An automated system for distributing literature and managing information overload

A challenge in scientific communities is that one member of the community will acquire new literature but the information never gets passed on to other interested colleagues within the community. We designed and are building a Web-based tool to overcome this challenge. This system is the Scientific Literature Exchange and Database System or SciExchange. SciExchange allows a scientist who reads an article, an online journal article or science news update, to log onto the SciExchange Web site and easily submit the article or link to the article to the database. Next, SciExchange automatically sends a notification email to the list of subscribing scientists who asked to be notified if articles on topics of interest to them were entered into the SciExchange database. The email contains a link to the article referred to. Its design, construction, planned uses, and implications for NASA´s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) are detailed in this paper.