ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


4 2 0 /C&RL News

Internet 
Reviews

S a ra  A m ato, editor

N e tV e t. A c c e s s : h t t p : / /
netvet.w ustl.edu.

NetVet, a rapidly ex p an d in g  
W orld W ide W eb (WWW) 
server, originates from  an d  
is p ro v id ed  courtesy o f Ken 
B o s c h e r t a t W a s h in g to n  
U n i v e r s i t y ’s D iv is io n  o f 
C o m p a r a t i v e  M e d i c in e  
(KEN@WUDCM.WUSTL.EDU). 
N etV et w as d e v e lo p e d  in 
early  1993 from  th e  E lec­
tronic Zoo (E-Zoo), a g o p h er 
file w hich b eg an  in 1992 as 
a textual listing o f veterinary an d  anim al-related 
c o m p u te r re s o u rc e s. In m id-1993 B o sch ert
tu rn e d  E-Zoo into a sim ultaneous WWW site.
E-Zoo n o w  includes m any o f th e  resources re­
ferred to  in its text, w ith pointers to o th er m a­
jor In tern et reso u rces in veterinary m edicine
a n d  related  fields, as w ell as anim al-related
WWW an d  g o p h er sites, ftp archives, telnet sites,
a n d  electronic publications.

NetVet, consisting o f textual a n d  graphical
veterinary an d  anim al resources, is th orough
in scope, w ell organized in structure, an d  in­
form ative in content. It currently provides ac­
cess to  m ost o f th e N et’s resources related to
th e veterinary m edical profession. It also p ro ­
vides an expansive collection o f inform ation
a b o u t m ost anim al species. In addition to  h o m ­
ing th e E-Zoo, NetVet provides p ointers to col­
leges, publications, an d  laws an d  regulations,
a n d  to organizations, including the American
V eterinary M edical A ssociation’s N etw ork o f
Animal H ealth, the V eterinary Inform ation Net­
w ork, an d  th e A m erican Association for Labo­
ratory Animal Science. NetVet also serves as
th e g o p h e r a n d  WWW h o m e for th e  N ational
Agricultural Library's Animal W elfare Inform a­
tion C enter, th e archive site for a m ultitude o f
veterinary a n d  anim al-related Net mailing lists.
Finally, NetVet is th e g o p h e r an d  W eb h o m e
for th e topic o f veterinary informatics an d  g e n ­
eral inform ation ab o u t W ashington U niversity’s
D ivision o f C om parative Medicine.

Part o f NetVet’s ap p eal is that it provides
useful inform ation to  veterinarians an d  related
health professionals, as w ell as to  anim al lay­

Sara Amato is automated systems librarian at Central 
Washington University; sam ato@tahom a.cwu.edu

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 

 

 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 

 
 

p e r s o n s  a n d  h o b b y i s t s . 
T h ro u g h  N etV et, o n e  can 
find professional information 
su c h  as th e  V ete rin a ria n ’s 
O ath, scientific publications, 
an d  recreational inform ation 
su c h  as D avid L etterm an’s 
“T op 10 Signs Y ou’ve G one 
to a Bad V eterinarian.” Some 
files, such as th e E questrian 
W e b  P a g e s  o f  h o r s e  r e ­
sources, m ight interest the 
p ro fe ssio n a l a n d  h o b b y ist 
alike. T hrough NetVet’s vir­
tual library, Net surfers may 

u se interactive graphics capabilities to  link to 
o se  P erez’s oil p ain tin g  “T he V eterinarian,” 
rom  th e N ational Library o f M edicine’s collec­
ion. T hey m ay click th ro u g h  th e  veterinary 
m ages file to  v iew  th e  latest in co m p u te r- 
ssisted instruction. T he NetVet W eb also al­
ow s linkage to  related areas o f th e WWW vir­
ual library, such as th o se for agriculture, bio­
cience, biotechnology, an d  m edicine. Finally, 
et surfers m ay brow se th e  anim al resources 
n  the E-Zoo, including its excellent anim al im­
ges collection.— Tamera P. Lee, A uburn Uni­
ersity; Tammylee@lib.aubum.edu

ASA Spacelink. Access: http://spacelink.m sfc. 
nasa.gov o r telnet o r g o p h e r to: spacelink. 
m sfc.nasa.gov.

rovided by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight C en­
er in H untsville, Alabama, Spacelink is an ex­
eedingly rich so u rce o f space-related inform a­
ion in m any forms. Since its in cep tio n  in 1988, 
pacelink has gro w n  in direct pro p o rtio n  w ith 

h e  explosive interest in an d  use of th e Inter­
et. T oday direct dial is su p p o rted , as is access 
ia telnet, gopher, ftp, and the W orld Wide Web.

NASA S pacelink’s co n ten t reflects its m is­
ion: to  h e lp  teachers, faculty, a n d  stu d en ts 
each th e n ational e d u catio n  goals as outlined 
y th e presid en t a n d  the NASA Strategic Plan 
or Education. T hough primarily space oriented, 
pacelink's offerings reflect its interdisciplinary 
harge. Available th ro u g h  th e  system  are text 
iles, softw are, an d  im agery. Subjects covered 
nclude science, m ath, engineering, an d  tech ­
ology education, as w ell as lesson plans, his­

orical inform ation related to  th e space program ,

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mailto:KEN@WUDCM.WUSTL.EDU
mailto:Tammylee@lib.aubum.edu
http://spacelink.msfc
mailto:samato@tahoma.cwu.edu


Ju n e  1 9 9 5 /4 2 1

current status reports o n  NASA projects, NASA
new s releases, and various publications w ith
educational o r research relevance. Spacelink
may b e  used by educators to create space- or
scien ce-o rien ted  lesso n  p lans, b y  th o s e  re ­
searching NASA’s history or current program s, 
or by students in su p p o rt o f papers, projects, 
or curiosity.

G iven p articu lar co v erag e a re  th e  Space
Shuttle program  an d  the nascent International
Space Station. Activities concerning these are
exhaustively d o cu m en ted , a n d  p h o to g ra p h s
from shuttle missions are usually available b e ­
fore the spacecraft returns to Earth. Also avail­
able are astronom ical im ages from the H ubble
Space T elescope an d  NASA planetary probes.

Originally configured as a direct-dial access
system, Spacelink still offers this option to  sites
w ithout Internet access. Schools that have no
link to th e Internet o r no access to  comm ercial 
online services m ay contact Spacelink by mail, 
on official letterhead, to arrange for special
services. For m ore inform ation, contact Flint
Wild, NASA Spacelink Administrator, E duca­
tional Program s Office, NASA Marshall Space
Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812.— Kurt W.
Wagner, William Paterson College o f New Jer­
sey; wagner_k@wpc.wilpaterson.edu

Online M endelian Inheritance in M an.
Access: h ttp ://g d b w w w .g d b .o rg  o r gopher.
g d b .o r g  ( u n d e r  ‘S e a rc h  D a ta b a s e s  at
H opkins’).

The explosive grow th o f m olecular biology has
increased research in an d  know ledge of ge­
netic diseases, often  identifying th e specific
chrom osom al location o f genes an d  holding out
ho p e o f possible treatm ent for som e inherited
afflictions. T he standard reference for genetic
disease is Mendelian Inheritance in M an (e d ­
ited b y  Victor McKusick an d  published by 
Johns H opkins Press), now  in its 11th edi­
tion. T h e first edition in 1966 w as 344 
pages; th e 1994 edition is m ore th an  3,000 
pages in tw o  hefty volum es. Each entry 
includes a concise description o f th e dis­
covery history o f the particular genetic dis­
ease, extensive references to th e research 
literature, a n d  a clinical synopsis to  aid in 
diagnosis. Online Mendelian Inheritance 
in M an (OMIM) is the electronic version, 
u n d er active d e v elo p m en t a n d  revision 
w ith daily updates as new  literature a p ­ T

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

pears. OMIM is accessible via WWW an d  g o ­
pher. The WWW version offers a form s-based 
search interface, incorporates a grow ing array 
o f m ultim edia additions (im ages, video, and 
so u n d  files in som e entries), an d  perm its links 
to chrom osom e m aps from  th e G enom e Data 
Base (GDB). In th e WWW version entries a p ­
p e a r as hypertext w ith links to related entries 
an d  to  bibliographic citations. T he g o p h er ver­
sion is lim ited to keyw ord searching.

OMIM is an essential tool for m edical an d  
genetic research, but it has a m ore general util­
ity as a n  exam ple o f th e W eb’s evolving p o te n ­
tials as a n  inform ation delivery medium . Refer­
en ce librarians an d  Internet trainers w h o  have 
n o  particular interest in genetic diseases can 
use OMIM as a m eans to answ er questions and 
illustrate searching strategies in indexed d ata­
bases. A few  exam ples will m ake this clear.

A query by keyw ord, by au th o r’s nam e, or 
by specific OMIM heading returns a relevance- 
ran k ed  list o f entries in w hich the search term  
a p p e a rs . B o o le a n  se a rc h in g  a n d  w ild -card  
matching are supported. Try: ju m ping F re n ch ­
m an  in the title field [a favorite exam ple, readily 
u n d ersto o d  by lay audiences]; W allace and D. 
in references field [retrieves 69 entries w ith ref­
erences to  articles by D. C. Wallace, a leader in 
m itochondrial DNA research]; hepatom egaly 
in clinical synopsis field [entries w here enlarged 
liver is a sym ptom — an  exam ple o f a possible 
diagnostic use].

If you have a graphic brow ser w ith sou n d  
an d  video capability these exam ples indicate 
OMIM’s future developm ent: 143100 in OMIM 
nu m b er field [H untington Disease, w ith sev
eral.mpg video clips]; “cri-d u-chat” in title 
field [contains a .gif im age a n d  .au so u n d  file].

OMIM is a m arvelous exam ple o f th e  p o s­
sibilities for timely distribution o f com plex in­
form ation.— Hugh Blackmer, Washington a n d  
Lee University; blackmer.h@wlu.edu ■

h e logo fo r  NetVet o n  th e  W orld W ide Web.

mailto:wagner_k@wpc.wilpaterson.edu
http://gdbwww.gdb.org
mailto:blackmer.h@wlu.edu