Subject: BioLink, The Biodiversity Information Management System BioLink E-Newsletter No. 1. 25 April, 1999 BioLink, The Biodiversity Information Management System, is now available for testing and evaluation. The Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO Entomology, is pleased to announce that BioLink, the Biodiversity Information Management System, is now available for evaluation by the taxonomic, museum and biodiversity communities. This release, Ver. 1.0 (Beta 1), is the first general release of BioLink. More Information About BioLink For details concerning BioLink, including a complete online version of the User's Manual, see http://www.ento.csiro.au/biolink/home.htm.y/Methodsearch.cfm041499-idx.html Instructions for downloading a copy of BioLink and the BioLink release schedule are also available from this site. You can also contact us directly with any questions and comments at biolink@ento.csiro.au. About BioLink BioLink manages both taxon- and specimen-based information. The current release provides management tools for taxon names ranging from kingdom to subspecies as well as material based on both museum specimens and field observations. Easy to use data entry forms and predefined reports are provided to allow rapid collection and reporting of the highest possible data quality. BioLink provides a range of tools to assist in data collection and analysis. An online electronic gazetteer assists in the geocoding of sites, including sites described by a distance and direction from a named place (for example 19km SE of Canberra). A mapping tool is also included which can plot distributions of taxa, at any rank, directly from the taxonomic checklist. These maps are fully customisable, can be at any scale or level of detail, and can include any number of taxa (each with its own symbol). These maps can be printed directly from BioLink, saved to disk or transferred to a GIS package such as ArcView. Release Schedule, Prerequisites and Costs This release of BioLink is provided free of charge. This free distribution will allow evaluation of BioLink's rich and diverse features and permit potential users to assess BioLink's usefulness in fulfilling their information management requirements. Prerequisites for installing BioLink include a Pentium-based PC running Windows 95/98/NT4, 60 megs of disk space and a Microsoft SQLServer Ver. 7.0 license.. BioLink is designed to run equally well on single PCs, institutional networks and the Internet. Future BioLink releases, together with their contents and pricing, will be announced on the BioLink web site at http://www.ento.csiro.au/biolink/home.htm.y/Methodsearch.cfm041499-idx.html Institutional licensing agreements are available on request from biolink@ento.csiro.au. Subscription to the BioLink E-Newsletter Note that you have been selected to receive this BioLink E-Newsletter based on your interest in biodiversity informatics. If you do not wish to receive further notices please reply to this email with the subject line 'unsubscribe' and you will be removed from the BioLink mailing list. Please feel free to pass this notice to colleagues you feel may be interested in BioLink. Anyone who wishes to be added to the mailing list can do so by visiting http://www.ento.csiro.au/biolink/subscribe/subscribe.html.fm041499-idx.html BioLink E-Newsletters will only be issued to announce major BioLink releases or other significant events. >From the entire BioLink Development Team, David Baird, Natalie Barnett, Neil Fitzsimmons, Ebbe Nielsen, Ian Reid and Steve Shattuck, thanks for your interest in BioLink and we hope you will find it a useful tool while studying the world's biological diversity.