Cranfield University will be re-launching Aerade, a unique information service, on Friday, September 29. Aimed at all those involved in the aerospace and defence industries, the AERADE portal (http://aerade.cranfield.ac.uk) provides integrated access to a collection of key resources focussed within these fields.
AERADE was initially launched in November 1999 as a database of evaluated websites designed to aid the research process. This means the site saves users’ time by only including quality resources, all of which have met rigorous selection criteria.
The new enhanced site will also include 1,300 validated data item abstracts from the Engineering Sciences Data Unit (ESDU) and an interactive training tutorial. The tutorial is written by subject specialists and gives ideas and tips to improve Internet searching.
The site has seen an average of 30,000 users per month since it started last year, a figure that is predicted to increase with the addition of these new resources. John Harrington, Information Services Manager at Cranfield University’s library believes this will be a great benefit to students and industry, "There's a real problem in the proliferation of sources. We wanted people to be able to go to a single site."
The product team intends to make the site as interactive as possible, actively encouraging users to get involved by recommending additional resources they would like to see included.