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Science is not taken for granted any longer. Society, politics and the media pose critical questions tending to censorship or at least control of science. How does science respond? It cannot exist and develop without freedom, but this does not mean freedom to amass knowledge and apply technological applications at any price and without restrictions. Science should be autonomous, but is not value-free. A distinction is made between external and internal social/ethical problems. The former refer to questions of the social/ethical context and consequences of scientific research, and the latter to the rules of 'good practice' and scientific integrity. The role of academies of science, and of associations of such academies (e.g. All European Academies (ALLEA)) in developing codes of good scientific practice and fostering a proper sense of scientific values and standards is further discussed.

Initiative (AMECHII) is a response to a recommendation of the Michigan Information Technology Commission Report recommending improved access to high-quality health care information for all Michigan stakeholders. This project is multi-type, including public, general academic, academic health science, hospital, and special libraries. Objectives include extending the current network infrastructure to serve all libraries and to negotiate statewide licenses for core and extended electronic collections, including reference materials and serials, recognizing the economic realities in American hospitals and libraries and the need for economic viability of publishers. This pilot project, if successful, will be used as a model for other statewide information projects. The planning process, which will begin with a comprehensive needs assessment, gap analysis, and economic model, will result in the design of a statewide health information architecture/system design and will include economic sustainability and new paradigms for library collaboration and federation in the acquisition and distribution of electronic resources over a wide area. AMECHII will also seek international partnerships with developing countries to cooperatively develop an electronic health information infrastructure in those nations and to seek external funding to do so. (Author/MES) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

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University of Cincinnati 29,880 undergraduates 6,304 graduate students 3,267 faculty 10,958 staff Computing Center supports academics, library and administration. Staff: 175 FTEs; 100 part timeThe University of Cincinnati (UC) has implemented an approach to studying and developing information delivery systems, services and computer-mediated communications for the faculty, staff and students of its Medical Center. This approach recognizes that the future success of academic medical centers is critically dependent on the timely acquisition and use of biomedical and institutional information and efficient communication among health care providers and staff. UC and the National Library of Medicine have supported the development and testing of an integrated academic information management system (the IAIMS Project #LMO4663-03).IAIMS at UC is a model for the systematic implementation of a highly distributed computing environment which provides access to disparately located and managed information resources from an integrated workstation which presents them to the user as facets of a single resource. The main purpose of this environment is to deliver information resources and empowering tools which enable users to interact with needed information in effective and convenient ways. IAIMS is therefore one viable model for support of end-user computing. At UC, this model has been designed and implemented to function compatibly with a traditional model of central computer support services, where a single organizational unit is responsible throughout the organization for delivering support services for all users of computing, telecommunications, etc.In many college and university environments, the proliferation of end-user computing may be seen as a threat to the hegemony of centraIized computing organizations or as a movement which can be controlled by enforcing centrally-mandated "standards." Development of a disuibuted model of information delivery in an academic environment, and one which is compatible and cooperative with the essential role of a central computing facility, is based on the following premises:.