British Library - Press and Policy Centre - Global science community shares wealth of knowledge

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11/09/2009

Global science community shares wealth of knowledge

U.S. Department of Energy and the British Library collaborate to create global science gateway

Online portal consolidates open access scientific research from almost 60 countries - www.worldwidescience.org

The UK's Environment Research Funders' Forum's Research Database adds 20,000 activities

The world's most important open access scientific resource - www.worldwidescience.org - offers researchers the ability to search over 50 national databases simultaneously, providing anyone interested in science with free access to quality, authoritative information on cutting edge scientific research.

Developed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) in the US, and chaired by Richard Boulderstone, Director of E-Strategy and Information Systems at the British Library, the project currently makes available over 357 million pages of scientific information covering energy, medicine, agriculture and the environment, but continues to seek new partners to expand the resource and help stimulate revolutionary advances in science.

Launching on the 14 September, the UK will make its first major independent contribution of research data to the project with the upload of the Environment Research Funders' Forum (ERFF) Research Database. The database holds information on some 20,000 publicly funded environmental research projects and programmes that have been funded by ERFF's member organisations since 2005.

Although data is being continually added to the ERFF's collections, through the federated search function, anyone using WorldWideScience.org will be able to access the most up to date information from the UK's largest public sector funders of environmental science.

Chair of the Project, Richard Boulderstone, Director of E-Strategy and Information Systems at the British Library said:

"The growth of WorldWideScience.org since the launch of the prototype in 2007 has been absolutely phenomenal. Rapidly evolving from 10 countries to 56, the project has demonstrated a real international willingness to commit to a long-term vision of accelerating scientific discovery through the innovative use of federated searching and other technologies. Only through international co-operation can the vast quantities of geographically dispersed scientific and technological information be utilised by the world's scientists."

Notes to Editors:

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation. It includes: books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, newspapers, photographs and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages. www.bl.uk

The Environment Research Funders' Forum (www.erff.org.uk), created in 2002, aims to maximise the coherence and effectiveness of environmental research in the UK by bringing together 19 public sector funders (Government departments, agencies and the devolved administrations). ERFF provides the long term strategic direction for environmental research in the UK and the underpinning evidence on which this depends.