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                        THE CHEST DATA MESSENGER
             9th March 2001      URL:http://www.chest.ac.uk/

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Please note: Emma Thompson will be on holiday until 20th March 2001. If
you have any urgent queries for Emma while she is away please copy them
to [log in to unmask]

CONTENTS
========

        1. Science's NextWave - update
        2. Poole's Plus 2.0 - expressions of interest

1. Science's NextWave - update
------------------------------
CHEST has been asked to forward the folling message about Science's
NextWave:

Dear CHEST Representative,

We now have over 80 universities signed up for FREE access to Science's
Next Wave - the weekly career development web site for early career
scientists.

The site is open to all of the UK's academic community for at least a
further 2 years and we are still keen to sign up more institutions, so
please contact us if you would like further information, alternatively
go straight to the CHEST site for the relevant licence forms:
http://www.chest.ac.uk/datasets/nextwave/licence-amended-2000.rtf

For those of you already signed up for free access, PLEASE BE AWARE of
the following IMPORTANT information:

The site uses a Digital Island, as Next Wave's server is held in the
States, so the URL that will go to the UK page, via the international
homepage is www.nextwave.org , users can then select the UK flag to link
to UK content.

To access the UK site DIRECTLY without going via the International
homepage, please use: http://intl-nextwave.sciencemag.org/uk/ .

The server WILL NOT allow access to users coming in through the JANET
proxy server, so please ensure that the above URLs are bypassing JANET.

For further information please contact Hazel Crocker
<[log in to unmask]>, tel: 01223 326500

Regards,

Hazel Crocker
UK Next Wave Marketing Manager
Tel: (0044) 01223 326500
Fax: (0044) 01223 326501
Science International, Bateman House, 82-88 Hills Road, Cambridge CB2
1LQ
Next Wave: Career Resources for Scientists


2. Poole's Plus 2.0 - expressions of interest
---------------------------------------------
CHEST has begun discussions with Paratext for possible provision of
Poole's Plus.  A description of the product taken from the web site is
as follows:

"Poole's Plus is the most comprehensive resource now available to
scholars, bibliographers, and students doing all manner of historical
research. Poole's Plus merges every relevant index to newspapers,
periodicals, books and government documents into a single, searchable
site."

A Review of the product, in the 1st March issue of 'Library Journal'
says:

"Poole's Plus continues to evolve in both design and content, while
responding to some of the suggested changes made when it was first
reviewed here (Database&Disc Reviews, LJ 9/15/99). The content additions
are notable, including indexes to the New York Times (1863-1905),
Harper's Magazine (1880-1905), Library Journal (1876-97), and
Descriptive Catalogue of the Government Publication of the U.S.
(1778-1887). The database now totals more than 3.7 million citations.

Perhaps the most significant changes are in the interface and searching.
It is good to see that searches can now be limited by date, an absolute
necessity in this type of resource. The earlier version of Poole's had
rather crowded source screens, and index selection was somewhat
confusing. The design change here is to use drop-down menus, and
although the jury is out on their overall efficacy, the choice of
resources is less confusing in this version. There are five series of
menu options: (I) Poole's and other Multi-Title Periodical Indices, (II)
Book Indices, (III) New York Times and other Newspaper Indices, (IV)
Harper's Magazine and other Individual Title Indices, and (V) Government
Document Indices. You can choose all the sources or an individual title
from each series, and it is possible to combine series in a single
search. Within each series, you can search all the items offered or just
one (for example, in Section I, you can search all the indexes included
or just one of them)--you cannot, as yet, choose to search two or three
of the items indexed in each section. As Poole's expands, it would be
highly desirable to offer more flexible options here.

Poole's Plus has several excellent search capabilities, such as the
ability to search for singular and plural forms of a word, word variants
(labor/labour), as well as exact phrase and exact word. It is also
important to note the added value here: citations have been upgraded and
standardized to improve electronic access. A Browse Search option for
periodical titles and authors offers a quick way to find out how often
that journal or author is represented in the database."

Further information, and the option for a 30 day trial offer, is
available from http://www.poolesplus.net/contents.html

If your institution is interested in CHEST pursuing an offer/agreement
for this product, please email [log in to unmask]


********* END OF CHEST DATA MESSENGER: 9th March 2001 ***********