Countway Launches New Web Site
The new Countway web site, inaugurated on May 12, provides an enriched and unified environment for browsing and using Countway's services, including the Countway Digital Library and "CountwayDoc," the library's online document delivery service. According to John Howard, Countway's associate director for research and systems, the most important features of the new site include:
- a unified environment for Countway's online services, bringing together in a single place information about Countway and the Boston Medical Library, the Countway Digital Library, online document delivery services, Countway's instructional programs, and the Bioinformatics and Research Imaging programs;
- the ability to login securely to the Digital Library using either the Harvard University PIN or HMS "eCommons" login credentials;
- personalization features, including "My Digital Library e-Resources," a page where patrons can store links to Digital Library resources used most frequently;
- enhanced tools for finding resources in the Digital Library, including title searching and browsing as well as a new subject directory of electronic resources;
- a new online course catalog and online class registration forms; and
- the ability to read documents requested online through our "CountwayDoc."
As Howard states, "When the first Countway site went live, we had 250 licensed resources. Today, we have more than 2,000. To address that growth, we've added new layers of functionality. It's easier to discover new resources. It's easier to manage resources and to bookmark them.
"But over and above these new features, Countway's new web site was envisioned as a comprehensive, University-wide gateway to biomedical and life-science information. With a dual authentication system in place, we really can serve our constituents in Boston's medical community, in the Longwood Area, and on Harvard's Cambridge campus."
Visit the Countway site at http://www.countway.med.harvard.edu.
Last modified on Wednesday, July 23, 2003.