Discover important Internet resources for research data made public individually and collectively by researchers from a variety of entities in the fields of environmental studies and ecology Online Ecological and Environmental Data explores innovative projects from a diverse array of institutions that have made environmental and ecological research information freely available online. You will find a wealth of Web site listings with URLs and complete descriptions, data field descriptions, controlled vocabulary examples, and Web screen shots that demonstrate how to use a specific site. The book will help you locate the data, procedures, instruments, notes, and other descriptive information that scientists and engineers need for replicating and building on the research of others. With Online Ecological and Environmental Data, you'll gain a better understanding of: * the cooperative design, development, and management of interdisciplinary data * cataloging multidisciplinary environmental data * data networking * new developments in information science and technology * extracting and compiling data * the convergence and dissemination of information via the Internet This unique resource explores the potential of distributing actual research data on the Web. The information you'll find in this book will enable science and technology librarians to provide effective access to library patrons. Online Ecological and Environmental Data will give librarians and other information specialists—as well as faculty and students in library sciences and technology—cutting-edge knowledge to meet the global data and information needs of the scientific community. The projects described in this book can serve as models for other disciplines, especially for the various aspects of handling data made available online, and for making this data more available and usable on the Internet for researchers and students.

Required reading for any librarian who has been asked to identify standards and specifications, this unique new book highlights the importance of standards in many sci-tech libraries. Collections of standards in sci-tech libraries encompass a great variety--from the most narrow subject fields, to those covering many, and from collections of American standards only, to those with an international array. Role of Standards in Sci-Tech Libraries addresses the need for standards in libraries and provides crucial guidelines for developing standards collections. The first chapter describes the operation and collections of the ideal service that could be established to serve those needing stadards and to promote the use and collection of standards. A helpful list of foreign and domestic organizations that issue standards is included. Successive chapters explore the role of standards in different types of libraries--a public library’s science and technology department, a corporate library, an academic library, and the library of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The final chapter addresses the role of Information Handling Services (IHS), a commercial source of all types of standards, discusses the range of standards services, and explains how information is acquired.

Here is a unique volume on the relationship between sci-tech materials and trade literature, commonly called manufacturers’catalogs. Because very little has been published about the value and nature of trade literature in regard to sci-tech libraries, this volume will be important in informing librarians about a little-known segment of the larger picture of sci-tech information sources, thus adding to the value of their services to their clients. The Role of Trade Literature in Sci-Tech Libraries addresses the problems of handling sci-tech trade literature in a corporate technical library, a large public library, and a government library devoted to American history. Experts offer practical advice on selecting and organizing trade literature and on managing the growth and extent of a collection of trade literature. They discuss modern literature and older publications, which often have great historical value. Libraries that collect both old and new materials are identified, as are publishers of trade literature. The book also focuses on how a publisher of classic trade literature views its role. Of interest to any professional in the information science field, this practical volume will be particularly valuable to managers of corporate sci-tech libraries, managers of library collections in Americana, and beginning librarians who are learning about trade literature.

In response to the general lack of information about zoo libraries, Editor Ellis Mount has compiled a fascinating collection of descriptions of the libraries serving six American zoos. The accounts of zoo libraries in this unique book include the National Zoological Park in Washington, DC, the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, and the Minnesota Zoological Garden Library in St. Paul. The contributors detail the types of collections and services offered at zoo libraries. In addition, a survey made of 78 American zoo libraries is included, including information about their staffs, facilities, collections, and services, as well as data on 32 archive collections.

This fascinating volume offers thorough descriptions of sci-tech library networks in which their members have a common sponsorship or ownership. Library networks exist in such great quantity and diversity now, that it is not difficult to identify many types of them. Corporate library networks--AT&T, Xerox, and General Electric--and federal government networks--NASA and FEDLINE--are the focus here, as the authors present the history, development, and activities of these networks. A library network for health sciences libraries that use OCLC is also scrutinized.

Most librarians working with sci-tech collections are fully aware of the importance of conference papers and proceedings, which has long played a major role in keeping professionals informed of the latest developments in their field. In this essential new book, responsible executives from several publishers of conference literature have joined with a number of sci-tech librarians to discuss the nature and value of conference literature in sci-tech libraries. A commercial publisher discusses the difficulties in editing a set of conference papers in a book, while producers of indexing/abstracting tools describe their selection methods, retrieval services, and general outlook on conference materials. In addition, sci-tech librarians address the problems of accessing, citing, and locating conference literature and explore the many aspects of the cataloging of conference publications.

This special volume celebrates the development of sci-tech libraries in honor of the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the first library school in the United States. The expert contributors provide a survey of the development of sci-tech libraries as well as some thoughts about their future. This comprehensive volume covers several types of sci-tech libraries, information retrieval, and library education. Library professionals will be fascinated bt the journey of progress detailed in these well-written chapters.

Here is a readable book on the important role played by libraries and information centers which serve sci-tech societies, associations, and institutions.