Weekly News Digest
|
June 16, 2008 — In addition to this week's NewsBreak(s), the editors have
compiled the Weekly News Digest, featuring stories from the week just past that you should know about. Watch for additional coverage to appear
in the next print issue of Information Today.
CLICK HERE to view all of this week's Weekly News Digest items.
DOE Announces International Agreement on Global Science Online Gateway
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the establishment of a multilateral alliance to govern the rapidly growing online gateway to international scientific research information—WorldWideScience.org. Officials from 11 founding member organizations representing 38 countries formalized their commitment in Seoul, Korea, by signing a WorldWideScience Alliance agreement to sustain and build upon joint efforts to provide a single, sophisticated point of access for diverse scientific resources and expertise from nations around the world. WorldWideScience.org is the result of an agreement—signed in January 2007 by Raymond L. Orbach, undersecretary for science of the DOE, and chief executive of The British Library Dame Lynne Brindley—to partner on the development of a global science gateway to accelerate scientific discovery by giving people faster and more convenient access to online scientific databases. (The first name for WorldWideScience.Org was Science.world. For the background, see the NewsLink Spotlight, http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbReader.asp?ArticleId=19230.) When WorldWideScience.org was first made publicly available in June 2007, it was capable of searching 12 databases from 10 countries. Today, the website enables anyone with internet access to launch a single-query search of 32 national scientific databases and portals from 44 countries, covering six continents and nearly half of the world’s population. The typical user query searches 200 million pages of science and technology information not typically accessible through popular search engines. The governance document laying out the structure for the WorldWideScience Alliance was ratified in February at the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI) 2008 Winter Meeting in Paris. DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), within DOE’s Office of Science, serves as the WorldWideScience.org Operating Agent. OSTI conceived of the global science gateway and developed the application based on research results from DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research program. Source: U.S. Department of Energy
Send correspondence concerning the Weekly News Digest to NewsBreaks editor
Paula J. Hane
|
