Highlights for March 10, 2000
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• BioLink Review. Staff at the USGS Center for Biological Informatics are conducting an evaluation of BioLink for possible use within the Survey. This powerful software tool is used to manage taxonomy-based information. The software provides searching capabilities for nomenclature, distribution, classification, ecology, morphology, illustrations, multimedia, and literature. (John Clark, Denver, 303-202-4244)

• Web Site Cleanup Continues. USGS Center for Biological Informatics staff continue to enhance and reorganize the BRD and National Biological Information Infrastructure Web sites. More than 3 gigabytes of old and extraneous data were removed, and the search function was moved to the main USGS search server in Reston. These changes will greatly improve the sites’ usability and functionality. (John Clark, Denver, 303-202-4244)
• Security Scan of BRD/NBII Network Computers Comes Up Clean. The USGS Center for Biological Informatics hosts BRD and National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Web pages and related information resources. A recent computer security scan conducted by the Computer Security Officer for BRD indicated only minor problems, which will be addressed over the next several weeks. (John Clark, Denver, 303-202-4244)

II. Agency Works on Presidential Initiatives:No report

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.