Support to Transition the Cold Regions Bibliography and the Antarctic Bibliography to mainstream bibliographic search systems

American Geological Institute, Alexandria VA

Investigators

Abstract

The Cold Regions Bibliography Project has served a critical need in preserving the international polar science research record across all scientific disciplines by ensuring access to and dissemination of the information on the regions to students, researchers, and others interested in polar research. For the last decade, the American Geological Institute has supported and maintained the Antarctic Bibliography as part of the Cold Regions Bibliography Project. Technological advances in Internet search engines have made it easier for researchers to find peer-reviewed literature on Antarctica without pre-selection by bibliographers. This fact combined with the fact that researchers are encouraged to publish their results in peer-reviewed journals and the emergence of web-based scientific publication databases have made research results much more accessible to a broader community. Considering these factors and the advances in Internet search engines, it was decided to develop a plan to facilitate the transition of the bibliography to mainstream publication resources. This plan will maintain access to existing materials, the searchable bibliographic database, the Antarctic Journal, and the Journal's predecessor publications. The web site for the Antarctic Bibliography, designed in the early 2000s, is now in a format that is outdated. The current search software for the Antarctic Bibliography requires annual license fees and is no longer the norm for searchable bibliographic databases. The web site will be re-designed, and the searchable database will be moved to an open-source search software now in current use throughout the U.S. in many libraries. The bibliographic data exists in two formats. These two formats will be merged for search purposes to provide a unified interface. Once the website is revised and the search platform is operational, it will be possible to maintain the site as an archive.