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Resources and News for Information Professionals
ResourceShelf is Compiled & Edited By Gary Price, MLIS Librarian Director of Online Information Resources, Ask.com Editor and Compiler, The ResourceShelf Editor and Compiler, DocuTicker
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Thursday, September 30, 2004
Resources of the Week Two different items for you this week. Maps--International Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) ReliefWeb Map Centre If you've been keeping up with ResourceShelf for any length of time, you're probably aware that we have a thing for online maps here. ReliefWeb, OCHA's "global network for humanitarian information on complex emergencies and natural disasters," was established as a one-stop information hub for "timely and reliable information during crises." And sometimes, a map can convey as much or more information than a written document...or provide supplementary information. You can access maps via a sensitive map or else use the two dropdown menus -- one allows you to select maps by country and another which permits selection of maps by emergency. When you select a country -- let's use Iraq again, since there is high interest in the situation there -- you are presented with a listing of maps in reverse chronological order, from newest through oldest. Links at the top allow you to view the maps: + By type -- either reference (standard geographic maps) or thematic (specific emergency, incident or disaster) + By source -- according to the agency/organization which prouduced the maps + By keyword -- e.g., food, health, landmines, natural resources, weather and climate, etc. Each map is dated and includes a brief description as to its format and file size. There's also a link that will take you to related documents found elsewhere on the ReliefWeb site. You can search for maps via a form that allows you to type in a title or specify criteria -- region, country, source, data type, date -- by using dropdown menus. The Map Centre is updated continually. You can take a look at the newest additions by clicking the "Latest Maps" link at the top of the right navigation column, under the dropdown menu. Under that, there's a selection of links to current "featured" maps. If you'd like to keep track of newly added maps, you can subscribe to an e-mail update; choose to receive it weekly or monthly. +++ Studs Terkel--Multimedia Resources Source: Chicago Historical Society Studs Terkel: Conversations with America Studs Terkel, the venerable Chicago-based author and radio personality, has produced an awesome body of work in his 90-plus years on this planet. The breadth of his subject matter comprises a comprehensive history of the 20th Century. This website makes available a significant amount of recorded material from Terkel's radio programs, books and interviews, organized into seven galleries: + The Studs Terkel Program (WFMT radio program in Chicago) + Division Street: America (twentieth century urban life in and around Chicago) + Hard Times (The Great Depression) + The Good War (World War II) + Race (interviews with people about their views on race) + Talking to Myself (Terkel on his own life) + Greatest Hits (particularly memorable moments from Terkel's radio program) You can search the audio materials archived here. Detailed biographical information about Terkel is available. You will need the free RealPlayer to listen to the audio material and Flash to access portions of the website. Both may downloaded from this page. The site is part of Historical Voices, a "searchable online database of spoken word collections spanning the 20th century," funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Libraries--PATRIOT Act Source: ALA Washington Office Newsletter Court Decision on PATRIOT Act May Affect Libraries From the ALA newsletter, "September 29th marked an important victory for civil liberties when the federal district court judge in the southern district of New York struck down Section 505 of the Patriot Act which permitted the FBI unchecked authority to obtain subscriber information, toll billing records and other transactional records from electronic communications service providers 'without any judicial oversight or opportunity for challenge'...Since many libraries may be "electronic service providers" if they provide public access to the Internet, libraries are among the entities that may benefit from this ruling."
Web Search Briefs Say Hello to Clusty.com From Vivisimo Vivisimo, the Pittsburgh based meta search and clustering company, has just launched Clusty.com, a new site offering several search and clustering tools and options (including a meta search of the blogosphere) unavailable from the Vivisimo.com site. Chris Sherman and some person by the name of Gary Price (-: offer up an overview and comments on the SearchDay site. -- GoHook Offers Access to PDF Content (via SEW Blog) For your "search tools in development" file.
Professional Reading Shelf Digital Preservation Source: The New York Times Grants Will Preserve Paperless Bits of History "The Library of Congress is giving $15 million to eight institutions to preserve a range of electronic material, including Web sites relating to the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election, digital maps, sound recordings and decades' worth of social science data. The grants, to be announced today, are part of a $100 million multiyear program, established by Congress and administered by the library, aimed at archiving resources that are increasingly born digital -- that is, as a Web site or an electronic database." See Also: Library Of Congress Announces Awards Of $15 Million To Begin Building A Network Of Partners For Digital Preservation See Also: Direct to the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIPP) Web Site -- Digital Libraries Source: ECDL Papers from the European Digital Library Conferences are Now Online The conference took place from September 12-17th at the University of Bath. Here are just a couple of that papers that I plan to take a look at: + Libraries, digital libraries, and digital library research + Evaluation of an Information System in an Information Seeking Process + Fiction Electronic Books: a Usability Study + DSpace: a Year in the Life of an Open Source Digital Repository System + Sound Footings: Building a National Digital Library of Australian Music + Towards Topic Driven Access to Full Text Documents -- Union Catalogs Source: Library World Records International Union Catalogs "At present hundreds of huge union catalogs, library network catalogs and consortium catalogs (all based on the Z39.50 networking protocol) are ongoing projects around the world, and most of them, notably those in Europe and North America are up and running. Electronic union catalogs are very valuable not just for catalogers but library users, researchers, lecturers, teachers, booksellers etc.... As long as the union catalogs being submitted, are in electronic format such as CD-ROM access or Internet access, and provide access to at least 5 large libraries, all URls sent will be added to this web page. The libraries in the union catalog can be part of a town, city, county, region, consortium, state, province or country, etc." -- Archivists Source: San Jose Mercury News Meet Anna Mancini, Company Archivist at Hewlett Packard For your "cool job" file. From the article, "'I feel like I won the lottery,' Mancini says. 'It really is a once-in-a-career, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.''' -- Open Access Source: College & Research Libraries (via E-LIS archive) Do Open Access Articles Have a Greater Research Impact? From the abstract, "hile many authors believe that their work has a greater research impact if it is freely available, studies to demonstrate that impact are few. This study looks at articles in four disciplines at varying stages of adoption of open access?philosophy, political science, electrical and electronic engineering and mathematics?to see if they have a greater impact, as measured by citations in the ISI Web of Science database, if their authors make them freely available on the Internet. The finding is that, across all four disciplines, freely available articles do have a greater research impact. Shedding light on this category of open access reveals that scholars in diverse disciplines are both adopting open access practices and being rewarded for it." Abstract ||| Direct to Full Text
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Presidential Debates--United States Presidential Debates-United States Selected Presidential Debate Resources + Text Transcripts of All Debates (1960-2000) + C-SPAN Offers Online Streaming Video of the 2000 Presidential Debates + Bush/Kerry Memorandum of Understanding on Debates + Text of Commission on Presidential Debates Sept. 15, 2004 letter to the Campaigns' Lead Debate Negotiators + Information About Debate Moderators and Format + Formats for 2004 Debates + Presidential Debate 2004 at the University of Miami + Presidential Debate 2004 at Arizona State University + Presidential Debate 2004 at Washington University + Vice Presidential Debate 2004 at Case Western Reserve University + The Great Debate: The History of Presidential Debates + Presidential Debate History (Resources for Educators) -- United States--History Russia--History Source: Library of Congress Expanded Content, "Meeting of Frontiers" Web Site From the announcement, "Meeting of Frontiers" is a bilingual, English-Russian collaborative project that chronicles the parallel experiences of the United States and Russia in exploring, developing and settling their frontiers, and the meeting of those frontiers in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. It features rare books, maps, manuscripts, photographs, sheet music and other materials from libraries in the United States and Russia, and is widely used in schools and libraries throughout the United States and Russia. The latest expansion includes 24 collections from 14 different libraries and archives in Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Krasnoiarsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and other Siberian cities, as well as additional collections from the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg, the Russian State Library in Moscow, and the Library of Congress. Digitization of materials in Siberia was undertaken by a mobile scanning team based in Novosibirsk that worked in cooperation with the Library of Congress to identify rare materials of special interest to American and Russian scholars, teachers, and students." -- Employment--United States--Statistics Source: BLS Just Released, Highlights of Women's Earnings in 2003 Wednesday, September 29, 2004
What's a DocuTicker? Docuticker is a new daily update from the ResourceShelf team with direct links to new reports from government agencies, ngo's, think tanks, and other groups.
Professional Reading Shelf Maps Source: San Francisco Chronicle Interview: David Rumsey made a living in real estate. Then he charted his future to match his passion: maps. -- Public Libraries--Internet Filtering Source: The Arizona Republic Asking library filters to do the impossible "It was for the benefit of taxpayers and, of course, for the children. That's why, in my duties as a journalist, I had to peer in closer to verify what I was seeing: A picture of a topless Carmen Electra on a Phoenix library's computer screen." The columnist finds that filters don't always block pornography. And we, as information professionals, are shocked-just-shocked. -- Public Libraries Source: San Jose Mercury News S.J. library computers snarled by worm, virus -- Collection Development National Library of Medicine Source: NLM Collection Development Manual of the National Library of Medicine
Information Industry--LexisNexis Source: Marketwatch.com LexisNexis Awarded $35 Million U.S. Government Contract The seven-year $35 million contract will have LN providing the U.S. Department of Justice with "specifically-tailored research and information services."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents R&D Source: R&D Magazine The 42nd Annual R&D 100 Awards The most, "technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace." See Also: Searchable Database of Past Award Winners -- Government--Canada--Databases Source: Library and Archives Canada Cabinet Conclusions From the site: "This research tool provides access to the Cabinet Conclusions which summarize the discussions that took place at the meetings of the Federal Cabinet. They document decision-making at the highest level of the Canadian government and offer researchers a glimpse into Canadian politics for the years 1944 to 1973. The tool provides a unique look into the policies and processes of Cabinet as it is possible to search on one topic and retrieve results from all years of the Conclusions." + Access the database -- Foreign Relations--United States Source: U.S. Dept of State Just Released, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, Volume XXXI, South and Central America; Mexico. Publication Announcement ||| Summary ||| Full Text -- Gubernatorial Elections Source: Governing.com 2004 Governor's Election Guide + Full coverage of the 11 Governor's elections- includes profiles, news, and poll data. -- Congressional Research Service Source: CRS (via Federation of American Scientists) New/Recently Updated Congressional Research Service Reports + Nuclear Terrorism: A Brief Review of Threats and Responses + Requirements for Linguists in Government Agencies, September + Lawfulness of Interrogation Techniques under the Geneva Conventions -- Internet Filtering Source: Open Net Initiative Just Released, Full Text Paper, A Starting Point: Legal Implications of Internet Filtering "In this paper, the Open Net Initiative (ONI) considers some of the legal implications of controlling access to Internet content through filtering. ONI -- a research partnership of the Berkman Center, University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, and the University of Cambridge -- documents Internet filtering by collecting empirical data about the parties who censor web traffic and the types of sites blocked in different countries. This paper considers the legal ramifications of this data."
Search Briefs + Learn About IBM's Research "Marvel" Video Search Technology (via Search Engine Watch Blog)
Briefly + Dialog Now Offering Streaming Real-Time News Through Enhanced Dialog NewsEdge Service + Swets Launches SwetsWise Linker
Web Browsers--Opera Create Presentations with New Online Tool From Opera We've used the Opera web browser (it's free) for years. If you've never downloaded and checked out this wonderful browser that's full of features, it's MORE THAN worth a look. Opera can not only be used as a web browser but also as tool to create and view "slide" presentations. About four years ago the company created Opera Show as, "an alternative to Microsoft's PowerPoint." Creating a "show" required you to download software and have some HTML coding skills. Yesterday, Opera launched a web-based Opera Show Generator that allows you to create presentations without having to download any software and have knowledge of HTML. There is no charge to access and use the Opera Show Generator. Opera continues to innovate and impress! Tuesday, September 28, 2004
World Wide Web Semantic Web An Interview with Sir Tim Berners-Lee "Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, but he had something bigger in mind all along. He tells TR [Technology Review] how his 15 years of work on the "Semantic Web" are finally paying off."
Professional Reading Shelf Copyright--United States Source: YourCallRadio.org/KALW Radio(San Francisco) Internet Radio Show on Copyright: Lawrence Lessig (Real Audio) The interview with took Professor Lawrence Lessig took place on Monday. -- Library Technology THIS WEEK ONLY: Free Access to Three Recent Issues of Library Hi-Tech -- Document Delivery Source: ARL ARL Study Confirms Effectiveness of User-Initiated ILL/DD Services "User-initiated interlibrary loan (ILL) and document delivery (DD) operations provide better service than mediated ILL/DD services. In most cases, user-initiated services have lower unit costs, higher fill rates, and faster turnaround times than mediated services. These are some of the major findings of a two-year study of ILL/DD services in 72 North American research, college, and government libraries conducted by Mary E. Jackson of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The findings are reported in Assessing ILL/DD Services: New Cost-Effective Alternatives, forthcoming from ARL publications." -- Librarians--Scotland Source: News Scotsman It Skills Pushing Up Law Librarians' Pay From the article: "The recent growth in information technology has helped push salaries for law librarians at major firms up by nearly a third, according to a new survey. Some of them can even command salaries of £100,000 a year -- with a 30% annual bonus on top. The expansion of knowledge management systems and techniques has also moved law librarians towards the top in their firms, as their research and associated skills have grown in importance in an increasingly competitive legal world, according to the survey, by leading law publishing firm Sweet and Maxwell." -- Internet--Broken Links Source: BBC Web tool may banish broken links From the article: "Peridot, developed by UK intern students at IBM, scans company weblinks and replaces outdated information with other relevant documents and links. It works by automatically mapping and storing key features of webpages, so it can detect significant content changes."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Canada--Academic Resources Source: St. Francis Xavier University Canadian Studies: A Guide to the Sources "This bibliographic essay originally appeared as 'Canadian Studies: A Core Collection,' CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries 35 (September 1997): 71-84, and since June 1999 has been regularly updated for the International Council for Canadian Studies World Wide Web Service." -- Advertising--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Arbitron Recently Released, Population Rankings (Radio Markets), Fall 2004 (Red Book) "To understand the impact of the Fall 2004 population estimates update on individual markets, a comparison of Fall 2004 and Fall 2003 data is available." -- FBI Source: Dept. of Justice/Inspector General Just Released, The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Foreign Language Program -- Translation of Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence Foreign Language Material (Unclassified/Redacted Executive Summary), Report No. 04-25, July 2004 A PDF version is also available. -- Health Information Two New Topic Pages/Compilations from MEDLINEplus Source: NLM + MedlinePlus: Hip Replacement + MedlinePlus: Knee Replacement -- Health Insurance--United States--Statistics Source: Kaiser Family Foundation Just Released, Latest Trends in Uninsured Population and Health Coverage
Briefly + xrefer Launches Specialist Reference Service + R.R. Bowker Acquires Syndetics Solutions + ProQuest Adds Four More Years to Full-Text Coverage of The New York Times + New Eliyon Resources Makes Finding "One in 22 Million" Easier and Faster
Enterprise Search Source: Infoworld IBM About Ready to Join the Enterprise and Federated Search Game From the article, "With Masala, IBM hopes to address three problem areas with enterprise-level searching with one fell swoop: managing a rapidly expanding universe of data; managing a growing variety of data, almost 90 percent of which is unstructured; and centrally managing information across a patchwork of databases and data stores." Monday, September 27, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf ERIC The ERIC Selection Policy for new materials is now available. -- E-Documents--United Kingdom Source: JISC Legal Intellectual Property and Electronic Theses From the article: "The role of this briefing paper is to raise awareness of the main issues involved when converting paper-based theses into a digital format. This change of media has many implications for the way theses are created, stored, organised, managed and accessed. This briefing paper specifically examines the agreements required by an institution when managing and storing theses in electronic format. This includes existing theses held by institutions in paper format and those presented by students electronically (born digital). These agreements typically involve those which may need to be obtained from the author, the institution or some other third party. A number of sample agreements are presented, which are intended to be adapted to suit an individual institution's circumstances." -- Academic Libraries--Gay and Lesbian Studies--Canada Source: Western News (University of Western Ontario) A library with 'pride' "Little did James Miller know that a modest book shelf of a mere 100 titles, perched unpretentiously behind his office desk in 1997, would swell over the course of seven years to well over 4,000 titles. But that's exactly what happened at The Pride Library, an official university research site for gay and lesbian studies. And the size continues to grow." -- Archival Projects Source: The Daily Nebraskan Online archive provides easy access for Walt Whitman scholars "It could never match the musty smell and weathered touch of an original 19th-century manuscript. But the cold sterility of a computer screen glare can give instant access to an author's life work. For 10 years, Ken Price, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln English professor, has worked to create The Walt Whitman Archive, an online depository of all the author's works, at whitmanarchive.org. -- Public Libraries--Censorship Source: Durham Herald-Sun Library asked to pull 'Birth of a Nation' "A local activist has asked the Granville County Library system to remove the 1915 silent film 'The Birth of a Nation' from its collection because he fears the film could serve as a recruitment tool for hate groups."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Labor--Statistics--United States Source: BLS Schedule of 2005 Release Dates for BLS Major Economic Indicators -- E-Government Source: Inside Politics Urban E-Government, 2004 From the Press Release: "A study of the 70 largest metropolitan government websites shows cities vary enormously in the extent to which they are placing electronic information and services online, and maintaining basic protections for privacy, security, and disability access." + Read the Report [PDF] -- Campaign 2004 Source: LexisNexis Fast Facts: How A Presidential Election Tie Might Be Broken
Briefly + FAST To Power ECommerce Search for AutoTrader.com FAST has also just announced a deal with the U.S. Army. -- + Dialog Expands Dialog Choice Pricing Plan Sunday, September 26, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf Information Industry--SpringerScience+Business Media Source: Information Today Interview: Put Up or Shut Up "Created from the recent merger of BertelsmannSpringer and Kluwer Academic Publishers, SpringerScience+BusinessMedia is currently owned by private equity firms Candover and Cinven. Derk Haank, Springer's new CEO (and former chairman of Elsevier Science), discusses his plans for the company, STM journal pricing, the Big Deal, and open access. Springer's new Open Choice, says Haank, is a direct challenge to open-access advocates to 'put their money where their mouth is.'"
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Internet Usage--United States Source: Center for the Digital Future/USC Just Released Report, Center for the Digital Future Identifies the 10 Major Trends Emerging in the Internet's First Decade of Public Use Summary Direct to Full Text From the summary: + Internet access has risen to its highest level ever. About three-quarters of Americans now go online. + The number of hours spent online continues to increase, rising to an average of 12.5 hours per week--the highest level in the study thus far. + Although the Internet has become the most important source of current information for users, the initially high level of credibility of information on the Internet began to drop in the third year of the study, and declined even further in Year Four. + The number of users who believe that only about half of the information on the Internet is accurate and reliable is growing and has now passed 40 percent of users for the first time. + The study showed that most users trust information on the websites they visit regularly, and on pages created by established media and the government. + Information pages posted by individuals have the lowest credibility: only 9.5 percent of users say information on those sites is reliable and accurate. + Television viewing continues to decline among Internet users, raising the question, "What will happen as a nation that once spent an extremely large portion of time in a passive activity (watching television) transfers increasingly large portions of that time to an interactive activity (the Internet)?" The Digital Future Project compares findings from all four years of the study, looking at five major areas: who is online and who is not, media use and trust, consumer behavior, communication patterns, and social and psychological effects. -- Heart Disease Source: World Health Organization Just Released, The atlas of heart disease and stroke "The atlas of heart disease and stroke, graphically detailing a global epidemic that is the leading single cause of death worldwide." Summary Direct to Full Text Saturday, September 25, 2004
Search Briefs New Beta, A Cow That Watches Amazon Prices This "virtual" bovine is constantly monitoring the Amazon.com database for changes in the price of any item. Info is delivered via a syndicated ATOM feed. Thanks to R.S. for the tip.
Professional Reading Shelf Electronic Records--United States Source: GAO New Report, Information Management: Planning for the Electronic Records Archives Has Improved Highlights-PDF ||| Full Text See Also: GAO: Electronic Records Archive needs acquisition help (via GCN) -- Public Libraries--Censorship Source: Durham Herald-Sun Library asked to pull 'Birth of a Nation' "A local activist has asked the Granville County Library system to remove the 1915 silent film 'The Birth of a Nation' from its collection because he fears the film could serve as a recruitment tool for hate groups."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Software--Lists & Rankings Source: Software Magazine New, The Software 500 2004 Registration required, free to access full list. -- Currents, Tides and Water Levels--United States Source: NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) "The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) collects, analyzes and distributes historical and real-time observations and predictions of water levels, coastal currents and other meteorological and oceanographic data. This is part of an integrated National Ocean Service program supporting safe maritime navigation, more productive water-borne commerce, and the needs of the National Weather Service, coastal zone management, engineering and surveying communities. Available here: + Tides Online ("near real-time tidal and storm surge water level observation data and plots") + Great Lakes Online ("immediate graphical and tabular water level and meteorological data from NOS water level stations located along the projected path of severe storms such as hurricanes") + About Water Levels, Tides and Currents + Publications (PDFs) + Station Locator ("designed for the user who wishes to access all available data for any 'active' water level station") + Sea Levels Online ("mean sea level rise or fall...for 117 long term water level stations") Friday, September 24, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf Censorship Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer Book-banning controversy tears at souls of librarians -- Government Records Source: NARA False Rumor Regarding Destruction of Veterans' Records Hinders National Personnel Records Center's Ability to Answer Veterans' Reference Requests "There is a false rumor circulating on the Internet, in e-mails, and among veteran service organizations that Official Military Personnel Files (OMPFs) at the National Personnel Records Center, operated by the National Archives and Records Administration, will be digitized and then destroyed. This rumor is NOT TRUE." -- Health Sciences Source: BioMed Central New Open Access Journal, Biomedical Digital Libraries Thanks to P.S. for the news tip. -- Open Access Publishing Source: Chemical & Engineering News Socialized Science "National Institutes of Health director Elias A. Zerhouni seems hell-bent on imposing an "open access" model of publishing on researchers receiving NIH grants. His action will inflict long-term damage on the communication of scientific results and on maintenance of the archive of scientific knowledge." Editorial by Rudy M. Baum, C&EN's editor-in-chief. -- Presidential Libraries--Abraham Lincoln Source: State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL) Inside the safe "At first glance, it's just a big, white room: slightly cool inside, but dry - 65 degrees with a relative humidity of 43 percent, always. A security camera and an inert-gas fire-suppression system protect what's on the shelves that line the walls, such as the Gettysburg Address, written by its author in iron gall ink on rag paper. The Civil War battlefield speech is in excellent condition, state historians say, and they intend to keep it that way. The 135-square-foot safe is inside the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, tucked securely in a corner of the basement stacks, where the shelves - about 5 miles worth - already are stocked with part of the state's 12 million historical items." -- Knowledge Management Source: CIO Magazine When You Say 'KM,' What Do You Mean? "The rubric of knowledge management is as vague and hyped today as business process re-engineering was during the 1990s.... Instead of continuing to hold onto the term, firms should step back and examine their requirements with a set of questions that will help them focus on specific business processes and problems, forge actionable strategies, and create projects that have clear objectives and fixed scope."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Wealth--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Forbes Just Released, The 400 Richest Americans -- Web Search--Airfares Source: Consumer WebWatch/Pew Charitable Trusts Just Released, No Clear Winner in Online Battle For Cheapest International Airfares "Despite intense competition, none of the major independent or airline Web sites has emerged as the best destination for the cheapest international airfares. In its first-ever report on booking overseas flights, Consumer WebWatch found the category's leader hampered by technology problems." Download complete report: Global Concerns: An In-Depth Examination of Travel Web Sites Selling International Airline Tickets (PDF; 307 KB) -- Adoption--United States Source: U.S. Census Fast Facts: Adoption in the U.S. -- War--Bibliography Source: Air University Library Causes of War New bibliography includes Internet resources, books, documents, -- U.S. Department of Defense--Real Property Source: Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Installations and Environment) Recently Released, Department of Defense Base Structure Report (PDF; 747 KB) "This report contains a comprehensive listing of installations and sites owned and used by the Department. It summarizes the current facilities inventory and provides other basic information, such as information concerning the site locations, names of the nearest city, and, where available, includes personnel authorizations." -- Handguns--United States--Statistics Source: BJS New Report, Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2003: Trends for the Permanent Brady Period, 1999-2003
Briefly + Find.com Adds More Premium Sources + ProQuest Introduces Cuban Exile Collection on Microfilm Thursday, September 23, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf Censorship Source: ALA Heads Up: Banned Books Week Begins Saturday See Also: The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 See Also: The Most Frequently Challenged Authors of 2003 -- Academic Libraries Source: The Daily Nebraskan Librarians sign on to Internet help sessions Several times a week we seem to come across articles about libraries and librarians that do nothing but reinforce stereotypes. That's why it was so refreshing to read this one. -- Audiobooks Source: Link-Up Digital Downloading Audiobooks Review of subscription service Audible.com, including information on file formats and compatible players. -- Digitization Projects Source: Washington Square News (NYU) NYU, tech corp. to create database of Afghan books "The NYU Division of Libraries is working with the Middle Eastern studies department, the Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Center on International Cooperation to create the Afghanistan Digital Library. The program began after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 as an effort to contribute to the rebuilding of Afghanistan, said Robert McChesney, temporary project editor and a Middle Eastern studies professor." See Also: NYU to make archive software (via Washington Square News)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Nursing Homes--United States Source: Consumers Union How Good are Your State's Nursing Homes? From the Press Release: "Quality of care issues continue to plague the U.S. nursing home industry, with many nursing homes being cited repeatedly for violations that may put residents at serious risk, according to a consumer update released today by the Center for Consumer Health Choices at Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. The update, "How Good are Your State's Nursing Homes," is the 2004 edition of the Nursing Home Watch List, which is based on a comprehensive national analysis of state inspection surveys of nursing home facilities and enforcement actions. Research for the Watch List was supported by The Commonwealth Fund." + View the Updated Nursing Home Watch List by State -- M.B.A. Programs--Lists & Rankings Source: Wall Street Journal Just Released, Top M.B.A. Programs "Fourth annual Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive survey of corporate recruiters has produced not one but three No. 1-ranked M.B.A. programs." + Summary Article + 19 "National" schools in North America + 44 "Regional" schools in North America + 21 "International" schools -- Environment--United States Source: EPA Just Released, 2003 Emissions Report and 2003 Acid Rain Report News release 2003 Emissions Report Acid Rain Report -- Employment--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Working Mother Now Available, 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers 2004 This is the 19th annual list. -- Political Cartoons--Australia Source: PictureAustralia A New PictureTrail, Political Cartoons Trail "Although often humourous and satirical, political cartoons are valuable resources in providing commentary on social and political issues...Re-discover past political events, personalities..." See Also: More Picture Trails
OCLC Source: LibraryStuff.net OCLC Open Worldcat Bookmarklet LibraryStuff has a post about a new bookmarklet that allows the searcher to quickly find OpenWorldCat records from Google. This tool comes from our friends Jessamyn and Andrea with programming help from ResourceShelf favorite (and friend) Michael Fagan. I've been critical about OpenWorldCat since it was announced about a year ago. However, I've realized that many people like the idea so I'm beginning to reshape and reform my ideas about the program. It's a challenge, but please believe me when I say I'm trying to get onboard. Here are a few random thoughts about the program that I had this morning after learning about this new "cool" tool. - First, it would be great to see something similar to search OpenWorldCat for Yahoo. Yahoo has shown a strong interest in adding OCLC material. They added all of the records in less than a week while Google took many months (and we still don't know if they're adding everything). More on the Yahoo story in this Info Today story. Second, the idea of OpenWorldcat is to remind non-library users that libraries are still around and ready to provide access. I wondering what might happen to WorldCat if more librarians get access to records via OpenWorldCat. Will they lose subscribers? Why pay when you can get what you need for free? Will libraries who offer the public free access to the entire database say it's not worth it? What would this mean for WorldCat, "the business," in the long run? -- Third, the new bookmarklet (which I think was built with librarians in mind) and others that will come along could be tools that appeal to the type of user OCLC is targeting with OpenWorldCat. However, what happens if/when searchers are unable to find what they are looking for via OpenWorldCat but the public library two blocks away or their university library has just what they need and more? Are they aware of OpenWorldcat's limitations? Would this type of experience reinforce ideas about why they've neglected libraries in the past? What happens when they do find an OCLC record but their local library isn't listed? At the same time, what happens when they find a record and receive a list of local libraries that don't offer public access? Is it possible to create a Google/Yahoo/Open WorldCat bookmarklet (anything with the word "Google" in it spreads quickly) that also reminds users that bookmarklets for their local library might be available and could really save them time. Heck, just a box that promoted libraries would be useful. This is a way to use Google's buzz to help promote libraries. -- Shirl comments... Does the average library user...or Google/Yahoo searcher even know what a bookmarklet is? Or understand what WorldCat is? I forsee a need for more user-friendly terminology here.
Resources of the Week Two entries this week. -- Economics--United States--Databases Source: Federal Reserve, St. Louis Say Hello to Fraser First there was ERIC. Then EDGAR came along. And FRED. Now there's FRASER, the Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research, which provides access to scanned image PDFs of historical economic statistical publications, releases, and documents. The site currently features material from seven publications: + All Bank Statistics 1896-1955 (published 1959) + Annual Statistical Digest (issues from 1970-2000) + Banking and Monetary Statistics 1914-1941 (published 1943) + Banking and Monetary Statistics 1941-1970 (published 1976) + Business Statistics Supplement to the Survey of Current Business (issues from 1932-1965) + Concordance of Statistics (issues from 1978-2000) + Economic Indicators (issues from 1948-present, some missing) Plus statistical releases for Productivity and Costs from 1985-2003. Browse access is straightforward. Search works pretty well, though there isn't an advanced page. It would be helpful if a date limit was added; compare this search for tables of gold reserves with this one, with the year 1930. Our only real problem with the site is that some of the PDFs are quite large, >5Mb, so non-broadband users will probably experience frustrating load times. This ROTW annotation was written by ResourceShelf Contributing Editor, Dan Giancaterino. -- -- 2) Telephone Directories Tel Dir A directory of international telephone directories, first started in 1995 and has grown exponentially ever since with information from over 180 countries. The main section is broken down into 6 geographic regions (North America, South & Central America, Africa, Europe, Asia & Middle East, and Australia & Pacific. The countries are then listed within each region. There may be numerous Business and White Pages listings for each country, with the most popular resources on the top of the page (ie. the page for Argentina lists 5 directories). Tel Dir also has other direct specific searches (People Finder, B2B Finder, Classifieds) available from the site from many of the countries listed. Last, the International Dialing Code resource can be very useful when trying to call someone located in a different country. Tel Dir is one of those forgotten resources that we should be reminded of every so often. It is a very useful research tool! This oldie but goodie ROTW entry was written by ResourceShelf Contributing Editor, Steven Cohen.
Citation Analysis Source: ISI + Science in the United Kingdom, 1999-2003 + Psychology: High-Impact U.S. Universities, 1999-2003 + Journals Ranked by Impact: Agriculture - Dairy & Animal Science + Pharmacology: Most Prolific U.S. Universities, 1999-2003
Briefly Elsevier...University of Toronto Will Be First to License Scopus See Also: Peter Jacso's Review of Scopus
Search Briefs + Looksmart Acquires Furl.net Note: Furl.net is a great service that allows you to save any web page to a remote server. It's free. Spurl.net and the new My Jeeves offer similar services. Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf Library Portals Source: Library + Information Update (CILIP, UK) Pick up a portal "Lorcan Dempsey looks at what is happening with portals -- including a growing awareness that the library portal is only one step towards creating an effective network presence." Mr. Dempsey is Vice-president Research and Chief Strategist at OCLC. -- Academic Libraries Source: LJ At Indiana University, Success of First Information Commons Leads to a Second From the article, "The information commons at Indiana University, Bloomington, opened in 2003 in the Main Library, has proven so popular, university officials have decided to build another. Last week university trustees officially approved the project; construction should start in mid-October. If all goes according to plan, IU's second information commons will open in early 2005. It will be located in the Main Library, occupying about 9,700 square feet on the second floor's west tower, directly above the current Information Commons, which covers 27,000 square feet" See Also: Learn More About the Information Commons at IU -- Libraries--Germany Source: AP German Library Fire Destroyed 50,000 Books "A fire that hit a historic German library earlier this month destroyed twice as many books as previously thought, with some 50,000 works suffering irreparable fire damage, officials said Tuesday." -- Preservation Source: The Crimson Harvard Libraries Awarded $2.1 Million Grant from Mellon Foundation "The sassy old saying 'Take a picture, it'll last longer' never rang truer than it does today, as a $2.1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation breathes new life into Harvard University Library's (HUL) efforts to preserve its massive collection of photographs. According to a Monday press release published by HUL, the Mellon grant will allow the library's Weissman Preservation Center to hire a senior photograph conservator and a slew of specialized restoration technicians--all positions that did not exist before the grant was awarded."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Clinical Trials--Canada Health Research--Canada Source: Ontario Cancer Research Network(OCRN) A New Database for Clinical Trials in Ontario is Now Online The site includes a database (powered by Endeca technology), glossary, and an email alert service. -- England--City Guides Source: The 24 Hour Museum City Heritage Guides From a post on ManagingInformation.com, "The 24 Hour Museum, the national online guide to museums, galleries and heritage, have launched a new series of websites about English cities and their heritage. The ten cities selected are: Birmingham, Brighton & Hove, Bristol, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle & Gateshead and Norwich." -- War--Ethics--Bibliography Source: Air University Library Just War Theory New bibliography includes Internet resources, books, documents, periodicals. -- Chemistry--Dictionaries Source: NLM Updated, ChemIDplus -- New look, new search features, more data "ChemIDplus, the National Library of Medicine's dictionary of more than 360,000 chemicals, has a new look and new search features Every day more than 3,000 toxicologists, scientists, researchers and pharmacologists use ChemIDplus to investigate chemicals that affect biological functions in humans and animals. ChemIDplus gives detailed information on every chemical discussed in MEDLINE/PubMed medical journals." -- Educational Resources--Energy Source: EIA New Edition, Energy Education Resources: Kindergarten Through 12th Grade "This is the 16th Annual Edition of this publication. It lists public and private organizations that offer free or inexpensive materials dealing with energy matters." -- Global Warming--Glossary Source: Pew Center on Global Climate Change Global Warming Basics: Glossary "This glossary is by no means all-inclusive -- it is intended to provide a basic understanding of some of the more commonly used climate change terms." -- Make Sure to Visit DocuTicker For More New Reports and Resourcs
Search Briefs + Google Local-Canada Launches + Yahoo Showing Only 10 Results Note: By using the Yahoo preferences option it's possible to show up to 100 results per page. + Kozoru Seeks Answers Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Web Search Source: SearchDay Jeeves Rolls Out New Features, Teoma Upgrade Announced I've written an 800-word overview for SearchDay about some REALLY exciting stuff that Ask Jeeves announced today. Most important (and I think useful) is the launch of their "personal web" initiative aka My Jeeves.
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries Source: AP Open, comfortable spaces coming to a library near you We're really happy to read the following quote: "'Peter Persic, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Public Library, says, libraries 'are beginning to realize we provide a service and are in competition like any other business.'" Absolutely! -- Research Libraries--Statistics Source: ARL ARLStatistics 2002-03: Research Library Trends From the article: "ARL Statistics 2002-03 is the latest in a series of annual publications that describe collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities for the 123 members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Of these, 113 are university libraries; the remaining 10 are public, governmental, and nonprofit research libraries. ARL member libraries are the largest research libraries in North America, representing 16 Canadian and 107 U.S. research institutions. The academic libraries, which comprise about 92% of the membership, include 14 Canadian and 99 U.S. libraries." -- Reference--Bibliographies Just Updated, Sloan's Digital Reference Services Bibliography Bernie Sloan writes, "700 items listed in this bibliography, related to the topic of online or virtual or digital reference services, i.e., the provision of reference services, involving collaboration between library user and librarian, in a computer-based medium. These services can utilize various media, including e-mail, Web forms, chat, video, Web customer call center software, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), etc." -- Libraries--United States--Funding Two from the Institute of Museum and Library Services + Native American Communities Receive $1.7 Million for Library Enhancements + $13.8 Million Awarded to Advance Innovation and Public Service at Nation's Museums and Libraries (view the list of grants
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Native Americans--Online Exhibitions Two new online exhibitions from the National Museum of the American Indian: + Great Masters of American Folk Art + Who Stole the Teepee? Note: The National Museum of the American Indian (a part of the Smithsonian) opens today in Washington, DC. See Also: New, Fast Facts and Stats About the American Indian and Alaska native populations (via U.S. Census) -- -- Employment--Life Sciences Source: BioMedCentral New Resource, Adsumo From the announcement, "Adsumo, a new website focused on careers and recruiting in the life sciences...Adsumo has partnered with the Mackenzie Group to provide services like resume writing, career coaching and outsourcing assistance. The website will also feature original articles on job hunting in the life sciences as well as relocation guides, salary surveys and regional profiles that catalog life science activity in areas around the globe." See Also: Direct to Adsumo Job Database -- Oceans Source: U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy Just Released, Final Report: An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century Exec Summary 212 Recommendations Full Text -- Education--Finance--Conference Proceedings Source: National Center for Educational Statistics Developments in School Finance: 2003 "This report contains papers presented at the 2003 annual NCES Summer Data Conference. The scholars' papers address teacher turnover; financing urban schools; the costs of improving student performance; distinguishing good schools from bad in principle and practice; an evaluation of the efficacy of state adequacy and equity indicators; school finance reform in Vermont; and school accountability." Full report (PDF; 690 KB) -- Hurricane Ivan--Satellite Images Source: Space Imaging Just Released, Before-and-After Satellite Images of Pensacola, Florida, Show Damage from Hurricane Ivan "Space Imaging is releasing before-and-after satellite images of Pensacola, Florida's Historic Village along Pensacola Bay and the Chico Bayou area just to the west. Damage from last week's hurricane can be easily discerned when comparing the 'before' one-meter resolution image collected Jan. 4, 2003, to the 'after' image collected Saturday, Sept. 18, 2004. There is considerable amount of debris strewn across the ground in both 'after' images...All images were taken from 423 miles in space as the IKONOS satellite moved from north to south at 17,000 mph over the eastern part of the U.S. + Pensacola Historic Village, Florida, Side-by-Side Comparison Images + Chico Bayou, Pensacola, Florida, Side-by-Side Comparison Images See Also: NOAA Has Also Made More than 1300 Aerial Images of Hurricane Ivan's Destruction Overview Direct to Images -- Venture Capital--Compensation Surveys Source: VentureOne Highlights Only: VentureOne Compensation Survey "The salaries for chief executive officers at venture-backed companies are $25,000 higher than they were a year ago, according to the results of the most recent executive compensation survey conducted by VentureOne, a unit of Dow Jones Newswires."
Briefly + Verity Announces Integrated Enterprise-Class Extraction Software + Fast Introduces Full-Featured OEM Enterprise Search Solution Monday, September 20, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf Preservation Saving the Artistic Orphans Brewster Kahle, his lawsuit, and IA in the news again! "Valuable resources are being lost to students, researchers and historians because of sweeping changes in copyright law, according to digital archivists who are suing the government. These resources -- older books, films and music -- are often out of print and considered no longer commercially viable, but are still locked up under copyright. Locating copyright owners is a formidable challenge because Congress no longer requires that owners register or renew their copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office. Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive and Rick Prelinger, a film collector, want permission to digitize these so-called orphan works to create online libraries for free public access. In a suit filed in March, the plaintiffs in Kahle v. Ashcroft argue that multiple changes to copyright law have essentially made it impossible for works to return to the public domain. They want to have these changes declared unconstitutional." -- Chemistry--Journals Source: Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus Free Full-Text Journals in Chemistry + Part A: Permanently available chemical journals + Part B: Trials and temporarily available chemical journals -- Libraries and Librarians Source: ALA Two New Resources from the American Library Association + A Communications Handbook for Libraries "'A Communications Handbook for Libraries' will help libraries preserve and promote their programs-while dealing with the challenges of the USA PATRIOT Act and seemingly endless budget cuts. The handbook will be useful to the entire library community, including public library professionals and staff, school librarians, library researchers, curators of special collections, trustees, systems librarians and Friends of libraries. Much of the 'Communications Handbook for Libraries' deals with what should happen before you pick up the phone or send an e-mail." ++ Continuing Education (CE) Clearinghouse "The CE Clearinghouse is a searchable database of continuing education opportunities offered by ALA, its divisions and other units. The result of input from numerous ALA members and working groups, it includes face-to-face workshops and conferences, online learning, as well as workshops that can be licensed by local institutions."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Publishing--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Advertising Age Just Released, Magazine 300 (free registration required) Top 300 grossing magazines. The complete report is available here (5 pages; pdf) -- E-Government Source: Inside Politics Just Released, State and Federal E-Government in the United States, 2004 From the Press Release: "A study of digital government in the 50 states and major federal agencies also finds that FirstGov (the U.S. portal) and the Social Security Administration are the top-rated federal sites." + Read the Report [PDF] | [HTML] -- Technology--Lists & Rankings Source: Technology Review Technology Review: The 2004 TR100 "100 remarkable innovators under 35 who are transforming technology -- and the world." -- Defence--United Kingdom Source: House of Commons Library, UK + The Defence White Paper + The Defence White Paper: Future Capabilities -- Computer Security Source: Symantec Just Released, Full Text, Symantec Internet Security Threat Report Vol. 6 Registration required, free. "The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report is an analysis and discussion of Internet security activity over the past six months. It covers Internet attacks, vulnerabilities, malicious code, and future trends. Over the first six months of 2004, Slammer and Gaobot were the most common attacks. E-commerce was the most highly targeted industry. The average time between the public disclosure of a vulnerability and the release of an associated exploit was 5.8 days. The number of distinct variants of bots rose by 600%." See Also: This news release contains key findings. Sunday, September 19, 2004
Reference Books and Databases Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Will Be Published This Week A MAJOR reference work, 12 years in the making, will be published this week. According to the publisher Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is the largest reference project ever undertaken in the humanities. + 60 Volumes (280 lbs. of books) + 50,000 biographies, "...lives of the men and women who shaped all aspects of British history, from the explorer Pytheas of the fourth century BC to modern figures who died before 31 December 2000." + 10,000 portrait images + 10,000 contributors + Searchable online version + Free "Life of the Day" Biography Email! + Read about the making of this reference tool. It has taken 12 years. + The price? The print version (60 volumes) retails for $13,000. As an email from Oxford University Press points out, "knowledge isn't cheap." The online version is available for subscriptions by institutions and individuals.
Professional Reading Shelf Special Libraries Association--Conference Papers Source: Sci-Tech Division, SLA Sci-Tech Contributed Papers for the 2004 SLA Conference Several papers in PDF format.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Television--United States--Awards Source: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Advanced Primetime Awards Search Search for all nominees and award winners back to 1949. Search criteria include: + Program Title + Name + Year(s) + Network + Category -- Digital Collections Source: Library of Congress Library of Congress Veterans History Project Highlights More Stories of Sacrifice From the Press Release: "A new collection of 20 fully digitized collections of materials submitted by war veterans is now available on the Library of Congress Web site at www.loc.gov/warstories. This is the fourth set of individual stories - comprising interviews, letters, photographs and written memoirs - to be featured on the site, which is titled Experiencing War: Stories from the Veterans History Project. This new release marks National POW/MIA Recognition Day on Sept. 14 and brings the total of stories available on the online searchable database to 630." Saturday, September 18, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf Digital Libraries Source: DLF Two Recently Released Reports from the Digital Library Federation + Digital Library Content and Course Management Systems: Issues of Interoperation + Electronic Resource Management -- Government Records--United States National Archives and Records Administration Source: GCN NARA issues proposed rule, Web content guidance "The National Archives and Records Administration today issued a proposed rule that would make it easier for agencies to transfer records to NARA's storage facilities... NARA also today released a guidance for the transfer of Web records. The guidance is effective today." -- Information Overload Source: Proceedings The Good, the Bad and the Irrelevant (via E-LIS) Information overload, retrieval strategies and Internet user empowerment By Christopher N. Carlson, 2003. From the abstract, "Initial user benefits from search engine technology have been critically degraded over time by the rapid increase of Internet pages. Traditional retrieval strategies therefore yield increasingly poor results due to a dramatic increase in ballast in the results. Search engine users thus increasingly experience information overload. Technical approaches to dealing with this problem have caused an initial euphoria, yet have proven ineffective in solving the problem." -- Clinton Library--Public Documents Source: AP Clinton library documents' openness rests with Bush From the article: "Former President Clinton will have to ask President Bush for permission to release thousands of domestic-policy records from his two terms in the White House, officials at Clinton's presidential library said Friday. Clinton has said he wants to make 100,000 documents available to scholars and researchers Nov. 18, the day his presidential library opens and nearly a year sooner than required."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Justice--United States--Statistics Source: BJS Just Released, Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 2002 -- United States Postal Service Fast Facts: Postal Service Sets Overseas Holiday Mail Dates Thanks to P.W. for the link. Friday, September 17, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries and Librarians Source: Sacramento Bee Law librarian's achievements speak volumes A wonderful article about Sacramento County Public Law Library and its director, Shirley Hart David, who is retiring. From the article, "Under David's leadership, Sacramento County's library has become a model for other law libraries and has been nationally recognized for its contribution to library science. 'She has ridden on the cusp of this evolution and made our library into an example that other counties are emulating,' said Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael T. Garcia, who chairs the California Law Libraries Task Force. The task force is evaluating law libraries and their future for a report to the state Legislature....Even in retirement, David said, she will continue to advance the cause of library science. 'I will be editing publications for the American Association of Law Libraries and updating a source book for our local trustees - projects that everyone wished they could do but never had the time to do it,' David said." -- E-Journals Source: Micromedia Micromedia ProQuest and Swets Information Services host The Economics of e-Journals: Cost Effectiveness & Institutional Collaboration From the Press Release: "Micromedia ProQuest and Swets Information Services recently teamed up together to host this one-day hands-on symposium focusing on the challenges, opportunities and integration challenges of electronic resources. Real world experiences of electronic package negotiations and their pitfalls will illustrate how institutions can successfully collaborate to achieve better overall outcomes." + Read Warren Holder's Presentation [PDF] + Read Micromedia's Presentation [PDF] -- Library Education Source: The Library of Congress Panel Discussion, View Onine: Library and Information Science Education in North America: Bridging the Gulf Between Education and Practice Oops, we missed this one back in the spring. The discussion took place on March 16th and runs about two hours. David Lankes from Syracuse University is the moderator. You'll need your RealPlayer. Participating in the Panel from the Library of Congress: + Dr. Nicholas J. Belkin, Professor, Head, School of Communication, Information and Library Studies (SCILS), Rutgers University, NJ + Dr. Roberta I. Shaffer, Visiting Professor, College of Information Studies (CLIS), University of Maryland, MD + Dr. Elaine Yontz, Associate Professor, Department of Information Studies, Valdosta State University, GA Participating in the Panel from the San Jose State University, San Jose, CA: + Dr. Michael Buckland, Professor, School of Information Management & Systems (SIMS), University of California, Berkeley, CA + Dr. Ken Haycock, Professor, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS), University of British Columbia, Canada + Dr. Linda Main, Professor, School of Library and Information Science (SLIS), San Jose State University, CA -- National Archives--United Kingdom Source: The National Archives Just Released, Accessions to repositories for 2003 is now online "In its annual 'Accessions to Repositories' survey, The National Archives collects information from over two hundred record repositories throughout the British Isles about manuscript accessions received in the previous twelve months. This information is added to the indexes to the National Register of Archives, and it is also edited and used to produce thirty-three thematic digests which are made available through this web site and distributed for publication in a number of learned journals and newsletters."
NISO (National Information Standards Organization) Blue Ribbon Panel to strategize NISO's future From the announcement, "The Blue Ribbon Panel will play a central role in a year-long strategic planning activity NISO's Board of Directors launched last May. The Panel's formal report will be open for public review and comment later this year. Clifford Lynch, Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), will chair the Panel, which has funding support from the Mellon Foundation. A complete list of panel members is available here.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Broadband Access--Lists & Rankings Source: GovTech.net Top Wired Cities "San Diego, Phoenix, Detroit, New York and Sacramento represent the top five wired local markets connected via broadband access with penetration rates of 65 percent or higher, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, which tracked 35 local markets in the U.S." Lists available: + Top Local Markets Connected via Broadband + Top Local Markets Most Connected via Narrowband -- Digital Divide--United States Source: Kaiser Family Foundation Children, The Digital Divide, and Federal Policy From the site: "This issue brief, 'Children, The Digital Divide, and Federal Policy,' includes new research findings and reviews the latest information on wiring the nation's schools and libraries, including points of access, the speed of connection, and what children are doing online. The report also examines current Federal policies and policy ideas that could address the new digital divide. This is the tenth in a series of reports and fact sheets on topics related to children, media and health that pull together the most relevant research on such issues as TV violence, teens online, media ratings, and children and video games." Read the Issue Brief [PDF] -- Health Care--United States Election 2004 Source: Kaiser Family Foundation Just Released, Health Care Issues and the 2004 Elections Issue Briefs, Side-by-Side Comparisons, Fact Sheets. "The Kaiser Family Foundation is issuing informational materials on some of the health policy issues that are of concern to the American public during the 2004 election season." -- Iraq Source: House of Commons, UK Just Released Online, Operation TELIC - United Kingdom military operations in Iraq HTML (Browsable) ||| PDF -- United Kingdom Source: House of Commons Library, UK New Research Paper, Income, Wealth & Inequality -- Prescription Drugs--Databases Source: New York Times Price Comparison for Drugs Is Put on Federal Web Site From the article: "Over objections from some drug companies, the Bush administration unveiled a new feature of a federal Web site on Wednesday comparing prices for similar brand-name drugs that can be used to treat conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis and allergies." -- United States Federal Government--Web Sites Source: GCN New Web Site, FirstGov launching site to help federal webmasters From the article: "The Firstgov.gov team at the General Services Administration on Sept. 29 will launch a portal with information to help federal webmasters improve their sites. The Web Content Managers Online toolkit, at www.webcontent.gov, will feature laws and regulations, best practices, online discussion areas, frequently asked questions, and a calendar of events and deadlines, all related to the building and maintenance of federal sites. 'This will help agencies replicate the most successful sites. We want federal Web sites to be the most accessible and user-friendly in the world,' said Beverly Godwin, director of FirstGov, the federal government's main portal." -- NASA--Databases Source: NASA NASA documents in PDF format made available More than thirty thousand full-text NASA documents in PDF format have been made available on the National Technical Reports Server (NTRS). |
