PORTALS IN LIBRARIES: The Scholars Portal Project: A June 2004 Update.

The article focuses on the Scholars Portal Project, a collaborative project among seven members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and Fretwell-Downing Inc., evolved from discussions at the 1999 ARL/OCLC Strategic Issues Forum where the concern that libraries needed to maintain a presence on the Web was voiced. ARL subsequently established the ARL Scholars Portal Working Group and Jeny Campbell, dean of the University of Southern California Libraries, articulated the need and called for collaborative action among ARL members in his 2002 white paper. The participants have implemented ZPortal, Z2Web and several other FL products. FD is contributing development resources to enhance the products, and at the end of the project, the final products will be tested against the vision articulated by the ARL Scholars Portal Working Group. The initial focus of the project was cross-domain searching, but the participants hope to be able to link to online learning environments and digital references services.