Introducing BUBL LINK
BUBL LINK is the name of a catalogue of selected Internet resources covering all academic subject areas and catalogued according to DDC (Dewey Decimal Classification). All items are selected, evaluated, catalogued and described. Links are checked and fixed each month. LINK stands for Libraries of Networked Knowledge.
BUBL 5:15 provides an alternative interface to this catalogue, based on subject terms rather than DDC. The aim is to guarantee at least 5 relevant resources for every subject included, and a maximum of 15 resources for most subjects, hence the name 5:15. Big subject areas are broken down into smaller categories. However, the upper limit of 15 is not rigidly applied, so there may be up to 35 items for some subjects.
- Nine of the subject categories on the BUBL LINK home page were arrived at by a consultant to the Content Working Group of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) Committee on Electronic Information (CEI), and are a synthesis of a number of classification models, including the HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) subject codes, the RAE units of assessment, and the funding council quality assessment classifications.
- Library and Information Science is a specialist BUBL subject, not one of the main JISC CEI subject categories.
- General Reference and Countries were also added by BUBL to provide additional ways of locating resources.
The subject terms used in BUBL LINK / 5:15 were originally based on LCSH (Library of Congress Subject Headings) but have been heavily customised and expanded to suit the content of the service. The aim is to make it very easy to locate Internet information about a large number of subjects.
- The BUBL LINK catalogue currently holds over 11,000 resources. This is far smaller than the databases held by major search engines, but it can provide a more effective route to information for many subjects, across all disciplines.
- Some other JISC funded services and subject gateways also hold catalogues of Internet resources. Most of their resources are not duplicated here, but there are links to numerous relevant menus at these other gateways, making it easier for users to locate items at various locations from a single starting point, via an integrated interface.
- The current BUBL LINK interface was introduced on 22 February 1999.
Searching BUBL LINK
There is a Simple Search, an Advanced Search and a Combined Search option:
- Simple search: searches only within one field, e.g. title, subject or abstract
- Advanced search: searches a combination of fields
- Combined search: searches all fields
For each search type the procedure is the same: type the word you are looking for in the search box and click the Search button.
- Searches are not case-sensitive, so it does not matter whether you use capital letters.
- If you type two words then only items containing both of these words will be located (i.e. the default search type is AND).
- If you find a large number of matches with a general keyword search, try making the search more precise by limiting the search to a single field or by using the advanced search option.
- If you do not find what you are looking for, try making the search more general, by using the general keyword search or by using search term truncation.