Sport Information Resource Centre

Based in Ottawa, Canada, the Sport Information Resource Centre (SIRC) is the producer of the SPORTDiscus database, the world's leading database on sport, fitness, and sports medicine. Since 1973, SIRC has been identifying, organizing, and communicating sport and fitness information and providing it through a variety of products and services. Subscribers include universities, libraries, and hospitals, as well as coaches, athletes, professors, and medical practitioners worldwide.

The SPORTDiscus database is the most authoritative and comprehensive database of its kind, unique in breadth and quality. It contains over 600,000 references, 20,000 theses and dissertations, 40,000 website addresses, and links to full-text articles on all aspects of the world of sport including sports physiology, kinesiology, physical education, sports medicine, engineering, and the arts and humanities. Thousands of new articles, references, and websites are added each year. The database includes twenty-five percent research-level material, fifty different languages, multidisciplinary coverage and descriptive abstracts in English, French, Spanish, and Italian.

SIRC purchased STAR in 1998 to replace SIRC's MINISIS system and manual serials cardex system. STAR is used to manage and maintain the SPORTDiscus database. The STAR/Libraries application facilitates data entry and the search for and indexing of information. According to the then-Director of Computer Operations, STAR's user-friendly graphical interface has improved data entry productivity, and the STAR/sdi application has enabled the creation of new services, such as the SIRCRetriever and the SIRCUIT Program. In addition, the STAR/Thesaurus application has simplified the process of updating SIRCThesaurus, which controls the terminology used in the indexing of documents for the SPORTDiscus database.

SPORTDiscus is available through SIRC's fee-based SIRCDetective service. More than 75 percent of all references indexed in the SPORTDiscus database can be ordered though the SIRCExpress website, using an online order form, with delivery via electronic or traditional delivery methods.

For more information, visit: http://www.sirc.ca