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Future of HSTM Virtual Library 

Forwarded to STHC-L (Science, Technology, and Health Care Archives 
Forum) from H-SCI-MED-TECH.

I was glad to see Tim Sherratt's message, because I was among those who 
wondered what would happen to this content-rich (and very nicely 
designed) resource which had become dormant.  Michigan State 
University's H-Net strikes me as a well-funded potential new home for 
WWWVL-HSTM, so I'm surprised to have seen no discussion on the 
H-SCI-MED-TECH list after his posting.

Tim's suggestion of an editorial group is a good one; one of the 
valuable things he tried to do in the WWWVL-HSTM gateway or meta-site 
was to _evaluate_ the depth, content, and design of the resources to 
which WWWVL-HSTM links.  As he notes, there are now numerous 
subject-specific Internet gateways (e.g. Christopher Green's history of 
psychology site, AJ Wright's history of anesthesia and history of 
medicine sites, my "RETICULUM: Neuroscience History Resources" site, 
etc.) whose authors/editors--who are trying to do in their niches what 
WWWVL-HSTM tried to do across the board--should join in this 
discussion. 


Cheers,

Russell Johnson



Cited Sites:

History & Philosophy of Psychology Web Resources
http://www.yorku.ca/dept/psych/orgs/resource.htm

Anesthesia History Files
http://www.anes.uab.edu/aneshist/aneshist.htm

Medical History on the Internet
http://www.anes.uab.edu/medhist.htm

RETICULUM: Neuroscience History Resources
http://www.medsch.ucla.edu/som/bri/archives/RETICULM.htm


--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 17:19:02 -0400
From: "N. Lerman, H-SCI-MED-TECH" <smt@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Subject: Future of HSTM Virtual Library
Sender: "H-NET List on the History of Science, Medicine, and 
Technology" <H-SCI-MED-TECH@H-NET.MSU.EDU>

Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 12:19:05 +1000
From: Tim Sherratt <tim@discontents.com.au>


Dear all,

Those of you who use the WWW Virtual Library for the History of Science,
Technology and Medicine would have noticed that there haven't been any
changes or additions for many months. It's a long story, but I simply
don't have the time or resources to maintain it on my own. (See
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/hstm/ )

Of course, a number of other useful HSTM link sites have appeared since
the WWWVL-HSTM was created, and so I could just provide links to a few
of these from the front page and let the whole thing continue to die a
slow death. However, because the WWWVL-HSTM was established very early
on (back in August 1994) and has provided a useful service, there are a
large number of sites out there that provide links to it (around 2,000 I
think). This makes the site a valuable piece of real estate as far as
the HSTM community is concerned - it provides something of a front door
for people seeking to explore the history of science. So rather than
letting the whole thing die, I was wondering whether there was any
interest out there in developing and maintaining it as a co-operative
effort.

I was thinking that we could establish an editorial group with
individuals (or institutions) taking responsibility for specific
subjects or sections. Of course there are a number of technical and
administrative issues that would need to be sorted out, but before I
launch into an examination of those I thought I would just see whether
there was enough interest to make it worthwhile. So please get in touch
if you think you would be able to contribute a bit of time and thought,
or if you have any comments on what should become of the WWWVL-HSTM.

Cheers, Tim

--
Tim Sherratt (tim@discontents.com.au)
PO Box 140, Queanbeyan NSW 2620
Ph: +61 (0)2 62991043  Fax: +61 (0)2 62329997
http://www.discontents.com.au/
--- End Forwarded Message ---


___________________________________________________
Russell A. Johnson        rjohnson@library.ucla.edu

Archivist and Cataloger              (310) 825-6940
History & Special Collections Division
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, UCLA
Box 951798     Los Angeles CA  90095-1798
<http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/his/hisdiv.htm>

Archivist              (310) 825-3191  or  206-2753
Neuroscience History Archives
Brain Research Institute, UCLA
Box 951761     Los Angeles CA  90095-1761
<http://www.medsch.ucla.edu/som/bri/archives/nhahome.htm>
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