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