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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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Friday, April 30, 2004
Web Search-UJIKO Kartoo Launches a New Search Product: UJIKO I haven't been a big fan of Kartoo's metasearch product, but that's just me. I know many people who do like it. Today, the company launched a crawled database product claiming four billion pages that offers many unique customization features. After some quick searches, I found UJIKO interesting and worthy of a look. Here's an overview to help with your testing of UJIKO. + You'll need to have FLASH installed. + "And" is implied between terms. + Company claims it is using patented technology to customize results + Underlying database comes from Yahoo (Thanks to JB for the info) + Search interface: ++ Single search box, uncluttered page + Result pages: ++ Sponsored links are at the top of serps (provided by Overture). ++ Right side of page includes terms to refine your query. ++ When you click on one of the results, the page is stored by UJIKO and will instantly appear in the first results next time you search. ++ There is an option to "File" results (either email results or print them). ++ There is an option to organize results into folders (Memory). ++ To do this, select the heart icon next to the result, then place in folder. You can also modify the link description by adding your own comments, removing others. ++ You can also tweak the order of results by "grading" sites you've seen. Explanation here. ++ You can remove results from the result set by clicking the garbage can icon. ++ You can build personalized filters. + Domain Filter It enables you to mark or prohibit sites from a specific domain. + Word Description Filter It allows you to mark or prohibit sites where the title or description includes specific words. Enter, for instance, ?free gratis? to filter all results containing those words. + Page Filter It allows you to mark or prohibit some specific URLs. Enter, for example, "www.kartoo.com www.kartoo.net/flash.php3" to filter those two pages. + Site Filter It makes possible marking or prohibiting all pages from a site. For example, enter "www.kartoo www.ujiko" to filter all pages beginning with those letters, especially www.kartoo.com, www.kartoo.net, www.kartoo.org/info, www.ujiko.com, etc. + Word URL Filter It allows you to mark or prohibit all pages where the address includes specific sign chains -- i.e., enter ?kartoo ujiko? to filter pages such as www.kartoo.com, kartoo.com, www.ujiko.com, www.ujiko.com/kartoo.html, etc. + Privacy? This from the news release, "As opposed to other customization systems, all data are therefore stored on users' computer." + The company has plans to offer this technology to the enterprise market. + French and UK versions are available.
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Scholarly Publishing Source: The Wellcome Trust New report reveals open access could reduce cost of scientific publishing by up to 30 per cent From the announcement, "A report out today shows that making scientific research available free on the Internet could wipe as much as 30 per cent off publishing costs. The Wellcome Trust report shows for the first time that the open access model of scientific publishing - where the author of a research paper pays for peer reviewed research to be made available on the web free to all who wish to use it - is economically viable, guarantees high quality research and is a sustainable option which could revolutionise the world of traditional scientific publishing." -- Federal Librarians Source: Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) Handbook of Federal Librarianship (PDF; 724 KB) "The Federal Librarians Handbook is written for professional librarians and is therefore not intended as a manual to instruct you on how to be a librarian. Instead it focuses on the federal angle of otherwise standard practices and procedures of good librarianship. A topic was omitted if it was determined not to have anything uniquely federal about it. An exception was made for the chapter on copyright because it remains a challenging and continuously developing topic for all librarians.... We have made a concerted effort not to reinvent the wheel by duplicating what is already available elsewhere.... Therefore, this handbook provides only brief treatment of the main points of a topic with many hypertext links to Web sites for detail coverage and references to print publications.... An additional comprehensive listing with even more hypertext links and complete bibliographic citations to print publications is provided in the Resources chapter at the end of the handbook."
Text Mining Source: JISC First Publicly Funded Text Mining Center in the World Will Be Established in the UK From the announcement, The JISC, BBSRC AND EPSRC announced today funding of some £1m to establish a National Centre for Text Mining. The remit of the Centre, the first publicly funded centre in the world, is to contribute to the associated national and international research agenda, to establish a service for the wider academic community, and to make connections with industry. Text mining attempts to discover new, previously unknown information by applying techniques from natural language processing, data mining, and information retrieval: + To identify and gather relevant textual sources + To analyse these to extract facts involving key entities and their properties + To combine the extracted facts to form new facts or to gain valuable insights
Industry Briefs (2 Items) + U.S. Air Force Licenses MetaCarta Software (via GCN) See Also: More About MetaCarta Here and Here -- + Infotrieve Launches Redesigned Web Site
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (6 Items) Terrorism Source: U.S. Department of State Just Released, Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003 -- Military--Bibliographies Three New Bibliographies from Air University Library + Conflict Termination in the Iraqi War 2003 + Military Transformation + Posse Comitatus These bibliographies include Internet resources, books, documents and periodicals. Air University Library offers more than 200 bibliographies on defense-related topics. -- Computer Fonts Fonts in Cyberspace Source: SIL International "A guide to finding language fonts on the Internet. Containing more than 400 sources for 123 languages." -- Prescription Drugs--United States New Database, Prescription Drug and Other Assistance Programs Source: Medicare.gov "The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency responsible for administering the Medicare program, gathered the data contained in the Prescription Drug and Other Assistance Programs database from various sources. The respective drug card program sponsors submit data for the Medicare-approved drug discount drug card programs directly to CMS. Other data contained in this database is collected from public sources and supplemented with telephone calls to states, disease-specific organizations, and pharmaceutical companies. Drug pricing data is updated on a weekly basis. All other information is updated monthly." Quick Search Download the data in MS Access format. See Also: Previously on ResourceShelf: Medicare Web Site to Shine Light on Drug Prices -- Health Care Funding--United States--Statistics Source: Kaiser Family Foundation Just Released, Trends and Indicators in the Changing Health Care Marketplace, 2004 Update -- Caregiving--United States--Statistics Source: AARP Recently Released Report, Caregiving in the U.S. "We estimate there are 44.4 million American caregivers (21% of the adult population) age 18 and older who provide unpaid care to an adult age 18 or older. These caregivers are present in an estimated 22.9 million households (21% of U.S. households)." Full Report (PDF; 476 KB) "Spotlight" reports are available for: California, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, Virginia, Washington.
Web Search--Cool Tools Source: SearchDay Exploring Search Engine Overlap Chris Sherman introduces us to Thumbshots, a very cool tool. He writes, "Search engine guru Greg Notess has long studied search engine overlap -- the number of pages found by more than one search engine. Greg's findings have consistently shown that there is very little overlap in the web page databases of the major search engines, meaning you'll likely get very different results depending on the engine....The results for most queries confirm Greg Notess' research: there is very little overlap in search engine results for most of the tests I ran. And in most cases, even the top ten results vary significantly from engine to engine." A perfect resource to use in demos when you need to show that results vary amongst major web engines. Thursday, April 29, 2004
Resources of the Week 2 items. 1) Business Rankings--Lists & Rankings Trip's Lists Vol. I Note: Trip Wyckoff is the sole proprietor of SpecialIssues.com, a database containing information about salary surveys, industry outlooks, overviews, buyers guides, who's who registers, etc. that can be found in over 3200 publications. He is also the current compiler of Price's Lists of Lists, a resource I started about six years ago. It offers direct links to company rankings freely available on the open web. The LOL is available for free. Trip has accepted an invitation to share recent additions to the LOL along with lists that you might have missed with ResourceShelf on a regular basis. In his first compilation, Trip shares some of his favorite lists. Favorites Forbes The most useful site for "business rankings" + Layoff Tracker + Lists & Rankings Intelligent Enterprise + The Dozen 12 entities which are most influential in the creation of intelligent enterprises + Intelligent Enterprise Imperatives Editors have devised a list of "imperatives" that would typify an IT department that intends to truly enable business strategy Money + M&A (mergers & acquisitions) Databank QSR + QSR 50 Top restaurant chains ranked by various means Start Magazine + START 1,000 Top admired large, medium, and small manufacturers, with revenues less than 10 million to over a billion are listed Interesting Resources Pit & Quarry + Quarry Atlas Easy-to-use, maplike views of America's natural and sociocultural landscapes, includes natural resources and companies utilizing these resources RealScreen + Factual Price Guide Industry survey on cost of producing documentary programming by genre and platform -- -- 2) Online Maps National Geographic MapMachine We very much like maps and geographic resources at ResourceShelf. And here is yet another case of an already stellar site getting an overhaul that both adds new features and enhances usability. The National Geographic Society has partnered with ESRI, a preeminent GIS software developer. ESRI's ArcWeb Services -- which essentially deliver GIS and spatial data over the Internet -- are now powering the MapMachine. This is dynamic data, updated continually, so users of the relaunched site are getting the latest and the greatest. Special features include: + The addition of "aerial imagery provided by GlobeXplorer" essentially allows you to zoom right in and get a bird's eye view of your house. (One gripe -- National Geographic watermarks over the images are fairly obtrusive.) + "Informational layers on each map, showing roads, political boundaries, and place names, can be turned on and off" by using check boxes. A variety of "theme maps" incorporate such things as census and employment data, FEMA flood designations and weather events -- e.g., hurricanes paths, windstorms, tornado touch-downs. Definitions for the different types of maps are available. All types of maps are not available for all locales. + "A suite of tools allows users to measure distances, pan over the map, zoom in and out, and label key map features." These appear on the right side of the screen when you are looking at a map. Click on their icons to activate them. BTW, clicking anywhere on the map itself zooms in on that particular spot. Or use the standard "zoom in/zoom out" progression bar located on the right side of the map. + An improved "Quick Map Search" on the top right side of the page allows you to find maps for a place quickly by typing in a city, country, region, continent or U.S. zip code. + You can save maps that you've generated (the site uses cookies to do this), or e-mail a map to someone. Maps and aerial imagery may be printed out, or you can order a large-format version online. (Prices depend on such things as image, size desired, etc.) The MapMachine incorporates maps from an array of providers, including (naturally) the National Geographic Society and such agencies as the Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA, NASA, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Library of Congress. Annotation prepared by Shirl K.
Web Search--Google Google Files for Initial Public Offering Here you go, search fans. What does this mean for the searcher? Not much. Here are some bullet points from a News.com story. It will not be difficult to find more than enough coverage elsewhere. + Shares will be auctioned off. + The company wants to raise 2.7 billion with the offering. + "The registration filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission offers an estimate of what the company believes it may be able to raise with its initial public offering, although the filing does not disclose the number of shares that will be offered, nor the range in price for those shares." + "Google will create two classes of shares with different voting rights, a move that aims to guarantee founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will maintain decision-making authority. Such structures have proven beneficial in media companies, such as The New York Times, the filing states." + When will Google go public? No time frame was provided in the filing. + Want to buy Google stock at the IPO price? According to News.com, "investors should be prepared to jump through a number of hoops to get there." These hoops include having an account with Morgan Stanley or Credit Suisse. See Also: A Great Review of the Filing (what else would you expect) from Danny S. See Also: More from John Markoff and the New York Times
Industry Briefs + Access Some LexisNexis Services via Your Blackberry -- + Wilson Expands Biography Reference Bank
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items) Teachers--United States--Fast Facts Source: U.S. Census Facts About Teachers in the United States All sorts of interesting stats and facts to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week (May 2-8). -- Digitization Projects Source: Florida State Archives Florida Postcard Collection "This collection of picture postcards provides images of Florida statewide, including historic sites; tourist attractions and resorts; industries; schools, churches, and government buildings; roads, bridges, and railroads; urban and rural scenes; Seminole Indians; and Florida's wildlife and natural environments. The collection includes both color and black-and-white images." Contains 5,445 images spanning the period 1900-1999. (Note: This is part of the Florida Photographic Collection, which contains roughly 850,000 photographs, and approximately 2,500 movies and video tapes. About 100,000 of the photographs have been scanned and placed on the Internet.) -- Patents--Lists & Rankings Source: Technology Review 2004 Technology Review Patent Scorecard "Technology Review's annual Patent Scorecard ranks the U.S. patent portfolios of 150 top technology companies in eight sectors." See Also: The Complete Scorecard (.xls file) See Also: The Global Invention Map "A topography of nation-by-nation inventive prowess." Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Web Search Engines--Legal Issues Source: Virginia Journal of Law and Technology Application of the DMCA Safe Harbor Provisions to Search Engines (PDF; 308 KB) "(A)pplying the DMCA safe harbor provisions to search engines is problematic. Key portions of the statute refer to “subscribers” and “account holders,” making their application to search engines unclear because search engines typically do not have subscribers or account holders. The lack of a subscription relationship also seems to make search engines more likely than other types of service providers to remove content overzealously after notification. Finally, the combination of the unique importance of search engines for most Internet users and the availability of other means for copyright owners to protect their interests suggests that the burden of complying with the safe harbor procedures should not be placed on search engines. A better alternative would be for Congress to grant search engines complete immunity from contributory liability for infringing activities by third parties." Battelle comments that, "in the near future, most search engines *will* have subscribers and account holders. A9 already does, as does Yahoo, indirectly. Hate to say it, but this paper is already out of date, even if I agree with its conclusion." Thanks to SDK and J.D. or the link and annotation.
Web Search--Google A Bit of Google Search News We're IPO free today! (-: + Google Adds News Images to Google Images Here's an example. Images are culled from Google News database. Yahoo Images also offers this feature. The company announced it last week when they quietly relaunched the image database. + CrossRef Launches Pilot Program of CrossRef Search, Powered By Google Another specialized Google interface allows you to search abstracts from nine STM publishers via a single search box. Google has indexed the full text but with most of the searches I ran the full text is only accessible if you either have a subsciption to the database or purchase the individual article. I would imagine that many of the people who have access to the full text already use an interface designed for the specific content. This interface does not allow you to limit your search to a specific data field. You can limit to a specific publisher with site: search. In other words, you're simply doing a free-text search. From the news release, "CrossRef itself doesn't host any content or perform searches-CrossRef works behind the scenes with Google to facilitate the crawling of content on publishers' sites and sets the policies and guidelines governing publisher participation in the initiative." This means that the content has the potential to be found via the Google.com interface. However, as I've said many times (and Danny Sullivan said this week), if it's not in the first few results it's all but invisible to the average searcher. The news release also mentions that CrossRef is also working with other search engines. Yahoo announced their content aggregation program about two months ago. Some organizations are licensing technology from one of many companies and/or ILS vendors that allows the user to search multiple databases (web, fee-based, local) simultaneously with a single interface.
Professional Reading Shelf (3 Items) Children's Libraries Source: International Federation of Library Associations New, Guidelines for Children's Library Services -- Research Libraries Source: Association of Research Libraries Updated, ARL Statistics (Interactive Edition) 2002-03 ARL Statistics are now available from the interactive statistics site at the University of Virginia. -- Taxonomies Source: Transform Magazine Overcoming Information Overload From the article, "Taxonomies organize your information for more efficient retrieval and better topic insight. Here's how to choose the best approach to building a better taxonomy." Glad to see that the authors mention the skills of corporate librarians in the article. This pdf chart compares major players in the space.
National Archives--United Kingdom Library catalogue complete From the announcement, "The National Archives has a reference collection of 55,000 books, periodicals and directories on aspects of history (including local, family and military history), law, biography, genealogy and a wide range of reference material. Many publications relate to the documents held within the national archive itself. A growing number of electronic reference sources are also available...A project to recatalogue these works from paper catalogues to an online computer catalogue has been continuing for several years. The Library is pleased to announce that this project was completed at the end of March and for the first time all Library holdings can be found in a single, online catalogue.
Library Briefs UK...A minute's silence, please, for the late public library (via The Independent) "According to a new report on the future of the public lending library, it is a battle the librarians of south Manchester and the rest of Britain may not win. Libri, a new campaign group formed to save that most revered of national institutions, has warned there could be as little as 20 years left for Britain's public lending libraries." See Also: Full Text of the Report Mentioned in this Article
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) Documents in the News National Security--Canada Source: Government of Canada Just Released, Securing An Open Society: Canada’s National Security Policy News Release ||| Direct to Full Text ||| Backgrounder -- Congressional Research Service New/Updated CRS Reports via the Federation of American Scientists + "The War Powers Resolution: After Thirty Years" by Richard F. Grimmett, March 11, 2004. + "War Powers Resolution: Presidential Compliance" updated March 16, 2004. + "Radiological Dispersal Devices: Select Issues in Consequence Management" by Dana A. Shea, March 10, 2004. CRS Reports via the FPC + NATO and the European Union + Disarming Libya: Weapons of Mass Destruction + Foreign Aid: An Introductory Overview of U.S. Programs and Policy + Globalizing Cooperative Threat Reduction: A Survey of Options + Policing in Peacekeeping and Related Stability Operations: Problems and Proposed Solutions -- Government Information--United States Security--United States Source: Information Security Oversight Office/National Archives and Records Administration New Report, ISOO 2003 Annual Report to the President "The Report profiles data about the government-wide security classification program during Fiscal Year 2003." A PDF version and reports back to 1993 are also available. -- Election 2004 Source: Factiva Factiva Media Visibility Index (SM) Tracks the Hot-Button Issues for 2004 Presidential Election During the Week Ending April 25 ,2004 Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Information Retrieval On ResourceShelfPLUS: A New Compilation of Recently Awarded Search-Related Patents & Patent Apps (April 2004) The April compilation of selected search-related patents and patent apps is now available on ResourceShelfPLUS. Highlights: + Google Awarded patent (and has patent app published) + Xerox awarded metasearch patent (they also got a search-related patent last month) + MIT awarded patent for image engine
Digitization Projects Source: Bodleian Library (Oxford University) Indian Institute New, The Digital Shikshapatri From the site, "Digital Shikshapatri provides instant online access to a treasure of the British Hindu cultural heritage that is held in Oxford's Bodleian Library. This fragile Sanskrit manuscript, called the Shikshapatri, was written by Shree Swaminarayan, founder of Swaminarayan Hinduism, and outlines moral and spiritual codes for everyday life." This excellent overview from ManagingInformation.com provides more detail and includes more info about the technology being used.
Alert Services Google Alert Add New Services I will be the first to say that up to this point I haven't been a big fan of this service since it only looks at the first 50 results to find new material. That said, Gideon Greenspan and his team continue to add new features and services and I think it's about time for me to take another look.. We've also been told that a premium service is coming soon and will check more than the first 50 results for new material. Here's what's new today: + Sight Point Technology "The new SightPoint personalization technology automatically rates new search results based on their similarity to results the user has clicked on before. SightPoint uses Bayesian statistics, made popular by spam email filters, to identify useful information in a sea of background noise. The feature is now available on an opt-in basis to all users of the free Google Alert service." You can toggle this technology on/off via a box in the user settings. + Case Sensitive/Punctuation Senstive Searching "These features help users filter out unwanted noise by automatically removing any results that don't match the exact case or punctuation of a search term." + Coming Soon: Premium Service According to the announcement Google Alert has signed a deal with Google allowing them to offer a premium service. The new service (pricing info to come) will launch soon. I've heard that it will check the first 500 results for new material (that could be very useful).
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) Critical Information Skills Source: Cornell University Critically Analyzing Information Sources See Also: The IQ Section of The Virtual Chase See Also: Evaluating Web Pages: Questions to Ask & Strategies for Getting the Answers (via UC Berkeley) See Also: Evaluating Information Found on the Internet (via John Hopkins University) -- Media Industry Source: The IBM Institute for Business Value New Report, Full Text, Media and entertainment 2010 From the paper, "This paper, a collaborative discussion by thought leaders from the IBM Media and Entertainment practice, will discuss why industry and market forces will propel media businesses to become more open to business partners, customers and consumers - opening content reserves and formatting, production processes, packaging and sales options - without opening the company to increased vulnerability. The paper begins with an executive summary, followed by a future scenario of the media and entertainment business as we envision it circa 2010. The next section discusses the direction of media and entertainment industry trends, followed by a section analyzing the implications of those trends. The paper concludes with our strategic recommendations for becoming the open media business of the future." (Spotted at E-Media Tidbits) -- Fast Facts Source: U.S. Census New, Cinco de Mayo A compilation of stats about the Mexican American population. -- Automobiles--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census New, 2002 Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey (VIUS) The reports for two states (Indiana and Rhode Island) along with DC are now available. More states to come. A summary is also available.
Professional Reading Shelf Government Information--United States Source: Harvard Business School Working Knowledge Mr. Info: Take the Money—It's Free! "(Matthew) Lesko has a unique writing process: plagiarism. It turns out, he says, that in the government, nothing is copyrighted. He simply cut and pasted text from government publications for his first New York Times bestseller, and has been 'writing' that way ever since. His description might be a little breezy, however. The real value Lesko adds is in his rigorous and tireless research efforts, as well as the extremely logical and helpful organization of the material. While it is true that anyone can find these resources on the Web or by calling government numbers or writing government agencies, not everyone has the time or inclination to do so." In other words, Lesko's work saves people time and effort. This is a skill/service that the library community should also stress in our marketing.
Online Documents Source: FCW Document security fears grow From the article, "Problems with maintaining the confidentiality of electronic documents and preventing document tampering are on the rise, according to a security manager at Adobe Systems Inc. Although he would not divulge details of any specific incident of document tampering in the federal government, John Landwehr, group manager for security solutions and strategy at Adobe, said cases of document spoofing represent a growing problem for both government and corporate offices." Monday, April 26, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf Information Retrieval Presentations from the 2004 Search Engine Meeting Are Now Available Online Some really interesting and informative reading for your already full reading lists. The conference took place in The Hague, The Netherlands, 19-20 April 2004. Here's a selected list of the presentations. I STRONGLY urge you to review the entire list. The page also contains bio info for all speakers. All of the presentations are either pdf or ppt files. + Quantity versus quality? Karen Spärck Jones, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK + The Subtle Side of Retrieval Elizabeth Liddy, Syracuse University, New York, USA + Text and XML querying - Is There a Common Ground? Prabhakar Raghavan, Verity, California, USA + Product Intro: A Holistic Approach to Search Tuoc Luong, Ask Jeeves, California, USA + Information Retrieval: A Single Point of Access Susan Feldman, IDC, Connecticut, USA + Double the Value of Search Using User Behaviour Laust Sondergaard, Mondosoft, Denmark + Social Software and New Search Stephen E Arnold, AIT, Kentucky, USA + Human Intervention in the Search Process Martin Belam, BBCi Search, UK + Learning to Harvest Information for the Semantic Web Fabio Ciravegna, University of Sheffield, UK + Formalising the Concept of Serendipity in Web Searching Olivier Ertzscheid, University of Toulouse, and Gabriel Gallezot, University of Nice + Turbo10: The Mechanics of a Deep Net Metasearch Engine Nigel Hamilton, Turbo10.com, UK + A Relevance Model for Web Image Search Ethan V. Munson and Cheng Thao, University of Wisconsin, USA + Access to Archives of Digital Video Information Alan Smeaton, Dublin City University, Ireland + Organising personal pictures with content analysis technology Sebastein Gilles, LTU Technologies, France -- -- Weblogs RSS Source: Library + Information Update Weblogs and RSS in information work "How can weblogs be used in a library and information service? Ian Winship looks at some of the serious contenders." A big thanks to the author, Ian Winship, for mentioning ResourceShelf.
Web Search Source: Information Today Britannica Subsidiary Unveils English-Arabic Search Engine Paula Hane writes, "Melingo, Ltd. (http://www.melingo.com), a company that has provided advanced search capabilities for complex languages, has just introduced Morfix CL, its English-Arabic-English Cross-Language Search with Embedded Translation. What that means is that English-speaking researchers can search through Arabic material without knowing any Arabic at all—and see a results page with a translation of each Arabic word or phrase. Melingo, a subsidiary of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., is carefully positioning its Morfix technology as a complement to other search engines. The company is concentrating its efforts on aiding the search process and not on highlighting the process of machine translation, which it says is still very inaccurate. Melingo claims that Morfix CL represents a breakthrough in Arabic language analysis and a boon to intelligence agencies and businesses, which today process growing amounts of Arabic data with limited numbers of qualified human translators." A demo of the cross-language English-Arabic technology is available at Morfix.com.
Information Industry News + Elsevier...ScienceDirect Announces New Product Line From the announcement, "ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com), announces that Elsevier Book Series titles are now available on the platform. Now multiple users throughout an institution can simultaneously access this important compliment to primary research, previously only available through print subscriptions." + Dialog... Company Names New CTO
Web Search--Google Google IPO Roundup + A Conversation With Sergey Brin (via eWeek) Topics include Gmail, RSS, and privacy. -- + A Quirky Brilliance vs. the Dreams of Venture Capitalists (via The New York Times) From the article, "There are many good reasons to avoid a public stock offering and the close scrutiny it brings. Indeed, this week the scrutiny will intensify as the company approaches a deadline to file financial disclosures. But in Google's case, its hesitancy up to this point has been a symptom of a long-running battle for control between its two brainy, headstrong founders and the powerful, strong-willed financiers who gave them the money to turn their graduate school project into one of the world's leading brands, according to several people in and outside Google... Attention is being focused this week on Google because Thursday is the deadline for it to file financial disclosure documents under Securities and Exchange Commission rules. It could meet those requirements by filing papers for a public stock offering - what the venture capitalists are said to favor. Or it could simply file the disclosure papers, perhaps along with a statement that it will begin eventually to move toward a public offering. A person close to the company said last week that it would proceed with this slower course." -- + Google float moves a step closer (via Reuters)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items) Internet--Statistics Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project New Data, 14% of Internet users say they no longer download music files Summary ||| Direct to Full Text Thanks to PW for the tip. -- Business--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Forbes Just Released, CEO Compensation Report 2004 -- Business-United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Washington Post New, The Washington Post 200 2004 The largest companies in the region. Browse by category or search. -- Science Museums Source: National Academies New, Marian Koshland Science Museum The museum, part of the National Academy of Science, opened in DC last week. Web site includes virtual exhibits. -- Higher Education--United States--Statistics Source: NSF New Report, Science and Engineering Degrees: 1966-2001 Sunday, April 25, 2004
Image Databases Source: San Jose Mercury News digital library "By making more and more of its images digital, Corbis can keep greater control over them and lower its expenses. It can sell images directly over the Web, offer new tools to search through them, and use software to track where each image appears, cracking down on piracy." See Also: Image-Seek This demo from LTU Technologies allows you to keyword search 65,000 royalty-free images from the Corbis database. From the site, "Image-Seeker is an image analyzer that describes images according to their visual features. 'Because an image is worth a thousand words', using image similarity combined with text-based search dramatically improves search processes. This demo presents visual search on a large selection of over 65,000 Corbis Royalty-Free images. It is the most intuitive way to navigate while searching for images."
Books Source: e-consultancy Pearson launches web-textbooks programme "Publishing giant Pearson is launching a project in the US to offer students digital textbooks at half the price of the printed versions...The group's education division is to launch the project, SafariX Textbooks Online, as a joint venture with another US publisher O'Reilly Media, which offers textbooks on technology, and already uses the Safari system. Rather than offering textbooks for digital download, Safari hosts books online with the ability to annotate and navigate through a web browser." See Also: A Bit More in this Reuters Article
Library and Info Briefs (4 Items) From Companion's Lost Diary, a Portrait of Einstein in Old Age (via The New York Times) The "companion" was Johanna Fantova, a librarian at Princeton University. She was a graduate of the library school at the University of North Carolina and was the first map curator at the Firestone Library. According to this AP story it was at Einstein's urging that Fantova attend library school. -- + An Interview with Kevin Starr (via Sacramento Bee) Starr just retired after ten years as California state librarian. -- + £7m library book finally revealed (via The Scotsman) -- + New Look for National Library of Medicine Web Site Coming Soon Saturday, April 24, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) National Archives--United States Source: NARA Full Text, National Archives and Records Administration Annual Report 2003 -- Media Archives Source: FCW NASA to merge media archives From the article, "Space officials want proposals for a NASA archiving system that would create a one-stop multimedia source for the public."
Bookmarklets Search Engine Showdown Offers Search-Related Bookmarklets Thanks Greg! A couple of days ago Jesse Ruderman announced he has also compiled a page of these useful tools.
Web Search--Google More on the Google/Anti-Semitic Site Story Important and interesting reads from Seth Finkelstein and Danny Sullivan. No need to comment on this specific issue again but a couple of comments about the issue of search engine manipulation. Last October, I commented that while most of the press coverage was focusing on paid inclusion (which Google doesn't offer) and paid placement and its potential effects on the web searcher, it was hard to find press coverage that organic search results can be manipulated (yes, even Google's results). This manipulation is the nature of the beast (we should learn to deal with it), and another reminder that general web engines are more than just "research tools" like a librarian might think of Dialog, LN, Factiva, and many others. Finkelstein correctly points out, "Google ranks popularity, not authority. And popularity is a measure which is vulnerable to many games. Any system of evaluation is subject to manipulation." While link analysis is similar in many ways to citation analysis, tools like ISI's Citation Indexes and ISI's Impact Factors are less susceptible to manipulation (NOT totally free of it) because it's a much smaller universe of material to control. Let's remember web engines are also advertising/marketing vehicles. As Danny points out, results appearing in the 20th position are all but invisible to the average searcher. Sullivan's comments remind me of what someone told me at a presentation for the book I co-authored with Chris Sherman. A member of the audience told me that Chris and I failed to mention a large portion of the Invisible Web in our book. After taking a deep breath, I asked her what we forgot. She told me that for many searchers if it's not in the first five or seven results it's all but invisible. She was right! The power searcher needs, first, to be aware of this issue and, second, to utilize advanced search syntax, term selection, specialized databases and other tools to assist in producing more precise result sets. This can help minimize problems. I also think that Teoma's method of determining relevance might be less susceptible to manipulation. See Also: Challenges in Web Search Engines This twelve-page paper was written by Dr. Monika Henzinger (Research Director, Google), Dr. Rajeev Motwani (Professor at Stanford) and Dr. Craig Silverstein (Director of Technology, Google). From the abstract, "...article presents a high-level discussion of some of the problems with information retrieval that are unique to web search engines. The goal is to raise awareness and stimulate research in these areas." Content quality, spam, cloaking, duplicate hosts and vaguely structured data are some of the topics discussed. -- See Also, Full Text, Just Released, Web Spam Taxonomy From the abstract, "Web spamming refers to actions intended to mislead search engines and give some pages higher ranking than they deserve. Recently, the amount of web spam has increased dramatically, leading to a degradation of search results. This paper presents a comprehensive taxonomy of current spamming techniques, which we believe can help in developing appropriate countermeasures."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items) The following two items were culled from the Infomine What's New Newsletter Computers Classic Computer Magazine Archive The Classic Computer Magazine Archive presents the full text of early personal computing magazines, including images and advertisements. Contents indexes are offered along with columns, product reviews, software, and cover images. Site is searchable. The site has posted the fulltext of more than 150 individual issues from the following magazines: Antic (1982-1990) STart (1986-1991) Dedicated to the Atari ST computer Creative Computing (1974-1985) Creative Computing Video and Arcade Games (1983) Compute! (1979-1994) Tandy Computer Whiz Kids (1984-1991) -- Vietnam War Source: Texas Tech University The Virtual Vietnam Archive "The Virtual Vietnam Archive currently contains over 605,000 pages of scanned documents. This searchable archive allows the user to limit results to items available online. Documents, images, audio, finding aids, moving images, periodicals and computer media are available. The search page also has browse indexes of military terms and collection titles. An acronyms database (more than 500 terms) is available from the main archive page as an aid to research." An Operations Database and Acronym Database are also available. Friday, April 23, 2004
Web Search--Google Source: News.com Google's SafeSearch Filtering Draws Some Fire From the article, "Google's SafeSearch flaws are more than academic--they can have serious consequences for innocent Web site operators blocked out by them. Google is the most widely used search engine on the Web, and failure to appear in its listings can have a direct impact on sales for some companies, particularly smaller enterprises with limited marketing budgets...Google claims SafeSearch "uses advanced proprietary technology that checks keywords and phrases" and filters out only Web pages containing pornography and explicit sexual content.' 'That's not very bright,' said Karen Schneider, a librarian who runs the Librarians' Index to the Internet and has made a study of filtering software. SafeSearch is 'certainly evocative of the very primitive CyberSitter-type tools of the mid-1990s--not a tool of fairly sophisticated development.'" Some of you might remember that in August, ResourceShelf reported that SafeSearch was blocking pages from the WhiteHouse.Gov site and other non-offensive sites. Some of the problems I highlighted in August have been corrected but, as this new article documents, MANY others still exist. See Also: Empirical Analysis of Google SafeSearch (Benjamin Edelman, Harvard University) more Google... Google and Akamai: Cult of Secrecy vs. Kingdom of Openness (via TechReview) Simson Garfinkle writes, "The king of search is tapping into what may be the largest grid of computers on the planet. And it remains extraordinarily secretive about its core technologies—perhaps because it senses a potential competitor in dotcom era flameout Akamai."
The Library of Congress More Digitized Content Added to the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) from The Library of Congress More digitized content from LC hits the web! The Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) is closing in on the one million image mark. Here are a couple recently added collections: + National Child Labor Committee Collection (NCLC) PPOC now offers expanded and enhanced access to approximately 5,100 NCLC photographs [ca.1908-1924] which were primarily taken by the photographer Lewis Hine. These photographs are useful for their examination of labor, reform movements, working class families, education, public health, urban and rural housing conditions, industrial and agricultural sites, and other aspects of urban and rural life in America in the early twentieth century. The collection's catalog records include a wealth of information, including the locations and names of individuals and businesses featured in the photographs, transcribed from the collection's original caption cards. + U.S. News and World Report Magazine Photograph Collection Selected photographs from this extensive collection are now available in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. In preparation for the magazine's 70th anniversary, U.S. News staff selected more than 100 photos taken between 1952 and 1983 of newsworthy subjects, including the struggle for African American civil rights, presidential campaigns, and the visits to the United States of foreign dignitaries, as well as life in Vietnam, the Middle East and Russia. Many of the photos were taken by staff photographers and have no known publication restrictions. See Also: Learn More About the PPOC
Enterprise Search (2 Items) + FAST Search and Transfer Continues to Add Customers, This Time It's Ziff-Davis It seems that every week they're announcing big time clients. Several recent announcements involve publishing companies. In addition to today's Z-D announcement, we've seen agreements from Knight-Ridder and Reuters. -- + IBM expands search push with Masala (via News.com) From the article, "The computing giant, based in Armonk, N.Y., is gearing up to release Masala, a new version of its DB2 Information Integrator software that will let corporate employees retrieve information from databases, applications and the Web at the same time." Btw, a quick review of ResourceShelfPLUS will show that IBM has been building a large collection of search-related patents.
Web Browsers Cool! A New Version (Beta) of the Opera Web Browser is Online Say hello to Opera 7.50 for Windows Beta 1! I just learned of the release and still haven't had time to check it out but I thought those of you who use Opera (those of you who don't should) would like to know. Screenshot here. + Company supplied list of changes + Beta available for numerous operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items) United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Statistical Abstracts: Historical "Statistical Abstract data present here ranges from our most recent edition to the historical abstracts compiled throughout the decades. Some of the data were scanned as an effort to make historical abstract information available to the public. The display of data will continue as historical records become available." Access Statistical Abstracts from 1878 - 2001 through this page. See Also: Mini Historical Statistics Files available in pdf or xls formats. -- European Union--Glossary European Union Glossary Source: European Union "The following glossary contains some 250 terms relating to European integration and the institutions and activities of the EU." See also: A Plain Language Guide to Eurojargon -- History Source: Managing Information News Library and Museum Material Help Captain Cook Website "A new virtual exhibition charting the life and voyages of one of the North East's most famous sons, Captain James Cook, has gone live (www.captcook-ne.co.uk).... The website is funded through the British Library's Reaching the Regions programme, in partnership with the North East Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum." -- Hunger--United States--Statistics Source: Food Research and Action Center Just Released, State of the States 2004 Report (PDF; 307 KB)] "This FRAC report on the State of the States provides basic data describing the extent of hunger and the use of nutrition programs for the United States as a whole and for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Through these data the State of the States gives a snapshot of how well or badly each state is doing in using available tools to meet the needs of hungry people and improve the health of low-income families." (Thanks, AT) Press release -- Tourism--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: U.S. Department of Commerce + Just Released, Market Share: Overseas Visitors To Select U.S. States And Territories + Just Released, Overseas Visitors To Select U.S. Cities/Hawaiian Islands
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Digital Collections + A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections (via NISO) -- Usability Source: InfoDesign Jared Spool: The InfoDesign Interview "Jared is one of the most important - and best-recognized - voices in the field of usability. User Interface Engineering, the firm that he founded in 1988, is the world's largest research, training and consulting firm specializing in website and product usability." (Thanks, LRK) Some insights from the interview: + "We discovered that there are basically 14 types of questions, no matter what the subject matter. We're hoping these 14 types, which we're calling topic perspectives, can guide designers to plan and implement an initial information resource that is complete and helpful and delights their users." + "Our goal at UIE really is quite simple: We want to eliminate any frustration that comes from the introduction of new technology." + "We've come a long way from our roots of being a usability testing service. We really don't do that anymore, primarily because our research has shown that the most successful design teams are those that do their own testing. Farming your testing out substantially reduces its effectiveness." + "Overly simplistic usability testing can produce too many issues, most of which will not have any desirable effect on the goals of the organization. As a result, teams can easily waste valuable resources fixing things that don't need fixing." + "Most users are failing on most websites and nobody knows why. We don't even have a good handle on how to find out why. So, we basically ignore the problem." + "What is the #1 contributor to the user having a good experience? Our research shows that users are most satisfied with a site when they complete their objectives. When they don't achieve their objectives, they become significantly dissatisfied with the site. Little else really matters beyond completing objectives." +"Information architects look at the world from structure and navigation. Designers look at the visual presentation and communication. Usability folks see the world from a user frustration perspective. These aren't separate branches of knowledge. They are different viewpoints by which you attack the same problem: creating a successful design." +"If designers can't have guidelines, how do they know what to design? Our philosophy is to use an iterative approach. Take a design - any design - it doesn't matter. Put it in front of users. Change anything that doesn't work. Repeat." Thursday, April 22, 2004
Happy International Special Librarians Day! This special day was established by the Special Librarians Association in 1991. "ISLD recognizes the unique contributions made by information professionals around the world and the critical role they play in the changing global information community."
Resources of the Week 2 items. Atlas--Canada Source: Natural Resources Canada Redesigned Version Online, The Atlas of Canada This comprehensive resource has been given a new look, which includes improved navigation and enhanced accessibility for users of assistive technologies. The core of the site comprises more than 1,400 thematic, reference and archive maps. A Maps A-Z page allows you to browse these alphabetically. Alternately, you can use the advanced search page to search for the location of a place on a map or search for maps/text using keywords. For focused exploration, maps have been grouped into a number of topics: Environment, People & Society, Economy, History, Climate Change, Freshwater, Health, Reference Maps and Map Archives. You can mouse over this list of topics in the navigation panel on the left side of the home page and choose from a list of more specific subtopics under each. A collection of Learning Resources, aimed at students and teachers, includes curriculum guides, lesson plans, quizzes, printer-friendly maps, and an interactive glossary. A Gazetteer Map Service "generates a URL linking directly to a map showing the location of any of...47 000 place names and geographical features...." A Web Map Service allows developers to access "current and accurate base data for rendering customized maps." Note that the site is bilingual English/French. -- Real Estate--Online Resources PlainVanillaShell.com Portal for the retail real estate industry offers: + Industry news + Feature articles on legal issues + Market reports for the top 50 DMAs (PDFs) + Retail Tenant Directory database of over 5,400 retail companies -- Search by square footage, the areas they operate or plan to expand into, types of locations (enclosed mall, strip center, etc.) they prefer, and by any of more than 70 retail categories. + National Research Bureau database of shopping centers, featuring profiles of more than 40,000 shopping centers, from neighborhood strip centers to regional super-malls. Free registration required to access most content. This site is maintained by Trade Dimensions, a division of Spectra Marketing Systems and part of the ACNielsen business group in VNU Marketing Information Group. Editors Note: Both of the ROTW this time around were selected and compiled by ResourceShelf contributing editor, Shirl Kenndy.
Health Information Source: National Library of Medicine Internists to Write Patients Prescriptions for Information A new and innovative project from NLM. Great marketing, too! This is a win/win for all parties -- most importantly, patients. From the announcement, "ACP's [American College of Physicians] 115,000 internist members will be encouraged to 'prescribe' information for their patients from MedlinePlus using a special 'prescription pad' during office visits. 'Physicians have always known that an informed patient who takes an active role is a 'better' patient,' noted NLM Director Donald A.B. Lindberg, MD. 'We believe that both patients and their doctors will welcome this additional medical tool -- good medical information -- in their continuing efforts to provide good health care.' Traditionally, physicians have supplemented discussion of a diagnosis or condition in the office with brochures that are rarely tailored to each patient's special needs. Today, the majority of U.S. adults online -- 80 percent -- use the Internet to find health information, and most say it helps them get better health care, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Dr. Addington pointed out that health content on the Net ranges from clinical research to pharmaceutical product sales promotions, to endorsements of herbal and mineral supplements and everything in between. 'It's not easy to determine the credibility or validity of online health information,' he said." See Also: Learn About the Weekly MEDLINEPlus E-Mail Announcement List
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents Africa--Internet Resources Source: Stanford University Libraries Africa South of the Sahara: Selected Internet Resources "Researchers can find information by topic or country...The directory has an extensive section on African history including a section for primary sources. There are also extensive sections for Education, South Africa, Journals (for African studies), libraries with African collections. All entries are annotated. If possible, the location of the domain owner is indicated." This resource is compiled and annotated by Karen Fung, Curator of the African Collection at the Stanford University Libraries. Another example of the great work being done by librarians to assist in organizing the Internet! -- Business Research--Internet Resources New/Updated Research Guides from the Baker Library, Harvard Business School + Advertising and Branding + Broadcasting + Demographics and Consumer Behavior + Economics + Marketing Strategies and Channels All Guides A-Z -- Baseball Source: American Memory Project/Library of Congress Just Added to American Memory, Spalding Base Ball Guides, 1889-1939 "Spalding Base Ball Guides, 1889-1939 comprises a historic selection of Spalding’s Official Base Ball Guide and the Official Indoor Base Ball Guide. The collection reproduces 35 of the guides, which were published by the Spalding Athletic Company in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Spalding’s Official Base Ball Guide was perhaps the premier publication of its day for the game of baseball. It featured editorials from baseball writers on the state of the game, statistics, photographs, and analysis of the previous season for all the Major League teams and for many of the so-called minor leagues across the nation."
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries Libraries Wired and Reborn Source: The New York Times From the article, "This bayou parish [Terrebonne, LA] is a showcase, an example of how a major institution like the American public library has been transformed by an Internet connection. (The impact on corporations, schools and government has been significant, too; for each of those institutions, the Internet has been a tool to further its main purpose - making money, educating people and delivering services.) For the library, supplying patrons with access to the Internet and the Web has become central to its mission, an updating of its long tradition of providing information free to the public." Thanks to B.Q. for the news tip. -- Book Reviews Searching Booklist Reviews Last week, we linked to a preprint of an article by Peter Jacso titled, "AW, Look What They've Done to the Booklist Reviews, Ma" where he writes about problems searching for Booklist reviews on the ALA web site. Since I posted the article, Dr. Jacso has created a tool to make it easier to find this material. Thanks, Peter! Btw, he has also informed me about a new PolySearch module that will focus on finding book reviews on the web. It should be available this summer. What's a PolySearch? Learn more here. Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Web Search--Yahoo New, More Yahoo Search Shortcuts Shortcuts continue to proliferate in the web search world. I just discovered this page that lists all of Yahoo's shortcuts and noticed a few new ones (at least they are new to me). Using the proper "shortcut" term (in some cases you don't even need to add any extra terms to your query) will place a potential answer and/or links to find more info at the top of the results page. It would be wonderful if the search companies would query busy reference librarians to help create new shortcuts. What's New + Encyclopedia Lookup Use the suffix "facts" (search terms). For example: Tasmania facts. Content comes from the Columbia Encyclopedia. -- + Synonym Finder Use the prefix synonym (search terms). For example: Synonym tired. Content from the Roget's II: The New Thesaurus. -- + Hotel Info Use the term Hotels after a location. For example: Seattle hotels -- Traffic Reports Use the term Traffic after a location. For example: Baltimore traffic -- After reviewing the shortcuts page you'll note that Yahoo now offers many of the same shortcuts that Google makes available. These include airport info, aircraft number registration info, package tracking, patent search, UPC Codes, and VIN (vehicle identification number) info. Yahoo also recognizes ISBN's and will produce a link allowing you to compare prices for the book via Yahoo Shopping database. Finally, for the search historians out there, search shortcuts were first introduced by AltaVista (now part of Yahoo) in February 2002. See Also: Ask Jeeves Launches Famous People Search
Web Search Search Engine Radar Update Here are a few new general web search tools to keep an eye on. These projects are NOT ready for prime time but still are worth a spot on your search engine radar. Each of these tools is building its own databases and not repackaging data from other sources. At the moment each index is very small. + FyberSearch This engine allows the user to tweak the keyword density portion of its relevancy algorithm. I haven't seen this option from a general web engine. I like it! You often find this functionality from databases like LexisNexis and Factiva where the searcher can specify how many times a word or phrase must be mentioned in a document to be considered relevant. Often, the syntax atleast(x) is used. An advanced interface and image searching are available. You'll also notice a link (on search results pages) to immediately reindex each page. Finally, options to limit your search to terms in the title, meta tags, and url by simply pointing and clicking. The default search finds your terms in page titles only. You'll need to select "content keywords" to search terms on the page. + Mozdex A beta built by Byron Miller using the Nutch open source search platfom. A bit more info from Search Engine Journal. + Sootle In alpha mode. Being built by a group of people located throughout the world. Comments from Tara and Battelle.
Digitization Projects--Australia Source: National Library of Australia One Million Images: PictureAustralia Database Reaches Milestone From the announcement, "The millionth PictureAustralia image, which comes from the Australian War Memorial's collection, is that of heroic Australian army nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, the sole survivor of the Banka (Sumatra) massacre of World War II. PictureAustralia, a collaborative Internet-based service hosted by the National Library, allows users to search the online pictorial collections of many cultural agencies from the one website. The service commenced in 1998 with five participating organisations and 470,000 images; it has grown to 34 organisations and one million images." See Also: Use the PictureAustralia Database
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Library Organizations--ALA The 2002-2003 ALA Annual Report is Now Available Online Summary ||| Direct to Full Text -- Library Organizations--JISC Source: The Guardian "The hidden potential of the web" From the article, "...the ambitions of Common Information Environment (CIE), a new attempt to open up the growing treasure house of data held on publicly funded websites. The idea is to reveal the 'hidden web' - archives held by organisations available only via their own home pages - to non-specialist researchers."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items) Source: InfoWorld Can E-Mail Be Saved? "Battered by junk and reeling under makeshift fixes, e-mail is ripe for reinvention. Here's how six of the industry's most provocative thinkers envision a brighter day.... Our six experts gave us six different answers. But all of them agreed that positive identification, rather than rejiggered economics, is the key to clearing the clutter from the e-mail channel in the enterprise." Ideas from Eric Allman (author of Sendmail); Bill Warner (developer of the Wildfire voice system); Eric Hahn (former Netscape CTO; now CEO of own startup, Proofpoint); Ray Ozzie (creator of Lotus Notes; founder/CEO of Groove Networks); Dave Winer (chairman/founder of Userland and uberblogger); Brewster Kahle (creator of WAIS, Alexa; now head of The Internet Archive). Download entire special report as PDF (5.92 MB) -- Documents in the News Environment Source: U.S. Commission on Oceans Full Text, Just Released, Preliminary Report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy Background in this Washington Post article. - Research Funding--United States Source: RAND Corporation New, Vital Assets: Federal Investment in Research and Development at the Nation's Universities and Colleges "The federal government's investment in research and development (R&D) at the nation's universities -- which is pivotal to the U.S. innovation system -- has grown considerably. This report assesses that investment and presents a detailed analysis of the federal funds received for the conduct of R&D by state and by individual universities and colleges." Among other findings, the study reports, "Medical schools received 45 percent of all federal research and development funds provided to U.S. colleges and universities in the 2002 fiscal year." Full document, including appendix of state-by-state information - (PDF; 2.2 MB) Summary only (PDF; 0.1 MB) State-by-state appendix only (PDF; 0.9 MB) Press release See Also: New, Federal Funds for Research and Development: Fiscal Years 2001, 2002, and 2003 (via NSF) -- International Relations Source: House of Commons Library New Research Paper: Kashmir "This Paper discusses the disagreements between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, the situation in Indian administered Kashmir and the current discussions between India and Pakistan, and between India and some Kashmiri separatists. It includes relevant UN resolutions and international agreements in Annexes, and a map." -- Construction--Glossary Source: National Contractor Referrals and License Bureau NCRS Glossary of Contractor Terms "The construction term glossary has over 12,000 entries.... The best way to search for a term is to use either single words or short phrases. Alternatively, you may choose to browse the glossary by using the alphabetical index located under the search term box."
Awards 2004 Webby Award Nominees Announced I'm happy to read that a research tool we regularly mention on ResourceShelf, RocketNews, received a nomination in the news category. See Also: Rocket News Adds Advanced Search Options Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Web Search--Google The #1 Result for the Word "Jew" on Google is No Longer Anti-Semitic Site The effort (it sure didn't take long) to create a Google Bomb and change the first result for the search "Jew" from an anti-Semitic site to the Wikipedia entry for the term appears to have been successful. I started noticing the Wikipedia entry in the first spot yesterday. Background in this NY Times article from Thursday. Searchblog's John Battelle also provides commentary.
Image Search--Yahoo Yahoo "Officially" Relaunches Image Search A couple of weeks ago, we linked to Search Engine Showdown's post containing the news that Yahoo Image Search was no longer using the Google image database. Today, Yahoo made an official announcement about the relaunch of Image Search. What is Yahoo touting? + The database contains MORE than 630 million images. How many more? When I asked the company for the new total, they informed me that they were not (at least for now) publicly disclosing this info. + Image database now includes content from Yahoo News and Yahoo Movies. + Advanced search options include options to limit by size, color, and image type. + Option to limit by domain is available.
The British Library 'Turn' the pages of world cultures, science, history - landmark step as Turning the Pages hits the web Make sure to check this out! From the announcement, Some of the country's most spectacular treasures are now accessible as never before. The British Library has made available ten items from its unique interactive display system Turning the Pages on the web. Now anyone - worldwide - with access to the internet will be able to 'turn' the pages of electronic images from these major items in the Library's collection and experience Turning the Pages by use of a computer mouse [you will also need to have Macromedia Flash running and in a few cases must use IE] in a similar way as visitors to the Library's Exhibition Galleries in London can run their fingers over the computer screen and 'turn' images from these works. Turning the Pages brings together on the web treasures of several of the world cultures that are represented in Britain today: the Diamond Sutra (Buddhism), Sultan Baybars' Qur'an (Islam), the Golden Haggadah (Judaism), plus the Lindisfarne Gospels, Sherborne Missal, Luttrell Psalter and Sforza Hours (Christianity), along with scientific works (Leonardo da Vinci's Notebook, Elizabeth Blackwell's Herbal and Andreas Vesalius's De Humani Corporis Fabrica, a rare sixteenth century treatise on anatomy)." See Also: Direct to the Turning the Pages Site See Also: Learn More About the TTP Technology
eBooks Cleveland Public Library is First to Lend eBooks for Smartphones and all PDAs From the news release, "When Cleveland Public Librarian Cynthia Orr checks her new Motorola cell phone, in addition to making calls, it's to read new eBook titles available from the CLEVNET Digital Library Connection. Cleveland Public Library was first among a national network of public libraries to add Mobipocket eBooks to their download libraries. With the free Mobipocket Reader software, patrons can download and read titles on Motorola, Samsung, and Nokia Smartphones, virtually all PDAs, and on personal and notebook computers."
Web Search--Microsoft Updated: A ResourceShelfPLUS Compilation of Microsoft Search-Related Writing and Patents Microsoft's work in search is a very popular topic these days. On ResourceShelfPLUS I've updated a compilation of selected Microsoft search-related technical writing and search-related patents. Interesting material and reading for the search geek.
Professional Reading Shelf (5 Items) RSS LawLibTech Explains How to Use The Bloglines RSS Reader to Retrieve and Read Your Email Discussion Lists Cindy Chick continues her tutorial about using RSS. The first part of her Bloglines tutorial starts here. Even more about RSS here. Kudos Cindy! -- Information Industry--Questia Source: Times Online Online Librarian Driven by Global Mission They're still around! A profile of Troy Williams, founder of Questia. "Williams will not say how many subscribers Questia has, but says they come from 181 countries including Mongolia, Chad and Surinam. About 80 per cent are from the US and 5 per cent from the UK." Thanks to SDK for the link and annotation. -- Public Records Source: Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel Driver's License Efforts Clash "Florida legislators are working to pass a new law to protect personal information on driver's licenses, while another arm of state government is quietly moving to expand sales of information such as drivers' names and addresses." -- Government Documents--United States Source: GPO Full Text, Decision Framework for Federal Document Repositories "This draft Decision Framework for Federal Document Repositories was prepared by the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) for the U.S. Government Printing Office. The decision framework is intended for use in creating the specifications for a system of regional repositories for tangible federal government documents. The decision framework will enable the Superintendent of Documents to evaluate the qualities, resources, and capabilities of potential repository facilities and their governing organizations, and to identify the configuration of light and dark repositories most appropriate to ensure the persistent archiving and public availability of tangible federal documents." -- Classification Source: NLM NLM Classification Updated
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) Election 2004 Source: Factiva Factiva Media Visibility Index (SM) Tracks the Hot-Button Issues for 2004 Presidential Election During the Week Ending April 18,2004 "From April 2004 to November 2004, the Factiva Media Visibility Index will be tracking the number of times current, hot-button issues are mentioned in the media by candidates competing in the 2004 Presidential election. The Index will track these issues on a weekly basis." -- Mothers--United States--Fast Facts Source: U.S. Census Just Released, Facts for Features: Mother's Day A myriad of facts about moms in the United States. -- Asian Americans--Fast Facts Source: U.S. Census Just Released: Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: May 2004 Facts about the Asian American population. -- Older Americans--Fast Facts Source: U.S. Census Just Released: Older Americans Month Celebrated in May. A compilation of facts about older Americans.
Industry Briefs (2 Items) Unstructured Information...Inxight Unveils TimeWall; Interactive Visual Information Discovery Solution Allows Users to See Event Patterns Over Time You can take a look at what a display looks like here. Inxight also announced today that they will continue to work with In-Q-Tel, a private not-for-profit venture group funded by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). -- Online Maps Navteq, Supplier of Map Content to AOL/Yahoo/Others, Has Filed for an IPO Monday, April 19, 2004
Happy National Library Week! To celebrate NLW a few companies are making FREE demos of fee-based databases available.
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Scholarly Publishing Source: The Observer Why the sci-mag barons are right From the article, "Crispin Davis, chief executive of leading publisher Reed Elsevier, defends the industry...The current discussion about innovation in scientific publishing has engaged not only science and medical researchers, but also librarians, funding agencies and publishers. Let's look at three key questions at the heart of this debate. First, what value do established science publishers deliver to research communities in the internet age? Second, how well does the structure of the science publishing industry serve its communities? Third, could the new 'author pays to publish', or 'open access', model improve science publishing?" Thanks to Ian W. for the news tip. -- Libraries Source: CLIR Full Text, Access in the Future Tense From the abstract, "CLIR organized a conference in May 2003 to examine the key factors shaping the information environment in which libraries operate and how these factors will affect stewardship of the cultural and intellectual resources vital to education and research. Scholars, library directors, university administrators, publishers, collectors, and representatives from the legal and preservation communities came together to explore the challenges posed by the shifting information landscape and to propose directions that can be taken by all in research and education who have an interest in the well-being of research and cultural heritage collections. To frame the discussion, CLIR asked four experts to address key features of the changing landscape. Their papers are presented here, prefaced by a brief overview of the information landscape and followed by a concluding essay on the implications of their findings." See Also: A summary in this article by Abby Smith
Web Search--Google + Rule may compel Google to open books (via SJ Mercury News) + Europe: Privacy group steps up Gmail complaints (via Reuters)
Web Search Source: SearchDay Search Engine Users: Loyal or Blase? Chris Sherman writes, "Searchers are loyal to their favorite search engine, and stubbornly stick with it even if they don't initially find what they're looking for, according to a new survey of web users." He continues, "A scant 13% follow the advice that we frequently preach here at Search Engine Watch [and ResourceShelf], using a different search engine depending on what they are looking for." See Also: A Bit More in this News Release
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (6 Items) Business--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: San Jose Mercury News 2003 Silicon Valley 150 Top 150 public companies. Additional info and lists for 2002 and 2001 are also available. -- e-Readiness--Lists & Rankings Source: Economist Intelligence Unit New Survey, Scandinavia consolidates lead in fifth annual Economist Intelligence Unit e-readiness rankings Summary ||| Full Text ||| Reuters Report -- Broadband--United States--Statistics Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project New Report, Broadband Penetration on the Upswing "55% of adult Internet users have broadband at home or work." Summary ||| Direct to Full Text -- Bontanical Sciences--Databases Source: The Guardian New, Cyber book of life unlocks gardens' secrets From the article, "Kew scientists are compiling the first volumes of the cyber book of life. In the next few years - in some cases already - researchers, farmers, foresters and gardeners anywhere in the world will be able to click a mouse and call up via the internet a high-resolution image of a rare plant preserved in the herbarium of London's Royal Botanic Gardens for more than 200 years." See Also: Learn More and Search the Database -- Energy--Statistics Source: EIA Just Released, International Energy Outlook 2004 "The full report of the International Energy Outlook 2004 has been released in PDF format. This report provides an assessment of international energy markets with projections of worldwide energy consumption by fuel type and carbon emissions by regions to the year 2025." -- Patents--United States Source: National Research Council Just Released, Full Text Report, Changes Needed to Improve Operation of U.S. Patent System Summary ||| Direct to Full Text The report is titled, A Patent System for the 21st Century. Thanks to Steven C. for the news tip. Sunday, April 18, 2004
Online Research Source: Charlotte Observer To Navigate Seas of Data, Pick Librarian Over Google "It takes skill to evaluate the credibility of information provided by search engine software. Anyone (and his brother) can post a Web site claiming to provide accurate and reliable information. Librarians are trained in evaluation of information sources. They also know the secrets of the Web, and how to find the information buried beneath the accessible surface. Users of the 'free' Internet might not realize that high-quality information is increasingly a commodity -- with a price tag. It costs (dearly) to access rich databases." Thanks to Shirl Kennedy for the link and annotation.
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Librarianship Now Available Online, Full-Text, April 2004 Issue, Journal of the Medical Librarian Association Articles and Editorials Include: + Mounting evidence that librarians are essential for comprehensive literature searches for meta-analyses and Cochrane reports + Connections between open access publishing and access to gray literature + Metropolis redux: the unique importance of library skills in informatics + Reference librarians' perceptions of the issues they face as academic health information professionals -- Public Libraries Source: Library + Information Update Full Text article, Inspiring learning for all From the article, "What is it that public libraries should be doing? Inspiring learning for all is the MLA's (formerly Resource) answer and it has just launched an online resource which will help them do just that, as Jonathan Douglas explains."
Information Retrieval Source: AP Researchers develop 3-D search engine From the article, "The mind-boggling speed and reach of Internet search engines mask a severe limitation: They are powered by words alone." See Also: 3D Model Search Engine Demo (via Princeton University) See Also: ResourceShelf Post from 3/31/04 Saturday, April 17, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) National Archives--United States Source: FCW John Carlin, Archivist of the United States, Resigns President Bush's nominee to take over at NARA, Allen Weinstein, is causing controversy. From an American Libraries article, "Nine organizations, including the Association of Research Libraries and the Society of American Archivists, issued a statement April 14 voicing their concern over the selection. Noting that the administration had not consulted with professional organizations of archivists or historians, the groups observed, 'This is the first time since the National Archives and Records Administration was established as an independent agency that the process of nominating an Archivist of the United States has not been open for public discussion and input.'" See Also: Full Text of Statement Signed by Nine Organizations -- Library Funding--United States Source: ALA New Resource, ALA launches Web site detailing library funding cuts nationwide "School, public and academic libraries in more than 40 states have absorbed more than $50 million in funding cuts over the past year, according to a national study by the American Library Association (ALA). The study and detailed information about the cuts appear in a new ALA Web site, www.ala.org/libraryfunding. Friday, April 16, 2004
Libraries Source: The New York Times Electronic Database Resources Mentioned in NY Times Check the second letter. (-:
Digitization Projects--United Kingdom Historic sound recordings go digital A major 1 million pound programme to digitise 12,000 items of sound recordings from the British Library’s Sound Archive, which amounts to nearly 4,000 hours of recordings, has been announced today by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). See Also: News Release from The British Library See Also: Learn More About The British Library Sound Archive
News Search--MSN Source: News.com Changes at MSN Newsbot A busy week for personalization! MSN continues to build its news search tool. Today more personalization features were added to Newsbot. A U.S. version of Newsbot is not available yet but you can access and use versions for 11 regions/countries here. What's new: + Users no longer need to register to gain access to personalized features. It's now cookie-based. I couldn't find a method to move your personalized results to a different computer. + Ability to review and remove articles from your search history. + Direct links to subject pages (World, Country, Business, Sports, Entertainment, Science/Health, Technology) + A new page layout includes two boxes. + The first "box of links" is titled the "Daily Me." These are links that are based on stories you've already clicked on. Each headline includes a second link that explains why the article is being suggested. + The second "box of links" is titled the "Daily We." It lists popular articles that others are reading. + Links to individual stories contain a "popularity rank" and the number of "similar stories." + The time it takes to build each page is now provided. For example, it might read "created for you in 0.14 seconds." + A list of "popular stories" is available. + In addition to the pre-built and personalized pages, material in Newsbot is also searchable. A search using the UK version returned many U.S. resources. + More info here. The number of sources Newsbot is crawling is not provided. See Also: ResourceShelf's Original Posting About Newsbot from November See Also: Findory, another personalized news tool from Seattle See Also: And More Personalized News...Memigo and Gixo
Professional Reading Shelf (4 Items) Open Archives Initiative Source: Library Hi-Tech New Article, Full Text, Open Archives Initiative Data Providers Part I Gerry McKiernan looks at: + Digital Library of the Commons + E-LIS: Eprints in Library and Information Science + INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collection + Open Video Project -- Digital Preservation Source: GPO Full Text, Report on the Meeting of Experts on Digital Preservation "The meeting brought together practicing experts in the field of digital format conversion, as well as representatives of funding and other coordinating organizations, to discuss the current standards and specifications for the creation of digital objects for preservation and to put forward a proposed set of minimum requirements for digitizing documents for this project." The meeting took place in Washington DC last month. -- Digital Libraries The April 2004 Issue of D-Lib is Now Online Articles include: + The Return on Investment of Electronic Journals - It Is a Matter of Time + nestor: Network of Expertise in Long-term Storage of Digital Resources - A Digital Preservation Initiative for Germany -- Scholarly Publishing Source: ISI New, The Impact of Open Access Journals: A Citation Study from Thomson ISI Thanks to Jill O. and Peter S.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items) Athletics--United States--Directories Source: American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R) Directory of Sports Organizations for Athletes with Disabilities "Sports competitions for athletes with disabilities have blossomed over the past 35 years. These athletes have special requirements that only physiatrists can address. Unfortunately, most of these athletes are not being followed by physiatrists, and no system exists for engaging qualified physiatrists for this purpose. This directory takes the first step by providing a nationwide listing of organizations to help local physiatrists become involved with sporting events for athletes with disabilities." Organizations grouped alphabetically by sport, from Aquatics to Wilderness and Hiking. -- Population--United States--Statistics New, Disability Status of the Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population by Sex and Selected Characteristics for the United States and Puerto Rico: 2000 -- Usability Source: Disability Rights Commission (UK) New, Formal Investigation report - The Web: Access and Inclusion for Disabled People Additional info here.
ERIC Source: U.S. Dept. of Ed. New ERIC Web Site Scheduled to Open on September 1st The info was posted yesterday on the ERIC site. No additional details are provided. In March the Department of Education awarded a $34.6 million contract to develop and operate ERIC. Thursday, April 15, 2004
Resources of the Week 3 items. -- 1) Online Databases A Week of FREE TRIALS!!! Free Trials: Gale Celebrates National Library Week (April 18-April 24) With A Week of FREE Access to 24 Databases It's likely that you already have free access to some of these database 24x7x365 via your local public or college library. If you don't have access or just want to sample what these databases have to offer this is a great opportunity. Here's a list of what Gale is making available: General Knowledge (includes Spanish-language and Health) + Gale Virtual Reference Library +InfoTrac OneFile Note: Full Text articles from thousands of publications + InfoTrac Religion & Philosophy + Consulta (Spanish language) + Informe (Spanish language) + Health & Wellness Resource Center Student/Homework Reference + Student Resource Center + Junior Reference Collection + Discovering Collection + Kids InfoBits + Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center + Testing and Education Reference Center History, Biography and Literature + Eighteenth Century Collections Online + History Resource Center - Modern World + History Resource Center - U.S. + Times Digital Archive + Biography and Genealogy Master Index + Biography Resource Center Note: A favorite of mine + Literature Resource Center + What Do I Read Next? Business & Law + Business & Company Resource Center + Associations Unlimited Note: This is the electronic version of the Encyclopedia of Associations + Military and Intelligence Database + LegalTrac And Another Company Celebrates National Library Week With A Free Trial... xrefer Will Offer a Free Trial of xreferplus Next Week You'll need to register here. The xreferplus database contains the full text from more than 150 reference books. Here's a complete list of titles. Cool! And for the Legal Researcher... Legal Dockets Online is Making Their Service Available Free This Week! LOGIN: nlw PASSWORD: free -- 2) Theatre--Reviews The New York Times: Theatre Review Archive The NYT is now offering free access to most of its theatre reviews back to 1996, plus other "selected reviews" dating back to 1905. You can browse these in a variety of ways -- by title of the play, by year, by critic or by award (Pulitzer, Tony). A special feature on this same page: Unforgettable Plays of the Last Century -- "25 Broadway productions that defined the 20th century and another 100 memorable productions," drawn from The New York Times Book of Broadway. Click on the title links to read reviews of everything from The 3-Penny Opera to Six Characters in Search of an Author. And while you're here, you might want to browse through the Hirschfeld Archive, a selection of Al Hirschfeld's caricature line drawings that appeared in the Times theatre section for 75 years. Also available: New York Times Movie Review Archive: "Browse or search more than 5,000 New York Times movie reviews. Included in the free review archive are all films reviewed since 1983, reviews of all Best Picture Academy Award winners, as well as a selective list of the 1,000 Best Movies." -- 3) Web-Based Tools Web Frequency Indexer "This page allows you to create a frequency index, or 'word list,' of a text. Paste or type in your text below, and select a sort order [most frequent, least frequent, alphabetical]." You can learn more here. This web tool was created by Catherine Bell, an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University.
News Searching Advanced Search Syntax with Topix.net Topix, the news database (and much more) that scours more than 6000 sources, offers some undocumented syntax that some of you might find useful. You can learn more about Topix in this ResourceShelf interview with the company's CEO, Rich Skrenta. + Use "" for phrase searching + Boolean available (and, or, andnot) + t: + d: + It's possible to combine the syntax An option to limit to specific sources will be available in the near future. Thanks to Topix.net's Bryn Dole for the info.
The British Library Digitization Projects Source: ManagingInformation.com British Library's Turning the Pages Goes Online From the article, "Turning the Pages, the unique interactive touch screen system devised by the British Library, is going in its entirety on the web. From 20th April all nine of the treasures whose pages can be 'turned' by visitors to the Library will become just as accessible on the www." Four books are already online next week. You'll need to have Macromedia Shockwave running to use TTP. See Also: Direct to Turning the Pages Web Site
Citation Analysis Scholarly Publishing Source: ISI + High-Impact Countries: The Top Ten, 1993-2003 + Geosciences: High-Impact U.S. Universities, 1998-2002 and a new a feature available on the In-Cites Web Site: Current Classics "Current Classics is a listing of papers (one in each field) having the greatest absolute increase in cumulative citations from the previous bimonthly period to now. A total of up to 10 years of ISI Essential Science Indicators Web product citation data, plus some number of consecutive bimonthly periods during the current year, are used to determine the Current Classic paper selected for each field."
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Online Reviews Preprint: AW, Look What They've Done to the Booklist Reviews, Ma' This article by Peter Jacso will appear in the July/August issue of Online. -- Book Arts Source: C&RL News Webliography: Book arts on the Web An introduction to selected resources compiled by Cynthia L. Gregory. Ms. Gregory is a librarian at the College of Mount St. Joseph Library in Cincinnati.
Industry Briefs (2 Items) Books Online Used Book Marketplace Alibris Files For an IPO Note: Oops, we missed this one last month. Popular online used book "marketplace" (used by many libraries) Alibris filed for an IPO in March. If nothing else the S-1 document (filed 3/3) provides some interesting info about the sale of used books online. -- Elsevier...Company Signs Agreement with Seven Virginia Universities
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items) Government Documents--United States Source: OpenTheGovernment.Org New Report, Released Today, "Ten Most Wanted" Documents Summary ||| Direct to Full Text The OpenTheGovernment.org web site officially launched today. OTG is a coalition of more than thirty organizations including several library groups. You can learn more a bit more about the organization here. -- Spyware Source: InformationWeek Just Released Report, New Report: Average PC Plagued With 28 Pieces Of Spyware "The average computer is crammed with nearly 28 pieces of spyware, according to a report released Thursday by Atlanta-based ISP EarthLink and WebRoot Software, a message privacy and protection provider." See Also: Earthlink Spy Audit -- Football--United States Source: NFL Just Released, 2004 NFL Schedule Now Available The national television primetime schedule is also available.
Web Search-Gigablast Source: ACM Queue Steve Kirsch Chats With Gigablast's Matt Wells Matt Wells, the founder and sole proprietor of the always expanding and improving Gigablast, sits down with Infoseek's founder and Propel CEO Steve Kirsch. Wells used to work for Kirsch at Infoseek. A great read! I conducted an interview with Wells in September. It was published on SearchDay. A Few Gigablast News Items + Yet Another New Feature at Gigablast, "Giga Bits" (1/04) + Gigablast Adds Direct Links To The Wayback Machine (1/04) + Gigablast Now Supports Generic Meta Tags (9/03) + Gigablast Supporting the Use of Geo Sensitive Meta Tags (9/03) Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Web Search--a9 Amazon's Much Discussed a9 Goes Live Searchblog broke the story this afternoon and J.B. has many comments on its implications. I'll offer up a brief tour of a product that needs some work -- especially if it's going to be of value to the "power searcher." Right now, it's just Google (that's even a stretch) and a few interesting bells and whistles. Amazon's Alexa web site has offered a web engine (powered by Google) since April of 2002. Alexa remains online. + Web results come from the Google. Either the page estimate numbers are off at Google (not unlikely) or what's more likely, is that A9 is not licensing the entire Google database. At one point Yahoo didn't license the entire Google dbase. It also appears that a9 uses a default "family filter." There is no option to turn the filter off. + No surprise, a9 has a toolbar (IE, Windows Only). The toolbar offers a "diary" feature that allows you to "take notes on any web page, and reference them whenever you visit that page, on any computer that you use." This is something I haven't seen from other toolbars. You can also search The Internet Movie Database (another Amazon company) and the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Thesaurus from the toolbar. Finally, a pull-down option on the toolbar is labeled "search Google." This seems odd since the default a9 search uses the Google database. + Your complete "search history" is available (including searches on the Amazon.com site) IF you use your Amazon login. You do not have to register/log-in to use a9. Your search history is organized into folders (i.e., recent searches, searches in the past 24 hours, two weeks ago, etc.). It would be useful if you could limit your search to only pages that you've seen. In other words, an option to keyword search the pages that make up your history file. + Results pages contain: ++ Up to two sponsored links at the top of the list. ++ Title, Link, URL, and the date/time you last clicked on the link. If you've never clicked on it, it should read "new." ++ Snippet; search terms are highlighted. ++ Non-HTML formats are not automatically converted into HTML version. ++ Link to a cached copy. The link actually drops you at a Google server. ++ Link to info about site. Info comes from Alexa (another Amazon.com company). This service has been online since April 2002). You can also get basic info by placing and holding your cursor over the "Site Info" button. + On the right side of the results page, you'll notice two more columns. The first one is labeled "Open Book" results. The second is labeled "Search History." All three columns CAN BE ADJUSTED by simply dragging them to the left or right. Note to a9: How about working with ILS and database vendors and create a library research column? + "Open Book" results come from the Amazon book database. + NO advanced interface, no language limiting options; Google's search shortcuts are not available BUT most of Google's syntax works. + No option to show more than 10 results per page. + Two results from a domain are visible (although the second result is not indented). No "more results from link" is available. + a9 offers the ability to search directly from the url box by entering: a9.com/(search terms) + Those who want total privacy when using a9 can use the generic.a9.com URL where a9 and Amazon cookies will not be recognized. Bottom Line: Remember, this is a beta release. We'll be on the lookout for changes. I hope a change that a9 makes very soon is serving up a new color scheme. See Also: Udi Manber the head of a9 spoke at the University of Washington in November. You can watch an archived version of his lecture here. The lecture is titled, "The World's Information at Everyone's Fingertips." See Also: Interview with Udi Manber (via Business 2.0)
Digital Archives--Russia Source: The Moscow Times Virtual Archive "To myopic scholars searching hundreds of hours for that needle in the haystack, a growing online library of Russian literature holds promise of a dust-free academic life."
Business Research--Specialized Search Tools New Services From The Scannery We first reported on this international business and investor information database in November and then posted an update in February. Today, we've learned that The Scannery continues to expand as well as offering a new service. + New, Personalization Options (MyScannery) "Create and store a watchlist of keywords and search phrases." + Database Coverage: 20,000 public companies, over 13,000 websites, from across 65+ countries + Companies from the following countries are now being indexed: Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, India, Iran, Kuwait, Morocco, Pakistan, Panama, Portugal, Romania, Turkey, UAE. See Also: TimbukOne.com
Professional Reading Shelf U.S. Government--Electronic Records Source: GCN State, NARA complete first transfer of electronic records From the article, "The State Department and the National Archives and Records Administration today completed the first electronic transfer of diplomatic records. When secretary of State Colin Powell handed a stack of CD-ROMs to national archivist John Carlin at ceremony at State headquarters, it marked the transformation from a total paper process dating back to World War II to one that uses modern technology."
Enterprise Search Source: Information Today New, ITI Enterprise Search Center Those of you who have an interest in enterprise search might want to check out this new site from ITI. From the page, "The vendors participating on this site (currently Entopia, Northern Light and Synomia) have volunteered to show you how their search engines perform under a real market test." The test utilizes content from eight ITI web sites. Btw, ITI's Enterprise Search Summit is scheduled to take place in NYC next. Avi Rappaport, Sue Feldman, Martin White, Peter Morville, Steve Arnold and others will be there.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents Children--United States--Statistics Source: NCES New Report, Before- and After-School Care, Programs, and Activities of Children From the report, "This new report provides insight into the complex and varied ways kindergarten through eighth graders in the nation spend their time out of school." -- Mobile Phones Source: Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox Why Mobile Phones Are Annoying "Bystanders rated mobile-phone conversations as dramatically more noticeable, intrusive, and annoying than conversations conducted face-to-face. While volume was an issue, hearing only half a discussion also seemed to up the irritation factor." Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Web Search--Google Source: Reuters California Legislator Drafts Legislation to Block Gmail A California State Senator has told Reuters that she's writing legislation to block Google's new email service. Stay tuned. From the article, "A California state senator said Monday she was drafting legislation to block Google's free e-mail service 'Gmail' because it would place advertising in personal messages after searching them for key words. 'We think it's an absolute invasion of privacy. It's like having a massive billboard in the middle of your home,' said Sen. Liz Figueroa, a Democrat from Fremont, Calif. 'We are asking them to rethink the whole product,' she said." See Also: Here's the News Release from Sen. Liz Figueroa's office She writes, "I cannot urge you [Google] strongly enough to abandon this misbegotten idea [GMail]... I believe you are embarking on a disaster of enormous proportions, for yourself, and for all of your customers." UPDATE: The bill has been introduced in the California legislature. Here's the text. Thanks S.C.-- and in other Google News... Open Season on Trademarks (via News.com) Google lawyers might be spending lots of time in courtrooms. From the article, "Google plans to stop limiting sales of trademarks in its popular keyword advertising program, a high-stakes gamble that could boost revenue but also create new legal problems for the company. Sheryl Sandberg, Google's vice president of global online sales and operations, on Monday confirmed the changes. She said Google in the next two weeks will begin allowing U.S. and Canadian advertisers to bid on any keyword, including trademarked terms, sold as part of its sponsored listings service...Previously, Google had granted requests from advertisers, including 1-800 Contacts and eBay, to bar competitors from bidding on their trademarked names. When the changes take effect later this month, Google will only review trademark complaints that relate to text appearing in sponsored listings on its Web site and those of its partners...The move also signals Google's increasingly aggressive posture in defending its primary source of revenue, according to some legal experts, who called the plan a gamble." and more... Google Says It Doesn't Plan to Change Search Results (via NY Times) From the article, "Google Inc., the leading Internet search engine, said Monday that it had no plans to alter its search results despite complaints that the first listing on a search for the word "Jew" directs people to an anti-Semitic Web site. The dispute points to one of the most difficult challenges that has plagued Web search engines: what to do when the results of a search are offensive to some, but legal?" Make sure to read John Battelle's excellent commentary. He also reports about how a group of people are organizing to create a "Google Bomb" that will change the result from the anti-semitic site to the wikipedia entry for the word Jew. Btw, the first result for the term Jew on Yahoo is Judaism 101. The same is true at Inktomi and Teoma.
News Search--Rocket News Rocket News Adds Advanced Search Options One of our favorite news search tools has added several new search options. Rocket News crawls more than 10,000 sources. + New advanced interface. Youll find it on a results page and clicking on the "advanced search" link or by going directly to http://www.rocketnews.com/news/advanced.jsp + "Contain ALL of these terms" is equal to a Boolean "And" + "AND contain ONE of these terms" is equal to a Boolean "Or" + "AND DO NOT contain ANY of these terms" is equal to a Boolean "Not" + If you select the "More Advanced Feature" Link, you're offered the following options: ++ News Category (Business, Sports, Health, etc.) ++ Location (by Continent or Region) ++ By Date (five-day range) ++ Sort (by relevance or date) ++ Number of results displayed ++ Option to keep or remove duplicates Rocket looks at the url, title, and body of article comparisons to determine duplicates. -- All results pages now offer an option to quickly add the query string to the Rocket News RSS reader (free, no download required). One useful feature that the Rocket News reader offers is the ability to create RSS feeds from any RocketNews search. New results will be delivered directly to ANY RSS reader.
Weblog Search Now Available: Daypop Top 40 Archives Those of you who want/need to review web "buzz" back to 2002 can take a look at the Daypop Archives Top 40 that Dan Chan is now making available. You'll find archived versions of Daypop Top 40, Top News, Top Posts, Word Bursts, News Bursts and Top Weblogs lists.
Government Documents--United States Source: GPO Government Printing Office Releases Draft of "Collection of Last Resort" Plan From an email message, "For some time, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) has been working on a plan to establish a Collection of Last Resort (CLR) to support the shared mission of GPO and Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) to provide comprehensive, timely, permanent public access to U.S. Government publications in all formats...This plan will continue to evolve as public comments are received and evaluated, as technology and the theory and practice of digital information preservation develop and as new knowledge becomes available." From the draft, "GPO will proactively acquire and preserve tangible and electronic copies of Government publications for inclusion in the CLR based on the requirements of all GPO information dissemination programs. In addition to publications acquired, harvested, or created for the information dissemination programs, the CLR will include agency source data files acquired pursuant to the OMB compact or other GPO services to publishing agencies. GPO will provide online public access and other information products and services derived from the digital preservation masters and other items in the CLR."
Professional Reading Shelf (5 Items) Librarians Source: Kansas City Star Special librarians are information 'detectives' From the article, "'What we do for a living is answer questions,' said Carol Doms, a corporate librarian. Doms works for NKH&W Inc., an advertising and marketing communications company in Kansas City. Doms also is a past president of the Heart of America chapter of the Special Libraries Association." -- Archives Source: American Historical Association A Life with the Archives An interview with Judith Schiff, chief research archivist at Yale. -- Association for Research Libraries Source: ARL ARL Program Plan 2004 -- Scholarly Publishing A New Issue of Open Access Now is Available Articles include: + Clinical trials: the public has a right to know + Encouraging results from the Oxford experiment -- Librarianship and Info Science Beginning Today: Free (One Week Only) Full Text Access to The Journal of Documentation Note: A change in policy at Emerald makes only the three most recent issues of a journal available via their Journal of the Week program. Here are of the articles that ARE available this week: + Query exhaustivity, relevance feedback and search success in automatic and interactive query expansion (Volume 60 Number 2) + Predictive ranking of computer scientists using CiteSeer data (Volume 60 Number 1) + Reasons for the use and non-use of electronic journals and databases: A domain analytic study in four scholarly disciplines (Volume 59 Number 6)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (6 Items) Business Leadership Source: Harvard Business School Great American Business Leaders Database "The Great American Business Leaders database was compiled over a two-year period in an effort to identify and chronicle the lives of individuals whose business leadership in the twentieth century shaped the way people live, work, and interact.... Note: only a portion of the database is available on this website. Please complete the attached form (PDF) for access to an electronic copy of the full data set." You can view the data sorted by last name, birthplace, industry, era, gender, ethnicity, education. See: What Great American Leaders Teach Us (via HBS Working Knowledge) Thanks to Shirl Kennedy for the link and annotation. -- Congressional Research Service Source: ZFacts Find Congressional Research Service Reports A neat little tool that appends the terms "Received through the CRS Web" and filetype:pdf to whatever terms you're searching for. The underlying database is Google. Note: You're likely to find many copies of the same report (via different sources) and, in some cases, you'll find versions of reports that have been updated since they were placed on the web. Be careful! Finally, you can add the the terms "Received through the CRS Web" filetype:pdf to Yahoo searches and also get results -- in some cases identical to what I found at Google. In some cases, Yahoo found more. You can also remove the filetype:pdf from the search string and use Vivisimo to cluster results. and speaking of CRS material... Congressional Research Service Reports Special Topics Source: IWS - The Information Warfare Site Links to the full text of CRS reports covering homeland security, intelligence, Iraq, national defense, national security threats & issues, NATO and terrorism. Also, chronological list of links to a wide range of reports published from 2001-2004. -- Internet Usage--United States--Statistics Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project New Data: Wireless connectivity, e-shopping, auctions, and Internet demographics -- Transportation--Statistics--United States Source: BTS Transportation Statistics Annual Report - October 2003 -- Veterans--United States Source: Department of Veterans Affairs New, Nationwide Gravesite Locator "Most of the 120 Department of Veterans Affairs' national cemeteries may be searched for burial locations." Records from six cemeteries are not currently in the database: Long Island; Los Angeles; Ft. Rosecrans; Golden Gate; San Francisco; and the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. "Arlington National Cemetery records are also available for interments that occurred after 1999. As more records are added to the database, more burial information will become available. Some state veterans cemeteries can also be searched." (Note: Server was very slow when site was checked late this afternoon.) Monday, April 12, 2004
Health Care--United States Source: The New York Times Medicare Web Site to Shine Light on Drug Prices From the article, "Medicare will soon publish detailed information comparing the prices of most prescription drugs, shining a bright light on some of the biggest secrets in the health care industry...The data will be available late this month on a government Web site, Medicare.gov. The site will list the prices charged for various dosages of specific drugs at retail pharmacies in or near a given ZIP code. If a brand-name drug has generic equivalents, their prices will be displayed as well."
News Search--Findory Source: Seattle Times Findory Gets Some Press Attention We first mentioned this "personalized" news search tool on March 5th. Here's an interview with Findory's founder, Greg Linden. Thanks to J.B. for the link. Want more? The Seattle P-I ran a story about Linden last week. See Also: Direct to the Findory Web Site
Online Information Source: Wired Whatever Happened to Gopher? From the article, "Mention gopher to a newcomer to the Web and you might get a blank stare. Mention it to an old-timer and you're likely to see a nostalgic smile. But to a community of developers and enthusiasts, gopher is alive and kicking. And if they have their way, it will have a healthy future."
Speech Recognition Source: Technology Review Cool Technology: Portable Translator (Registration Required, Free) This article doesn't directly or even indirectly relate to search but it sounds very cool! From the article, "A device that accurately translates everyday English conversations into Spanish—and vice versa—should be available by the end of the year, if all goes well at Sehda, a startup company in Mountain View, CA. The translator is a one-kilogram notebook computer equipped with a microphone and speakers that will run a phrase recognition program being developed by Sehda." See Also: Read More About Sehda's S-Minds Product
Librarians in the News Long Island Law Librarian Mentioned in Newsday Article Congrats and kudos to ResourceShelf friend, Library Stuff editor, Keeping Current author, and RSS zealot Steven Cohen for doing the library profession proud with this great mention.
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Background Checks Source: Chicago Tribune Holes Found in Cheap Background Checks "Employers worried about crime, terrorism and liability are embracing a new breed of online services for screening job candidates, but these low-budget background checks don't always check out. The cheapest ones routinely fail to identify criminals, performing such superficial reviews that serious offenders can get perfectly clean reports, critics say." -- Geographic Data Source: Computers in Libraries How Homeland Security Affects Spatial Information "A librarian serving on the Homeland Security Working Group of the Federal Geographic Data Committee reviews pre- and post-9/11 geospatial data access, details inconsistencies in information availability, and notes measures being taken to get sources of such materials to work in tandem." See also: Publicly Available Federal Geospatial Information of Little Unique Use to Terrorists, RAND Study Finds
Web Search NPR Launches Series About the Search Business The series starts this morning and runs all week. You can listen online. Thanks to Roxanne B. for the news tip.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items) Business--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Forbes Top U.S. Corporate Brands -- Baseball--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Forbes 2004 Major League Baseball Team Valuations -- Internal Revenue Service Source: TRAC (Transactional Records Clearinghouse) New Report, Released Today, IRS Lags in Business Enforcement/Audits of Businesses Full-Text Report/Slides ||| Additional Statistics -- Employment--Benefits--United States Source: EBRI Updated Fact Sheets from the Employee Benefits Research Institute + Domestic Partner Benefits: Facts & Background 5 pages. + The Basics of Social Security 2 pages. + The Basics of Medicare 5 pages. -- Terrorism Source: Rand Corporation New Report, Coordinating the War on Terrorism "This Occasional Paper addresses how the war on terrorism should be coordinated within the executive branch of the federal government, in particular within the White House. The authors survey the historical record, lay out the critical choices, and recommend changes." Full Document (PDF; 0.2 MB)
Information Industry--Dialog Dialog Releases New Database: AeroBase (File 104) From the announcement, "The company said its new AeroBase database (File 104, available through Dialog®-branded services) includes references, abstracts and controlled-vocabulary indexing of scientific and technical journal articles, preprints, conference proceedings, books, theses and unpublished literature relating to the aerospace and aeronautical industries and dating back to 1999. At its launch, the database contains more than 20,000 documents, with more added monthly." Sunday, April 11, 2004
Library Briefs + Illinois...Best search engine? A librarian (via Chicago Sun-Times) Note: Congrats and kudos to everyone at the Skokie Public Library. Great article. The SPL was also one of the libraries I visited and used on a regular basis while growing up. + Ohio...OhioLINK cuts may affect MU [Miami Universities] libraries (via the The Miami Student) + Arizona...Library cuts new books from budget (via the Arizona Daily Wildcat) + Florida...Library debates access to porn (via the Florida Times-Union) + Missouri...Shhh! Libraries leading downtown revitalization (via Kansas City Star) Note to all headline writers, please stop using Shhh! in stories about libraries!!!
Professional Reading Shelf National Archives--United States Source: Prologue The ERA: An Archives of the Future and for the Future An article by John Carlin, Archivist of the United States. From the article, "...while billions of pages of paper records continue to come to us, more and more of the records we get from federal agencies are the products of electronic government. In fact, we're seeing an explosion in the number of electronic text documents, financial presentations, photographs and images, e-mails, and web sites...This presents a major challenge for us: How to preserve these electronic records so that many years from now, when the hardware and software used to create them no longer exist, they can still be read. It's a challenge we simply must meet. If we don't, the records our government is creating every day will be lost forever. Records of service members now in the Middle East who will need them in twenty-five or thirty years to claim veterans' benefits would be lost. So would Food and Drug Administration records that document adverse reactions to drugs. And the Social Security Administration will need your file for several generations until all potential claims are exhausted. This is why we're building the Electronic Records Archives (ERA)—so that anyone, anywhere, anytime, far into the future, can access these records with the technology in use then. Moreover, while ERA will preserve the electronic records of our national government, it will also have another important benefit. It will provide information technology that can be scaled and adapted for use outside the federal government."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents Taxes--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Velosan Taxware Announces the "Top Ten Most Unusual Sales Tax Laws For 2004" Example: "In Connecticut, the sale of a pumpkin in its 'natural grown state' is exempt from sales tax because it is considered a food product. However, if the pumpkin is sold after being painted, its 'primary purpose' becomes decoration and is subject to sales tax." Saturday, April 10, 2004
Online Databases Source: OCLC Research FictionFinder: Demo this Prototype Database from OCLC Goals "The goal of this project is to use the FRBR [Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records] model in a prototype system for searching [11 fields] and browsing [by category] bibliographic records representing fiction." What Am I Searching? "A prototype system has been developed for 2.5+ million bibliographic records for fiction that have been clustered at the work level...In the prototype, records are indexed at the work level and displays are organized by work and expression (primarily by language). Currently, only records for textual items are represented, including electronic books. Records for additional modes of expression such as image and audio will be added in a later phase of the project. A key feature of the system is the aggregation at the work or expression level of selected elements from records within a given cluster. For example, elements of potential interest to readers of fiction, such as summaries, subject headings, genre terms, etc. are extracted from individual bibliographic records, filtered, and presented at the work level." See Also: Take a Tour and Learn More See Also: Access and Demo FictionFinder
Enterprise Search--Google Source: eWeek Google Hires General Manager for Enterprise Search From the article, "...Google Inc. is more aggressively pursuing efforts to bring its consumer Internet technologies to the enterprise, including hiring for the first time a general manager for its enterprise business...'It's too early to say what we'll be bringing to the appliance, but we definitely have some things under consideration,' added [Dave] Girouard [general manager of Google Enterprise], who came to Google from rich-media software developer Virage Inc." During the past two months, Stanford's Business School and Stanford's Linear Accelerator Center chose Verity to power their Intranets and public web site search. Stanford University, where Google started, also has the patent on the PageRank algorithm. ResourceShelf has also mentioned many new enterprise search deals from FAST Search and Transfer.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents Documents in the News--Iraq Declassified Version of Presidential Daily Brief (4/6/2001) PDF; 2 pages. Friday, April 09, 2004
Search Engines Source: Stanford Database Group Full Text, Just Released, Web Spam Taxonomy From the abstract, "Web spamming refers to actions intended to mislead search engines and give some pages higher ranking than they deserve. Recently, the amount of web spam has increased dramatically, leading to a degradation of search results. This paper presents a comprehensive taxonomy of current spamming techniques, which we believe can help in developing appropriate countermeasures."
Online Translation Linguistics Basis Technology Receives Funding From In-Q-Tel From the article, "In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital arm, has invested in Basis Technology Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., which sells multilingual linguistic analysis, text mining and information retrieval software. In-Q-Tel licensed Basis products and provided a strategic investment, but neither organization disclosed the terms or dollar value of the transaction"...Jonathan Joseph of In-Q-Tel adds, "Google.com, for example, counts as one of Basis' customers, and there is a small number of competitors."
Online Research Source: Computerworld Monitoring Company Reputations on the Web This article discusses two services: WebFountain (they sure get the pub) and Biz360.
Web Search Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education Google Teams Up with 17 Colleges to Test Searches of Scholarly Materials From the article, "Ms. [Mackenzie] Smith [director of technology for MIT's libraries] said the universities also plan to work with other search engines. "It's not like we're working on an exclusive arrangement with Google," she said, adding that the universities are neither being paid nor paying for the arrangement. 'We may even do our own thing over time' to search across the archives." This sounds just like the non-exclusive deals Yahoo recently announced to increase material in its database. Like I said a few weeks ago, just building a bigger database does not mean people will find what they're looking for, especially if they're not searching for a specific title. Interestingly, Google would not comment for the Chronicle story. Google also has a "deal" with IEEE. However, I've only spotted a small amount of IEEE Xplore material in the Google database.
Professional Reading Shelf Internet The April 2004 Issue of First Monday is Now Available Articles include: + Lawfully surfing the Net: Disabling public library Internet filters to avoid more lawsuits in the United States + The state of copyright activism -- Knowledge Mapping Source: Proceedings National Academy of Science (Colloquium Papers) Mapping knowledge domains Most of these papers are available for free. Selected titles: + Extracting knowledge from the World Wide Web Note: This paper was written by Monika Henzinger and Steve Lawrence of Google. + Coauthorship networks and patterns of scientific collaboration + Mixed-membership models of scientific publications + Evolution of document networks + The world of geography: Visualizing a knowledge domain with cartographic means + Crossmaps: Visualization of overlapping relationships in collections of journal papers
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items) Congressional Research Service Source: CRS via FPC New or Updated CRS Reports + FBI Intelligence Reform Since September 11, 2001: Issues and Options for Congress + The Budget for Fiscal Year 2005 + The U.N. Convention Against Torture: Overview of U.S. Implementation Policy Concerning the Removal of Aliens + Enforcing Immigration Law: The Role of State and Local Enforcement + Visa Policy: Roles of the Departments of State and Homeland Security -- Internet--Wireless--Lists & Rankings Source: Intel Intel's Most Unwired Cities Survey (United States) 2nd annual list. Also available: + Most Unwired Cities (U.S.) + Most Unwired College Campuses + Most Unwired Airports -- Health Information Source: IOM New Report, New Web Site: Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion Summary ||| Direct to Full Text Report and Web Site Thursday, April 08, 2004
Resources of the Week Two entries. 1) United States Government--Databases Telephone Directories Source: GSA U.S. Blue Pages "Welcome to the Federal Government Blue Pages Listings website! Our new and improved site provides an easy and fast way to search our listings by state, city, area code, agency or service, and keyword." We all know that "new" does not necessarily mean "improved," but several nifty features appear to have been added here, according to the folks at the GSA, who administer this site: + Comprehensive search capabilities to easily find phone numbers when searching for listings by key words, city, and state + More information about federal services and how to connect to them + Quick links to the most frequently requested federal sites + A virtual help desk that will respond to your email questions within 72 hours + "Bobby" approval, which gives the website a four-star rating for its accessibility to users with special needs To search for federal employees by first name, last name or e-mail address via the Federal Employee Search Engine -- formerly known as Federal Government Employee White Pages -- click the "Search" link following the EMPLOYEES bullet point, at the top of the "Featured Links" listing on the lower right part of the home page. Not all federal employees have been entered into this system, but roughly 300,000 are, with improvements expected to the service within the next several months. "Featured Links" also includes direct access to such popular resources as job opportunities from the Department of Labor, tax forms from the IRS, travel info from the State Department, etc. The information in this database is freely available to the public for download in two formats: Real Time web service, and bulk XML. Click the "Directories" tab at the top of the home page for information about this. Thanks to Shirl Kennedy for preparing this ROTW entry. -- 2) Fast Facts--Advertising and Media A Collection of Fact and Stat Books + Fact Pact 2004 (via Ad Age) 31 pages of facts! From the site, "Who are the top ad spenders in the U.S. and on a global basis? What are the hot ads and how much do they cost? Who are the big ad organizations and how do their agency brands stack up against their competition? How big and far-reaching are those media monoliths? It’s all in the FactPack, whether in print form on your desk, or a click away on your computer or network." Market share info for a few consumer products is also included. + Facts About Newspapers 2003 (via Newspaper Association of America) ++ Canadian Newspapers Facts Database (Canadian Newspaper Association) + Radio Advertising: 2003-2004 Marketing Guide and Fact Book (via Radio Advertising Bureau) + Television Advertising: Research Central (via Television Bureau of Advertising) + Cable Television Advertising: 2004 Cable TV Facts (via Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau)
Web Search Ask.com Adds New "Smart Search" Feature: Famous People Search Another potential time saver! The Smart Search program was introduced by Ask.com last year. Here's a list of previously released shortcuts and features. What's new? Jeeves has introduced a new box at the top of the results page containing direct links to "bios, pictures, news, products and links to official web sites" when you search for celebrities and newsmakers. A prefix is not needed to activate this feature; simply enter the name and click the Ask button. Biographical info comes from Who2.com. Here are a few examples: + Colin Powell + Kiefer Sutherland + Tony Blair + Judy Garland + Arnold Schwarzenegger + Toni Morrison Includes a link to literary criticism section of the Internet Public Library! and in other search news... Yahoo's Cardogan Touts Yahoo! Search IMVironment and Hints At Social Networking Service (via News.com) If you would like to check out the Yahoo! Search IMVironment you can find info here.
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Metadata Source: Journal of Digital Information Full Text, Just Published, Ubiquitous Metainformation and the WYWWYWI Principle From the abstract, "Computer systems should provide what you want, when you want it (the WYWWYWI principle, pronounced "why why why"), but they frequently do not. Our research encourages a new philosophy of design based on the WYWWYWI principle, and the tools for authors to provide this easily. Comprehensive metainformation embodies the WYWWYWI principle." -- Scholarly Communication Source: VNUnet Open access sets UKSG alight From the article, "Delegates at the annual UK Serials Group conference, held this year at UMIST in Manchester, debated open access (OA) publishing in a lively conference session, which pitted OA publisher Public Library of Science against a sceptical small university publisher. Several speakers at the event claimed that the OA model is economically weak, but is likely to act as a catalyst for the industry as a whole, driving traditional publishers to respond to changing market conditions."
Virtual Reference Source: NISO Draft of Question/Answer Transaction Protocol Released From the announcement, "A draft Question/Answer Transaction Protocol that supports Q&A between library patrons and reference sources has been released for a one-year trial use period April 5, 2004-April 5, 2005. The draft standard was developed by NISO standards committee AZ. The Protocol defines a method and structure for data exchange between digital reference service domains. This new standard supports digital reference services, a new and rapidly growing extension of the traditional reference assistance, a mainstay of library operations." See Also: Read and Learn More About the Draft Protocol
Information Industry--EBSCO EBSCO Will Provide Databases to Iraqi Universities and Libraries From the announcement, "As part of the Al Sharaka Program for Higher Education in Iraq, an important initiative undertaken by USAID and universities making up the Oklahoma Higher Education Partners, all non-commercial institutions in Iraq have instant access to a wealth of information through participation by EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO). Al Sharaka has partnered with EBSCO such that Iraqi universities, schools and public libraries gain unlimited online access to complete articles from thousands of journals, magazines, reference books, country reports and other information sources covering virtually every subject area. This critical information is available in specific databases through the Web-based research system, EBSCOhost."
Library Briefs + Librarian Will Run for Colorado State Senate (via Broomfield Enterprise) + Library of Congress gets new collection (via AP) + Libraries Struggle to Stay Hi-Tech (via Kansas City Star) + Naval Medical Center Portsmouth’s Library Wins Award FLICC Award (via The Flagship) ||| Other Winners
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents Recorded Music--Statistics Source: IFPI, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry New Statistics, Global music sales fall by 7.6% in 2003 – some positive signs in 2004 Highlights from the report. A bit more in this article. -- Population--United States--Lists & Rankings Released Today, The Fastest Growing Counties in the United States Summary ||| Charts ||| Tables -- Health Policy Just Launched, KaiserEDU: An Online Resource for Faculty and Students "KaiserEDU gives health policy students and faculty easy access to data, literature, news and developments regarding major health policy topics and debates." -- Election 2004 Factiva Posts Media Visibility Index (Week Ending 4/4/04) "The Factiva Media Visibility Index will track the number of weekly media mentions garnered by each of the candidates competing in the 2004 Presidential election." Wednesday, April 07, 2004
Search Engine Monoculture by Dan Giancaterino It may seem like a clumsy analogy, but recently I learned how biologists must feel when they are confronted with the loss of biodiversity. I'm referring to the demise of several unique features formerly available on All the Web (AtW) and AltaVista (AV). Though they cannot be replaced, they can be approximated (sort of): + Proximity - No search engine has anything that can match AV's NEAR or WITHIN operators. The only way to come close would be to use Google's asterisk placeholder, but it's clumsy. For example, to search the equivalent of implants WITHIN 3 malpractice on Google, you'll have to search “implants * * * malpractice”, “implants * * malpractice”, and “implants * malpractice”. Then you'll have to submit the 3 searches all over again with the terms reversed (“malpractice * * * implants”, etc.) This Google tool can make it a bit easier but it still does not come close to AV's functionality. + Truncation - AV allowed you to use an asterisk to search variable word endings. The MSN Search advanced page features a stemming option which appears to work predictably -- e.g., statute retrieves statute, statutes, statutory, etc. -- which is more than I can say for Google's auto-stemming. The stemming checkbox is still present on the MSN Advanced Interface, so let's hope Microsoft doesn't drop it when their much-hyped new search engine that will likely launch later this year or early next year. Embedded media - On AtW you used to be able to limit your search to Web pages containing audio/video clips, animations, etc. Hotbot's version of the Inktomi database continues to offer this feature. Your best bet now would be a specialized search engine such as Singingfish, Speechbot, and FindSounds. Dan Giancaterino is a librarian based in Philadelphia and a contributor to ResourceShelf.
Web Search Source: BBC Life beyond Google In March we linked to an article in First Monday by Eszter Hargittai titled, "Do you "google"? Understanding search engine use beyond the hype." Yesterday Dr. Hargittai, an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University, wrote a commentary for BBC Online. She writes, "The problem with the overwhelming focus on Google is that we end up putting too much faith in one proprietary service without knowing where the profit-seeking goals of the company may lead its quality down the road... I am not anti-Google and in fact use its services daily, but it is important to remember that it is a privately-held company with no obligation to serving the public interest. We should tread with caution when thinking of it as the be all and end all of access to information online. Google is not the only way to find information online and not everyone uses Google." Make sure to read the complete commentary. ResourceShelf hopes to run an interview with Dr. Hargittai in the near future.
Search Engines Source: Search Engine Showdown Changes and Errors with Yahoo Postings First, a correction. Greg Notess (what would we do without his wonderful work?) has told us Yahoo's search platform (also now being used at AtW and AV) DOES SUPPORT nested search terms. Yahoo has confirmed. Sorry about the error in our AV post last week. Second, Greg's SES site also reports (also confirmed by a Yahoo spokesperson) that the company is now using its own image database at Yahoo.com. Until now, Yahoo was using the Google image database. This database (I've always found it to be very useful) remains accessible at AlltheWeb and AltaVista. For more Yahoo feature see the SES review. Finally, the Inktomi database has replaced the AlltheWeb database at Lycos.
eBooks NetLibrary Launches Book-Of-The-Month Program From the announcement, "The eBook of the Month campaign is a monthly content promotion designed to showcase new and noteworthy titles available from netLibrary and encourage patrons to visit your eBook collection. Each month, netLibrary selects a new featured title and provides free, unlimited access through the authenticated homepages of more than 8,700 public, academic and special libraries." More info, "The first eBook of the Month title will be New York Times bestseller Abraham - A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths. Written by award-winning journalist Bruce Feiler, Abraham tells the powerful story of one man's search for the shared ancestor of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam." netLibrary provides full text access to over 65,000 titles. See Also: ebrary, another provider of full text books online, offers a free demo with full text access to over 100 books about the Middle East. ebrary also offers subscriptions for users who don't have access via their local library. The service offers about 20,000 titles. See Also: The Online Books Page A collection of over 20,000 free books.
Web Search--Google Source: PrivacyRights.org Twenty Eight Privacy and Civil Liberties Organizations Urge Google to Suspend Gmail From the announcement, "The World Privacy Forum and 27 other privacy and civil liberties organizations have written a letter calling upon Google to suspend its Gmail service until the privacy issues are adequately addressed. The letter also calls upon Google to clarify its written information policies regarding data retention and data sharing among its business units." A copy of the letter that these groups sent to Google is included in the news release. See Also: Even More Problems for GMail, A UK Company and a Trademark Claim (via The Guardian) Reuters is also running a story.
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Scholarly Communication Source: C&RL News Open access in the real world: Confronting economic and legal reality Rick Anderson writes, "Open access to scholarly information is a hot-button issue that quickly triggers heated discussion—especially if the topic arises in a mixed group of librarians and publishers. Sometimes the discussion ends up generating useful ideas and practical solutions to real-world problems; too often, it leads to nothing more than facile phrasemaking or spluttering accusation." Anderson is the director of resource acquisition at the University of Nevada-Reno. -- Biodiversity Information Source: NBII MetaDiversity III: Global Access For Biodiversity Through Integrated Systems "The third in a series of symposia jointly organized by the National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Biological Information Infrastructure. Metadiversity III focused on the creation of a fully-integrated, fully-operable biodiversity information system." Thanks to Jill O. for the news tip.
Reference Reviews Peter's Digital Reference Shelf, April 2004, Is Now Online In April, Peter Jacso reviews: + A & E Biography He writes, "This collection of biographies got not only a facelift but also a brainlift, resulting in enhanced content and slightly better software that can finally perform full-text searches instead of just searching the name in the header of the biographic articles. It, however, still can't stop if there is no real match." -- + MetaCritic Jacso writes, "A smart and beautifully designed resource for getting at-a-glance consolidated scores of reviews of films and music albums, with pungent excerpts and links to full-text reviews. Encore, maestro, encore."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items) Social Security Source: SSA New Releases from the Social Security Administration + New, Social Security Programs Throughout the World: The Americas, 2003 Reports covering Asia & the Pacific, Europe, and Africa are also available. + Annual Statistical Supplement, 2003 + SSI Recipients by State and County, 2003 Thanks to Stuart Basefsky for the news tip -- Health Information New Topic Page/Compilation from MEDLINEplus + MedlinePlus: Genetic Counseling -- Religion Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project Released Today, Full Text Research Report, Faith Online "64% of wired Americans have used the Internet for spiritual or religious purposes." Summary ||| Direct to Full Text -- Broadband--Statistics Source: In-Stat/MDR Summary, U.S. Broadband Market Reaches Critical Mass "With close to 27 million U.S. business and residential subscribers at the end of 2003, broadband is now clearly a mainstream service...." At the end of 2003, one in five U.S. households subscribed to broadband; the most popular technology is cable, followed by DSL, Fixed Wireless Broadband, Satellite and Fiber to the Home. "Comcast and Time Warner accounted for the majority of all cable modem subscribers.... SBC and Verizon accounted the majority of US DSL subscribers...." Full report available for $2,995. -- Legislation--Canada Source: Parliamentary Research Branch Legislative Summaries - Third Session, 37th Parliament The PRB has added 15 summaries to their site. Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Information Retrieval Source: Computerworld Another Article About "Future Search" Tools and Web Search Research From the article, "But as powerful as they are, search engines have huge weaknesses. For example, a recent Google search on the word Linux took just 0.4 seconds, but it had 95 million hits. Too bad if the one you need is No. 10,000 on the list." The author, Gary H. Anthes, goes on to highlight four projects. 1) QueryTracker From the article, "QueryTracker [under development at Colorado State University] submits a user's query to the search engine once a day and returns results from new Web pages and pages that have changed since the previous search." Sounds just like what Gideon Greenspan is doing with Google Alert and Google is doing with their new alert service. -- 2) The Work of Jeannette Jenssen, a mathematics professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia From the article, "...Jenssen's 'focused crawler' indexes only pages related to prespecified topics and then tailors the rankings to the interests of the user. For example, she says, a medical society might run the crawler nightly to index just pages relating to medicine. And it would rank the resulting hits in a way that made sense to the medical establishment, not to advertisers or average Web surfers." -- 3) The Work of Filippo Menczer at Indiana University From the article, "Better results could be obtained from considering many such 'measures of relevance'—including user preferences—in combination, and in considering combinations of pages rather than single pages, Menczer says." Menczer's site includes a demo of MySpiders, which are "intelligent, autonomous, adaptive software agents that will crawl the Web on your behalf." -- 4) WebFountain from IBM
Information Visualization--Anacubis Very Cool (And Maybe Even Useful): Anacubis Releases Two New Demos, Free! Anacubis, a UK-based info visualization company (part of the i2 Group), has launched two new free demos that might be of interest and value to you. Here's what's new: + Visualize Business Information Visualize info pertaining to key executives, affiliates, and subsidiaries for over 40,000 companies. Entities within the search results are shown as icons and the relationships between them as dynamic links. Also included is some high-level financial info. This tool uses the free data set that's available at Hoover's.com. Business searchers will love this one! + Visualize European Patent Info Enter a patent number and go, it's that simple. -- Anacubis also has partnerships with LexisNexis, D&B, and Questel*Orbit. Anacubis technology can also be licensed. A 10-day trial of the Anacubis desktop is available. -- See Also: Anacubis continues to offer a Google visualization tool. Here are comments from Chris Sherman (via SearchDay, 3/2003) See Also: TouchGraph Also Offers Several Useful Visualization Tools
Web Search--Google Full Text, Complaint in the Digital Envoy v. Google Law Suit If you would like to read the complaint that Digital Envoy filed with the court, I've placed a pdf copy on the ResourceShelf server. A week ago Jonathan Skillings and Stefanie Olsen reported that, "a Georgia company is suing Google over technology that the search giant uses to target advertising at Web surfers based on their location. Digital Envoy filed the lawsuit Monday [3/29/04] afternoon in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, charging that Google violated a licensing agreement when it began offering ads on third-party Web sites, the lawyer representing Digital Envoy confirmed Tuesday."
Government Documents--United States Government Printing Office--United States Source: GCN GPO gets a grip on its glut From the article, "The Government Printing Office will start assigning digital signatures to congressional bills, as well as the hundreds of documents agencies produce each month, to address its problem of preserving electronic documents...With agencies creating hundreds of thousands of electronic documents annually, GPO, the National Archives and Records Administration and the Library of Congress have faced two challenges: assuring the authenticity of documents and guaranteeing that they can be viewed five, 10, even 100 years from now. GPO’s digital signature initiative will settle the authentication issue. 'By digitally signing the documents, we are beginning to manage digital information,' GPO CIO Reynold Schweickhardt said. 'As hard-copy print runs get shorter and shorter and technology shifts, we are most worried about long-term preservation.' The growth of GPO’s document library has made preservation and authentication a growing problem. The agency received 487 new documents in February and more than 3,800 between October and last month. On its Web site, GPO lists more than 157,000 files." See Also: More in this 3/28/04 Post
Professional Reading Shelf Librarians Source: The Institute of Museum and Library Services IMLS Publishes RFP for National Study on the Future of Librarians in the Workforce From the announcement, "The Institute of Museum and Library Services, Office of Library Services, is seeking proposals for a national research study on the future of librarians in the workforce. The deadline for proposals is June 15, 2004. The maximum award is $1,000,000 for a two-year project beginning September 30, 2004 and ending September 30, 2006. IMLS anticipates making a single award for the project."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items) Intellectual Property Congressional Research Service Source: CRS (via Franklin Pierce Law Center) Franklin Pierce Law Center Updates CRS Page With Numerous New/Recently Updated IP-Related CRS Reports 22 additions to the collection. Here are a few titles: + Internet: Status Report on Legislative Attempts to Protect Children from Unsuitable Material on the Web + Intellectual Propery, Computer Software and the Open Source Movement + Taxing Internet Transactions + Safe Harbor for Service Providers Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act from Unsuitable Material on the Web + “Junk E-Mail”: An Overview of Issues and Legislation Concerning Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail (“Spam”) + Internet Voting + "Sensitive But Unclassified" and Other Federal Security Controls on Scientific and Technical Information: History and Current Controversy + Regulation of Broadcast Indecency: Background and Legal Analysis + Internet Taxation: Issues and Legislation in the 108th Congress RL31929 March 8, 2004 + Legal Issues Related to Prescription Drug Sales on the Internet -- Power Grid--North America Source: U.S. Department of Energy/U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force Just Released, U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force Report Released "U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force issued its final report to the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Canada, who formed the Task Force and commissioned its investigation of the August 14, 2003 power blackout that affected large parts of the United States and Canada." See Also: Full Report (PDF; 6.8 MB) -- Fast Facts Source: The World Almanac New, The April Issue of The World Almanac E-Newsletter is Online Contains a chronology of March events, holidays, "This Day in History," and much more. See Also: Back issues and subscription info (free)
Library Briefs Libraries--South Carolina Money Runs Out for Library's Newspaper Reading Service for Blind Source: AP (via TheState.com) "'It's a great service, it's just not cost-effective to do it,' said Jim Johnson, director of the state library." Monday, April 05, 2004
Web Search--Google Source: Reuters Gmail may violate Euro privacy law Interesting. From the article, "A new Google email service that stores messages where users cannot delete them may violate Europe's privacy laws, a citizens' group said on Monday after lodging a complaint with UK authorities. The world's most popular Internet search engine said last week it would offer a free email service, called "Gmail," with one gigabyte of free storage capacity -- more than 100 times that offered by established rivals Yahoo Mail and Microsoft's MSN Hotmail. But the breakthrough comes at the price of less privacy. 'Residual copies of email may remain on our systems, even after you have deleted them from your mailbox or after the termination of your account,' Google's Gmail says in its privacy and terms of use sections."
Professional Reading Shelf (4 Items) The Library of Congress Learn About the Federal Research Division at The Library of Congress -- Multimedia Archives...Vanderbilt's Television News Archive to be digitized, National Endowment for the Humanities announces major Grant Read more about the Television News Archive in this 10/2/02 Information Today article and via the TNA home page. -- Scholarly Publishing...Updated OFAC Ruling Removes Government Restrictions on Papers from Authors in Embargoed Countries (via IEEE) -- Scholarly Publishing...The National Academies Provide Free Scientific Information to Developing Nations Thanks to Steven C. for the news tip.
Health Research Update (2 Items) National Health Service--United Kingdom New Content from British Medical Journal Added to NHS Web Site This service is only available for UK residents. From the announcement, "The Journal’s 'Best Treatments' provide information on the most common health conditions, including explanations of the pros and cons of surgery procedures, details of other treatments available, and advice on care before and after the operation. It also offers information on treatments for chronic conditions, like asthma and diabetes, ranking them according to effectiveness and highlighting the risks and benefits of each. The Department of Health has been working with the British Medical Journal to make this information available online and it is now live on the NHS Direct website. It will also give patients the same information as their doctors, in clear and jargon-free language, which will help them to make informed choices about their healthcare. -- PubMed Source: NLM Technical Bulletin Improvements Made to PubMed "The Entrez programming software used by PubMed was recently enhanced to improve and make consistent the way in which PubMed interprets users' queries." Thanks to Peter S. for the news tip.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (7 Items) Employment--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: BLS Just Released, 20 Leading Occupations of Employed Women Also available as a pdf. Thanks to S.B. for the news tip. -- Philanthropy--United States Source: Foundation Center Released Today, Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates -- Business--Lists & Rankings Source: Forbes Forbes 2000: The World's Leading Companies From the site, "The Forbes 2000 is our new comprehensive ranking of the world's biggest companies, measured by a composite of sales, profits, assets and market value. The list spans 51 countries and 27 industries." -- Business--Lists & Rankings Source: Forbes New, Top Ten Countries for Offshoring -- Information Technology--Security Source: GCN New, New vulnerability database offers free security data From the article, "An open-source project to catalog and describe IT security vulnerabilities has opened its Web-based database to the public. The Open Source Vulnerability Database is available free at www.osvdb.org, and data may be used by individuals and companies subject to minimal licensing requirements. Although the database itself is an open-source project, it lists vulnerabilities for all types of software, proprietary as well as open-source, said Jake Kouns, chief moderator of the OSVDB project team." -- Airlines--United States Released Today, Airline Quality Report 2004 Press Release ||| Full-Text of Report ||| Synopsis See Also: 1996-2003 Airline Quality Ratings -- Pulitzer Prizes Announced Today, 2004 Pulitzer Prize Winners--Journalism You can also find direct links to all of the winning material via this NY Times article (right column).
Briefly Does Microsoft Want to Purchase Jeeves? (via East Bay Business Times) Thanks to Andy B. for the news tip. Sunday, April 04, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf Scholarly Publishing Source: Nature Access to the Literature: The Debate Continues "The Internet is profoundly changing how scientists work and publish. New business models are being tested by publishers, including open access, in which the author pays and content is free to the user. This ongoing web focus will explore current trends and future possibilities. Each week, the website will publish specially commissioned insights and analysis from leading scientists, librarians, publishers and other stakeholders, as well as key links, and articles from our archive. All content is available free."
Library Briefs (2 Items) + "Pitt students relying on Internet research when libraries may offer wider resources..." (via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) "University of Pittsburgh library officials hope meeting students in person will help overcome any fear of a snooty reception at the reference desk. Meeting a friendly, helpful librarian, they said, could persuade students to ask more freely for help. To make that connection, library officials are taking their "HelpHub" program -- which they first tried in the dorms last semester without getting much response -- to popular study spots in hope of sparking interest." -- + Virtual Reference Comes to Boise (via Idaho Statesman) Saturday, April 03, 2004
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries Conference Papers From VALA 2004 (Victorian Association for Library Automation) The conference took place in Melbourne Australia at the beginning of February. Here are a few selected titles: + Bringing hidden treasures to light: illuminating DSpace + Beam me up! Supporting PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) in medical libraries - new technology or just another format? + E-book acceptance: what will make users read on screen? + The Internet myth - emerging trends in reference enquiries + Libraries in the lead: the institutional repository phenomenon + Understanding the drivers for online data usage: an empirical analysis
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents Ready Reference Geography and environment staff & students: GEsource relaunch World Guide Source: Joint Information Systems Committee (UK) "GEsource, the geography and environment hub of the JISC-funded Resource Discovery Network (RDN)" re-launched its World Guide section -- "a series of guides to over 270 countries and territories" -- on March 31. This in-depth resource offers a broad range of information, including: + Feature articles + Demographic and geographic data + Interactive maps + Satellite photos + Country Comparison Tool, which "allows you to select two world countries or regions and compare demographic, geographic and economic data at the press of a button." Friday, April 02, 2004
News Search--Yahoo Advanced Search Syntax with Yahoo News Since the official launch of the New Yahoo News about a week ago, several people have asked if any advanced syntax exists. The answer is yes, it does exist with more to come. Here's a look: + headline: Search only in news headline/title of article. Example: headline:diplomacy + source: Search in specific news source only. Example: source:"New York Times" bush + site: Search only articles on a specific internet host. Example: site:nytimes.com bush + url: Search only in articles whose URL include a specified term. Example: url:sport baseball + location: Search only in sites from a specific location (country, state, city). Example: location:israel condoleezza You can also combine syntax. Here are a few examples: + headline:bush location: illinois + headline:iraq (location:arizona location:maine) Using the () is the same as using the Boolean "or." To eliminate a term, use either the - sign or "andnot." Finally, we've been told that using * as a wildcard and the author: limit will be available again in the near future. See Also: Yahoo's New and Improved News Search is Now Out of Beta
Citation Analysis Scholarly Publishing Source: ISI + Electrical & Electronic Engineering: High-Impact U.S. Universities, 1998-2002 + Journals Ranked by Impact: Chemistry (multidisciplinary)
Professional Reading Shelf (4 Items) Virtual Reference New Web Site, The Web Site for VRD (Virtual Reference Desk) 2004 Conference is Now Available -- Information Industry--EBSCO EBSCO Celebrates Its 60th Anniversary "EBSCO executives Tim Collins and F. Dixon Brooke Jr. discuss their company's direction and strategies." -- Information Industry--History Source: Searcher Mead Data Central and the Genesis of Nexis Continuing the Dick Giering interview that began in the January issue, Stephanie Ardito and Susanne Bjørner get the inside story of the Mead merger, the legal offshoot that became Nexis, early telecommunications challenges, and beyond." -- Web Search Source: Library Journal Is Google the Competition? "The 2004 annual meeting of NFAIS (National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services) asked who would win the "battle for mindshare" in the year 2010. Will libraries, A&I (abstracting and indexing) services, and traditional publishers still exist, or will Google become the only information resource?"
Enterprise Search (2 Items) + Knight-Ridder Will Use FAST Technology To Power Online Classified Search Last week, FAST announced that Reuters has licensed some its technology. + Forbes.com Licenses EasyAsk
Industy Briefs Thomson and Marketwatch.com Partner to Develop New Online News Tool for Thomson One Platform -- New Comprehensive Global Economic Database (Fee-Based) from EIU Now Available
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items) American History Digitization Projects Source: Library of Congress New Collection Added to American Memory Project: A Civil War Soldier in the Wild Cat Regiment: Selections from the Tilton C. Reynolds Papers "Comprising 164 library items, or 359 digital images, this online presentation includes correspondence, photographs, and other materials dating between 1861 and 1865. The letters feature details of the regiment's movements, accounts of military engagements, and descriptions of the daily life of soldiers and their views of the war. Forty-six of the letters are also made available in transcription." -- Criminal Justice--Database Trials Source: OVID Free Access (Trial), This Month Only: Criminal Justice Abstracts (via Ovid) From the Ovid site, "Available exclusively from Ovid, Criminal Justice Abstracts contains comprehensive coverage of international journals, books, reports, dissertations and unpublished papers on criminology and related disciplines." See Also: Learn More About the Database See Also: Ovid Has Also Released A New Online Search Tutorial Thursday, April 01, 2004
Web Resources of the Week 1) Multimedia Resources Source: Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley Conversations With History We are big fans of multimedia here at ResourceShelf, and this is a site we know you will enjoy. "In these lively and unedited video interviews, distinguished men and women from all over the world talk about their lives and their work. Guests include diplomats, statesmen, and soldiers; economists and political analysts; scientists and historians; writers and foreign correspondents; activists and artists. The interviews span the globe and include discussion of political, economic, military, legal, cultural, and social issues shaping our world. At the heart of each interview is a focus on individuals and ideas that make a difference." You'll see plenty of names you recognize here, from Kofi Annan to Anthony Zinni. Search the site, or browse the list of available interviews by guest name or grouped by topic. Some older interviews are not available, and some of the more recent ones have not been posted yet. Transcripts for each interview are available. RealPlayer required to view the interviews. Thanks to ResourceShelf's Shirl Kennedy for the link and annotation. -- -- 2) Travel--Europe Low-Fare, No-Frill European Airline Information In many cases information about low-fare air carriers cannot be found via major travel sites like Expedia and Travelocity. Here are a few resources that offer this information. Bon Voyage. + WhichBudget.com Quickly identify low-fare airlines (36 listed) serving 37 countries. + OpenJet.com Build itineraries/compare fares. Seven airlines serving 91 destinations are available. + AppleFares.com Search fare information for 14 carriers. See Also: Article About No-Frills Air Travel (via March 2004 issue of Conde Nast Traveler) See Also: Forget Flying, Take the Train A great database for European train info.
Web Search--AltaVista As Expected, Changes at AltaVista On December 15, 1995, AltaVista officially launched. Today, the AltaVista search platform and its many advanced features are no longer available online. However, the AV site remains live and is now powered by the Yahoo database and platform. These changes were expected. Last week, Search Engine Showdown reported that AlltheWeb (now owned by Yahoo) had also moved to the Yahoo database and platform. Other changes? + One of AV's unique advanced features, the proximity operator NEAR, is no longer available. + Other features no longer available from AV include case sensitive searching, and truncation. Nested searching is still available. + Some language limits remain available. Look for the option below the "Find" button. Advanced Syntax No Longer Available ++ applet: ++ anchor: ++ image: ++ text: ++ link: The advanced syntax that remains online is posted on this page. BabelFish (AV's translation tool) and AV's multimedia databases remain online. We can only hope that some of AV's advanced search features will become part of the Yahoo platform. As of today, it looks like Gigablast is the leader in terms of advanced features. Let's hope Matt keeps improving on his already impressive search tool. Thanks to Andrew G. and Greg N. for helping with this post. More comments from Search Engine Showdown. See Also: Chris Sherman's AltaVista Birthday Card and Company History (via SearchDay,12/2002) ++ The AltaVista Home Page Captured 5/19/2001 ++ AV Home Page Captured 12/12/98 ++ AV Home Page Captured 5/11/96 See Also: News Release (12/15/95), "Digital Develops Internet's First 'Super Spider'"
Electronic Records--United States Source: FCW Agencies to organize digital records From the article, "Archiving officials have told federal agencies to start getting their electronic records in order. By 2007, the agency responsible for preserving federal records anticipates having an operational archive for digital materials, said Adrienne Reagins, a communications specialist with the National Archives and Records Administration's Electronic Records Archives (ERA) program...Much of the time between now and 2007 will be spent getting NARA staff members ready for their new roles as digital archivists, Reagins said. Records managers must learn, for example, how to communicate effectively with information technology personnel in charge of the systems that officials use to create digital records. 'We need to start coming together and speaking the same language,' Reagins said...Officials hope to have an archival system accessible from researchers' home computers. Ideally, researchers using the system would be able to access nearly all of the services that they could have at hand if they were doing research in a physical library, Reagins said. 'How challenging that's going to be, or when that's going to come' can't be answered yet, she added."
Web Search--MSN News.com Discusses Web Search With Yusuf Medhi from Microsoft Stefanie Olsen from News.com conducted the interview. Here's an excerpt. Q. Much has been made of Microsoft's rivalry with Google, and Yahoo, for that matter. What is your viewpoint on Microsoft's position in this industry and how it can improve search? A. We really do not think of ourselves as rivals of Google. There is, however, some major rivalry today between Google and Yahoo. But we are certainly going to compete. We think the sun has not set on even the first day of the search opportunity. In all our research, one out of every two people searching for something do not even get an answer. We certainly envision a world where we can answer persons' questions much, much better. I think the dream case is that we can actually answer the question directly: How many cups in a gallon? How far is it to the moon? What time does the ferry leave? What are the top 10 stocks? Q. How much integration will there be between the operating system and Web search, and will that be a coordinated effort when you launch? A. There are a lot of different aspects to search. Some of them are local PC search; some of it is yellow pages-like search. Some of it is deep Web search going into databases that you cannot even touch today. We will slowly look at all of them. We think that we will build a best-in-class search service for doing a bunch of other things before we ever get to doing anything significant in the operating system.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents Weblogs Launches Today (Beta): Kinja, The Weblog Guide "Kinja is a weblog portal, collecting news and commentary from some of the best sites on the web." Additional info here. -- Climatology Source: National Climatic Data Center Just Released, Online Climate Atlas This is a Java-based application. From the site, "NOAA’s NCDC has produced a web version of its Climate Atlas of the United States. All of the maps available on the Climate Atlas CD are now available via the web. While the GIS capabilities are limited in this version, the maps can be viewed easily, and at no cost." -- Legal Industry--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: American Lawyer New, Corporate Scorecard (Top Corporate Practices in 2003) Additional info in this article. -- Technology--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Milken Institute Just Released, Full Text, State Technology and Science Index From the web site, "The 2004 State Technology and Science Index encapsulates each state’s comprehensive inventory of technology and science assets that can be leveraged to promote economic development...The index uses 75 indicators in five categories to measure how well a state will perform in today’s knowledge-based economy. See Also: Direct to National State Technology & Science Overall Index, 2004 See Also: Additional Info in this Reuters Article
Interlibrary Loan Happy 25th Birthday To OCLC Interlibrary Loan!!! I received this note in an email this morning. "The OCLC ILL service was launched on April 1, 1979 -- 25 years ago today! Over 134 million requests have been made during the past 25 years." |
