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Resources and News for Information Professionals
ResourceShelf is Compiled & Edited By Gary Price, MLIS Librarian Director of Online Information Resources, Ask.com Editor and Compiler, The ResourceShelf Editor and Compiler, DocuTicker
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Thursday, January 31, 2002
Resource of the Week Documents in the News Legal Documents FindLaw's "Breaking Docs" Site and New Newsletter If you haven't visited FindLaw's document archive you should. It's a must have tool that provides access to the full-text and full-image of primary legal documents for stories that are currently or have been in the news. From the Enron investigation to the Microsoft trial you'll find hundreds of files available in .pdf. New! FindLaw will notify you via e-mail to new documents added to the compilation. A useful, time saving, and interesting service. To subscribe (free) to the newsletter, go to: http://newsletters.findlaw.com/ and select "Breaking Docs". See Also: Direct to FindLaw's "Breaking Docs" Re: War On Terrorism See Also: Direct to FindLaw's "Breaking Docs" Re: Enron See Also: Direct to FindLaw's "Breaking Docs" Re: Microsoft Information Industry--Micromedia Canada's Micromedia Acquired by ProQuest From the news release, "ProQuest Company's (NYSE: PQE) Information and Learning unit announced today that it has acquired Micromedia Limited, Canada's largest developer, publisher, and distributor of value-added reference information for academic, government, and corporate markets. Founded in 1972 and headquartered in Toronto, Micromedia licenses information from media, government, and other sources, creates abstracts, and delivers the information via the Internet, CD-ROM, microform, and print media." "Stephen Abram, vice president of corporate development for Micromedia, commented, "We are pleased to join the ProQuest family. ProQuest has a uniqueunderstanding of the library market and the products we create and distribute.This pairing is an ideal combination for customers, publishers, and employees." Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. See Also: Direct to Micromedia See Also: Direct to ProQuest Web Search--Google On the Google Beat 1) Word from the Googleplex that search interfaces in Belarusian, Javanese, Occitan, Thai, Urdu, and Klingon are now available. You can select your interface language (72 languages now available) on the Google preferences page. 2) PC World has a brief chat with Google's CEO Eric Schmidt. 3) Those of you who use Canada's Sympatico.Ca portal will notice that search results are now being powered by Google. The same is true for Germany's Web.De portal. Like most Google powered sites both of these services do not offer the Google Cache feature. Thanks to Webmaster World for the news tip. Web Search Industry--Pay-Per-Click Engines Trademark Infringement Source: San Francisco Chronicle "Search Engines Sued for Delivering Hits Based on Payment" From Verne Kopytoff's story, "Mark Nutritionals, a diet pill manufacturer in San Antonio, says that people who enter queries about its product, Body Solutions, are misdirected to competing Web sites that have paid for top billing. The suit claims the search engines are allowing an illegal "bait and switch." The lawsuit -- believed to be the first of its kind -- is a major challenge to pay-for-placement search engines, which provide links based not on relevancy, but on who pays. The Federal Trade Commission is already investigating Web sites using this technology for not explicitly telling consumers the results are advertisements in disguise. Mark Nutritionals filed its civil suits against search engines AltaVista, Overture, FindWhat and Kanoodle. The suits, which ask for a total of $440 million in damages, were filed Monday in federal court in San Antonio." See Also: "Suit Targets Pay-for-Play Sites" (via News.Com) Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items) - Crime Laboratories--United States--Statistics Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Survey of DNA Crime Laboratories, 2001 Summary, Spreadsheets ||| Direct to Full-Text 8 pages .pdf - Drug Abuse--United States--Statistics Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy "Economic Costs of Drug Abuse in the United States, 1992-1998" See Also: Price of Illicit Drugs: 1981 through the Second Quarter of 2000 (via ONDCP) - Unclassified Report Source: CIA Full-Text Report: Unclassified Report to Congress on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions, 1 January Through 30 June 2001 Wednesday, January 30, 2002
Information Retrieval--Vivisimo "Vivisimo Awarded National Science Foundation Grant" The National Science Foundation (NSF) SBIR Phase II grant to commercialize its breakthrough document clustering technology is for $500,000, with additional funds available going forward. From the article, "This second grant from the NSF affirms the commercial potential of our document clustering invention," said Raul Valdes-Perez, President of Vivisimo. "Leading industry experts recognize that we provide a solution to two difficult problems facing effective information management and retrieval, which, until now, end users and enterprises have generally had to tolerate." See Also: Direct to Vivisimo Web Search Demo #1 and Vivisimo Demos #2 Book Reviews--Children's Literature--Fee-Based Databases Online Information--Greenwood Electronic Media Database of Horn Book Reviews Premieres Online The searchable "Horn Book Guide" contains 35,000 reviews published between 1990 and 2001. A free 30 day trial is available. Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) - Intelligence--United States--Searchable Database Freedom of Information Act--CIA Source: CIA CIA Places "Electronic Reading Room" Online This new Reading Room replaces the clunky Electronic Document Release Center (FOIA). The site is fully searchable and has an advanced interface which allows limiting by date. A browsable list of Frequently Requested Records is also available. From the site, "The CIA has established this site to provide the public with an overview of access to CIA information, including electronic access to previously released documents. Because of CIA's need to comply with the national security laws of the United States, some documents or parts of documents cannot be released to the public." See Also: USA Patriot Act Raises Questions (via Library Journal) -- Court Information--State of Iowa--Databases New Court Info Database Online From the Iowa Judicial Branch "With the courts’ new electronic public access service, the public will have free access via the Internet to basic court information such as child support payment histories, criminal and traffic records, and case dispositions, from all 99 counties and the appellate courts. The service will include a search tool that will allow users to search for information by case number, case title, litigant names and attorney names...Later this year, the Judicial Branch will provide access to more detailed court information for a $25 monthly subscription fee. Subscribers will be able to check trial and hearing dates, judgment liens, and other information." See Also: Direct to the New Online Database -- Electronic Information--United States Information Law--United States Source: Association of Research Libraries "The Search & Seizure of Electronic Information: The Law Before and After The USA Patriot Act" This matrix is available as a .pdf file. -- Canada--History Source: National Library of Canada Updated/Revised Site: Canadian Confederation Resource Redesigned From the announcement, "While the original site focussed to a great extent on the influence of the American Civil War on Canadian Confederation, the new site provides a more historically Canadian background. The story of each province or territory’s entry into Confederation is supplemented with the biographies of individuals, both supporters and detractors, who had an impact on Confederation. A new graphical layout allows researchers to navigate the site with greater ease. Dozens of historical photos of Canadian cities, newspaper articles, various caricatures, and the full texts of documents and legislation add a multimedia dimension to the telling of this story." See Also: Direct to Canadian Confederation Tuesday, January 29, 2002
Web Search--Teoma Source: Newark Star-Ledger "Search for Tomorrow" All about Teoma. From the article, "A Rutgers team has created a competitor for Web search king Google. But can it take hold in the age of the Internet bust?" Enterprise Search Source: Information Week "More Companies Integrate Search Technology with Enterprise Systems" From the article, "Helping a company provide access to the widest possible swath of data is much more than search, says Prabhakar Raghavan, Verity's chief technology officer. He says truly unlocking content requires the ability to build and populate taxonomies, add structure to unstructured data, and fully understand what he calls "social networks," or the way people interact with each other and the data they use, and how those interactions affect each other." Web Search--Google Source: Australian Financial Review "At Google, The Search is On for Growth Strategy" Note: This article originall appeared in the Wall Street Journal on 1/21. Web Search Source: San Francisco Chronicle "Search Me: Doom Ahead for Search Engines that Charge Listing Fees" From Hal Plotkin's column, "Many Web surfers probably haven't realized it yet, but most of the big online search and directory firms (with the notable exception of Google) recently started asking for money from sites that want to be included in their indexes or listings. The charges range anywhere from roughly $80 to $300, payable annually." See Also: Make sure to take advantage of two high quality non-commerical directories. The LII and Infomine are essential web resources for the researcher. School Librarians Source: Associated Press "School Librarians Adapt to Times" From the article, "Many of the same skills that make librarians indispensable in school are now making them more attractive to the private sector." Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items) - News Search Engines--War on Terrorism Source: Washington Post Specialized Full-Text Search Engine From the Washington Post: War on Terrorism Coverage The Post is making available a "specialized engine" of its 9/11 and War on Terrorism coverage. All material accessed via this engine is available in full-text format for free. See Also: Browse the Complete Archive See Also: To Browse By Subject, Select Topics in Pull-Down Box (3rd Column) - United States Congress--History--Lists Source: Historical Office, United States Senate Presidents Who Addressed a Joint Session of Congress (including State of the Union Addresses) Speakers to Address a Joint Session of Congress (including Presidents, Authors, Actors, Foreign Dignitaries, Others) - Accounting Industry--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Accounting Today Top 100 Accounting Firms Also includes top regional firms. Monday, January 28, 2002
Cross-Database Searching Source: Biblio Tech Review One Interface, Many Databases: ZPORTAL Lands Contract With Minnesota Library Information Network A few months ago we highlighted Roy Tennant's excellent article in LJ about cross-database searching. Word in the new issue of Biblio Tech Review that one of the companies mentioned in Roy's article, ZPORTAL, has been chosen by MnLink, the Minnesota Library Information Network. From the article, "ZPORTAL will provide access to a multitude of different types of library resources including library catalogues and licensed commercial databases that have been made available to all Minnesota residents, including students, staff, and faculty at Minnesota educational institutions." See Also: Direct to the ZPORTAL Web Site and Product Overview Professional Reading Shelf The December/January Issue of Ariadne is Now Available Online A few of the articles in the new issue of this U.K. based journal: "Digitization: do we have a strategy?" "Reference books on the Web" "The Concept of the Portal" "News from the Resource Discovery Network" Information Industry--OCLC "OCLC Closes on netLibrary Sale" From the announcement, "The sale of netLibrary assets to OCLC was finalized at 5 p.m. Jan. 24 in Boulder, Colorado. The sale includes both the eBook Division, which will become a division of OCLC, and the MetaText eTextbook Division, which will become a for-profit subsidiary. Both operations will remain in Boulder." Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) Public Libraries--United States--Databases Source: NCES UPDATED DATA: Public Library Locator From the site, "The Public Library Locator will help you find information about a public library or libraries when you know some information about it. The information in this locator comes from the fiscal year 1999 NCES Public Library Survey. In addition to the locator tool the Public Library Peer Comparison Tool has also been updated with the most recently available data. Or try searching for a public library by using the popular NCES Students' Classroom option." -- In the News Enron Collapse--Resources C-SPAN, "Enron Investigation" Providing Streaming Media (Live and Archived) Access to Congressional Hearings Financial Times, "The Enron Crisis" Profiles, "Who's Investigating Whom", "Companies With Exposure to Enron (chart)" See Also: For Additional Enron Resources See the January 23, 2002 VAS&ND -- U.S. Congress--Web Sites Source: Congress Online Project (Funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts) Full-Text Report Online, Congress Online: Assessing and Improving Capitol Hill Web Sites See Also: "Most Web Sites On Hill Unimpressive - Survey" (via Newsbytes/Washington Post) -- Virtual Exhibits United States History--Civil War Source: Smithsonian Institution New Digital Exhibit: Civil War @ The Smithsonian From the site, "Virtual exhibit produced by the National Portrait Gallery and dedicated to examining the Civil War through the Smithsonian Institution's extensive and historic collections." Sunday, January 27, 2002
Resources, Tools, and Documents (2 Items) - Campaign Finance--United States Federal Contracts--United States Two New Databases (Invisible Web) from the Campaign Finance Info Center and IRE 1) Federal Contracts Database From the site, "Search for federal contracts awarded to a particular business." Contracts awarded between fiscal year 1992 and 2000. "Because of space limitations, only a portion of the entire database is online. The entire dataset is available for purchase through the NICAR database library." 2) Power Search From the site, "Track the political cash flow across several states. This database includes contributions to candidates and how they spent the money. In some cases, it includes money flow to and from political action committees, candidate committees and party committees." - Broadband Technology Source: Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council Full-Text Online, Broadband: Bringing Home the Bits From the site, "...provides a contemporary snapshot of technologies, strategies, and policies for improving our communications and information infrastructure." Information Quality on the Internet SEC Issues Fake Press Release To Alert Investors, Students About Info Quality From the article, "In a twist on recent investment hoaxes, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday issued a news release from a nonexistent company in an elaborate effort to educate investors on the dangers of casual investing. According to the fake release, biological defense systems manufacturer McWhortle Enterprises will go public Jan. 30, 2002. The statement was issued by the SEC via PRNewswire, which disseminates financial news releases." See Also: Read The Fake Press Release (via PR Newswire) See Also: View The Fake "McWhortle Enterprises" Web Site See Also: Read The SEC News Release Saturday, January 26, 2002
Resources, Tools and Documents (3 Items) - Employment--United States & Europe--Lists & Rankings Source: Fortune "The 100 Best Companies To Work For" (U.S.) Sidebar: 10 Great Companies in Europe - Research and Development--United States--Statistics Business--United States Source: National Science Foundation Research and Development in Industry: 2000 [Early Release Tables] - Health--United States--Statistics Source: National Center for Health Statistics Healthy People 2000: Trends in Racial and Ethnic-Specific Rates for the Health Status Indicators: United States, 1990-98 Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text 16 pages .pdf Friday, January 25, 2002
Specialized Web Search--Scirus Science Resources Scirus Debuts Enhanced Search Tool Word from Elsevier, the organization that owns Scirus, that they are online with an "enhanced" and hopefully improved version of their science search tool. What's new? According to the company Scirus has an easier to use interface, a fresher index of content (the Scirus web index is provided by Fast), and word that the engine has formed an advisory board of scientists and librarians to advise "on development" of the engine. Actions speak louder than words and I'm looking forward to testing. In the past Scirus results have been less than impressive. I haven't had a chance to run some sample searches yet but you might want to compare your results with what Péter Jacsó found when he reviewed Scirus last June. More later. See Also: Direct link to Scirus Information Industry--OCLC Used Books OCLC and Abebooks Make A Deal From the Abebooks news release, "Users will be able to link to the abebooks web site (www.abebooks.com) to source out-of-print, secondhand, and rare copies of the books they are looking for in OCLC's WorldCat, the world's largest bibliographic database, through the OCLC FirstSearch service, an online reference service. In turn, visitors to the Abebooks web site who cannot find what they are looking for will have the option to find the title in their local library through WorldCat." The OCLC announcement tells us that this new service can be turned on and off by each subscribing library. Also from OCLC, "This alliance is part of OCLC's global strategic initiative to "weave libraries into the Web," giving libraries greater visibility and expanding the availability of WorldCat for information seekers. The partnerships also allow libraries that use the FirstSearch to offer a wider range of services and materials to their users by providing online access to partner services. The first step in this program was the link from FirstSearch to the Alibris bookseller's web site in October 2001. Since that time, OCLC has signed partnerships with the following organizations: the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, Bowker's booksinprint.com and Gale Group's InfoTrac. Links to these partners from the OCLC FirstSearch service will be implemented in the next few months." See Also: OCLC/Alibris Announcement and Links (via VAS&ND 10/19/01) Public Companies--United States Companies A to Z from Business 2.0 Direct links to key resources and related full-text articles (no charge) from Fortune and Business 2.0. Links for the top 200 companies in the Fortune 500 plus "major players" in key industries. Information Quality Source: The Virtual Chase "Assess the Quality of the Information at a Web Site" Short and to-the-point with respect to the steps readers can take to avoid relying on bad information. Resources, Tools and Documents New Edition of Standard Reference Tool Now Available: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2001 Highlights and Fast Facts ||| Direct to Full-Text (Available by Chapter) Thursday, January 24, 2002
Comments: "Research Documents" and Public Libraries For many people, Yahoo is synonymous with searching. No matter what you need, Yahoo is it. One of the most popular search terms in web search is Yahoo, but that's another story. With the addition of Northern Light/divine full-text "premium content", Yahoo is making material from about 7100 sources available to the masses. That's fine. No problem at all. For info pros NL has been a useful content provider for several years. For end users who don't have access to library databases or need a source not available to them through a library dbase this will be a great service. However, what I find sad is that some of this content is available to public library users who might just head straight for Yahoo without realizing that it's available to them, 24X7 via their local library, from any web accessible computer. Bottom Line? People might be paying for what they could possibly get for free while at the same time reinforcing the Internet myth that Yahoo and other web engines are the only library they'll ever need. The Deal Many public libraries and/or library consortiums make available full-text and full-image content from various well-established database providers like Gale, ProQuest, and EBSCO. Even more full-text/image content is available to those who have access to an academic library and are working on school related projects. Btw, I know that many public libraries outside the U.S. do not currently offer remotely accessible databases. Scott Gatz, V.P of Search at Yahoo, was quoted in a Newsbytes article saying that, "there are sources (in the library) just not available on the Internet today." Gatz is correct in stating that a library holds thousands if not millions of resources only available for those who visit a library. However, much of what Yahoo is now making available can be found on services that are REMOTELY accessible to patrons via their public library. Others can gain access to proprietary databases via their school or academic library if the material will be used for school projects or other academic purposes. Let's hope that libraries are able to continue getting the word out about the full-text and full-image resources. Word of mouth marketing will work. Do libraries a p.r. favor and find out if your public library offers remote database services. Then, let friends and neighbors know about the high quality content available to them at no charge. It would also be wonderful for the database vendors to do some public service advertising promoting these types of services at local public libraries. Obviously I can't list every public library, but here are a few examples of remotely accessible databases from 5 libraries/library systems. Fairfax County Library (VA.) Los Angeles Public Library King County (WA.) Library System Chicago Public Library Downers Grove (IL.) Public Library Other Choices Many online services also offer pay-per-document services. Factiva/Dow Jones News Retrieval offers a library of 6,000 publications. Note: Once enrolled, DJ search syntax seems to work without a problem. LexisNexis and Dialog also offer pay-per-document services. Two More Points One appealing concept in the Yahoo announcement is the ability to view up to 50 documents per month for $4.95. It's a great idea but be careful because not all of the 7,100 resources are included in the flat rate. Here's a list of what does apply towards the 50 document limit. Finally, don't forget that Northern Light's news search and alert services are still available for free. This real-time feed contains full-text content from 56 newswires. All of this content is free to search and read/print for two weeks after publication. Online Information--Questia Source: Houston Chronicle More Layoffs At Questia From the article, "Another round of layoffs at online library and academic research firm Questia Media has reduced the company to a skeleton crew of about 28 workers, just enough to maintain its Web site. About 40 workers were laid off last week without severance pay, sources say, when it became clear plans for another round of investment cash wouldn't materialize. The company previously raised more than $135 million and at one time employed over 300 workers, but has had several rounds of layoffs beginning last spring." Professional Reading Shelf Libraries--Wireless Technology Source: Free Pint "Using Wireless Technology - Where Does the Library Fit In?" Resources, Tools and Documents (5 Items) Consumer Fraud--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Federal Trade Commission Top 10 Consumer Fraud Complaints of 2001 - Public Company Research--United States Two Useful Features from the New Lycos Financial Site After entering a ticker symbol in the search box notice the following links found under the the gray header (top of page): 1) Top Holders Short lists of top institutional, mutual funds, and insider holders of stock. 2) I-Watch "...a window into the previously closed world of institutional trading." Both of these services are "powered" with data from Thomson Financial. - Cities--World--Lists & Rankings Source: EIU World's Most Expensive Cities (Highlights from Press Release) This link contains the Top 20 cities. See Also: World's Most Expensive Countries For Operating a Business (Press Release via EIU) -- Connecticut--History--Databases Invisible Web Image Databases New Database: Connecticut History Online From the site, "Connecticut History Online (CHO) is a collaboration between the Connecticut Historical Society, the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut, and Mystic Seaport." See Also: "Research Institutions Put Connecticut History Online" (via AP) -- Current News Search Yahoo News Adds Content From USA Today See Also: Yahoo Advanced News Search Wednesday, January 23, 2002
UPDATE: Yahoo Officially Unveils "Premium Document Search" Service The service, which has been available for the past few weeks, is basically Northern Light via Yahoo. It's accessible either by going to http://premium.search.yahoo.com/ OR by conducting a search via the main yahoo search interface, news search interface, or Yahoo Finance. An advanced search interface is also available. Links to "Premium Content" can be found under the "Research Documents" header on the right side of a results page or in the box labeled "Research Documents". Content comes from Northern Light/divine's "Special Collection" of over 7100 sources. This premium content will be available for either $2.95 per article OR $4.95 a month to view up to 50 documents BE CAREFUL: Not ALL "Premium Content" qualifies towards the $4.95/50 document limit. Here's a list of what does qualify. - See Also: "Yahoo to Put Price on Searches" (via CNET) See Also: "Yahoo Teams Up With Northern Light for Premium Document Search" (via ResearchBuzz 1/15/02) Electronic Publishing Academic Libraries Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education "Consortium of 12 Universities Begins Project to Deliver Academic E-Books" From the article, "Academic libraries and university presses at Big Ten universities and the University of Chicago have teamed up in an e-publishing venture that aims to put hundreds of scholarly books in electronic form. Last month, leaders of the 12 universities committed from $50,000 to $100,000 to develop a prototype for the joint e-publishing venture, says Tom Peters, director of the consortium's center for library initiatives. The institutions have worked together for decades as part of a group called the Committee on Institutional Cooperation." Also, from the article, "The electronic books would be offered at no charge to libraries within the consortium, says Mr. Peters. The consortium is also considering making the service available to other academic libraries for a fee that would help pay to run the operation, he adds." See Also: Read the Committee on Institutional Cooperation News Release Resources, Tools and Documents (4 Items) In the News Enron Collapse--Resources Special Sections Devoted to Enron Findlaw.Com Extensive list of primary documents. Houston Chronicle, "Hot-Topic-Enron" Full-Text articles, numerous charts, list of area creditors, company history. New York Times, "Understanding Enron" Full-Text articles, lawyer bios, board of director bios. Washington Post, "Enron Probe" Full-Text articles, bios of key players, timeline, key documents. See Also: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce, "Enron Issues" - Children--Health & Well Being--World Source: Population Reference Bureau/Child Trends/UNICEF Kids Count-International Data Sheet Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text (.pdf) - Education--United States--Statistics Source: National Education Data Resource Center (NEDRC) NEDRC Table Library From the NCES announcement, "These tables are based on analyses of NCES data including: the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study, the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty, the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study, and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. You can also request new tables through the NEDRC Table Library." - Olympics--Webliography Source: Free Pint "Winter Olympic Adventures Online" By Marydee Ojala. See Also: Winter Olympics 2002: Ready Reference Resources Tuesday, January 22, 2002
Web Search--Northern Light Northern Light Acquired By divine News Release Highlights--"CHICAGO/CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Jan. 22, 2002 - divine, inc., (Nasdaq: DVIN), a premier integrated solution provider focused on the extended enterprise, today announced that it has acquired certain assets of privately held Northern Light® Technology LLC, a leading provider of search and content integration solutions for enterprises, in an all-stock transaction. Terms of the deal were not disclosed."... "Merging content with the technologies that find and manage it is a logical next step in the development of content-related applications," said Susan Feldman, director of content and retrieval software research at IDC. "In the past year, divine has acquired content management vendors such as Eprise and Open Market, and information aggregators such as RoweCom and Sagemaker. Search was the missing piece. By closely integrating search and content management with a collection of high-quality information sources, divine offers enterprises a single point of entry into both their internal information sources and the external ones that are strategically necessary to their survival. Integrated solutions enable an enterprise to develop an integrated information strategy based on the particular needs and processes of their organization. Workflow, categorization, tagging, publishing, search, and information analysis can now become one seamless process that builds a strong foundation for knowledge work. divine now has a strong offering that will make other content-related software vendors and content aggregators sit up and take notice." See Also: "divine Buys Northern Light" (via Internet.Com) See Also: Direct to divine Home Page See Also: Direct to Northern Light Home Page Academic Libraries Source: Christian Science Monitor "Food for Thought" From the article, "Campus libraries add cafes and meeting spaces to lure students away from their computer screens."..."It's one of many responses to competition from the Internet and electronic databases, which have thrown the quiet world of the college library into a state of flux. Legislators and even college administrators are looking for proof that libraries still matter to students, who would rather use a search engine than hike to the library for a book." Comment: Once again confusion between "search engines" (Google, AltaVista, AlltheWeb) and proprietary search tools that many academic libraries offer via remote access. Internet Archives Source: O'Reilly Net Learn About: The Internet Wayback Machine (http://www.archive.org) An interview with founder, Brewster Kahle. See Also: "Relics of the Lost Bulletin-Board Tribes" (via Salon) From Katharine Mieszkowski's article, "Text files preserve some of the vivacity of old-fashioned online conversation. Will Web-based discussions vanish from the historical record?" Web Search Source: Business Week "A Better Web Through Higher Math" Resources, Tools and Documents (5 Items) - Human Rights Full-Text: Human Rights Watch Annual Report 2002 Released 1/16/02. - United States Capitol Source: Government Printing Office Full-Text: History of the United States Capitol: A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and Politics Available as a .pdf file. Written by William C. Allen, architectural historian in the office of the Architect of the Capitol since 1982. - Internet Resources--Webliography Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology Full-Text: Web Links 2001/2002: Internet Resources for Children From the site, "Web Links is a new annual publication from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology that provides links to some of the best educational resources available online. Web Links 2001/2002: Internet Resources for Children describes over 50 high quality internet resources for children in grades K-8. Also available as a .pdf file. - Literacy--United States--Databases America's Literacy Directory Searchable database from the National Institute for Literacy. - Aviation Safety Source: General Accounting Office Full-Text: FAA and DOD Response to Similar Safety Concerns 74 pages .pdf Monday, January 21, 2002
Online Databases Tasini Decision Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education "Once-Trustworthy Newspaper Databases Have Become Unreliable and Frustrating" From the article, "Scholars worry that they might find holes in their research. No one in academe seems to know how many articles, and which ones, are missing from the databases. After all, online databases, with their ethereal form, aren't like broadsheets of newsprint -- you can't open them like you would a morning paper and see the holes cut out." Information Industry--Gale Group Information Industry--ingenta Source: Information Today NewsBreaks "Gale, ingenta Partner on InfoTrac Plus" From the article, "Gale and ingenta plan to create a joint product that combines Gale’s periodical databases with ingenta’s e-journals within the InfoTrac search interface. ingenta’s more than 5,400 scholarly and academic electronic journals will be integrated within InfoTrac, Gale’s search framework." See Also: Gale/ingenta News Release Information Industry--Elsevier Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education "Elsevier Offers Electronic-Only Option for Journal Subscriptions" From the article, "Elsevier Science announced Friday that it would begin offering electronic-only subscriptions for its ScienceDirect package, a collection of more than 1,200 journals. Institutions previously had to subscribe to paper editions of the journals to get access to their electronic versions." See Also: ScienceDirect News Release Bioinformatics Web Search--Fast Search and Transfer "FAST Search and Transfer Spins-Off Interagon" Fast is the company behind the AllTheWeb search engine. From the announcement, "Fast Search & Transfer ASA (FAST) today announced that it is spinning off Interagon AS, a newly formed bioinformatics company whose products will assist research efforts in the biotechnology market. Based on technology developed at FAST’s research and development labs, Interagon plans to develop products and services intended to allow the discovery of patterns in huge data volumes. By applying this technology to the biotechnology sector, Interagon aims at automating the analysis of the ever-expanding number of biological databases." Sunday, January 20, 2002
Web Search--FirstGov Source: Federal Computer Week Inktomi, AltaVista, Yahoo, and Many Others Vie For FirstGov Contract From the article, "At least three major search engine companies and scores of other businesses are competing to supply the new search engine for the federal government's Web portal, firstgov.gov. Inktomi Corp., whose donated search engine is now running on the site, is among the bidders. So are search engine company AltaVista Co. and Web portal giant Yahoo Inc. In all, about 80 other companies — including consultancies, technology vendors and Internet service providers — are vying for the contract." See Also: VAS&ND 1/9/02 Postings Saturday, January 19, 2002
Reference Tools--Encyclopaedia Britannica Source: Library Journal "Public Antes Up for Britannica.com" From the article, "Encyclopedia Britannica reports that it is doing brisk business five months after instituting a charge for its initially free Britannica.com site. Britannica said that not only is it enjoying "strong and steady sales of new subscriptions" but insists that converting to a fee-based site has helped it re-sign colleges and libraries that had dropped the Britannica Online institutional site when the encyclopedia became free, thus benefiting both the consumer and institutional Internet business." Resources, Tools and Documents (2 Items) Sports Business--United States--Lists & Rankings NBA and NHL Team Valuations - Education Source: UNESCO New Web Site: Knowledge Resources From an announcement, "The Information Programmes and Services (IPS) of the UNESCO Bangkok Office has recently launched a gateway to information resources on education, science and social sciences, culture, and communication/ informatics. The new web-based service entitled "Knowledge Resources" provides links to websites, articles and full text under the main categories 'Virtual Library'; 'Portals', 'Electronic articles' and 'Webcasts'." Friday, January 18, 2002
Resources, Tools and Documents Oil Prices--Chronology Source: EIA World Oil Market and Oil Price Chronologies: 1970 - 2001 -- Home-Based Workers--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Home-Based Workers in the United States: 1997 Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text -- Businesses--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Nonemployer Statistics: 1999 Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text Thursday, January 17, 2002
Ready Reference Resources--Web Tools Another Look at Atomica Atomica, known to some by its former name, Gurunet, continues developing into a worthwhile ready reference tool by compiling content from many well-known reference sources into a useful "one-stop shop". Atomica can be accessed either by entering a term/phrase into a search box on the Atomica site or by downloading a small app (Windows only) to your computer. Downloading the app allows you to highlight words/terms on web pages (pdf pages, MS Word documents, etc.) and automatically run the search (alt-click or right mouse click) against the Atomica database. Atomica's search technology can also be licensed for the enterprise. What types of content can you access with Atomica? Who are the content providers? Acronyms (Acronymfinder.Com) Biographical Info (AND, Muze, InfoPlease.Com, Who2) Company Profiles (Inlumen/Market Guide) Congressional Contact Info (Votenet.Com) Conversion Info Country Data (CIA World Factbook) Dialing Code Info Dictionaries (American Heritage, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary) Encyclopedias (Concise Columbia, Computer Desktop) Maps (MapBlast) Phone Numbers (Highlight A Number, Reverse Search via WhitePages.Com) Stock Quotes (Inlumen) Time Zone Info Translations (Over 10 Languages) Quotations (Simpson's Contemporary Quotations) Also, One-Click Access to Google, Abilty to E-Mail Content See Also: Read Péter Jacsó's August 2001 review of Atomica Information Industry--Factiva Academic Market is the Next Stop For Factiva Roll Out From the announcement, "Factiva(TM), a Dow Jones and Reuters Company, announced today the launch of Factiva.com for the academic and library market. Factiva.com will replace Dow Jones Interactive(R) and Reuters Business Briefing, and deliver for the first time, to schools, the content sets from these two existing products to provide a universally indexed, global content collection of nearly 8,000 sources in 22 languages from 118 countries." Web Search--Google Source: The Guardian "Seeking Search Engine Perfection" Neil Macintosh of The Guardian on the future of Google. Dictionaries--Oxford English Dictionary Source: AP "Oxford English Dictionary Updated" From the article, "Hot-link, karoshi, pitta, riot grrrl ... not some strange new language, just some of the hundreds of new words to make it into the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary Online.The latest quarterly update to the Internet version of the famous authority on the English language reflects many facets of life in the 21st century." See Also: Oxford English Dictionary News, a newsletter from OED (no charge). Reading Shelf FBIS (Foreign Broadcast Information Service)--History Open Source Information Source: Studies In Intelligence (CIA) "Open–Source Intelligence From the Airwaves: FBIS Against the Axis, 1941-1945" See Also: World News Connection (powered with data provided by the FBIS) New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools (2 Items) - Internet Portals--Various States Source: PriceWaterhouseCoopers Endowment for the Business of Government Full-Text Report-State Web Portals: Delivering and Financing E-Service 64 pages .pdf See Also: Background Article About the Report (FCW.Com) - Business--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Current Business Reports: Service Annual Survey 2000 207 pages .pdf Wednesday, January 16, 2002
Entertainment Industry--Databases Internet Movie Database Officially Launches Fee-Based Site, Free Resources Still Available Although pay service has been around for several months, today is the official launch of IMDB Pro. It contains several resources not found on the free site including market research tools to track a celebrities popularity, expanded box-office data, and industry calendars. The subscription fee is $12.95/month or $99/year. The primary IMDB site remains available at no charge. See Also: Direct to IMDB Pro Web Search--Lycos Source: SearchDay New Advanced Searching Capabilities With Lycos Chris Sherman alerts us to some new Lycos "advanced search" features. From the article, "A notable new addition is the catalog filter, which allows you to limit your search to a single Lycos catalog. Lycos uses the word catalog to describe the five sources it searches: The primary Lycos index, which is actually powered by FAST, the Direct Hit and Overture indexes, and the ODP's full catalog or category results only." We also learn that the FAST database is utilized in a different manner on Lycos than on AllTheWeb, Fast's own search tool. This means that the same search on Lycos could return different results on AllTheWeb. See Also: Direct to Lycos Advanced Search Professional Reading Shelf (3 Items) Cyberforensics Source: Computerworld "Cybersleuthing Solves the Case" - Archives Source: Educause Review "Archiving in the Digital Age" This article is available in .pdf. Discovered in the Jan. issue of Digital Libraries - Academic Libraries Source: The State News (E. Lansing, MI) "Library Benefits from Internet Use" From the article, Tim Newman, a music education junior, said he mostly relies on the Internet as an extra source if he gets stuck while working on papers." Newman said his instructors promote the use of the Internet, but not all the time. “Usually, they will say students can use one Internet source,” he said. “They don’t want you to use it too much.” Newman said although he makes use of both, each has its downfalls and upswings. “At the library, I can have the book in my hand, while on the Internet it’s really the luck of the draw if you can find something or not,” he said. “But the Internet is something that’s accessible through your room.” But Blaine McKinley, professor emeritus of American Thought and Language, said he allocates a project requiring Internet research every other semester and students seem to prefer that. “I don’t, they do,” he said. “They see it as sort of fun, and some see the library as sort of intimidating, but from my point of view, there are a lot of resources in the library that aren’t on the Internet." New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools (2 Items) - General Accounting Office (GAO)--E-Mail Alerts New GAO E-Mail Alert Service Available The "Today's Reports and Testimony" alert has been available for a long time. What's new? Reports by Topic. Instead of receiving a daily e-mail with info about all "just released" reports, the new service will send alerts ONLY on the topics you've selected. For example, only send word of new reports dealing with health, education, civil rights, etc. - Urban Legends--Webliography Source: LJ Web Watch: "Urban Legends" Tuesday, January 15, 2002
Information Industry--Ebrary ebrary Signs Agreements With Three University Publishers From the announcement, "Libraries and other institutions will soon be able to offer patrons unlimited online access to full-text, copyright-protected titles from Harvard, Cornell and Indiana university presses." In other ebrary news, ebrarian 2.0 has beenreleased to 36 "pilot" customers. The company also announced that it will, "globally roll out ebrarian(TM) 2.1 with advanced features specifically for libraries in Q1 2002." Information Industry--Dialog Source: InfoToday NewsBreaks "More Ups and Downs Announced in Dialog Pricing" From Barbara Quint's article, "Beginning next month, the company will eliminate the $75 monthly minimum usage fee for U.S. users. In contrast, DataStar’s European users will have their annual fixed service fee (per account) doubled, as well as face higher connect-time fees almost across the board." Document Delivery--Infotrieve Infotrieve Adds Pay-Per-View Content From 4 Publishers Deals with the APA (American Psychological Association), Gordon and Breach, Thieme, and the World Health Organization to provide on-demand access to full-text content. Internet Source: ZDNet New Web Domain Debuts, Hello to .Name From the article, "Global Name Registry is launching the .name domain, reserved for individuals. A similar extension, .me.uk, made its debut in the United Kingdom on Monday." See Also: Direct to the .Name WHOIS Database See Also: Direct to the .Name Registry New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools - Biological Warfare Source: National Library of Medicine New Resource Compilation: Biological Terrorism Monday, January 14, 2002
Online Information--ProQuest Full-Text Books ProQuest and Safari (SM) Join Forces to Launch Online Information Retrieval Service to Libraries From the announcement, "ProQuest Company's Information and Learning unit and Safari(SM) Books Online(SM), LLC announced an agreement today that will grant ProQuest exclusive distribution rights of Safari(SM) Tech Books Online(SM) to academic, public, and K-12 libraries and non-exclusive rights for government libraries. The Safari Tech Books Online library edition, currently under development by ProQuest and Safari, is scheduled for release later this month. The Web-based service allows library patrons to conduct online searches of more than 20 technical categories from Networking to Java to Microsoft's .Net." See Also: Learn More About Safari, Search the Safari Database Enterprise Search--Ask Jeeves Source: IDGNet Jeeves Acquires Octopus From the article, "Search engine developer Ask Jeeves Inc. said Monday that it has acquired the technology assets of Octopus Inc. and will use the new products to extend the search capabilities of its enterprise software to let users find information stored in a back-end database." "The new database search feature could add a much-needed tool for Web users going through a Web site to find information stored on a back-end database, said Tom Topolinski, vice president of software research at Gartner Inc. One of the biggest challenges for Web sites used by consumers is getting users to perform a "self-service" search for information online rather than with a customer representative on the phone." Online Information--Bowker Ulrichsweb.Com Announces New Linking Arrangements Linking agreements with Infotrieve and Ingenta (first announced in June). See Also: Direct to Ulrichsweb.Com New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools (5 Items) - Business--China--Lists & Rankings Source: Fortune The China 100 From the site, "the biggest publicly traded companies in the world's biggest country." - Enron Campaign Finance--United States Source: Center for Responsive Politics Lists: Enron & Campaign Finance An expanding set of lists from the Center for Responsive Politics. Enron: A Look at the Company's Lobbying in 2001 Arthur Andersen: The Enron Scandal's Other Big Donor Contributions to Attorney General John Ashcroft Total Contributions Dating Back to 1989 Top Individual Donors Contributions to Members of Congress Contributions to Presidential Candidates Contributions to Congressional Committees Lobbying, Texas Contributions and Other - Insurance--United States--Databases Source: National Association of Insurance Commissioners (Discovered via TVC Alert) National Association of Insurance Commissioners Consumer Information Source From the site, "...locate basic information about an insurance company, such as financial information and where the company is doing business." Another database provides data about "closed consumer complaints for a selected company". - Energy Industry--United States Source: EIA Performance Profiles of Major Energy Producers 2000 146 pages .pdf/Also available by chapter. - Computer Viruses Source: Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness, Canada Fast Facts: Identifying Virus Hoaxes Sunday, January 13, 2002
Online Information--netLibrary Online Information--OCLC Source: The Daily Camera (Boulder CO.) "NetLibrary Bankruptcy Plan a Go" From the article, "A bankruptcy judge on Friday approved a bankruptcy plan for embattled electronic books provider netLibrary. The plan allows a $10 million sale to an online library services company to proceed, and divides $1 million between the 125 loyal workers who remain at the firm. Spokeswoman Marge Gammon said the company will continue its operations in Boulder as the netLibrary division of OCLC Online Computer Library Center. NetLibrary's President Rob Kaufman will stay on as the local division president, Gammon said." Thanks to B.S. for the news tip. See Also: OCLC/netLibrary Press Release See Also: Judge Approves Sale of netLibrary's e-books to Nonprofit Library Group (via The Chronicle of Higher Education New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools - Business--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Business Week The Top 25 Managers of the Year Managers to Watch 2002 The Top Entrepreneurs The Fallen Each entry contains a short bio. - Satellite Images Source: BBC "Non-Military Satellite Views Earth" Cool! From the article, "A private satellite has started returning the most detailed, freely available pictures ever taken of our planet." See Also: View and download several sample images from the QuickBird Image Gallery Saturday, January 12, 2002
New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools - Winter Olympics 2002--Resources NOTE: I've also compiled these and other related resources onto a separate web page. - Fast Facts--The 2002 Marketing Fact File "This manual is a valuable resource for Olympic marketing information - it includes Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games facts; i.e. vital statistics, marketing programmes, revenue generation and distribution. Also includes overviews of Olympic broadcasting, TOP worldwide sponsor programme, other IOC marketing programmes, and future Organising Committees programmes." Directory--International Sports Federations Directory--National Olympic Committees Directory--Salt Lake City Organizing Committee Reference--List of Commonly Used Olympic Acronyms Statistics, Records--All-Time Olympic Winter Games Champions Statistics, Records--Athletes who have made four or more U.S. Olympic Teams Statistics, Records--Country Medal Totals In Each Olympic Winter Games (by Nation) Statistics, Records--Country Medal Totals In Each Olympic Winter Games (by Year) Statistics, Records--Olympic Winter Games All-Time Medalists Statistics, Records--Olympic Winter Games NOC Athlete Participation Statistics, Records--Olympic Winter Games Records Statistics, Records--Olympic Winter Games Sport-by-Sport Results Statistics, Records--Olympic Winter Games Summary Statistics, Records--Top 10 U.S. Finishes at Olympic Winter Games Statistics, Records--U.S. Medal Chart In Olympic Winter Games Statistics, Records--U.S. Medalists By Olympic Winter Games (1924-1998) Statistics, Records--U.S. Olympic Winter Games Medal Records Statistics, Records--U.S. Olympic Winter Games Medalists By Sport Source: USOC The Following Lists are in .XLS Format Statistics, Records--Athletes With Most Winter Olympic Gold Medals - All Countries Statistics, Records--Athletes With Most Winter Olympic Silver Medals - All Countries Statistics, Records--Athletes With Most Winter Olympic Bronze Medals - All Countries Statistics, Records--Athletes With Most Winter Olympic Medals In A Single Game Statistics, Records--Athletes With Most Winter Olympic Medals -All Countries Statistics, Records--Athletes With Most Winter Olympic Medals - USA Only Statistics, Records--USA Medals Won In The Olympic Winter Games Statistics, Records--USA Winter Olympic Medal Counts By Sport Statistics, Records--Winter Olympic Medal Counts By Country Source: USOC Special Sites From: Salt Lake City, Utah, Host City Guide to the Olympics The Salt Lake City Tribune, Winter Olympics 2002 Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Winter Sports 2002 See Also: Winter Olympics Through The Years via InfoPlease.Com Friday, January 11, 2002
Web Search--Northern Light NL Public Search Shutdown: Letter from Northern Light CEO Placed on Web Site From David Seuss's letter, "While we have made an all-out effort at the advertising-supported Web search model, we find now that we need to refine our business to focus more exclusively on the needs of business researchers and enterprise customers." You can read more on the NL shutdown here. P2P (Peer-To-Peer) Search Future Search Source: Information Week Learn About: Open Cola, A P2P Search Engine Preparing for Beta Test From the article: "OpenCola Ltd. wants to cut through the information glut of peer-to-peer networking. As the company's founder Cory Doctorow puts it, the key is "discovering the things we don't know we don't know." He's not stuttering but identifying a real problem with information searches--it's tough to ask for something until you know it exists." "OpenCola's answer is Folders--P2P collaborative search software that's slated to be on OpenCola.com in late April for public beta testing. It's designed to adapt to users' preferences and provide increasingly relevant content. Users put files of interest--say, an article about security holes in routers--into a folder on their desktop. OpenCola's Folders crawls the network, migrating to the desktops of anyone likely to have the router information." See Also: "OpenCola—Have Some Code and a Smile" (Technology Review 4/9/01) See Also: Direct to OpenCola Site Resource Reviews Jacsó's Digital Reference Reviews For January Now Available This month Péter takes a look at the Bloomsbury Research Centre and 50states.Com. Professional Reading Shelf Reference Linking Source: Learned Publishing 15.1 "Instant Linking - Delayed Use: Setting Provider Expectations" From the abstract, "The web with its hyperlinking is a great environment in which to put electronic journals and to encourage linking of texts. But reference links will only be used substantially if readers incorporate them into new patterns of habitual use. In doing so, many users will be in search mode and only some types of user will habitually use reference linking. There needs to be a sufficient number of references that are linked, the right processes to achieve that efficiently, and something that is worthwhile at the end of the link." Full-Text available online (no charge). See Also: "What is SFX?" (from Learned Publishing 14.4) -- Knowledge Organization Source: Proceedings of XML 2000 "The Tao of Topic Maps" Thursday, January 10, 2002
Web Search--Ask Jeeves Web Search--Teoma Ask Jeeves Completes Integration of Teoma Results Results using Teoma's ranking and Subject-Specific Popularity(SM)* algorithms are found on Ask Jeeves under the "You may find my search results helpful" header. Teoma's "Pages by Topic" and "Expert Links" sections are not currently available via the Ask interface. They will become available on the Ask.Com site redesign later in the year. According to an Ask.Com spokesperson, the database is currently at about 150 million pages. It's refreshed monthly with more popular sites set for recrawl several times a week. A few sample searches found content from early December, 2001. Good News: Teoma will continue to operate, in beta until Q2 2002, as a stand-alone engine. The beta should be complete when the Teoma database reaches the 250 million page mark. All three types of Teoma's search results will be available. Teoma is also working on implementing cached page and spellcheck features. A few sample searches at Teoma.Com shows that the "beta" dbase is still several months old. We'll be on the lookout for changes. Reference Linking PubMed Source: Several Lists including Web4Lib Learn About: LinkOut From the LinkOut site, "LinkOut is a feature of Entrez that is designed to provide users with links from PubMed and other Entrez databases to a wide variety of relevant web-accessible online resources, including full-text publications, biological databases, consumer health information, research tools, and more." From the e-mail posting, "LinkOut in PubMed allows a library to choose which full-text providers to link to. This includes publishers of electronic journals and all full-text providers that participate in LinkOut. In addition, a library can supply links to locally-loaded journal collections or any e-journal collection for which the library can provide reliable URLs. Consequently, a library can easily setup an environment for its users that features seamless and appropriate links to its electronic collection." "Libraries provide links to their e-journal collections via the Library LinkOut Files Submission Utility, where holdings are simply checked off. Use of the Utility is free to all libraries. For registration, please send a request to linkout@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and include the name of the library and a contactperson, telephone number, and address." See Also: Read the LinkOut Overview and FAQ Professional Reading Shelf (4 Items) Librarians--United States Source: IMLS News Release/LISNews.Com $10 Million to Recruit New Librarians From the news release, " Last night Laura Bush announced a proposed $10 million initiative for 2003 to recruit a new generation of librarians. The initiative will be managed by the Institute of Museum and Library Services...Recruiting a new generation of librarians is vital. Research scheduled for publication in the March 2002 issue of American Libraries magazine will show that based on 1990 Census data almost 58 percent of professional librarians will reach the age of 65 between 2005 and 2019." Thanks to M.B. for the news tip. - Public Libraries Source: WSJ/MSNBC "Libraries Focus on New Technology" Thanks to G.T. for the news tip. - Information Quality--Health Information Source: The Lancet "Completeness of Web-Based Melanoma Information Questioned" (Registration Required, Free) From the article, "Bichakjian and co-workers typed the word "melanoma" into six popular commercial search engines and two medical search engines and found 74 sites from various sources (commercial, government, non-profit, medical society, &c) among the first 30 "hits" on each engine that could be assessed against a "gold standard" checklist of 35 factors (eg, included basic definitions, incidence rates, risks, treatment options, &c)." - Web Search--Google Source: USA Today "Google's HQ Provides Blast from Silicon Valley Past" New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools (6 Items) - Patents--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: USPTO Annual List of Top 10 Organizations Receiving Most Patents, 2001 - Digital Collections Nuremberg Trials--Documents Source: AP "Papers From Nuremberg Trial on Web" From the article, "New documents -- taken from 148 volumes of personal papers and records kept by Gen. William J. Donovan during the Nuremberg trials -- will be posted every six months, along with commentary from scholars." See Also: Direct to Nurember Project Site (via Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion) - Cuba--Trade Statistics Source: CIA Cuba Handbook of Trade Statistics, 2000 Now Online Links to 1998 and 1999 editions are included on the site. - Franchises--Worldwide--Lists & Rankings Source: Entrepreneur Franchise 500®, 2002 See Also: Top 101 Homebased Franchises For 2002 - Ready Reference--Biography Source: College & Research Library News "Biography Resources: Finding Information on the Famous, Infamous, and Obscure" - European Studies Discovered in the Internet Resources Newsletter New Section of the SOSIG Gateway: EuroStudies From the newsletter, "The new EuroStudies gateway will provide access to Internet resources about Europe as a region, ranging from issues of international security to the introduction of the Euro. In addition, it will cover information provided by individual European countries, with a particular emphasis on those located in Central and Eastern Europe, which are generally under-represented on the Web." Wednesday, January 09, 2002
Online Information Industry--Lists & Rankings Source: EContent The Content 100 From the December 2001 issue. Now available online. An interesting and useful list. Short descriptions and urls for all companies. EContent editor Bill Mickey writes, "It's not a buyer's guide. It's not a definitive list of all the content companies. It's not complete, even for what we set out to do. What this list does accomplish, though, is illustrate the incredible variety and depth of the content industry." Web Search--FirstGov Source: Government Computer News "GSA Searches for a New FirstGov Engine" From the article, "The General Services Administration yesterday released a request for proposals for a new search engine for the FirstGov database portal.Inktomi Corp. of San Francisco holds the current contract, which expires March 31. The new contract will be for one year with four one-year options. Proposals are due Jan. 17, and GSA wants to award a contract by Feb. 28. The winning vendor will provide installation and hosting services, maintenance and software support. The software infrastructure must be able to spider and index the volumes of uniform resource locators and data GSA expects will increase over the next five years. See Also: "GSA Preps FirstGov Contract" (Federal Computer Week) See Also: Access Full-Text of the FirstGov RFP Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Patents Source: Free Pint "Searching Patents on Government Databases on the Web" - Internet Filtering Source: Newsbytes "More Libraries Filtered In 2001 - Report" New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools (2 Items) - U.S. Government Printing Office--E-Mail Alerts New Titles By Topic E-Mail Alert Service From the site, "This free service allows you to receive convenient and timely e-mail updates of selected new publications available for sale from the Superintendent of Documents. Sign up for any or all of the notification lists covering some of our most popular subject areas and receive updates on new titles as soon as they are available for purchase." - Video/DVD Releases Source: Rotten Tomatoes Upcoming Video/DVD Releases Calendar Browse upcoming titles 4 months prior to release. Tuesday, January 08, 2002
Web Search--Northern Light Northern Light News: Company Will Shutdown Publicly Available Web Search Engine on January 16th Another search tool bites the dust. It's sad to see this one go as NL is refocusing efforts on enterprise services. From the news release, "As of January 16, 2002, the company will no longer be providing free Web search capabilities to the general public. Northern Light's Special Collection(TM), an online business library of over 70 million pages of full-text, authoritative content from more than 7,100 sources, will continue to be offered to enterprise customers and to the public from Northern Light's Web site. Additionally, the company will offer Web searching to enterprise customers. Northern Light will continue to maintain and update its index of more than 350 million Web pages to provide enterprise customers with search of the Web using Northern Light's patented classification technology, and will continue offering custom Web searching for enterprise customers." Still Free: NL's current news search (56 newswires), search alerts, and Special Editions will continue to be publicly available for free according to a NL spokesperson. See Also: "Bon Voyage Northern Light" (via Search Day ) See Also: "Northern Light Ends Free Ride" (via Boston Herald) Web Search--Ask Jeeves/Teoma Web Search--IBM Source: InfoWorld Teoma Results Coming Soon to Jeeves, New Stuff From IBM From the article, "Ask Jeeves plans to integrate Teoma search results in its Ask.com site within the next month, syndicate the technology to portals and Web sites in the second quarter, and later this year offer Teoma as a site-specific search tool for enterprises." Ask Jeeves purchased Teoma in September.The article also includes mention of new web data mining technology from IBM, "Later this month, IBM plans to unveil new technology aimed at elevating the process of Web data mining. The technology will be broader than search, combing algorithms from the Clever project with other data-mining algorithms with an emphasis on massive scalability, said Anant Jhingran, director of computer science at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif." Update: See 1/10/02 Post for Ask Jeeves/Teoma Update Census--United Kingdom--Databases Source: KableNet "U.K. 1901 Census Site Taken Offline" From the article, "The Public Record Office has conceded temporary defeat in the struggle to keep its most popular online service running on the web. A spokesperson confirmed on 8 January 2001 that the 1901 census site www.census.pro.gov.uk had been taken offline because of huge demand from users." "The Public Record Office hopes to have the site running again by 14 January 2002." New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools (3 Items) - Children--Statistics Source: United Nations Full-Text Report: We the Children: Meeting the Promises of the World Summit for Children This report is available either by chapter or as a single 980k document. Make sure to make note of the Statistical Review. According to the UN site this section review, "presents the most recent data on children's rights and well-being and is based on an exhaustive 150-country data collection effort, the largest such endeavour ever." Pilots--United States--Databases Invisible Web Source: FAA FAA Aviation Registry Web Site Adds Airmen Data Search See Also: Direct to the Aviation Registry See Also: Additional Aviation Searches via Landings.Com - Digital Collections Source: News Release 3 New Library of Congress/Ameritech Grant Collections Now Available 1) Chicago Anarchists on Trial: Evidence from the Haymarket Affair, 1886-1887 "...more than 3,800 images of original manuscripts, broadsides, photographs, prints and artifacts relating to the Haymarket Affair owned by the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). - 2) The Church in the Southern Black Community 1780-1925 "...137 texts, 100 of which were supported by the LC/Ameritech award. These printed texts, selected specifically from the libraries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, are primarily books with a few pamphlets and journal articles." - 3) Sunday School Books: Shaping the Values of Youth in the Nineteenth Century "...163 Sunday school books published in America between 1815 and 1865, drawn from the collections of Michigan State University Libraries and the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University Libraries." See Also: Additional LC/Ameritech Resources Monday, January 07, 2002
Enterprise Search--Northern Light Future Search Northern Light and In-Q-Tel Team To Develop New Search System From the press release, "Northern Light Technology, LLC and In-Q-Tel have teamed up to develop an advanced search system that will eliminate the need to manually sift through countless documents in a variety of languages. In-Q-Tel can now take advantage of a unique combination of search capabilities from Northern Light that will use double-byte technology to deliver comprehensive and relevant Web content in multiple languages." In-Q-Tel is a "venture catalyst" organization that's chartered by the CIA. A review of press releases In-Q-Tel funding of Intelliseek, the ProFusion folks, Mohomine, and Tacit Knowledge Systems. See Also: Direct to the In-Q-Tel Site See Also: "CIA Doesn't Spook Northern Light" (via Internet.Com) Academic Libraries Association of College and Reference Libraries ACRL President Mary Reichel to Hold Live Webcast on "The Changing Library" It's scheduled for 1/29/02 at 2pm EST. No charge to view the webcast but you will need to sign-up. More details on the linked page. See Also: You can also access and view (free) an archive of webcasts including the 11/13/01 session, Librarians and Information Technology, with ACRL Executive Director Mary Ellen Davis. Web Search --Usenet Web Search--Google Source: Salon "The Geeks Who Saved Usenet" From the article, Google gets the credit for making these relics of the early Net accessible to anyone on the Web, bringing the early history of Usenet to all. Michael Schmidt, 29, a Google software engineer, spent the last year and a half playing detective, trying to track down the Internet's lost history: "It was a long and painful investigative process. I was searching on the Web, calling people. There were a lot of dead ends." But it was the geeky pragmatism and historical foresight of Usenet old-timers themselves that actually saved the early history of the newsgroups so that we can all poke around in it today. These "archive donors," whom Google thanks here, gave their copies of the millions of messages they'd saved back to the Net." Thanks to S.C. for alerting us to this article. New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools (2 Items) - Libraries--United Kingdom Source: Library Association New Library Association Report: Libraries and Lifelong Learning: a Strategy 2002-4 See Also: Direct to the Report (Full-Text, 18 pages) -- Aviation--United States--Statistics Source: NTSB Full-Text Report: Public Aircraft Safety Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text Sunday, January 06, 2002
Patent Information Source: Library Journal "U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Destroying Paper Files" From the article, "Citing space concerns and maintenance issues, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has begun discarding paper copies from its collection of more than 6.3 million patents issued since the mid 19th-century, with a proposal on the table eventually to discard them all." "Meanwhile, although a notice in the Federal Register has asked for public comment on a proposal to discard the public’s patent collection, LJ has learned that a decision seems to already have been made. According to numerous sources, plans approved for the USPTO’s new home contain no space for a public collection of documents." See Also: Read the RFC Published in the Federal Register See Also: Read Comments Submitted To The PTO About the FR Notice Web Search--Google Source: Business 2.0 Google Hires a Grown-Up From the article, "She's a well-connected Harvard MBA and a former World Bank economist, and she most recently worked as chief of staff to former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. So why has Sheryl Sandberg ditched D.C. for a new job in Silicon Valley -- a business development job, no less -- at ... Google?" Future Search--Television Source: Business 2.0 TV That Works Like the Web From the article, "Move over TiVo. A new startup wants to make all television content archived, indexed, and searchable." Saturday, January 05, 2002
Online Information--Oxford University Press Online Information--xrefer Source: The Guardian More on the New OUP and xrefer Fee-Based Services We've mentioned both of these new products in posts on 11/22/01 and 12/6/01. This article provides a bit more insight into both services. Btw, Proofreading problems. The Guardian incorrectly identifies xrefer as xref. See Also: Direct to xreferPlus (Free-Trial Available) See Also: Direct to OUP Site NOTE: xrefer Continues To Offer a Large Amount of Useful and Authoritative Reference Content For Free Friday, January 04, 2002
Professional Reading Shelf (3 Items) Source: Science "The Stucture of the Web" This brief overview article is by two of the foremost experts on web structure, Dr. Jon Kleinberg and Dr. Steve Lawrence. This article appeared in the November 30, 2001 issue of Science. Access is via Dr. Kleinberg's web site. See Also: Dr. Kleinberg's Web Page See Also: Dr. Lawerence's Web Page - Humanities--Research Source: Council on Library and Information Resources Full-Text Research Report: Scholarly Work in the Humanities and the Evolving Information Environment - Libraries Source: Council on Library and Information Resources The Evidence in Hand: Report of the Task Force on the Artifact in Library Collections New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools (2 Items) - Language Source: BBC Words of 2001 From the article, "Many of the defining moments of 2001 spawned their own words and phrases. At year's end, we take stock of these additions to the news lexicon." Thanks to C.S. for the alert. - Research Reports (Full-Text) from the Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Australia "Mutual Misperceptions: The Historical Context of Muslim-Western Relations" "Indonesia and Transnational Terrorism" Avialable in HTML or PDF "Digital Television and Datacasting" E-Brief "Hospitals in Australia" E-Brief Thursday, January 03, 2002
Web Search--Google Use the * (Asterisk) as a Wildcard With Google Phrase Searches For your Google search tips and tricks file. Here are a few examples: "Lord * * Flies" "Nothing to * * * Itself" "George * Bush" Ready Reference Source: The World Almanac The January 2002 World Almanac Newsletter is Now Online Perfect for the reference desk! Info on January 2002 events, birthdays, "This Day in History", December 2001 chronology and much more. Information Science Free Full-Text Acce |
