International information gateway collaboration : report of the first IMesh framework workshop

Abstract

The "Subject gateway" has become a part of the lexicon of network information use in the research, learning and cultural arena. For the moment, we can say that it typically refers to a network resource discovery service that provides database(s) of resource descriptions created according to specific selection and quality criteria. A recent review of international subject gateway activity (conducted through Summer 1999) described over thirty subject gateways throughout the world outside the UK. There are also up to ten in the UK, giving an overall figure of approximately forty gateways that provide significant, quality-controlled services.