Just before break, I received an email from CAS announcing that W&L has been selected to switch over to a web-based version of SciFinder. This has the potential of making everyone's life much easier, since we would not need to update any software or worry about which machines on campus have the software installed. It would presumably be accessible through the library website as are our other electronic library resources. Anyone who uses it would have to create a "user account" the first time, and log in with that information each time after that.
While we are not able to run a trial for this new platform, there is a demo at http://www.cas.org/products/scifindr/sfweb/sfwebflash.html that shows you what the new product will look like and function like. From what I can tell, it has all the same features as the client-based version, with a few extra features thrown in. For more information on the product, go to http://www.cas.org/products/scifindr/sfweb/index.html .
When we switch to the web version, we should have concurrent access to both the web version and the client-based version that you use now for at least 30 days. This will make the transition a little easier. I will be scheduling several open training sessions in the coming months to acclimate you to the new product. Also, on Feb 3, at 1 p.m., I will be attending a "webinar" demonstrating the new product. If you'd like to listen in, please let me know. In the meantime, if you have questions, comments or concerns, please leave them in the comments of this post so we can all discuss this.