One of Sabinet Online's first products to have its own Web portal is SA Gazetteshttp://www.sagazettes.co.za, currently the most comprehensive collection of searchable gazette data on the Internet.
The service encompasses the full-text of the Government Gazette, dating back to January 1994, and all the Provincial Gazettes from September 1995 onwards. In addition, Parliamentary Bills from January 1999 onwards are also included. Value is added by storing all the indexes to the paper Government Gazettes in a fully searchable file.
The service is in great demand. The number of searches has grown, on average, by more than 56% per year since 1998.
More developments are in the pipeline, and soon the archive of Government Gazettes will date back to 1993, as part of the project to build up the archive from 1990 onwards.
Amourie Wortmann, from Momentum's Library and Information Centre, describes how the SA Gazettes extends their already very successful virtual library within the company superbly:
"Momentum prides itself on being a pioneer in the use of technology with the aim of establishing a paperless office environment. The Momentum Library supports this policy and enthusiastically welcomes electronic media and products that assist us in our goal of working towards a virtual library environment.
"As proof of our success, a large number of staff members are not even aware of the physical presence of the library. Momentum library users are accustomed to using electronic media and take it for granted that the information required will be available electronically. In fact, users are often reluctant to receive paper copies of information.
"When Sabinet Online introduced the SA Gazettes about two years ago, we saw it as an excellent opportunity to extend the virtual library. Access was first given on an individual user basis, but as the need grew, it was decided to make SA Gazettes available to the entire company by way of the intranet.
"In collaboration with Sabinet Online, this product was switched from individual user access to an intranet product within one day.
"The value of the SA Gazettes is two-fold: for the library, as well as for the user.
"An important consideration when buying an electronic product such as the SA Gazettes is whether the product is user-friendly. End-users are not usually trained in search methodologies and that is why the product has to be as simple as possible to use, but still has to give excellent results.
"At Momentum, all staff use the SA Gazettes with special emphasis on the legal advisers and human resource officers. We expect the interface to be user-friendly at a level where it can lead the inexperienced user to successfully acquire the information. SA Gazettes is excellent in this respect; the search facilities are simple but include sufficient detail to obtain the correct search results.
"One shortcoming is the fact that the SA Gazettes only go back to 1994. There are often references - especially in respect of financial information - to Electronic Gazettes dating back to before 1994. It is gratifying to know that they are working on including these as well.
"Sabinet Online has definitely been a pioneer in introducing the SA Gazettes. Especially impressive is that the product was not simply introduced as a database to which one could subscribe, but which contains so much added value.
"Also impressive is the trouble that was taken to create a homepage with so much important and relevant information. We find the homepage just as useful as the product."
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