From its inception, BioSites was planned as a system that could be easily modified as it expanded. The fluid nature of the Web permits change and revitalization on a regular basis. If you have not had the opportunity to use BioSites or seen it recently, it's time to visit our "Virtual Catalog of Selected Internet Resources in the Biomedical Sciences" to see the new BioSites look.
One BioSites change relates to technical coordination at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where it resides on a Library server. Brian Warling, who served as the first system architect for BioSites, has accepted a new position as Design Coordinator for the California Digital Library (CDL). He will lead in the development of the CDL Web site, which will facilitate access to University of California (UC) digital library services. Brian's extensive experience in the management of Web sites will serve him well in this new role. It is with sincere thanks that we bid farewell to Brian. His leadership and enthusiasm for BioSites provided inspiration for all involved with the project.
We are most fortunate to have Melissa Just assume the role of BioSites technical coordinator. Melissa is a Personal Information Management Specialist, Nursing and the Social and Behavioral Sciences, at the UCSF Library where she provides education and information management consulting services for faculty, staff, and students. Melissa has also been UCSF's representative to the BioSites team and brings in-depth knowledge of BioSites in addition to Web site design and management experience.
Our goal in revitalizing BioSites was to arrange the information so that visitors could more easily access what they need. To that end, all of the subjects are now listed on the home page. An Alphabetic List by Title link has been added to facilitate finding a title you might be trying to locate. For example, if you remembered using the California Healthcare Association site on a previous occasion and did not bookmark it at the time, it would be simple to find it again by consulting the Alphabetic List. Search BioSites is an additional option for finding sites. Latest 25 Resources continues to provide access to the most recent entries added to BioSites.
The initial development of BioSites involved a cooperative approach between Resource Libraries in the region to identify quality Internet resources and make this information available to health sciences libraries. Until now, only Resource Libraries have contributed to BioSites but our policy has recently changed and we are extending an open invitation to new contributors. Judy Sherman of the California Endowment in Woodland Hills, CA has agreed to select in the area of Government Information and become the first non-Resource Library contributor. To see what's involved in being a selector, review Selector Responsibilities (http://galen.library.ucsf.edu/biosites/help/resp.html).
Each subject selector is responsible for initial identification of resources that are available on the Internet (including Web, gopher, ftp, usenet, telnet, and mailing list resources), submission of descriptive information on suitable sites to BioSites, and monitoring the Internet for new resources in their subject area(s). The following important topics are currently unclaimed, and we seek selectors willing to start adding resources so that BioSites can continue to grow and be a useful resource.
Unclaimed Topics
AIDS
Anatomy
Clinical Trials
Education (General)
Endocrinology
Gastroenterology
Health Services Administration
Hematology
Immunology
Laboratory Medicine
Medical Ethics
Medicine (General)
Occupational Medicine
Ophthalmology
Pharmacology/Pharmacy
Practice Guidelines
Sports Medicine
Urology
Virology
Contact Judy Consales (consales@library.ucla.edu) if you would like to become a member of the BioSites team.