NEWS FROM THE FIELD   By Gerry McKiernan, Editor

Scout Report Signpost: Design and Development for Access to Cataloged Internet Resources.  By Aimée D. Glassel and Amy Tracy Wells
INTRODUCTION.  The Scout Report Signpost (Signpost) is one of the services provided by the Internet Scout Project, which is funded through the National Science Foundation and is located in the Computer Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Internet Scout Project is charged with assisting in the development of resource discovery on the Internet, accomplished through the development and maintenance of freely accessible tools for Internet users such as the Scout Report, Net-happenings, KIDS, and the Scout Toolkit. In June 1997 the Project debuted Signpost, a newly developed resource discovery tool designed to guide the U.S. higher education cornmunity to quality electronic resources. A further objective in designing Signpost is to develop a database capable of interoperating with other databases. This would allow for future collaboration with other information providers.

Signpost draws on more than four years continuous publication of the Scout Report, a weekly current awareness electronic publication launched in April 1994 that reviews new and newly-discovered Internet resources for the research and education community. The Scout Report reviews high quality Internet resources available via the Web, gopher, telnet, FTP, newsgroups, and e-mail discussion lists, selected on the basis of established selection criteria.  Each new summary, written bv librarians and subject specialists, seeks to provide an overall analysis of resources, including general content, attribution, authentication, currency, availability, accessibility and presentation.

Crowing Pains at REESWeb: Thoughts on Restructuring a Link Site Which Has Outgrown Its Organization.  By Karen Rondestvedt (Slavic Bibliographer, University Library System, University of Pittsburgh)

ABSTRACT.  REESWeb: Russian and East European Studies Internet Resources is an annotated, subject-specific link site, part of the World Wide Web Virtual Library, begun in late ~993. In its four years it has become a huge site and difficult to use. A reorganization last year using Frames and shortened pages helped, but its structure still causes problems for users. There are four basic reasons why the site is difficult to use in its present form: no search engine, split categories, ideosyncratic terminology and ideosyncratic subcategorization. The search engine problem will be solved soon, after the site moves to a new server. Another simple improvement will be to create a map of the site. These two changes by themselves are not enough, because the site needs increased browsability. The author explores various considerations involved in reorganizing REESWeb, taken from other Web sites, from subject cataloging and from indexing.

The author thanks Casey Palowitch and Mark Weixel for reading an earlier draft of this article and suggesting irnprovements.

A Learning Environment.  By Catherine S. Herlihy (California State University, San Marcos)
ABSTRACT. An experiment that integrated the management goals of the University, the library, and specifically the Catalog Department with developing staff skills in cataloging new electronic materials, designing effective user access to them, and continuing education is described.

BOOK REVIEW

Practical Digital Libraries: Books, Bytes and Bucks, by Michael Lesk
Reviewed by Doris S. Hayashikawa

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