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One World, One Search?
One world, one search service? Not likely. We have a world of many nations and many search services. Even within a branch of knowledge, such as science, the notion of one database for all people, all languages, and all formats is far-fetched. We can try to counter the balkanization of knowledge, however, and that is the goal of the WorldWideScience Alliance [http://world widescience.org/alliance.html] and its website, WorldWideScience.org [http:// worldwidescience.org].
WorldWideScience provides a federated search of English-language bibliographic and full-text databases in a wide range of science and technology disciplines from sources around the globe. It originated from a January 2007 agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the British Library. By the time the site launched in June 2007, eight more nations were on board. A year later, WorldWideScience provides onestop access to content from some 52 nations. The effort reached a milestone in June 2008 with the establishment of a governance structure, the multilateral WorldWideScience Alliance. The signing ceremony was hosted by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) as part of meeting of the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI), an organization that has been a strategic partner in facilitating the Alliance. The Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) has played a lead role throughout.
Currently, 32 resources from 44 countries are searchable throughWorldWideScience.org. The global science gateway initiative began with a Statement of Intent to partner between the U.S. and the U.K. Since then, a multilateral partnership, the WorldWideScience Alliance, has been formed to provide a geographically diverse, long-term governance structure. The Alliance will promote and build upon the original vision of a global science gateway. Other nations are invited to participate. Resources searched by WorldWideScience include African Journals Online (multiple African nations), the Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Defence Research and Development Canada, Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden), Indian Institute of Science EPrints, Journal@rchive (Japan), KoreaScience, Norwegian Open Research Archives, Science.gov (U.S.), Scientific Electronic Library Online (Spain and countries in Latin America and the Caribbean), and U.K. PubMed Central. The full list is available on the website [http: //world widescience.org/wws]; the current list is found in the sidebar on page 52. Although you can select individual resources...