A service-oriented information sources database for the biological sciences.

Researchers in the biological sciences require access to a variety of information sources located in various places on different computer networks. In order to satisfy the information needs of a researcher, appropriate information sources must be selected and access to these information sources and the computing services supporting them must be provided in a way that does not distract the researcher from problems of real interest. At the University of Missouri-Columbia a service-oriented information sources database is being developed as a key component of a layered-model design of an intelligent system which will provide a research environment appropriate to the needs of researchers in the biological sciences.