From: Catherine Ure [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 7:39 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Internet Resources Newsletter, Issue 86 INTERNET RESOURCES NEWSLETTER The free, monthly, non-subscription newsletter for academics, students,engineers, scientists and social scientists. ISSN: 1361-9381 Heriot-Watt University Library Edited by: Roddy MacLeod ([log in to unmask]), Catherine Ferguson and Catherine Ure. View the web version on http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html To unsubscribe visit the Internet Resources Newsletter homepage at http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html --------------------- ISSUE 86- CONTENTS COMMENT Random Quotes Online Information 2001 IRN Internet Resources Newsletter by email A-Z NEW AND NOTABLE WEB SITES Information and reviews of new and recent Web sites NICE WEB SITE This month: Barbour Expert PRESS RELEASES Netskills TONIC internet tutorial update New DNER web site National Library of Scotland Review BOOK REVIEW Review of: Information sources and searching on the World Wide Web, by G G Chowdhury and Sudatta Chowdhury Review of: Using the Internet as a reference tool, by M Sauers NETWORK NEWS BUBL BIDS EEVL SOSIG EDINA CHEST MIMAS RUDI BIOME ELDIS Netskills BIZ/ed AHDS JISCmail Data Archive TASI Chemical Database Service RECENT INTERNET BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY DESERT ISLAND BOOKMARKS Desert Island Bookmarks Chosen by castaway Phil Bradley GET A LIFE! LEISURE TIME STOP PRESS! British Standards available online to members of Heriot Watt University New guides available ------------------------- COMMENT Random Quotes Yahoo! reported record high usage in September - an average of 1.25 billion page views per day (source: Marketing, 18 October 2001). Books linked to Websites are the next big thing. (source: Bob Shingleton, The Bookseller, 21 September 2001) 79 percent of major US companies advertised online last year, up from two-thirds in 1999. (source NUE Internet Survey http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357310&rel=true ) Online Information 2001 Online Information 2001 will be held from 4-6 December, at Olympia, London. This is the event for the information industry, with over 16,000 people expected to attend the exhibition.. More information is available at the Online web site at: http://www.online-information.co.uk/online/ IRN A leaflet (in Word) is available for those who might want to distribute information about the Internet Resources Newsletter at http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/leaflet.doc. Internet Resources Newsletter by email Over 3,000 people now subscribe to the email version of this Newsletter, which is distributed by Free Pint. To subscribe, at no cost, go to http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html A-Z NEW & NOTABLE WEB SITES 3rd e-ICOLC: International Coalition of Library Consortia in Europe http://www.lib.helsinki.fi/finelib/eicolc.html 29.11. - 1.12.2001 Espoo, Finland. --------------------------------------- AIM25 http://www.aim25.ac.uk/ The AIM25 project provides electronic access to almost 3,000 descriptions of archives held in higher education institutions and learned societies in the London area. The records relate to a wide range of subjects, including material on the history of engineering, science, and social science, which may be of particular interest to Newsletter readers. The work is in progress, and new descriptions are still being added. --------------------------------------- all-hotels http://www.all-hotels.com/ "Find your perfect hotel from 60,000 hotels worldwide in 9,600 locations." --------------------------------------- AskOxford.com http://www.askoxford.com/ A site from Oxford Dictionaries about the English language. --------------------------------------- Assignments Plus http://www.assignmentsplus.com/ "Assignments Plus provide a variety of learning programmes and self-help publications designed to enhance professional and business communications skills." --------------------------------------- Balance http://www.balance.ac.uk/ Balance is an inclusive approach to address the balance of women in manufacturing engineering. It aims to produce a comprehensive set of initiatives to be used in higher education institutes to attract and retain women in manufacturing engineering programmes. --------------------------------------- Barbour Expert http://www.barbourexpert.com/portal_module/index.asp "A joint initiative from market-leading construction publishers Barbour Index and The Builder Group, Barbour Expert is the UK's powerful new information portal for professionals in the built environment. With everything from breaking news to new jobs, magazines to research reports, editorial archives to careers and safety guidance, and a fully searchable building products database, Barbour Expert offers something for everyone." --------------------------------------- British Education Internet Resource catalogue http://brs.leeds.ac.uk/~beiwww/beirc.htm The British Education Internet Resource catalogue is a freely accessible database of information about professionally evaluated and described internet sites which support educational research, policy and practice. --------------------------------------- BSES - Ressources Plus http://www.unige.ch/biblio/ses/plus00.html Silection de sites Web Pour Les Usagers des Sciences iconomiques et sociales --------------------------------------- CampaignLive http://www.campaignlive.com/ The online version of the magazine of the advertising industry for the United Kingdom. This site was recently described by Larry Chase, editor of Larry Chase's Web Digest For Marketers as "...probably one of the worst site designs I have ever seen. Everything moves or flashes -- the logo, the advertisements, and the tele-tape." --------------------------------------- Can e-books improve libraries? http://skyways.lib.ks.us/central/ebooks/ An interesting set of pages from Kansas State Library. --------------------------------------- Canadian Encyclopedia Online http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/ From Historica, a charitable foundation. --------------------------------------- China Internet Update (e-journal) http://www.chinainternetupdate.com/ China Internet Update is published every two weeks around the 1st and 15th of each month. --------------------------------------- ChinaSite.com http://www.chinasite.com/ "ChinaSite.com is one of the most popular web site directories and indexes for China/Chinese related resources on the Internet." --------------------------------------- Construction Knowledge Bank http://www.constructionknowledgebank.com/ "The Construction Knowledge Bank is a unique, value-added construction resource for regulatory information. It is published by the Stationery Office, the official publisher of statutory, Parliamentary and government information. The content is edited and developed by a panel of leading experts in their field, representing the needs and interests of construction professionals. The Knowledge Bank is continually maintained and updated, and includes both free and paid content, available by annual subscription." --------------------------------------- Country based search engines http://www.philb.com/countryse.htm Country search engines and regional search engines - currently a total of 1,487 search engines and 167 countries and regions. Phil Bradley, Independent Consultant, has compiled this impressive and very helpful list. --------------------------------------- Creabiz.com http://www.creabiz.com/ Creabiz.com is the first place on the Internet dedicated to help anyone who wants to sell or buy an existing web site. There is no charge to list, look, or bid on web sites available for sale. --------------------------------------- CSA Hot Topics http://www.csa.com/csa/hottopics/hottopics-main.shtml Information on current issues, with overviews, key citations and links to web sites. --------------------------------------- Cultivate Interactive Issue 5 http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue5/ Cultivate Interactive is a Web magazine which is funded under the European Commission's Digital heritage and Cultural Content (DIGICULT) programme. --------------------------------------- Current Methods Journal http://www.haestad.com/library/currentmethods/ "Haestad Methods is proud to offer a new journal devoted to state-of-the-practice articles written to benefit engineers, reviewers, and project managers." --------------------------------------- Development Gateway http://www.developmentgateway.org/ The Development Gateway helps communities, organizations, and individuals build partnerships, share ideas, and work together to reduce poverty. --------------------------------------- Digital Library for Earth System Education: DLESE http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/DLESE/ DLESE (the Digital Library for Earth System Education) is a national effort to develop, identify, evaluate and disseminate excellent resources for teaching and learning about the Earth and environment. --------------------------------------- Distributed National Electronic Resource: DNER http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/ The DNER web site has been redesigned. --------------------------------------- DoctoralStudents.com http://www.doctoralstudents.com A virtual community for Phd. students with free membership until October 2002. --------------------------------------- Electronic Library of Construction, Occupational Safety and Health: eLCOSH http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/elcosh/ Offers articles and information related to hazards, job sites, trades, and training. --------------------------------------- Energy Citations Database http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/ "The Energy Citations Database (ECD) is designed and developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) with the science-attentive citizen in mind. Its creation is consistent with OSTI's objective to provide easier and faster access to the Department's scientific and technical information. Energy Citations is publicly available without charge to users. Energy Citations contains bibliographic records for energy and energy-related scientific and technical information from the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies, the Energy Research & Development Administration (ERDA) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The Database provides access to DOE publicly available citations from 1948 through the present, with continued growth through regular updates." --------------------------------------- EPC Server http://www.epcserver.com/ "EPC Server is the premier online analysis center supporting Engineering, Construction, and Procurement." --------------------------------------- e-Polymers (e-journal) http://www.e-polymers.org/index.cfm e-Polymers has been founded under the auspices of the European Polymer Federation. It is a peer-reviewed internet journal in the area of polymer science and engineering. Its aim is to promote exchange of know-how concerning fundamental polymer science and technology, basically free of charge, for all researchers and engineers in academia and industry in Europe. Besides scientific and technical publications, this journal aims to mature into a discussion platform to promote joint research programmes and job mobility of notably young scientists within and outside of the EU. --------------------------------------- European Polymer Federation http://www.europolymer.org/ The new internet site of the European Polymer Federation. --------------------------------------- European Young Engineers: EYE http://www.e-y-e.org/ EYE is a dynamic and rapidly growing federation with enthusiastic members, presently consisting of 14 associations in 11 countries and representing more than 150,000 young engineers in Europe. --------------------------------------- FastCEO http://www.fastceo.com/ US orientated site for CEOs. --------------------------------------- Finding Disaster Coverage At Search Engines http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/01/09-wtc.html By Danny Sullivan, Editor of The Search Engine Report. --------------------------------------- Global Summit of Online Knowledge (Education and Training) Networks http://www.educationau.edu.au/globalsummit/ The Global Summit of Online Knowledge (Education and Training) Networks, to be held in Adelaide, Australia on 4 and 5 March 2002, will bring together leaders, specialists and policy makers from Australia and around the world to share experiences and explore future directions in the development and management of online learning, education and training networks. --------------------------------------- Guggenheim.com http://Guggenheim.com/ The new destination for art and culture on the web. --------------------------------------- Helicon http://www.helicon.co.uk/ "Helicon publishes reference titles - including The Hutchinson Encyclopedia, the UK's leading encyclopedia - in print, on CD-ROM, and online. Helicon specializes in electronic publishing, and owns databases containing over 21 million words, ranging from serious subject reference to quizzes and memory joggers." --------------------------------------- Heriot Watt News http://hw-news.hw.ac.uk/ Corporate Communications is pleased to announce the re-launch of the News and Events Website at where you can get up to the minute information about what is happening at Heriot-Watt University in the form of news articles, press releases, grants, features and events. You can also submit your own articles and events to the site. --------------------------------------- History in Focus http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/ History in Focus is a new occasional series taking a thematic approach to history. Each issue is designed to provide an introduction to the chosen topic and to help stimulate interest and debate. --------------------------------------- Hydride Information Center http://hydpark.ca.sandia.gov/ "This site provides access to a comprehensive set of databases on metal-hydrogen systems, their properties, applications and literature sources, as well as profiles of organizations involved in metal-hydrogen development." --------------------------------------- ICC Credit community http://www.icc-credit.co.uk/ The intent of this community is to provide you with a one-stop shop for all of your credit business needs. --------------------------------------- IC-Resources (recruitment) http://www.ic-resources.co.uk/ "As specialists in microelectronics recruitment, IC-Resources work with a range of prestigious clients, from independent design houses and pre IPO start ups to major blue chip semiconductor companies throughout the UK, as well as mainland Europe & USA." --------------------------------------- Information literacy - sources of information http://www.his.se/bib/enginfolit.shtml An organized collection of freely available articles, conference-papers, websites and more in the field of information literacy literature. --------------------------------------- Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures http://www.isiscanada.com/ ISIS Canada, a federal Networks of Centres of Excellence program, is a collaborative effort of Canadian universities specializing in civil, mechanical, materials, aerospace, and electrical engineering. --------------------------------------- International Conference on Engineering Education 2002: ICEE 2001 http://www.meeting.co.uk/icee 18-22 August 2002, Manchester. --------------------------------------- Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/ The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public. --------------------------------------- Invisible-web.net http://www.invisible-web.net/ This site is a companion to The Invisible Web: Finding Hidden Internet Resources Search Engines Can't See by Chris Sherman and Gary Price. I hope to review this book in the next issue of Internet Resources Newsletter. --------------------------------------- JISC Digital Preservation Focus http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/preservation/ The webpages for JISC Digital Preservation Focus have been extensively expanded and updated. --------------------------------------- keepAhead http://www.keepAhead.com/NEWS/ An effective site which aggregates access to news from a number of sources. --------------------------------------- Language Varieties http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/ This site is about varieties of language that differ from the standard variety that is normally used in the media and taught in the schools. These include pidgins, creoles, regional dialects, minority dialects and varieties. --------------------------------------- Lexicate http://www.lexicate.com/ "We list as many online dictionaries as we can." --------------------------------------- Linksgiving http://www.Linksgiving.com/ The purpose of this site is to create a directory of links to useful web sites by submitting resources. --------------------------------------- Machinery.co.uk http://www.machinery.co.uk/ Machinery.co.uk is a UK-focused supplier database. --------------------------------------- Make A Shorter Link http://makeashorterlink.com/ "This web site provides a simple service - when you find a page on the web whose address is too long to paste into an email or other document, you can use our free service to generate a shorter, simpler address." It seems to work, too! --------------------------------------- Mapping Asia http://www.soas.ac.uk/asiamap/home.html Library collections, language expertise and newspapers. The Mapping Asia project has been awarded funding by the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) to work in the area of Collaborative Collection Management for Asian Studies in the UK. --------------------------------------- MARC Link http://www.marclink.com/ MARC Link converts a library's source documents (in any format, such as cards, title pages, photocopies, etc.) into a machine readable format. --------------------------------------- Milk-it.com http://www.milk-it.com/ "Milk-it.com is the world's first and only dedicated web site for hosting Graduate recruitment videos, presentations and employee profiles." I couldn't get past the home page :-( --------------------------------------- mnoGoSearchtm http://www.mnogosearch.org/ Formerly UDMSearch, this is web search engine software. --------------------------------------- Moonmist http://www.moonmist.co.uk/ "Moonmist Metasearch has been created to fill a large gap in the UK metasearch market. With the increase in websearch there seemed to be a requirement for good quality UK specific search results." Moonmist is a meta-search engine, which means it amalgamates the results from several search engines and directories. --------------------------------------- MySQL http://www.mysql.com/ MySQL AB is the company that develops, supports and markets the MySQL database server globally. This site has recently been redesigned. --------------------------------------- Nature Debates: Tailoring access to the source: preprints, grey literature and journal articles http://www.nature.com/nature/debates/e-access/Articles/warnick.html An article by Walter Warnick, Director, The Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), US Department of Energy. --------------------------------------- Networked Learning 2002 http://www.shef.ac.uk/nlc2002/ Conference at the University of Sheffield, 26 - 28 March 2002. --------------------------------------- Online Content UK http://www.onlinecontentuk.org/ This is a network for online editorial professionals working in the UK. "Online Content UK provides an email discussion list for members to talk about issues that concern us, and our industry, from a UK perspective. We also run industry events from casual pub drinkies to seminar events and are excited to announce our first panel speaker event 'Marketing Yourself and Your Writing Online' in November. See the events page for more information and to register - be quick, places are limited." --------------------------------------- Online Information 2001 http://www.online-information.co.uk/online/ 4 - 6 December, Olympia, London. "Online Information is the world's largest event for the information industry. The conference and exhibition provides an international forum for 16,000 attendees. Over 340 exhibitors showcase the best online information databases together with world-beating solutions for managing, disseminating and exploiting both internal and external knowledge resources. Online Information is also the world's leading platform for the electronic publishing industry, bringing together publishers and content owners with providers of online publishing technology, services and solutions." --------------------------------------- Open Language Archives Community: OLAC http://www.language-archives.org/ OLAC, the Open Language Archives Community, is an international partnership of institutions and individuals who are creating a worldwide virtual library of language resources. The OLAC cross-archive search engine now harvests 9,000+ records from 10 OLAC archives. --------------------------------------- Orange Book Site http://www.dynamoo.com/orange/ This site was mentioned in issue 27 of this Newsletter, and has since changed its address. First published in 1983, the Department of Defense Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria, (DOD-5200.28-STD) known as the Orange Book is the de facto standard for computer security today. --------------------------------------- OSH Online http://www.oshonline.com/ An information service for the safety and health professional. --------------------------------------- PALS Usage Statistics Working Group http://www.usagestats.org/ The Working Group has been tasked with developing a common Code of Practice to enable publishers and vendors to record online usage statistics and deliver them in a consistent way to libraries. --------------------------------------- Polymer Training Ltd. http://www.bpta.co.uk/ Polymer Training Ltd is the UK's leading training and business improvement provider for the plastics and rubber industries. It was previously known as the British Polymer Training Association (BPTA). --------------------------------------- Post-September 11 Environment: Access to Government Information http://www.ombwatch.org/info/2001/access.html This site outlines changes that have been made to US government web services as a result of the current crisis. --------------------------------------- Project on the Use of Numeric Data in Learning and Teaching http://datalib.ed.ac.uk/projects/datateach.html "The Edinburgh University Data Library, EDINA, the UK Data Archive, MIMAS, and the British Library of Political and Economic Science have completed a JISC-funded project to uncover the barriers to using numeric data in learning and teaching. The project lifetime was February 2000 through September 2001." --------------------------------------- ProjectShop-UK.com http://www.projectshop-uk.com/ This site is currently under development. "A group of academics from a number of UK universities have got together to help undergraduate students find industry related projects" --------------------------------------- RLG DigiNews: October issue http://www.rlg.ac.uk/preserv/diginews/diginews5-5.html The October issue is now available. --------------------------------------- RocketNews http://www.rocketnews.com/ "RocketNews is a Current News Search Engine and news distribution service that promises to revolutionize the business of finding and delivering the latest online news about companies, industries, products, events and people." --------------------------------------- Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress, 1791-1919 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sfbmhtml/ The online presentation of The Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress comprises about 6,500 items, or approximately 50,000 images, that document Morse's invention of the electromagnetic telegraph, his participation in the development of telegraph systems in the United States and abroad, his career as a painter, his family life, his travels, and his interest in early photography, religion, and the nativist movement. --------------------------------------- SanTranslate http://www.SanTranslate.com/ SanTranslate offers a specialist Chinese / English translation service. All our translators are carefully selected from different areas of expertise to ensure that we meet all your requirements. --------------------------------------- Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography http://info.lib.uh.edu/sepb/sepb.html Version 39 of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography is now available. This selective bibliography presents over 1,450 articles, books, and other printed and electronic sources that are useful in understanding scholarly electronic publishing efforts on the Internet. --------------------------------------- sciBASE http://www.thescientificworld.com/scibase/search.asp?uid=&bid= "sciBASE gives free access to a unique collection of the world's premier databases of scientific, technical and medical research literature. sciBASE currently covers more than 30 million articles published since 1965 in more than 30,000 journals. sciBASE is updated daily with approximately 10,000 new article records. sciBASE now also features immediate digital delivery of full text articles from nearly 500 current journals produced by participating publishers. Currently, these publishers include Blackwell Science, Taylor & Francis, IOS Press, IUPAC and Mary Ann Liebert. Additional content sources will be added in the near future." --------------------------------------- SCoRe http://www.score.ac.uk/ A national catalogue of company reports. The purpose of this site is to enable researchers to locate company reports held in UK libraries and archives. This is a Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) Project. --------------------------------------- Scottish Building Contract Committee: SBCC http://www.sbcconline.com/ "The SBCC was established in April 1964 as a result of the decisions of the McEwan Younger Committee which in turn followed the recommendations of the Emmerson report, that closer contacts be established with central bodies in London and that a working party be appointed in Scotland. The McEwan Younger Report "The Organisation and Practices for Building and Civil Engineering" was issued in December 1964 and SBCC adopted those recommendations and produced its first contract incorporating the 1963 Edition of the RIBA Form of Contract. The purpose of the SBCC was defined as providing adjustment to English Conditions of Contract, reflecting Scottish practice and providing for differences in Scots and English law." --------------------------------------- Scottish Business Information Service: SCOTBIS http://www.scotbis.com/ The Scottish Business Information Service (SCOTBIS) was established in 1989 to provide a national business information resource to the Scottish community. Based within the National Library of Scotland's Causewayside building in Edinburgh, the service operates from within the Scottish Science Library, itself a national scientific resource for Scotland. --------------------------------------- Selection Service of Articles on Metallurgy and Moulding: SESAMM http://www.ctif.com/html/sesamm.html The SESAMM bibliographical database gives access to the entire CTIF information holdings made up of more than 33,000 documents (articles from the French and international technical, economic and scientific press, standards, patents, congresses, specialist publications, etc.) as analyzed over the past 20 years by the Information Centre librarians. SESAMM is a professional information source allowing users to keep up to date, in an efficient and user-friendly way, with issues of current importance affecting the Foundry Industry. --------------------------------------- Serials MasterFile http://www.serialsmasterfile.com/ A subscription service. "Serials MasterFile is a Web reference service for serials and collection development librarians, historians, bibliographers, scholars and students." "Serials MasterFile is a reference database that permits in-depth research into the historical significance of serial literature, from the basic ISSN to the editorial mission statement." --------------------------------------- Seventh International Conference on Engineering and Technology Education: INTERTECH 2001 http://www.lusiada.br/intertech2002/eng/index.html The Seventh International Conference on Engineering and Technology Education (INTERTECH 2002) will be held in Santos, Brazil from March 17 to Mach 20, 2002. --------------------------------------- Shaping a Strategy for e-books: an Issues Paper http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/ebooks/strategy1.html By Hazel Woodward and Louise Edwards for the JISC/DNER e-book Working Group. --------------------------------------- Social inclusion and libraries a resource guide http://www.la-hq.org.uk/groups/csg/si/si.html "This new resource is intended for all public library professionals, particularly those whose role is to put policy into practice. It aims to provide an easy way in to recent publications, research and networked resources about social inclusion that might be relevant to public libraries." --------------------------------------- SpamCon Foundation http://www.spamcon.org/ The SpamCon Foundation protects email as a viable communication and commerce medium by supporting measures to reduce the amount of unsolicited email that crosses private networks, while ensuring that valid email reaches its destination. --------------------------------------- STN International http://www.stn-international.de/ A new web site design from STN International . STN International connects scientists, engineers and anyone who needs technical information to the world's most complete and authoritative databases. --------------------------------------- StudyLink http://www.studylink.com/ "StudyLink provides you with the most accurate and reliable source of information on education and learning options world wide. You can search our expanding database which currently has over 200,000 courses and our team of researchers are constantly finding new courses and updating existing ones to ensure this resource is the most comprehensive available." --------------------------------------- Sunspot cycles http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jpdesm/sunspots/ Mentioned a long time ago in issue 19 of the Internet Resources Newsletter, this has a new address. The site is all about sunspots. --------------------------------------- Terrorism Research Center http://www.terrorism.com/index.shtml The Terrorism Research Center is dedicated to informing the public of the phenomena of terrorism and information warfare. --------------------------------------- The Firm List http://www.firmlist.com/ A directory listing web design and development firms organised geographically. --------------------------------------- The Good Web Guide http://www.thegoodwebguide.com/ This site gives information about the book 'The Good Web Guide' which features over 900 essential sites, specially selected to save time and money, and to show the best the Internet has to offer. --------------------------------------- The Stationery Office: tSO http://www.theso.co.uk/ "The Stationery Office (tSO) has over 200 years experience in publishing official and regulatory information for the UK's Government and Parliament. Britain's largest publisher by volume, tSO has an unrivalled expertise across a wide range of services from the authoring and design of electronic and printed information, to management, production, print, distribution and customer services. tSO delivers fully integrated information management solutions with products and services of the highest quality to its clients." --------------------------------------- TheScientificWorld, Inc. and ScienceWise http://www.thescientificworld.com/ "We are pleased to announce that TheScientificWorld, Inc. and ScienceWise, Inc. have joined forces to offer you a unique integrated electronic suite of scientific literature, research information, and other related products and services designed to enhance and accelerate your research activities. The online accessibility of one of the world's largest aggregations of published and peer-reviewed scientific literature, integrated with other research information, will allow you to rapidly put research findings from disparate sources, including annotated databases, into a relevant and scientifically useful context." --------------------------------------- the-SRDA: safety, reliability, risk data and information http://www.the-srda.net/ the-SRDA helps safety, reliability and risk professionals to find high quality data and information. It also provides an opportunity to share knowledge and experience. --------------------------------------- UK Libraries Plus http://www.uklibrariesplus.ac.uk/ New address for this service. UK Libraries Plus is a co-operative venture between higher education libraries. It enables part-time, distance, and placement students to borrow material from other libraries. In addition, there is a provision for full-time students and for staff to use other libraries on a reference only basis. --------------------------------------- UKPhonebook.com http://www.ukphonebook.com/ UK telephone numbers. --------------------------------------- Universal Bookstore http://libris.portland.co.uk/index.html Books in Italian, English and Russian. --------------------------------------- US Auto Industry News http://www.autoindustryamerica.com/ American automotive industry news site. --------------------------------------- Usable Web http://usableweb.com/ Usable Web is a collection of links about information architecture, human factors, user interface issues, and usable design specific to the World Wide Web. --------------------------------------- WAP Sites and the Mobile Internet http://www.freepint.com/issues/181001.htm#tips An article by Duncan Parry in the popular Free Pint newsletter. --------------------------------------- Web Characterization http://wcp.oclc.org/ From OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Office of Research. The Web Characterization Project conducts an annual Web sample to analyze trends in the size and content of the Web. Analysis based on the sample is publicly available. --------------------------------------- Web Search Engines http://www.philb.com/webse.htm Phil Bradley, Independent Consultant, has compiled this list of 170+ general search engines. --------------------------------------- Web Search Engines FAQS: Questions, Answers, and Issues http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct01/price.htm An article by Gary Price: Gary Price, Research and Internet Consulting. --------------------------------------- WebCT UK and Ireland 2001 Conference http://www.webct.com/uk-ire2001 December 10-12, Coventry. --------------------------------------- Working Well Together http://wwt.uk.com/ "working well together is an industry-wide construction health and safety campaign developed by the HSC's Construction Industry Advisory Committee (CONIAC)" --------------------------------------- World Trade Centre - New York - Some Engineering Aspects http://www.civil.usyd.edu.au/wtc.htm An engineering perspective on the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings on 11th September. --------------------------------------- www tionestop.com http://www.tionestop.com/ This site gives information about various Technical Indexes Ltd services. --------------------------------------- Your Article http://www.yourarticle.net/ "Your Article is the premier online resource for journalistic copy. This site features a database of articles on a huge variety of topics which can be downloaded for use by registered users." --------------------------------------- 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. There are some excellent sites listed in this month's Newsletter, including MakeAShorterLink, The Internet Archive and Energy Citations Database, but this month's Nice Web Site is: Barbour Expert http://www.barbourexpert.com/portal_module/index.asp This service is a joint initiative from construction publishers Barbour Index and The Builder Group. It is described as portal for professionals in the built environment, and is full of useful information. The Magazines and Magazine Archive areas provide cross-searching and full-text access to articles from current and previous issues of all The Builder Group's magazines, including: Building, Property Week, Building Homes, Building Services Journal, Construction Manager, Electrical & Mechanical Contractor, Light & Lighting, Security Installer, Security Management Today, The Facilities Business and World Architecture. There is an excellent News section, a Job Search section listing hundreds of vacancies, and all sorts of other useful information for those in the construction industry, including a building product search service. Altogether, a Nice Werb Site! Roddy MacLeod PRESS RELEASES **** Netskills TONIC internet tutorial update **** The popular Netskills TONIC internet tutorial has recently undergone a major rewrite. TONIC has been providing a basic introduction to the internet to thousands of users for a number of years. This JISC funded online tutorial covers topics such as, the using web, how to find information on the internet and online communication, including email, chat systems, telephony, videoconferencing and discussion boards. The first changes, which were implemented a few weeks ago, involved updating the tutorial's interface and navigation making it easier to use and giving it a more contemporary feel. Other administrative and structural changes have been made to provide afaster and more robust service. The interface change was followed by other changes including: * updating of the content * removal of out-of-date information * inclusion of new material * streamlined login process * update of the self test quizzes A complete new section was added to the tutorial called - Creating Web Pages - this section covers use of html, images and multimedia, the importance of standards, validation and accessibility, as well as how to publish web pages. Other new material added to TONIC includes: * increased use of images and added examples of multimedia such as audio, video and animation. * information on eCommerce, privacy and security * use of interactive web pages, multimedia and virtual reality modelling language (VRML) * information about managed/virtual learning environments (MLEs and VLEs) * personalised services such as customisable web portals and search engines * use of the web for telephony TONIC is particularly useful in introducing students to the use of the internet beyond surfing for fun. Please pass this information on to colleagues who may be interested. http://www.netskills.ac.uk/TONIC Regards The Netskills Team **** New DNER web site **** The DNER has recently been redesigned and relaunched (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/). Central to the thinking behind the new web site has been two important factors: firstly, the easier, more logical and user-friendly organisation of information; and secondly, the setting up of "User Views" which allows different User Groups to access resources and information that are appropriate to them. There is also a greater emphasis on the collections that are available to HE and FE institutions, both through the User Views and through a simplified Collections section of the web site. We are keen to receive feedback from all our users in order to improve the site still further. Please write to [log in to unmask] with your feedback. Dr Philip Pothen DNER/RDN Communications Manager, JISC DNER Office, King's College London, Strand Bridge House, 3rd Floor, 138-142 The Strand, London WC2R 1HH **** National Library of Scotland Review **** The full text of this press release is available from http://www.nls.uk/news/press/index.html The National Library of Scotland today announced plans to develop an electronically-based general information service for scientific and business researchers. As a consequence, the Library will close its specialist science reading room and reduce its binding operations. The Library - Scotland s largest, with over 8m books and nearly 300 staff has decided that the needs of business and science users can be best met in future through a combination of electronic information provision and document delivery, and traditional reading room services. Funds will also be devoted to supporting its core high quality services in areas other than science. Most of the 21 people employed in the science and binding units will be redeployed but a small number of redundancies cannot be ruled out. BOOK REVIEW Review of: Information sources and searching on the World Wide Web by G G Chowdhury and Sudatta Chowdhury Library Association Publishing 2001 ISBN 1 85604 394 0 #29.95 This is a companion volume to Searching CD-ROM and online information sources, by the same authors, which was published earlier this year by Library Association Publishing. The aim of the two works is to help information professionals and students learn about electronic information sources and information retrieval techniques. The current title deals with information sources and services available on the Web. As well as looking at different types of Web-based information services such as search engines, Web directories, subject gateways and reference services, the Chowdhurys briefly discuss the basic search techniques, such as the use of truncation, Boolean operators, proximity searching and field searching, which need to be mastered in order to make the most of the Web. In addition, there are chapters on electronic journals and digital libraries. Completing the book is a chapter which looks at trends in Web-based information retrieval. This book provides a thorough, nicely-crafted introduction to the main information sources which have evolved to help people find information on the Web. Nearly all of the most popular search engines, directories and gateways are featured, and numerous screen dumps are scattered throughout the nine chapters and 174 pages. The Chowdhurys recognise that no one source or type of service has yet managed to solve all problems associated with locating Web-based materials. Search engines vary in the number of Web pages they index, and in the currency of their databases. Web directories use different mapping techniques which may not be appropriate in all cases. Subject gateways depend on human effort for their maintenance. The chapters on Electronic journals and Digital libraries should be read by anyone wanting a summary on these subjects. Unlike many similar texts which concentrate on US services, the Chowdhurys mention many UK sources. Inevitably, in a book on such a fast-moving subject, some of the services described have evolved or changed since the text was written. Nevertheless, Information sources and searching on the World Wide Web is a 'must read' for all students of library and information science, and information practitioners will also find it a useful text. Roddy MacLeod Review of: Using the Internet as a reference tool: a how-to-do-it manual for librarians by Michael P Sauers Library Association Publishing, 2001 ISBN 1 85604 432 7 #24.95 Companion website: http://www.lapwing.org.uk Working on a Reference Desk, my first thought on this book was - don't all reference desks use the Internet, and do librarians still need reference training in using the Internet? Michael Sauers believes that "continuing education is needed" due to the ever-changing nature of the Internet. Still somewhat sceptical, I read on, and when I reached the chapter on creating an effective ready reference strategy I felt thoroughly abashed. Unthinkingly, I've fallen into bad habits. The process of finding a simple fact in a printed resource and the process of finding a simple fact using the Internet is compared. Using a printed resource you: Go to the book Find the answer However in his experience most librarians use the followingh process to find a simple fact using the Internet: Go to favourite search engine Type in keywords Retrieve approx. 1,688,755 results Click on a result Wait for document to load Fail to find answer Repeat process becoming more and more frustrated Oh dear - that sounds scarily familiar. I'm not guilty of searching the web for facts that are more easily found in the quick reference section (honest!) but I find it all too easy to fruitlessly search Google rather than go to the relevant Internet resource, especially if I don't have an Internet resource in mind. Using this as his starting point in the chapter, Michael Sauers explains how to create an effective ready reference strategy and concludes that a reference page(s) should be created. At Heriot-Watt University Library (and I'm sure at most other academic libraries), reference pages are already in existence. The author, Michael Sauers, is the Internet trainer for the Bibliographical Center for Research in Colorado, USA. Amongst other roles, he trains librarians and others in how to use the Internet and its related technologies. This book is based on his classes in which he walks Reference Librarians through the steps necessary to use the Internet as efficiently as they do their print collection. Other chapters deal with the impact of the Internet on Reference Services, evaluating Internet based reference sources, search engines and directories and the larger issues of Internet reference. The chapter on larger issues of Internet reference discusses the provision of an email reference service, and it was interesting to hear about other libraries' experiences of offering this service. I really like the anecdotal style of the book. His experience, and other librarians' experiences, are used to illustrate the book with examples that I'm sure most readers will relate to. It is littered with examples of excellent and unusual reference sources on the Web and is accompanied by a companion Web site, which the author updates. It helped me reinforce good practice, but I didn't glean a huge amount of information out of this book. I think it is a basic step-by-step manual suitable mostly for those starting out in reference services. Catherine Ure. NETWORK NEWS BIDS News Bulletins BIDS is a UK provider of networked information services for higher education and research. http://www.bids.ac.uk/info/fs_whatsnew.htm --------------------------------------- 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:4321/whatsnew/ --------------------------------------- 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 on RUDI RUDI (Resource for Urban Design Information) is a multimedia information resource for research and teaching in the field of urban design in the Western cultural context. The latest news from RUDI can be found at: http://www.rudi.net/ --------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------- 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/news/ The DNER web site has been redesigned. Go to http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/ 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 SAU Using the Internet as a reference tool by M Sauers LA, 2001 371.33 ROB Digital developments in higher education: theory and practice edityed by Peter Roberts and Mark Chambers Taylor Graham, 2001 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 DESERT ISLAND BOOKMARKS The time is not far away when it should become possible to connect to the Internet from absolutely anywhere in the world. Teleworking from a desert island may become more of a reality than a dream. With this in mind, Internet Resources Newsletter asked Phil Bradley, Independent Consultant and author of "The Advanced Internet Searcher's Handbook": What would be your Desert Island Websites? 10 sites are allowed for the desert island bookmarks, and because a teleworker on a desert island cannot be expected to labour all the time, the final selection can be something leisure-related. Phil's response: Being stuck on a desert island is one of those things that I'd love to try but suspect that I'd hate very quickly. Once I'd got the shelter up and running and figured out some way to catch enough food to eat I suspect that I'd get very bored very quickly, so I'd turn to the Internet to keep me occupied at any early stage. Actually, forget what I've just said - I'd turn to the Internet at once, based on the theory of 'give someone a fish and they're fed for the day, give them a fishing rod and they can feed themselves from then on' - well give me the Internet and I wouldn't notice I was hungry! (Sad but it's true!). 1. BBC Online http://www.bbc.co.uk Working from home gives me plenty of time to keep up to date with the news, and I'm constantly hearing small snippets on the radio, then dive onto the net to find the most up to date information on the subject I can find. Consequently the BBC site would be an absolute requirement for me, since it wouldn't just keep me up to date with current events, but would also let me browse background information. Informed and entertained at the same time is not a bad combination, and it's something the website does very well indeed. 2. The Electronic Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk In my opinion you can never have enough news, so my second choice would be another news site. In my opinion the ET is just about the best newspaper on the Internet, with excellent coverage on both home and global issues. I have always found their approach innovative and refreshing and I can always find something useful and interesting from it. Furthermore, since I can only have one leisure site I'd use it to keep up to date with how Everton FC was getting on! 3. Jiscmail http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk One of the problems of working from home (and by implication on an island) is keeping up to date with what is happening in the information profession. Consequently, Jiscmail would be a must here, since it provides me with a good opportunity to keep in touch with what other information professionals are doing, what conferences are taking place, what issues are the forefront of peoples minds and solutions to problems. 4. Freepint http://www.freepint.co.uk Freepint would serve a similar, though slightly different function. I've always find it to be an excellent way of keeping up to date and I look forward to each issue arriving in my mailbox, and I often visit the site to see what discussions are taking place. I also find it very informative since each issue looks at a couple of different subject areas in depth and I'm always fascinated to see what people use the Internet for and the sheer volume and breadth of information in so many subject areas still amazes me! 5. Tucows http://www.tucows.com Knowing that my DIY skills are fairly limited I'm pretty sure that I'd find it next to impossible to leave the island, so I'd need to have some way of ensuring that I had the latest software available to me. Tucows is therefore an absolute requirement. Whatever software I require, be it utility, updated browser or anything else in fact, I can generally find it there. The site is split into operating systems with various sub divisions under that, so it's easy to find the appropriate area and generally there is the choice of a variety of different programs with descriptions and a rating system. Quite invaluable! 6. Netdoctor http://www.netdoctor.co.uk I teach a lot of medical and health professionals, and Netdoctor is a site that I always make sure that I point out to them. It's full of useful information, written in an easy to understand format and aimed at the layperson. The only thing I don't like about it is that its search facilities are very poor and it can take a long time to find exactly what you want. However that apart, I'm sure I'd find it useful on an island; I might not be able to cure whatever ailment I got, but at least I'd know what it was. 7. AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Searching the Internet is of course my specific area of interest, so a good search engine would be an absolute must. AltaVista has always been my personal favourite since it was first introduced. It's not the biggest one out there, but it's fairly sophisticated and is always being improved. I can generally find what I want there without too much trouble, so although I'm tempted by both Google (http://www.google.com) and Northern Light (http://www.northernlight.com) I think I'd have to stick with AltaVista. 8. BUBL http://www.bubl.ac.uk What general search engines cannot do of course is provide me with a small list of 'the best of' websites, and in this area BUBL excels. It's a virtual library, and I'm a great fan of these and if I am searching for information on a subject that I know little about I'll quite often try an appropriate virtual library as my first port of call. Most virtual libraries deal with specific subject areas, but BUBL seems to cover the lot. It's easy to use with very comprehensive coverage of all areas and is generally limited to about 25 top web sites, so it's quick as well. 9. Search Engine Showdown http://www.notess.com/search/ It would also be necessary to keep up to date with the latest goings on in the search engine world and here there are two obvious choices; Danny Sullivans SearchEngine Watch (http://www.searchenginewatch.com) and Greg Notess' Search Engine Showdown. I'd be quite happy with either of these, but I chose Greg's site because I think it's got a slightly broader remit and I like his section on News and chat, as well as the Learning section. 10. The Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com For a leisure site, it would have to be the IMDb. I love watching films, reading about films, hearing the latest gossip and so on. Consequently, this site has to be my choice here. I could (and truth be known do) spend many happy hours wandering around the site checking out films I've seen, reading about the trivia, using it to spot mistakes in films the list is endless. And of course I could use it to track down all the castaway films as well to see if I could pick up any hints and tips about what I should be doing on my desert island. Which reminds me, it's time for lunch Biographical details. Phil is well known in the information industry for his consultancy work related to the Internet. He spends a lot of his time teaching courses, both to information professionals and other groups. When not teaching he designs, writes and maintains websites for a variety of different clients. Phil also talks at conferences and exhibitions, both at home and abroad. He is the author of a number of Internet related books, and the second edition of 'The Advanced Internet Searcher's handbook' published by the Library Association is due out before the end of this year. You can find out more about him from his website at http://www.philb.com. GET A LIFE! - LEISURE TIME Dirtsurfer http://www.dirtsurfer.com/ STOP PRESS! British Standards available online to members of Heriot Watt University The complete full-text set of British Standards, previously held on CD-ROM in the Library at Riccarton, is now available across the entire University network. British Standards Online includes current and historic British Standards, including more than 16000 BSI adopted European and international standards. Also included are technical handbooks, codes of practice, guidelines, specifications and glossaries. Athens usernames and passwords are required for this service, which is restricted to the University network. Offsite access is available using the H-W Dail-in Service Access to this service via the above link is restricted to staff and students of Heriot-Watt University. New guides available The following guides are either new or have recently been updated: Heriot Watt University Library Subject Guide: Abstracts and Indexes http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/howtoabstract.htm Heriot Watt University Libnrary How To Find Out in Building Engineering and Surveying http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/howtobuilding.html End of issue 86 ************************************************************************************ Distributed through Cyber-Society-Live [CSL]: CSL is a moderated discussion list made up of people who are interested in the interdisciplinary academic study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list please visit: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html *************************************************************************************