EEVL Backs a Winner

EEVL: is the UK guide to quality engineering information on the Internet. It is a free service, and is funded by JISC through the Resource Discovery Network (RDN).

Happy birthday!

This column is an excellent forum for alerting the online community to the progress being made by EEVL, and in the next issue I hope to bring news of some particularly significant developments to the service. In the meantime, some recent news nuggets are detailed below. It is not all non-stop work, though. EEVL recently celebrated its fifth birthday, and to mark the occasion some past and present members of the EEVL Team enjoyed a day out at the races. Musselburgh Racecourse was the venue, and whilst the quality of the racing might not have been up to Epsom Derby standards, there was plenty of excitement. For the record, overall, the punters in the Team ended the day roughly even, though the Technical Manager's wallet seemed to bulge a bit after the 4.10. 'On parade' below are, at the rear, from left to right, Jenny Flemington, Phil Barker, Lesa Ng, and Roddy MacLeod, and a short head in front are Geir Granum, Malcolm Moffat, and Linda Kerr.

The Team would have had even more to celebrate if a horse going under the name of 'Megabyte' had not finished well down the field in the last race (Tip: never believe an EEVL person exclaiming "Its a sign...its a sign!")

EEVL News Nuggets

The Internet Aviator, part of the RDN Virtual Training Suite, has been added to the site. The Internet Aviator, which was written by Emma Turner of Kings Norton Library, Cranfield University and Annie Maddison of the Royal Military College of Science Information Service, Cranfield University, offers a subject-based approach to internet skills training.

EEVL is one of the partners, along with EASIT-eng and LTSN Engineering in a new project called FAILTE (Facilitating Access to Information on Learning Technology for Engineers). FAILTE (which is pronounced fàltu, and which means 'welcome' in Gaelic) has been funded to provide a unified approach to the description and catalologuing of electronic learning resources for engineering. The aim is to build an internet resource catalogue and other services which will allow lecturers to select and access suitable computer- and web-based learning materials for their courses. FAILTE has been funded by the Joint Informaiton Systems Committe (JISC) via a call for bids to "Enhance the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) for Teaching and Learning".

EEVL's Internet Resource Catalogue (IRC) now contains 6,000 records. The Engineering Resources on the Internet: A bibliography has been updated, as has the FTSE 100 Engineering companies Hot Link, and the European mirror of the Sci-Tech Library Newsletter is proving to be popular with users.

A colourful A5 size flier giving information about the service is available. To request copies, please email R.A.MacLeod@hw.ac.uk.

EEVL has recently featured in a number of publications, and thanks go to various members of the Team who contribute to the promotional effort. Of note is an article by Jim Corlett, in the September issue of Advanced Manufacturing, entitled Search tips to help you find your way: Strategies, options and developments in searching for manufacturing information on the Internet, and also Panorama of Engineering Portals, by Roddy MacLeod, in Free Pint, Number 66.

For more information, contact:
Roddy MacLeod, EEVL Manager, Heriot-Watt University: R.A.MacLeod@hw.ac.uk 0131 451 3576

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