Portals: enabling discovery for all in higher and further education

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) information environment aims to offer seamless and integrated access to a wide range of digital collections and resources through a common interface. Portals are a primary means through which such resources will be delivered to users, facilitating the discovery of information. Portals can deliver their functionality by embedding distinct portal services in Web environments familiar to the user, such as an institutional portal or virtual learning environment. Initial work on such embedding has started, though this promises to be a major area for future development.