October 2, 1998 - If you are a student, teacher, researcher, or
librarian, you'll love a new Department of Energy Web site, the DOE Information Bridge . It
captures the knowledge (over 25,000 research reports) created by
billions of dollars of federal research information and puts it at
your fingertips. You'll find an organized, searchable full-text
format, in such areas as physics, chemistry, materials, biology,
environmental cleanup, and other energy-related disciplines. As a
result, this wealth of information has become more visible, and
therefore, more useful to the scientific community and interested
public.
Good-bye Paper and Microfiche
Before the new site opened in April 1998, the vast collection of DOE
full-text report literature could be found in federal depository
libraries or obtained from other public sources in microfiche and
paper. These formats were costly for the government to produce and
distribute, costly for the libraries to store and retrieve, and costly
and time-consuming for the public to research and obtain. Dr. Walter
L. Warnick, Office of Scientific and Technical Information's Director,
emphasizes that the "Bridge" has allowed us to raise the visibility of
DOE's R&D collection by providing a faster, cheaper, more complete,
and more convenient means of accessing and using technical information
than any other means, past or present. Energy estimates that
approximately 80,000 users will access the DOE Information Bridge and
download some 50,000 full text research reports in the first year
operation and save themselves two million dollars.
Energy Partnership with the Government Printing Office
Free public access to the DOE Information Bridge was made possible
through an innovative Interagency Partnership established between
DOE's OSTI and the Government Printing Office's (GPO) Library Programs
Service. This joint effort started in 1994.
What's in the Site?
You'll be able to search a growing collection of some 25,000 full text
DOE reports dating back to 1996 (representing over 1.4 million pages
of scientific literature) - one of the largest such collections on the
Internet. Further, you can access, locate, search, retrieve, and
download full-text and/or bibliographic information at your desktop in
a variety of formats, using multiple search options. You'll have
full-text searching of the entire collection, and be able to see
search results in graphic formats you select. You can download
full-text documents in PDF format. You can limit your search to
specific data fields and use Boolean operators to increase search
precision.
Depository Librarians Love It
Depository librarians from across the USA warmly received the new web
site. They commended the magnitude of the collection, the ease of
use, and the rapid development of the system. Others like it too.
Recognitions include a Commendation from the GPO Depository Library
Council, a citation in the University of Wisconsin's "Scout Report"
for science and engineering, a selection as Yahoo "Pick of the Day"
and "Pick of the Week", and recognition from Global SchoolNet
Foundation.
What's Ahead? A National Electronic Library
Future plans for the DOE Information Bridge web site include the
expansion to a remote access capability (Federated Collections) that
will allow users to search documents residing both at OSTI and at DOE
labs or other facilities with a single query. Ultimately, the web
site lays the foundation for the development of a National Library of
Energy Science and Technology. This electronic library without walls
would be the premier U.S. facility for the collection, preservation
and dissemination of the world's scientific and technical energy
information.
For More Information
You can get additional information by contacting Don Altom, Project
Manager at don.altom@ccmail.osti.gov
or at (423) 576-1170 or Kathleen Chambers, Product Manager at kathy.chambers@ccmail.osti.gov
or at (423) 576-0487.
