National Sea Grant Library and Sea Grant Abstracts review: Technical review panel report

Abstract

The Library and Abstracts Panel met October 20-23, 2003 in Providence, Rhode Island to review the National Sea Grant Library and the Sea Grant Abstracts. The Panel conducted site visits to the National Sea Grant Library at the University of Rhode Island and to the Sea Grant Abstracts office in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The Panel engaged in intensive discussions and considered a wide range of issues in developing its recommendations. The Panel’s recommendations fall into three main areas. First, the NSGL should be retained, augmented, more tightly integrated into the National Office and Program offices, and better networked within the URI Library system. Second, an advisory board should be created to provide guidance to the NSGL and serve as an interlocutor between the NSGL and the other parts of Sea Grant. Third, the Sea Grant Abstracts should be discontinued in favor of a more efficient, streamlined online system of search and retrieval for abstracts and corresponding publications. (23pp.)