UVa Library Press Releases 2000 - 2001
UNIVERSITY-WIDE EFFORT BRINGS
PREMIER WEB OF SCIENCE DATABASE TO U.VA.
Contact: Sandra Kerbel, Director of the Science and Engineering Libraries at (804) 924-6727 or e-mail: ssk4k@virginia.edu
November 29, 2000 - By using the Web of Science database...with a click of the mouse, a senior faculty member discovers work related to his research that he had previously not known about. An undergraduate student is able to research topics with much greater efficiency and ease. A graduate student researcher, before entering into a new area, first gets a broad overview of how research is being applied in various disciplines. A faculty member in the social sciences comments, "the Web of Science is astonishing. I‰m certain I would use this every day."
All this is possible with the Web of Science, an online database that provides bibliographic and citation information from more than 8,500 journals as well as a growing number of links to full-text articles. The database is now available to U.Va. thanks to a University-wide, cross-departmental initiative. Users may access the Web of Science at http://wos.isiglobalnet2.com/.
"The Web of Science is the premier interdisciplinary database," said Sandra Kerbel, director of the Science and Engineering Libraries and the person who led the effort to obtain the database. "Scholarship in most disciplines, at all levels, will benefit from this database. Faculty members use it for their research and students are able to locate a wider range of resources for use in writing papers."
Information in the Web of Science is updated weekly and the database provides easy navigation to move about among bibliographic information, article abstracts, citations, cited references, author and publisher addresses, and full-text journal articles.
The citation-searching capability of the Web of Science allows one to follow forward in time the developments within a line of research, while general bibliographic searching of subjects and authors provides a broad overview of literature in the social sciences, arts and humanities, as well as in the science and engineering fields.
Michael Fowler, a condensed matter physics theorist who recently returned to full-time teaching and research following a term as Chair of Physics, discovered by using the Web of Science citation searching that some of his research from the 1980‰s has been applied to interpret some new experiments. "This was a very significant find for me," said Fowler. "It is crucial to be aware of all related papers, so as not to waste time reinventing things, as one gets back into research."
Fowler also notes that as a member of a promotion committee, he found the Web of Science "valuable in assessing the real impact of a faculty member‰s research work. And in Physics we have used the database as part of the process of appraising candidates for openings here."
The Web of Science is not just about science. The database indexes some 1,700 social science journals and 1,100 journals in arts and the humanities, in addition to 5,700 science and engineering journals.
Library statistics prove the popularity of the database: the first month it was available, users accessed the database 2,400 times and made more than 13,000 queries.
According to Kerbel, the library was aware for some time of the potential value of the Web of Science, but the high cost of the database prevented them from obtaining it. Requests for the database from faculty and students in various disciplines led the library to seek financial support from a broad range of sources outside of the library.
The University Library and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library were joined by the Darden School, the Darden School Camp Library, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Provost's office, and the Dean of the School of Medicine, to bring the Web of Science to the University.
"I believe that it will be used with increasing frequency as more faculty discover its ease of use and its comprehensive coverage," said Fowler. "I think it‰s a great investment!" For more information about the Web of Science, contact any library reference desk.
