August 2006
SAREP featured on University of California gateway Web site
DAVIS—Earthworms, cover crops and the definition of sustainable agriculture are the subjects of three University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP) Web pages featured on the new UC Internet site "Calisphere," a free public gateway to thousands of digitized primary sources of information.
Calisphere (calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu) offers educators, students and the public access to more than 150,000 images, documents and other primary source materials from the libraries and museums of the UC campuses and cultural heritage organizations across California.
"We're pleased that SAREP's Web resources are included in Calisphere," said David Chaney, SAREP education coordinator who has overseen much of the development of the UC ANR statewide program Web site. James Cannon, SAREP's computer resource specialist, has worked closely with Chaney for the last three years on an extensive redesign of the SAREP site.
Cannon noted that SAREP's Web site receives an average of 14,500 requests per day.
"In June we had more than 400,000 successful requests for information," said Cannon. "Cover crops and earthworms are always a big favorite, but we have many visitors to our other pages."
In addition to pointing visitors to primary sources like photographs, documents, newspapers, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other cultural artifacts, Calisphere also provides a single entry point to more than 300 UC-created Web sites. The gateway site makes it easy for educators to find images and documents aligned with the K-12 California Content Standards.
Calisphere is a public service project of the California Digital Library (www.cdlib.org). Through the use of technology and innovation, the CDL supports the assembly and creative use of scholarship for the UC libraries and the communities they serve.
Media contacts:
David Chaney, (530) 754-8551, dechaney@ucdavis.edu
James Cannon, (530) 754-8555, jhcannon@ucdavis.edu
