| |
ResourceShelf |
|
Resources and News for Information Professionals
ResourceShelf is Compiled & Edited By Gary Price, MLIS Librarian Director of Online Information Resources, Ask.com Editor and Compiler, The ResourceShelf Editor and Compiler, DocuTicker
Looking For More Info? News? Search Help? News Tips?
New Site Suggestions?
Archives 06/01/1990 - 06/30/1990 03/01/2001 - 03/31/2001 04/01/2001 - 04/30/2001 05/01/2001 - 05/31/2001 06/01/2001 - 06/30/2001 07/01/2001 - 07/31/2001 08/01/2001 - 08/31/2001 09/01/2001 - 09/30/2001 10/01/2001 - 10/31/2001 11/01/2001 - 11/30/2001 12/01/2001 - 12/31/2001 01/01/2002 - 01/31/2002 02/01/2002 - 02/28/2002 03/01/2002 - 03/31/2002 04/01/2002 - 04/30/2002 05/01/2002 - 05/31/2002 06/01/2002 - 06/30/2002 07/01/2002 - 07/31/2002 08/01/2002 - 08/31/2002 09/01/2002 - 09/30/2002 10/01/2002 - 10/31/2002 11/01/2002 - 11/30/2002 12/01/2002 - 12/31/2002 01/01/2003 - 01/31/2003 02/01/2003 - 02/28/2003 03/01/2003 - 03/31/2003 04/01/2003 - 04/30/2003 05/01/2003 - 05/31/2003 06/01/2003 - 06/30/2003 07/01/2003 - 07/31/2003 08/01/2003 - 08/31/2003 09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003 10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003 11/01/2003 - 11/30/2003 12/01/2003 - 12/31/2003 01/01/2004 - 01/31/2004 02/01/2004 - 02/29/2004 03/01/2004 - 03/31/2004 04/01/2004 - 04/30/2004 05/01/2004 - 05/31/2004 06/01/2004 - 06/30/2004 07/01/2004 - 07/31/2004 08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004 09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004 10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004 11/01/2004 - 11/30/2004 12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004 01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005 02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005 03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005 04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005 05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005 06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005 07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005 08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005 09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005 10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005 11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005 12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005 01/01/2006 - 01/31/2006 02/01/2006 - 02/28/2006 03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006 04/01/2006 - 04/30/2006 05/01/2006 - 05/31/2006 06/01/2006 - 06/30/2006 Now Available Additional Web Reference Compilations direct search (Invisible Web Resources) Audio/Video Current Awareness Tools WWW Accessible Congressional Research Service Reports
|
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf National Libraries--China Source: People's Daily China: National Library opens digital portal "A digital portal to collections of the National Library of China was opened on May 29, providing online search and accession to digitalized resources of the library. As the latest public service platform launched by the library, the D-portal combines 37 Chinese-language data banks, 77 foreign language data banks, 16,000-odd periodicals in both Chinese and foreign languages, as well as special resources including local records..." -- Newspapers--Digitization Source: MarketingVOX Digitized Archives of Small Town Papers Going Online " SmallTownPapers has been digitizing newspaper archives for free and giving them a presence online, while preserving a rich - and searchable - historical record. Through the project's website, browser can see an archived newspaper as it was printed and can also search through articles and advertisements, and look for photos." -- Internet Resources The June, 2005 Issue of the Internet Resources Newsletter is Online Looking for some new and/or useful resources? If so, this is one great resource. -- Scholarly Publishing--Open Access Source: International Yearbook of Library and Information Management 2004-2005: Scholarly Publishing in an Electronic Era (Chapter 6; via E-LIS) The Next Information Revolution - How Open Access will Transform Scholarly Communications "Complaints about spiralling serials costs, lack of service from large commercial publishers, and the inability to meet the information needs of researchers are not new. Over the past few years, however, we have begun to see new models develop that better serve the information needs academics as both authors and readers. The internet is now being used in ways other than just to provide electronic facsimiles of print journals accessed using the traditional subscription models. Authors can now ?self-archive? their own work making it available to millions and new open access journals extend this by providing a peer-review service to ensure quality control. SPARC and SPARC Europe play a prominent role in the new scholarly communication landscape as they encourage the progress of open access while working closely with scholars and scientists, who must recognize the benefits of change within academe in order for such progress to occur." Full text (Word document) -- National Libraries Source: ManagingInformation.com Over 11m Digital Records Now Available At European Library "After three years of collaborative project work and ten months of operational development, The European Library was recently launched. Over 11 million digitised and born digital records and objects from 9 of Europe's National Libraries are free to all."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Watergate Source: Vanity Fair (via DocuTicker) Full Text of Vanity Fair Article: W. Mark Felt Is Deep Throat This is a full text preview of an article that will appear in the July 2005 issue of Vanity Fair. It's a nine page PDF file. Thanks to E.D. for the news tip. See Also: Watergate Timeline (via Washington Post) -- Women And Science--Europe--Statistics Source: European Commission Women & Science Statistics and Indicators Various statistics and sources. -- Health--Web Resources Source: MedlinePlus Two New Compilations + Psychotic Disorders + Childhood Brain Tumors -- Medical Tutorials--Search Engine Source: RxPG PLC Spider Nevi "SpiderNevi medical tutorial search engine project is a non-commercial volunteer project started by a group of doctors from UK and India. Its main purpose is to provide a free human edited tutorials directory to medical fraternity. All included links are reviewed by a volunteer team of doctors and medical students before inclusion in the SpiderNevi database."
Briefly Leading Children's eBooks Now Available to Thousands of Library Websites Through Agreement Between Childrenselibrary.com and OverDrive Monday, May 30, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Librarians Source: Daily Universe (BYU) Librarians, the library's secret resource "The more than 30 subject librarians at the Harold B. Lee Library are one of the most valuable yet underutilized resources available to students." -- Preservation Source: University of Florida Libaries Brittle Books Program "The Brittle Books Program, a section of the Reprographics Unit of the Preservation Department, is responsible for the identification and care taking of the brittle materials in the library system. Approximately 540,000 volumes are thought to be brittle at this time." Learn how brittle materials are identified and procedures for dealing with them.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Anatomy Source: University of Texas at Austin The eSkeletons Project "The eSkeletons Project website is devoted to the study of human and primate comparative anatomy. It offers a unique set of digitized versions of skeletons in 2-D and 3-D in full color, animations, and much supplemental information. The user can navigate through the various regions of the skeleton and view all orientations of each element along with muscle and joint information. eSkeletons enables you to view the bones of both human and non-human primates ranging from the gorilla to the tiny mouse lemur. All of the large apes are represented as well as other species from different parts of the world. Many of these primates are rare or endangered species." Cool. Sunday, May 29, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Digital Content Management Source: Public Library Association New Tech Note: Digital Content Management History and overview. "Digital content management, as used in this TechNote, has sometimes been confused with electronic resources management. The former deals with the management of the digital files of a library or consortium; the latter deals with the management of subscriptions to electronic resources supplied by others. Electronic resources management is the topic of a separate TechNote." See Also: List of Other Tech Notes
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Online Books Source: NLM NLM's "Turning the Pages" now Online "Have you ever come across a beautiful old book locked away in a glass case in a library and wanted to leaf through it? Now, you can (virtually), anywhere in the world, using a computer and Web browser. Using the new, free, online version of 'Turning the Pages' (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/turningthepages), viewers can flip through three treasured books from the National Library of Medicine's 16th century with a click of their computer mouse." See Also: Use "Turning the Pages" Technology at The British Library 12 full text books available. Saturday, May 28, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Corporate Archives--Directories Source: The Society of American Archivists, Business Archives Section/Hunter Information Directory of Corporate Archives in the United States and Canada Last updated: 4/2005.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents United States--History U.S. Census Source: U.S. Census Now Available Online from U.S. Census: Material from the 1890 U.S. Census Files are in PDF format. Overview here. -- Faculty--Postsecondary Institutions Source: National Center for Educational Statistics 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:04) Report on Faculty and Instructional Staff in Fall 2003 "This publication is the first from the 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:04), a study of faculty and instructional staff employed in degree-granting public and private not-for-profit postsecondary institutions in the United States. This report describes the gender, race/ethnicity, tenure status, and income of all faculty and instructional staff, by employment status, institution type, and program area." Full report (PDF; 255 KB)
Search Briefs New from Yahoo Research: Rerank Your Results Based on the Type of Material You're Looking For! Friday, May 27, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Science and Technology Librarianship The Spring 2005 Issue of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship is Now Online Articles include: The Importance of Open Access, Open Source, and Open Standards for Libraries, Survey of GIS Implementation and Use within Smaller Academic Libraries, and Scientific Research: The Publication Dilemma. -- Public Libraries--United Kingdom Source; eGov Monitor New, LONGITUDE: a toolkit of resources for public library staff to evaluate the long-term impact of IT-based services on users "The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has launched LONGITUDE: a toolkit of resources for public library staff to evaluate the long-term impact of IT-based services on users." -- Libraries--Licensing Serials Source: NASIG (North American Serials Interest Group) NASIGuide: License Negotiation 101 See Also: More NASIGuides + Electronic Resource Management + ISSN + OpenURL + Title Changes -- Scholarly Publishing--Conferences Source: CERN CERN workshop on Innovations in Scholarly Communication (OAI4) Conference announcement and call for papers.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Design--Directory Source: Dexigner Design Portal DesignDirectory Hierarchical-style "international design links database." Keyword searchable. Anyone may submit links for inclusion; all submissions are reviewed by editors. Database currently contains about 4,900 links in 1,650 categories. See the newest and most popular links. -- Plant Pathology--Glossary Source: American Phytopathological Society Illustrated Glossary of Plant Pathology From abaxial to zygospore. Many terms have a clickable icon that displays an illustraton. Nice. See Education Center for K-12 resources, Plant Disease Lessons and more. -- Food Safety and Nutrition--Terminology Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition CFSAN Technical Lexicon: Version 0.9 "This is an electronic text file derived from the CFSAN Thesaurus, which installs into most word processors or email clients in a few minutes. It contains a comprehensive list of approximately fifteen thousand technical and scientific terms commonly used in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in correspondence and regulatory documents. Once installed, spell-checkers will not flag correctly spelled technical terms as misspellings. In addition, misspelled technical terms will be flagged, and the correct spelling offered as suggested spellings by the spell-checking tools of the word processor." Download and install the lexicon. -- Cigarette Smoking--United States Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (via DocuTicker) Cigarette Smoking Among Adults --- United States, 2003 "One of the national health objectives for 2010 is to reduce the prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults to 12%. To assess progress toward this objective, CDC analyzed self-reported data from the 2003 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The results of that analysis indicated that, in 2003, approximately 21.6% of U.S. adults were current smokers. Although this prevalence is lower than the 22.5% prevalence among U.S. adults in 2002 and significantly lower than the 22.8% prevalence in 2001, the rate of decline is not sufficient to meet the national health objective for 2010 (2). Comprehensive, sustained interventions that reduce the rate of smoking initiation and increase the rate of cessation are needed to further the decline in cigarette smoking among adults." Thursday, May 26, 2005
Resource of the Week by Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor Some of the niftiest stuff on the Internet these days involves GIS data and mapping. For example, see this list of Cool uses of Google Maps, pulled together by Jonathan Dube, over at CyberJournalist.net. If you've never explored TerraFly, from Florida International University, don't wait one minute longer. "Simply enter an address, and our system will put you at the controls of a bird's view aerial imagery to explore your digital earth." (Disable your pop-up blocker first.) Cool, non-obvious feature unearthed by Gary: Once you have an image displayed, you'll see a scattering of lime green dots superimposed on it. Click on any one of these and another window pops up with tons of local information -- population data, schools, local businesses, links to additional satellite images and more. Amazing. Not quite had your fill of maps and aerial photos? Be on the lookout for Microsoft's MSN Virtual Earth, schedule to debut this summer. Our Resource of the Week also comes via the Florida State University System (I'm proud to say). According to the American Library Association, "Florida State's Public Library Geographic Database (PLGDB) is America's first ever Web-accessible and digitally-mapped public library database." Let's have a look. Public Libraries--Geography--Database Source: Florida State University GeoLib This database -- includes the geographic locations of the roughly 16,000 public libraries in the U.S., along with "population characteristics" from the 2000 Census and library use statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics. For first-time users, there's a PowerPoint tutorial. I found this somewhat difficult to download. (Your mileage may vary.) Fortunately, there's also a printable PDF tutorial (352 KB), and for visual learners with a fast Internet connection, a set of instructional movies (in MP4 format). You'll need to disable your popup blocker to navigate this site, too. Actually, you may just want to go directly to the map and start experimenting. GeoLib requests that you complete a very brief survey first -- name and e-mail address are optional. Mostly they just want to know the purpose for which you are using the site. You can submit your answer and then click the Launch Map Viewer link. (A "quick tutorial" and "help system" are accessible from this page, in case you suddenly feel the need for a life preserver. This resource is not highly intuitive.) When you first access the map, you'll see a somewhat compressed view of the United States, with a sidebar offering a variety of "map layers" -- data overlays that you can choose. By default, the locations of central libraries are already selected, although you won't really see this till you hone in on a particular geographic area. Probably the easiest way to start exploring is to click on the Quick Search tab at the top of the map. A Library Quick Search window opens; just for the heck of it, choose your own state from the dropdown menu, click the Branch Library radio button, type the name of your county into the text box and click Search. Up comes another window with a list of branch libraries in your county. Click the Zoom link next to one of the branches and watch what happens to the map. (If you don't immediately see the branch identified on the map with a little red "read" symbol, make sure you have the Branch Library checkbox selected on the Map Layers sidebar.) Once you have a library located on the map, you can start viewing demographic data for the surrounding area by using the numerous checkboxes on the Map Layers sidebar. Only one layer can be viewed at a time; color-coding is used to indicate characteristics. You can see what the colors represent (Legend) by clicking the small box to the left of the demographic label. (It's gray, with a carat mark inside.) Each main demographic category -- age, education, income, poverty by age, children under 18, race, etc. -- has a plus sign to the right of it that you click to reveal the options. Other layers besides demographics include congressional and state legislative districts, geographic boundaries (states, counties, census tracts, etc.), and physical features like types of highways and bodies of water. Note: If you want to view U.S. public libraries by congressional district, a feature sponsored by ALA, a tutorial (Word document) is available. If you'd like to print out the map you have displayed, click the Print PDF tab at the top of the window, near the center. You'll see a sidebar -- Create a Printable Map. Type a name for your map into the text box and click Submit Query. You'll get yet another window with a printable version of your map. You can also e-mail your map (in PDF or JPG format) to yourself or someone else. Click the little envelope icon; it's the one at the extreme right end of the row of icons at the top of the window. I found the Locate tab at the top of the window to be an efficient way of zooming in on a particular geographic area. When you click on it, you get a sidebar that allows you to specify a zip code or a city/state combination. Once you've got the relevant map displayed, click the Layers tag to get the demographic options sidebar again. You can zoom in and out by clicking the standard + and - magnifying glass icons at the top and then clicking on the area of the map in which you are interested. If you zoom in close enough, street names are displayed. It does take some practice to become proficient at using GeoLib -- there are so many features I haven't even touched on here -- but the payoff could be high, in terms of gathering statistical information about the users (and potential users) of any public library system. It could, for example, help you plan the location of future branches or decide what types of services to offer based on the characteristics of the local population. This project is sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Enjoy.
Professional Reading Shelf Digitization Source: UNESECO/FAO UNESCO and FAO Launch Training CD-Rom [Free] on Digitisation for Librarians and Laymen "UNESCO and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization are launching the "Digitization and Digital Libraries" module to teach librarians and laymen how to digitize documents and put them on line and create virtual libraries. The kit, available from the FAO and UNESCO free of charge, is compatible with a wide range of computers..." -- Librarians Source: The Stanford Report Librarian, marine biologist finds niche at Hopkins Joe Wible has worked in libraries for more than 30 years and logged more than 1,000 dives in his life, making him perfectly suited for his job as head librarian and bibliographer at Hopkins Marine Station this, despite a salvaged sign he keeps in his office window: 'No wet suits in the library!!'" -- Preservation--Canada Source: Saskatoon StarPhoenix Pages for the ages: U of S prof on quest to reassemble pages of centuries-old manuscripts "From inside a peach-coloured cardboard container, the white-gloved hands of librarian Linda Fritz gingerly lift each mounted page. Some of the aged pages are tiny -- the size of a cigarette box -- and others are long and broad." -- Patents--Databases Information Visualization Source: IWR STN set for a new analysis vista "Users of the STN International online service for science and technology researchers are now being offered a new analysis and visualisation (A&V) tool, STN AnaVist. Developed jointly by Chemical Abstracts Service in the US and Germany's FIZ Karlsruhe, the software aims to give information professionals deeper insights into scientific literature and data extracted from STN databases. It will be officially released 'this summer'." -- Government Information--United States Public Libraries--United States Source: Institute of Museum and Library Services Request for Proposals: National Study on User Satisfaction with Access to Government Information and Services at Public Libraries and Public Access Computing Centers "The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is seeking proposals for a national research study on how individuals with limited access to Internet resources (those who do not have broadband access from home, work, or school; who choose to access government services and information from locations other than home, work, or school; or who do so through traditional means of access) access federal, state, and local government services and whether such users are satisfied with the access provided by public libraries and public access computing centers."
Search Briefs Ask Jeeves Unveils New Features Chris Sherman and I have a look in a SearchDay article. The "Zoom" feature discussed might be very useful for info pros. The other new service, "Web Answers" is not without issues (aka far from perfect) but is still worth a look.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Drugs--Canada--Canada Source: CBC Adverse drug reaction database goes online Health Canada is making its database of adverse drug reactions available to Canadians in a searchable online format..." Direct to Canadian Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Program (CADRMP) Adverse Reaction Database -- Businesses--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Entrepreneur and PriceWaterhouseCoopers 2005 Hot 100: The Fastest Growing New Businesses in America " Which companies are breaking out of the pack this year? Our Hot 100 shows they run the gamut, from real estate and restaurants to staffing and spas. These companies are no more than five years old, but have annual sales in excess of $1 million. Read on to learn more about these rising stars and their success secrets." How the Rankings Are Compiled Trends and Stats From the Hot 100 -- Congressional Research Service A Selection of New/Recently Updated CRS Reports Source: Congressional Research Service (via FPC and National Library for the Environment) + Genetic Testing: Scientific Background and Nondiscrimination Legislation + Iraq's New Security Forces: The Challenge of Sectarian and Ethnic Influences + Organization of American States: A Primer + Terrorism and Security Issues Facing the Water Infrastructure Sector + Forest Fire Protection -- Investing--Portals Source: MSN MSN Money Adds New Research Tools New services including: + Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) Center + Currency Converter and Cross Currency Table + MSN Money "Only" Search Tool + News Sources Added to Newscenter -- Human Rights Source: Amnesty International Amnesty International Report 2005 "This Amnesty International Report, which covers 149 countries, highlights the failure of national governments and international organizations to deal with human rights violations, and calls for greater international accountability." Full Country List by Region Supplementary press materials (via DocuTicker) Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf National Libraries--New Zealand Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa National Library Applauds New Digital Strategy "The government's new Digital Strategy is a giant step forward for New Zealand, and will be widely celebrated by the nation's library and information community, says National Librarian Penny Carnaby. For the past two years the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa has been working closely with the Ministry of Economic Development, other central government departments and Local Government New Zealand, and consulting with the library and information sector, to develop this essential contribution to the nation's digital well-being." -- Libraries Source: Center for Research Libraries Spring 2005 Issue of CRL Focus is Now Online Articles include: + South Asia Microform Project--a Ghazal of Historical Resources + Digital South Asia Library + A Union Catalogue for South Asia + DSAL' s Digital Jewel: The Institute of Indian Studies Center for Art and Archaeology Photo Archive -- Electronic Resources Source: British Academy Just Released, E-resources for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences -- A British Academy Policy Review "Information and communications technology is having a major impact in the form of, and access to, research resources. The Academy has consulted national and representative bodies, and individual researchers, and has examined the technical and organisational issues of e-resource provision and access. Its survey and analysis leads to a series of recommendations addressed to institutions and to individual researchers." -- Information Management Source: via E-LIS, to be published in Library Review The Nature of Information in the 21st Century: Conundrums for the Informatics Community? "The proliferation of electronic information via the Web has witnessed the unique characteristics of information distend yet further. With such seismic developments occurring in such a short period of time, it seems prudent to once again consider the very nature of information and to assess whether this accelerated growth has implications for the work of the informatics community and our information society. The paper begins by revisiting and refreshing the unique characteristics of information via a reappraisal of the relevant literature. These characteristics are then contextualised within the New Economy and traditional economic theory. Once these unique characteristics have been examined, the author discusses how the nature of information in the 21st century presents the informatics community with new and difficult challenges." By George Macgregor, Centre for Digital Library Research, University of Strathclyde (UK) Full paper (PDF; 152 KB) -- PubChem Open Access Source: Open Access Working Group via SPARC Support for NIH's PubChem Database "OAWG sends letter to U.S. Representative that calls for support for an online information resource that aids biomedical research." Direct link to PubChem. UPDATE: Chemical publisher goes after NIH
Scholarly Publishing--Citation Reports Source: ISI + Journals Ranked by Impact: Health Policy & Services + The Hottest Research of 2003-04 "In its latest annual roundup of recent research, Science Watch presents the list of authors who, as of late 2004, had published the greatest number of Hot Papers over the preceding two years. The table below lists the (non-review) papers published in 2004 that achieved the highest citation totals by year's end (those papers cited more than 35 times)." + Pharmacology: High-Impact U.S. Universities, 2000-04 + Top 20 institutions in Microbiology, 1994-2004
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Privacy Data Breaches Source: PrivacyRights.org Two Resources + A Chronology of Data Breaches Reported Since the ChoicePoint Incident + Index to News about ChoicePoint and Other Data Aggregators (via The Virtual Chase) -- Cost of Living--United States Source: Salary.com Salary.com's Salary Value Index "Are you living beyond your means? Is your paycheck not stretching far enough? Perhaps you're even having trouble finding a job. Maybe it's time to jump a plane to one of the cities at the top of Salary.com's 'Salary Value' index. We found the top (and bottom) US metros for building personal net worth (taking into account local salaries, cost of living, and unemployment relative to the national average). Median base pay was correlated across more than 2,500 different benchmark jobs in our calculations. Housing costs, living costs, and metro unemployment/job growth figures were also used to rank the metro areas." Full list -- Chemical Industry--Lists & Rankings Source: Chemical & Engineering News Top 50 Chemical Producers (PDF; 479 KB) "C&EN's 2005 survey of U.S. chemical producers shows an industry enjoying the best of times. Sales and operating profits have risen dramatically for most companies as strong demand for chemical products--particularly petrochemicals--has provided chemical makers the leverage needed to raise prices." -- Housing--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Median Housing Values Continue to Rise, Census Bureau Reports "As median home values across the nation continue to rise, so has the proportion of homes valued at $1 million or more, according to a new analysis of American Community Survey (ACS) data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The national median home value in 2003 was about $140,000, up nearly 16 percent in the last three years, while the percentage of 'million-dollar homes' nearly doubled (from 0.5 percent to 1.0 percent)." See Also: State Rankings + County Rankings + City Rankings San Francisco is #1. + 2000-2003 Millon Dollar Home Rankings -- Online Research--United States New Research Tools from Various States + California: Online database allows pesticide users to identify wildlife habitat Direct to PRESCRIBE Database + Wisconsin: Dictionary of Wisconsin History From the Wisconsin Historical Society. "These names of hundreds of people, places, things and events occur in many writings about Wisconsin history. Each is briefly defined here, and a source in which it is used or explained is cited. The Dictionary is being built chronologically and is currently strongest in terms from early Wisconsin history." -- Internet Usage--United States Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project New Demographic Info and Activities Data "Last week we posted updates to three of the Latest Trends tables on our website." + Who's Online -- A frequently updated table showing the current demographics of Internet users + Online Activities (Total) -- The percentage of Internet users who have "ever done" an online activity. + Online Activities (Daily) -- The percentage of Internet users who do a given activity on a "typical day." -- Beaches--United States--Rankings Just released: America's Best Beaches 2005 Number one on the list is Fort De Soto Park's North Beach, southwestern neighbor of St. Petersburg, Florida (home of your deputy editor). Press release (PDF; 48 KB) Photos of top ten beaches
Briefly + EBSCO Publishing Introduces Humanities International Complete + Blackwell Publishing appoints Design UK to redesign online presence + H.W. Wilson Plans to Launch Art Museum Image Gallery in July + ProQuest Brings Library Users A Step Closer To Their Ancestors (via ManagingInformation.com) Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Online Information Source: Emerald This Week ONLY: Free Full Text Access to Three Recent Issues of Online Information Review Articles include: + Web authoring tools and meta tagging of page descriptions and keywords (Vol. 29. No. 2) + The impact of electronic information delivery on reference enquiries (Vol. 29. No. 2) + Information resources on chemistry and natural sciences in general (Vol 2. No. 2) + Google Scholar: the pros and the cons (Vol 29. No. 2) + A MAP for the library portal: through the labyrinth of online information sources (Vol 29. No. 1) + From the search problem through query formulation to results on the web (Vol 29. No. 1) + Knowing where they're going: statistics for online government document access through the OPAC (Vol 28. No. 6) + Date-restricted queries in web search engines (Vol 28. No. 6) -- Open Access--DRM Source: INDICARE Monitor The role of digital rights management in Open Access "Growing conviction that scientific progress will significantly benefit if scholarly articles and research papers are made freely available on the Web has given rise to the Open Access (OA) movement. While there is some awareness that OA articles may require digital rights management (DRM), there is currently only low-level interest in the topic, with many OA advocates maintaining that it has no relevance to OA. The issue is complicated by the fact that there are currently two ways in which research papers are made OA, each of which has different implications from a rights point of view." Analysis by Richard Poynder. -- Electronic Records--Archiving Source: Federal Computer Week 'Tomahtoes' get in the way of saving e-records "Historians complain about techies and archivists shouting at one another, but the historians do offer some solutions. Anna Kasten Nelson, a historian in residence at American University, suggests that agency IT officers devise a mechanism to separate the insignificant 'Where do you want to eat lunch?' e-mail messages from the substantive ones, such as 'Here is a draft of the legislation I am about to introduce.'" -- Public Libraries Source: St. Petersburg Times Library to pack up quirky history "Lost in the hype and anticipation over the July 31 grand opening of Largo's $21-million library is a smaller, far less glitzy building that has satiated thirsty minds, saved procrastinating students and entertained children for more than 30 years. The county's most used library (an average of 1,400 visitors pass through each day) is moving to a new home. But before the shelves are cleared and the doors closed at 351 East Bay Drive, the St. Petersburg Times took a look to see what made this particular library special." Note: In addition to everything else mentioned in the article, this particular library is special because it's the first one that employed your deputy editor. -- Public Libraries--Censorship Source: New Orleans Times--Picayune Gay book not child's play, says lawmaker "Books 'containing the theme of homosexuality' and other 'age-inappropriate' topics should not be on public library shelves accessible to children, a St. Tammany Parish lawmaker said Thursday."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents African-Americans--Entrepreneurship Source: Black Enterprise (via DocuTicker) BE 100s 2005 From Eligibility: "The BE 100s make up the largest black-owned businesses in the nation. For 12 months, the research department and editors of Black Enterprise gathered surveys from hundreds of companies and information from scores of government agencies, professional organizations, industry associations, business information services, entrepreneurs, corporations, and our readers in order to develop our definitive rankings." Eight categories include: Industrial Service, Auto, Advertising, Banks, Asset Managers, Insurance, Investment Bank, and Private Equity. -- Gasoline Prices--United States Source: FuelEconomy.gov Compilation: Links To Gasoline Price Data For US Cities -- Jet Lag--Diet Source: Argonne National Laboratory Site offers Web's most comprehensive information about Anti-Jet-Lag Diet With the summer travel season beginning, travelers who need to beat jet lag can learn how by visiting www.antijetlagdiet.com online. This Web site offers the most comprehensive free information anywhere on the Internet about how to use the famous Anti-Jet-Lag Diet, developed by biologists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. See also: Using the Argonne Diet in Jet Lag Prevention: Deployment of Troops Across Nine Time Zones (PDF; 1.6 MB) -- Marine Sanctuaries--Education Source: NOAA New Web Site for Educators: NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program Background and additional links here. -- Memorial Day--Traffic Fatalities Source: National Safety Council Memorial Day Holiday Period Traffic Fatality Estimate, 2005 From press release: "The Council estimates 471 traffic fatalities over the traditional summer kick-off weekend and another 25,400 disabling injuries from motor vehicle collisions." (via DocuTicker)
Search Briefs All About Exalead Mary Ellen has written an overview article about Exalead, and general purpose web engine from France. We've been posting blogging about and using Exalead since October.
Briefly ProQuest Plans to Digitize Chicago Defender from 1909-1975 + New Asia-Pacific Business Database Coming in June from Bureau van Dijk + Guidestar (Non-Profit Info) Will Launch GuideStar 3.0 on June 1st Monday, May 23, 2005
Salaries Versus Cost of Living--United States Source: Salary.com Salary.com's Salary Value Index "Are you living beyond your means? Is your paycheck not stretching far enough? Perhaps you're even having trouble finding a job. Maybe it's time to jump a plane to one of the cities at the top of Salary.com's 'Salary Value' index. We found the top (and bottom) US metros for building personal net worth (taking into account local salaries, cost of living, and unemployment relative to the national average). Median base pay was correlated across more than 2,500 different benchmark jobs in our calculations. Housing costs, living costs, and metro unemployment/job growth figures were also used to rank the metro areas." Full list
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries and Librarians--Australia Source: ALIA It's Library and Information Week in Australia! -- Public Libraries--United Kingdom Source: MLA/Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy New Report: Library use soars "A new report published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy shows a record rise in public library usage across the UK. In 2003/04, visits to public libraries increased by nearly 14 million, over 250,000 extra visits a week. This is the second consecutive annual rise and builds on an additional 5 million visits made in 2002/03 - the first upturn in usage since the early 1990s." Summary stats available here. -- Metadata Digital Preservation Source: PREMIS Working Groups/RLG/OCLC PREMIS Working Group Publishes Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata "OCLC and RLG are pleased to announce the release of a comprehensive guide to core metadata for supporting the long-term preservation of digital materials. Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata: Final Report of the PREMIS Working Group is the product of the foremost international consensus-building effort directed at preservation metadata, and it is likely to become the foundation for future work in this area." Overview ||| Direct to Data Dictionary -- Scholarly Publishing Source: HighWire Press HighWire Press Database Now Providing Access to More than 900,000 Free Full Text Articles -- E-government Source: Federal Computer Week The e-gov pulse "The first message is Google rules, while only a handful had even heard of FirstGov." Steve Kelman, professor of public management at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, queries his students on how they search for information online.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Executive Compensation--United States Source: San Jose Mercury News New, What the Boss Makes, 2005 Package includes direct links to printable, searchable data report (PDF) and list of compensation by company. -- Higher Education--United States--Statistics University Endowments--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: National Association of College and University Business Officers University Endowment Rankings + Table: Listing of Participating Institutions By Total Market Value of Endowments as of FYE 2004 22 pages; PDF. + Table: Average Compounded Nominal Rates of Return Over 1, 3, 5 and 10 Years 1 page; PDF. + Table: Average Asset Allocation by Asset Class See Also: Highlights from a New Study by the Associated Press Report looks at schools with endowments larger that $1 billion. "To shed light on how these schools are using their unprecedented wealth and why they still cost so much to attend, The Associated Press analyzed thousands of numbers collected by the federal government and college guidebooks over the past decade." -- Electronic Commerce--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Just Released, Retail 1Q, 2005 E-commerce Report -- Poverty--Australia Source: Parliament Library New Research Note: 2004-05 Poverty rates by electorate -- Stereograph Cards Source: Library of Congress New Online Digital Collection: Stereograph Cards From the site, "...about 5,000 stereographs (selection from full collection; records being added) ca. 1860-1945, bulk 1870-1920. Stereo card photographs, featuring sites around the world and popular topics such as expositions, industry, disasters, and portraits of presidents."
Search Briefs + Many Publishers Not Happy With Google Library Program Two articles published today and Gary defines Google Library and Google Print. UPDATE: ResourceShelf friend, Roy Tennant, shares one of his Google Print concerns with us via email. + New South Africa "Only" Search Engine Available Sunday, May 22, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Privacy--Taxonomy Source: George Washington University Law School (Daniel J. Solove) A Taxonomy of Privacy "Privacy is a concept in disarray. Nobody can articulate what it means. As one commentator has observed, privacy suffers from 'an embarrassment of meanings.' Privacy is far too vague a concept to guide adjudication and lawmaking, as abstract incantations of the importance of 'privacy' do not fare well when pitted against more concretely-stated countervailing interests.... A new taxonomy to understand privacy violations is thus sorely needed. This article develops a taxonomy to identify privacy problems in a comprehensive and concrete manner. It endeavors to guide the law toward a more coherent understanding of privacy and to serve as a framework for the future development of the field of privacy law." (To be published in University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 154, Fall 2005; via Social Science Research Network) -- Open Access--United Kingdom Source: JISC JISC signs Berlin Declaration on open access
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Adult Literacy--Statistics New Issue Brief: Highlights from the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey "America's adults performed worse than their counterparts in Bermuda, Norway, and Switzerland, but better than those in Italy, according to the results of the 2003 Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALL). ALL reports on the literacy and numeracy skills of adults ages 16-65 in six countries. A second phase of ALL, in which additional countries are collecting data, is currently under way."
Search Briefs CiteSeer Adds and Improves Features CiteSeer is a wonderful specialized databases focusing on "scholarly" material in computer science, info tech, and related areas. If you've never see or used CiteSeer, MORE than worth a look. Also, improved OAI services. See Also: SmealSearch This service, also from the CiteSeer team, focuses on scholarly business material. Saturday, May 21, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Public Libraries--Biometrics Source: AP (via Yahoo! News) Illinois Library Getting Fingerprint Scanners "The scanners -- to be installed on 130 library computers this summer -- will verify the identity of computer users. Library officials said they wanted to tighten computer access because many people borrow library cards and pass codes from friends or family to log on. The technology also will help the library implement a new policy that allows parents to put filters on their children's' accounts, officials said." -- Academic Libraries--E-reserves Source: Library Journal Battle Brews over E-reserves "In recent years, electronic course reserves have become a staple at campus libraries, large and small, public and private. But publishers, uneasy with the practice in which libraries scan portions of their collections' whether books or journals' and post them, usually on a password-protected server for a limited time, are now protesting what they claim is 'tantamount to providing electronic coursepacks.'"
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents U.S. Senate-Filibusters Source: Congressional Research Service CRS Report: Filibusters and Cloture in the Senate 27 pages; PDF. This report was last updated on March 28, 2003. See Also: Filibuster via the U.S. Senate Virtual Reference Desk -- Web Browsers--Firefox--Glossary Source: O'Reilly Network A Firefox Glossary "With Firefox, the Mozilla Foundation made a U-turn that probably ensured its survival. It started focusing on users, targeting releases directly at them instead of at developers and hardcore power users. Some companies have started to switch, extension authors have adopted the Mozilla platform for writing their tools and applications, and web developers are being turned on by the high level of web-standards support. This glossary is by no means exhaustive--it is meant to be a teaser to lead you to explore more."
Briefly New from Siderean: Turn-Key Software Offers Next-Generation Search, Discovery, And Information Aggregation To Enterprises See Also: Demo Siderean Technology when Searching The Gateway to Educational Materials Friday, May 20, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries--Marketing Source: Chris Olson & Associates The May issue of Chris Olson's Marketing Treasures is Online Info from an expert about a very important topic. -- Public Health Information--Tutorials Source: NLM New Public Health Information and Data Tutorial Released "The National Library of Medicine, in collaboration with the University of Michigan Public Health Library & Informatics Division and Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce, announces the release of the Public Health Information and Data Tutorial. This online tutorial, at http://phpartners.org/tutorial/, is a new tool designed to help the public health workforce effectively locate and use health information." -- National Libraries--United Kingdom--Web Sites Source: IWR British Library to modernise web platform "The British Library is set to modernise its web technology, by consolidating several existing and planned websites on to a single platform." -- Libraries--Malaysia Source: The Star A library that's not just about books All about the The Kuala Lumpur Library.
Virtual Reference Source: eGov Monitor Virtual Reference Service Launches Across the United Kingdom "A new era for the People's Network begins today with the launch of Enquire, a new 24 hour, 'live-chat' and email service. People's Network Enquire will deliver information to the public by providing online access to library and information staff across England, the United States and Canada. Public Libraries already deliver essential information services in communities all over the country. The new Enquire service provides an online route to the expert staff." Enquire is available online at www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk. Enquire is powered by OCLC's QuestionPoint.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Economics--Africa--Statistics Source: OECD Just Released, Country Reports from the African Economic Outlook 2004/2005 Full text of report is fee-based but country reports offer facts and stats for 29 African nations. -- Government Contracts--United States--Law Source: FindLaw.com Federal Government Contract Overview "Although Congress has streamlined the contracting process to reduce the burdens on contractors offering commercial products and services, any entity considering entering into a government contract must tread carefully. This overview is intended to provide you a general insight into the federal government's contracting process." -- Strokes--United States--Statistics Source: CDC/MMWR New Report, Disparities in Deaths from Stroke Among Persons Aged Less than 75 "May is National Stroke Awareness Month. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States." More stats in this news brief. -- Wireless Internet Access Privacy Source: Consumer Reports New Report, Wi-Fi Woes
Search Briefs (via SEW Blog) + Blogdigger Goes Local Search blog posts by geo location. + Google Launches Personalized Home Page + Accoona Now Offering Some D&B Data + Yahoo's New Guide to RSS for Publishers Thursday, May 19, 2005
Resource of the Week by Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor We often review sites here that have a broad range of content. This week's choice is a niche site that runs deep. If you travel a lot, if you're interested in aviation safety or security, if you sometimes have a need for aviation/accident statistics...you will want to bookmark this well-stocked fishing hole, maintained by a noted airline safety analyst and author. Air Travel Safety--Hub Source: Dr. Todd Curtis AirSafety.com While you can likely find everything that's here at some other location on the Internet, it would require a time-consuming scavenger hunt. We love "one-stop shopping" sites, and this one aggregates aviation safety news, statistics, fact sheets, links to databases and many other key resources. Click on the Recent Fatal Events to get a chronology of recent fatal airline accidents, with brief description and links to other relevant material on the site. To the right of that link, in the center of the page, you'll find links to the site's Most Requested Information," including Fatal Events by Airline, Fatal Events by Aircraft Model, and Fear of Flying Information Resources. Under the Most Requested Information Links is a collection of pointers to information and statistics dealing with Airport and Arline Security, such as information related to The Hijackings of 11 September 2001, a chronology of Fatal U.S. Hijacking Events Since 1970, and Airlines With No Fatal Events Since 1970. Dr. Curtis has aggregated a lot of links to federal government data, such as: + Fleet Information for Selected U.S. Carriers -- "Each link produces the airlines FAA certificate and fleet information from the FAA's National Vitals Information System." + Key Aviation Accident and Incident Databases -- "The following links are to databases that are maintained by national aviation or aviation safety authorities. The database entries contain a variety of information on accidents and incidents involving civil aircraft. The most extensive databases are from the NTSB and FAA in the U.S. and may be searched by specific criteria." + U.S. Government Airline Safety Information -- "Included here are links to incident data, accident data, safety and security policy, and safety-related sanctions against airlines and other aviation related organizations." You'll find a lot of extremely specialized information here, too, such as: + Air Rage Information Resources -- "Reasons for such behavior include excessive alcohol consumption, smoking bans, crowding, and long flights, psychological feelings of a loss of control, or problems with authority figures." + Celebrity Crash Cases -- "...information on aircraft crashes involving celebrities. These crashes, both fatal and non-fatal, involve personal aircraft or commercial aircraft." + Fatal Events with a Sole Survivor -- "...from 1970 to the present involving either jet airliners or large turboprop driven airliners where there was only a single survivor." + Major Airline Accidents by Country -- "The following links provide background information on fatal or significant airline accidents by country. The region links will take you to a listing of key airlines in the region, and their estimated fatal event rates." + Post Accident Information Checklist, which appears to be aimed at journalists covering airline crashes. Got an airline-related gripe? Use the online complaint form here, and "AirSafe.com will forward the e-mail to the Office of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Transportation." If airline safety is of particular interest to you, sign up to receive AirSafe.com News, a free weekly e-mail newsletter that "provides a concise roundup of the latest changes in airline safety and security, including information about recent airline fatal events, accident investigations, and aviation security issues." According to information on the site, it has been up and running since July 3, 1996 -- "just two weeks before the crash of TWA Flight 800." Dr. Curtis, who holds degrees from Princeton and MIT, is the author of Understanding Aviation Safety Data: Using the Internet and other Sources to Analyze Air Travel Risk. He served in the United States Air Force and worked for the Boeing Corporation as an airline safety analyst. A private pilot and registered professional engineer, he is an expert in "aviation risk assessment and bird strike hazards to aircraft." He also maintains a website for the Bird Strike Committee USA, which focuses on "(u)nderstanding and reducing bird and other wildlife hazards to aircraft".
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries--Measuring Value Source: Sirsi OneSource The Value of Libraries: Impact, Normative Data, & Influencing Funders A new column by Stephen Abram. "These are challenging times for libraries. We need to communicate our value strongly and in many ways. The studies and opportunities outlined above are fabulous initiatives. We must take our basic statistics and turn them into measurements, and then we must share our measurements. Raw statistics are just representations of effort -- something bureaucrats view with cost-cutting eyes. Well-chosen measurements can demonstrate the amazing value and impact of libraries to their communities, host organizations, and funders." -- Web Sites Source: U.S. Census Fake U.S. Census Web Site Gets Shutdown "The U.S. Census Bureau today stopped an e-mail scam that lured individuals with a $5 instant cash reward to participate in a bogus online "Operation Iraqi Freedom 2005 Survey." The survey, however, was not a legitimate Census Bureau survey. The e-mail scam, which began at 7:49 a.m. EDT today, provided individuals with a link that took them to a "spoof" Web page that appeared to be the official Census Bureau Internet site." -- Copyright--United States Source: DigitalPreservation.gov Group Convenes to Study Exceptions to Copyright Law for Libraries and Archives "The Section 108 Study Group held its inaugural meeting at the Library of Congress on April 14-15. The goal of the group, named after the section of the U.S. Copyright Act that provides limited exceptions for libraries and archives, is to prepare findings and make recommendations to the Librarian of Congress by mid-2006 for possible alterations to the law that reflect current technologies. The U.S. Copyright Office will then hold public hearings before submitting recommendations to the U.S. Congress. This effort will seek to strike the appropriate balance between copyright holders and libraries and archives in a manner that best serves the public interest." -- Health Information--Internet Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Health Information Online "Eight in ten internet users have looked online for information on at least one of 16 health topics, with increased interest since 2002 in diet, fitness, drugs, health insurance, experimental treatments, and particular doctors and hospitals." -- Librarians--PATRIOT Act Source: USA Today Librarian's brush with FBI shapes her view of the USA Patriot Act It was a moment that librarians had been dreading.
RSS Weekly RSS Round-Up by Steven Cohen, Contributing Editor A few interesting new RSS Feeds to report this week: + School Library Journal introduced a blog this week, titled, The SLJ Virtual Summit, which has a feed. + David King and Teri Vogel both posted information on their respective blogs about a few new library RSS releases. They are: - Hennepin County Library - Customized Events Feeds. - Kelvin Smith Library new books and media. - RIT feeds for new book acquisitions. - University of Oklahoma Libraries has a new databases feed and a new books feed, which is broken down by subject classificatrion and is searchable. + The Wall Street Journal now has a "free features" page with an attached feed. + Last, the Librarian in Black reported that the California Library Association blog will remain open to the public, rather than "members only." So, grab the feed and enjoy.
Search Briefs + Search and Cluster with Vivisimo Technology at BioIT-World.com and Discovery.com + FAST Search and Transfer Signs Deal with Financial Times
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Earthquakes--California--Maps Source: USGS New, Map of Daily Probability of Earthquake Shaking in California "The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) announced today the release of new public web pages that show the probability of earthquake shaking in the next 24 hours in California. These maps graphically illustrate the change in earthquake probability during aftershock and possible foreshock sequences. The maps are not intended to be used to predict an upcoming earthquake; however, based on previous earthquake sequences, an increase in probability will be seen before about half of California's larger earthquakes. The maps are updated at least once an hour and are available to the public at http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/step/. -- Elections--United Kingdom Source: UK House of Commons Library New Report, General Election 2005 135 pages; PDF. Results and other summary info. -- China Source: University of Pittsbugh Modern China Studies Web The Digital Research Library released the Modern China Studies Web site, the result of a collaborative project with the East Asian Library and Preservation department within the ULS. The digital pilot project was part of a greater effort to preserve acidic Chinese monographs through grant funding by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). -- Social Security Reform--United States Source: GAO (via DocuTicker.com) New from the GAO, Social Security Reform: Answers to Key Questions -- Information Technology--North America--Lists & Rankings Source: Red Herring The Red Herring 100: Hottest Private Companies of North America -- Supermarkets--Chronology Source: Food Marketing Institute Celebrating 75 Years of Supermarkets 1930-2005: 75 Facts for 75 Years Timeline of supermarket-related events. Interesting. See also: History of the Shopping Cart Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Information Retrieval Source: Webology Similarities and differences between web search procedure and searching in the pre-web information retrieval systems "This paper presents an introductory discussion about the commonalities and dissimilarities between Web searching procedure and the searching process in the previous online information retrieval systems including classic information retrieval systems and database. The paper attempts to explain which factors make these two groups different, why investigating about the search process on the Web environment is important, how much we know about this procedure and what are the main lines of research in front of the researchers in this area of study and practice. After presenting the major involved factor the paper concludes that although information seeking process on the Web is fairly similar to the pre-web systems in some ways, there are notable differences between them as well. These differences may provide Web searcher and Web researchers with some opportunities and challenges." Paper by Yazdan Mansourian, Ph.D. Student of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, UK. -- Internet2 Source: Internet2.edu/Library of Congress Library of Congress Joins Internet2 From the announcement, "Internet2, the foremost U.S. advanced networking consortium led by the research and higher education community, today announced that the Library of Congress has become a member of Internet2 and will connect to its high-performance Abilene Network. The Library plans to collaborate with the Internet2 community and leverage its advanced network infrastructure to facilitate wide-scale digital preservation projects, to enhance the development of an Internet-based database of U.S. newspapers, and to assist with its educational outreach programs." -- Government Information--United Kingdom Source: Kable's Government Computing Whitehall gets information unit A new Cabinet Office body has taken responsibility for a database listing official information and an online service for crown copyright licences. The UK government has created a new body responsible for coordinating standards on the use of public sector information, it announced on 16 May 2005. The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) has taken on past functions of HM Stationery Office (HMSO), becoming responsible for Whitehall's Information Asset Register, a database listing the government's information resources. It has also taken charge of an online licence service for crown copyright material. -- Public Libraries--United States Source: San Diego Union-Tribune Budget for library falls on hard times "San Diego city libraries would be closed more often and have fewer new books, computers and other materials under a $37.2 million budget tentatively Approved by the City Council yesterday."
Search Briefs + New Beta Release of A9 Now Available + Clusty Now Offering Links to Cached Copies of Pages
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Executive Education--Lists & Rankings Source: Financial Times Just Released, Rankings: International Non-Degree Executive Education Programmes Rankings for Top 50 custom programme providers and Top 45 open enrolment programme providers are available. -- Maps Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Two Maps of the Caucasus Region These cover Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. + Caucasus region: Base map (GIF; 512 KB) + Caucasus region: Population density (GIF; 417 KB) -- House of Commons--Canada Source: Library of Parliament New List, Members of the House of Commons 1867 to Date: Military Service A list of senators is available here. -- Philanthropy--United States--Statistics Source: Foundation Center New Report, Foundation Funding for Children's Health -- National Park Service--Historians--Directory Source: National Park Service Directory of National Park Service Historians 2004 "Welcome to the ninth annual Directory of National Park Service Historians. Most of the nearly 300 historians listed here represent the Service's 388 parks; the rest are spread among its Washington headquarters, regional and support offices, and program centers. Although most of these historians focus on the history presented to the public in the national park system, many work with the National Register of Historic Places, the National Historic Landmarks Survey, the Historic American Buildings Survey, the Historic American Engineering Record, and other NPS programs extending beyond the parks." Information includes: name, highest academic degree, granting school, year granted, up to three areas of professional specialty, position title, park or office, mailing address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address. Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Dictionaries Source: OUP New Edition of The New Oxford American Dictionary Released, More than 2000 Words Added The folks over at Oxford University Press were kind enough to share with ResourceShelf this list containing all of the new entries and definitions. -- Information Literacy Source: ALA/ACRL/STS Task Force on Information Literacy for Science and Technology (via C&RL News) Information Literacy Standards for Science and Technology (DRAFT) -- Libraries Source: FirstGov.gov New Section on FirstGov: Libraries From the FirstGov newsletter, "The FirstGov.gov Reference Center has a new section on libraries. Check out this page to find information on: + National, federal and local libraries + Online library databases + Grants and benefits for libraries + and much more!" -- Digital Libraries Source: D-Lib The May Issue of Digital Libraries is Now Available Articles include: + Influencing User Behavior through Digital Library Design: An Example from the Geosciences + What Readers Want: A Study of E-Fiction Usability + Briefly: ReDReSS ? Resource Discovery for Researchers in e-Social Science
Mobile Access to Information + CAS gives chemists mobile access (via IWR) + Mobile Access to The Wall Street Journal Services for mobile phones, Blackberry's, MP3 players, and other mobile devices are available.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Internet Usage--Europe--Statistics Source: EU New Report, Internet usage by individuals and enterprises 2004 8 pages; PDF. -- Images--Databases Source: Natural Resources Canada Updated, Natural Resources Canada: The Canadian Landscapes Photo Collection Web Site Has a New Location and a New Look -- Weblogs Journalism Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project (via DocuTicker) New Report, Buzz, Blogs and Beyond: The Internet and the National Discourse in the Fall of 2004 "Experimental research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project and BuzzMetrics suggests that political bloggers can make an impact on politics, but they often follow the lead of politicians and journalists. A report released today, entitled 'Buzz, Blogs and Beyond: The Internet and the National Discourse in the Fall of 2004,' employed new word-of-mouth tracking and cross-media correspondence techniques to examine the impact of online buzz on the national agenda during the last two months of the 2004 presidential election." Direct to Full Text (PDF) -- Hurricanes--Outlook Source: NOAA Just Released, NOAA: 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Outlook -- Hurricanes--Insurance Source: Insurance Information Institute Hurricane and Windstorm Deductibles Includes recent developments, state-by-state hurricane deductibles, explanation of terms and charts with hurricane statistics, including the ten most costly hurricanes in U.S. history.
Briefly Enterprise Search: Positive Review of Vivisimo's New Enterprise Search Technology (via TechWeb) Monday, May 16, 2005
|
