick Topic

http://www.quicktopic.com/

A free discussion space. Looks very useful.

"For any one-topic group discussion, use the Quick Topic free web forum instead of just email! Your messages will be in a private central place, and each of your friends can opt to participate by email or just use the web forum. That's because Quick Topic is a super-easy single-topic web bulletin board that's also fully email-enabled: you can get and post messages via email. Use it on your web site too."

RAM Database

http://www.eevl.ac.uk/ram/index.php

This free bibliographic database for Manufacturing now contains details of over 37,800 publications from more than 500 leading journals.

Rapidpat

http://www.rapidpat.com/

Rapidpat produces patent databases, enterprise knowledge systems, software, and delivers patent copies.

RASCAL: Research and Special Collections Available Locally

http://www.rascal.ac.uk/

RASCAL is a new electronic gateway to research resources in Northern Ireland.

Recognition of ICT Skills of Staff: tRISSt

http://www.mmu.ac.uk/ioe/trisst/

"The Joint Information Systems Committee has funded a scoping study, the Recognition of ICT Skills of Staff (tRISSt), to research issues that cluster around the ICT recommendations contained in the Dearing Report and to make proposals based on that research regarding best practice in ICT in both HE and FE institutions."

Renaissance Library Calendar

http://www.renaissancelibrary.com/

Available from this site is a very attractive looking calendar, which is published by ISIM in Sweden. plus greetings cards and prints, etc.

SatireSearch

http://www.satiresearch.com/

SatireSearch scours the internet for the most up to date satire headlines from all around the world so you don't have to.

Scottish Manufacturing & Engineering Show

http://www.scottishmanufacturing.co.uk/page.cfm

SECC in Glasgow from 5th - 7th November.

SHERPA

http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/

"SHERPA aims to investigate issues to do with the future of scholarly communication and publishing. In particular, it is initiating the development of openly accessible institutional digital repositories of research output in a number of research universities. These so-called 'e-print archives' will contain papers by researchers from the participating institutions. The project will investigate the IPR, quality control and other key management issues associated with making the research literature freely available to the research community. It will also investigate technical questions, including interoperability between repositories and digital preservation of e-prints."

Sir Frank Whittle Medal

http://www.raeng.org.uk/prizes/whittle/

The Sir Frank Whittle Medal will be awarded for the third time in 2003. It is awarded to an engineer, normally resident in the UK, for outstanding and sustained achievement which has contributed to the well-being of the nation.

Specialized Search Engine FAQs: More Questions, Answers and Issues

http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct02/price.htm

An article by Gary D. Price, Gary Price Library Research and Internet Consulting, in Searcher magazine.

StatBasics

http://www.statbasics.co.uk/

Introduction to Statistics is a multimedia program providing a full foundation course for any discipline that uses statistics.

StudentsGetOff.com

http://www.studentsgetoff.com/

A web site for student discounts.

Tales from the Terminal Room

http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/archives/2002/jul2002.htm

This is the July/August 2002 Issue No. 34.

The Advent of Portals

http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA242296&publication=libraryjournal

An article by Mary E. Jackson, in the Library Journal.

The Big Blue: Final Report

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/bigblue/finalreport.html

The big blue project is surveying present practice in Information Skills Training for students in Higher and Post- 16 Education.

The Blog Realm: News Sources, Searching with Daypop, and Content Management

http://www.onlinemag.net/sep02/OnTheNet.htm

An article by Greg R. Notess Reference Librarian, Montana State University, which appeared in a recent issue of Online magazine.

The Document Site

http://www.thedocumentsite.co.uk/

"This site offers advice on methods to streamline the way that a business utilises, processes and retains information; it is particularly aimed at smaller business. Specifically, it focuses on the issues relating to the adoption of Electronic Document Management and related technologies."

The Engine Rooms

http://www.theenginerooms.com/

UK search engine and directories. This site has big plans to develop in the future.

The Observatory

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

"The Observatory offers a unique service: an environmental scanning facility owned by, and run for, higher education. The Observatory aims to be an efficient and cost-effective way for subscribers to keep abreast of borderless developments globally.

The term 'borderless education' encompasses a broad range of activities and developments which cross (or have the potential to cross) the traditional borders of higher education, be they geographical, sectoral or conceptual. So, for example, the Observatory will track developments in areas such as e-learning, growth in private and corporate education, developing markets and international collaboration."

Institutional subscription is necessary to access the various reports, etc.

Thomas Global Register

http://www.tgrnet.com/

"The most complete, up-to-date directory of worldwide industrial product information."

Tradepub.com

http://www.TradePub.com

Trade magazine subscriptions, free to qualified professionals. No purchase necessary, and the publications are free to those who qualify.

Tray Helper 2.9,

http://www.trayhelper.com/

A small, Windows-based, multi-purpose, tray application with many features.

UK Online for Business

http://www.ukonlineforbusiness.gov.uk/

"This site has been designed to provide an extensive resource for UK companies to find out how information and communication technologies can improve competitiveness. Whether you are experienced and advanced in your use of technology or just getting started, we have help and advice relevant to you."

urbamet

http://www.urbamet.com/

Site des professionnels de l'urbanisme, de l'habitat et des d�placements.

Urban Planning, 1794-1918: An International Anthology of Articles, Conference Papers, and Reports

http://www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/homepage.htm

Selected, Edited, and Provided with Headnotes, by John W. Reps, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University.

urbaneye

http://www.urbaneye.co.uk/

This is the web page of Shillam + Smith architects and urban planners. urbaneye is a virtual neighbourhood where urbanism and regeneration can be discussed.

Virtual Chase

http://virtualchase.com/

This was mentioned in issue 69 of this newsletter, but is worth pinpointing once again, as it is an excellent source of information on legal research on the internet. It now includes a free bulletin for library and legal professionals.

Waste & Resources Action Programme: WRAP

http://www.wrap.org.uk/

WRAP's role is to create stable and efficient markets for recycled products and materials. WRAP focuses on: plastic, paper, glass and wood.

World InfoZone

http://www.worldinfozone.com/

"World InfoZone Ltd was set up to run World InfoZone. WIZ aims to be a gateway to the best sites on the Internet. The Linking the World section - "World" - follows individual themes such as the world economy and art and traces the relationship between areas such as geography, history, religion, world resources and the environment. The site is designed for lifelong learning and enables people to understand cultural differences and recognize similarities between different groups of people."

www.azure-blue.co.uk

http://www.azure-blue.co.uk/

Independent internet bookstore.

NICE WEB SITE

In the course of finding sites of interest for this Newsletter, we sometimes come across Web sites which we feel deserve slightly more than a passing mention. Each month we will pick out one or more such sites, and give them a short review. The sites will normally be UK based, may be small or large, and be of interest or potential interest to academics. After lengthy discussions we have decided, with incredible creativity :-), to call these: Nice Web Sites. Details of previous Nice Web Sites are available in the Nice Web Site Archive.

Despite the large number of sites in this issue of Internet Resources Newsletter, no one site stands out enough to be selected as this month's Nice Web Site

Roddy MacLeod

PRESS RELEASES

**** New Dates & Venue: Internet Librarian International ****

Information Today is excited to announce new dates and a new venue for Internet Librarian International 2003. The conference will be held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, UK on 25 - 27 March 2003 and will be co-located with a brand-new exhibition, Total Library Solutions (TLS).

Total Library Solutions exhibition, produced by Imark Communications, will take place on 26 - 27 March. Total Library Solutions will showcase companies that are addressing the twenty first century needs of library managers and information professionals. Internet Librarian International delegates from libraries around the world will enjoy unlimited access to this new and exciting exhibition.

Billed as the UK's "second city", Birmingham features world-class arts and culture, shopping in the historic Jewellery Quarter, and is close to other places of interest including Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Coventry Cathedral. Birmingham is at the centre of the UK motorway network and has excellent national rail links, whilst the city's international airport operates direct flights to and from destinations all over the world.

Internet Librarian International's provisional conference programme, featuring 3 conference tracks, workshops, open lectures and seminars, is published in November and we have reserved a copy for you. In the meantime, watch the conference web site at http://www.internet-librarian.com for more details about this exciting new partnership.

**** Physics Reviews ****

Physics Reviews is a new online service from the Institute of Physics (IOP). Physics Reviews brings together all review articles published in IOP's journals, including topical reviews and those from our dedicated review journal Reports on Progress in Physics.

The review articles in our journals are already among the most widely downloaded and heavily cited, and cover all areas of physics. Our Editors regularly identify topical areas of interest and commission leading scientists to write expert commentary on them. Review articles are more important than ever for researchers who are increasingly overloaded and pressed for time. They are often useful as guides to raw data and original research material. They also serve as a valuable tool for researchers wishing to keep abreast of the latest developments. Intended to bring unity and cohesion to a field, review articles are especially important to newcomers to a research area.

The articles in Physics Reviews can be displayed by subject, by journal or by date. The service is free to all but access to the full text of articles identified in it is subject to subscription status. Non- subscribers of the source journals can purchase the articles online by simply clicking on the full text PDF links.

Physics Reviews is bound to become every scientist's encyclopedia of physics. It can be found online at http://reviews.iop.org .

For further information, please contact custserv@iop.org

Lucy Pearce
Senior Product Manager
Institute of Physics Publishing
http://www.iop.org

**** Net-Happenings Email List to close ****

The Net-happenings email list: http://listserv.classroom.com/archives/net-happenings.html the "granddaddy of all education lists" which was founded in 1993 by Web education expert and former biology teacher of twenty years, Gleason Sackmann, is due to close.

Full details at: http://listserv.classroom.com/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0210d&L=net-happenings&D=1&T=0&H=1&O=D&F=&S=&P=80

- I'm sure that everyone who has made use of the Net-happenings list over the years would join me in thanking Gleason Sackman for all his efforts. RM

**** A new look for the Virtual Training Suite ****

As the new term begins in universities and colleges across the country, we are pleased to announce that we have upgraded all of the tutorials in the RDN Virtual Training Suite to take advantage of new features, functionality and design created for 11 new FE tutorials launched in June this year. See: http://www.vts.rdn.ac.uk

In response to popular demand (i.e. feedback received via the Web site and workshops) our tutorials now have the following:

- A NEW LOOK AND FEEL - incorporating the new Web design and graphics created for the FE tutorials

- NEW LINKS BASKET FUNCTIONALITY - you can now view, print or email yourself your selected links; add a comments box to make notes about the links you've saved or turn the Links Basket off to see live links in the tutorial

- ENHANCED PRINT-FRIENDLY OPTION - providing a print-optimised version of the tutorial pages, designed to make high quality printouts suitable for handouts.

- IMPROVED ACCESSIBILITY - in line with W3C recommendations

- A NEW SYSTEM FOR UPDATING TUTORIALS - a Web-based editing system now enables the RDN hubs to regularly update tutorials remotely via the Web

A more detailed insight into our new technical architecture can be found in a paper written by Paul Smith, VTS Web Manager, which he will be presenting at the ASCILITE 2002 conference. A pre-print is available at: http://www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/reports/ascilite02.html

The Virtual Training Suite team will now be focusing their efforts on a new project, funded under the JISC Exchange for Learning programme. This work includes the creation of five new FE tutorials; case-studies modelling effective use of this resource in teaching; and development work that explores the potential of the use of these tutorials within Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs).

If you would like to be informed of new developments as they emerge please send an email to this address asking to be added to our mailing list: <rdn-vts@bristol.ac.uk>

Emma Place,
Service Manager,
RDN Virtual Training Suite
Institute for Learning and Research Technology
University of Bristol, 8-10 Berkeley Square
Bristol BS8 1TN Tel: 0117 928 7183
Email: emma.place@bristol.ac.uk

NETWORK NEWS

DNER News

The Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) is a managed environment for accessing quality assured information resources on the Internet which are available from many sources.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/information/news/index.html

NISS News

A week-by-week listing of new information resources on the NISS (National Information Services and Systems) Information Gateway selected by experts in the subject area is available at:

http://www.niss.ac.uk/welcome/whatsnew.html

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 Additions to EEVL, The Hub for Engineering, Mathematics and Computing, are available at:; http://www.eevl.ac.uk/whatsnew.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

New additions to PSIgate

PSIgate (Physical Science Information Gateway) is the physical sciences hub of the Resource Discovery Network (RDN).

http://www.psigate.ac.uk/ROADS/whats-new.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.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

Chemical Data Service (CDS)

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/

Academic Info

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

RDN News

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/

Humbul

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

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

RECENT INTERNET BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY

The Mantex Information Design web site has reviews of some of the books mentioned in previous issues of the Internet Resources Newsletter.

Recent Arrivals

025.04 CUR
Attracting, educating, and serving remote users through the web: A how-to-do-it manual for librarians
edited by Donnelyn Curtis
facet, 2002

025.04 STE
Web metrics: proven methods for measuring Web site success
by Jim Sterne, Wiley, 2002

A complete list of new books added to Heriot-Watt University Library is available from the Library News page.

http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/news.html

GET A LIFE! - LEISURE TIME

Internet Juggling Database
http://www.jugglingdb.com/

Cartoon Resource
http://www.cartoonresource.com/

APPRECIATION

I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Ian Mowat, the Edinburgh University Librarian, in a climbing accident.

Ian was one of the Assistant Librarians at Heriot Watt University when I first started work here, in the 1970s, before he left to take up a post at the National Library of Scotland. He took a keen interest in the activities and careers of those he had worked with, and it was always a pleasure to bump into him for a chat, in or around the main University Library in George Square.

As the EUL Web site points out, Ian "was one of the most prominent and respected figures in the library world in Scotland, the UK, and internationally." and he will be much missed.

This page is: http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn98/irn98.html

� 2002 Heriot-Watt University

You may pass this newsletter on to others, as long as it is sent in its entirety.

Heriot-Watt University Library

Issue 98 - November 2002

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