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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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Monday, January 31, 2005
Information Industry--Factiva Source: IWR Factiva Will Not Use IBM's WebFountain Technology The Factiva and IBM partnership to use Big Blue's WebFountain technology, big news in late 2003, is no more. According to the article, "'The specific reason IBM was dropped is the timeliness of their content,' said a Factiva spokesperson. "The rate of re-fresh was not even daily. With reputation management you need it to be timely, they had a lag." Ryan Warren, manager of the office of the CEO, told IWR: "They weren't developing at the speed we wanted.' According to Factiva, IBM and Factiva have agreed that there are "more appropriate technologies" for reputation management." Thanks to C.A. for the news tip. See Also: More About IBM's WebFountain Here and Here
Professional Reading Shelf Web Search Results Source: Proc. Third Annual Workshop on HCI Research in MIS, December 2004, Washington, DC / University of Maryland HCI Lab New, Categorized Graphical Overviews for Web Search Results: An Exploratory Study Using U.S. Government Agencies as a Meaningful and Stable Structure "Search engines are very effective at generating long lists of results that are highly relevant to user-provided query terms . But the lack of effective overviews presents challenges to users who seek to understand these results, especially for a complex task such as learning about a topic area, which requires gaining overviews of and exploring large sets of search results, identifying unusual documents, and understanding their context. Categorizing the results into comprehensible visual displays using meaningful and stable classifications can support user exploration and understanding of large sets of search results. This extended abstract presents a set of principles that we are developing for search result visualization. It also describes an exploratory study that investigated categorized overviews of search results for complex search tasks within the domain of U. S. government web sites, using a hierarchy based on the federal government organization." -- Libraries and Librarians Source: Ariadne A New Issue (No.42) of Ariadne is Now Online Articles include: + The National Centre for Text Mining: Aims and Objectives + Making the Case for a Wiki + A Librarian's Experience of e-Government -- Medical Libraries and Librarianship Source: MLA The January 2005 Issue of the Journal of the Medical Library Association is Now Online Articles include: + The Virtual Naval Hospital: the digital library as knowledge management tool for nomadic patrons + Trends in academic health sciences libraries and their emergence as the "knowledge nexus" for their academic health centers + State of the art of expert searching: results of a Medical Library Association survey + An evolution of experts: MEDLINE in the library school
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Consumer Brands--Surveys Source: BrandChannel Just Released, Brand Rankings by Impact 2004 and Other Surveys -- Internet--United States--Surveys Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project A decade of adoption: How the internet has woven itself into American life "A decade after browsers came into popular use, the Internet has reached into--and, in some cases, reshaped--just about every important realm of modern life. It has changed the way we inform ourselves, amuse ourselves, care for ourselves, educate ourselves, work, shop, bank, pray and stay in touch." Summary ||| Direct to Full Text
Briefly + Dialog to Sponsor New SLA Chapter Award for Australian & New Zealand Information Professionals
Web Search Briefs + Tsunami Ads For Gift Cards? Google, Where's the Review? + Yahoo Plans to License Financial Data + Now Available: A New Service from Yahoo! Local Sunday, January 30, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Open Worldcat Source: Lorcan Dempsey's Weblog Find other editions in Open WorldCat OCLC has added more publicly accessible info to their Open Worldcat records. See Also: Subject Headings Now Hyperlinked in Open Worldcat -- Children's Books Source: NPR Children's Book Tells Tale of Iraq Librarian "It's not every day that an illustrated children's book about war is published. But author Jeanette Winter has created a book about a librarian who saved 70 percent of an Iraqi town's books during the U.S. invasion. The book is called The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq." -- Public Libraries Source: Denver Post Library says DVDs, CDs reflect public taste "The Denver Public Library spent nearly 22 percent of its materials budget last year on music CDs and movies, a ratio higher than its neighboring library districts and many of its national peers."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Postsecondary Institutions--Enrollment--United States Source: National Center for Educational Statistics Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2002 and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2002 "This report presents findings from the Spring 2003 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Web-based data collection. Data were requested from over 6,600 postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV federal student financial aid programs. The tables in this publication present enrollment data for fall 2002, financial statistics for fiscal year 2002, and student financial aid data for academic year 2001-2002. Also included are graduation rate data for the 1996 and 1999 student cohorts." Full Report (PDF; 649 KB) Saturday, January 29, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries Source: OCLC OCLC Research Sponsors Software Development Contest Are you a library software developer? Know someone who is? OCLC has just launched a contest, "to encourage innovation and development of Web-based services for libraries and library users. Contestants will be challenged to think differently about their environments by working with deconstructed functional components of library services." Complete details here. The prize is $2,500.00 US. -- Library Literacy Programs Source: MDRC "One Day I Will Make It": A Study of Adult Student Persistence in Library Literacy Programs "The Wallace Foundation launched the Literacy in Libraries Across America (LILAA) initiative in 1996 to help library-based literacy programs nationwide increase the persistence of their adult learners, and it contracted with MDRC and the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) at Harvard University in 1999 to study the initiative. The participating libraries were granted resources to develop and implement persistence strategies that included improved instruction, more varied and more extensive social supports, and technology upgrades. This is the fourth and final report from the persistence study, which examined the implementation and effects of these strategies in nine library literacy programs over four years and whether student participation changed over time." Executive Summary Full Report (PDF; 729 KB)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Birds--Climatic Changes--United States Source: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station Atlas of climate change effects in 150 bird species of the Eastern United States (PDF; 1.94 MB) "This atlas documents the current and potential future distribution of 150 common bird species in the Eastern United States in relation to climate and vegetation distributions.... The model for each bird species is described. These models were then projected onto two scenarios of global climate change for which future distributions of the climate variables and tree species had previously been calculated.... Depending on the global climate model used, as many as 78 bird species are projected to decrease by at least 25 percent, while as many as 33 species are projected to increase in abundance by at least 25 percent." -- Environmental Health Source: National Library of Medicine, Specialized Information Services New environmental health and toxicology Internet guides + Indoor Air Pollution + Outdoor Air Pollution + Toxicogenomics + Education and Career Links Friday, January 28, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Copyright--United States--Orphan Works Source: U.S. Copyright Office/Federal Register Orphan Works "The Copyright Office seeks to examine the issues raised by 'orphan works,' i.e., copyrighted works whose owners are difficult or even impossible to locate. Concerns have been raised that the uncertainty surrounding ownership of such works might needlessly discourage subsequent creators and users from incorporating such works in new creative efforts or making such works available to the public. This notice requests written comments from all interested parties. Specifically, the Office is seeking comments on whether there are compelling concerns raised by orphan works that merit a legislative, regulatory or other solution, and what type of solution could effectively address these concerns without conflicting with the legitimate interests of authors and right holders." See Also: Internet Archive Files "Orphan Works" Lawsuit Appeal (Kahle v. Ashcroft) -- Libraries--Architecture Source: Architecture Week Library Building Beyond the Books "With the advent of the information age and the radical change in library materials, media, and means of access to information, the nature of certain types of building systems have changed accordingly." Thanks to TG for the news tip. -- Librarians--Academic Source: ALA Sharma named ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year "- Dr. Ravindra Nath (R.N.) Sharma, director of the University Library at West Virginia State University in Institute, W.Va., is the 2005 Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL) Academic/Research Librarian of the Year. The award, sponsored by YBP Library Services, recognizes an outstanding member of the library profession who has made a significant national or international contribution to academic/research librarianship and library development." -- Open Access Source: SPARC Presentations from ALA Midwinter 2005: SPARC/ACRL Forum: In the Public Interest: Open Access and Public Policy
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Congressional Research Service Source: CRS (via FAS, FPC, and IPMall) New/Updated Reports from the Congressional Research Service + Access to Government Information in the United States + Spyware: Background and Policy Issues for Congress + Data Mining: An Overview + Secret Sessions of Congress: A Brief Historical Overview + U.S.-EU Cooperation Against Terrorism + Border Security: Fences Along the U.S. International Border + North Korea: A Chronology of Events, October 2002-December 2004 + Campaign Finance: Constitutional and Legal Issues of Soft Money -- Population--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Just Released, We the People: Women and Men in the United States -- Digitization Pojects Source: New York Botanical Garden LuEsther T. Mertz Library Rare Book Digitization Project "The LuEsther T. Mertz Library has initiated a pilot project to digitize and make accessible via the Internet rare 19th century works on American trees by French botanists André and François-André Michaux. This collection represents important illustrated botanical books that reflect the early investigation of the flora of North America by botanists who were seeking new plants for commerce and horticulture." -- U.S. Military--Casualty Information Source: U.S. DoD Directorate for Information Operatons and Reports Military Casualty Information We've mentioned this site before on ResourceShelf. But it's worth mentioning again, as it is an authoritative, comprehensive resource for military casualty information in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Find lists of those killed or wounded in Iraq by branch of service and either age, race, gender, or rank. Reserve status also indicated. Two comprehensive lists: + Operation Iraqi Freedom - Names, Casualty Date Order (As of January 22, 2005) + Operation Iraqi Freedom - Names, Alphabetical Order (As of January 22, 2005)
RSS A Chat with the Creator of Feedmarker by Steven Cohen, Contributing Editor I've been playing with a new web-based aggregator called Feedmarker. Feedmarker is a combination aggregator/tagging system. Not only can users read RSS Feeds, but they can also tag feeds according to their own classification systems (it's a hot topic these days - see del.ico.us and Flickr for more on open tagging systems). I recently had the opportunity to interview Bruno Bornsztein via e-mail about his unique product. SC: Can you provide me with a quick bio? BB: I'm 22. I live in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I majored in Journalism and studied at the University of Minnesota and the University of California -- Berkeley. I really don't know the first thing about programming, but I'm learning. I'm enjoying developing Feedmarker, because it's nice to be able to make the program do whatever you want. You want a feature, you figure out how to build it, it's done. SC: Why did you start Feedmarker? BB: Basically, because I couldn't think of a good reason not to. I had been thinking about some features that were missing from popular (NewsGator, Bloglines) aggregators I used for a while. I wanted to be able to tag feeds (instead of just putting them in a folder), because I kept finding that my feeds really belonged in more than one folder. I also wanted to be able to store bookmarks, and easily bookmark items that I found in my feed reading. Then one day I thought of the name, so I figured, why not just try to do it myself. Kind of silly, but true. As far as I know, there is nothing else out there exactly like it, so that was reason enough to do it. Click here to read Part Two of Steven's interview. Thursday, January 27, 2005
Resources of the Week by Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor Last week we showed you two cataloging sites. This week, we introduce you to two completely different resources. 1) GIS--Coastal Observations and Forecasts Source: NOAA nowCOAST We feature NOAA websites semi-regularly here because the agency keeps coming up with all sorts of neat stuff. Here we have a "Web mapping portal" that provides point-and-click access to "real-time coastal observations and NOAA forecasts for major U.S. estuaries and seaports, coastal regions and the Great Lakes." It's not that any of this information -- "meteorological, oceanographic, hydrological and water quality data from federal, state and educational observing networks on land and water" -- wasn't available before. It's just that you had to troll for it and bookmark numerous NOAA sites if you wanted to remember how to get back it. nowCOAST's "interactive map interface" relieves you of that burden. Four dropdown menus allow users to select location, type of obervation/forecast, variables that vary with the type of data you're requesting (e.g., precipitation, water level, cloud cover, etc.), and time. When you click the "GO" button, you get an interactive map that lets you click on hot spots to retrieve data. You can add additional data sets via a scrolling menu with check boxes on the righthand side of the page. The map itself can be controlled via standard GIS features -- panning, zooming in and out, changing scale, etc. Play around with this site for awhile to get comfortable with it; it's relatively intuitive, but an awful lot of data is available from here and it's easy to get overwhelmed. Users are cautioned to disable pop-up blockers, as these may interfere with the operation of the website. The site was developed by the NOAA Ocean Service's Coast Survey Development Laboratory. According to a NOAA News Online story, "The nowCOAST Web portal will be monitored in the future by the Continuous Operational Real-Time Monitoring System of the NOAA Ocean Service's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services to ensure reliable operation and that Web links are kept current." -- 2) Technology--Statistics ITFacts.biz In all honesty, we're not really sure who is behind this site; the domain is registered to someone in Sweden. But we like what we see here -- maybe because it reminds us of ResourceShelf's sister site, DocuTicker. Basically, this is a weblog that carries a steady stream of links to news stories in which technology-related statistics appear. Overall, it's an ongoing collection of pretty interesting stuff from reliable media outlets and weblogs. There are some value-adds here that make this site especially useful. On the right-hand side of the page, you'll see a list of categories -- from Advertising to WWW. Clicking on any one of these will display all stories about that particular topic. (Keep in mind that links to news articles have a tendency to go stale, but if you really need something, you know how to track it down, right?) Pay particular attention to the word "link" found to the left under each article synopsis. If you click on it, you get the article you've just read displayed on top of a whole list of related statistics, each of which is a live link to another story in that category. See this example, for Power and Energy statistics. And...oh yeah...the site is searchable, too. The search box is below the Categories on the right-hand side of the page. A link underneath will take you to an advanced search page that allows you to use boolean options and/or specify where you want to search (e.g., Title, Title and Entry Body, or Entry Body). Below the search box on the main page is a list of the sources used by this site, each of which is a live link.
Web Search--a9 Search and SEE the Yellow Pages with a9 If you haven't checked out the "just released" new yellow pages from Amazon.com's a9 you really should. It's very cool. In a nutshell, a9 have already taken more than 20 million street-level photos (what a9 calls block views) of each and every establishment in yellow page directories for 10 U.S. metro area and associated these images with each entry. You can even virtually walk entire blocks. It will be a real attention getter for a9 and perhaps, even useful! It's a must see for everyone but it's far from complete at this point. You can also browse/search the yellow page directory via this url. Btw, if you're not in one of the 10 metro areas that already has images online (see the list here), stay tuned. Again, as of today, not every address in the 10 metro area have images online. More details in this SearchDay article. How About Some European Cities? The concept of associating street-level images with locations listed in yellow page directories is not new. In fact, Pagesjaunes.fr has made something very similar available for several years. The service is still online and allows you to access pictures for locations in 27 cities in France and Spain including Paris, Bordeaux, Madrid, and Barcelona. Finally, on a somewhat related note... We've mentioned TerraFly from the Florida International University many times. This free service (a fee-based version is also available) allows you to "virtually" fly over the U.S. and view aerial and satellite images of just about any location. If that's not enough, the service also provides data (street names, census info, local hotels, schools, etc.) about any location visible in the aerial images. To access the textual data, SIMPLY CLICK on any location when viewing an aerial image. A window will open with the statistical and local data. Very cool and useful. Make sure to give it a try.
Professional Reading Shelf School Libraries Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times Wow! Libraries launch online databases at Data & Dessert For your great idea folder. We first learned about the Data & Dessert program (going on at schools throughout Washington and Oregon) during the Internet@Schools West conference last November. This is one wonderful idea to get students and their parents/guardians excited about the wonderful resources (including the librarians themselves) that their school and public library offer. From the article, "Tuesday evening's library event, Data & Dessert, brought 65 people to Linus Pauling Middle School to learn about online databases offered through the Corvallis School District's library system and the Corvallis-Benton County Library system." ResourceShelf kudos to all involved!!! -- Document Management Source: Xerox Corporation Xerox Survey Reveals Search for Information Major Issue for Manufacturing Firms "A survey conducted by Xerox Corporation at the annual daratechPLANT2005 conference uncovered that 83 percent of manufacturing and engineering professionals say they spend too much time looking for information in documents such as e-mails, spec sheets and drawings, underscoring the business value of a document management strategy." -- National Libraries--Scotland World renowned literary archive secured for Scotland
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents African Americans--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Fast Facts: African-American History Month: February 2005 A compilation of facts about the African-American population. Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries--Marketing Source: Chris Olson It's Back and It's Now Free: Chris Olson's Marketing Treasures Newsletter We know that many libraries need marketing assistance and library marketing guru Chris Olson is a person who can help. So, when we learned that her Marketing Treasures newsletter was back (available via email) and now available free, we thought it was MORE than worthy of a mention on ResourceShelf. Here's how Chris describes the MT, "Each issue of Marketing Treasures includes a feature article about a practical marketing subject, followed by shorter sections devoted to marketing concepts, insights into promotion activities, popular communications resources, and upcoming learning opportunities." Want some more good news? Current and back issues (1987-) of the newsletter are also online and available free as pdf files. -- Online Information Source: Information Today New Blog: ONLINE Insider A new blog from ONLINE magazine editor, frequent conference speaker, and ResourceShelf friend, Marydee Ojala. Congrats! Btw, Marydee will be blogging from the Special Libraries Association Leadership Summit beginning tomorrow. -- Access to Information--United States Source: AP FBI Search Practices Could Limit Public Access to Government Documents
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Identity Theft--Surveys Source: Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. Just Released, 2005 Identity Fraud Survey Report "This report provides a detailed, comprehensive analysis of identity fraud in the United States, in order to better understand methods for prevention, detection and resolution. Co-released by Javelin Strategy & Research and the Better Business Bureau, this report is issued as a longitudinal update to the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) 2003 Identity Theft Survey Report. The phone-based survey methods used as the basis for the 2003 and 2005 reports were nearly identical, while additional research areas were made realizable through the addition of a control group." -- Intellectual Property--Canada Source: Canadian Intellectual Property Office New Resource, IP Toolkit -- Intellectual Property--United States Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office USPTO Releases FY 2004 Performance and Accountability Report "In fiscal year 2004, the Department of Commerce's United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted 187,170 patents, including 169,296 utility (inventions), 16,533 design, and 998 plant patents as reported in its fiscal year 2004 Performance and Accountability Report released today. Since 1790, over seven million U.S. patents have been granted. U.S. resident inventors received 97,913 U.S. patents in fiscal year 2004. California resident inventors received the highest share (23 percent, 22,389 patents) of these patents, followed by inventors from New York (7 percent, 6,788 patents), Texas (7 percent, 6,424 patents), Michigan (4 percent, 4,260 patents), and Massachusetts (4 percent, 4,109 patents)." Summary Statistics Direct to Full Text -- Documents in the News Airliner Anti-Missle Systems Source: RAND Corporation Protecting Commercial Aviation Against the Shoulder-Fired Missile Threat "Examines the capabilities and costs of onboard technologies to divert missiles attacking commercial airliners. Given the significant uncertainties in the cost and effectiveness of countermeasures, a decision to install them should be postponed, and concurrent development efforts to reduce these uncertainties should proceed as rapidly as possible." Summary (PDF; 0.2 MB) Full Document (PDF; 0.7 MB) -- United States--Forecasts Source: Federal Research Division/Library of Congress Domestic Trends To The Year 2015: Forecasts For The United States This 261-page report published in 1991 was just made available on the FRD web site. Topics include: + Demography + The Economy + Resources + Education + Society + Technology + Military Science + Geopolitics and Threat -- September 11th--Archives Source: AP Library of Congress puts record of Sept. 11 attacks online A lengthy account of the Sept. 11 attacks has been put online by the Library of Congress in the form of nearly 170 audio and video interviews, totaling 40 hours, with photos, drawings, written narratives, and poems.
Citation Briefs Source: ISI Science in Ireland, 1999-2003 Science in Scotland, 1999-2003 Sociology & Anthropology: High-Impact U.S. Universities, 1999-2003 Neurology: Most Prolific U.S. Universities, 1999-2003 Journals Ranked by Impact: Forestry Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Digitization Projects Source: AP Library Collections Find Home Online "'Some archivists envision the day when Internet surfers will be able to request to see a particular document -- having it "scanned on demand," perhaps for a fee. But, for now, many librarians are focusing on helping Web surfers find archive images online and understand their significance. David Bertuca at the Buffalo Arts and Sciences Libraries at the University of Buffalo is one who regularly gathers reliable links on particular topics, including the 100th anniversary of the paper that introduced the world to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Among other things, the page links to images of Einstein's handwritten journals at the Jewish National & University Library in Israel. To Bertuca, compiling such pages is only logical. 'It's what librarians do,' he says." -- Research Libraries--Expenditures Source: ARL Expenditure Trends in ARL Libraries 1986-2003 + All ARL Libraries [PDF] + ARL Public University Libraries [PDF] + ARL Private University Libraries [PDF] + ARL Canadian University Libraries [PDF] -- Online Information Source: Intelligent Enterprise Add Value To Beat 'Googlization' "'There's a growing mentality, particularly among the younger generation, that if it doesn't come up in an Internet search engine then it doesn't exist' says [Amanda] Spiteri, marketing director of Elsevier's ScienceDirect, a subscriber-based service for libraries, universities and research institutes."
Web Search--Google Video Search Source: Search Engine Watch Blog Google Video Search Goes Live You can read an overview here. In another post on the SEW Blog, Gary has a few comments about Google Video and provides an overview of several other video search resources available on the web (many free). Finally, new stuff from Yahoo! on the video search front. See Also: And on a related note...EBSCO Adds Video To History Resource Center
Briefly + LexisNexis Launches Chinese Online Service + The American Chemical Society and Thomson Announce Linking Agreement + Education Full Text Expands Coverage by 49 Journals
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Academy Awards Source: AMPAS Just Released, 77th Academy Awards Nominations Press Kit Images of nominees, fact sheets and more. See Also: 77th Academy Awards Press Kit -- State Legislators--Financial Disclosure Source: Center for Public Integrity State Legislators' 2004 Personal Disclosures "Ever wonder what outside financial interests a legislator in your state might have? Now you can find out with a couple of clicks of your mouse. Putting the country's government ethics laws to work, the Center for Public Integrity today made thousands of state legislators' outside interest disclosure filings available to online users. Researchers at the Center collected nearly 7,000 personal financial statements state lawmakers submitted in 2004 to oversight agencies in the 47 states requiring disclosure. Three states -- Idaho, Michigan and Vermont -- do not require disclosure at all. Click on a state below to access the only warehouse of its kind." -- Corporate Archives--Sears Source: Sears, Roebuck and Co Sears Archives Home Page "Once again, Sears has made history. For the first time, Sears has opened the doors to its vast archival collection and invited the public to peek inside. More than 100 years of stories, product and brand histories, photographs, catalog images are now available online." -- Training--Canada Source: Statistics Canada New, Study: Training and technology in Canadian workplaces "The stronger the technological skills in a workplace, the more likely it is to provide training for its employees, according to Canadian Economy in Transition: Who Trains? High-tech Industries or High-tech Workplaces?, the sixth study in a new analytical series examining industrial transitions in the Canadian economy." Summary ||| Direct to Full Text -- Philanthropy--United States--Statistics Source: Foundation Center (via DocuTicker.com) Just Released, Giving in the Aftermath of September 11: Final Update "...a comprehensive overview of the more than $1.1 billion in grants reported by 1,339 foundations and corporations, including nearly $8 million awarded in 2003 alone for long-term needs and emerging social issues." Monday, January 24, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Information Industry--OneSource Source: Information Today OneSource Aims for New Markets with Streamlined Product "Business information aggregator OneSource Information Services has introduced a new streamlined service targeted to sales and marketing professionals in small and mid-sized businesses. The new OneSource Express offers a package of essential company and executive data that is smaller than its enterprise Business Browser products, but at a price that is affordable for this market. The new service represents the first move by OneSource beyond its core market of large customers and is clearly designed to go head-to-head in this market segment with services offered by Hoover?s, a D&B company." -- Digital Information The Winter 2005 Issue of the Global Resources Newsletter is Now Online Global Resources is an initiative from the Association of American Universities and ARL in cooperation with CRL. This issue features a look at The Latin American Open Archives Portal.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Internet--Crime--Statistics Source: New, IC3 Annual Internet Fraud Report The report covers the period, January 1, 2004 - December 31, 2004. -- Phishing--Statistics Source: The Anti-Phishing Working Group New, Phishing Activity Trends Report - December 2004 -- Consumer Information Source: SmartMoney.com (Dow Jones) 10 Things Archive Archive of popular "10 Things" columns from magazine -- e.g., 10 Things Your Cosmetic Surgeon Won't Tell You, 10 Things Your Preschool Won't Tell You, 10 Things Your Cleaning Service Won't Tell You, etc.
Briefly + Scirus Offers Comments About Google Scholar (via SEW Blog) + Dialog NewsRoom Now Offering Deeper Archive of The New York Times "North American Embargo Lifted With Fulltext of Articles From 1980 Now Available For All Customers Worldwide" + OCLC, Safe Sound Archive to work together to digitize and preserve audio collections
Have You Visited DocuTicker.com Lately? A daily update of new full text reports from governments, ngo's, think tanks, and other groups compiled by the ResourceShelf team. Sunday, January 23, 2005
Web Search Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project New Report: Internet searchers are confident, satisfied and trusting -- but they are also unaware and naive. Findings from a new survey from Pew are online this afternoon. Chris has a summary on the Search Engine Watch blog. We've posted a few random thoughts (from the info pro perspective) about the report on our ResourceShelfPLUS site. See Also: An October Post About A Recent Study That Looked at Searcher Behavior More to chew on. Saturday, January 22, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Public Libraries--Philadelphia Source: Library Journal At Free Library of Philadelphia, 20 Branches to Operate Without Librarians "Faced with staff and budget cuts, the Free Library of Philadelphia will operate 20 of 49 branches without librarians. This decision will allow systemwide Saturday service. The branches--each of which will be open four afternoon hours for six days a week--will be managed by a library assistant supervised by a library supervisor at a full-time branch." -- Online Research--Law Firms Source: Thomson Legal & Regulatory Cost Recovery for Online Legal Research (PDF; 290 KB) "The shift from 'purchased' physical collections to 'leased' online research has presented a number of challenging questions for librarians, financial officers, and law firm management with regard to cost recovery. This white paper examines the issues and choices associated with such cost recovery for online research. The paper applies primarily to large and medium law firms; the cost recovery issues and practices of smaller firms may be different."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Africa--Bibliography Source: Air University Library Africa: Special Bibliography No. 159 Extensive updated bibliography includes regional breakout as well as by individual country. Internet resources, books, periodicals. -- Consumer Information Source: SmartMoney.com (Dow Jones) 10 Things Archive Archive of popular "10 Things" columns from magazine -- e.g., 10 Things Your Cosmetic Surgeon Won't Tell You, 10 Things Your Preschool Won't Tell You, 10 Things Your Cleaning Service Won't Tell You, etc. -- Law Enforcment--Manual Source: International Association of Chiefs of Police Police Chief's Desk Reference (PDF; 5.1 MB) "This Police Chiefs Desk Reference (PCDR)...was designed with the new chief in mind and contains a wealth of resources to assist you in your new role as a police executive. Police chiefs from around the country who share a desire to pass along their knowledge and experience with their peers contributed many of the writings.... Chapters are included on leadership, ethics, policies and procedures, accreditation, and funding. Also included are sample internal and community surveys as well as best practices guides written specifically for smaller agencies on a wide range of topics. It also contains information about state associations of chiefs of police and many other resource listings, summaries, and Web site referrals." Friday, January 21, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Data Mining Information Industry--ChoicePoint Source: Washington Post ChoicePoint finds wealth in information "It began in 1997 as a company that sold credit data to the insurance industry. But over the next seven years, as it acquired dozens of other companies, Alpharetta, Ga.-based ChoicePoint Inc. became an all-purpose commercial source of personal information about Americans, with billions of details about their homes, cars, relatives, criminal records and other aspects of their lives." -- Stock Images Source: The Guardian Image library that began as a 'hobby' of world's richest man may be floated -- Weblogs Source: Free Pint Enterprise Blogging A new article (and plenty of resources) by Dr L. Anne Clyde at the University of Iceland. -- Digital Resources Source: IMLS New Report, Digital Resources for Cultural Heritage: A Strategic Assessment Workshop on Current Status and Future Needs "Report and recommendations stemming from an IMLS sponsored workshop of 63 specialists from 26 states representing libraries, museums, archives, higher education institutions, public broadcasting, research consortia, public and private funding organizations, and service providers, to assess progress on and plan for the development and use of digital cultural resources."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Reports Higher Education--Graduation Rates--Statistics--Databases Source: Des Moines Register/Education Trust New Tool, Compare Graduation Rates at Four-Year Colleges and Universities "A new online tool lets prospective college students and others compare graduation rates of students at thousands of similar schools...the new tool helps families make choices about students' likelihood of graduating from particular institutions, said Kevin Carey, director of policy research at the Education Trust, the Washington, D.C. group that offers the online tool." Direct to College Results Online. Note: This tool users six year graduation rates. Thanks to Michael A. for the info. -- Astronomy--Image Galleries Source: NSF A Stellar Debut for Gemini Observatory's Online Image Gallery "In addition to housing many views of astronomical objects, the Gemini Image Gallery contains downloadable posters, illustrations, videos and animations, as well as multiple images of the twin telescopes themselves." Direct to the Gemini Observatory Image Gallery. -- Gardening--Directory Source: Dave's Garden The Garden Watchdog Guide to Gardening by Mail "Welcome to the most complete directory of gardening sources! There are 3,600 gardening vendors listed within the Garden Watchdog and this directory makes it easy to find and contact them. Our name sums up our mission: we're here to protect and serve consumers by providing information on gardening companies."
Briefly + Ten Years of Coverage Added to Index to H.W. Wilson's Legal Periodicals Retrospective + Alibris Offers Access to Books For Sale Through OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing Service + LexisNexis Introduces "My Lexis" Thursday, January 20, 2005
Resources of the Week by Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor Two sites this week especially for all you catalogers (and those of you interested in cataloging) out there. Folksonomies, controlled vocabularies, metadata, and similar issues have become popular topics to many non-librarians. 1) Cataloging--Portals Source: Library of Congress Cataloger's Learning Workshop This "just launched" portal, which offers "cataloging and metadata training resources for information workers," is actually a joint project of LC, the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, and the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALA). If you're looking for workshops, you'll find links here, as well as links to training materials and distance learning opportunities. You'll also find pointers to: + Training Publications (print) + Readings in Cataloging and Metadata Education (online) + Training Providers (including bibliographic networks & utilities, national libraries and professional associations) This appears to be a work in progress, with more content yet to come, including a Resource Gateway. Browse here now and bookmark the site so you can come back from time to time and see what's been added. -- 2) Cataloging--Government Documents Source: ALA, Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT) Toolbox for Processing and Cataloging Federal Government Documents Managing documents from the federal government (of which there is no shortage) presents its own unique set of challenges, and GODORT's Cataloging Committee is here to help, along with John A. Stevenson of the Acquisitions Department at the University of Delaware Library. This well-maintained page will point you to such resources as: + GPO Item Selection and Classification Information + GPO Cataloging Records + Cataloging Handbooks, Manuals and Guides + Megapages by Library Organizations (GODORT's Handout Exchange for Processing Procedures is a don't miss.) + Tool Collections by Individual Libraries (Be sure to visit the University of Oregon Libraries' Cataloging Documentation on the Web.)
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries and Librarians Source: CNI & LITA Audio: Libraries and Library Systems in the New Information Landscape A presentation (two MP3 files) by Cliff Lynch at the LITA National Forum. Lynch talks about preservation, personalization, education delivery and learning management systems, and consumer marketplace developments." -- Libraries Source: Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) The January/February 2005 Issue of CLIR Issues is Now Online Articles include: + The Value of Library as Place + Scholars? Panel Explores Digital Scholarship Needs
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Reports Sarbanes-Oxley Act--Databases Source: askSam New, Searchable Version of Sarbanes-Oxley Act From askSam Another free tool from askSam. "The text from the act has been imported into a searchable, hypertext-linked askSam database. The individual sections of the legislation are divided into separate documents in the database. This allows you to easily locate sections pertaining to specific topics. The database also contains a pre-defined report that gives you an overview of all sections containing any search term you enter. You can download the searchable version of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act with the free askSam viewer at: http://www.asksam.com/ebooks/Sarbanes/ This news release lists all of the free, searchable databases askSam has made available in the past few months. -- Hazardous Materials--Australia--Databases Just Made Publicly Accessible, Hazardous Substances Information System From an IndustrySearch article, "The Hazardous Substances Database Information System was released by the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission. Users can retrieve classification information on more than 3,500 substances through the online database, which also contains national exposure standards for almost 600 atmospheric contaminants." -- Weblogs--China--Censorship Source: Open Net Initiative (via DocuTicker.com) New Report, Filtering by Domestic Blog Providers in China "Over the last year, the Chinese government has focused increasing attention on the control of blogs. Three popular domestic blog providers in China were temporarily shutdown in March 2004." Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Digitization Projects--Books Source: Hackensack Record (via WGMS) More About Non-Google Book Digitization Projects A look at The Universal Library from Carnegie Mellon and Project Gutenberg. -- Citation Analysis--Legal Periodicals Source: Washington & Lee Law School Most-Cited Legal Periodicals: U.S. and selected non-U.S. "The single most important point to make about the rankings is that not all citations to the law journals are counted. Counted citations are those which cite journal volumes published in the preceding eight years. The reason for this limit is to prevent a bias in favor of long-published journals. Thus the study is concerned only with citations to current scholarship. The search results give only the number of citing documents, and do not show where a citing article or case cites to two or more articles in a cited legal periodical. Sources for the citation counts are limited to documents in Westlaw's JLR database (primarily U.S. articles), and in Westlaw's ALLCASES database (U.S. federal/state cases)." -- Libraries and Librarians Source: IFLA IFLA Launches Two New Mailing Lists + QUALITY - Quality Issues in Libraries Discussion Group + UNIVERS - University Libraries and Other General Research Libraries Mailing List -- Libraries--Sri Lanka Source: IFLA IFLA Posts Several Images of Sri Lankan Libraries Post Tsunami
Web Search Briefs (via SEW Blog) + No Kidding, 10GB of Free Storage Space + Feedster Launches Job Search Database + A Look at a Few Boston Area Search Companies
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Reports Tsunami--Maps Source: DM Solutions Group Tsunami Disaster Mapping for Indian Ocean Coastal Regions "This interactive, Internet-based Website contains a rapidly increasing wealth of data about all Indian Basin Tsunami affected countries and regions - collected both before and after the ongoing disaster. The goal of this Website is to help facilitate, through the use of interactive Web-mapping technology, all aspects of disaster mitigation...." -- Prescription Drugs--United States--Databases Source: Public Citizen Worstpills.org From press release: "Public Citizen has launched a new Web site, www.WorstPills.org, that provides consumers with comprehensive information about 538 prescription drugs and warns them of 181 drugs that are unsafe or ineffective." -- Military Specs and Standards--United States Source: Defense Standardization Program Office Online Documents (Specs & Standards on the Web) "The most frequently asked question of the DSPO staff is, " Where can I obtain specifications and standards online?" Following are some publicly accessible Web sites where you can search for documents. In addition, most DSP documents may be downloaded without charge, using the Web sites described below. Note that the ASSIST database is the official source of all documents listed in the DoD Index of Specifications and Standards (DODISS) and all Data Item Descriptions (DIDs)." See also: Index of DSCC Mil Specs & Drawings (Defense Supply Center Columbus) See also: Military Handbooks and Standards Related to Reliability (weibull.com/ReliaSoft Corporation)
Information Industry--Awards Source: Software & Information Industry Association. 2005 Codie Award Finalists Announced Congrats and kudos to all of the nominees! Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf United States Government--Access to Information Source: Government Printing Office Revised Policy, Withdrawal of Documents from GPO Information Dissemination Programs GPO Information Dissemination (ID) has issued a new ID policy, "Withdrawal of Federal Information Products from Information Dissemination Collection and Distribution Programs." The policy, ID 72, supersedes SOD 72 dated July, 22, 2002. The revised policy establishes conditions under which a document may be withdrawn, recalled, or restricted in access; it outlines GPO and publishing agency responsibilities. The new policy requires concurrence of the head of the publishing agency before any action is taken. It also requires notification of professional library associations in order to assure support for the actions being taken. The new policy is available at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/sod72_policy_rev.pdf -- Metadata Source: RLG Just Released, Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for RLG Cultural Materials "This document is a complete overhaul of the initial guidelines (last updated September 2003)." -- Open Access Source: The Washington Post NIH Revises Plan for Quick, Free Access to Study Results "An ambitious proposal to make the results of federally funded medical research available to the public quickly and for free has been scaled back by the National Institutes of Health under pressure from scientific publishers, who argued that the plan would eat into their profits and harm the scientific enterprise they support." -- Censorship--Public Libraries Source: The Sun Herald (Biloxi, MS) Torrent of e-mails dismays library director "The director of the Jackson-George Regional Library System said last week that national media attention thrust on him after a recent book ban isn't getting him down. In fact, Robert 'Bob' Willits said personal attacks he's received in the form of 400-plus e-mails have done little more than enlighten him about the hateful way in which some people communicate.... Willits started receiving the complaints last week, after news of the library system's decision to ban comedian Jon Stewart's 'America (The Book)' made national headlines. Within 48 hours of the story circulating, the library board of trustees lifted the ban, citing intense scrutiny from the outside community as a key reason." -- Literature--Children Source: AP American Library Association Gives Awards From the article, "'Kira-Kira,'" by Cynthia Kadohata, received the 2005 John Newbery Award at the ALA's annual meeting at Boston on Monday. The award honors outstanding writing in a book for young people. A 15-member committee of librarians and children's literature experts selected "Kira-Kira," said committee head Susan Faust... Another committee gave the Randolph Caldecott Award for illustration to Kevin Henkes for "Kitten's First Full Moon," a book for children age 2 to 5 about a kitten who believes the moon is her bowl of milk." See Also: Complete List of ALA Award Winners
Briefly + Smithsonian Global Sound Collection Will Be Available (via Streaming Audio) to Libraries + ProQuest, Factiva to Extend and Expand Distribution to Libraries Worldwide + R.R. Bowker Introduces Ulrich's Resource Linker + Australian Content Added to Dialog NewsRoom
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents International Development Source: United Nations Millennium Project Just Released: Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals "We have the opportunity in the coming decade to cut world poverty by half. Billions more people could enjoy the fruits of the global economy. Tens of millions of lives can be saved. The practical solutions exist. The political framework is established. And for the first time, the cost is utterly affordable. Whatever one's motivation for attacking the crisis of extreme poverty-human rights, religious values, security, fiscal prudence, ideology, the solutions are the same. All that is needed is action. This report recommends the way forward. It outlines a way to attain this bold ambition. It describes how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals." (PDF) -- Air Travel--United States-Statistics Source: BTS New, Air Travel Consumer Report--January 2005 The new issue contains statistics about flight delays in the U.S. for a 12-month period ending November 2004. -- Election 2004--E-mail Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project (via DocuTicker.com) Email and the 2004 Campaign "Some 11% of internet users told us in a survey just after the election that they had signed up to receive email newsletters or other online alerts with the latest news about the election." -- Employment--Benefits--United States Source: BLS New, Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2002-2003, Bulletin 2573 (PDF) Monday, January 17, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Library Technology Source: Emerald This Week Only: Free Full Text Access to Three Recent Issues of Library Hi Tech -- Information Standards Source: NISO The January Issue of the ISO Newsline is Now Online -- National Archives--United States Spotlight on NARA: Behind the Scenes with NARA's Exhibits Staff -- Digital Libraries The January 2005 Issue of D-Lib Magazine is Now Available Articles include: + Building Educational Portals atop Digital Libraries + Trend Analysis of the Digital Library Community + Understanding Faculty to Improve Content Recruitment for Institutional Repositories + Transparent Format Migration of Preserved Web Content
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Health Information--United States--Calendars Source: National Health Information Center National Health Observances [U.S.], 2005 Complete document is available here. -- Literature--Author Interviews Source: The Paris Review The DNA of Literature Collection of author interviews from the '50s forward. Browse alphabetically or chronologically, or search. -- History--Canada Source: Library and Archives Canada Two New Resources from Library and Archives Canada website + The Kids' Site of Canadian Settlement + Virtual Tour: John A. Macdonald (1815-1891) "To mark the anniversary of the birth of Sir John A. Macdonald (January 11, 1815), Library and Archives Canada offers a virtual tour about a man whose impact on the history of Canada was significant." -- Transportation--United States--Statistics Source: BTS Just Released, Government Transportation Financial Statistics 2003 "The 2003 report presents the complete dataset and discussion of data coverage, methodology and reliability. The searchable database allows users to generate customized tables. The mapping application allows users to generate customized maps of state and local government revenues and expenditures for all 50 states and the District of Columbia." Sunday, January 16, 2005
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Have You Visited DocuTicker Lately? -- Business Jargon Source: InfoWorld BizSpeak for the Geek "For better or worse, no one says mindshare anymore. Today they say wallet share, although the meanings of the terms would seem to differ. Therefore, we offer this abridged lexicon of trendy business terms -- and some that won't go away -- to help you keep your poker face in any boardroom." -- Academic Integrity--Webliography Source: Golden Gate University Library Academic Integrity: A Selected Webliography Includes links to resources at a variety of institutions of higher learning. See also: Cheating 101: Internet Paper Mills (Kimbel Library, Coastal Carolina University)
Briefly + Engineering Village 2 Introduces Faceted Searching + Sirsi Acquires Docutek Information Systems Inc. Saturday, January 15, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf American Library Association Live Coverage of the ALA Midwinter Conference in Boston (via PLABlog.Org)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Weapons of Mass Destruction--China--Database Source: Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) China WMD Database "The China WMD database is the world's most complete open-source electronic database on Chinese arms control and nonproliferation developments. The database contains hundreds of primary source documents (in both English and Chinese), extensive reference materials, bibliographic information and comprehensive fact sheets. This powerful research tool provides concise and up-to-date analysis of critical issues relating to China, arms control and nonproliferation. Experts and scholars at the Center for Nonproliferation at the Monterey Institute of International Studies created and maintain this database." Friday, January 14, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Business information Source: Free Pint Trends in business information, provision and use A new article by the editor of VIP and VIP Eye, Pam Foster. -- Newspapers--Digitization Projects Source: AP ProQuest Plans to Digitize Boston Globe Archive The AP reports that the complete Boston Globe archive will be digitized (full text, full image) by ProQuest. You can find a list of the other newspapers that are part of the ProQuest Historical Newspapers program here.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Tsunami--Asia Source: Economist Intelligence Unit Asia's tsunami: the impact A new 28-page report from the Economist Intelligence Unit. It's available free. "Asia's tsunami: the impact" assesses the political and economic implications of one of the worst natural disasters in decades." Summary Direct to Full Text -- Privacy--United States Source: EPIC EPIC Presents Privacy Year in Review "The USA PATRIOT Act. California's privacy reforms. Data outsourcing. National ID. Internet privacy. EPIC's Special Alert reviews the top privacy stories of 2004 and shows you the trends to keep an eye on in 2005." -- Climate--United States--Statistics Source: NCDC Just Released, Climate of 2004: Annual Perspective -- Public Opinion Polling Source: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research Polling 101: The Basics of Public Opinion Research "This tutorial is intended to offer a simplified glimpse into some of the fundamentals of public opinion polling. Designed for the novice, Polling 101 provides definitions, examples, and explanations that serve to introduce interested students to the field of public opinion research." Thursday, January 13, 2005
Resources of the Week By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor Two totally unrelated but interesting sites for you this week. 1) Business--Country Guides Source: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Deloitte Country Guides Reminiscent of the venerable Ernst & Young "Doing Business In..." guides -- downloadable in PDF but somewhat scattered around the Global E&Y site -- Deloitte's Country Guides are conveniently available from a single page. (Select the "Country Guides" link about halfway down on the lefthand side of the page.) Actually, what we have here is three sets of guides: + Snapshots -- "A concise digest of facts, figures, economic indicators and country tax rates for 60 significant trading countries around the world. The Snapshots are updated annually, they highlight general economic data and country analysis, and are also posted on Deloitte.com." + Business Guides -- "This dynamic repository contains valuable information about regulatory, tax and business matters, including the investment climate, labour relations and work force considerations, business regulations, foreign investment and tax rates for major trading nations." + Human Resource Guides -- "A companion to the Business Guides, the HR Guides provide helpful information for international human resource and tax professionals and international assignees, including national holidays, visa details, important addresses and web links." Simply select the country you're interested in from any of the three dropdown menus and you're off and running. According to Deloitte, these guides were produced in cooperation with The Economist Intelligence Unit. Collections of other business-oriented country guides are available from: + Business Information for the Newly Independent States (BISNIS) Country guides for the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, from the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Association. Country guides for a number of eastern European nations are available at a similar Department of Commerce site -- Central and Eastern Europe Business Information Center (CEEBIC). See the Trade Information Center for info on other countries. + Business.gov offers a variety of links to country data. + Country Insights (globalEDGE, Michigan State University) + Export.gov Market Research Library + HLB International + A select few are available from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. + WorldBank Doing Business Database ("provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement" across 145 countries) -- 2) Intelligence Analysis and Operations Source: CIA New, Searchable Database, Studies in Intelligence This is an "indexed and searchable archive of articles" from a publication called Studies in Intelligence, created by "Intelligence trailblazer Sherman Kent -- the 'father' of intelligence analysis in America." The database contains more than 400 articles, covering the time period 1955-1976. A simple navigation area on the left side of the page allows you to access the contents via an Author-Title index, an Analysis Subject index or an Operations Subject index. Alternately, full-text search is available. (You'll get dumped into a general CIA search page, but you can restrict your search to the Studies in Intelligence database via a dropdown menu.) Content is PDF format.
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries Source: USA Today Gates Foundation gives libraries nearly $11 million "The philanthropic organization established by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and his wife is giving nearly $11 million to public libraries in 37 states and the District of Columbia to buy computers and software and pay for faster Internet connections." -- Freedom of Information--United Kingdom--Web Resources Source: CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) Compilation: Freedom of Information Web Resources==
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Newspaper Web Sites--Lists & Rankings Source: The New York Times The 10 Most Viewed NYTimes.com Articles in 2004 ++ Presidential Inauguration--2005 Source: U.S. Census Fast Facts: Inauguration Day: 2005 Inaugural firsts and other "fun" facts. Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Data Visualization Source: OCLC Online Demo Now Available: OCLC's Data Visualization Pilot with Antarctica Systems Inc. A must "see" for those of you interested in data visualization. From an announcement received via e-mail, "OCLC has implemented a data visualization pilot project in conjunction with to evaluate library users' experiences with searching and display of search results using a visual interface to the Electronic Books database on OCLC FirstSearch. Users of the Electronic Books database on FirstSearch will see a link at the top left of their basic, advanced and expert search and results screens to "Try an alternative view of Ebooks by clicking here." Clicking this link will take users to a visual representation of the Electronic Books database developed by Antarctica Systems, Inc. You may also view the pilot interface at: http://ebooks.antarctica.net. For the purpose of this pilot, users will be searching in a static database of about 211,000 electronic book titles. The pilot will run through April 5, 2005." See Also: Antarctica Systems Inc. and OCLC Announce 3-Month Pilot
Professional Reading Shelf Current Awareness Source: The Virtual Chase New Web Accessible Presentation: Finding News Faster This is must read and use material. Perfect for web research trainers. I've co-presented with Genie Tyburski on current awareness topics many times and as many of you already know, GT knows what she's talking about. "Researchers may download the entire presentation or review it online. It covers the basics--what is RSS and how do you display it--as well as some advanced strategies, such as creating keyword-generated feeds." -- Music Source: National Library of Australia MusicAustralia: Towards a National Music Information Infrastructure "A paper by Ms Robyn Holmes and Dr Marie-Louise Ayres, presented at the International Symposium for Music Information Retrieval (ISMIR) Conference in Barcelona, 10-14 October 2004." -- Digital Libraries--South Asia Source: SciDevNet' Digital library to protect indigenous knowledge "South Asian countries will create a digital library of the region's traditional knowledge and develop laws to prevent such knowledge being misappropriated through commercial patents. The aim is to create a composite digital library comprising individual Traditional Knowledge Digital Libraries (TKDL) from each country in South Asia." -- Librarians Source: Billings Gazette Electric libraries: Technology changes community resources A great introduction to a few "digital" librarians in Montana. "It's the librarian, [Sara] Groves [communications coordinator for the Montana State Library], said, who has helped lead the technological revolution by simplifying the way information is accessed by the public. It's the libraries, she said, that continue to provide free and unbiased information. 'Libraries are not driven by profit, and people can trust the information that's here," Groves said. 'Unlike Google, which is making money from advertising, libraries are public domain, and they're impartial to information.'" -- Metadata Source: IEEE Multimedia (Visions and Views) Is It Time for a Moratorium on Metadata? (PDF; 680 KB) "Perhaps one of the great metaparadoxes of our time is that although more information is being searched than ever -- it's been said that more people use Google in a week than have used all of the world's libraries in a decade -- the (relative) use of conventional metadata is probably at a 10-year low. The question, of course, is why." -- Public Libraries--United Kingdom Source: MLA Libraries Minister Andrew McIntosh launches probe into how public libraries can get 'more books for their buck'
Web Browsers--Opera Opera Site Licenses Now Available for Free to Higher Education Institutions A highly customizable and stable/secure web browser (I'm a longtime user) is now offering free site licenses to colleges and universities. Details in this news release and on this web page.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text New/Recently Updated CRS Reports Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists) + Balancing Scientific Publication and National Security Concerns: Issues for Congress + Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004: National Standards for Drivers' Licenses, Social Security Cards, and Birth Certificates -- Patents--Lists & Rankings Source: IFI CLAIMS Patent Services |
