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ResourceShelf |
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Resources and News for Information Professionals
ResourceShelf is Compiled & Edited By Gary Price, MLIS Librarian Director of Online Information Resources, Ask.com Editor and Compiler, The ResourceShelf Editor and Compiler, DocuTicker
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Archives 06/01/1990 - 06/30/1990 03/01/2001 - 03/31/2001 04/01/2001 - 04/30/2001 05/01/2001 - 05/31/2001 06/01/2001 - 06/30/2001 07/01/2001 - 07/31/2001 08/01/2001 - 08/31/2001 09/01/2001 - 09/30/2001 10/01/2001 - 10/31/2001 11/01/2001 - 11/30/2001 12/01/2001 - 12/31/2001 01/01/2002 - 01/31/2002 02/01/2002 - 02/28/2002 03/01/2002 - 03/31/2002 04/01/2002 - 04/30/2002 05/01/2002 - 05/31/2002 06/01/2002 - 06/30/2002 07/01/2002 - 07/31/2002 08/01/2002 - 08/31/2002 09/01/2002 - 09/30/2002 10/01/2002 - 10/31/2002 11/01/2002 - 11/30/2002 12/01/2002 - 12/31/2002 01/01/2003 - 01/31/2003 02/01/2003 - 02/28/2003 03/01/2003 - 03/31/2003 04/01/2003 - 04/30/2003 05/01/2003 - 05/31/2003 06/01/2003 - 06/30/2003 07/01/2003 - 07/31/2003 08/01/2003 - 08/31/2003 09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003 10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003 11/01/2003 - 11/30/2003 12/01/2003 - 12/31/2003 01/01/2004 - 01/31/2004 02/01/2004 - 02/29/2004 03/01/2004 - 03/31/2004 04/01/2004 - 04/30/2004 05/01/2004 - 05/31/2004 06/01/2004 - 06/30/2004 07/01/2004 - 07/31/2004 08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004 09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004 10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004 11/01/2004 - 11/30/2004 12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004 01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005 02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005 03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005 04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005 05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005 06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005 07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005 08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005 09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005 10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005 11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005 12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005 01/01/2006 - 01/31/2006 02/01/2006 - 02/28/2006 03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006 04/01/2006 - 04/30/2006 05/01/2006 - 05/31/2006 06/01/2006 - 06/30/2006 Now Available Additional Web Reference Compilations direct search (Invisible Web Resources) Audio/Video Current Awareness Tools WWW Accessible Congressional Research Service Reports
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Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf e-Books Source: Wall Street Journal (Free Access) A Hundred Books in Your Pocket A new e-book reader is in coming from Sony. See Also: Libraries in Taiwan, Hong Kong build NetLibrary eBook collection (via OCLC) -- Information Industry--ProQuest Health and Medical Research--Databases Source: Info Today ProQuest Decides That Evidence Matters Paula Hane writes, "Information overload is a critical problem in most professions, but none more so than in medicine, where life and death decisions can hinge on access to current treatment and research data. These days, there's no way to keep up with the literature, even in one's medical specialty. There's a growing consensus that the future of clinical practice is in evidence-based medicine (EBM). And the major medical information vendors are clearly stepping up efforts to meet this need with appropriate content and tools. ProQuest Information and Learning announced it is now the exclusive global distributor of Evidence Matters to academic and hospital markets." -- Public Libraries--Services Source: Chicago Tribune Libraries to try online orders "Taking a page from online retailers, three suburban libraries are venturing into cyberspace with plans to offer books, movies and other material for home delivery. Beginning Feb. 1, patrons of the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, Skokie Public Library and Indian Trails Public Library in Wheeling may browse the libraries' holdings and borrow material online." -- Web Page Design Source: Internet Retailer A small change produces a big boost at Alibris.com Where you place the search tools on a page can make a big difference. "Realtors say value is all about location, and the experience of online bookseller Alibris demonstrates that's true of web site real estate too. Alibris boosted sales by 400% simply by relocating one of its search features to a more prominent location..."
Search Briefs + Sharing and Sending Web Content and More Via SMS -- + New "Bird's Eye" Imagery for Detroit Added to MSN Live Local Database -- + Google Images Censors Too in China -- + Google's Help Center Page About Censorship Back Online With New Text
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Motion Pictures--Academy Awards Source: AMPAS 78th Annual Academy Awards Nominations Press Kit Info and production notes. See Also: The 78th Academy Awards Press Kit -- Consumer Fraud--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: FTC New, FTC Releases Top 10 Consumer Fraud Complaint Categories -- Weather--United States--Disasters Climate--United States--Disasters Source: NOAA NOAA Updates List Of U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather, Climate Disasters "The NOAA National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., updated the Web site that lists U.S. billion dollar weather and climate disasters from 1980 to the present." Direct to List and Related Info. -- Business Source: OECD, Directorate For Science, Technology And Industry, Committee For Information, Computer And Communications Policy, Working Party On The Information Economy Digital Delivery Of Business Services 83 pages; PDF. Additional background reading. Report presented at the Conference on the Future Digital Economy: Digital Content Creation, Distribution and Access, Rome, Italy. -- Medicine--Timelines Source: Infoplease.com Medical Advances Timeline -- West Africa--Bibliography Source: Air University Library West Africa Bibliography of books, documents, journals and Internet resources. Includes the countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote D'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo. -- Education--Rural America Source: National Center for Education Statistics Navigating Resources for Rural Schools "This site is designed for persons who are interested in educational changes taking place in rural America. The site provides access to recent data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), as well as access to resources available through selected contractors and grantees of the U.S. Department of Education." Monday, January 30, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Public Libraries--New Orleans Source: The Villager Read it and weep: New Orleans libraries are in ruins "Public libraries are indispensable to poor communities like New Orleans, because they serve as cultural centers for people who still have the integrity not to surrender to television and video games. Public library buildings are also useful for sheltering a great number of people. If anyone in government would have given any thought to public libraries in New Orleans, they might have built them to serve as shelters in a disaster. The storm that ripped the roof right off the scandalous poverty in our city also exposed the shabby treatment of programs intended to better community life. The complete lack of foresight and imagination by the bureaucrats in charge of public monies is beyond appalling. It's criminal. Libraries may not be the first priority in a city beset by thousands of personal tragedies and hundreds of major and urgent needs, but they are an irreplaceable piece of the complex puzzle of urban civilization. Take away the library and what you have is a mindless shopping mall." Commentary by Andrei Codrescu. -- Libraries--United Kingdom Source: ALA Dozens of British Libraries May Close "Approximately 50 British libraries -- many in small or isolated communities -- could close this year as local governments in at least six counties look for ways to cut costs or more effectively allocate funds they spend on libraries." -- Metadata Preservation Source: OCLC/RLG PREMIS Maintenance Activity advances work begun by joint OCLC-RLG working group "Following publication of the award-winning PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata in May 2005, the PREMIS Maintenance Activity, with financial support provided by the Library of Congress, has commissioned two consultancies to move the PREMIS work forward." -- Institutional Repositories--Books Source: JISC New book explores institutional repositories "Written by Theo Andrew and John MacColl of the University of Edinburgh and Richard Jones of the University of Bergen in Norway, the book -- The Institutional Repository -- explores the concept of institutional repositories, examining how they can be set up, maintained and embedded into general institutional working practice." -- Open Accesss Archives Source: University of Nottingham, UK and University of Lund, Sweden New, Directory of Open Access Archives "OpenDOAR - the Directory of Open Access Repositories - is pleased to announce the release of its primary listing of open access archives, available from www.opendoar.org"
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text African-Americans--Fast Facts Source: US Census Fast Facts: African-American History Month: February 2006 See Also: African Americans at War: Fighting Two Battles (New, via Library of Congress Veterans History Project) See Also: MartinLutherKingArchive.org See Also: Black History Month Resources (via Gale.com, No charge) -- Domestic Surveillance--United States Source: FindLaw Compilation: Documents Relating to NSA Domestic Surveillance Program -- Classified Information--United States Source: Congressional Research Service (via OpenCRS and FAS) Protection of Classified Information by Congress: Practices and Proposals -- Business--Lists and Rankings Source: Business 2.0 101 Dumbest Moments in Business "From notorious former mental institutions being converted into high-end condos, to candy bars with curious names, see the top examples of shenanigans, skullduggery, and just plain stupidity of the year." Direct to Full List -- Energy--United States--Lists & Rankings Environment--United States Source: EPA Top 25 Green Power Purchasers in Green Power Partnership "The following is a list of the Top 25 Partners in the Green Power Partnership. Top 25 Partners are Partners whose annual green power purchase is the largest, and whose green power purchase has been completed. Their actions are helping drive the development of new renewable energy sources for electricity generation." -- Budget--United States--Glossary Source: CBO Glossary of Budgetary and Economic Terms
Search Briefs + AOL's (quick) answer Feature on Web Results Pages -- + Related Phrases Now Part of Google's Define: Feature and What Others Offer -- + Check out Cool Bird's Eye Imagery from Windows Live Local on Bird's Eye Tourist
Briefly Faculty of 1000 Medicine LAUNCH "...online literature evaluation service draws upon the authority and experience of nearly 2500 of the world's leading researchers and clinicians to highlight and evaluate the most important papers in the medical sciences..." -- + Consumer Health Complete Now Available from EBSCO Publishing Sunday, January 29, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Digital Libraries--Education Source: Collegiate Times Digital library curriculum project "The rise of digital libraries is fairly new. Its most primitive ancestry can be traced back 15 years - not nearly long enough for it to have found a niche as a subject at many institutions of higher learning. As a result, it is relatively difficult to find adequately trained individuals who can design and add to these digital libraries. All of that, however, is about to change. As of Jan. 1, Virginia Tech and the University of North Carolina have been working together towards providing a quality educational curriculum on the development and preservation of digital libraries."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text News--Databases Video Databases TVEyes Launches New Video Search Service: Keyword Search Web Accessible TV Content, Free!!! Just online (and still being tested) keyword search video from several large news organziations and then watch the video segment where those words are spoken. This overview contains links to many more free and fee-based video search tools that all researchers should know about. Saturday, January 28, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Digital Curation Source: DCC Digital Curation Centre Case Studies and Interviews "The purpose of this series is to disseminate examples of best practice, share experiences with digital curation issues, and to identify future digital curation requirements among our user communities." Thanks to PADI (Preserving Access to Digital Information) at the National Library of Australia for the site tip.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text U.S. Congress--Biographies Source: GPO Just Released Online, New Edition: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress 1774 - 2005 View bios by Congress (1-108) or alphabetically. All files are PDF and cannot (as far as I can tell) be searched using a single interface. The closing date for the compilation was Jan 3, 2005. It's also possible to download the entire document as a single file (10.3 MB, Zip) and then search the complete document using the Adobe Acrobat search function. The entire document is 2225 pages. From the annoucement, "Last published in 1989, the comprehensive 2,236 page directory provides the biographies of thousands of Members of the Senate and House who have served from the first through the 108th Congress. The most recent edition of the Biographical Directory details the changing face of Congress and lists Members by their full name, and for the first time nicknames or initials. Also listed are territorial delegates, resident commissioners, and vice presidents." Document is also known as House Document No. 108-222. The complete news release is available here. See Also: The Office of History and Preservation of the US Congress Also Offers a Searchable Biographical Directory of the U.S Congress Along with bio info (not sure what source they're using, you'll also find bibliographies, research collection info, and more. Friday, January 27, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Digital Information Source: Journal of Digital Information Metadata and Data Quality Problems in the Digital Library From the abstract: "This paper describes the main types of data quality errors that occur in digital libraries, both in full-text objects and in metadata. Studying these errors is important because they can block access to online documents and because digital libraries should eliminate errors where possible. Some types of common errors include typographical errors, scanning and data conversion errors, and find and replace errors" -- Virtual Reference Source: OCLC PowerPoint Slides: Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Transcripts Juried presentation (PPT:450K/30slides) given 18 January 2006 at ALISE 2006 Annual Conference by Marie L. Radford (Rutgers) and Lynn Silipigni Connaway (PDF:1.3MB/20p.). -- Center for Research Libraries Source: CRL New Issue (Winter 2005-06) of Focus Now Available PDF; 6 pages. Focus of issue is, "evaluating digital archives & repositories." -- National Libraries--Sweden Source: ScieCom SRC The Royal Library, Sweden's National Library, signs the Berlin declaration
Search Briefs Looking for Web Video? Try Searchforvideo Pulls content from many video sources and databases. Close to a video metasearch engine. Site continues to get better each time we check.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Copyright DMCA State of the Union Speeches Source: AskSam Three New Searchable/Browsable (FREE) Databases from Ask Sam All database can be searched/browsed online or downloaded for offline use. + U.S. Copyright Law (title 17 of the US Code) "Search and analyze the full text of the Copyright Law of the United States of America & related laws contained in Title 17 of the United States Code. Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of 'original works of authorship,' including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works." + The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) "Search and analyze the full text of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Passed in 1998, the DMCA is a bill designed to bring the Copyright Law up to date with digital media." + State of the Union Addresses of the American Presidents "Search and analyze the full-text of all State of the Union Addresses from 1790-2005." See Also: More AskSam Databases (Free) -- Brands--United Kingdom--Lists & Rankings Source: Nielsen//NetRatings 2005's Top 10 Fastest Growing Brands In The UK 2 pages; PDF. Wikipedia placed seventh. -- Women in Business--United States--Statistics Source: US Census Just Released, Women-Owned Businesses Grew at Twice the National Average in 5-Year Period "The number of women-owned businesses grew 20 percent between 1997 and 2002, twice the national average for all businesses, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report. The nearly 6.5 million businesses generated more than $940 billion in revenue, up 15 percent from 1997." Direct to Summary Direct to Full Text (PDF) Map (PDF) -- Population--United States--Statistics Source: US Census Just Released, New 2004 American Community Survey (ACS) Tables "Approximately 120 tables include population profiles for race, Hispanic origin, and ancestry groups; new place-of-work geography tables; and a new detailed table on median age at first marriage." -- Asian Americans--Fast Facts Source: Infoplease.com Famous Firsts by Asian Americans
Briefly + Coming in February: New Technology for Alerts from Science.gov -- + H.W. Wilson Periodicals Databases Now Deliver Color Page Images Thursday, January 26, 2006
Resource of the Week By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor In the overall scheme of research-worthy content, up-to-date health statistics are valued highly. Gary mentioned a new site here about a week ago that I think deserves a closer look. Health Statistics Source: Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) GlobalHealthFacts.org "GlobalHealthFacts.org, a project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, provides free, up-to-date and easy-to-access data by country on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other key health and socio-economic indicators. The data are displayed in tables, charts, and color-coded maps and can be downloaded for custom analyses. GlobalHealthFacts.org is a companion site to GlobalHealthReporting.org, a project operated by the Foundation with major support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation." If nothing else, you have to love this site for its ultra-clean, user-friendly interface. Choose a country from the dropdown menu in the Data by Country box at the upper right and get statistics about people with AIDS, TB, malaria, and other related information in easy-to-read chart form. You can view "Notes and Sources" about any statistic by clicking a small link under the box containing that statistic, at the lower right. To compare a given statistic against data from all countries, simply click the small "Compare" icon at the upper right. Beneath the dropdown menu are links that will take you to regional data for HIV/AIDS, Malaria, or TB. Get "fast facts" via the interactive world map at the top left. Clicking on a country generates immediate statistical data directly underneath the map. Small plus sign icons allow you to "zoom in" on a given geographic area. Underneath the map, you'll notice scrolling news headlines from GlobalHealthReporting.org. Click on a headline to read the story. At the lower right is a Data by Topic box, which will take you to more detailed and varied statistics about HIV/AIDS; TB; Malaria; Other Diseases and Conditions (avian flu, SARS, yellow fever); Programs, Funding, & Financing (grant data and numbers of physicians, nurses, and midwives) ; and Demography & the Economy (population, women, population under age 15, urban population, land area). If you look at the upper right-hand part of the page, you'll see three tabs. The first two are basically an alternate navigation scheme: Data by Country and Data by Topic. The third tab displays a variety of tools for you -- including raw data downloads, a full list of direct links to topics covered on the site, a glossary, and an e-mail sign-up link that takes you to a page of KFF subscription newsletters. By the way, you can save your favorite links here for future reference if you register (free) at the site.
Professional Reading Shelf OCLC New Publication, NextSpace "NextSpace grew from the OCLC Newsletter and will analyze industry trends and technology developments, as well as feature news about OCLC. The goal is to help member libraries stay informed and make key decisions. The new community page brings together in one area of the OCLC Web site activities that OCLC undertakes on behalf of, or alongside, the library community, such as standards development, advocacy advertising and member reports. The page also provides a forum for librarians to dialog and comment on OCLC initiatives and general industry issues." -- GPO--Libraries Source: U.S. Government Printing Office GPO ALA Update (PDF; 112 KB) "The GPO ALA Update for January 2006 is now available." -- Web 2.0 Source: SirsiDynix OneSource Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and Librarian 2.0: Preparing for the 2.0 World Stephen Abram's monthly column provides "a little information on Web 2.0 and its newborn babies, Library 2.0 and Librarian 2.0." - Information Retrieval Source: Information Research New Issue of Information Research Now Online (January 2006) Content includes: + User satisfaction with referrals at a collaborative virtual reference service + Constructing Web subject gateways using Dublin Core, RDF and Topic Maps + Combining ethnographic and clickstream data to identify user Web browsing strategies + Some features of alt texts associated with images in Web pages + Book Review: Ambient findability by Peter Morville + Book Review: Digital copyright by Paul Pedley
Search Briefs + Google Now Censoring In China -- + Ask Jeeves Launches (Beta) German Site -- + U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy Ask Attorney General for More Info On Web Search Subpeonas
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Information Technology Source: Computerworld Quick Study: Flash "Flash is a popular multimedia Web authoring program that uses vector and raster graphics, a scripting language and bidrectional streaming of video and audio to create animated presentations, also called Flash movies. In practice, the term Flash refers to the authoring program, the Flash Player virtual machine or browser plug-in, or the application files." -- Elections--Canada Source: Michael Fagan, Puzzlepieces.com Canadian Election Analysis: Urban vs Rural Election results scraped from the CBC and Elections Canada. Data available in Excel spreadsheet. See Also: Election Night Results Database (39th General Election, via Elections Canada) -- Poverty--Databases Source: World Resources Institute EarthTrends Poverty Resource "This resource explores the dimensions of human well-being through a combination of maps, datasets, resources, and short articles on the linkages between poverty and the environment. It is part of the EarthTrends environmental information collection at the World Resources Institute." -- Drug Information--United States Source: National Library of Medicine DailyMed "DailyMed provides high quality information about marketed drugs. This information includes FDA approved labels (package inserts). This Web site provides health information providers and the public with a standard, comprehensive, up-to-date, look-up and download resource of medication content and labeling as found in medication package inserts." -- Environment--United Kingdom--Maps Source: Kable's Government Computing New, Online map for coastal defence "The UK is to get an online coastal atlas with constantly updated marine data, the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency led two year project to create the online atlas, which is hosted by a web based interactive mapping site known as Magic (multi-agency geographic information for the countryside). The Magic service uses geographical information systems (GIS) to bring countryside data together in one place." See Also: Direct to Magic
Coming Soon Next Week: Library of Congress Veterans History Project Features More Stories Online, African American Stories Go Online Feb. 1 in honor of Black History Month "A selection of 23 fully digitized collections of materials submitted by African American war veterans will be highlighted on the Veterans History Project web site beginning Feb. 1, 2006. The collection of fully digitized stories is titled 'African Americans at War: Fighting Two Battles,' and will be added to 'Experiencing War' stories from the Veterans History Project at www.loc.gov/warstories" Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries and Museums--Awards Source: IMLS Six Institutions to Receive Nation's Top Museum and Library Awards Winners: + COSI Toledo, Toledo, Ohio + Johnson County Library, Overland Park, Kansas + Levine Museum of the New South (NC) + Mathews Memorial Library, Mathews, Virginia + Saint Paul Public Library, Saint Paul, Minnesota + Pratt Museum, Homer, Alaska -- Google Scholar Source: One Entry to Research Interview with Google Scholar Developer, Anurag Acharya "Google Scholar went international 11 Jan when they included the Scandinavian languages Finnish, Swedish, Danish and Norweigan." See Also: Google Scholar Goes International -- Academic Libraries--California State University, San Marcos Source: North County Times Cal State library has transformed campus life "There was a time in the mid-1990s when it appeared Kellogg itself might not happen, according to Pat Worden, the university's interim vice president for student affairs. 'There was a notion that we wouldn't need a library because of the electronic revolution,' Worden recalled last week. 'We had to lobby the chancellor's office hard that a library is more than just books. Given that we almost got nothing at all, it's fabulous that we got something so extraordinary.'" -- Presidential Libraries--Ronald Reagan Source: MercuryNews.com Reagan Library in Simi Valley makes 1.3 million photos public "Nearly 1.3 million photographs taken during former President Ronald Reagan's eight years in the White House were released Friday for public viewing at his hilltop library. The release on the 25th anniversary of Reagan's inauguration as the nation's 40th president rounds out a photo collection that spans the first to last day of the Reagan presidency. Some 261,000 photos from 1981 to 1982 were previously available to the public.... The collection's size is second to the 1.8 million photos at The William J. Clinton Library in Arkansas." -- GPO--Annual Report Source: U.S. Government Printing Office Annual Report 2005 (PDF; 2 MB) "GPO 2005 Annual Report--Voices of Change now available online." -- Self-Publiahing Source: LinkUp Digital Self-Publishing: The Internet Makes It Easier to Go from Idea to Print "All companies are not created equal, nor do they offer the same services. Particularly with respect to getting your book into the hands of book reviewers and book distributors, read the fine print and ask questions. Remember that when purchasing any item or service, the key is value, not the lowest price possible. Additionally, contact authors who have used a chosen company's services." Describes a handful of self-publishing websites. -- Children's Literature--Awards Source: American Library Association American Library Association announces literary award winners "The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the top books and video for children and young adults -- including the Caldecott, King, Newbery and Printz awards -- at its Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio." Caldecott Medal winner -- "The Hello, Goodbye Window," illustrated by Chris Raschka. Newbery Medal winner -- "Criss Cross," written by Lynne Rae Perkins.
Search News Firstgov.gov Source SEW Blog New Firstgov.gov Search Database Goes Live If you like Clusty and Vivisimo you're going to love this. Gary has a detailed overview on SEW Blog. A major improvement. -- Ask Jeeves Source: SEW Blog Ask Jeeves Launches Their Own Image Database, New Refinement Features Also Available A new and fresh image search database hits the web. Update: Along with Gary's comments (above), a more complete review of the site itself is now available from Chris Sherman. He's very positive about the new database.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Employment--Global--Statistics Source: ILO New Report, Global Employment Trends Brief "The number of people unemployed worldwide climbed to new heights in 2005, as robust economic growth failed to offset an increase in people seeking work - especially among the vast and growing legion of jobless youth, the International Labour Office (ILO) said in its annual Global Employment Trends released today." Summary ||| Direct to Full Text -- Women in the Workplace--United States--Fast Facts Source: BLS (via IWS News Service) New, Fast Facts: Older Women Workers, ages 55 and over -- Government Documents Electronic Publishing Source: National Security Agency New Guide, Redacting with Confidence: How to Safely Publish Sanitized Reports Converted From Word to PDF 14 pages; PDF. From a GCN story, "The National Security Agency has issued a report suggesting ways to improve federal officials' use of redaction in documents being released to the public." -- Academia--Technology--Lists & Rankings Source: Forbes America's Most Connected Campuses "Today's students depend on technology to live, work and play. And today's colleges have to provide high-tech tools in order to attract the best applicants. This third annual edition of The Princeton Review's Most Connected Campuses examines the technological capabilities of the country's best schools and tells you which 25 campuses are the closest to the cutting edge." (via DocuTicker) -- Elementary and Secondary Schools--Enrollment Source: National Center for Education Statistics Public Elementary and Secondary Students, Staff, Schools, and School Districts: School Year 2003-04 "This report contains data from the Common Core of Data (CCD) non-fiscal 2003-04 state, local education agency, and school surveys. The report presents data about the students enrolled in public education, including the number of students by grade and the number receiving special education, migrant, or English language learner services. Some tables disaggregate the student data by racial/ethnic group or community characteristics such as rural - urban. The numbers and types of teachers, other education staff, schools, and local education agencies are also reported." Full Report (PDF; 464 KB) -- Baseball--Statistics and Analysis Source: David Appelman (Hardball Times) FanGraphs "At FanGraphs we graph 9 crucial stats for every player that played in the Major Leagues since 2002. Between our season, daily and split graphs that comes to 33 graphs for each player for nearly 70,000 graphs in all. Every graph is updated every single day of the season with the most current stats. Not only do we graph ordinary stats such as batting average but we also provide graphs of various sabermetrics." Methodology
Search Briefs + Some Advanced Search Syntax from Yahoo Hacks and the Launch of Rough Cuts from Safari Tech Books -- + Bye Bye Beta: Google News is a Beta No More -- + BusinessWeek on Yahoo and Social Search -- + Private Searches Versus Personally Identifiable Searches -- + Google to censor China Web searches (via News.com)
Briefly + Thomson Scientific Takes A Snapshot Of Global Innovation -- + Journal Supply Chain Efficiency Improvement Pilot project gets underway -- + Library of Congress: Mary-Jane Deeb Named Chief of the Library's African and Middle Eastern Division -- + New Interface to LexisNexis Congressional Unveiled Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Online Books Source: Safari Tech Books Safari Launches "Rough Cuts" Service Safari, a service that provides searchable full text access to thousands of technology books, launched their "Rough Cuts" (beta) service today. This new feature allows the reader to take a sneak peak at manuscripts yet to be published. Material can be read online or downloaded as a PDF file. From the news release, "Readers who buy a Rough Cuts title get immediate access to an evolving manuscript...The initial version of a Rough Cuts book will not be fully edited, subjected to final technical review, or completely formatted. Similar to the nightly build in a software project, the Rough Cuts PDF is updated every time the author and editor make changes as they progress toward the finished book. Using the Rough Cuts service's built-in Notes feature, readers can send feedback, suggestions, bug fixes, and comments directly to the author and editor." More on Safari here. They offer services for individuals as well as libraries. -- Information Industry--Elsevier Citation Analysis Source: Info Today Elsevier's Scopus Introduces Citation Tracker: Challenge to Thomson ISI's Web of Science? A new article by Barbara Quint. "Long seen as the purview of Thomson ISI, citation tracking in scholarly journal literature is becoming an expected feature in digital collections of scholarly literature. Even Google Scholar offers a version. Elsevier's Scopus service has long provided a 'cited by' feature on its search results page, but the new Scopus Citation Tracker service expands the functionality greatly. At full power that is, under the broadest licensed subscriptions--Scopus covers 14,200 journals (including 531 open access journals) from more than 4,000 publishers supplying 27-plus million abstracted citations. Its citation analysis features reach back to 1966 for the life sciences and 1996 for all other fields." -- Access to Information--United States Source: U.S News and World Report (via SECRECY NEWS) CIA Limits Web Publication of Critical Reports The Central Intelligence Agency has selectively declined to publish on its web site at least three unclassified reports produced by the Center for the Study of Intelligence that present an unflattering picture of the Agency, US News reported this week. See "A Tangled Web Woven," by David E. Kaplan, US News and World Report, January 30, 2006 -- Data Preservation--Conferences Source: Digital Curation Center Final papers, posters, and presentations from Ensuring Long-Term Preservation and Adding Value to Scientific and Technical Data (PV 2005) Now Online -- Intranets--Ranking Source: Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox Ten Best Intranets of 2006 "This year, we saw increased use of multimedia, e-learning, internal blogs, and mobile access. Winning companies also encouraged consistent design by emphasizing training for content contributors." -- E-Mail Archives--Enterprise Source: Intelligent Enterprise Survey: Companies Court Document and E-Mail Risks "More than half of executives say their firm's storage strategies won't stand up in court, and nearly three-quarters either view e-mail archiving as simply the creation of backups or they don't archive e-mail at all. These are two of the most startling conclusions of a survey released today by AIIM International." -- Library Publications Source: LJ Ron Shank Named LJ/SLJ Publisher
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Digital Music Source: International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) Just Released, Digital Music Report 2006 "Digital music sales worldwide in 2005 reached $1.1 billion." + Full Text Report (PDF) + Fast Facts and Stats + News Release and Exec Summary, Additional Links -- Spam--Lists & Rankings Source: Sophos Top Spam Producing Countries The United States leads with 24.5% followed by China (including Hong Kong) at 22.3%. -- Crude Oil--Statistics Source: EIA Udpated: World Crude Oil Distillation Capacity, January 1, 1970-January 1, 2006 XLS file. -- School Crime--United States Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Just Released, Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2005 "Presents data on crime and safety at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population. A joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics, this annual report examines crime occurring in school as well as on the way to and from school. It also provides the most current detailed statistical information on the nature of crime in schools, school environments, and responses to violence and crime at school." (via DocuTicker) -- Transportation--United States--Statistics Source: BTS New Report (Highlights Only), More Freight Moves on U.S. Transportation System than Previously Reported, DOT Estimates "Much more freight moves on the nation's transportation system than previously reported and almost one out of 10 tons of freight shipments is related to international trade, according to 'Freight in America,' a new report from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). The report will also be available online at http://www.bts.gov/ in March" See Also: New Report, Freight Rail Transportation: Long-Term Issues (via Congressional Budget Office)
Mobile Search and Information + UK: Mobile on the motorway (via Kable.net) Drivers will be able to access motorway CCTV images through their mobile phones under a trial project announced on 11 January 2006. The Highways Agency is starting a 12 month trial of the technology offering images to the public previously only shared with road service providers, police and emergency services. The service, which aims to help drivers plan their journeys, will initially involve 100 cameras on several of the busiest motorways including the M25, M1 and M6. Direct to Traffic.co.uk -- + US: More on Mobile Search, Free Directory Assistance, and Voice Activated Info Services (via SEW Blog) Get free directory assistance from inFreeDA and 1-800-FREE41.
Briefly + Thomson Scientific Web Citation Index To Index Proquest's Digital Commons Open Access Content -- + Vivisimo and Serials Solutions Sign OEM Agreement -- + SPARC Europe Announces Award for Outstanding Achievements in Scholarly Communications -- + Health Info: Call for Web Site Raters "[Consumer] WebWatch [from Consumer Reports] and its partner, the Health Improvement Institute (HII), are preparing to rate the next round of health sites for their joint venture, HealthRatings.org. HII is now seeking qualified professionals to rate diet sites. If you are interested in rating sites, please e-mail or visit HII.org. If you e-mail, please enter "HWR project rater application" in the subject line." Monday, January 23, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Live Blog Coverage of the ALA Midwinter Meeting from LITA and PLA -- Controlled Vocabularies MESH Video: Branching Out: The MeSH Vocabulary "...a 12-minute video introduction to the development, structure and use of the MeSH vocabulary. This video's target audience is searchers of MEDLINE®PubMed, and it is used in the PubMed classes offered by NLM and the National Training Center and Clearinghouse. The video is available on the NLM Web site with other NLM Distance Education Program Resources, and is offered in Macromedia Flash, Apple QuickTime, and Windows Media formats." -- Libraries--Censorship Source: Australian Library Journal (2005)(via E-LIS) Covert censorship in libraries: a discussion paper By Kim Moody. "Librarians, through their professional associations, have long been committed to the social justice principle of free access to information. External censorship challenges to library collections threaten this principle overtly. However, censorship can also occur in libraries in various covert and often unconcious ways. This discussion paper raises concerns about current librarian practices and library processes which can effectively censor library collections from within. The paper concludes by highlighting specific areas of practice in which librarians need to be vigilant for such covert censorship." -- Academic Libraries Source: EDUCAUSE Review (January-February 2006) Changing a Cultural Icon: The Academic Library as a Virtual Destination By Jerry Campbell. "Deep into the digital age, academic libraries have relinquished much of their fundamental and sustaining role. For most people, including academicians, the library--in its most basic function as a source of information--has become overwhelmingly a virtual destination." -- Public Libraries--Management Source: Bay City Times Library director faces criticism "Bay County Library System Director Frederick Paffhausen is under fire after employees complained that he shouts and swears, belittles staff, sleeps in his office, shows up late and disheveled, and complains about Bay City and its libraries."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Law Firms--Mergers--United States--Statistics Law Firm Mergers, 2005 "Law firm merger activity remained strong in 2005 with 49 total completed mergers and acquisitions involving US law firms, up two from 47 in 2004, according to Hildebrandt International, leading consultants to the legal industry." -- Health--Web Resources Source: MedlinePlus New Topical Compilations from MedlinePLUS and NIH Senior Health + MedlinePlus: Bone Grafts + MedlinePlus: Rett Syndrome + Heart Failure + Osteoporosis -- Internet Use--Demographics Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Pew Internet & American Life Project Report: Generations Online "Internet users ages 12 to 28 years old have embraced the online applications that enable communicative, creative, and social uses. Older users are more likely to engage in online activities that require some capital: travel reservations and online banking. Tables comparing how different generations use the internet are included in this data memo." Sunday, January 22, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Public Libraries--Japan Source: asahi.com Tough times force public libraries to offer 'customers' more than books "With their budgets slashed by cash-strapped municipalities, public libraries are becoming more business friendly and offering a variety of support services. These services, all designed to pull in more 'customers,' can range from loan consultations and how-to seminars to fashion shows." -- Information Industry--Factiva Source: Factiva Listen to a Podcast Interview with Clare Hart, Factiva CEO Clare Hart, President and CEO of Factiva, chats about the company and innovation. Download info here.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Spices-Encyclopedia Cooking Source: McCormick The Enspicelopedia An encyclopedia of spices from McCormick. A must for your "virtual cookbook" shelf. See Also: A History of Spices
Briefly + Reports from the Congressional Research Service on Internet Privacy, Net Technology, and Protecting Children from "Unsuitable Material" Saturday, January 21, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Government Documents--Digitization--Database Source: U.S. GPO Registry of U.S. Government Publication Digitization Projects "The Registry contains records for projects that include digitized copies of publications originating from the U.S. Government." Search or browse. -- Public Libraries Internet Filtering Source: LJ County of Los Angeles Public Library Forced to Filter
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Highways--United States--Statistics Source: Federal Highway Administration Just Released, Highway Statistics 2004 Content also available in PDF and XLS formats. -- Travel--United States--Statistics Source: BTS Just Released, National Household Travel Survey: Pre- and Post-9/11 Data Documentation The 2001 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) was conducted from March 2001 through May 2002. Because the data collection time period includes 9/11/2001, there has been considerable interest in using this data set to assess the effect of the events of 9/11 on travel behavior, especially for long-distance trips. This document discusses long-distance trip data set files only. Friday, January 20, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Information Access Source: Reuters Web sites judged in a blink Interesting read. It's all about first impressions. (-: "Internet users can give Web sites a thumbs up or thumbs down in less than the blink of an eye, according to a study by Canadian researchers." -- Web Search--Google Source: Google New Issue of Google Librarian Newsletter Available Gary offers a review of the content and links to several related article that might be of interest here. The new issue features an article by the LII's Karen Schneider on techniques to judge a web site's quality with a follow-up piece by Matt Cutts who talks about PageRank. -- Public Libraries--United States Public Libraries--Canada Source: SirsiDynix OneSource A First Comparison of Canadian and U.S. Public Libraries "Visitors to public libraries in Canada and the United States have no trouble knowing they are in a library. There are books and other materials, staff, and computer terminals, and you can check items out. However, a preliminary comparison of comparable data from the two countries' libraries shows differences in how each country provisions library service and how the citizens of each use their libraries." -- Council on Library and Information Resources Source: Council on Library and Information Resources. CLIR Issues, Jan/Feb 2006 + A Forum for the Future Student "In 2004, Patricia Wand, university librarian at American University (AU), invited CLIR to cosponsor and shape a symposium that would start the process of rethinking the delivery of library and information support on the AU campus. The event, "Symposium 2010," was held March 14-15, 2005. American University has just issued a final report on the symposium, titled The Academic Library in 2010: A Vision, available at http://www.library.american.edu/Symposium_2010.pdf. In the following article, former CLIR staff member and symposium attendee Amy Harbur captures highlights of the event." + DLF Seeks Comments on Metadata Object Description Schema + Ann Okerson Joins CLIR + CLIR Forms Advisory Committee for Scholarly Communication -- National Archives and Records Administration Elecronic Records In new position, NARA's Cahoon will tout e-records Source: GCN The National Archives and Records Administration has promoted Reynolds Cahoon, the agency's CIO for the past 10 years, to take a new position promoting and educating other agencies about using electronic records. Cahoon will be NARA's first senior adviser of electronic records, in which he will educate other agencies, the CIO Council and the Office of Management and Budget about the 'importance of building records management functions into the design of agency business systems,' said Allen Weinstein, NARA archivist." -- Web Software Development Source: JISC, TechWatch Advanced software development for Web applications (PDF) "This report outlines the development of Web frameworks, dicusses the current state of the art and lays out in detail two of the newer developments, Cocoon and Ruby On Rails. The report then speculates on the future direction of frameworks in the next few years and discusses the possibility of non-technical staff being able to build applications using sophisticated tools that generate the code. The tools may be built on developments in tagging software components that are being explored in some recent Semantic Web projects and the report ends by outlining one such project, PiggyBank."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Music--Digitization Projects Source: American Memory Project, Library of Congress Just Released, The Rosaleen Moldenhauer Memorial: Music History from Primary Sources: A Guide to the Moldenhauer Archives "he Moldenhauer Archives at the Library of Congress contain approximately 3,500 items documenting the history of Western music from the medieval period through the modern era and are the richest composite gift of musical documents ever received by the Library. Before his death, Hans Moldenhauer (1906-1987) established a directive and provided funds for the Library of Congress to publish The Rosaleen Moldenhauer Memorial: Music History from Primary Sources: A Guide to the Moldenhauer Archives (2000). This online presentation features the full text of this guide, which contains a series of essays by musicologists discussing individual items from the Moldenhauer Archives, as well as an inventory of items held in the Library's collection and in nine other institutions worldwide. The online presentation also includes digitized versions of more than 130 primary-source documents from the collection." -- Computer Crime Source: FBI Just Released 2005 Computer Crime Survey The link takes you to a summary. The 19 page PDF report that was here is no longer available. I did notice that the url was indexed but not cached by MSN Search or Google. However, Yahoo also indexed the url and they offer an html version (converted from PDF) of the report. A good illustration of why knowing and using more than one web cache can be useful. -- Population--United States--Statistics Source: US Census Foreign-Born Population of the United States from the American Community Survey: 2003 "Data on the foreign-born population in 2003 illustrating demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, such as age, educational attainment, poverty status, and population by state. These characteristics are presented by U.S. citizenship status, year of entry into the United States, world region of birth, and by sub-region of birth for Latin America." -- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder--Bibliography Source: U.S. Army War College Library Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Military (PDF; 212 KB) "Due to current military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a renewed interest in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its presentation in military personnel. This bibliography lists citations for books, documents, articles, audiovisuals, and Internet sites related to this topic. Specifically, the cited items focus on PTSD resulting from combat exposure in current and past military engagements and peacekeeping operations. The majority of the items cited are dated 1990 to the present. A few notable exceptions include material concerning PTSD in veterans of the Vietnam War."
Search Briefs + Court Documents & Summary Of United States Versus Google Over Search Data + Bush Administration Demands Search Data; Google Says No, Yahoo & MSN Said Yes Note: MSN Search has posted some official comments on their blog. Thursday, January 19, 2006
Resource of the Week By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor Your tax dollars at work again this week. Something interesting from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Maybe you're thinking...agriculture? Has nothing to do with me. Oh, but you are wrong... Agriculture--United States--Economics Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (ERS) Amber Waves The subtitle of this site is: "The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America." It's actually an online magazine, published five time a year (February, April, June, September, and November) by the ERS. You can subscribe to the dead tree version (through NTIS) for $49.95 per year, or read it on the Internet for free. The Internet version "offers additional articles and data between scheduled issues," and you can sign up for e-mail alerts. The full Internet version is available for download in PDF format. An archive is available, and the site is searchable. Now, don't go thinking the content here is largely cattle-and-soybean oriented. The November 2005 issue, which is the most current one online right now, features such general interest articles as: + Where You Shop Matters: Store Formats Drive Variation in Retail Food Prices ("Just 20 years ago, traditional grocery stores claimed nearly 90 percent of Americans' at-home food purchases. Today, their share has dropped to 69 percent.") + U.S. Food Consumption Up 16 Percent Since 1970 ("...Americans are eating more food every year.") + Education as a Rural Development Strategy ("Researchers at Clemson University found that counties in the rural South with a 5-percentage- point higher share of adults attending college in 1980 reported, on average, 3.5 percent faster growth per year in per capita income over the next 20 years and 5.5 percent faster growth in employment.") You'll also find a "data feature" that answers the question: How Much Time Do Americans Spend Preparing and Eating Food? (No surprises here; women spend more time than men in grocery shopping and food preparation.) And there are a variety of shorter articles under several topic headings: Markets and Trade, Diet and Health, Resouces and Environment. Some information is of specialized interest -- e.g., Financial Assistance to Farmers is Evolving. Oh, and the magazine offers a service that translates the content into Spanish, French, German, Italian or Portugese.
Professional Reading Shelf Factiva Source: Information Today NewsBreaks Factiva's Search 2.0 Beta is Now Live Paula Hane takes an in-depth look at the new beta that was released on Tuesday. From the article, "On Tuesday, Jan. 17, Factiva will officially take the wraps off the beta of its new Search 2.0 interface. Existing Factiva.com users can opt to click on the beta preview link and a new browser window will open, offering them the latest in Factiva's 'Discovery Technologies.' The new search interface, which features results visualization and interactive graphical navigation, is targeted at end users who desire a search experience that is similar to popular Web search engines, though it may also appeal to seasoned researchers. The most obvious difference is a new graphical pane on the right side of the screen that visually surfaces metadata from the search results. Factiva claims that the new graphical filtering and navigation capabilities will transform business research because users will be able to easily see connections, relationships, and ideas within search results." See Also: Factiva News Release -- Dublin Core Metatags Source: Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Dublin Core Releases New Mission Statement -- RLG Source: RLG New Issue of RLG's TopShelf Is Online + James Michalko: Next Steps for the Open Content Alliance + ArchiveGrid Moving Steadily to March 2006 Launch -- ERIC Controlled Vocabularies Source: Education Resources Information Center ERIC Launches Quarterly Thesaurus Updates -- Cataloging Anglo American Cataloging Rules Source: OCLC Systems & Services (via E-LIS) The Future of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules This paper was published in 2005 and was written by Norm Medeiros. Abstract: "This article discusses the impending update to the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR) and its potential impact on libraries and other metadata communities."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Country Studies Source: Federal Research Division/Library of Congress + Updated Report: Turkey (PDF) + New Report: United Arab Emirates (PDF) -- International Polar Year--Portal Source: National Science Foundation (NSF) NSF Launches New Web Portal for International Polar Year "The National Science Foundation (NSF) today launched a portal Web site to provide the general public and members of the news media with easy access to news releases, classroom resources, listings of museum and gallery exhibits, and catalogs of video and still images and other materials produced or supported by the federal government as part of the U.S. contribution to the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008." -- Change Source: Smithsonian Institution Forces of Change Portal "Nearly every scientific and social issue confronting us today involves change: climate change, ecological change, cultural change. What forces drive these changes? How do we - and all life on this planet -- adapt to change? Come and explore these ideas, experience our El Nino interactive, meet our scientists, and download our free educational lesson plans at the new Forces of Change Portal." See Also: NOAA Predicts Weak La Nina -- Phishing Source: Anti-Phishing Working Group New Report, Phishing Activity Trends Report November, 2005 11 pages; PDF. From a News.com article: "Phishing attacks reached a new high at the end of 2005 after growing steadily all year, according to a study published Wednesday. The number of unique e-mail-based fraud attacks detected in November 2005 was 16,882, almost double the 8,975 attacks launched in November 2004, said the report, published by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, an industry consortium that provides information on phishing trends." -- Internet Advertising--Lists and Rankings Source: NS Media Intelligence (via Clicz) Top 50 Internet Advertisers by Media Value in November, 2005
Search Briefs + On Yahoo Recommender Systems and a Movie Recommendation Tool from the University of Minnesota -- + Streaming Audio on Your Phone or Device -- + Google Testing Paid Ads in Google Earth
Briefly + American FactFinder Database From US Census Updated With New Features -- + The New York Public Library's New $50 Million Bronx Library Center Opens to the Public NYPL's first "green" facility! Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Public Libraries--Canada Public Libraries--United States Source: Counting Opinions Ltd. Libraries411.com: Maps "Mashup" Combines Public Library Location Info And More with Maps from Yahoo and Google Yes, it's a mashup/public library locator from Counting Opinions (SQUIRE) Ltd. This service combines location info (and more) about more than 20,000 public libraries in the US and Canada and then merges the data on to maps from either Google or Yahoo. Search by name, Zip Code or Postal Code. Maps contain location markers. Click on the marker to get precise location info, web url and in some cases hours and library size. Narrow results to central libraries, branch libraries, and/or bookmobiles. Results pages contain no advertising. To switch between Google Maps and Yahoo Maps look for the link near the bottom of the right column. Libraries411.com went live in December. -- Digital Libraries Source: D-Lib The January 2006 Issue of D-Lib Magazine is Now Available Online Articles include: + Folksonomies: Tidying Up Tags? + UKWAC: Building the UK's First Public Web Archive + Automated Capture of Thumbnails and Thumbshots for Use by Metadata Aggregation Services + The Digital Library for Earth System Education Provides Individualized Reports for Teachers on the Effectiveness of Educational Resources in Their Own Classrooms -- E-books Source: Guardian Unlimited E-read all about it "The word, written and spoken, remains at the heart of our civilisation. There is every reason to want to see the printed word enhanced by something more in tune with current information technology, but until the geeky entrepreneurs of MIT, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and the rest can come up with something that looks like a book, feels like a book and behaves like a book, those who handle such items every day, and marvel over the magical integration of print, paper and binding, will probably continue to read and enjoy books much as Caxton and Gutenberg did." -- Academic Libraries Source: California Digital Library New Report: Shared Print: The Patron Perspective "Findings from a round of focus groups conducted at UCSD in November 2005 to identify any potential barriers to adoption of a shared print collection by faculty and graduate students." PDF. -- eGovernment--Wikis Semantic Web Source: Electronic Government (Wagner, Cheung, Rachael, Bottcher) Building Semantic Webs for e-government with Wiki technology (PDF; 963 KB) "E-government webs are among the largest webs in existence, based on the size, number of users and number of information providers. Thus, creating a Semantic Web infrastructure to meaningfully organise e-government webs is highly desirable. At the same time, the complexity of the existing e-government implementations also challenges the feasibility of Semantic Web creation. We therefore propose the design of a two-layer semantic Wiki web, which consists of a content Wiki, largely identical to the traditional web and a semantic layer, also maintained within the Wiki, that describes semantic relationships. This architectural design promises several advantages that enable incremental growth, collaborative development by a large community of non-technical users and the ability to continually grow the content layer without the immediate overhead of parallel maintenance of the semantic layer. This paper explains current challenges to the development of a Semantic Web, identifies Wiki advantages, illustrates a potential solution and summarises major directions for further research." -- Newspapers--Australia--Databases Source: National Library of Australia More of The Argus Online An online index to The Argus newspaper for the decade 1870-1879 has been published on the Library website. The Argus, the major Australian metropolitan daily of its time, was published in Melbourne from 1846 to 1957. It is the primary resource for data on 19th century Australia, widely recognised as the general Australian newspaper of record for the era. The 1870-1879 index is part of La Trobe University's Argus Index Project and the first available in this form. However, others will go online as they are completed. The entire Ned Kelly story is contained in this index."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Money Laundering--United States Source: US Dept. of Treasury New Report, U.S. Money Laundering Threat Assessment "The United States Government [has] released the inter-agency U.S. Money Laundering Threat Assessment (MLTA), the first government-wide analysis of its kind, which investigates money laundering vulnerabilities across a spectrum of techniques used by criminals." Summary ||| Direct to Full Text (PDF) -- Earthquakes--Statistics Source: USGS Fewer Deaths than 2004, but Earthquakes Still Kill Nearly 90,000 in 2005 See Also: Significant Worldwide Earthquakes in 2005 -- Nuclear Strategy--Syria Source: SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) New Country Profile: Countries of Nuclear Strategic Concern: Syria See Also: Additional Country Profiles Are Available -- Antarctica--Web Resources Source: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress Antarctica A collection of selected web resources. Part of the LC Portals to the World Project. -- Maps and Charts--Marine NOAA Offers Free Navigational Charts on Web "Mariners can now get free electronic downloads of NOAA Raster Navigational Charts or RNCs. A raster chart is a digitally scanned image of a paper nautical chart used by mariners for navigation." Direct to database.
Search Briefs + More Instant Answers Now Available on MSN Search From search engines to answer engines. -- + Hot: Real Estate Industry Uses of Satellite/Aerial Imagery Lots of cool resources for everyone!!! -- + TV Transcripts and Still Images No Longer Part of Google Video Where else can you find them? -- + Results from MSN Search Added to Jux2 Tool Metasearch and Results Comparison Tool
Scholarly Publishing--Citation Reports Source: ISI + Law: High-Impact U.S. Universities, 2000-04 + Science in Scotland, 2000-04 + The 20 most-cited countries in Economics & Business + Journals Ranked by Impact: Geology + Canadian Universities: Highest Impact in Materials Science, 2000-04 + Hot Paper in Biology + Hot Paper in Chemistry See Also: Thomson Scientific Names Doctors Of The Decade, 1995-2005 "Researchers from Harvard University lead the pack in clinical medicine research by earning the highest number of citations over the past decade, according to a study published in the January/February issue of Science Watch-the bi monthly newsletter published by Thomson Scientific, a business of The Thomson Corporation. Using data from Essential Science Indicators SM , the Science Watch study evaluated institutions based on papers published and cited in clinical-medicine journals indexed by Thomson Scientific (including multidisciplinary journals such as Science and Nature)."
Briefly + Call For Applicants: Dialog's 2006 North American Roger K. Summit Scholarship -- + ACRL announces Student Paper Awards for Baltimore conference -- + Hispanic Publications More Than Doubled From 1996-2006 According To The Standard Periodical Directory Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Web Research--Training Source: Resource Discovery Network English as a Second Language Virtual Training Suite Tutorial Launched The RDN has added to the range of Virtual Training Suite Tutorial (VTS) [web and Internet research] tutorials that it provides by launching one specificaly designed for Learners of English as a Second Language (ESOL). See Also: MANY More Internet Research Tutorials are Available from the VTS -- Reading Clubs--Canada Source: Library and Archives Canada Report, TD Summer Reading Club 2005 Survey "Are you interested in the results of the TD Summer Reading Club 2005 survey? Library and Archives Canada invites you to read the key findings of the research conducted with the participating public libraries in 11 out of the 13 provinces and territories." A PDF version of the report is also available. -- Internet Filtering--Australia Public Libraries--Australia Source: ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association) ALIA urges the Tasmanian government to reverse its decision to introduce filtering software -- American Library Association Source: ALA New Publication: ALA launches "AL Direct" weekly email news service Available free to members.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Congressional Research Service Source: CRS (via FPC and Open CRS) Selected New or Recently Updated CRS Reports + USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R.3199): A Side-by-Side Comparison of Existing Law, H.R. 3199 (Conference), and H.R. 3199 (Senate Passed) -- + Federal Spending by Agency and Budget Function, FY2001-FY2005 -- + U.S. and International Responses to the Global Spread of Avian Flu: Issues for Congress -- + Status of a Member of the House Who Has Been Indicted for or Convicted of a Felony -- + Authorization For Use of Military Force in Response to the 9/11 Attacks (P.L. 107-40): Legislative History -- + U.S. Arms Sales: Agreements with and Deliveries to Major Clients, 1997-2004 -- + Venue: A Legal Analysis of Where a Federal Crime May Be Tried All reports are PDF files. -- IPO's--Statistics Source: Hoover's Hoover's IPO Scorecard Reveals Loss Of Momentum In 2005, IPOs Decreased By 16% For The Year From the news release, "196 companies went public on the major U.S. stock exchanges in 2005, a 16% decrease in the number of IPOs over 2004, according to Hoover's IPO Scorecard (www.hoovers.com/ipo/scorecard)." -- Labor--Benefits--Statistics Source: TowersPerrin New Report, Managing Global Pay and Benefits: Worldwide Total Remuneration 7 pages; PDF. "Leading global companies continue to seek some broad measure of consistency in their approach to HR programs while making adjustments to account for local market practices and conditions. Compelling strategies have to address these challenges as they seek to link pay to performance, customize long-term incentives and re-examine benefits. Selected charts from this comprehensive report on remuneration practices in 26 key locations are now available." -- Environment--United States Source: OECD New, OECD issues environmental report card for the US "A new OECD review of environmental policy in the U.S. recommends more efficient use of energy and water as a way to safeguard economic prosperity while protecting the environment and human health. Despite progress in some areas over the past decade, more effort is needed in others. The OECD recommends that the U.S. play a more proactive role in dealing with global environmental concerns." Full text of the report is fee-based. However, conclusions and recommendations are available (free) here (PDF). |
