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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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Archives 06/01/1990 - 06/30/1990 03/01/2001 - 03/31/2001 04/01/2001 - 04/30/2001 05/01/2001 - 05/31/2001 06/01/2001 - 06/30/2001 07/01/2001 - 07/31/2001 08/01/2001 - 08/31/2001 09/01/2001 - 09/30/2001 10/01/2001 - 10/31/2001 11/01/2001 - 11/30/2001 12/01/2001 - 12/31/2001 01/01/2002 - 01/31/2002 02/01/2002 - 02/28/2002 03/01/2002 - 03/31/2002 04/01/2002 - 04/30/2002 05/01/2002 - 05/31/2002 06/01/2002 - 06/30/2002 07/01/2002 - 07/31/2002 08/01/2002 - 08/31/2002 09/01/2002 - 09/30/2002 10/01/2002 - 10/31/2002 11/01/2002 - 11/30/2002 12/01/2002 - 12/31/2002 01/01/2003 - 01/31/2003 02/01/2003 - 02/28/2003 03/01/2003 - 03/31/2003 04/01/2003 - 04/30/2003 05/01/2003 - 05/31/2003 06/01/2003 - 06/30/2003 07/01/2003 - 07/31/2003 08/01/2003 - 08/31/2003 09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003 10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003 11/01/2003 - 11/30/2003 12/01/2003 - 12/31/2003 01/01/2004 - 01/31/2004 02/01/2004 - 02/29/2004 03/01/2004 - 03/31/2004 04/01/2004 - 04/30/2004 05/01/2004 - 05/31/2004 06/01/2004 - 06/30/2004 07/01/2004 - 07/31/2004 08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004 09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004 10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004 11/01/2004 - 11/30/2004 12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004 01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005 02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005 03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005 04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005 05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005 06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005 07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005 08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005 09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005 10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005 11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005 12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005 01/01/2006 - 01/31/2006 02/01/2006 - 02/28/2006 03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006 04/01/2006 - 04/30/2006 05/01/2006 - 05/31/2006 06/01/2006 - 06/30/2006 Now Available Additional Web Reference Compilations direct search (Invisible Web Resources) Audio/Video Current Awareness Tools WWW Accessible Congressional Research Service Reports
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Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents Lists & Rankings + Books: Top 50 Bestsellers of 2003 (Amazon.Com) ||| Additional Amazon Lists + Books: Top 100 Bestsellers of 2003 (Barnes & Noble.Com) |||| Additional B&N Lists are Listed on Right-Side of Page + Books: The Best Sellers of 2003 [Canada] (The Globe and Mail) ||| Lists also Available via Amazon.Ca --- + Movies: Box Office Grosses [United States] 2003 (BoxofficeMojo.Com) ||| All Time Box Office Worldwide Grosses + CDs: 100 Top-Selling of 2003 (Amazon.Com) + DVDs: 100 Top-Selling of 2003 (Amazon.Com) + Video: 100 Top-Selling of 2003 (Amazon.Com) -- + Top Albums of 2003 (Billboard) + Top Singles of 2003 (Billboard) + Additional Billboard Charts + ARIA End of Year Charts [Australia] -- + 2003 Year End Top 20 Tours (Pollstar) --- + News: Most Read Stories on BBC News --- + Top 10 Space Science Images (Space.Com) -- + Lake Superior State University Banished Words List From the site, "Hardly looking 'metrosexual,' a 'shocked and awed' Lake Superior State University Word Banishment selection committee emerged from its spider hole with its annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness. LSSU has been compiling the list since 1976, choosing from nominations sent from around the world. This year, words and phrases were pulled from more than 5,000 nominations - a record. Most were sent through the school's website. Word-watchers pull nominations throughout the year from everyday speech, as well as from the news, fields of education, technology, advertising, politics, and more. A committee gathers the entries and chooses the best in December. The list is released on New Year's Day." --- See Also: Price's List of Lists (via SpecialIssues.Com)
Total Information Awareness Program Privacy--United States Source: Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense Full Text Report, Total Information Awareness Program See Also: DARPA ignored privacy concerns (via FCW) Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Information Retrieval Web Search Compilation: Recently Awarded Search-Related Patents and Patent Applications, December 2003 I've compiled the November list of just-awarded or published search patents from the USPTO. This list is not comprehensive. Companies awarded patents include Google, IBM, and Phillips.
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Instant Messaging Source: ACM Queue Beyond Instant Messaging From the article, "The recent rise in popularity of IM (instant messaging) has driven the development of platforms and the emergence of standards to support IM. Especially as the use of IM has migrated from online socializing at home to business settings, there is a need to provide robust platforms with the interfaces that business customers use to integrate with other work applications." See Also: Social Networking Vendors Aim for the Enterprise (via eWeek) -- Academic Libraries Source: Association of Research Libraries Now Available: 1) ARL Preservation Statistics 2001-02 (PDF, 59 pages) 2) ARL Supplementary Statistics 2001-02 (PDF, 41 pages)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items) Employment--Canada--Lists & Rankings Source: The Globe and Mail/Hewitt Just Released, The Best Employers in Canada, 2004 See Also: Story in The Globe and Mail -- Amusement Industry--United States--Directory Source: Consumer Product Safety Commission Full Text, Directory of State Amusement Ride Safety Officials "This Directory identifies the individual state offices dedicated to ride safety to encourage communication among the states and the federal government.... We also include contacts for various amusement ride industry organizations and associations, whose interests include ride safety."
Briefly Watch those Reference Books: FBI Issues Alert Against Almanac Carriers Source: AP, via IHT From the article, "The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for terrorist planning." See Also: Almanac Publishers Respond To FBI Bulletin (via AP) Monday, December 29, 2003
Web Search--Yahoo Just Released, Top Yahoo Searches 2003 Also includes the five most common misspellings of Arnold Schwarzenegger. See Also: Lycos Announces Its List of the Most Popular Search Terms of 2003
Ready Reference Source: InfoPlease.Com Just Published, 2003 Year in Review A handy compilation of facts. Reviews are also available for 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, and 1998 are also available. See Also: 2003 Month-By-Month
Web Search--Google Source: San Jose Mercury News Google chief coy on IPO rumors From the article, "Search engine Google's Chief Executive Eric Schmidt shook his head in wonderment. Almost like clockwork, he noted, the U.S. economy always expands rapidly when headed into a presidential election year. Schmidt was responding to the buzz circling Silicon Valley about an imminent return to strong economic growth -- and what it means for Google and other start-ups. Schmidt, wearing his habitual quirky grin, declined to say what it meant for Google's allegedly pending initial public offering. The IPO is widely expected to take place next year, and guesstimates have the value of the company at more than $15 billion." See Also: Is Google good for you? (via BBC News) BBC Commentator Bill Thompson writes, "In my opinion, Google today is far from the great search engine it was in those far-off days, yet I still use it. Even knowing that it indexes only a small proportion of the web using a technique that too often gives precedence to pages that lack authority or coherence, that it is skewed by multiple blog links and can be manipulated by unscrupulous advertisers, doesn't stop me typing search terms into my toolbar and feasting on the results. What's worse, I've let both of my children believe that 'search the web' and 'Google' are roughly synonymous, even though I teach my journalism students at City University that they should never rely on a single source, online or off. How has it come to this? Perhaps it is simply that Google has become the Coke of the web. Sweet, available everywhere, and the first choice of the consumer. Well part of the reason, obviously, is that I'm as lazy as most other web users, and having found something that sort of works, at a URL that I can easily remember, I stick with it." I agree with just about everything Mr. Thompson has to say in the column about except his point that Google needs to be regulated by the government. If you don't like Google, it doesn't work for you, or you want to see what else is available, plenty of other good general web engines and many wonderful specialized database resources exist. Also, taking a little time time to learn how to fully exploit a few key resources (including Google) can make your online research much more productive. Of course, it's also important to remember that it's not all on the open web. Bottom Line? A little education goes a long way.
Information Industry--FAST Search & Transfer Wireless Searching FAST Search & Transfer Will Power Vodafone's Mobile Search From the announcement, "The new search facility on Vodafone live! enables customers to use their mobile handsets to search across an extensive portfolio of content and an index of worldwide WAP content using a hosted installation of FAST Data Search. This enables Vodafone to quickly connect its customers to relevant services within the Vodafone live! offering, as well as to the mobile Internet. The service is already live in Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, with the UK scheduled for early next year."
Uniform Resource Indicators Source: OCLC Research OCLC hosts “info” URI registry From the announcement, "The recently proposed 'info' URI scheme enables the URI referencing of selected categories of legacy information-asset identifiers. OCLC Research has developed, and is hosting, NISO’s 'info' URI registry, built on an enhanced OAI-PMH 2.0 repository." The OCLC announcement also provides several links with background info about URI's.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items) Employment--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Full Text, Census 2000 Special Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Tabulation Summary/Highlights ||| Full Text From the announcement, "How many New York City taxi drivers and chauffeurs live in Jersey City, N.J.? What do they earn, how old are they and what is their gender and race? And how about geological and petroleum technicians living in Arlington, Texas, who work in Dallas? The answers can be found in the Census 2000 Special Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Tabulation released today by the U.S. Census Bureau." -- Population--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census News Brief, Projection of U.S. Population on January 1, 2004 Sunday, December 28, 2003
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents Children--United States--Statistics Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT Census Data Online Demographic data regarding children and their families, for states, counties, cities, metro areas, and Congressional districts. Topics include age, sex, race and ethnicity, and living arrangements. Based on Census 2000 short form data (Description from EconData.Net). You can also "create a ranking table from one of over 21 population indicators. Use the "Quick Rank" feature to easily rank all geographic areas of one type (i.e., all states, all congressional districts, etc.) or use the "Custom Ranking" feature to choose your own geographic areas." Raw data can also be downloaded for offline use.
Public Libraries Source: Denver Post Library books play second fiddle to videos, CDs From the article, "The good news for movie fans is that their local library looks more and more like a Blockbuster. The ominous news for book fans is the same: As budget-squeezed public libraries rush to buy DVDs for an insatiable public, branches must act more like multimedia centers and less like temples of the printed page...And while they run to keep up with customers flooded with cheap new DVD players this Christmas, Jefferson County [Colorado] libraries already have their eye on the next big thing: Song and video downloads, without a hard copy, that may have consumers walking into a branch asking where they can plug in their MP3 player...'So many of us are attached to the text, and the paper, and the binding. It's so tactile,' said Beth Elder, senior collection specialist for Denver Public Library. 'But many of our customers are leaving text behind." The article also contains a statistical chart. Saturday, December 27, 2003
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents Sports--Canada--Directory Source: SIRC (Sport Information Resource Center) CanadianSport.Ca Browse a variety of resources by topic or sport. Searchable databases of experts, organizations, and events are also available. Friday, December 26, 2003
Online Archives Source: Fortune "Louis Borders Turns the Page" Another story about KeepMedia. This company offers the consumer full-text access (about $4.95/month) to an archive of content from about 150 titles. Back in July, when the service first launched, ResourceShelf offered several posts and comments about KeepMedia. I said back then (I'll say it again now) that many public libraries offer FREE remote access to databases that offer searchable archives of THOUSANDS of publications. Unfortunately, these free services get little to no media coverage. Sad. - See Also: Those of you who don't know what I'm talking about regarding libraries offering FREE remotely accessible access (no need to visit the library building) to thousands of publications and other high-quality databases might want to take a look at a few examples of these services. All you need is a library card for that particular library. Contact your library to find out what you have access to. Here are five examples: NY Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library, King County (Washington) Public Library, Fairfax Cty (Virginia) Public Library, Hamilton (Ontario) Public Library. School, academic, and other types of libraries also provide these services. Just ask!!!
Web Search--Google A Webliography of Papers Written by Google Engineers Plenty of interesting reading for the search geek! Thursday, December 25, 2003
Legislative Information--United States Source: GCN Six Senators Call for Library of Congress to Upgrade THOMAS From the article, "The Library of Congress’ Thomas portal is inadequate in giving citizens access to House and Senate information, six senators said in a letter to the Librarian of Congress yesterday. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) told James Billington that Thomas was a “bare-bones” site with limited searching tools. “In our view, the current form of Thomas is insufficient as a portal to the Congress,” the senators said. “We urge you to upgrade the Thomas Web site in order to make available to the public the nonproprietary services that are available on the Legislative Information System.” See Also: Direct to THOMAS
Online Images--Databases Useful, Cool, and Interesting Database (Perfect for Testing New Computers), Terrafly Virtually "fly" across the U.S. using satellite and aeriel imagery. Images are also returned with census data and other statistics. You can search (by location) or browse the database. Have fun!!! Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Unstructured Information--Text Mining Source: Computerworld "Digging Into Documents" What is text mining? What is information extraction? Learn about these and other topics in this interview with ClearForest's President and chief scientist, Ronen Feldman. See Also: "The Word on Text Mining" (via Intelligent Enterprise) (first posted on ResourceShelf 12/1/03) See Also: A Roadmap to Text Mining on the Web -- Controlled Vocabularies--MeSH Source: NLM Full Text, Introduction to MeSH-2004 -- Web Design Source: Jakob Nielson's Alertbox Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003 "Sites are getting better at using minimalist design, maintaining archives, and offering comprehensive services. However, these advances entail their own usability problems, as several prominent mistakes from 2003 show." See also: The Ten Most Violated Homepage Design Guidelines Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Congressional Research Service Source: Toledo Blade Toledo Blade Editorial Weighs In on Public Access to CRS Materials The editorial is titled, "The Arrogance of Power." From the editorial, "How do you know when a United States congressman has been around too long? When he starts to believe that he owns and controls what the American public pays for with its tax dollars. A case in point: Rep. Bob Ney, Republican of St. Clairsville in southeastern Ohio, a former state legislator now in his fifth term in Congress. As chairman of the House Administration Committee, Mr. Ney has denied a request that the public get full access to information distributed by the Congressional Research Service, an arm of the Library of Congress." See Also: Copy of A Recent CRS Memo About Public Access to the Material (via Secrecy News) See Also: Much More About What's Happening in these Two ResourceShelf Postings #1 ||| #2
Government Information--United States Source: AP U.S. Blurs High-Tech White House Images From the article, "Deferring to Secret Service worries about terrorists, the government is deliberately blurring its highest-quality aerial photographs over Washington to hide objects in plain view on the roofs of the White House, Capitol and Treasury Department. The government also obscured aerial views of the Naval Observatory compound where Vice President Dick Cheney lives. It made no effort to blur detailed photographs showing the Pentagon, Supreme Court, CIA headquarters, Justice Department or FBI headquarters." From a recent article on on SecurityFocus.Com, "It is not as if aerial imagery of the White House is hard to come by," says Stephen Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. Aftergood adds, "Except in the case of unacknowledged government facilities, it is hard to see what is gained by this policy, and the downside, I think, is that it encourages public paranoia." The SecurityFocus also correctly points out that "overhead images of the same sites taken as recently as last year are still easily found online and in print -- a detailed shot of the White House roof even adorns a glossy government brochure on the National Aerial Photography Program."
Briefly UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library Receives $5 Million Gift (via Oakland Tribune) -- Talk of New Academic Library at the University of Wyoming (via Caspar Tribune)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) Federal Bureau of Investigation Intelligence--United States Source: U.S. Department of Justice Just Released, Full Text Report, The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Efforts to Improve the Sharing of Intelligence and Other Information This is an unclassified and redacted version of the report. -- Healthcare--United States Source: Department of Health & Human Services Just Released, Full Text Reports: 1) A Summary Of Both Reports 2) The National Healthcare Quality Report 3) The National Healthcare Disparities Report -- Healthcare--United States Source: HHS New Web Site, QualityTools From the site, "...a clearinghouse for practical, ready-to-use tools for measuring and improving the quality of Americans' health care." -- Anthropology--Database Source: Department of Anthropology, California Academy of Sciences California Academy of Sciences Anthropology Collection Database "Our entire collection database is online and searchable with approximately 17,000 objects and over 8,000 images." Includes materials "from the indigenous cultures of western North America (exclusive of Mexico) and the Pacific Rim, including all Pacific islands and East Asia." Database is updated monthly. Search by category, object name, materials, maker's name, collection, catalog number, culture, global region, country, state/province/district, county. See Also: Direct to Search Interface Monday, December 22, 2003
Education The Educator's Reference Desk is Now Online AskERIC is gone (other ERIC Clearinghouses have also closed). However, many of the important resources AskERIC provided are now available via The Educator's Reference Desk. ERD is a service of The Information Institute at Syracuse University. From the site, "Through The Educator's Reference Desk (http://www.eduref.org) you can access AskERIC's 2,000+ lesson plans, 3,000+ links to online education information, and 200+ question archive responses. While the question answer service will no longer be active, The Educator's Reference Desk provides a search interface to the ERIC Database, providing access to over one million bibliographic records on educational research, theory, and practice." I have also compiled a list of where some ERIC Clearinghouse material can now be accessed. ---- ---- See Also: ERIC Database will not be accepting new material until "later" in 2004. "Beginning in January and until the new ERIC model for acquiring education literature is developed later in 2004, no new materials will be received and accepted for the database. When the new model is ready later in 2004, the Department will communicate with publishers, education organizations, and other database contributors to add publications and materials released from January 2004 forward. The ERIC database will continue to grow, as thousands of documents selected by the ERIC clearinghouses throughout 2003 will be added. Database vendors will receive updated database files containing the newly added records."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items) Business--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Entrepreneur Magazine New, 25th Annual Franchise 500 Links to the 2000-2003 lists are available. -- Broadcasting--Canada Source: Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission New, Full Text, Broadcasting Policy Monitoring Report 2003 Numerous statistics and charts about broadcasting in Canada. This is the fourth annual report. Summary ||| Full Text (HTML) ||| Full Text (PDF)
Business--United States--Databases Source: GCN Two U.S. Goverment Business Databases Will Combine Beginning Jan. 1, 2004, SBA's Pro-Net database and DOD's Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database will be integrated into a single point for searching and compiling small-business sources..." See Also: Announcement from Small Business Administration
Internet Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Just Relased, Full Text, America's Online Pursuits: The changing picture of who's online and what they do Summary ||| Full Text
Industry Briefs FAST Search & Transfer...Company Announces Marketing Deal With IBM -- Dialog...Upgrades to NewsEdge Product Announced Sunday, December 21, 2003
The Patriot Act Source: American Libraries Survey Shows No Illinois Libraries Contacted by FBI From the article, "A recent survey of public and academic libraries in Illinois indicates that none have been visited by FBI agents looking for records under the auspices of the USA Patriot Act since September 2001. The results also show that few of the nearly 600 libraries responding to the online survey, conducted in September and November by the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, have adopted formal guidelines for dealing with a search warrant or subpoena from law enforcement." See Also: Full Text of Chicago Tribune Story Referenced in Article (registration required)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items) Festivals--United States--Database Festival Network Online (FNO) Adds New Search Functionality Festivals Network Online is a "nationwide craft show, art fair, music, festival & event guide." A new feature on the web site allows you to access event info within a certain mile radius of a any zip code. Searching and basic info is free. To view full event details, a subscription (fee-based) is required. The database has info on more than 14,000 events. --- Christmas--United States Source: PNC Bank Christmas Price Index, 2003 "While stiff import competition is driving deeper discounts on merchandise sold in the United States, skilled labor cost is on the rise, resulting in a 16 percent increase in this year’s PNC Advisors Christmas Price Index – the biggest jump the Index has seen in its 19-year history. " Costs have dropped for pear trees and golden rings. However, prices are way up for calling birds, French hens and swans a-swmming. Says a PNC investment strategist, “The low inventory of calling birds and swans this year, combined with a resurgence in demand, has boosted prices – a sign of consumer confidence returning.” See Also: Flash Presentation of PNC Advisors Christmas Price Index Saturday, December 20, 2003
News Resources News Aggregator NewsNow Currently Crawling More Than 15,000 Sources On October 16th, ResourceShelf noted that NewsNow, a favorite aggregator of open web news sources, had just passed the 13,000 source mark. It's now mid-December and we can report that NewsNow has passed the 15,000 source mark. Impressive and very useful! I said in October that NewsNow offers limited search functionality (only single words) for non-subscribers (the company offers several fee-based services). This is still the case. However, the hundreds of prefabricated categories, accessible via pull-down menus on the left side of the page, make NewsNow a very usable tool containing content not found from other news aggregators.
Professional Reading Shelf Microsoft Research A New Article About the MyLifeBits Project from Microsoft Research Full-Text article, The MyLifeBits Lifetime Story From the MLB home page, "MyLifeBits is a lifetime store of everything. It is the fulfillment of Vannevar Bush's 1945 Memex vision including full-text search, text & audio annotations, and hyperlinks. There are two parts to MyLifeBits: an experiment in lifetime storage, and a software research effort." -- From the article abstract, "Storage trends have brought us to the point where it is affordable to keep a complete digital record of one’s life, and capture methods are multiplying. To experiment with a lifetime store, we are digitizing everything possible from Gordon Bell’s life. The MyLifeBits system is designed to store and manage a lifetime’s worth of data. MyLifeBits enables the capture of web pages, telephone, radio and television. This demonstration highlights the application of typed links and database features to make a lifetime store something that is truly useful." See Also: More on the MyLifeBits Home Page
Web Search--Google Source: Baltimore Sun Sergey Brin To Give Commencement Address at the University of Maryland Google's co-founder, Sergey Brin, will give the commencement address at the University of Maryland in College Park today. The Baltimore Sun article discusses Brin's relationship with the university. The article quotes his father, Professor Michael Brin in a couple of places. -- From the article, "But there are challenges looming for [Sergey] Brin, several of which were outlined in a critical cover story in this month's Fortune. Giants including Microsoft, America Online and Amazon are developing competing search engines, and there are reports of rifts within the company. "It's not all pinky," Michael Brin observed." Thanks to P.W. for the link. See Also: Another Lengthy Article About Google, This Time in Time Magazine Key Passages: + "Some analysts — Danny Sullivan of SearchEngineWatch.com, for example — believe there are plenty of other companies capable of matching the quality of Google's search results." (Editors Note: No argument here) + "Google's greatest asset right now may be not its technology but its brand — and Internet brands are notoriously volatile." Friday, December 19, 2003
Spam Source: Brightmail Spam Trends of 2003 From the report, In 2003, Brightmail saw spam surpass legitimate email – growing to more than 56% of all Internet email, up from just 40% a year ago. The report also lists the most popular spam mail subject lines.
Professional Reading Shelf Government Information--United States Just Released, GPO (Government Printing Office) Posts Its FY 2003 Annual Report
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (7 Items) Iraq Source: National Security Archive Updated: The Saddam Hussein Sourcebook "Declassified Secrets from the U.S.-Iraq Relationship" -- Religion Source: U.S. Department of State Just Released, International Religious Freedom Report for 2003 "This, the fifth annual edition of the International Religious Freedom Report, is issued in accordance with the mandate of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. The report attempts to establish a baseline of fact about the status of religious freedom worldwide, both to illuminate the problems that exist and to provide a primary source for U.S. religious freedom policy." Report viewable in sections, geographically divided: Africa, East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, Near East and North Africa, South Asia, Western Hemisphere. Appendices include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, Training at the Foreign Service Institute Related to the International Religious Freedom Act, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), and Overview of U.S. Refugee Policy. See Also: Preface, Introduction and Executive Summary See Also: Access to reports from 2003, 2002, 2001 on one page -- Health Source: World Health Organization Released Today, The World Health Report 2003 Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text ||| Direct to Statistical Tables -- Congressional Research Service Source: CRS (via FPC) Two New Reports + Drug Trafficking and North Korea: Issues for U.S. Policy + Japan-North Korea Relations: Selected Issues -- Crime--United States--Statistics Source: NCES Web Version Now Available, Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2003 -- Labor--United States--Statistics Source: BJS Just Released, Work Experience of the Population, 2002 (Annual) -- African--Americans--Directory A Roadmap to African-American Resources A massive directory of over 2000 resources. It was compiled by Sherry Sherrod Dupree, Santa Fe Community College. Ms. Dupree is a researcher, consultant, and historian whose primary focus is African-American resources.
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries and Librarians Source: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (UK) Selected Full Text Articles from the January Issue of CILIP's Library + Information Update Are Now Online + Inside out: the Big Book Share by Tricia Kings + Young people and the internet by Alison + Making your website more interactive by Robin Yeates + Phil Bradley's Internet Q&A Column Thursday, December 18, 2003
Web Resources of the Week 1) Search Tools Harness the Power of Any Search Engine Onto a Cool Toolbar This week, it's time for a free web search tool that I recently discovered called NeedleSearch. It allows you to capture the basic search functionality from any web engine, site search tool, or specialized database and make it readily accessible at any time via an easy-to-use toolbar. -- For some of you, the only issue in trying NeedleSearch is the fact that it only works with the wonderful open-source web browser, Mozilla. If you've never tried Mozilla, by all means do so. Like NeedleSearch, it's completely free and offers all sorts of features including a pop-up blocker. Mozilla also allows you to open and view multiple pages in the same browser application using tabbed windows. Very useful! Mozilla is available for several platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and more. -- Now that we've got that out of the way, let's move on to NeedleSearch. This piece of freeware is the work of a Dutch software developer. In a nutshell, NeedleSearch operates like other toolbars BUT this one allows YOU to easily (and I do mean easily) and at any time harness the search functionality of any search engine directly into the NeedleSearch application. No need to wait for a developer, you can do it yourself! -- You're then able to run basic searches without first having to go directly to the database or web site you need to search. Allow me to share a couple of examples. But before getting started, I can report that NeedleSearch installs quickly and easily. -- Once installed you'll see that a few search engines have been "pre-programmed" for you. You can edit them, remove them, etc., the choice is yours. Editing or removing these choices is easily accomplished by selecting the "edit" button (second to last button on the toolbar). Ok, now let's add a rapidly expanding general web engine, Gigablast, to NeedleSearch. + Go to the Gigablast home page and turn on the NeedleSearch auto-adder (button with the "plus" sign on it). + In the Gigablast search box type: NeedleSearch. You should see a message that Gigablast has been added to NeedleSearch. That's it, you're done! + Now, the next time you want to run a basic search with Gigablast, simply enter your search terms into toolbar, pull-down to Gigablast, and click the search button. -- Now for my favorite reason for using NeedleSearch. Not only can you use it to search general web engines, but you can also use it with specialized databases. Here's an example. I'm always searching Peter Scott's wonderful Libdex database of library web sites and OPACS. With NeedleSearch I can search the database without having to first go to the Libdex site. This will not only work with Libdex but with just about any site or specialized web engine with search functionality. Here are the steps I followed to add Libdex to the NeedleSearch toolbar. + Go to Libdex.Com and find the search box. + Turn on the NeedleSearch auto-adder (button with the "plus" sign on it). + In the Libdex search box type: NeedleSearch + An alert box notifying you you've added Libdex should appear + You're done. Now, no matter where you are on the web, you can search Libdex without first having to and find the Libdex site. -- Of course, many other features are included. For example, you can open results in a new window or Mozilla tab, highlight search terms, and more. A button is also available to find your search term(s) on the results page or the underlying web page. -- Those of you with experience "tweaking" urls can set up more sophisticated queries by editing the url string with NeedleSearch. Like most web tools, the best way to learn about NeedleSearch is to download a copy, have the documentation nearby, and experiment. I think you'll find this free tool easy to use and very useful. Once again, NeedleSearch is free to download and use. -- One final note for the Googleaholics out there. I think some of you will question the fact that your original download of NeedleSearch includes Dutch language versions of Google. Changing it to the www.google.com version can be accomplished by either removing this version via the edit/remove buttons and adding a new entry direct from Google.Com OR by simply editing out the <&hl=nl> from the url. --- --- 2) Television--History Reference Tools Source: The Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago Full Text Book: The Encyclopedia of Television From the site, The Encyclopedia of Television includes more than 1,000 original essays from more than 250 contributors and examines specific programs and people, historic moments and trends, major policy disputes and such topics as violence, tabloid television and the quiz show scandal. It also includes histories of major television networks as well as broadcasting systems around the world and is complemented by resource materials, photos and bibliographical information. The book is not searchable but does contain hyperlinked cross-references.
Web Search Source: The Register "A Quantum Theory of Internet Value" The always controversial Andrew Orlowski writes about how "Google sucks." Some of you might think that I would agree with him, but I don't. Google works fine for some types of searches, but so does AlltheWeb, Gigablast, Teoma. Each tool has its strengths and weaknesses. For certain types of seaching, specialized databases like Citeseer and SmealSearch are essential. Maybe a tool like Vivisimo or Grokker could help the searcher find what they need. It all depends on the information need. Luckily, information professionals have the skills not only to help the searcher decide what they need (reference interview) but to also suggest a wide variety of resources that might help satisfy the need. We can also help teach the searcher to do this on their own. What I think Mr. Orlowski is saying is that Google or any web engine is not the be-all to end-all and relying on only one tool is not a good idea. This is something I absolutely agree with. The problem for some people is that they have no idea about what else is available. This is why the library world must do a better job of marketing. Change starts with each one of us. If nothing else this article might wake up a few people to the fact that librarians, libraries, books, and electronic resources other than Google are still vital. Included in the article are several positive comments about the libraries and librarians. Orlowski writes, "Taxonomies also have been proved to have value: archivists can justify a smirk as manual directory projects dmoz [Open Directory] floundered - true archivists have a far better sense of meta-data than any computerized system can conjure. If you're in doubt, befriend a librarian, and from the resulting dialog, you'll learn to start asking good questions. Your results, we strongly suspect, will be much more fruitful than any iterative Google searches."
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Online Behavior Source: AScribe Newswire Keeping Found Things Found: Web Tools Don't Always Mesh With How People Work "People have devised many tricks - such as sending e-mails to themselves or jotting on sticky notes - for keeping track of Web pages, but William Jones and Harry Bruce at the University of Washington's Information School and Susan Dumais of Microsoft Research have found that often people don't use any of them when it comes time to revisit a Web page. Instead, they rely on their ability to find the Web page all over again." The researchers have been examining how Web users "keep found things found" when seeking information online and -- by understanding how and why people do what they do -- hope they can develop more useful information management tools. The project is funded by the National Science Foundation. Thanks to SDK for the link and blurb. See Also: Keeping Found Things Found (Research project of the Information School at the University of Washington) See Also: Keeping Found Things Found Survey of Web Keeping Methods (MS Word; 104KB) See Also: KFTF Publications and Presentations -- Librarians Source: LIScareer.com Librarians in the Information Age: Alternative Uses of MLS Degrees Darwin McGuire, a student in the Library and Information Science Program at Wayne State University, researched alternative careers for librarians, which he then broke down into six categories: libraries (outside the traditional functions), corporate, freelance, technology, government, and “way-out-there." Lots of interesting ideas about what you can do with an MLS degree.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) Population--United States--Statistics Source: US Census Just Released, Official U.S. Population This announcement includes fast facts and several Excel tables. -- Software Industry--Lists & Rankings Source: Software Magazine The Software 500 Background Article ||| List and Database (Registration Required, Free) "Top 500 Software and Service companies." See Also: The 2002 Software 500 -- Health Information--United States--Calendars Source: Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion /U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Health Observances, 2004 -- African--Americans--Directory A Roadmap to African-American Resources A massive directory of over 2000 resources. It was compiled by Sherry Sherrod Dupree, Santa Fe Community College. Ms. Dupree is a researcher, consultant, and historian whose primary focus is African-American resources.
Web Search--Vivisimo Vivisimo Gets into the Toolbar Game Ok, NeedleSearch (this week's Resource of the Week) doesn't work for you. Not a problem! ResourceShelf, web searching, and online/print research are all about options and choices. So, it's time for a brief post to announce that Vivisimo, the very useful clustering search tool, has now entered into the toolbar game with a beta release. The new toolbar (for IE only) offers direct access to the engine, a pop-up blocker, word find, keyword highlighting, a cookie eraser, and several other features. One of these features is called "Auto-Query Catching." What is it? From the site, If you complete a search on sites such as Yahoo!, Google, MSN, WiseNut, Teoma, AltaVista, and others, the Vivisimo toolbar will automatically detect your query and insert the same terms into the toolbar search box. Vivisimo has also released a smaller app that they're calling a MiniBar. It offers some but not all of the features available with the toolbar.
Citation Analysis Scholarly Publishing Source: ISI + Science in Mexico, 1998-2002 + Psychiatry: High-Impact U.S. Universities, 1998-2002 + U.S. Universities with Highest Concentrations in Agriculture/Agronomy, 1998-2002 Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Digital Information--Preservation Source: OECD Observer "The great digital information disappearing act" This article was written by Deborah Woodyard, Digital Preservation Coordinator, The British Library. From the article, Simply saving all the bits and bytes is a good start, but it will not necessarily be enough to be able to use the information again in the future. Managing large amounts of data is a considerable challenge also. You need to understand the technical profile of your entire collection, as well as be able to efficiently find a single piece of information within a huge storage system – a needle in a virtual haystack...Preservation needs to be addressed throughout the life cycle of digital material in order to be effective. Appropriate steps must be introduced to acquisition and cataloguing, for example, to ensure the capture and management of technical details and preservation information, and guarantee the digital files are not altered in any way. Ignoring preservation and not performing these tasks at this stage would be like putting a book on the wrong shelf and never being able to find it again, or as bad, storing the book under a water drip. The information may still be between the pages, or in a digital file, but you cannot see or use it anymore. -- RLG The December, 2003 Issue of RLG DigiNews is Online Feature articles: + PDF/A: Developing a File Format for Long-Term Preservation, by William G. LeFurgy + Research Agendas Set Course for Digital Archiving and Long-Term Preservation, by Margaret Hedstrom
Web Search--Google Another Day and More Google News It looks like Google has launched a beta of its book search program to compete with Amazon's "Search Inside the Book." Early word of Google's venture "leaked" out just a few hours after Amazon launched SITB in October. From the FAQ, "Google's mission is to provide access to all the world's information and make it universally useful and accessible. It turns out that not all the world's information is already on the Internet, so Google has been experimenting with a number of publishers to test their content online. During this trial, publishers' content is hosted by Google and is ranked in our search results according to the same technology we use to evaluate websites." The FAQ also solicits the participation of publishers to provide content and explains that Google Print pages are surrounded with context sensitive advertising via Google's AdSense program. You can learn more by going to the Google Print FAQ page. -- You can browse a bunch of Google Print titles by running this search. You'll notice that unlike Amazon's SITB where you actually see an image of the page, here you only get ASCII text. Presently, you can print the excerpts but it will be interesting to see if they disable printing if/when the excerpts become longer so the company can avoid problems with the writing community. The length of excerpts varies from just a short blurb to a portion of a chapter. - This means that at least for the time being, the primary Google database grows larger and larger. Without the proper techniques to create more advanced queries or limit a search (skills most searchers don't have but we can teach them), competition for those first 10 spots on a results page becomes even more intense. In other words, we're getting increased recall and lowered precision. We know that an average searcher only looks at the first few results and submits queries containing around 3 terms. As the database grows, determining relevance and sharing it in the first few results becomes an even greater challenge, even for Google. All of this new cotent once again illustrates that the information professional should have solid understanding of Google's advanced features as well as those from other web engines. Thanks to S.C. for the news tip. See Also: Search Day Offers Commentary Chris Sherman with info about where Google Print results fall on a results page. See Also: "Google Experiment Provides Internet With Book Excerpts" (via NY Times) From the article, "Google executives have also discussed with university librarians the possibility of converting library collections into a digital format but they have declined to comment on any plans." -------- PublishersLunch is a free subscription newsletter aimed at members of the publishing industry. Today, the newsletter ran a lengthy story about Google Print. ResourceShelf has been granted permission to reprint the full text of the article. You can find it here. I've also prepared a summary. - * What we now see at Google Prints is a "shadow" of what's being "sold" to the publishing industry. * A Google spokesperson told PublishersLunch that the program is open to self-publishers. "They want to be as comprehensive as possible." * Google has been holding "formal" conversations with publishers for months. * Adam Smith, "a key player" at Random House in electronic publishing, has left the company and taken a position at Google. * The article also reports that this is part of a larger plan by Google. "The goal seems to be to truly "Google" book content, or as much as they can get their hands on. Launching in the first q of 2004 the program would allow registered users to access up to 10% of the full text of an available within a month. * They are offering publishers a revenue arrangement. * Finally, the article cites a recent post on PaidContent.Org that Google is considering taking on Factiva, LN, etc. by providing access to fee-based content in an arrangement that appears similar to what Google is doing with IEEE. Again, the full text of the article is available courtesy of PublishersLunch. ------ ------- and while we're on the Google beat... "Google Here, There, and Everywhere" (via Business Week) This article spends time discussing Google's new direct links to a few numerical databases. However, the author makes no mention of the fact that this idea is not new and AltaVista, Ask, and Yahoo offer similar "shortcuts." In the case of AV, they've been online for almost two years. Examples of all of these resources in this post.
Digitization Projects--Canada Canada's Digital Collections Adds Several New Resources You can find blurbs and links about each new collection on this page. + Vancouver's Golden Years: 1900-1910, Photographs by Philip Timms + The Waldren Studios: Images of Nova Scotia, 1870-1940 + Centuries of the Image + Fire + Earth + Louis-Auguste Guillemette, maître d'orgue + Performing Our Musical Heritage
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (7 Items) Population--United States--Statistics Just Released, The Foreign-Born Population: 2000 Summary/Fast Facts/Tables ||| Full-Text -- Births--United States--Statistics Source: CDC Just Released, Births: Final Data for 2002 Summary/Fast Facts ||| Full Text (7.8 MB; pdf) -- Volunteerism--United States--Statistics Source: BLS Full Text, Volunteering in the United States -- Climate--United States--Year in Review Source: National Climatic Data Center New Report, Climate of 2003: 2003 in Historical Perspective ||| Chart -- Economy--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Department of Commerce Full Text Report, Digital Economy 2003 "Digital Economy 2003 (DE2003) is the Department’s fifth annual report on conditions in U.S. information technology (IT) industries and the effects of IT on national economic performance." In a nutshell, the technology industry is recovering slowly, but hiring and salaries are lagging somewhat. See Also: Direct to Full Report (PDF; 2.26MB) -- Homeland Security Source: The White House (via FAS) White House Publishes Two New Homeland Security Presidential Directives 1) Critical Infrastructure Identification, Prioritization, and Protection 2) National Preparedness Thanks to S.A. for the resource tip. -- Cable Television--United States--Statistics Source: National Cable & Telecommunications Association Cable Television Industry Overview "NCTA is the principal trade association of the cable industry in the United States, representing cable operators serving more than 90 percent of the nation's cable television households. It also represents more than 200 cable program services as well as equipment suppliers and service providers to the industry." The Statistics and Resources section contains state data (% of households that are cable subscribers), the top 25 cable systems, and the top 20 cable networks. See Also: Mid-Year 2003 Cable & Telecommunications Industry Overview (PDF; 903KB) See Also: Cable & Telecommunications Glossary See Also: Cable & Telecommunications Organizations Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Congressional Research Service Source: Copley News Service "Ney draws line at public access to research" More on the fate of public access to CRS reports. From the article, Ohio Rep. Bob Ney, R-St. Clairsville, has played a decisive role in the argument by potentially expanding access to some degree while leaving the basic restrictive policy unchanged. As chairman of the House Administration Committee, which has jurisdiction over the CRS, Ney launched a new service that allows lawmakers to make reports of their choosing available via a link in their congressional Web sites. “It used to be nothing went up online” for the public to see, Ney said. “Now we’re telling members if you want to do a work product and put it online, that’s fine.” At the same time, Ney called a halt to efforts to provide greater public access to the research. He ended a two-year pilot project, which allowed the public to search through the otherwise inaccessible CRS database via links on the Web sites of participating congressmen. Some lawmakers believe the public is entitled to all or most of the reports. “It seems to me that (CRS) work ought to be available to whoever might find it to be helpful or useful,” said Ohio Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lucasville, who favors complete disclosure. “This work is being done at taxpayers’ expense. What we’re talking about is just research.” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Jay Inslee, D-Wash., have introduced legislation that would make most of the reports available on congressional Web sites, while excluding research requested by individual lawmakers. Btw, access to CRS material on the House.Gov via Congressman Chris Shay's and other members of Congress remains unavailable. A note explaining the situation has been posted. See Also: More in this November 2003 ResourceShelf E-Mail Reminder Post See Also: A List of CRS Sources Still Offering Some Content is at the Bottom of this October 2003 Post
National Library of Medicine Source: GCN Congratulations to MedlinePLUS from the National Library of Medicine From the article, A health library and the online application for federal college aid topped the latest quarterly survey of e-government customer satisfaction...The survey, released today, looked at 35 federal sites that use the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) developed by the University of Michigan. The main site of MedlinePlus, a medical information portal run by the National Library of Medicine at medlineplus.gov scored 86 out of 100 points on ASCI. The Spanish-language counterpart to MedlinePlus, at medlineplus.gov/esp, scored an 82. See Also: ACSI Scores
Information Industry--netLibrary/OCLC Online Books New Version of netLibrary to Launch on January 14th, 2004 A new look and new features (non-English language options, better access for users with disabilities). An online preview is available. See Also: and speaking of online books, some info about the new Ingenta/Oxford University Press Project, OxfordScholarship.Com "The complete text of over 700 carefully-selected Oxford books." See Also: More Libraries Sign-Up for Overdrive's eBooks Service
Professional Reading Shelf Metadata Institutional Repositories Source: RLG Presentations, To Have and to Hold: Metadata and Institutional Repositories This RLG Members' Forum took place on December 9th and 12th, 2003. Powerpoint presentations include: * Description and discovery (EAD, MARC21, XML, MODS, OAI) * Selecting and implementing an open source software digital repository * Mixing and matching—part 2: combining open source options and customized management systems (D-Space and customized digital repositories)
Books Source: AP "MIT scientist forms world's largest book" From the article, 133-pound tome about the Asian country of Bhutan that uses enough paper to cover a football field and a gallon of ink has been declared the world's largest published book. Author Michael Hawley, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said it's not a book to curl up with at bedtime - "unless you plan to sleep on it...Each copy of "Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Kingdom," is 5-by-7 feet, 112 pages and costs about $2,000 to produce. Hawley is charging $10,000, to be donated to a charity he founded, Friendly Planet, which has built schools in Cambodia and Bhutan. See Also: Here's the Amazon Entry for the Book
Motion Pictures The Library of Congress LC Announces 2003 Additions to National Film Registry See Also: Complete List of Films 1989-2002
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (6 Items) Privacy--Canada Source: Privacy Commissioner of Canada Resources: "Canada's New Private Sector Privacy Law" Canadians' personal information will be protected by a new law — the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents (PIPED) Act. The new law goes into effect on 1/1/04. See Also: An Introduction To Protecting Personal Information Collected By Charities (via the Association of Fundraising Professionals) Provides a general overview of the Canadian federal privacy law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents (PIPED) Act, including the principles behind the privacy legislation, how the bill will work, what constitutes personal information, the complaints process and resources for further information. See Also: Privacy 101 - A Guide To Privacy Legislation For Fundraising Professionals In Canada (via AFP) -- Internet--United Kingdom Source: e-Envoy Just Released, Full Text, Annual Report: UK Online 2003 -- Homeland Security--United States Documents in the News Source: Gilmore Commission/Rand Corporation Full Text, 5th Annual Report, Forging America’s New Normalcy: Securing Our Homeland, Protecting Our Liberty -- Crime--United States--Statistics Source: FBI Just Released, FBI's Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report Summary ||| Direct to Full Text -- Health Care Industry--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Just Released, 2002 Service Annual Survey: Health Care and Social Assistance Services Summary ||| Direct to Full Text -- Economics--United States--Statistics Source: National League of Cities Full Text, Cities' Fiscal Challenges Continue to Worsen in 2003 (PDF; 424KB) "In the National League of Cities’ latest annual survey of city finances, more than four in five respondents (81%) said their cities were less able to meet financial needs during 2003 than in the previous year. It was the highest negative response to the question since the annual fiscal conditions survey first started asking it in 1990." See Also: Press Release
Industry Briefs West/Thomson Awarded $25 Million Contract by IRS -- World Tourism Organization Launches E-Library Powered by Ingenta ||| Direct to WTOeLibrary Note: This new service offers the option for non-subscribers to purchase basic tourism stats at $5/U.S. per country. Other reports can also be purchased by credit card.
Web Search--Google Source: Chilling Effects Selected Compilation of Recent DMCA/Cease and Desist Requests Sent to Google + Microsoft Requests Blogspot [Google] Removal of Product Keys + Google Asked to Remove Links to Story "Seduction" (#12) + Merry Prankster Photos to Geocities (#2) + Christian Polygamy Site Claims Unauthorized Copying Monday, December 15, 2003
Information Visualization Personal Searching Source: San Jose Mercury News New Version of Grokker Available Today Grokker2, a visual search tool, was released today and allows you to not only search web content but also all of the material on your computer. This new version also offers dynamic categorization. You can download a 30 day fully functional version of Grokker2 here. A version for the Mac will be available in Q1 of '04. Much more in this article from eWeek and the "official" release announcement. I've downloaded a trial version and will report back asap. The original Grokker release has been mentioned on ResourceShelf several times including this July 2003 in The Economist and this October 2002 (when Grokker launched) article in The New York Times.
Open Access Source: SciDevNet "Information summit endorses key role of 'e-science'" From the article, The first session of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) ended on Friday (12 December) with endorsement of a broad list of principles intended to guide the future development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), and of a 'road map' showing how these should be put into practice...Included in the first of these is a statement recognising that science has a central role in the development of the information society, and that there is a need to ensure that scientific data remains widely accessible...The declaration also makes an explicit reference to the need to promote open access initiatives for scientific publishing as part of support for "universal access with equal opportunities for all to scientific knowledge". See Also: Full-Text of Declaration and the Plan of Action
Goverment Documents--United States Source: National Archives "The National Archives Announces Results of 'The People's Vote'" Nearly forty thousand Americans cast more than 300,000 votes as part of a national initiative titled: "The People's Vote: 100 Documents that Shaped America," cosponsored by the National Archives, National History Day, and U.S. News & World Report. The results of the vote were announced in a ceremony in the National Archives Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom at 9 a.m. on Monday December 15, Bill of Rights Day. The following is a list of the ten documents that received the most votes and the percentage of votes each received: -- The Declaration of Independence, 75.9 percent -- The U.S. Constitution, 69.3 percent -- The Bill of Rights, 67.9 percent -- The Louisiana Purchase Treaty, 34.3 percent -- The Emancipation Proclamation, 33.5 percent -- The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, 31.4 percent -- The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, 30.1 percent -- The Gettysburg Address, 25.4 percent -- The Civil Rights Act, 25.2 percent -- The Social Security Act, 20.9 percent * Much more info in this news release.
Information Industry--FAST Search and Transfer FAST Search and Transfer Announces Two Major Deployments FAST Now Powering Japan's Largest E-Commerce Portal |||| FAST Data Search Being Utilized on Norway's Public Information Portal Note: FAST technology also powers FirstGov.Gov in the U.S. See Also: FAST CEO Conference Presentation, Digital Libraries: What Should We Expect from Search Engines Slides from an August 2003 presentation by FAST CEO John Lervik.
Professional Reading Shelf (4 Items) Digital Libraries The February 2004 Issue of D-Lib is Now Online Articles Include: + Fair Publisher Pricing, Confidentiality Clauses and a Proposal to Even the Economic Playing Field + Search and Retrieval in the European Library: A New Approach -- Health Information--United States Source: Pew Internet & American Life Full-Text Report, Wired for Health: How Californians compare to the rest of the nation: A case study sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text -- Digital Libraries The December, 2003 Issue of Digital Libraries Magazine is Online Articles include: + Comparing Library Resource Allocations for the Paper and the Digital Library: An Exploratory Study by Lynn Silipigni Connaway, OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.; and Stephen R. Lawrence, University of Colorado + NEP: Current Awareness Service of the RePEc Digital Library by Heting Chu and Thomas Krichel, Long Island University + Open Archives Data Service Prototype and Automated Subject Indexing Using D-Lib® Archive Content As a Testbed by Larry Mongin, Yueyu Fu, and Javed Mostafa, Indiana University + (Book Review) Metadata Fundamentals for All Librarians Reviewed by: Stuart A. Sutton, University of Washington -- Full Text Books Digitization Projects Source: Wired Full Text, "The Great Library of Amazonia" Interesting but sad article. Sad? No mention of netLibrary, ebrary or other services aimed at the researcher and often available at no charge via an academic or public library. I e-mailed the author asking why no mention of these services and projects. His e-mail response to me: "You are right, I ignored the Netlibrary piece of the story, which perhaps was unjust!" See Also: Free Access from ebrary to the full text of 100 Books About the Middle East
Briefly Potty Training at Google HQ: Company Installs "State of the Art" Digital Toilets (via San Francisco Business Times) Note: I've said on many occasions that no matter what Google does they seem to receive press attention for it. This might be the new extreme. Also, I wonder if/when Google becomes a public company the Board of Directors and shareholders would be happy with this type of spending? Sunday, December 14, 2003
Web Search--Lycos Lycos Announces Its List of the Most Popular Search Terms of 2003 Here come the year-end lists! The ball gets rolling with a look at the 100 most popular searchs terms on Lycos. Btw, Aaron Schatz offers daily analysis of popular search terms via his Lycos 50 page. The primary search database at Lycos is provided by Fast Search and Transfer. Other year-end rankings as well as the 2002 and 2001 lists are linked on the far-right side of the Lycos 50 "Web's Most Wanted" page. See Also: Summary and News Release from Lycos
Fine Art--Databases The AMICO (Art Museum Image Consortium) Database Now Available for Individual Subscribers Until this point, subscriptions were only available at the institution level. The new individual subscription service is made available via David Rumsey's Cartography Associates. What's in the database? * Content from 39 arts institutions worldwide * Over 118,000 high-quality images in the database, new material added regularly * Individual subscription: $15/month, $150/year * Do you already have access? Here's a list of institutions already offering AMICO access * Institutions can also subscribe via Cartography Associates. See Also: Via the AMICO site, you can run sample searches and learn more about the database Saturday, December 13, 2003
Scholarly Publishing Source: The Guardian UK Government Preparing Investigation of Scientific Publishers From the article, Reed Elsevier faces a serious challenge to one of its main revenue drivers as a committee of MPs prepares to investigate the growing academic backlash against scientific publishing - a market worth more than £4.5bn a year...Increasingly, universities are reluctant to pay the large fees demanded by publishers and are turning to so-called open access journals, where the costs of publication are paid by the authors. Yesterday the House of Commons science and technology committee said it planned to conduct an inquiry into scientific publications early in the new year. The committee will look at access to journals, with particular reference to price and availability. Specifically the committee will ask about the importance of open-access journals and whether the government should support the trend towards free scientific information. See Also: "UK probes scientific publications" (via The Scientist) See Also: Official Announcement From UK Parliament
Specialized Search Congrats and Kudos to Dr. Lee Giles The work of Penn St. Professor Lee Giles is frequently mentioned on ResourceShelf. It's very interesting and (lucky for us) very useful. Included on his list of accomplishments are the three "niche" search resources. * CiteSeer Focus on IT material * eBiz Search Focus on e-commerce material * SmealSearch Focus on business material This week we learned that Dr. Giles has been awarded the 2003 IBM Distinguished Faculty Award. Congratulations!!! See Also: Learn Much More About Dr. Lee Giles and His Research (Links and Interview)
Professional Reading Shelf Metadata Announcement: Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Annual Conference The 2004 International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications will be held October 11-24 in Shanghai (China). ---- and while we're on the topic of metadata, we missed this interesting report when it was posted a few weeks ago... Report: "Metadata and Search" This preconference workshop (prior to the 2003 Dublin Core Conference), "addressed the challenges of using metadata to help users find information, particularly when using site- or domain-specific search engines."
Briefly (3 Items) LexisNexis Will Begin To Roll Out New Technology Platform in Early 2004 The new platform will first be available for customers in Australia, France, Germany. -- Enhanced Functionality Plus Access to More Data in the NLM (National Library of Medicine) Gateway's Latest Release See Also: Direct to the NLM Gateway -- LookSmart to Lay Off Half of Staff In November, LookSmart relaunched its FindArticles service. |
