CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS

NEW LIBRARY CATALOG AND WEB SITE THIS SUMMER
http://www.library.wisc.edu/

This summer the UW-Madison Libraries will launch a new online catalog and a
new library Web site.  Our current automated library system was developed
twenty years ago and the version we've been running is no longer supported.
  It is a mainframe-based system that needs to be replaced by new
client-server technology.  By bringing the new system up before the year
2000, UW libraries will avoid Y2K problems.

The new system is an integrated information management system.  This means
that many of the services offered by libraries (the online catalog,
acquisitions, managing reserves, circulation, the Web site, etc.) have the
ability to become one seamless interface that is accessible through a
graphical browser such as Netscape or Microsoft Explorer.   All UW campuses
will have the same library system.  This will allow everyone in the entire
UW community to have faster, and more direct access to library collections
around the state.

As a library user, you will be able to:  access your library record, renew
and recall items online, see up-to-the-minute additions of newly acquired
materials, have improved access to collections of UW libraries statewide,
have both Web and telnet access for MadCat.

All libraries with holdings listed in MadCat (including ours) will be
participating in testing this spring to be sure that records migrate
properly to the new system.
 

AMS JOURNALS ONLINE
http://ams.allenpress.com/cgi-bin/omisapi.dll/ams?request=frames&link=all-jour

We now have access to all of the American Meteorological Society (AMS)
journals online starting with January 1999.   The campus is still
negotiating with the AMS about licensing access to backfiles.
 

THE WISCONSIN BLUE BOOK 1997-1998
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/bb/97bb.html

This resource, compiled by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, is
being added to the Reference section of the Electronic Library after April
14, 1999.
 

THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA

The Madison Public Library has just issued a bibliography, "The Immigrant
Experience in America: Fiction."  The list of novels includes books showing
the two constant themes in stories about immigrants in the US:  the
American dream of succeeding against the odds and protecting native
cultures from being taken over by American values.   If interested in a
copy , please call the Madison Public Library, 608-266-5900.
 

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

With a deadline of January 2, 1980, the Library of Congress in 1978 took up
the mammoth task of computerizing its entire cataloguing system, a change
that was to affect the card files of nearly every library in the United
States!  [Copyright 1999 The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc.]
 
 

OTHER SITES OF INTEREST

NASA GLOSSARY OF TERMS
http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/training/PPMI/HOME.html
(select "Lexicon" to get to the glossary of technical terms)

This glossary complements information provided in NASA instructions,
guidebooks and training.  It is designed and intended to lend visibility to
the complex, sophisticated, subtle, useful, and sometimes ludicrous
extensions of the English language that are in use throughout NASA, related
aerospace industries and other government/industry complexes.    The
Lexicon is a composite of several special vocabularies, each of which may
reuse the same words in different ways, and all of which are likely to
cross the program or project manager's path.  The site includes a glossary
of technical terms and abbreviations, acronyms, NASA organizational terms
and standard units.  It's very well done.
 

YEAR 2000 REVISIONS OF THE ISO 9000 SERIES
http://www.iso.ch/presse/cd2e.htm

The ISO 9000 standards are a set of international quality management
standards and guidelines.  Since International Standards Organization (ISO)
protocols require that all standards be reviewed at least every five years,
the 1994 versions of the ISO 9000 family are currently being revised for
publication in the year 2000.  Clicking on "comments template" gives a nice
overview of the revisions.
 

NEW NSF REPORTS

The National Science Foundation (NSF) periodically releases statistical
reports on the status and trends of US Science  All reports are available
in HTML and/or .pdf formats and may be downloaded at the URLs provided.

Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and
Nonprofit Institutions: Fiscal Year 1997
http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf99331
Federal Funds for Research and Development: Fiscal Years 1997, 1998 and 1999
http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf99333
Science and Engineering Degrees: 1966-96
http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf99330
 

GEOSCIENCE INFORMATION CENTER
http://gs.ucsd.edu/main.htm

The Geoscience Information Center at Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
promotes applications of Internet technologies to geoscience education and
research.  It provides a centralized place where geoscientists around the
world can obtain commonly needed information.  It also serves as a speedy
and free publishing center for anyone who wishes to publish information or
data of general interest to the geoscience community.
 

THE ONLINE METEOROLOGY GUIDE [Frames, RealPlayer G2, CosmoPlayer, Shockwave]
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mts/home.rxml

The Online Meteorology Guide is provided by the Weather World 2010 Project
(WW2010) at the University of Illinois.  Modules included at the Web site
are Light and Optics, Clouds and Precipitation, Forces and Winds, Air
Masses and Fronts, Weather Forecasting, Severe Storms, Hurricanes, El Nino,
and the Hydrologic Cycle.  Each of these sections provides images,
animations, computer simulations, and diagrams, as well as summaries to
further explain the rudimentary concepts of atmospheric science.  An
interesting facet of this site is the Archived Case Studies section, which
contains detailed descriptions of memorable weather events such as
Hurricane Andrew.   [Copyright Internet Scout Project, 1994-1999]
 

COMETS AND METEOR SHOWERS
http://medicine.wustl.edu/~kronkg/

Mark Davis, author of the upcoming four-volume series Cometography, which
describes "every comet recorded by mankind from ancient times up to the
present," makes available the Comets and Meteor Showers Web site.  Sections
are arranged by Comets (Currently Visible, Periodic, Sungrazers, Comet
Information, and Comet WWW Links) and Meteors (Observing Calendar, Meteor
Information, and Meteor WWW Links).  For the user unfamiliar to this topic,
a page describing comets and the differences between a comet and a meteor
are also provided.  Movies (MPG format) of comets, meteors, and asteroids
are shown to further clarify the differences.  A glossary and links to
other astronomy sites rounds out the site.  [Copyright Internet Scout
Project, 1994-1998]