Position papers, research projects and current events assignments about the Gulf of Mexico’s ongoing oil disaster can easily be completed using LSU Libraries Oil Spill Information Service website, which the department started shortly after the April 20th well blow out and plans to give a face lift to this month.
“Now we’re going to shift the focus more onto academic type resources, government information and the retrospective and summarizing articles rather than individual [news stories] that move and change daily,” said Jenna Ryan, an assistant librarian in reference who works with the site. “It can be something that’s a little more permanent.”
The website compiles information about the spill sorted by tags for easy browsing by topic, and Ryan said students can use the site to find information needed for class projects about the Gulf blowout.
Ryan said a new version of the site — with more user-friendly formats — will launch in about a month. The current site will remain available to users without disruption until the new version launches, she said.
Jorie Porter, an assistant librarian who helped create the website, said all of the linked resources are available to anyone with a PAWS ID — some use subscription-based databases — though a majority of the information is available to anyone visiting the site.
Ryan said the department promoted the website during the summer using Facebook and Twitter.
“We know the site spread all around the county because we’ve seen those announcements get spread by other users,” Ryan said.
Ryan said her department recently started a long-term project to centralize research about the BP blowout on one site aggregating all projects underway at the University. They’re “still working out the exact format,” but Ryan said the department has already been in touch with professors from different departments for feedback on the project, which could take a year or more to launch.
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Contact Nicholas Persac at [email protected]