vascoda was, until 2011, a German

web portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayin ...

which offered access to scientific information in various disciplines. The name ''vascoda'' is often associated with the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

explorer ''Vasco da'' Gama, as this implies the connotation of navigating the ''sea of information''. Initially, though, “vascoda“ is a made-up word created by an agency for naming and branding. vascoda is also a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

which offers support and coordination of its members’ subject portals.

vascoda

Portal

The vascoda web portal offers access to information and full texts on various subjects through an integrative

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

. The searches can be performed within a certain subject or interdisciplinarily. Specialized subject portals can also be accessed directly via the vascoda portal. The vascoda portal and the integrated subject portals are set up and maintained by academic

libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

and other information providers with an international reputation. These institutions provide content of high standard, parts of which cannot be found by standard

web search engine A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a ...

s. Access to the portal is free. However, for some of its services and resources a fee is required (

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

). Furthermore, vascoda is connected to local library holdings and document delivery services. vascoda’s data are integrated into the

WorldWideScience WorldWideScience.org is a global science search engine (Academic databases and search engines) designed to accelerate scientific discovery and progress by accelerating the sharing of scientific knowledge. Through a multilateral partnership, World ...

global science gateway.

Aim

The aim of vascoda is to merge academic resources into a single well-structured integrative information service.

Supporting organization

vascoda is a registered voluntary association with 42 members, which are mostly German libraries and other information providers. The association’s aim is to develop and maintain the interdisciplinary vascoda portal. The vascoda office is based in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. The portal is technically run by the NRW Online Utility and Library Service Centre (hbz).

Subject portals integrated into vascoda

The following subject portals are currently accessible through the vascoda portal. Parts of their data are integrated into the vascoda search (as of June 2009):

vascoda-related projects

A number of projects and working groups focussing on certain aspects relevant to vascoda were financially supported by the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

(DFG) or the

Federal Ministry of Education and Research The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (german: link=no, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, ), abbreviated BMBF, is a cabinet-level ministry of Germany. It is headquartered in Bonn, with an office in Berlin. The Ministry provi ...

(BMBF). Various institutions were in charge of these projects. Some examples are: * Functionality and operation of the vascoda portal * Metadata, standards and questions of heterogeneity * Coordination, marketing, quality assurance * Content: rights, licences and business concepts * Overall structures and tasks * Shared authentication, authorization and permissions management * Modelling and questions of heterogeneity''http://www.gesis.org/en/research/programs-and-projects/information-science/project-overview/komohe/ Kompetenzzentrum Modellbildung und Heterogenitätsbehandlung (KoMoHe)''. (Retrieved on 2009-08-05) Currently, the German Research Foundation supports the ''vascoda 2010'' project. The project aims at improving and furthering the vascoda portal.

References

Bibliography

* ''vascoda – das interdisziplinäre Internetportal für wissenschaftliche Information. 10 Fragen von Bruno Bauer an Uwe Rosemann, Direktor der Technischen Informationsbibliothek Hannover und Sprecher des vascoda-Projekts''. in: Medizin – Bibliothek – Information 2005; 5(3): 11–14
Onlineversion pdf-Datei, 98 KB
* Jens E. Wolff, Thomas Oerder: ''Das vascoda-Portal – barrierefreie Recherche in wissenschaftlichen Fachinformationen.'' (Proceedings of the 95. Deutscher Bibliothekartag, Dresden 2006).
Onlineversion pdf-datei, 934 KB

Philipp Mayr
Anne-Kathrin Walter: ''Zum Stand der Heterogenitätsbehandlung in vascoda: Bestandsaufnahme und Ausblick.'', in: Bibliothek & Information Deutschland (Hrsg.): 3. Leipziger Kongress für Information und Bibliothek, 19.–22. März 2007. Leipzig: Verlag Dinges & Frick
Preprint pdf
(176Kb) * Ralf Depping: ''vascoda.de and the system of the German virtual subject libraries.'' In: Prasad, A.R.D. & Madalli, D.P. (eds.): International Conference on Semantic Web and Digital Libraries (ICSD 2007), 21–23 February 2007: 304-314.
pdf file, 730 KB

External links

vascoda.de

vascoda-Blog

vascoda office at TIB/UB Hannover

NRW Online Utility and Library Service Centre (hbz), technical operation

World Wide Science
{{DISPLAYTITLE:vascoda Bibliographic databases and indexes German digital libraries Web portals