| Posted: February 19, 2007 |
UK and US to build global science portal |
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(Nanowerk News) The UK and the US are to work together to develop a global science portal, making scientific information from many countries available via the internet. The portal is to be known as science.world, and builds on the US portal science.gov.
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An invitation to participate in the project has been 'extended to all nations in good standing who disseminate web-based scientific information collections and who wish to partner in the spirit of the agreement', according to a spokesperson from the US Department of Energy (DOE).
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Several countries, including Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Portugal, the Russian Federation and South Korea, were represented at an international meeting where the UK and US signed the science.world agreement.
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'It is time to make the science offerings of all nations searchable in one global gateway,' said US Under Secretary for Science Raymond Orbach. 'Our goal is to speed up the sharing of knowledge on a global scale. As a result, we believe that science itself will speed up.'
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Science.world would seek to:
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– search dispersed, electronic collections in various science disciplines;
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– provide direct, seamless and free searching of open-source collections and portals;
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– build on existing and already successful national models for searching;
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– complement existing information collections and systems;
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– raise the visibility and usage of individual sources of quality science information.
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Several European countries already have their own national libraries. Denmark's Electronic Research Library (DEFF) connects research and specialised libraries to provide a network of electronic and other information sources. The French science.gouv provides access to scientific and technical information. Users can access a database, external education and research sites, and a directory of scientific resources by topic, resource type and audience type.
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Germany's Vascoda hosts content from partners' scientific and central technical libraries, as well as libraries with specialised subsections for engineering and natural sciences, medicine and life sciences, economics and social sciences, and religious and cultural sciences.
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