The Engineering Subject Gateway (ViFaTec) and Biotech: virtual developments in biotechnology
Martin Bömeke · IFLA Journal · 2004
The target group of the Engineering Subject Gateway, ViFaTec are people working in the engineering and biotechnology fields. The origin and backbone of the Engineering Subject Gateway is the German National Library of Science and Technology. Two other subject gateways one for Physics which is online and one for Wood Engineering in preparation are based here. The idea of the gateway originates from 1998 and it went online in April 2000. The goal of the engineering subject gateway was and is to offer competent and compact information. The aspects of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics at the engineering subject gateway are explained. The most recent developments like the preparation of the Metasearchengine and the change of the Specialised Search Engine are described. The paper concludes with a look at the goals and perspectives the gateway has taken. 1. Engineers and their ways of conducting research The main focus when developing the Engineering subject gateway was and is the users interest. Since this is a technical oriented gateway, a look at the engineers' ways of conducting research is taken. A review of literature about the research habits of engineers and personal experience revealed that engineers have certain methods for gathering information due to the nature of their tasks and everyday work challenges.