There is a long tradition of scientists â??going to the benchâ?? to conduct hands on experiments to flesh out a theory and gain invaluable empirical evidence. In that light, Lankes launches a new feature on his website, the Research Workbench. This section of the site will provide access to ongoing experiments and ideas in their very earliest stages.
This area is part of Lankesâ?? â??open effortâ?? initiative. The workbench, in conjunction with â??Ideaâ?? postings to his blog are attempts to share ideas at their earliest stages of development with the research and practice communities. The hope is to spur ongoing conversations about digital library and digital reference research and development.
Currently â??on the benchâ?? are the Bibliomancer, a digital reference based search engine, and information on the Bibliocasting podcasting listserv.