Why create a physical space for a virtual library? This was the question I put to Roddy MacLeod, Senior Librarian for the Engineering Faculty at Heriot-Watt University. MacLeod feels that the physical presence complements the online facility and provides a focus for Internet activity. The Internet Resource Centre, funded by money from the Watt Club (the alumni association of Heriot-Watt University), opened in the Spring of 1996 and consists physically of eight (soon to expand to twelve) high-powered PCs connected to the University’s PC-Caledonia network. Situated behind the issue desk, students have access to the room during Library opening hours, and it has proved so popular that a booking system has had to be introduced. Staff and students need to register with the Computing Service before using the Centre. Once registered, a set of icons is loaded into the user's personal space on the PC-Caledonia Server and the Centre’s Web pages.

Staff are now focussing on the educational potential of the Centre. Originally, they were concerned that the Centre would produce a host of questions which issue desk staff would be unable to answer, but in reality Centre users seem particularly self-sufficient, which is encouraging as staff begin to plan how to promote the Centre to new users. Seminars for Internet beginners are due to start in the new session.

The Riccarton Campus of Heriot-Watt University is situated six miles from the centre of Edinburgh. Surrounded by rolling countryside, the parkland campus has a student population of around 4500. A technological university, Heriot-Watt excels in Engineering, and the Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library Project (EEVL), funded by JISC under eLib, is based here.

On four levels, the open plan Library provides a bright and pleasant place to study. Computer facilities are provided in two computer laboratories managed by Computing Services. Students have access to the University network, word-processing and spreadsheet packages.

It came as a surprise to discover that most, if not all, of the work on the Library’s Web pages was done by just two people, Roddy MacLeod and Gordon Andrew, Information Systems Librarian. It has been, says Andrew, a ‘labour of love’, with both often working long hours keeping the pages up-to-date. The Library has provided a Web information service since the Autumn of 1994. Part of H-Web, the University’s Campus Wide Information System, Lib-Info provides access to the current services and facilities which the Library has to offer.

The Web service is seen very much as a natural extension to the Library’s traditional resource and enquiry role. Users are encouraged to submit enquiries via e-mail, and the service is advertised throughout the campus. Librarians timetabled to cover the enquiry desk regularly check the mailbox for electronic enquiries.

The Resource Centre has its own Web pages. The INTERNET RESOURCES Newsletter, which features in them, and is also advertised nationally and internationally on e-mail lists, is designed as a current awareness service. Again, the newsletter is targeted primarily at on-campus users, but the world-wide response to the service has been good. The idea came from the Networked Information Awareness Group (NIAG) initiative at the Brynmor Jones Library of the University of Hull. It has proved its worth as a publicity tool, and has heightened awareness of the university as a whole.

Where the Newsletter is designed to keep existing users of Internet resources informed of new and interesting sites, the Resource Centre's home page, as Roddy MacLeod explained, is designed for complete beginners. A tutorial is available which gives the new user explanations about Netscape and how to use it, and provides some starting points to searching and using important sites. It provides access to bibliographic datasets such as BIDS and EDINA. Links are also provided to electronic journal services available through the Institute of Physics and through the new IDEAL service. The Library has developed its own Subject Tree, and links also exist to local, UK-wide, and world-wide library catalogues, SALSER (Scottish academic libraries' serials holdings) and to information services such as BUBL and PORTICO.

Heriot-Watt's experiment in the dynamics of user access to the Internet is fascinating. The physical space of the Library and that of the Internet Resource Centre are linked in a general-to-specific relationship which mirrors that of the Lib-Info Web service to the Internet Resource Centre Web service. Do the physical models help the users in searching for information efficiently? Answering that question would require a user study of its own.

Material on this page is copyright Ariadne/original authors. This page last updated on July 15th 1996