| |
ResourceShelf |
|
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
Looking For More Info? News? Search Help? News Tips?
New Site Suggestions?
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
|
Sunday, February 29, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Virtual Reference Weblogs Lyceum: A Blogsphere for Library Reference This paper by Jeffrey Pomerantz and Frederic Stutzman from the University of North Carolina has been submitted to JCDL 2004. From the abstract, "In this paper we discuss the use of blogs in libraries, and specifically the potential of blogs for use in library reference services. We describe Lyceum, an open source software project designed by ibiblio.org, which is a facilitator of blogspheres and a tool for intelligent automatic information management within blogspheres. We discuss ways in which Lyceum and blogs in general may facilitate library reference services." See Also: Direct to the Lyceum Blog Project Home Page -- OCLC Highlights from the Most Recent OCLC Members Council Meeting From the site, "OCLC Members Council met Feb. 8-10, 2004, in Dublin, to discuss global issues and explore innovative solutions to challenges faced by libraries and librarians worldwide. It was the second of three 2003-2004 Members Council meetings with the theme, 'Innovation, Risk-Taking, and New Models of Service.' Delegates unanimously passed two resolutions: to add a fourth delegate-at-large to the Members Council Executive Committee, and to add a clause to the Guidelines to the OCLC WorldCat Principles of Cooperation to discourage unauthorized use of OCLC-derived records."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents Spam--Lists & Rankings Source: Sophos PLC Full Text Report, Sophos Outs 'Dirty Dozen' Spam Producing Countries "Researchers scanned all spam messages received over two days last week and have revealed a 'dirty dozen' of offending countries with the United States topping the chart." According to the report, 56.74% of all spam messages originated in the U.S. Sophos, a software company that produces anti- virus and mail-filtering products, found that "although a large amount of spam is being sent from USA computers, much is being sent without the computer owner's knowledge." Spammers in other countries, notably Russia, are hijacking unprotected computers via Trojan horses and worms. See Also: Full text of report (PDF, 128 KB; free registration required)
Web Search--Vivisimo Vivisimo Adds Open Directory to Mix of Databases Access to Open Directory content has been added to the selection of databases available via Vivisimo, a search tool that dynamically clusters results into browsable categories. Vivisimo is hosting their own version of the ODP data. You can also use the advanced interface to limit your search to only OPD data.
Web Search--Google Source: Reuters Google's Co-Founders Will Establish a Foundation Word from California that Larry and Sergey will fund a foundation. From the article, "'We want to make the world a better place and so we're embarking on the Google Foundation and we're in the process of setting it up,' Page said on Saturday." The announcement comes a few days after Forbes magazine announced that both Page and Brin made their list of billionaires for the first time. Once the charity is set up (assuming it's in California), this database should have info. See Also: Even More from Reuters The news service loves to run Google stories and fuel the hype machine. This one talks about how the company keeps a "Top 100" list of new ideas. Saturday, February 28, 2004
The Library of Congress Daniel Boorstin, Former Librarian of Congress, Dead at Age 89 From the article, "Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Daniel J. Boorstin, who wrote more than 20 history books over his long career, died Saturday. He was 89... Renowned for his books, Boorstin was appointed librarian of Congress in 1974 by President Ford and spent 12 years as director of the world's largest library." See Also: "Boorstin & Beyond" A bit more about Daniel Boorstin via The Library of Congress See Also: Librarian of Congress Biographies See Also: The Center for the Book Established by Boorstin in 1977, "to use the resources and prestige of the Library of Congress to stimulate public interest in books and reading and to encourage the historical study of books and their influence."
Professional Reading Shelf Knowledge Management--Webliography Source: C&RL News Knowledge management: A guide to resources on the Internet The author of this resource is Michael M. Smith, assistant professor and business reference librarian, Texas A&M University Libraries.
Information Seeking Behavior Source: Technology Review How People "Refind" Information From the article, "Half the battle of finding information on the Web is getting back to a page you've already seen. The Web has long spurred researchers to study how people initially find information, but the tactics people use to get back to previously discovered information remain less understood. Researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University are examining how people relocate information rather than how they find it the first time. The researchers' study showed that people tend to use a two-stage process to find information they have seen before, that they use domain information and context to move closer to a goal, and that annotations make things easier."
Libraries Source: LITA Expert Panel Names Top Technology Trends In Today's Libraries The Trends: ISSUE 1: XML and Interoperability ISSUE 2: RFID ISSUE 3: Copyright ISSUE 4: Metasearching ISSUE 5: OPACs and User Behavior ISSUE 6: Policies and Technology ISSUE 7: User Interface Design ISSUE 8: Security, Digitial Rights Management The Experts: The seven experts in attendance were: Marshall Breeding, Library Technology Officer, Vanderbilt University; Walt Crawford, Senior Analyst, Research Libraries Group; Thomas Dowling, Assistant Director of Library Systems, OhioLINK; Clifford Lynch, Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information; Roy Tennant, Web Design and Services Manager, California Digital Library; Joan Frye Williams, Library and Information Technology Consultant; and Tom Wilson, Director of Information Technology, University of Maryland Libraries.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items) Freedom of Information Act FBI Source: T&L News Service Secret No More From the site, "...a subject guide to thousands of FBI files (and their file numbers) that are now publicly accessible. In many cases, these files have never been seen outside the FBI." Information about filing FOIA requests is also provided. The guide is being compiled by Michael J. Ravnitzky. -- Labor--United States Source: BLS Two New Editions from the Bureau of Labor Statistics + Released Yesterday, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-05 Edition + Released Yesterday, 2004-05 Career Guide to Industries "The Career Guide to Industries provides information on available careers by industry, including the nature of the industry, working conditions, employment, occupations in the industry, training and advancement, earnings and benefits, employment outlook, and lists of organizations that can provide additional information. This edition of the Career Guide discusses 42 industries, accounting for over 3 out of every 4 wage and salary jobs in 2002. The Career Guide is a companion to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which provides information on careers from an occupational perspective." Thanks to S.B. and the IWS News Service for the tip. -- Congressional Research Service Source: CRS (via FPC) Several New CRS Reports Now Available on the Web + Ricin: Technical Background and Potential Role in Terrorism + Comparisons of U.S. and Foreign Military Spending: Data from Selected Public Sources + USA PATRIOT Act Sunset: A Sketch + Border Security and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles + USA Patriot Act Sunset: Provisions That Expire on December 31, 2005 Friday, February 27, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries and Librarians Source: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (UK) Selected Full Text Articles from the March Issue of CILIP's Library + Information Update Are Now Online + Designing space for knowledge work: librarians can have a key role in designing a contemporary space + Why engage in e-science? Roles as metadata experts and digital curators are waiting to be claimed + Improving websites in the voluntary sector + Phil Bradley's Internet Q&A Column -- Digital Reference Source: Digital Reference Education Initiative New Weblog: QuestionAuthority "QuestionAuthority is a blog where various individuals in the reference community can post their thoughts on current issues in digital reference education and training. The blog is meant to disseminate information, pose questions, and provoke creative thinking about how we teach digital reference to practitioners and LIS students alike."
Syndication Source: AP More Positive Press For RSS (and other Syndication Formats) Wow, two mainstream news outlets in one week with coverage. For those of you unfamiliar with syndication, see this post from earlier in the week.
Web Search--Google More Google News Hardly a day goes by without plenty of Google press attention. + Editorial: Behind the Rise of Google Lies the Rise in Internet Credibility (via The New York Times) Comment: Google has done a great deal of good things for web searching. However, many of the services that Google offers were available from other search companies before Google launched similar services. ++ Examples: AllTheWeb and others offered news search engines prior to Google News being launched. ++ Web shortcuts were introduced by AltaVista prior to a recent Google initiative. The same goes for Ask Jeeves. ++ Yahoo and other sites have offered news alerts for several years. Google's is still in beta. So why does Google get all of the attention? That's an easy one. Because of their impressive and innovative marketing/pr team. Even more impressive is that the company has gotten to where it is today without spending money on traditional forms of advertising. Another smart pr move has been using many betas and early releases via Google Labs. Favorite passage from editorial, "The Web has moved from the periphery of a good researcher's awareness in 1998 to the very center of it in 2004. In doing so, it confirmed what has always been true, that a good researcher is also a skeptical researcher." Google co-founder bugged by IPO speculation (via Reuters) Perhaps Google's marketing team is too good at creating buzz. (-: GoogleWhacking: Word of the Week at Macmillian English Dictionary Btw, the person credited with coining the term, Gary Stock, is the developer of the excellent Nexcerpt alerting/publishing service.
Web Search--AOL Source: Marketwatch.com AOL: No Plans to Buy an Algorithmic Search Company From the article: + "We're putting significant resources in laying our great content into search," said [Gerry| Campbell, [vice president and general manager of AOL's search and navigation]. "Search is just one piece of a multifaceted value project. We're different [in search] because of the amount of premium content and relationships that we can work with." + "AOL's Campbell said the company has no plans to buy an algorithmic search company because there is no 'leakage' problem whatsoever." + "'The truth is that AOL search gets three times more searches than the next search engine [within AOL],' Campbell said. Offering Google's search listings is an adjunct to the personalization and content AOL can provide to its members, Campbell suggested."
Conferences Source: O'Reilly & Associates Presentation Files: O'Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference View/download presentation materials from some of the sessions at O'Reilly's Emerging Technology Conference, held Feb. 9-12. Here are a few of the presentations that might be of interest. + Carbot: Geoblogging With WiFi & GPS Enabled In-car Computers - For the Mass Market! + eBooks: neither e- nor books. Discuss. + Leveraging RSS at Disney: from Collaboration to Massive Content Delivery + Next Generation File Sharing With Social Software Thanks to SDK for the post.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items) Computer Security New Organization, Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA) "The Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA), launched in February 2004 by a group of leading cyber security software, hardware and services companies, is an advocacy group dedicated to the improvement of cyber security through public policy, education and technology-focused initiatives." Site is largely under development. A links page provides access to the websites of the organization's members, plus a few federal government resources. See Also: CSIA Fact Sheet (Word document) See Also: CSIA FAQ (PDF) See: Also: Security Trade Group Formed (via Federal Computer Week) -- Education--United States Source: NCES New Website for School Survey on Crime & Safety "The School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) collects information on crime and safety from U.S. public school principals." -- Bankruptcy--United States--Statistics Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts on behalf of the U.S. Courts Just Released, Bankruptcy Statistics, 2003 -- Wealth--Lists & Rankings Source: Forbes Just Released, The World's Richest People 2004 -- Media--United States Source: Ipsos New Study: "DVRs Changing the Way Americans Watch TV"
National Library of Medicine New Resources and Content OLDMEDLINE Moves Back in Time "The contents of the 1951-1952 Current List of Medical Literature (CLML) were added to PubMed in February 2004. OLDMEDLINE citations now total 1,704,728 citations, with the addition of these 186,889 citations from the 1951-1952 publications." + New E-mail List Alerts Readers to Bookshelf Updates A new listserv, "books-announce," broadcasts announcements concerning updates to the NCBI Bookshelf.
Library Briefs Compiled by Shirl Kennedy + Havel to Play Library Card (via Prague Post) + CD Settlement Is Music to Librarians' Ears (via Boston Globe) + Pot-Growing Handbook Burns Library Critics (via Casper Star Tribune) + Nudist Library in Florida Celebrates 25th Anniversary as Literary Treasure (via Travel Video Television News) Thursday, February 26, 2004
Web Resources of the Week Two entries this time. Both were selected and annotated by ResourceShelf's Contributing Editor, Shirl Kennedy (http://www.hooboy.com). -- 1) Military Studies Source: National Defense University (NDU) Military Education & Research Library Network (MERLN) MERLN, portal for the international military education library community, is a multilayered resource that is home to a wealth of unique digitized materials and a gateway to other libraries and research centers. Almost everything here is freely accessible to anyone, with the exception of certain proprietary databases that are restricted by license to participating institutions. + Search the MERLN group catalog (via OCLC), which is a database of materials available at military libraries worldwide. If you find something of interest, the ILL department of your local library can request it for you. You can access the database by going to the MERLN home page and selecting the "Search MERLN Group Catalog" link. + Search the MERLN Digital Collections, which contains student papers, lectures, conference proceedings, personal paper collections, reports and legislation digitized by MERLN group participants. These are full-text materials, including the papers of certain notable flag officers and papers by students at the National War College. + Browse the Military Policy Awareness Links (MiPALs), essentially a current awareness service. "The MiPALs emphasize U.S. military policy but not to the exclusion of materials analyzing the issues, current news searches and policy-like documents from other governmental and non-governmental sources." Topics range from Afghanistan to Weapons of Mass Destruction. These are updated on an ongoing basis, and older materials are moved off into an archive. + Browse full-text publications available from: Air University, Army War College, Asia Pacific Center, Command & General Staff College, Joint Forces Staff College, Marshall Center, National Defense University and the Naval War College. These are searchable via the MERLN Digital Collections search page. You'll also find a link to the Professional Military Journal Reading Room at NDU. Some journal websites offer full-text; others offer tables of contents, selected articles, information for subscribers, etc. + Explore the websites of five Department of Defense Regional Centers that are linked here: Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. MERLN participants include:
MERLN's OCLC group catalog brochure (PDF) describes what is available from each participant and provides search tips. -- 2) United States Air Force--Statistics Source: United States Air Force Airman Magazine Database The January 2004 issue of Airman contains comprehensive data related to: Air Force bases, budget, personnel/career field breakdown, pay structure, civilian and military awards and decorations, rank and insignia, badges, fitness standards. Illustrations are provided. This issue also includes extensive information about Air Force weapons systems: bombers, fighters, attack/observation/battle management, transports/special duty, tankers, trainers, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, targets/decoys, strategic/tactical/defense missiles, air base defense, bombs, launch vehicles, satellites, aircraft tail markings.
Web Search--Yahoo Yahoo Accepts "Banned" Google Ads"Banned" About two weeks ago we ran a story about Google removing a couple of paid-links (ads) from its database because, "Google's policy prohibits ads criticizing other groups or companies." Today, Oceana, the group that had its ads banned from Google, reports that Yahoo has accepted the advertising. and speaking of Google... Larry Page and Sergey Brin Make the Forbes Billionaires List for the First Time Yahoo's Filo and Yang are also on the list.
Web Search Source: News.Com Patents raise stakes in search wars From the article, "Web companies are quietly amassing arsenals of search patents, as they prepare for a high-stakes war over the profitable technology that could one day control how most people get information." On ResourceShelfPLUS, you can access a monthly update of search-related patents. It's not a comprehensive list but if you're interested in the topic, you might find it useful.
Web Search--Yahoo Source: Reuters Yahoo's Semel and Yang Speak + Semel on social networking software..."'At this moment in time, it's exciting, it's interesting, it's viral,' said CEO Terry Semel, a former Warner Brothers studio co-chief, at a Commonwealth Club meeting in Santa Clara, California. 'We haven't seen any business models around it yet. It's an area we watch very closely.'" + Yang on new search technology... "'At the end of the day, you just don't use one search engine,'" Jerry Yang, a Yahoo co-founder and director, told attendees at the Commonwealth Club meeting, pointing to what he saw as Yahoo's growing relevance as a search provider." + Semel on ending relationship with Google... "Semel said that, in the end, in addition to wanting to create its own answer to Google, Yahoo needed search technology that was customized for use by its more than 130 million registered users. 'We had been licensing technology that was not custom made for Yahoo,' Semel said, referring to using Google's search results." See Also: An Ad-Free Yahoo? and in other Yahoo News... Yahoo UK Has Added A Business Finder Database Also available as a search tab here. Content licensed from Thomson Local.
Government Databases--United States Source: Government Printing Office New, GPO Makes Two Online Tools Available That Generate Direct Links to GPO Access Content From the site, "Documents that exist within databases on GPO Access cannot be bookmarked. In order to link to these types of documents, a unique URL string must be created." Simply select the database name from pull down menu, enter the Document ID number (instructions on how to find it are provided) and select the file type you want to link to (txt or pdf). Then click the "generate" button and a direct url to the document is provided. A separate tool must be used to create direct links to content from the Code of Federal Regulations.
Online Databases--Copyright Source: News.Com Court doesn't extend databases' protection From the article, "In the first case of its kind, a federal court in New York has ruled that one company's snatching of a database from a rival's Web site does not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. U.S. District Judge Naomi Buchwald said in an opinion released this week that Berkshire Information Systems did not run afoul of the controversial 1998 copyright law by allegedly downloading up to 85 percent of a proprietary advertising-tracking database from competitor Inquiry Management Systems' (IMS) Web site."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) Wi-Fi Hotspots--Database Portable Version of Wi-Fi Hotspot Database Now Available from JiWire JiWire is a searchable database of over 28,000 wi-fi hotspots located in more than 50 countries. The database can be searched online (it's been available for about six months and has more than doubled in size), using a WAP enabled device, on a PDA (via Avantgo) or via a new offline laptop version that you download directly to your computer. You'll need to register (free) to activate the software. You can search JiWire using several criteria, including airport code, country, city, zip code/post code. It's also possible to expand your search by finding locations within a certain radius of a location. A results page includes the wi-fi provider name and pricing info. The site also includes a wi-fi glossary. A bit more about the company here. -- Human Rights Source: U.S. Department of State Just Released, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003 Older editions of the report are also available. -- Consumer Assistance--United States Source: Federal Consumer Information Center Just Updated, The 2004 Edition of the Consumer Action Handbook is Now Online You can also order up to ten copies of the print version (free). The consumer advice section of the Handbook is also available online in Spanish. -- Automobiles--United States--Lists and Rankings Source: NICB New Rankings Online Today, Most Stolen Vehicles: 2002 Five lists are available. + 2002 Top 25 Make and Model Thefts + Top Vehicle Thefts by Year, Make, and Model + Most Popular Years Stolen in 2002 + Most Popular Colors Stolen in 2002 + What Are the Top 25 Stolen Vehicles in Your State?
Library of Congress Briefs + Project To Place Papers of Thomas Jefferson Online Is Completed + Opening of Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun Papers at Library of Congress on March 4 Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Citation Indexing Specialized Search Tools Source: Institute for Scientific Information Institute for Scientific Information and NEC To Build Index of Web-based Scholarship Very interesting! ISI is going to launch an open-web citation indexing tool. Background ResourceShelf has mentioned and linked to Citeseer/ResearchIndex many times. It's a web-based (and free) database that allows you to search and access scholarly (open-web accessible material) in computer science, info technology, and related areas. The database is built in an automated manner (autonomous citation indexing) and, along with direct links to the article, document conversion, citation analysis, and other services are made available. It's an amazing technology developed by Lee Giles (currently at Penn St.), Steve Lawrence (currently at Google), Gary Flake (currently at Yahoo Research), and others at NEC Research. Today's Announcement From the news release: "Thomson ISI and NEC Laboratories America (NEC) announced their collaboration to create a comprehensive, multidisciplinary citation index for Web-based scholarly resources. The new Web Citation Index will combine a suite of technologies developed by NEC, including 'autonomous citation indexing' tools from NEC's CiteSeer environment, with the capabilities underlying ISI Web of Knowledge. During 2004, Thomson ISI and NEC will operate a pilot of the new resource to receive feedback from the scientific and scholarly community. Full access to the index is projected for early 2005. When fully operational, the new resource will be a unique content collection within ISI Web of Knowledge." -- See Also: Lee Giles at Penn St. Has Created Three Other "Niche" Search Tools (Free) Both offer citation indexing to web-based materials in two areas. + ResearchIndex@PSU This is another version of ResearchIndex that Dr. Giles makes available. It is OAI compliant and will soon offer API access. Some of the content in this version is not in the ResearchIndex.Com database. + SmealSearch (business info, online since October 2003) + eBizSearch (electronic commerce info) See Also: On a related note, NEC was recently awarded a patent for "focused crawler" technology.
Web Search--Microsoft Source: News.Com That Was Fast: Paul Ryan Exits Microsoft After Four Months From the article, "The Microsoft executive charged with building a paid-search technology to compete with Yahoo and Google has quietly left the company after less than four months on the job, CNET News.com has learned...Microsoft spokeswoman Crystal Duncan confirmed that Ryan left on Feb. 12. She would not comment on the specifics of his departure, but added that the company is actively seeking his replacement. Christopher Payne, vice president of MSN Search and Shopping and a member of the search-technology advancement team at Microsoft, has taken over Ryan's duties in the interim." See Also: Reuters Article from 10/30/2003, Mentions Ryan's Hiring by MS See Also: Ryan's Resume via His Underture.Com Site
Professional Reading Shelf (3 Items) Online Behavior The Keeping Things Found Project Requests Your Help On December 18th, we ran an item and plenty of links about the "Keeping Things Found" research project from Information School at the University of Washington. The KTF research team has contacted ResourceShelf and has asked for your help. They're currently conducting a survey about your personal information management habits. -- Public Libraries--United States Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project/Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Full Text Report, Toward Equality of Access: The Role of Public Libraries in Addressing the Digital Divide From the announcement, "'Today, if you can reach a public library, you can reach the Internet,' said Bill Gates, Sr., co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a featured speaker at the Public Library Association conference. 'The challenge now is to continue providing this access that millions of our neighbors depend upon. Cuts in library budgets won’t turn off the Internet for wealthy or middle-class families. It will turn off the Internet for people who have nowhere else to turn.'" A bit more, "...libraries face serious challenges as they continue to provide access to digital information. In keeping pace with ever-evolving technology, libraries often lack sufficient resources and technical support to upgrade computer hardware, software and Internet connections. Librarians and staff members also must seek continued technology training to assist patrons and troubleshoot equipment. Severe budget cuts nationwide have caused some libraries to cut operating hours, lay off staff members or close altogether." Summary ||| Direct to Full Text Report ||| IMLS Press Release -- Open Archives Source: OCLC Research Full Text article, Open Archival information System Reference Model: Introductory Guide A new article by Brian F. Lavoie, a researcher at OCLC.
Business Research--Searchable Database An Update: The Scannery About three months ago, ResourceShelf ran an item about a new "focused" search tool for investor-related information from companies around the word called The Scannery. Joseph Pols, developer of the database, has provided ResourceShelf an update with the latest news. + The Scannery currently contains info about more than 12,000 companies from more than 50 countries. + The crawler is "digging deeper" at each website. + "A very significant development is the addition of a new 'sister' website to The Scannery. We found that some users were getting confused when they searched for, for example, FORD but did not find the Ford Motor Company ranking near the top of the results. This is because not all companies allow their websites to be indexed at all. Ford is one of them, as is IBM and Proctor and Gamble, among others. Therefore, the only results would be those documents on other websites which contain the search phrase. To help users, we have created a new 'sister' website at http://www.timbukone.com. This new site (pronounced Tim Buck One), which does require free registration, allows a user to first choose a country, then navigate to a specific public company within that country (for which we have a website address), and then perform a search restricted to that company's website. The user can also directly click through to the company website. In addition, the user can choose to expand the search to all public companies in that country."
Library Briefs + Press Attention for the Michigan Electronic Library (via Detroit Free Press) + Number of black librarians drops (via Lexington Herald-Leader) + Dubai Building Digital Library (via Khaleej Times)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (6 Items) Environment--Europe--Database Source: European Environment Agency New Database, European Pollutant Emission Register From the site, " EPER is the European Pollutant Emission Register - the first European-wide register of industrial emissions into air and water. It gives you access to information on the annual emissions of 9256 industrial facilities in the 15 Member States of the EU as well as Norway—mostly from the year 2001. It lets you group information easily, by pollutant, activity (sector), air and water (direct or via a sewerage system) or by country. It is also possible to see detailed data on individual facilities." Thanks to G.T. for the news tip. -- Aerospace Source: Cranfield University Library AERADE "The AERADE portal provides integrated access to key aerospace and defence information sources...." Aerospace and defence resources - quality-assessed Internet sites DEVISE - a special collection of military and defence resources ESDU Series - abstracts for engineering design data and methods Internet Aviator - an interactive tutorial. NewsBrief - aerospace and defence news from Moreover.Com ConferenceBrief - a list of forthcoming aerospace and defence conferences and events. Use Portal Search to search Aerospace and defence, DEVISE and ESDU series simultaneously. Dropdown menus provide Boolean options. -- Commuting--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: U.S. Census Just Released, Longest Commute Times in the United States, 2002 -- Unemployment--United States--Statistics Source: BLS New, Full Text, Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment, 2002 -- Boating--United States--Searchable Database Source: U.S. Coast Guard Manufacturers Identification Code (MIC) Database "The Coast Guard maintains a searchable database of all recreational boat manufacturers in the United States and U.S. importers of recreational boats. It gives you fast access to information including the company name, address, phone number, and operating status." Thanks to Shirl K. for the link. -- Government--Streaming Audio and Video Source: National Council of State Legislatures List: Legislatures Live! Direct links to state legislatures that provide streaming audio/video on the web. "As of January 2004, live broadcasts were available from 45 states. Internet audio or video feeds are available from 72 of the 99 legislative chambers." This page from C-SPAN offers info about legislatures around the world that offer audio/video on the web.
Web Search--Lycos The New Lycos is Here Part of a "new direction" at the company. On 2/11, when the changes were announced, we ran comments from Tom Wilde at Lycos. He said the company still has a strong commitment to search. Lycos also offers Hotbot.com. Look for a new search-related resource from Lycos coming in March.
Industry Briefs (2 Items) DialogPRO NewsEdge Now Available -- The Economist Intelligence Unit and the Financial Times Announce New Product Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Web Search Source: News.Com Relevancy Over Accuracy The article focuses on a new survey that says that Google is the leading web search company. No big news. However, a paragraph near the end of the article will be of interest to all information professionals. From the article, "When conducting a search, people seemed to value relevance over accuracy. In the survey, 52 percent of respondents said that the thing they valued most in a search engine was the ability to find relevant information, while 34 percent said they were looking to get credible results. An even one-third said they wanted to get results quickly. Lesser considerations were the interface's ease of use and whether the search engine has a 'cool' design." These numbers could be used to illustrate many issues including: 1) The "principle of least effort" that Thomas Mann wrote about pre-web is alive and well. No surprise. 2) People don't know where to turn for more credible info or how to use a web engine, analyze web content, or create a more precise search that might avoid certain types of sites. 3) Finally, as Jenny pointed out in a chat, survey participants assumed that if it's relevant, it must also be credible. Regardless, it's sad. See Also: A bit more in this news release
Speciality Search--Scirus Elsevier's "Scirus" Science Search Engine Now Utilizing FAST's New ESP Technology From the announcement, "FAST ESP is the first enterprise search platform to intelligently and dynamically retrieve and analyze the complete collection of information existing across an organization's enterprise and the Web, regardless of the format, structure, or location of the data...FAST's unique automatic categorization tools enable Scirus to offer its users subject-specific searching. The advanced drill-down capabilities of FAST's technology also enable users to perform field-specific searches, such as searching by author name. FAST ESP provides Scirus with the scalability necessary to search over 167 million science-specific documents from the World Wide Web and proprietary Sources with unprecedented speed and accuracy." This is the type of technology I was discussing in yesterday's post about federated searching. See Also: Direct to Scirus
Professional Reading Shelf Scholarly Publishing Open Access Source: International Federation of Library Associations International Library Organization Declares Support for Open Access From the announcement, "Welcoming the IFLA statement, President-elect Alex Byrne noted IFLA's long commitment to open access to information, especially its concern for access to scholarly literature in the developing world. He said: 'IFLA recognises that achieving affordable, global access to scholarly information and research documentation will require a great deal of commitment and a variety of strategies. IFLA strongly supports the Open Access movement and welcomes the launch of many OA compliant publications. IFLA also acknowledges the need to address the challenge on a number of fronts and in partnership with many stakeholders.'" See Also: Full Text, IFLA Statement, "Open access to Scholarly Literature and Research documentation" on a related note... American Association of Publishers Publicly Releases Position Paper: "Copyright and Public Access to Federally Funded Scientific Research: The Erroneous Premise of Open-Access Advocates and H.R. 2613. Thanks to P.S. for the link.
Enterprise Search Headlines (3 Items) Verity A Google Snub? Stanford's Business School Selects Verity Search Technology The business school at the institution where Google was founded selects Verity's Ultraseek internal and external search. Stanford is also the assignee for the PageRank patent. -- Endeca Endeca Releases New Version of its Commerce Search Tech -- Copernic Copernic Opens First Office in U.S. Thanks to C.A.
Web Search--Google/Booble Booble Decides to Back Down The "adult" search engine says that it will stop using the name and logo. Why? Google had some problems with it and they have many lawyers. and while we're on the Google beat... 1) Today's Look at the Future of Google (via The Independent) Thanks to Andy B. for the link. 2) A Lengthy Look at Google (nothing really new) from Wired 3) New from Google Labs: Wireless Version of Froogle Note: Yahoo also offers a mobile shopping service.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (6 Items) Satellite Images Top 10 IKONOS Satellite Images of 2003 All of these images can be viewed online or downloaded (no charge). You can access more images here and here. -- Taiwan Source: Department of the Parliamentary Library, Australia New, Full Text Brief, Taiwan's First Referendum: Democratic Milestone or Diplomatic Millstone? PDF; 2 pages. -- Privacy--United States Source: GAO Online Today, Social Security Numbers: Private Sector Entities Routinely Obtain and Use SSNs, and Laws Limit the Disclosure of This Information -- Housing--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Just Released, Full Text, These Old Houses: 2001 "Housing units built before 1920 were valued at a little more than half the amount of those built since 1990 and the older houses generally have fewer amenities, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today." Summary ||| Direct to Full Text -- Patents--Lists & Rankings Source: WIPO New List, Top 10 Countries, International Patent Filings 2003 -- Aerospace--Statistics Source: Aerospace Industries Association Aerospace Statistics Includes general industry statistics, employment, production, foreign trade, industry economic indicators, annual data book (current edition for purchase; last four years' editions freely viewable online), annual year-end review and forecast. Monday, February 23, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Library Technology Beginning Today (2/23): Free (One Week Only) Full Text Access to Library Hi Tech Free access is made available via Emerald's Journal of the Week program. Vol. 15 No.1-2 (1997) through Vol. 21. No.4 (2003) will be available. -- Open Access Source: ARL Bimonthly Report Open Access Builds Momentum A new article by Peter Suber. From the article, "Momentum for open access (OA) built tremendously in 2003. Keeping up with it has left me little time to take stock and gain perspective, but even this early in the new year I can offer the following observations. 2003 was the year that research funders realized that if research is important enough to fund, then it's important enough to share. Open access isn't just an abstract public good; it's a concrete way to make literature more useful and thereby to increase the return on investment that funders make in research."
Web Search Source: Searchblog, A Couple of Comments on Search Variables A post on J.B.'s site says "bravo" to this post on the Scobelizer blog asking for the big engines to give the public access to the "guts" of their search technologies so end users can better tune their results. Scoble also mentions that small engines (Gigablast, Feedster, Technorati and many others) will be the "real innovators." Tim Bray correctly reminds us that most users don't even take the time to use advanced syntax when developing a search strategy. A couple of comments + I don't see that the "big guys" are going to be sharing the guts of their technology with us very soon. Heck, I can't even get Google to explain how their stemming technology works. Does Coca-Cola give out the exact formulas of how products are made? McDonalds still calls it "secret sauce." (-: -- + Many people believe that a single search tool can be all things to all people? I tend to disagree. Is there just a single reference book on your bookshelf? For the librarians out there, you know that many LexisNexis libraries and Dialog files exist. -- + Scoble mentions that innovations will come from smaller databases. I agree. I would also toss into the mix "focused" and targeted tools like SmealSearch and ResearchIndex. Just last week, NEC was awarded a patent for focused crawler technology. -- + Why shouldn't these -- along with thousands of other smaller, focused, and specialized databases -- be "federated" at search time, which would help create a "better" search tool? Instead of incorporating many search tools, each with a different interface, a common interface could be designed to run "on top" of selected resources. All databases would and should remain completely independent. -- For example -- searching for news? Bring together results from Technorati, Feedster, Yahoo News, Rocket News, and perhaps a fee-based service like Factiva (if you have access to it or if the publisher offered a pay-per-view option). At the enterprise level, results from the web, fee-based databases, and local search tools can be combined. Dialog offers something similar to what I'm describing called OneSearch. + Technology (similar to what Dialog has offered for years) could, if needed, help the user select the most pertinent databases to incorporate into a search (either based on the specific query or a searcher could simply tell the tool to make the decisions). -- + Large databases like Google and Yahoo could also be exploited (if needed) by using them with advanced search strategies that have been "pre-built" for the user. For example, instead of a searcher having to go to the "advanced" page or know specific syntax to limit the query to government info, the federated tool would automatically append the query with the appropriate syntax, enabling a more precise search. -- + Personalization would also be part of the system. Results could be post-processed with dupes removed, results clustered, and then sorted and re-sorted according to the search need. Initial result sets could be based on a user's profile and/or past usage, but could be easily tweaked at the time of the search. As I mentioned yesterday, I think Yahoo is doing good things with their SmartSort technology. It's easy to understand and use. Other views of the information, including visualization of results, could also be made available if the user found it helpful. -- + A common interface (designed for the needs of a specific user group) will make it easier for people to take full advantage of these disparate tools. -- + Let's not forget that people often don't want links. They want an answer. So, in addition to simultaneously searching disparate sources, technology should also be able to summarize and, if possible (depending on the query), present a possible answer(s) to fact-based queries. -- + We're already starting to see this with FAST's new ESP technology, WebFountain, and other federated search technology* providers. * Full disclosure: A company offering federated technology is a sponsor of ResourceShelf. -- + Yes, this sounds like meta searching and to a certain degree it is. However, what we've come to think of as meta searching is just the tip of the iceberg. With additional search technologies, access to a wide variety of databases (web, fee-based, local), and post-processing technology, we could create a robust resource that would offer full-power (for those who want it), but also be simple enough for the average user. Btw, NISO is also doing work in the federated search/meta search arena. -- + It's very easy to envision how information professionals could be valuable in the creation and maintenance of tools like these.
Translation Source: MIT Technology Review Translation in the Age of Terror Companies mentioned in the article: + BBN (a Verizon subsidiary) + Basis Technology + Trados
Web Search--Ask.co.uk Source: Netimperitive Ask Jeeves UK Adds "Smart Answer" Technology This is the same technology that's been available since early 2003 on Ask.com. ResourceShelf published a complete list of keywords in July and ran a few searches demonstrating Smart Answers yesterday.
Syndication Source: Forbes.com The Coming RSS Revolution An introduction to RSS from a mainstream business publication. Feedster and NetNewsWire are mentioned. No mention of other syndication standards. Information professionals wanting to learn more about RSS and other syndication tools should check out this "classic" article by Steven Cohen and his Library Stuff site. Jenny Levine's site is also a good place to learn more. Both Steven and Jenny continue to be the leaders in teaching the library community about RSS and syndication. Finally, the article doesn't mention that many web-based solutions exist that allow you to organize and read RSS and other feeds without having to purchase and download any software. Bloglines.com (free) and MyFeedster (free) are two examples. See Also: Librarians' Index to the Internet Now Offers a Feed of Its Wonderful "What's New This Week" List
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (6 Items) Terrorism Source: Congressional Research Service New Report, Foreign Terrorist Organizations PDF; 111 pages -- Iraq Source: U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs Security Companies Doing Business in Iraq Alphabetical listing of security companies currently working in Iraq. Information for each includes headquarters address, website, e-mail address, local contact in Iraq, brief description of services. -- Freedom of Information Act--United States Source: GAO New Report, Update on Freedom of Information Act Implementation Status PDF; 86 pages -- Privacy--Canada Source: Privacy Commissioner of Canada Three New Fact Sheets 1) Privacy in the Workplace 2) The Application of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act to Charitable and Non-Profit Organizations 3) Application of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act to Employee Records -- Standards Source: IEEE ThinkStandards.net "At thinkstandards.net, we'll take you through a brief history of standards and help you understand the relationship between standards, technology and business strategies." Includes "a list of the relevant sites dedicated to the standards discipline." See also: Standards Engineering Society Links Page -- Election 2004 Factiva Posts Media Visibility Index for Democratic Presidential Hopefuls (Week Ending 2/22/04)
Industry Briefs (2 Items) Thomas Register Launches ThomasNet.com "ThomasNet.com offers the Web's largest industrial resource, with over 650,000 distributors, manufacturers and service companies within more than 67,000 searchable categories." The new database combines material from Thomas Register and Thomas Regional. FAST Search and Transfer technology is used to search the database. and speaking of Business-to-Business Databases... Kellysearch (from Reed Business) Enters U.S. Market According to the news release they've added more than 600,000 U.S.-based companies to its current 2,000,000 company listings. The KellySearch.Com interface doesn't seem to working but you can access the database at kellysearch.co.uk. -- West West Launches Document Delivery Service Sunday, February 22, 2004
Web Search--Yahoo Source: The New York Times The Search Engine That Isn't a Verb, Yet What would a Sunday be like without a search article in a major paper? This week, Saul Hansell looks at Yahoo, the company. Here are a few passages from the article: + "Google has become not only a verb but also a profitable company with a reported $1 billion in sales. It is expected to be the hottest initial public offering this year. And now Google is preparing to offer a free e-mail service, people close to the company said, in a bid for Yahoo's most important source of loyal customers." + "The playing field is much more level now, and both companies will go full-tilt boogie to retain the crown in search innovation," said John Battelle, who is writing a book on Web search and was a publisher of The Industry Standard, the magazine that was once the voice of the dot-com boom. + "But for Mr. Semel to get real value from his $2 billion investment in search companies, he will have to make Yahoo's search product so good that people stop associating search with one word: Google." + "Personalization will ultimately change the way search is delivered," Mr. [Jeff] Weiner [Head of Yahoo Search] said. In particular, he hopes that by watching users over time, the search engine can guess what sort of information they are looking for - or, as he put it, 'If you type in flowers, do you want to buy flowers, plant flowers or see pictures of flowers?'" --- Notes + I've said many times that a "personalized" search service Yahoo is already offering (with its shopping site), SmartSort, is not only useful but also easy to use. It's not difficult to think about how this sort of thing could be utilized in many types of searching. You'll notice that in some cases, the order of the results does not change but the text in the blurbs does. + SmartSort for library research? Sure, why not? For example: ++ How important are full text articles? Peer reviewed? ++ Books? Would you be willing to wait a few days to get these materials (ILL)? ++ Are certain sources more useful than others? ++ Reading level? --- Btw, Ask.Com offers (launched in July) SmartAnswers. Direct links to specialized databases or an answer to a ready reference type of question directly on the results page along with a direct link to the source of the answer. Examples: + Pictures of San Francisco You're taken directly into the Ask.Com image database. + When is Veterans Day? The date for the holiday is listed on the results page. + What Does NBA stand for? Direct link to AcronymFinder.Com + Academy Award Best Film 1961 The answer is listed at the top of the results page.
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Legislation--United States Source: American Library Association ALA Issues "Action Alert" For "Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act" Much more info about the legislation in these ResourceShelf Posts #1 ||| #2 -- Public Libraries--United States Source: The Milford (MA) Daily News Library directors may plead for cash In an article about library funding concerns in Massachusetts, the following passage: "'The 21st century belief is that public libraries are not needed any more with Google, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com, said John Arnold of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. 'A great search engine and a great bookstore are not a public library,' he said. The library isn't the place where you find an answer, it's where you find the right answer." I wish people would also mention that many library resources (databases, books, the skills of a good librarian) are often accessible to patrons without having to physically visit the library building.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items) Images--Databases Source: Time Warner Time Life Pictures "Time Life Pictures is an unparalleled collection of striking imagery, documenting past and present events in politics, culture, celebrities and the arts. The collection includes some of the greatest photographers of the 20th century, such as Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Andreas Feininger, John Dominis, Nina Leen and Gjon Mili, whose photographs have adorned the pages of Time, Life and other Time Inc. publications." Collection contains more than 425,000 digital files. You may license and download images immediately. A glossary of terms pertaining to photographic images is also available. Thanks to Shirl Kennedy for the link. See Also: Searchable Database of Every Time Magazine Cover (1923- ) See Also: HP to Create Digital Archive of All Time Magazines (via Reuters) -- Federal Communications Commission--Databases Source: FCC FCC Search Tools One-stop shopping for FCC databases. From this page you can access: + FCC Search - "(T)he new full-text search tool that collects information from web pages and many types of documents including Word, WordPerfect, Acrobat, Excel, and ASCII Text, throughout the FCC's web site and the Electronic Document Management System (EDOCS), but does not collect information from the FCC's other databases." + Topical Index - "(A) list and fast search of subject-oriented links to FCC-selected web pages that offer the best information available on the most common topics of interest to the public." + FCC Electronic Document Management System (EDOCS) - "(A) database of Daily Digest entries for FCC documents posted to the FCC website since March 1996." + Document Indexes - "(L)isting of Public Notices, Orders, News Releases, etc., arranged by Bureau/Office for all documents that have been entered into EDOCS since January 2000." + FCC General Menu Reports (GenMen) - "(U)nites most of the Commission's licensing systems under a single search engine." Includes Universal Licensing System, Experimental, Cable Operations, Mass Media and International Bureau. + Electronic Filing & Public Access Systems - "(I)nternet-based systems that allow the public to submit and/or review and search for different types of filings related to FCC proceedings, rulemakings, tariffs, and official forms." + Search for Filed Comments - ECFS [ main | alternate ] - "(A)llows you to research any document in the Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) including non-electronic documents that have been scanned into the system. ECFS includes data and images from 1992 onward." + FCC ID Number Search - "(E)quipment authorization database contains records for equipment which was either Certified, Type Accepted, and/or Verified by the FCC." + Part 68 Registrations - "Search over 30,000 modem, fax, and telephone registrations for manufacturer, registrant and and contact using 5 digits from FCC registration numbers." + Links to the U.S. Code, Code of Federal Regulations, FCC Rules: CFR Title 47, Office of Engineering & Technology Rules, FCC's Regulations Implementing the FOIA.
Privacy Intelligence Source: AP U.S. Pressing for High-Tech Spy Tools Key passages: + " Despite an outcry over privacy implications, the government is pressing ahead with research to create powerful tools to mine millions of public and private records for information about terrorists." + The whole congressional action looks like a shell game," said Steve Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, which tracks work by U.S. intelligence agencies. "There may be enough of a difference for them to claim TIA was terminated while for all practical purposes the identical work is continuing." + The [TIA] research created a political uproar because such reviews of millions of transactions could put innocent Americans under suspicion. One of Poindexter's own researchers, David D. Jensen at the University of Massachusetts, acknowledged that "high numbers of false positives can result." + Ted Senator, who managed that research for Poindexter, told government contractors that mining data to identify terrorists "is much harder than simply finding needles in a haystack." "Our task is akin to finding dangerous groups of needles hidden in stacks of needle pieces," he said. "We must track all the needle pieces all of the time." + "Among Senator's 18 projects, the work by researcher Jensen shows how flexible such powerful software can be. Jensen used two online databases, the Physics Preprint Archive and the Internet Movie Database, to develop tools that would identify authoritative physics authors and would predict whether a movie would gross more than $2 million its opening weekend." + "At the University of Southern California, professor Craig Knoblauch [sic] said he developed software that automatically extracted information from travel Web sites and telephone books and tracked changes over time." + ARDA, the research and development office, sponsors corporate and university research on information technology for U.S. intelligence agencies. It is developing computer software that can extract information from databases as well as text, voices, other audio, video, graphs, images, maps, equations and chemical formulas. It calls its effort "Novel Intelligence from Massive Data." + Cycorp is also mentioned in the article. Saturday, February 21, 2004
Librarians Source: XML.Com Computer Geeks Can Learn from Librarians Here's something you don't see everyday, kind words about librarians, in an article written by a computer geek. From the first article in a new series about organizing your personal media collection, XML.Com author Kendall Grant Clark writes, "In other words, we're geeks; we're not library or information scientists. But these -- computer and library science -- are kissing cousin fields, parasitic and dependent on one another in important, deep ways. Geeks can learn information and library science easily enough, but especially if they have a real, hackable motivation for doing so. I'm suggesting in this column what I intend to prove in future columns, namely, that the dijalog lifestyle, which is the one most of us are actually living, is uniquely suited to the confluence of geek hackery and certains parts of library science."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items) Weather--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: NCDC Just Updated, Billion Dollar U.S. Weather Disasters "NCDC has updated its online report describing billion dollar weather disasters of 1980-2003." -- Employment--United States Source: Business 2.0 The Top 20 Boom Towns (Hottest Job Markets) A list of sources "crunched" to create this list are available at the bottom of the page. -- Information Technology--News Source: International Data Group, Inc. IDG Advanced Contents Search Search the contents of any or all nine IDG tech pubs from one page. Titles include: PCWorld, InfoWorld, ComputerWorld, NetworkWorld, CIO, ITWorld, MacWorld, Darwin, BioIT World. The advanced search form has drop-down menus that enable field searching and Boolean options. A browseable subject index is located below the search form.
Digital Libraries Source: New on the IMLS Web Site: "Digital Corner" This new section of the web site contains links to information about IMLS-funded "digital" projects.
Academic Libraries Library Organizations Source: The Daily Crimson Harvard Will Stay in ARL From the article, "Despite one of its peer institution's [Stanford University] decisions to withdraw from the country's most prominent association of librarians, Harvard College Library (HCL) administrators have decided to continue their membership in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL)." See Also: More on Stanford's Withdrawl from the Association of Research Libraries
Libraries--Australia Source: The Age State Library celebrates its 150th birthday From the article, "What does a library do to celebrate a milestone? Put out a book, of course. However, it has been a job easier said than done for the folks at the State Library of Victoria, which celebrates its 150th anniversary in July. With a collection that has grown from only 3800 books in 1856 to more than 2 million items today, deciding what should make the cut has been an unenviable task...The collection of the State Library, Australia's first public library, also includes manuscripts, maps, comics and computer games." Friday, February 20, 2004
Information Industry--Factiva Source: Upgrade Full Text, A Recently Published Article by the CEO of Factiva, Clare Hart The article is titled, "Capitalizing on Information." Hart writes, "People believe they are fully information literate and have all of the necessary information to make informed decisions. But not all relevant or trustworthy information is available on the Web, nor can employees be certain they have full access to information stored within their own organizations. In fact, access to internal information can be far more complicated than access to external information, and it is estimated that 80 percent of the information people need to do their jobs is located within internal data stores."
Information Retrieval Source: ResearchInformation Design Science to enhance search technology From the article, "Design Science has announced that it will lead a project aimed at enhancing search technology for science, technical and medical (STM) documents. Funded in part by the US National Science Foundation's National Science Digital Library programme, it will begin with a workshop in April, bringing together researchers and managers of STM document collections from academia and industry." See Also: Design Science Awarded NSF Grant for Enhancing Searching for Mathematics See Also: Learn More About the April 2004 Workshop
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items) Labor--United States Minimum Wage Laws in the States Source: U.S. Department of Labor (Employment Standards Administration Wage and Hour Division) "Click on any state or jurisdiction to find out about applicable minimum wage laws." -- Literature Today in Literature "Today in Literature features a new original biographical story each calendar day about the great writers, books, and events in literary history." Thanks to ResourceShelf's SDK for the contribution. -- Cybersecurity--United States Source: United States House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce Full Text, Hearing: Cybersecurity and Consumer Data: What's at Risk for the Consumer?
Censorship--United States--Lists and Rankings Source: ALA ALA Publishes List of the Ten Most Challenged Books of 2003
Information Industry--Reed Elsevier Open Access Source: The Guardian Reed forced to bite the free access bullet From the article, "Reed Elsevier chief executive Crispin Davis issued a robust defence yesterday of the media group's scientific publishing arm as it faces a growing threat from free access internet sites...Mr Davis said the rival business model accounted for only 1% of the market and had not proved its viability. He added that, by limiting itself to online publishing, open access excluded 30% of global institutions using scientific research." Thanks to LISNews for the tip. See Also: Much More Coverage of the Open Access Movement on Peter Suber's Open Access News Thursday, February 19, 2004
Web Resources of the Week Both entries this week are current awareness and content discovery resources made available (free) by two U.S. law schools. I've asked the people in charge of these sites to provide the overview info. The annotation for the first entry was written by Professor Bernard Hibbits, University of Pittsburgh School of Law. The annotation for the second entry was written by Tom Hillstrom, St. Thomas University School of Law. == 1) News Primary Documents Source: University of Pittsburgh School of Law Paper Chase On JURIST's Paper Chase, University of Pittsburgh law professor Bernard Hibbitts and his staff of some 30 law students continually track "legal news worth thinking about." From the early hours of the morning to past midnight every weekday they filter thousands of law-related stories on the Internet, using their academic expertise to identify the most important ones (not the most sensational ones!), which they then summarize and enrich in real time with relevant online research materials. This unique current awareness service is completely non-commercial and is provided free by JURIST and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law as a public educational service. It's geared towards general readers as much as towards academics or legal professionals, and should also be of considerable interest to journalists and librarians. Paper Chase even offers RSS-based "newsboxes" of the latest legal headlines that can be carried on other websites by inserting a single string of HTML code. --- --- 2) International Relations Primary Documents Source: St. Thomas University School of Law New, Diplomacy Monitor More and more nations are launching public diplomacy campaigns on the Internet, posting communiqués, transcripts, briefing papers, news releases and other diplomatic documents with the goal of shaping opinion within the global Internet community The St. Thomas University School of Law Diplomacy Monitor monitors the hundreds of government websites feeding this international discourse and synthesizes the documents they publish into a central repository where they can be viewed in a variety of information streams. Official English translations or computerized translations are provided where needed. All content is cached and available for full-text Boolean searching. The monitoring is powered by smart agents or BOTs developed at the law school.
Professional Reading Shelf Librarians Information Needs Are Legitimate - Interview with Kay Raseroka This interview with Kay Raseroka (President of the International Federation of Library Associations) was just posted on the IFLA web site.
Academic Libraries Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google A new article by Steven Bell. He writes, "For some time now, the largest producers of databases have focused more on competing with each other for library business than on designing interfaces that students can navigate on their own. And because the producers seem to think that a librarian cares most about the number of full-text journals a database contains, their databases are now so loaded down with journals of questionable value that searches often yield results that are not much better than Google's -- but almost equally addictive to students, who get lots of full-text articles fast without having to do much thinking. In their current state, the aggregators are part of the infobesity problem, not part of its solution." Kudos to S.B. for an excellent article. One potential solution (at least for the time being) might be the federated database/common user interface concept. This could help solve several research issues common in academic and other types of libraries. This technology can also allow the individual library or research organization to build an interface for the particular wants and needs of their users. Finally, when a faculty member is nice enough to invite a librarian into their class, t |
