ITU-T Recommendations now free

Recommendations on standardisation from the International Telecommunication Union are now free in view of the overall success of a recent trial. The ITU Council 2007 has adopted this policy on a permanent basis. The new policy also includes access to in-force and superseded ITU-T Recommendations (posted in PDF format only). It should be remembered this information is relative to ITU-T Recommendations only.

ITU-T Recommendations can be accessed at the International Telecommunication Union website.

Online material for mechanical engineers

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is in the process of building a digital library to provide a single point of access for all its publications. When the full service is launched in 2008 users will be able to view the following:

• ASME's current Transactions Journals
• ASME's journal archive dating back to 1990
• ASME's conference proceedings dating back to 2002
• ASME Press e-Books

The test/ preview site currently provides subscriber access to ASME's Transactions Program online journals and can be found at:

http://www.asmedl.org/

We are encouraged to visit the site frequently as much more will be added throughout the rest of 2007. Feedback on the progress of the site is welcomed.

New British Library Service

The British Library have announced the launch of a new database to aid resource discovery - British Library Direct Plus. This subscription-based service provides access to details of over 67,000 journals and 400,000 conference proceedings in the British Library collection. Articles identified through this service may be ordered via the British Library Document Supply Service.
A basic service is now live, but an advanced version is planned for early 2008 which will allow users to build up individual libraries of resources including websites and e-journals.

For further information and to request a free trial contact: marketing@bl.uk