Some stand-out highlights from OI 2006 at Olympia

If you're making your way to the Main Hall at Olympia for the Online Information Show this week, here's a few of the big new launches that caught my eye while hiking around the miles of aisles.

• IET/Inspec (Stand 346): The Institution of Engineering & Technology has launched an online archive of Digitised Journal Backfiles, with back issues of some journals dating back to 1872. The Electronics Letters backfrile from 1965-1993 is available now, with the remaining content set for early 2007. IET is also launching two new journals in 2007 that express the zeitgeist: Synthetic Biology and Renewable Power Generation.


• Proquest (Stand 316): To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Literature Online, its academic full-text and reference resource for English language literature, Proquest has hooked up with Oxford University Press to include search results from reference titles in its ORO (Oxford Reference Online) collections. It has also signed a deal with JISC to make House of Commons Parliamentary Papers available to FE and HE institutions.


• Blackwell Publishing (Stand 406): Despite its imminent merger with John Wiley, Blackwell was showing the fruits of its latest development efforts – the launch of Blackwell Reference Online, an online book service covering scholarship across six major disciplines: Business & Economics, History, Language & Linguistics, Literature & Cultural Studies, Philosophy & Religion, and Sociology & Psychology. A link to the website here is not yet operational.


• Chemical Abstract Services (Stand 512): CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society, has announced enhancements to its chemical substance nomenclature, available to users from mid-December. Previously, CAS made changes to nomenclature at the end of 5-year collective index periods, but now makes changes "as appropriate to ensure the CAS Registry has the most current, usable information".


• Taylor & Francis (Stand 430): T&F used the show to lift the veils on its new online collection management system, informaworld, which will give access to over 1,100 journals, 10,000 ebooks and 5,000 encyclopedia articles when it comes onstream. Informaworld will allow online access to a library's subscriptions using IP, proxy server and Athens authentication policies, and will include COUNTER-compliant usage stats.


• Wolters Kluwer (Stand 518): WK Health has announced PubFusion 2.0, the latest iteration of its online content management system specifically engineered for commercial publishers, self-publishing societies, research institutions and pharmaceutical companies in the healthcare sector. Enhanced features include version control, collaboration tools, global management and real-time audits.