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Vienna University Backs Up IAEA Nuclear Repository
Staff Report
4 April 2008
Seyda Rieder (third from right) and INIS staff members deliver the IAEA collection of non-conventional literature to Brigitte Kromp (second from right), Head of Vienna University´s Central Physics Library. (Photo: R. Kiesewetter)
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- INIS & Nuclear Knowledge Management Section
- University of Vienna - Central Physics Library (German)
- INIS Products and Services
Vienna University´s Central Physics Library has offered to serve as depository library for the full-text collection of nuclear science and technology documents maintained by the International Nuclear Information System (INIS), a unit of the IAEA which maintains the world´s most comprehensive nuclear knowledge repository.
INIS ´grey´ literature is made up of over 850,000 full-text documents and references to reports submitted by IAEA Member States dating back to the 1940s. The collection consists of a variety of source materials on nuclear science and technology, touching upon related topics such as engineering, medicine, life sciences, and agriculture, among others.
"The relationship between INIS and the Central Physics Library goes back to the time when INIS was founded in 1970," said Seyda Rieder, Leader of the INIS Database Production and Imaging Group. "Based on this long-term relationship and in connection with its 40th anniversary in 1997, the IAEA was pleased to offer, at no cost, to the Central Physics Library a complete collection of the INIS Non-Conventional ´Grey´ Literature on microfiche."
The information contained within INIS informational products provides scientists, students and workers in the nuclear field with research and technical data that facilitate cooperation and knowledge-sharing throughout IAEA Member States. Preserving and providing access to publications and documents in the nuclear field has been a priority for the IAEA for nearly forty years.
The recent deposit of the full electronic repository to the library is a follow-up to the initial handover of INIS materials on microfiche in 1997. The materials have been digitized by INIS and take up over 250 gigabytes of data in portable document format (PDF). The library was chosen to store the INIS materials not only for its proximity to the Vienna-based IAEA, but also for the library´s relevance to the source materials. The materials are stored in the ninth district of Vienna and are accessible to library visitors.
Background
The two primary products that INIS collates and disseminates are a bibliographic database (a repository of 2.9 million indexed references) and a collection of over 850,000 full-text documents. The informational repositories are constantly updated, accessed by and contributed to by individuals in 118 Member States and 23 international organizations. Access to the INIS database is provided to 350 universities on a complimentary basis. The IAEA´s relationship with the Central Physics Library traces back to the early days of the Agency.