Linda is Manager, Information Services. She has 20 years' experience of working for TWI's Information Services.
Helen is Deputy Librarian at TWI. She joined the staff in 1994, after completing her MA in Librarianship and Information Science at Sheffield University.
Geoff became Head of Technical Enquiries two years ago. He was previously involved in research at TWI in plastics, adhesives and engineering and materials.
Peter is Head of Information Processing, and has been deeply involved in production of the Weldasearch database since joining TWI in 1971.
TWI has provided a comprehensive information service on all aspects of joining technology to its Industrial Members for more than 50 years. Linda Dumper, Helen Ogle, Peter Adams and Geoff Hale explain . . . Over 8500 enquiries from staff, Industrial Members, Professional Members, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) and a variety of non-members are now answered each year within the Information Services section. Some 3000 of these enquiries are direct from Industrial Member companies or are enquiries made by TWI staff on behalf of member companies.
The service has been built with your needs in mind. From the manufacturer or supplier of a particular piece of equipment to the interpretation of a specification, or an exhaustive listing of the articles written on any joining related subject, the Information Services section tries to offer an answer to your question.
For those who have not already used the services available as part of their membership, and for current users who may not know the whole breadth of facilities on offer, the details of the three main services are outlined:
TWI Library
TWI Library ( Fig.1) is a resource centre for information on all aspects of welding and materials joining technology. Industrial Members are always welcome in the Library. As seating is limited it is advisable, though by no means essential, to let us know when you are coming.
Enquiries
Approximately 5000 enquiries are answered each year by the library staff, using the extensive collection of over 10 000 books, 500 current journals, thousands of worldwide standard specifications, company literature on equipment and consumables, reference works on materials compositions and company information.
Loans
A loan service is offered to Industrial Member companies of items from stock: books, journals, conference proceedings, reports, videos. Our loan period is one month, renewable if the item has not been reserved by another user.
Photocopies
Photocopies can be provided within the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1988. The act also requires us to make a charge to recover the costs of making a photocopy. This can either be paid in advance, or can be deducted from your company's prepaid allowance. Members of the IIW UK section can also now obtain copies of IIW documents as part of this service.
The library is, in addition, an international archive for welding and joining related publications, with many books and journals dating back to the early 1900s.
All items received in the library relevant to welding and allied processes are included in the Weldasearch database. Loans or photocopies of many items listed in searches from the database are available from the library.
Technical enquiry service
Although a large percentage of Technical Enquiry Service (TES) (Fig.2) activities are devoted to handling enquiries from Professional/Welding & Joining Society (WJS) members and non-member organisations, the service is equally available to staff from Industrial Member companies. One of the major functions provided by the TES for members is to act as an 'intelligent signposting' system. When staff from an Industrial Member company are uncertain who to contact at TWI, a discussion with TES staff will help to identify those TWI staff who have expertise in the appropriate area relating to the enquiry.
Enquiry service
The Technical Enquiry Service can also provide specific assistance with problems such as:
- checking and interpretation of standards
- provision of information on equipment and suppliers
- reprints of Bulletin articles and copies of basic articles on different aspects of joining technology
- a broad awareness of TWI services and products, eg, software, training courses, Group Sponsored Projects etc.
Support is also given to other TWI staff seeking information - very often on equipment suppliers, to complete a piece of work which they are undertaking for an Industrial Member company.
Quality
As part of TWI's commitment to quality, the TES (together with the Membership Department) has responsibility for monitoring the quality and timeliness of responses to Industrial Member enquiries.
Joining Forces
The Joining Forces Help Desk, part of TWI's enquiry service, plays a major role in the joining Forces programme - an initiative promoting best practice in materials joining technology to UK SMEs.
To conclude, whatever you need, the aim of the TES is to ensure that you are provided with the required information or support at the time when it will be of greatest benefit.
Information on tap
Do you want to keep up to date regularly in particular fields of joining technology? Do you need to find out today what has been published on a topic that is suddenly of interest to you? Weldasearch can help.
Thirty years of information on welding and allied processes - 150 000 bibliographic references stored away on computer - that's Weldasearch. It's a comprehensive database covering the joining of metals, plastics and ceramics, spraying of metals and ceramics, thermal cutting, surfacing, brazing, soldering and related topics.
What we cover
Weldasearch covers every aspect of welding and allied processes, including equipment and consumables for joining and cutting processes, design for welding, welding metallurgy, fatigue and fracture of welded joints, corrosion, surfacing, microjoining, quality assurance, non-destructive testing, health and safety, commercial applications, market statistics and industry news.
Materials involved include steels, non-ferrous metals, plastics and ceramics. Sources are journal articles, research reports, books, conference papers, standards, patents and theses, published from 1967 to date. Coverage is international.
Weldasearch is updated monthly (approximately 6000 new records per year).
Services available
- Weldasearch One-Call:
- we do the on-line search for you and send you the abstracts.
- Weldasearch On-line:
- publicly available worldwide from ORBIT"QUESTEL and ESA-IRS. Cost depends on connect time, number of hits viewed, etc. All three hosts are available via the Internet (using Telnet) and via the international packet-switching networks which you can access through local dial-up by modem.
- WWW- Weldasearch:
- a new way to reach Weldasearch - Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (Bethesda, MD, USA), via their Internet Database Service (IDS), provides access to a number of databases including Weldasearch via the World Wide Web (WWW). With a web browser (Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Explorer, etc.) you can do your own searches, and download abstracts to your own PC. The search is under your control, you do not have to learn a specialised command language, though there is an 'expert' mode available, and you get the results instantly.
- Weldasearch Select:
- a monthly current awareness service - a set of references sent to you, based on your own specific subject interests.
- Welding Abstracts:
- a regular publication containing hundreds of new abstracts grouped by subject, with author, subject and company indexes.
- Weldasearch In-House:
- the full file on tape or disc to search on your own computer, supplied as an ASCII text file, plus monthly updates.
- . . . and more:
- we can do searches for you on other databases, covering metallurgy, engineering, and so on - virtually all facets of technology.
TWI Web site and internet developments
The TWI web site is designed, organised and updated regularly by Sheila Thomas of Information Services, who is the TWI Webmaster. A complementary Joining Forces web site includes information on its programme partners, network of demonstration centres and all other programme activities. Sheila, and other staff in the section are also involved in the development of Internet systems to offer Industrial Members a more flexible way of accessing the range and scope of information available via the Internet. Please see Bulletin 2/97.
For a general introduction to Information Services on the web, TWI's site URL is http://www.twi.co.uk
Conclusion
Whatever your question related to joining technology, the Information Services section of TWI can help you. If we do not have the answer on site, we will contact other organisations, or advise you of other sources to try.
When you next come to TWI, please ask for a visit to Information Services to be added to your agenda, then we can show you in detail what we can do for your company.
For further details, and how to use the services available:
Library
Tel: +44 (0)1223 899000
Fax: +44 (0)1223 892588
E-mail: library@twi.co.uk
Weldasearch
Tel: +44 (0)1223 899000
Fax: +44 (0)1223 892588
E-mail: weldasearch@twi.co.uk
Technical Enquiry Service
Tel: +44 (0)1223 899000
Fax: +44 (0)1223 892588
Joining Forces Help Desk
Tel: 01223 893879
Fax: 01223 892588
E-mail: joining_forces@twi.co.uk
TWI web site
http://www.twi.co.uk
E-mail: webmaster@twi.co.uk
