Ovid and MuseGlobal's ASP (application service provider) packaged solution is designed to be scalable to incorporate any range of content sources including commercially available databases, local information, and internet resources. The federated search system will feature administrative tools designed to enable rapid implementation within a customer's environment. The solution allows each customer to create a customizable tool that can include branding (such as logos, style sheets), interface design (including non-standard fonts and European characters), hosting options (ASP or local), as well as the number of database ‘connectors' to meet various resource needs. For example, customers requiring a customized, locally hosted solution can modify the user interface to meet specialized branding requirements or end-user preferences, add database connectors for up to 1,300 resources from the MuseGlobal knowledge base, and integrate the solution with other applications such OpenURL resolvers. The new federated search solution is scheduled to be available within the first quarter of 2005. Ovid has also announced the availability of Communities@Ovid, a service designed to allow society and publishing partners to develop specialized portals that support communities of practitioners and researchers in medicine and science. Communities@Ovid, which leverages the technology found in Ovid's Portal Advantage Service, provides an online solution tailored by subject theme for society members and other groups of professionals with similar literature research needs. Ovid works in partnership with the society or publishing partner, combining their proprietary content with Ovid's rich data repository to create one resource for peer-reviewed journals, books, and databases, as well as other resources including news feeds, guidelines, conference papers, continuing medical education courses (CME), and drug information and tools. The American Heart Association (AHA) recently became one of the first Ovid partners to use the Communities@Ovid service to enhance the MyAmericanHeart.org, a Web site originally created three years ago with Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, publisher of record for AHA journals. As part of the Portal Advantage Services offerings, Ovid is working with more than 60 medical societies to build customized portal solutions, some of which include Communities@Ovid functionality. Ovid has also introduced Database Link Packages, which are intended to dramatically speed up online research sessions by offering one-click access to hundreds of ejournals and subject-specific Web sites. To provide this coverage, Ovid identifies and sets up links that connect to a specific bibliographic database, such as CAB Abstracts or MEDLINE. Links only become active for articles cited in the bibliographic database, so users are directed to all of the full text available at their Library as well as Open Access and subscription-based journal entries. Combined with the ability to extend the link even further by adding other Internet resources such as patent or dissertation databases, researchers and academics can search by subject matter across more titles and information sources. Ovid Database Link Packages are available immediately for current Ovid and SilverPlatter Online customers with database subscriptions. The Link Packages are designed to take metadata contained in the bibliographic reference, such as author, title, ISSN, subject keyword, etc, and use that metadata to query external Web sites. Depending on the nature of the target Web site, the result of the metadata query can be a full text article (in the case of links to sites like DOJ.org), or subject specialist information (like in the case of links to the CERN Document portal). To benefit from Ovid's Database Link Packages, institutions need a current bibliographic database subscription on the Ovid or SilverPlatter platforms. Ovid activates, maintains, and upgrades selected targets at no additional cost. Ovid can provide Link Packages for any bibliographic databases covering fields such as agriculture and conservation (CAB Abstracts), medicine (AMED), nursing (BNI), economics (EconLit), pharmaceutics (EMBASE), biomedicine (MEDLINE) and engineering (INSPEC).
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