KarstBase
| Welcome to the Cave and Karst Bibliography Database! Read more about this initiative! |
One of the most acute needs for scholars is to have an easy access to comprehensive bibliography databases in their knowledge areas. There is no such a comprehensive database for Cave and Karst Science yet, although much efforts have been (and are being) invested by various groups and individuals into creating substantial pieces of bibliography of varying scope and breadth. Links to some substantial specialized bibliography collections that exist now, as well as to popular general scholar search engines, are provided here. We firmly feel that now the time has come for cave and karst researchers to combine efforts in order to build the KarstBase – a comprehensive specialized online searchable Cave and Karst Bibliography system. We urge you to view a rationale and initial arrangements for this initiative and contribute to this important work in a way you can. |
Contribute to KarstBase |
What is KarstBase?
Technological realities and tools of the Internet epoch make it possible for the scholar community to create, by its own combined efforts, a comprehensive bibliography database for a specific field, with free online access. This is a core of a new initiative for the cave and karst science community, provisionally called KarstBase, which could be jointly pursued by major international professional groups. An important point is that individual scientists can also critically contribute to this challenging task at relatively low effort. Combined efforts of organized groups and dedicated individuals can quickly give great results, if based on a proper organizational and technical platform.
The Speleogenesis.info Network presents pilot arrangements for such a platform. It includes several options for submission of bibliography information of scope varying from individual records through bits of different size to large collections, as well as processing and editing procedures and searchable online representation of the resultant database.
Research institutes, centers and groups; specialized libraries, societies, commissions and other bodies which maintain (or have created in the past) substantial collections of bibliography in the field. Individual scientists who maintain bibliography listings in their fields and/or their personal bibliographies. Authors and editors of books that contain substantial lists of references. Organizers and editors of conference proceedings (simply by sending a file with a table of content and a bibliographic description of a volume produced).
The community of cave and karst scientists can establish a habit to contribute bibliographies it creates to KarstBase: when you published a book or a paper, organized a conference or finished research that generated a substantial bibliography, make sure it is submitted to KarstBase. Benefits for the community will be multifarious and immense.
1. Individual records, or bits of records, using our online bibliography submission form. This can be done occasionally or regularly, by individuals or by institutions.
2. Posting your new publication announcement via Publication Alert will publicize your work to the community (we'll keep a posted record for a year on the Publication Alert panel) and contribute to growth of KarstBase.
3. If you are the editor of a cave & karst journal, you are urged to register your journal to the "World Cave&Karst Science Journals Database" and directly submit papers published in each next issue via our online system.
4. Sending your collections to a bibliography processing center. Ideally, you or your institution can process a collection to make data consistent with our database structure (download and use an Excel file with the database template). This would be a most welcome contribution!
If you cannot afford putting time and efforts into preparation of your collection in accordance with the template, you may send it as it is in any common file format (MS World, Excel, Access, XML, coma or tab delimited, etc.) for further processing in our center.
KarstBase is compatible with the RIS format for bibliography data. Best ways to submit data in a proper format are either entering records via our online form or preparing and sending them as a file using our database template. You may send us a RIS file exported from your bibliography-managing software. Various bibliography formats used in publications are difficult to fit into the database, but we accept variously formatted listings as well. Our processing center will do its best to do translate your collection into the database within reasonable time.
KarstBase has a distributed and flexible submission system. As such, it will generate duplicated records and inconsistency. In the KarstBase system, all new online submissions will be reviewed before final inclusion to the searchable system to avoid duplications and provide for consistency. Contributions in other formats will be processed.
The KarstBase processing center is based on the Ukrainian Institute of Speleology and Karstology (Simferopol, Ukraine) and coordinated by ICKRIN. With the system expansion, other processing centers could be established as necessary.
Comments, ideas, suggestions and questions relevant to the KarstBase project can be posted in the respective section of the Speleogenesis Forum (click here).
