CONNECTING LIBRARY USERS WITH FREE GEOSCIENCE DATABASES

Many freely-accessible databases that support geoscience education and IPY are appearing on the Web from universities and research institutes. Subjects include northern environments, Antarctic management, and IPY research; grey literature, photographs, and maps are often included. Many of these databases are off the radar of the traditional library database collections, yet can be valuable sources for students and researchers. The INSTAAR Information Center is conducting workshops to introduce its users to these databases. In the process, the Information Center, despite its small collection and tiny budget, achieves higher visibility within its community and connects with new groups of library users. This paper describes how the workshops are constructed and some lessons learned.