ANNOUNCEMENT: FREE RESOURCES FOR CONSERVATION PROFESSIONALS

The Board of the Conservation Information Network is pleased to announce a new Web site for the Conservation Information Network (CIN) at www.bcin.ca. The new site, created on behalf of CIN by the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), will become accessible on May 1, 2002. The BCIN Bibliographic Database will be offered free of charge on the new site.

BCIN currently contains over 190,000 bibliographic records on conservation, contributed by the following:
- Canadian Conservation Institute Library- Getty Conservation Institute
- International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM)
- International Council of Museums (ICOM)- International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)
- National Archives of Canada
- Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education (SCMRE)

BCIN will include the first 34 volumes of Art and ArchaeologyTechnical Abstracts (AATA) published between 1955 and 1997.

In a related development, the entire body of AATA abstracts, published from 1955 to the present, will be available in a newfree online service, AATA Online. Offered by the Getty Conservation Institute, in association with the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC), AATA Online will go live on June 8, 2002 at www.getty.edu/conservation. The site will be updated on aquarterly basis.


In the coming months, the CIN Board will actively explore ways to enhance access and integration of the conservation resources
represented in the BCIN and AATA databases so as to provide the best and widest possible service to the field.


The Canadian Heritage Information Network is also undertaking a major redevelopment of its Web site at www.chin.gc.ca. In addition to featuring an engaging new look and user-friendly navigational tools, the Web site will focus on skills required for creating and managing digital content. As with the new Conservation Information Network site, the new CHIN site will be launched on May 1, 2002, and all CHIN online resources will be offered free of charge

Information:
Canadian Heritage Information Network
(819) 994-1200 or 1 800 520-2446 (from Canada and the U.S.)
service@chin.gc.ca