# Presentation: 823317

## Don AltomOffice of Scientific and Technical InformationOffice of ScienceDepartment of Energy15 June 1999

*DOE Information Bridge:  Disseminating a Principle Deliverable of R&D Funding*

## DOE Information BridgeMap

*Background*
*R&D Cycle*
*“**Bridge” Development*
*Current Status*
*Future Plans*
*Q/A*

## DOE Information BridgeBackground

*Department of Energy (DOE)*
*Major R&D enterprise*
*Enable good science; annual $7B R&D budget*
*66 Nobel laureates (funded by DOE and predecessor agencies)*
*Numerous R&D 100 awards*
*Highly decentralized; 70+ sites, from Long Island, NY to California*

## DOE Information BridgeBackground (cont)

*Office of Scientific and Technical Information  (OSTI)*
*Develop and promulgate policies, best business practices for scientific and technical information generated by annual $7B R&D investment*
*DOE reports as contract deliverables*
*Collect, process, provide access to R&D results; since 1947*
*In partnership with DOE STI community*

## DOE Information BridgeR&D Cycle

**R&D**
**Program**

**OSTI**

## DOE Information BridgeDevelopment 

*OSTI physical repository of 1.5 million DOE reports (dating from Manhattan Project)*
*Paper, deteriorating; analog media*
*Existing bibliographic records describing reports*
*Initiated electronic archive project*
*Scan paper reports; create TIFFG4 images*
*Build database to link TIFF, bibliographic*

## DOE Information BridgeDevelopment (cont)

*Concurrent with electronic archive, monitored evolving Internet and associated information technologies*
*Technology, customer access needs reached “critical mass” in early 1997*
*Gained experience Web applications*
*Decided to provide Web access to electronic archive, DOE report collection*
*Utilize standard browsers, standard commercial “tools” *

## DOE Information BridgeDevelopment (cont)

*Developed prototype; password protected*
*Built Web site; OCRed TIFF images*
*Functionality*
*Search: easy and advanced (Boolean)*
*Bibliographic; fielded search*
*Full text (OCRed text); view TIFF image*
*Download full text to desktop*
*Announced to DOE community Sep 97; 21k DOE reports 1.3 M pages dating from Jan 96*

## DOE Information BridgeDevelopment (cont)

*Expanded access to public via Government Printing Office (GPO) partnership*
*Developed public “view” to unclassified, unlimited distribution DOE reports*
*Functionality - similar to DOE prototype*
*Eliminated passwords; improved navigation*
*Simplified search, download functions*
*Provided “point and click” icons*
*Announced April 1998; 23k DOE reports 1.5 M pages*

## DOE Information BridgeCurrent Status

*Provide public access 38k DOE reports; 2.5 M pages*
*Growth 15k reports per year*
*Encourage electronic exchange; “paperless”*
*DOE sites post documents on local server; provide URL*
*“**Bridge” links to report via URL*
*Maintain core functionality noted above*

## DOE Information BridgeCurrent Status (cont)

*Received awards/recognition*
*Numerous, including “Hammer Award” from Vice President Gore*
*Positive customer feedback*
*Identified performance metrics*
*Web access statistics not exact science*
*Document downloads metric of choice*
*Anticipated 50k in first year; achieved 70k *
*Estimated $3M annual user savings*

## DOE Information BridgeDocument Downloads

## DOE Information BridgeFuture Plans

*Address identified customer needs*
*Incorporate legacy materials*
*Pre-1996 OSTI collection*
*Provide access to existing Web collections; DOE, domestic, and international *
*Negotiate access to journal literature*
*Encourage electronic exchange efforts; standard formats, URLs, *
*Upgrade hardware and software platforms*

## DOE Information BridgeFuture Plans (cont)

*“**Bridge” component of  DOE Virtual Library of Energy Science and Technology*
*Other components*
*PubSCIENCE new initiative to provide access to full text journal literature*
*Collaboration with journal publishers*
*Harold Varmus, NIH, electronic publishing operation “e-biomed”*
*Supplant journal publishers*

## DOE Information BridgeSummary

*What: *
*Provide researchers and scientific public access to intellectual results of R&D funding by cabinet-level agency*
*How: *
*Utilize proven information technologies*
*Leverage 50+ years experience with information life-cycle management*
*Bring “Science to the Desktop”*

## DOE Information BridgeContacts

* **DOE/GPO partnership*
*http://www.doe.gov/bridge*
*Product manager*
*Kathy Chambers, 423.576.0487*
*kathy_chambers@ccmail.osti.gov*
*Project manager*
*Don Altom, 423.576.1170*
*don_altom@ccmail.osti.gov*

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