Ever thought of using ROADS?

Do you want to provide a high-quality resource discovery service to some target community? Don't know how to get started? Don't know what the appropriate standards and technologies are? Then maybe you need ROADS? Or maybe not...

The ROADS project is not just about a bunch of PERL modules; it takes a more holistic approach to resource discovery developments, advising on appropriate methods and technologies. Not everyone who comes to us is advised to use ROADS; in fact, a significant proportion of people are advised not to, or to use some other approach which can be interoperated/cross-searched by other means.

If you are thinking of setting up a gateway-like resource discovery service, then what can you do? Well, take a look at the services that use ROADS at: /who; experiment with searching and browsing with some of them. Are the facilities that you are experimenting with what your target audience need?

Take a look at this and previous editions of the ROADS newsletter, and the ROADS Web site (/) to get a flavour of the software, what it can do, and the direction in which it is going. You can, without any obligation or hassle from the ROADS team, download the latest versions of the software, install it, and have a go at building a gateway. In a nutshell, you will need:

• a unix box, hooked up to the net
• a technical person, au fait with unix, PERL, and web servers
• a cataloguer (to catalogue records for inclusion in the gateway)
• someone who fancies themselves as a web graphic designer, to make the interface individual/pretty

At some point, you may want to take things further, building a full service for public (or some other sector) use; alternately, you may need further advice and clarification on some matters of creating or maintaining a ROADS-based gateway. In these circumstances, drop an email to:

...where it will be answered by one of the ROADS team. Mailing lists exist for various types of ROADS-associated organisations and people on which you can either contribute, or just lurk, ; these are listed at http://www.roads.lut.ac.uk/lists/.

To answer the three most common questions about ROADS:

1. The software is free
2. The project is currently funded until the end of July 1999
3. Support is not unlimited; ROADS is obliged to support those gateways funded under the eLib programme (the programme which also funds ROADS). Other gateways get support i.e. answers to questions, on an "as available" basis, also taking into account other factors such as the nature of the gateway, the target audience (gateways that cover some area applicable to UK academia and research not already covered by a high-quality subject-based gateway are especially welcome) and the openness and ownership of the gateway.

Finally; as with many other eLib projects, the ROADS project is interested in relevant collaboration of all kinds. If you are interested in collaborating with the ROADS project, then send an email to the roads liaison email listed above.

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