Progress? I am curious to know hear what you think of NIH doing away with the NIH GUIDE LISTERV. For those of you who might have missed the notices, I have included them below. I personally do not understand how this can be considered progress. I am very concerned about the overall ramifications of discontinuing such a valuable LISTSERV. I applaud NIH for their intent of having information available to investigators and institutions on a more timely basis, but I personally think that discontinuing the LISTSERV in favor of web postings is counterproductive to what NIH has already established. I realize that the web may have its advantages, but what is wrong with continuing the LISTSERV as it is? How much money will NIH actually save? Does NIH really want medical researchers spending valuable time surfing on the web for information? I personally would like to see NIH continue to be more accomodating to researchers. Rather than forcing researchers and research administration offices to sift through information, or compete for access time on a web server, why not provide the information directly to researchers as it is being done now? I have spoken to Myra Brockett at NIH, and she informs me that the NIH GUIDE will not be available in one weekly format. Rather, each item will be posted separately on a weekly basis. What this means to those of us who want to keep our faculty informed of announcements and policy updates, is that we will have spend much more time collecting these announcements and policy updates. With our nifty computers, we will be forced to gather information from NIH as the caveman once hunted for food. What if the U.S. post office decided to cut costs by doing away with home delivery of your mail? What if they instructed you that you would have to come to the post office everyday if you wanted your mail? Of course, it would take you much more time to obtain and read your mail, and believe me you wouldn't be happy! Esentially, NIH's decision to do away with the LISTSERV will eventually cost us and our researchers more valuable time. No longer will we be able to simply look in our email in-boxes, and fire off these important notices and announcements to our faculty, who may or may not have the time to surf the web. The NIH GUIDE stated in its first notice "Furthermore, as part of an overall reengineering of the process whereby the NIH Guide is created and distributed, the NIH will take the next logical step and make it available only via the OER Web Homepage." How many of you actually believe this is really the next logical step? As many of you know, NSF now offers an electronic Custom News Service to keep you informed about grant opportunities. To access this new e-mail alert service, you can go to http://www.nsf.gov/ and click on "Custom News." Isn't this the next logical step? For those of you who feel the same way I do, please take time now to e-mail the those NIH contacts listed below in the notices. The time you take now to respond to NIH could eventually save you valuable time in the future. Mike Luczak Grants Administrator Research Administration Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center xxxxxx@wpogate.slu.edu Phone: 314-577-8108 Fax: 314-268-5551 NIH GUIDE FOR GRANTS AND CONTRACTS: INTENT TO MODIFY NIH GUIDE, Volume 26, Number 22, June 27, 1997 P.T. 34; K.W. 1014006; 1004017 National Institutes of Health PURPOSE The National Institutes of Health intends to modify the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts on October 1, 1997. The format of Request for Applications (RFAs) and Program Announcements (PAs) will not be changed, but the NIH Guide will be available only in HTML format on the Office of Extramural Research (OER) Homepage (http://www.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm). The purpose of this change is to improve the timeliness and accuracy of information dissemination and reduce production costs. BACKGROUND Currently, in addition to paper subscriptions, a delimited, electronic edition of the NIH Guide, which includes RFAs in addition to NA/RFAs, is sent via a LIST to individuals and university offices of sponsored research. The NIH Guide is also available on a public access electronic bulletin board and on the NIH GOPHER, which may be accessed via the OER Homepage (http://www.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm). Through these sources, the NIH Guide, including the full text of RFAs and PAs, is available nationwide within a day of publication. The NIH Gopher service will be discontinued within the next several months and the NIH intends to take advantage of this opportunity to convert Gopher documents to HTML format, that is, web-browser readable format. Furthermore, as part of an overall reengineering of the process whereby the NIH Guide is created and distributed, the NIH will take the next logical step and make it available only via the OER Web Homepage. INTENDED MODIFICATIONS Content of the NIH Guide - The contents of the NIH Guide will not change. Access to the NIH Guide - The current print and LISTSERV subscription lists and the Gopher version will be terminated. The Web edition of the NIH Guide, including the RFAs and PAs, will be available to individuals on the OER Web Homepage (http://www.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm). ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO THE NIH GUIDE FOR GRANTS AND CONTRACTS 1. NIHGDE-L is closed as of the publication of this Notice. No new subscriptions will be accepted. New users of the NIH Guide should access it through the OER Web Homepage. 2. NIH Grant Line Bulletin Board. The NIH Grant Line Bulletin Board will be discontinued on October 1, 1997. Until then, it will continue to be available to current users. 3. NIH Gopher. The NIH Gopher contains information about the NIH, including the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, and has text searching capability. Until September 30, 1997, the NIH Gopher version of the NIH Guide is available on the OER Homepage (http://www.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm). INQUIRIES For additional information or comment on the intended modifications, direct inquiries to: James O'Donnell, Ph.D. Office of Extramural Programs National Institutes of Health 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 6182 - MSC 7910 Bethesda, MD 20892-7910 Telephone: (301) 435-2768 Email: xxxxxx@odrockm1.od.nih.gov Myra Brockett Office of Extramural Programs National Institutes of Health 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 6095 - MSC 7910 Bethesda, MD 20892-7910 Telephone: (301) 435-2801 Email: xxxxxx@cu.nih.gov or xxxxxx@nih.gov For additional information about the NIH Grant Line Bulletin Board, direct inquiries to: John C. James, Ph.D. Office of Extramural Outreach and Information Resources National Institutes of Health 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 6206 - MSC 7910 Bethesda, MD 20892-7910 Telephone: (301) 435-2801 Email: xxxxxx@odrockm1.od.nih.gov _____________________________________ REMINDER - MODIFICATIONS TO THE NIH GUIDE FOR GRANTS AND CONTRACTS NIH GUIDE, Volume 26, Number 31, September 19, 1997 P.T. National Institutes of Health This is a reminder that after September 26, 1997, printed copies of the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts will no longer be available. As described in the June 27 issue of the NIH Guide, the print and LISTSERV versions of the NIH Guide will be terminated. The full text of all Requests for Applications (RFAs), Program Announcements (PAs), and Notices will be available on the Office of Extramural Research (OER) Homepage (http:www.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm). The NIHTOC-L, which contains only the Table of Contents of each weeks NIH Guide will continue. To subscribe to the NIHTOC-L, send mail to: xxxxxx@LIST.NIH.GOV. The text of the mail should read ONLY: SUBSCRIBE NIHTOC-L First-name Last-name e.g., SUBSCRIBE NIHTOC-L John Smith Anyone currently subscribed to the NIHGDE-L that would like to receive the Table of Contents list (NIHTOC-L) should subscribe using the above procedures. INQUIRIES Inquiries or comments regarding these procedures may be directed to: James O'Donnell, Ph.D. Office of Extramural Programs National Institutes of Health 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 6182 - MSC 7910 Bethesda, MD 20892-7910 Telephone: (301) 435-2768 Email: xxxxxx@od.nih.gov Myra Brockett Office of Extramural Programs National Institutes of Health 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 6202 - MSC 7910 Bethesda, MD 20892-7910 Telephone: (301) 435-2694 Email: xxxxxx@nih.gov
