No 2, September 1995
Table of Contents
IASI is a non-profit making organisation whose aim is to stimulate, support and develop activities in the field of international documentation and information for physical education and sport. It brings together a world-wide network of scientists, documentalists, librarians, information experts and managers of sports information and documentation centres.
For more information about the Association contact:
- The IASI Secretariat
- c/o Clearing House, "Espace 27 septembre"
- Boulevard Leopold II, n 44
- B - 1080 Brussels
- Tel: (+32) 2 413 2893
- Fax: (+32) 2 413 2890
All items for the Newsletter should be addressed to the Editors:
- Steve Hewett
- Centre for Sports Science and History
- Main Library
- University of Birmingham
- Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT
- United Kingdom
- Tel: (+44) 121 414 5843
- Fax: (+44) 121 471 4691
- Nerida Clarke
- Director
- National Sport Information Centre
- Australian Sports Commission
- Po Box 176
- Belconnen ACT 2616 Australia
- Tel: (+61) 06 252 1369
- Fax: (+61) 06 252 1681
The African Sports Information Working Group is planning to meet in Pretoria, South Africa sometime in October 1996. The following countries will be invited to send two representatives: Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho, Botswana, Mauritius and any other countries who might be interested. (Representatives must finance their own flight and accomodation expenses).
The meeting will consist of a series of seminars/workshops spread over three days addressing the following issues:
- managing an information centre
- organisation of newsletters, bibliographies
- selection of material for the library
- theses collection and their management
- the organisation of newspaper clippings and videos
- selecting a local computer system/knowledge of international computer systems
- promotion/publicity
- handling of queries
- how to process local information
- the retrieval process
- archival issues
Speakers will be sports information specialists from South Africa and one overseas expert.
After the completion of the seminars, a meeting will be held to establish an African Sports Information Association in order to supervise, promote and advance the discipline of sports information on the African Continent.
For further information contact:
- Laurie Tempelhoff
- Sportinfo, (SA Sports Documentation and Information Centre)
- Posbus 13206, Clubview 0014
- South Africa
- Fax:(+27) 012 663 3294
The 1996 meetings to be held at the Wingate Institute, Israel will take place between May 5th and 7th. It will be followed by a complimentary tour to Jerusalem on May 8th and two days of workshops and seminars on May 9th and 10th. The topics for the workshops and seminars are not yet finalised, but will probably deal with advanced tools of information.
The formal invitations to attend will be sent out on September 20th, just a few days before the Jewish New Year. They will be sent to more than 150 addresses. If you do not receive an invitation by mid-October, please contact:
- Ayala Maharik
- The Library
- Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport
- Netanya 42902
- Israel
- Tel: (+972) 09 63 94 88
- Fax: (+972) 09 63 94 82
Ayala hopes to see as many members of IASI as possible in THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY.
The Association's Secretary Treasurer has set in motion the procedure to replace Gilles Chiasson as President of IASI. All IASI members should have received a letter inviting nominations for the Presidency. The list of nominations will be circulated to members before mid December 1995 together with details on the next steps to be taken. For additional information on this matter, contact the Secretariat.
Members are reminded that IASI is willing to consider applications for funding/part-funding of projects that meet the following criteria:
- The project must be in accordance with the current aims and tasks of the Association.
- Priority will be given to projects in this order: IASI ad hoc working group; international; regional/language; national; local. Joint projects will be accepted.
- Project proposals must be submitted by members and non-members must have a member sponsor.
- The project must be feasible; proposals will clearly describe, in detail, the expected outcomes, timetable and projected costs. An IASI Fund Application Form and supporting documentation must be submitted.
The process to be followed:
- Annual cycle based on the IASI fiscal year.
- The Secretariat will provide all IASI members with a special application form to be used for each request.
- A member, (or non-member with a member sponsor), introduces a project to the Secretariat with a copy to the Vice-President of their region.
- The Presidium will examine the proposals and inform the Executive Committee at least 30 days prior to the next annual meeting meeting.
- The Executive Committee will decide with a majority vote during its annual meeting.
- Written progress reports on the development of the projects should be prepared and presented at each Executive Committee meeting.
Application forms are available from the Secretariat at the address given at the top of this Newsletter.
[The following is one of a number of reports describing developments in individual countries or national centres which were disseminated at the annual meeting in Malaga last May and which were not published in the Official Report. It was compiled by Anitta Palvimaki, Head of the Information Service, LIKES - Research Centre for Physical Culture and Health].
Evaluation of Sports Information
In the Spring of 1993 the Finnish Ministry of Education appointed a committee to estimate the activity of Finnish sport information units. The tasks of the evaluation committee were as follows:
- To evaluate the efficiency, effectiveness and achievements of the information system of sport sciences;
- To define the objects and functional principles of the system;
- To make suggestions about actions to develop the sport information system.
The evaluation report was published in May 1994.
The most important achievement of the evaluation committee can be regarded its suggestion about the criteria and indicators for sport information profit and loss control. The amount of the annual state subsidies to the sport information units, gathered from lottery and gambling, will be estimated on the basis of these indicators.
The committee suggested that the efficiency of the information retrieval and the information network should be the areas where information profit and loss could be measured. Their coverage, effectiveness and necessity should be the activities to be followed. Coverage refers to the number of clients whom the information services are aimed at. It also includes the width of the client network to which information is spread. Effectiveness refers to the ability of the information system to reach its target groups and to get feedback, as well as to the number of developing service contacts in relation to the costs of activities. Necessity refers to the quality of information, i.e. how important quality is regarded when realizing the objectives on sports and physical culture set by the Ministry of Education.
FINSPORT Database
The database of the Finnish sports literature FINSPORT has moved into a real-time production environment in the beginning of this year. All articles are entered in ARTO, a real-time updated database of Finnish articles, within a month from the publishing date. ARTO is now open for customers in the Jyvaskyla University Library. It is a part of an integrated VTLS-system between the university libraries in Finland.
Research activities at the LIKES-Information Service
Our information specialist Outi Merilainen is this year on leave to finish her licentiate thesis "Compatibility of the Finnish Sport Thesaurus with the Canadian Sport Thesaurus with Special Reference to Descriptor Equivalence". The research was started in 1993 when LISETI-Finnish-English List of Sport Scientific Descriptors was published in the information service unit. LISETI was compiled by combining the equivalent terms in the Finnish Sport Thesaurus and Canadian Sport Thesaurus.
Internet
Information specialists in LIKES-Information Service and in the Jyvaskyla University Library have got acquainted with the services provided by Internet. Since Spring 1995 the Jyvaskyla University Library has provided information retrieval courses including Internet courses. Students, teachers and researchers have been taught to use Internet for retrieving information about their own branch of science. Even technical readiness to use Internet has become better. The University computer network has widened (ATM super highway) and new high-tech computers have been provided for staff and students. The Jyvaskyla University Library has compiled its own WWW-document www.jyu.fi/~library
Hypermedia
The hypermedia project of the University of Jyvaskyla has produced a hypermedia called HyperSport. It is meant for Finnish physical education students to guide them in using library services and information retrieval. A separate section gives an insight to important sport scientific periodicals.
Cooperation in the Nordic Region
The Cooperative Body for Sport Information in the Nordic Countries, NORSIB, will gather in Oslo, Norway, October 5-6 1995. Things to be discussed in this year's meeting are: the Nordic sport scientific article catalogue for the most important periodicals; Nordic pentalingual list of sport scientific descriptors; Nordic database catalogue for factual data and a follow-up of hypermedia projects and updating NORSIB calendar.
[Report contributed by Vicki Bates, Research Librarian, SOCOG]
Public Research Centres
Interest in the Olympic Games has soared in Australia since Sydney won the right to host the 2000 Olympics, leading to the establishment of a number of public research centres. Currently these locations include:
The Sydney City Library. Tel: (+61) 02 265 9470; the State
Library of New South Wales. Tel: (+61) 02 230 1414;
The National Sport Information Centre. Tel: (+61) 06 252 1369.
These libraries hold copies of the Official Post-Games Reports, (Summer Games, 1976-1992), and economic impact assessments (1984-2000) as well as the Sydney 2000 Bid documents and all subsequent SOCOG publications.
The Tourism New South Wales Information Resource Centre (tel: (+61) 02 931 1111), holds selected documents, particularly related to tourism and the Olympic Games. Currently each of the State Olympic Councils are also acting as contact points for Olympic information.
Internet Pages
SOCOG has established, with IBM, a Sydney 2000 homepage on the Internet. Some 30 million computer users around the world can access the equivalent of 75 pages of printed information: photographs, maps and drawings about Sydney's plans for the 2000 Games. It is later planned to add video and audio content to the presentation.
Information on the Sydney Olympic Internet server includes an overview of the Games, details of venues, the Olympic Village, sports and events, accommodation, transport and ticketing. The homepage lists a quick summary of the Olympic preparations, a breakdown of the various aspects of Sydney's Olympic Plan and an introduction to the unique environmental guidelines drawn up for the Sydney Games. The accessor can use hot keys to find topics of interest. Various sports and their venues can be viewed by clicking on icons.
As the Sydney Games get closer, the information will be updated regularly to include details on travel, accommodation and ticketing. During the Games, accessors will be able to keep up to date with an immediate results service and daily Olympic news.
The SOCOG/IBM World Wide Web server became available on 12th June 1995. It's Internet address is: http://www.sydney.olympic.org
IASI-L is a discussion list for sport libraries and information centres. Membership is open to members of the International Association for Sports Information (IASI).
There is a simple way of finding out who the other members of the list are, and their email addresses, by using the REVIEW command. The procedure is as follows:
1. Send a message to: listserv@taunivm.tau.ac.il
2. The message should simply say: Review IASI-L
3. To receive the list sorted by country, write: Review IASI-L by country
4. Send the message and wait for the list to be sent to your mailbox.
What's New on the Internet: September 1995.
[Report from Jill Haynes, National Sport Information Centre, Australian Sports Commission].
Jill writes: This is the first of what I hope will be a regular column in the IASI Newsletter on the latest in sport information on the net.
RESULTS
This is the area that has seen the largest increase in the number of sport sites. Most major world sporting events now have home pages that provide up to the minute results. The Internet lends itself to providing current information quickly. Results are generally posted within minutes of the event. Most of these sites also include information regarding the program; accommodation details; tourism information and details on ticket sales. Examples include:
The US Open Tennis Tournament
This IBM sponsored site provided information on the draw, results and player biographies. Match statistics were provided on each game including details such as the number of backhand winners, double faults, points won at the net. Matches in progress gave progressive statistics and scores after each game.
IBM also sponsored the Wimbledon Tennis Championship home page.
Track and Field World Championships
This has very good biographical information on the competing athletes.
World University Games
This site allowed the sending of messages to participating athletes and showed photographs of the meals athletes were to be served.
World Rowing Championships
BIG NAME PLAYERS
Large companies are currently investing large amounts of money in putting up sports related Internet sites.
ESPNET
This site provides sporting news, results, audio clips and images. It covers a wide range of sports; largely United States professional sports and college sports oriented. It is a large, well maintained site and very current, with news and images appearing within hours of the event. It also contains details of the ESPN television schedule. Some of the services on ESPN are now only available on a subscription basis. I would encourage everybody to investigate this site while it is still mostly free.
SPORTS SCIENCES
A few specialist sites in the sport science/sports management area are now starting to appear.
Biomechanics
Provides a link to the archives of Biomch-L (the biomechanics listserv); information on upcoming biomechanics conferences and information on orthopaedics and ergonomics.
Provides information about professional organisations in the field.
Sport Management
SIRC Home Page Update
[Report from Ann Romeril, Reference Services, Sport Information Resource Centre].
The Sport Information Resource Centre's WWW site has been substantially modified. Its structure has been redesigned to accomodate further growth. The Conference Calendar, which is a very important part of the site, will soon be outfitted with an image map that will allow users to find conferences by geographic locations. The Virtual Library is no longer available but will be replaced by links to other complementary and informative sport related sites.
Also, the recent addition to the SIRC homepage of the IASI is well as the NASLIN, (North American Sport Library Information Network), newsletters, contribute to the enhancement of the site:
http://www.sportquest.com/naslin/
Another major change to the site is the recent move to a new server. The SIRC homepage is now maintained at the Canadian Sport and Fitness Administration Centre. The new address for the site is:
http://www.sirc.ca/
Finally, the French language equivalent of the site is planned for this Fall.
If members have any questions or comments about the SIRC homepage, please contact Ann Romeril at SIRC.
Willing and Able. (Produced by Aussie Able and Aussie Sport Programs. Canberra, ASC, 1995).
Designed to assist teachers and community leaders include young people with disabilities in physical activity sessions.
Price: Australian orders - $35.00 plus $6.00 postage.
International orders - $90.00 plus $15.00 postage.
Evaluation of the Australian Sports Commission's Impact on Sports Performances and Participation in Australia, 1994. (ASC, Canberra, 1995). 2 vols - main report and overview.
This report details findings in relation to:
*the 44 national sporting organisations selected for in-depth analysis of international sports performances; * the outcomes of the AUSSIE SPORT and Australian Coaching Council programs.
This report updates information in the previous edition.
Price; Australian orders - $30.00 plus $5.00 postage.
International orders - $30.00 plus $5.00 postage.
Payment for the above in Australian dollars. Credit card facilities available.
The Impact of European Union Activities on Sport. 1994 edition. Unpriced.
Published by the Directorate-General X: Audiovisual Media, Information, Communication and Culture.
Contact the Commission's information service on sport:
- SPORT INFO EUROPE
- The European Commission
- rue de la Loi, 200, T120 (9/85)
- B-1049 Brussels
Columbus, Georgia, April 26-27, 1996. Hosted by Hughston Sports Medicine Foundation, Columbus, Georgia, USA.
For further information contact:
- Gretchen Ghent, Chair
- North American Sports Library Network
- c/o The University of Calgary Library
- 2500 University Dr. NW
- Calgary, Alberta Canada T2N 1N4
- Tel: (+1) 403 220 6097
- FAX: (+1) 403 282 6837
- email:
- Elaine Powers, Librarian
- Hughston Sports Medicine Foundation
- PO Box 9517
- 6262 Hamilton Rd
- Columbus, Georgia 31908-9517 USA
- Tel: (+1) 706 576 3390
- FAX: (+1) 706 576 3379
Work has just begun on producing the third edition of this publication which last appeared in 1992. Funded jointly by the Sports Council and the Sport and Recreation Information Group (SPRIG), work on the next edition is being undertaken by a team of information consultants. They are required to develop a suitable suite of computer programs to enable the production of the Union Catalogue as a printed output with a variety of indexes; and to ensure compatibility with the database structure for the IASI Union Catalogue. Microsoft Access is the preferred software because of its widespread use.
The previous editions were produced by voluntary activity which proved extremely time-consuming. It is hoped that the production of a fully operational database with user documentation will enable SPRIG to produce future editions more easily. The new edition should be available by March 1996.
The Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles published its first interactive CD-ROM in June. Entitled: An Olympic Journey: the story of women in the Olympic Games, the CD was researched and written by the staff of the AAF's Paul Ziffren Sports Resource Center.
Copies of the CD are available, at no charge, to schools. Libraries and museums.
The CD, produced in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee, uses video, still photography, graphics, the spoken word and text to tell the story of women in the Modern Olympic Movement.
The program offers users four learning pathways. The "Journey Begins" provides an historical overview of the struggles and achievements of women in the Olympic Movement. The "Olympic Scrapbook" contains photographs, moving images and text on more than 40 outstanding women Olympians and administrators. The "Olympic Cities" pathway presents information on each Olympic host city and the women's sport competitions of each Games. Finally, the "Olympic Arcade" gives users an opportunity to test their knowledge of the Olympic Movement through a series of puzzles and games.
The CD is a hybrid that runs on either a Macintosh computer or under Windows.
Macintosh users will need System 7.1 or greater, 8 MB RAM, double speed CD-ROM drive, and color capability, (will not run on Color Classic). Windows users must have Windows 3.1or higher with MPC2 configuration, 8MB RAM and double speed CD-ROM drive.
To order "An Olympic Journey", contact Wayne Wilson at:
- Amateur Athletic Foundation
- 2141 W.Adams Blvd.
- Los Angeles, CA 90018
- USA
- Tel: (+1) 213 730 9696
- Fax: (+1) 213 730 9696
- E-mail:
The first announcement has already been distributed to a large international panel in May 1995.
The Secretariat of the Congress is now, by return of mail, going through your demands to get more information and to receive the second announcement which will contain the conditions of registration and solicitation of the communications. They await your written demands.
The second announcement, in the form of a booklet, will be distributed in October 1995.
Even if you have not received the first announcement, please contact:
- 10th IASI Congress, Paris 1997
- Organizing Committee
- 11, avenue du Tremblay - 75012 Paris - FRANCE
- Tel: (+33) 1 41 74 41 07
- Fax: (+33) 1 48 08 19 60
- E-mail:
(pour le Comite d'Organisation).
- Steve Hewett
- Centre for Sports Science and History
- Main Library
- University of Birmingham
- Edgbaston
- Birmingham B15 2TT
- United Kingdom
- E-mail:
Design and hosting support services are provided by SIRC (http://www.sirc.ca)
Website content updates: Gretchen Ghent,
Website technical problems: Susan Duncan,