Science.gov: FirstGov for Science Gail Hodge CENDI Secretariat/IIa Federal Depository Library Conference October 21, 2002 Objective Provide cross-agency, gateway access to selected, authoritative U.S. government science and technology resources for the science-attentive citizen, including science professionals, students, teachers, business people, and members of the public interested in science Science.gov Initiative • An integrated, voluntary cross-agency effort of 14 STI programs in 10 federal agencies • Supports the Administration's E-Gov objectives, bringing government science and technology closer to citizens • A FirstGov-designated "Cross Agency Portal" for science • Provides a public gateway to federal web sites and databases Science.gov Alliance • Dept. of Agriculture • Dept. of Commerce • Dept. of Defense • Dept. of Education • Dept. of Energy • Dept. of Health and Human Services • Dept. of Interior • Environmental Protection Agency • National Aeronautics and Space Administration • National Science Foundation Guiding Principles • Provide simple, integrated access to web sites and database content • Use currently available content • Provide selected, useful information and a high quality site • Focus on customers - conducted formal usability testing as part of development Access to Government Science Web Sites • 1100+ selected web sites selected and cataloged by agency content managers and NTIS • Organized for browsing under one or more of 12 topics and 175 sub-topics • Free-text searching based on text of selected web sites and linked sites (to one level) provided by USGS Access to Invisible Web Databases • 30 databases that are generally not accessible to web search engines • Special invisible web searching developed for science.gov by DOE/OSTI • Single search interface for web sites and databases Challenges • Broad scope of federal R&D in science and technology • Wide ranging interests of the potential audience • Taxonomy issues given the broad scope and audience • Blending resources from different agencies into cohesive functionality and page design • Resources, funding and sustainability What's Next? • Launch officially in the next few months • Continue adding content • Formal selection and cataloging guidelines • Review the taxonomy • Link to other Firstgov portals such as kids.gov • Add members to the Alliance • Develop support and sustaining resources Gail Hodge CENDI Secretariat IIa 312 Walnut Place Havertown, PA USA 19083 Telephone: 610/789-6769 Fax: 865/481-0390 gailhodge@aol.com