The Internet Scout Project's Targeted Information Provision Service

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

This NSDL project brings together a diverse body of collections, services, and targeted research coordinated through the Core Integration (CI) team in order to provide a portal to digital science technology, engineering and math (STEM) materials. As part of NSDL, the Internet Scout Project is creating a Targeted Information Provision Service (TIPS) that provides customized reports and bulletins for NSDL users by harvesting and integrating records from both the NSDL Scout Report archives and the NSDL central metadata repository. This service is also continuing to provide the NSDL Scout Reports and archives while adding the new TIPS service created in collaboration with the Core Integration team. This new service allows NSDL users to create customized TIPS Bulletins that sends them information on newly added STEM resources culled from both the NSDL Scout Reports and the NSDL central metadata repository. The TIPS Bulletins are being created with the support of a new software tool, the Harvesting and Integration Tool (HIT), which retrieves records from the archives and central repository and integrates them into a specially structured database which are used to produce the Bulletins. The specific project objectives are: 1. Continue to deliver the NSDL Scout Reports and maintain the accompanying archives; 2. Create the TIPS Bulletins and deliver them in a timely manner to end users; 3. Design and build the Harvesting and Integration Tool; 4. Work closely with the Core Integration team to promote TIPS to the NSDL community; 5. Promote TIPS and NSDL to the STEM community, thereby extending and improving access to NSDL collections and services; 6. Collaborate in the development of shared metadata across multiple disciplines; 7. Contribute to the overall digital library knowledge base by working with standard-setting bodies and organizations.