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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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Saturday, April 30, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries--Budget Issues Source: Dallas Morning News Libraries smarting from cutbacks " In the last 18 months, the nation's public libraries have seen their budgets cut by $111.2 million -- as much as 50 percent in some states -- the result of struggling economies and reductions in state financing, according to American Library Association figures. The cuts have forced layoffs, reduced operating hours and put many libraries at risk of closing."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Factbooks Source: CIA 2005 CIA World Factbook Released Online From the news release, "Although this reference site provides information as of 1 January 2005, it will be updated biweekly throughout the year to provide wide-ranging and hard-to-locate information about the background, geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe...The World Factbook 2005 contains six appendices with reference information ranging from abbreviations and descriptions of international organizations and groups to cross-referenced lists of country data codes. The 2005 edition includes 15 reference maps, which are available in both JPEG and PDF formats. Many country maps and flags have been updated to reflect changes and refinements over the past year. Six new entries have been added to The World Factbook 2005. In the people category, a major infectious diseases field has been added for countries deemed to pose a higher degree of risk for travelers. In the economy category, entries have been included for current account balance, investment (gross fixed), public debt, and reserves of foreign exchange and gold. The transnational issues category has a new refugees and internally displaced persons entry. Revision of some individual country maps, first introduced in the 2001 edition, is continued in this edition." You can also download various parts of The World Factbook. Zip files here. Friday, April 29, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Conferences--Canada Metadata Source: Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada Announces Canadian Metadata Forum 2005 The theme of this year's Forum (September 27 and 28, 2005 in Ottawa) is: Metadata: A Reality Check. -- Archives--United Kingdom Digitization Projects--United Kingdom--Audio Source: JISC Interview with Crispin Jewitt, Head of Sound Archive at the British Library -- Libraries--PATRIOT Act Source: Reuters Congress Pressed to Renew Library-Search Powers See Also: Comments from ALA President -- Digital Archives Source: Center for Research Libraries Center for Research Libraries Awarded Mellon Founcation Grant for Certification of Digital Archives "The Center has been awarded a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop the processes and activities required to audit and certify digital archives." -- OAIster Federated Searching Open Archives Initiative Metadata Source: Research Information Looking for pearls: An Interview with Kat Hagerdorn from OAIster "It can be hard to find all the relevant material online when there is so much available. The OAIster project of the University of Michigan in the USA provides a solution by harvesting the information that is hidden in over 400 institutions around the world. Katerina Hagerdorn, metadata harvesting librarian for the project, describes what this means." -- Library Organizations Source: American Library Association Recently Released, 2003-2004 ALA Annual Report
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Terrorism--Chronology Source: National Counterterrorism Center (via Federation of American Scientists) A Chronology of Significant International Terrorism for 2004 (PDF; 2.8 MB) "The accompanying chronology should not be viewed as a complete accounting of global terrorist activity. The categorization and selection criteria specified to NCTC for filtering incidences were drawn from statutory language, traditional 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' definitions, and past practices. The methodology used to generate this list of incidents, however, does not accurately capture the totality of terrorist incidents worldwide and could lead to anomalous and potentially inaccurate results. NCTC will therefore adjust and improve this methodology and follow this release with the distribution, in June 2005, of a more comprehensive dataset, with regular updates, to better inform the public." See also: Just Released -- Country Reports on Terrorism 2004 (via DocuTicker) -- Advertising--Statistics Source: IAB/PricewaterhouseCoopers IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report Just released. 2004 revenue numbers. Summary ||| Direct to Full Text -- IT Contractors--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: INPUT 2005 INPUT Federal IT 150 "...a ranked listing of the top 150 federal IT contractors by fiscal year 2004 (FY04) information technology spending as defined by INPUT." -- Wiretaps--United States--Statistics Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Just Released, 2004 Wiretap Report "A total of 1,710 applications for wiretaps of wire, oral or electronic communications were authorized by federal and state judges in 2004, an increase of 19 percent over 2003." Summary (PDF) ||| Direct to Full Text and Tables Thursday, April 28, 2005
Resource of the Week by Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor We know you like content-rich sites because we like content-rich sites. And for the American history researcher, we have something very cool this week. U.S. History Source: Houghton Mifflin Reader's Companion to American History What's here? The full text of several American history books. Containing full-text, signed articles. Available titles are: + Reader's Companion to American History + Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History + Reader's Companion to Military History + Encyclopedia of North American Indians + Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia + Civil War Battlefield Guide + Great American History Fact-Finder The bad news is...the site is not searchable (although you could formulate a Yahoo or Google query to do it for you by using the site:college.hmco.com advanced search feature). The good news is...the site is eminently browseable. Click on each book title to display a page containing a alphabetical list of entries. Browse till you find what you're looking for (or use your browser's "find" feature) and click to read. There are some hidden gems here; for instance, in the Civil War Battlefield Guide, when you click on the name of a battle to read about it, you'll see estimated Union and Confederate casualties for that battle at the bottom of the entry, as in this piece about the Appomattox Campaign. Ships of the World contains a section on Literary Ships -- e.g., an alphabetical list of ships found in literature. The Encyclopedia of North American Indians offers a small collection of maps (although I had trouble getting some of the images to load). The Great American History Fact-Finder includes a bibliography of Suggested Additional Reading. This website contains a variety of other materials, some of which are password-protected, for instructors and students who are registered to use them. But it's worth clicking around to see what else you can find, such as: + Full-text Primary Sources in Western Civilization, from the Epic Of Gilgamesh to Simone De Beauvoir's The Second Sex: Existential Feminism. + Full-text Primary Sources in American History, from Cotton Mather's The Wonders of the Invisible World to Consumerism, which presents "census figures on annual earnings by industry and occupation from 1890 to 1926." + Recommended web links for American History, Western Civilization (annotated), and World Civilizations (annotated). Publication data for the Reader's Companion to American History shows a copyright date of 1991, so this is obviously not the place to look for recent events, etc., in U.S. history.
Professional Reading Shelf Electronic Records Source: ICA Just Released, Electronic Records: A Workbook for Archivists (ICA Study 16) now available! "This eagerly awaited manual on records in electronic systems, including networked environments, is available free of charge for download from ICA's Web site (Download Center)." -- Controlled Vocabularies Source: NISO Just Released, NISO Z39.19-200x Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies "The just-released revision of NISO's classic Thesaurus Standard is an essential and useful reference for anyone engaged in building and maintenance taxonomies and thesauri. You are invited to preview the draft of Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies NISO Z39.19-200x." -- Classification Source: NLM NLM Classification 2005 Edition Now Available "The NLM Classification, available online at http://wwwcf.nlm.nih.gov/class/, has a new look for 2005. The new design includes a customized banner for the NLM Classification and conforms more closely to the overall style of the National Library of Medicine site.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents London--Web Portals e-Government--United Kingdom Source: Kablenet New, London e-portal emerges "London's e-government agency has set up an "operational" version of its e-services portal ahead of a planned public launch of the system. The long awaited Your London portal is not being publicised, but is available as a "soft launch" version in order to carry out final testing. Presented as the "official online guide" to public and community services across the capital, the system has a range of sections." -- Judges--United States--Federal Courts Souce: US Courts Newly Posted: History of Federal Judgeships "A history of federal judgeships page, which includes the number of appointments made by each president dating back to Franklin D. Roosevelt, is now available." -- U.S. History--Databases Genealogy--Databases Source: NARA New File Added to Access to Archival Databases (AAD) System: List of Ships that Arrived at the Port of New York During the Irish Famine, 1846-1851 "These records contain ship names, ports of embarkation, arrival dates, and the number of passengers on the ship. This file is a companion to the Famine Irish Passenger Record Data File."
Briefly + Get News About Dialog Via New RSS Feed Here's the link to add to your aggregator. + Berkshire Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction Now Available from Xrefer Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Librarianship Source: MLA The April 2005 Issue (Vol.93 No.2) of the Journal of the Medical Library Association is Now Online Articles Include: + Information-seeking behaviors of practitioners in a primary care practice-based research network + Information-seeking behavior of nursing students and clinical nurses: implications for health sciences librarian + Personal digital assistant-based drug information sources: potential to improve medication safety + Book Review: Collaborative Collection Development: A Practical Guide for Your Library -- JSTOR Source: JSTORNEWS A New Search Engine for JSTOR JSTOR is now using Lucene open-source search technology. -- Censorship Source: CBS News Alabama Bill Targets Gay Authors Three words describe what's discussed in this story, Awful, pathetic, and sad. From the article, "Republican Alabama lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle. As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, under his bill, public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters." -- National Libraries--Europe Digitization Projects Source: Turkish Press European libraries join forces against Google global virtual library "The 19 [Eurepean national] libraries are backing instead a multi-million euro counter-offensive by European nations to put European literature online...The statement was signed by national libraires in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden." The more digitization (if done properly) the better. However, instead of disparate projects it would be better if Google, national libraries, and others could work together to avoid duplication, resources, and time. Oh well.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents OECD Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD launches sites for each of its member countries on www.oecd.org "From one country site, you can widen your research and compare the results of a specific country with other OECD economies, thus, fully benefiting from the OECD's comparative approach. To satisfy increasing demands, the Country Web sites also feature a statistical profile for each OECD country. Some 100 key statistical indicators are provided and users can compare the figures with those of the other member countries." -- Management--Lectures Source: MIT Sloan School of Management Just Released, Video Lecture, A Conversation with Jack Welch The lecture tool place on Apri l2, 2005. From the blurb, "Jack Welch's appearance before an audience of Sloan students provides the context for a lively and candid discussion about management, compensation, mistakes, and work-life balance. -- eGovernment--United Kingdom--News Source: eGov Monitor eGov monitor Now Available at No Charge This daily update of UK e-government news and info was formerly available via a fee-based subscription. In the past few weeks the subscription fee has been removed. RSS feeds are also available. -- Internet Access--UK--Fast Facts Source: National Statistics Office Internet Access From Home in the UK Graph available. "In the fourth quarter of 2004, 52 per cent of households in the UK (12.6 million) could access the Internet from home, compared with just 9 per cent (2.2 million) in the same quarter of 1998."
Scholarly Publishing--Citation Reports Source: ISI + Science in France, 2000-2004 + Performing Arts: Most Prolific U.S. Universities, 1999-2003 + Microbiology: High-Impact U.S. Universities, 1999-2003
Search Briefs Yahoo Adds New Services to My Yahoo Web Search Chris Sherman has the details in SearchDay. We're very happy to see that Yahoo is now allowing users the option to cache a full text copies of web pages and then allow you to search your personal cache. Another service named Filangy offers something similar. Google launched their personal search history tool last week. Ask Jeeves (MyJeeves) and a9 began providing search history tools last summer.
Briefly Reed Elsevier Reports Q1 2005 Earnings Note: RE also released their 4th Corporate Responsibility Report today. Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Public Libraries--Patriot Act Source: National Review Online (NRO) Murdock: We need to keep an eye on libraries "These dangerously naive or clandestinely seditious librarians are beyond foolish. They potentially jeopardize the lives of American citizens." Opinion column by NRO contributing editor Deroy Murdock. -- Public Libraries--Budget Cuts Two Items + Source: Indianapolis Star 'New and improved' library throws the book at tradition "'Citizens don't know the library service is changing behind the scenes. It is going to affect what is offered. Here we have an award-winning library, and nobody is really making a case to maintain this level of service.'" -- + Source: Berkeley Daily Planet Library Staff Proposes Service Principles "The staff at the Berkeley Public Library recognizes that the library faces budgetary constraints and must make difficult decisions on staffing and services. Unfortunately, library management has made unilateral decisions on what services are important and what should be cutback without consulting either library staff or the users of library services. These arbitrary decisions have eroded staff morale and aggravated relations with the library user community. As long-time library staff, we want to propose a set of principles that could guide decisions about maintenance of library services and the staffing to ensure them...." -- Electronic Journals Scholarly Publishing Source: Learned Publishing HighWire Press: ten years of publisher-driven innovation A new article (12 pages; PDF) by John Sack. Available free via HighWire site. "An account is given of the beginnings and development of HighWire Press at Stanford University and the philosophy that sustains it." -- Preservation Source: RLG DigiNews Automating Preservation: New Developments in the PRONOM A new article by Adrian Brown from The National Archives, UK. "Electronic records pose many challenges for archivists, but these arise from a single underlying issue: access to a digital object is entirely dependent on technology. A file in a given format requires software to decode and display it; that software in turn requires a specific combination of hardware, operating systems, and other software to run." -- U.S. Federal Courts--Databases Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Growing Number of Courts on New Management System "Implementation of the federal judiciary's Case Management and Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system continues in appellate, district and bankruptcy courts across the country." Charts included.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Business--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: The Washington Post Just Released, The Post 200, 2005 Top 200 companies in the Washington DC region. Several lists, including one offering a breakout by industry. Searchable. Alphabetical list of companies also online. -- Working Women--United States Source: Employment Policy Foundation New, Handbook on 21st Century Working Women Full text online. "PF's Handbook on 21st Century Working Women continues a series of decennial data books on the circumstances of women produced under the auspices of U.S. Department of Labor's Women's Bureau. Since its inception 84 years ago, the Women?s Bureau has recognized that a solid foundation of data about women?s labor force experience and working conditions is essential to inform public policy analysis and workplace decisions. The complete Handbook is available for download in PDF format or for purchase in the EPF Bookstore. Individual chapters are also available for download as PDFs." Thanks to S.B. for the news tip. -- Business--Canada--List & Rankings Source: Canada Business Canada's global leaders "40 Canadians who've become international business power players." -- Consumer Credit--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: MapInfo.com The Top Ten Credit Spending Metro Areas, U.S.
Search Briefs Public Records: Pretrieve Adds New Features Note: Pretrieve is a new database that offers a federated/meta search of many web-accessible and free public record databases that often contain info residing on the Invisible or Deep Web. We're planning for a full review of Pretrieve soon. Today, Pretrieve added access to court records from various jurisdictions. Details about their Firefox plugin and search syntax here. Again, expect a full review soon. Also, Genie Tyburski shares some important comments here. + Mobile Access to Info: See The Traffic Monday, April 25, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Dr. S.R. Ranganathan Source: News Today (India) Father of Library Science "It is a matter for concern and sorrow that most people in India, even the so-called highly educated people, do not know the Father of Library Science -- Dr S R Ranganathan (1892-1972). He was born on 9 August 1892 at Sirkazhi in Thanjavur district of the then Madras Presidency. He was educated at Sabhanaicka Mudaliar's Hindu High School, Sirgazhi, between 1897 and 1908. He graduated from Madras Christian College with a degree in Mathematics in 1916. He took a teaching diploma at the Teachers' College, Saidapet, Madras in 1917." Profile of Dr. Ranganathan. -- Libraries--Management Source: Emerald This Week ONLY: Free Full Text Access to Three Recent Issues of Library Management Articles include: + Outreach programs beyond the immediate university community (Vol.26 No.3) + Telephone survey research for library managers (Vol.26 No.3) + Depositories and repositories: changing models of library storage in the USA (Vol.26 No.1/2) + The economics of repository libraries in the context of the future conventional libraries (Vol.26 No.1/2) + Preserving African digital resources: is there a role for repository libraries? (Vol.26 No.1/2) + Distributed collections and central repository in France: Competition or complementarity? (Vol.26 No.1/2) + Making a statement: reviewing the case for written collection development policies (Vol.25 No.8/9) + Proposals, grants, projects and careers: a strategic view for libraries (Vol.25 No.8/9) -- Council of Europe--Resources Source: GlobalLex History, role and activities of the Council of Europe: Facts, figures and information sources A new article by Sophie Lobey. Ms. Lobey holds a Master of International Trade and Finance (Paris, 1992) from "Institut Supérieur de Gestion" (Advanced Institute of Management). She has worked for eleven years as Sales and Marketing Manager for Council of Europe Publishing, and has been responsible for the commercial website of the Council of Europe since 1997." -- Archives Source: ICA/UNESCO UNESCO Calls for Nominations for "Memory of the World" International Register 2005/2006 "UNESCO is inviting new nomination proposals for inscription on its "Memory of the World" International Register, a list of library collections and archive holdings of world significance, which was established in 1992 to preserve and promote documentary heritage of universal value." -- Libraries and Librarians Source: Information Community News/NFAIS One Person's Commentary Jill O'Neill writes, "This is a truly challenging time for all of us in the information community. We have to serve users, some of whom may be slow in figuring out when and where fee-paid services may be preferable to free services." -- Libraries Source: LJ Meet the Gamers "In the past, librarians have often been perceived as gatekeepers, arbiters of access to information. The digital cultures now emerging (with the help of technologies such as games) suggest that the days for such an institutional role are numbered. Librarians must find creative ways to support people in forming sites of collective intelligence, searching information, working within social networks, and producing knowledge. If not, they run the risk of rendering themselves, for much of the public at least, largely obsolete."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents General Accountability Office--United States Source: GAO Full Text Searching Now Available: GAO Enhances Site Search Options "GAO has introduced a new feature to enhance full text searching and your ability to select the best results to meet your needs. In the past, search results have included titles and your search terms with the text surrounding them, the URL, and other minor information about each item. Now your results will typically include an Overview and Topic as well." -- Terrorism--Research--Databases Source: Federal Research Division, LC Inventory And Assessment Of Databases Relevant For Social Science Research On Terrorism 24 pages; PDF. -- Sensitive But Unclassified Information--United States--Legal Issues Source: Federal Research Division, LC (via DocuTicker) Laws And Regulations Governing The Protection Of Sensitive But Unclassified Information 32 pages; PDF.
Search Briefs + Presentations from the 2005 Search Engine Meeting PLENTY of interesting reading including a presentation by Dr. Carol Tenopir. + A New Search Engine for European Travel Sunday, April 24, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Librarians Source: Ancestry.com Ancestry.com -- In Praise of Library Personnel "My primary business is operating a seminar company whose mission is to provide continuing education to library consortia, professional librarians, and library staff. My work has brought me in contact with many thousands of librarians and...this week, I want to let you in on what the people you see and the people in the background in our public libraries do for us." By George Morgan, president of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Business--Lists & Rankings Source: EIU US, Switzerland and Slovakia the biggest gainers in Economist Intelligence Unit's sixth annual e-readiness rankings "Since 2000, the Economist Intelligence Unit has published an annual e-readiness ranking of the world's largest economies. A country's "e-readiness" is a measure of its e-business environment, a collection of factors that indicate how amenable a market is to Internet-based opportunities." The full text of the report is availale here. -- Executive Compensation--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Forbes CEO Compensation Rankings Sort by Rank, Name, Company, Age, and Total Compensation. -- Mexican Americans--Fast Facts Source: U.S. Census Fast Facts About Mexican Americans A new compilation of facts to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. -- Books--Online Exhibits Source: University of North Texas Libraries Pop-Up and Movable Books: A Tour Through Their History Saturday, April 23, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Military Librarians Source: ARNews Army librarians hone 'virtual library' skills "Army Knowledge Online personnel attended the Army Library Institute and trained attendees on integrating AKO?s functionality into the Army Library Program. A hands-on approach in a computer lab setting featured discussions on AKO capabilities, the new AKO syndicated news channel, creation of 'virtual teams' for librarians, use of various collaboration tools and techniques, and upcoming changes to AKO." -- Copyright--United States Source: ARL Teleconference, Orphan Works: Issues and Legislative Strategies "What do you do if you can't find the copyright holder of a work (say a photograph, article, or film clip) that you want to use in a book or a Web site? The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Medical Library Association (MLA) and the American Association of Law Libraries(AALL) are sponsoring an interactive teleconference on Orphan Works, Monday, May 2, 3:00-4:30 p.m. EDT."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Population--Lists & Rankings Source: United Nations Population of capital cities and cities of 100,000 and more inhabitants A global list. -- Food and Drug Regulation--United States Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration USDA Enforcement Report Index "The FDA Enforcement Report is published weekly by the Food and Drug Administration. It contains information on actions taken in connection with agency regulatory activities. Inquiries about individual actions should be directed to the companies involved." Includes reports back to February 1990. Searchable. Friday, April 22, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Online Information Source: OCLC OCLC Researchers Hits the Road Links to several PowerPoint presentations from members of OCLC Research. + Mining for Digital Resources: Identifying and Characterizing Digital Materials in WorldCat + A Systemwide View of Library Collections + Information Management in a Knowledge Society + Metadata: Practice and practice -- Legal Research Source: GlobalLex A Guide to the U. S. Federal Legal System Web-based Public Accessible Sources A new guide by Gretchen Feltes, a Faculty Services/Reference Librarian at New York University School of Law Library. -- E-Books Source: Brown and White (Lehigh University) E-books may soon hit market, CEO says A Lehigh alumnus described the future of the publishing age, which he believes will include electronic books, Thursday at Linderman Library." -- Scholarly Publishing Source: APS News Publication and the Internet: Where Next? (PDF; 240 KB) "There are, I believe, two important components to a new publishing model. The first is to rely as much as possible on the authors of scientific papers to take over functions now carried out by scientific journals. Good software tools can facilitate this. The second is to recognize tasks that -- irreducibly -- require professional editors and staff, and to assign the real costs and collect revenues for these tasks. In the following, I will quote costs for these services as a fraction of the present cost for the Physical Review to process a paper (?PR cost?)."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Source: Stanford University Libraries/World Trade Organization GATT Digital Library "Welcome to the website of the GATT Digital Library. This site provides access to documents and information of and about the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), an organization that promoted international commerce and the reduction of trade barriers among member states from 1947-1994.... Browse, search and view over 30,000 documents and publications of the GATT." -- Thomas Register--Databases ThomasNet.com Adds "Brand" Searching "ThomasNet.com (www.thomasnet.com) added a brand name search feature in response to customer feedback and market demand. Manufacturers can now promote specific brands and support their distributor network while buyers can search by brand, further enhancing the quality of their results." -- Vehicle Accidents--United States--Statistics Source: National Highway Transportation Safety Administration 2004 Projections: Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash Fatalities and Injuries (PDF; 869 KB) From press release: "While the fatality rate dropped and alcohol-related crashes are down from 2003, 42,800 died on the nation?s highways in 2004, up slightly from 42,643 in 2003, according to projected 2004 data compiled by the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in a preliminary report." (via DocuTicker) Thursday, April 21, 2005
Resource of the Week by Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor Financial literacy is an important subset of information literacy. Our Resource of the Week is a content-rich site from the Federal Reserve Board. If you're a teacher, you'll really appreciate this site. Much of what's here is aimed directly at you. Financial Education Source: Federal Reserve Board Federal Reserve Education The Federal Reserve System has just redesigned its financial education website, consolidating the contents of four different sites, with resources for teachers, high school and college students, and the general public. The four main sections of the site are: + Federal Reserve Education, which offers "links to instructional materials and tools that can increase your understanding of the Federal Reserve, economics and financial education." Some features of note include: Peanuts and Crackerjacks, an "educational unit on the economics of pro sports;" Fed Card Currency Trivia, which gives you an opportunity to "test your currency knowledge;" Ask Dr. Econ, who can enlighten you "on topical and challenging economic quandaries." There's also a collection of links to other economic education websites. + Teachers Resources offers a search engine that helps teachers locate "Federal Reserve System education materials that meet national education standards for incorporation in their lesson plans." There are title and keyword search boxes, and dropdown menus that let you restrict your search to level of material (elementary, middle or high school), type of material (comic books, games, videos, pamphlets, websites, teaching guides and more), and/or relevant National Council on Economic Education standard. + Personal Financial Education includes tutorials, brochures and other information covering consumer banking, consumer protection, homes and mortgages, interest rates, loans, and credit. Very cool: Video (MPEG format) showing The Life of a Dollar Bill "as it moves from printer to shredder." + Fed 101, "an interactive site that provides an overview of the history and organization of the Federal Reserve System, monetary policy and federal regulations, and services provided to depository institutions." Also here: + An extensive glossary of economics and money terminology + A searchable FedFAQ + Links to all the Federal Reserve Bank websites + Biographies of all Federal Reserve Bank presidents The entire site is searchable; there's a keyword search box in the upper righthand corner of the home page and several other pages.
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries--Marketing Source: Chris Olson The April 2005 issue of Chris Olson's Marketing Treasures newsletter is available online. -- Health Information Source: NLM New Compilation, Resources for International Librarians, Health Professionals and Researchers -- National Libraries--Philippines Source: INQ7.net Age-old books in National Library go online "The National Library of the Philippines (NLP), one of the country's oldest government institutions, has finally gone high-tech with the launch of its online version aptly called the Philippine eLib (www.elib.gov.ph). The site features a collection of more than 800,000 bibliographical records from the National Library's archives. There are 29,000 full-text journals [via various vendors] and 150,000 theses and dissertations, many of which are being preserved and cannot be borrowed." -- Medieval Studies--Web Resources Source: C&RL News New, Medieval studies: Gateways, subject guides, and more A new compilation of web resources compiled by John Jaeger, a librarian at Dallas Baptist University and Paul Victor Jr., a librarian at the University of Florida.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Genetics--Atlas Source: National Geographic Atlas of the Human Journey Part of the NGS Genographic Project. -- Film--Canada Source: Library and Archives Canada New Web Resource: Canadian Women in Film -- U.S. Government--Alert Services Source: CBO New E-Mail Alert Service from the Congressional Budget Office "CBO now offers instant notification of releases (or a next-day summary)." -- Music--Digital Collections Source: Library of Congress The Roger Reynolds Collection at the Library of Congress "This new presentation provides a record--to be updated periodically--of representative materials that composer Roger Reynolds has donated to the Library of Congress. The presence of the Roger Reynolds Collection in the Library's Music Division provides a rare opportunity for future composers and music scholars to study the work of an important composer who has kept extensive, detailed notes and sketches that trace the development of his compositional methods. The 'I Hear America Singing' presentation includes an interview with Reynolds with interactive footnotes, as well as sound and score examples that illustrate Reynolds' work and allow the user to interact with the materials in the collection. Other features of the site include the complete score of Reynolds' "Transfigured Wind III" for solo flute, chamber ensemble and quadraphonic computer processed sound. This is accompanied by a sound recording of a performance of that work and an in-depth interview with the composer, featuring his own technical analysis of the work and its creation."
Search Briefs (via SEW Blog) + Multimap: Wireless Web Access to Maps for More than 50 Countries + Your Web Search History: New Services from Google and Filangy Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Web Directories Source: LII The Librarians' Index to the Internet User Survey One of the great librarian-built resources is asking for your assistance. Karen and the LII team would appreciate if you would complete a short survey (only 15 questions). Thanks! -- Librarians Special Libraries Source: CareerJournal/Wall St. Journal Corporate librarians are abandoning the stacks More postive press about the profession and the skills info pros possess and can offer organizations! Congrats to ResourceShelf contributing editor Steven Cohen on the mention. More congrats to Gary's former boss (during library school) and former president of SLA, Judy Field, on being quoted in the article. -- Electronic Journals--HighWire Press Source: HP Check out a Preview Version of the New HighWire Press Web Site -- Information Science Source: ASIS&T The April/May 2005 Issue of the Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology is Now Online Articles and Columns Include: + The Historical Development of Information Infrastructures and the Dissemination of Knowledge: A Personal Reflection + Bella and Yakov and Tillie's Panties: What I learned in "Construction and Maintenance of Indexing Languages and Thesauri" Great read! -- MEDLINE Source: NLM Just Published, 2005 List of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE -- Website Accessibility Source: The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council New Report, Accessibility of museum, library and archive websites: the MLA audit -- Conferences--Australia Source: NLA Conference celebrates research using National Library's collections "Join outstanding Australian and international authors, scholars and commentators as they speak about research based on the National Library's collections at the conference An Open Book: Research, Imagination and the Pursuit of Knowledge from Friday 29 April until Sunday 1 May 2005." -- Public Libraries--Censorship Source: American Civil Liberties Union Reader's Block: Internet Censorship in Rhode Island Public Libraries (PDF; 470 KB) From press release: "The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today released a report showing that public libraries in the state are impeding patrons' access to information on the Internet through the unnecessarily expansive use of so-called 'blocking software.' Calling the findings 'troubling,' the 18-page report, 'Reader's Block,' urged libraries to reassess the policies and practices they have implemented." (via DocuTicker)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Emerging Technology Source: Technology Review 10 Emerging Technologies "Of the numerous technologies now in gestation at companies and universities, we have chosen 10 that we think will make particularly big splashes. They range from bacterial factories to silicon photonics to quantum wires--and any one of them could change your world." -- Academia--Salaries Source: American Association of University Professors Inequities Persist for Women and Non-Tenure-Track Faculty: The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession 2004-05 "Following the pattern of recent years, this annual report first examines the economic situation of full-time faculty at different types of institutions, after which it considers longer-term trends affecting higher education and faculty status. Highlights include a comparison of the salaries of university and college presidents to those of faculty and a discussion of probably the single most significant trend for higher education faculty: the growing predominance of contingent positions. For the first time, this year's report touches on the pay of contingent professors relative to that of tenure-track faculty, an issue on which sufficient data unfortunately do not yet exist. The report concludes with a matter of abiding concern: the question whether women faculty are making progress toward equity with men." (via DocuTicker) Full Report (PDF; 215 KB) -- Nutrition Source: USDA New Web Site, MyPyramid.gov Interactive food guidance system. More info in this news release and this article. -- Business--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: DiversityInc Just Released, The Top 50 Companies for Diversity (reg. req., free trial avail.) Methodology and specialty lists available. -- Earthquakes--History Maps Source: USGS USGS Produces New Map Showing Detailed Ground Shaking in Great San Francisco Old Maps, even Old Cemeteries, Provide New Clues for Modern Intensity Tool "The catastrophic damage resulting from the 1906 earthquake proved to be the springboard for a century of advances in the understanding and science of earthquakes. Now the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has employed one of its most sophisticated modern tools to visually show in detail for the first time the intensity of shaking in San Francisco and the extraordinarily high intensity of shaking in communities like Santa Rosa from that earthquake. The 1906 damage patterns are displayed graphically as a ShakeMap, posted on the web at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1135/ and accompanied by a report analyzing the basis for the recent findings, and lessons for future great California earthquakes that can be inferred from the new data."
Search Briefs + Podscope Beta Now Available, Keyword Search Podcasts + Images from Five More Cities Added To A9's Visual Yellow Pages
Briefly + Used Books: Biblio.com Announces OCLC Linking for Libraries + Springer and Ingenta Make Deal Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Digitization Projects--United States--Newspapers Source: Salt Lake City Tribune Old news is brand new at U. library project "Thanks to new technology, digital pictures are making old newspapers readable from the comfort of your home computer. On Tuesday, the University of Utah's Digital Technology Division began loading onto the Internet digitized copies of 19th century editions of The Salt Lake Tribune." -- Library of Congress Library of Congress Home Page Receives a Makeover Kudos!!! -- On Demand Publishing Source: Information Today Newstex Launches Content On Demand Paula Hane writes, "Newstex (http://www.newstex.com), founded in late 2004 by president Larry Schwartz and CEO Steve Ellis, has announced Content On Demand, which offers full-text newsfeeds to content redistributors and enterprise customers. Content sources include branded newswires, newspapers, magazines, financial and business sources, official government feeds, and Weblogs. The company claims to be unique for its low-cost business model, newly developed technology built on an open source platform that is reliable and fast, flexibility to meet evolving customer requirements, full text plus embedded images in the feeds, and the financial commentary licensed from selected bloggers. Newstex is currently targeting the financial, government, and entertainment markets." -- Public Libraries--Staff Reductions Source: Cincinnati Enquirer Library issues 48 pink slips "The reality of budget cuts at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County hit home this week in the form of pink slips for 48 employees. The majority of jobs being eliminated are in the main library's government and public documents departments, where all 28 employees got notices that their jobs will disappear June 30, Executive Director Kimber Fender said. About half as many jobs will be re-created in a new, combined department, and the employees can apply for those." -- Archives Source: FCW Center creates archiving model "A New York-based technology research center has developed an approach and methodology designed to help state and territorial archivists and librarians preserve digital information."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Press Freedom Freedom of Expression REDcom -- New Website on Freedom of Expression and the Press "Direct access to more than 100 organizations active in promoting freedom of expression and press freedom, as well as the right of access to information, are now available on REDcom, a new website developed by UNESCO´s Regional Office for Communication and Information for Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Quito." -- Winston Churchill--Audio Source: Churchill Family Churchill Speech Interactive "In 1946 Winston Churchill gave a speech in Fulton, Missouri, where he introduced the term 'Iron Curtain' to the world. Now you can hear that talk from the comfort of your desk. Launch the speech and thrill to Churchill's sonorous voice as small picture and text boxes slide across the screen, synchronized to complement his words. Discover more on Churchill as a young man, read about Germany divided, and meet Truman's entourage. Uncover glimpse after glimpse of Churchill's notes for the speech. All the while you can stop or start the talk, replay parts, skip ahead to intriguing sections, or follow the transcript scrolling along the bottom of the screen." (Blurb via Yahoo Picks of the Week). -- Electronic Music Source: IEEE Virtual Museum New Online Exhibit, "Songs in the Key of E" "The IEEE Virtual Museum has launched its latest exhibit, which explores the numerous ways electronics have been used to create music. With examples such as the singing arc, the theremin and the synthesizer, among others, the exhibit highlights both the inventors of electronic instruments and the instruments themselves, and uses audio clips to demonstrate the various sounds." See Also: Other IEEE Virtual Museum Exhibits -- Healthcare--United States--Fast Facts Source: U.S. Census Fast Facts About Nurses and Hospitals in the United States A new fact sheet (full of numbers and links to full text reports) to celebrate National Nurses Week and National Hospital Week.
Search Briefs + Mobile Search Tools for the Health/Medical Researcher + A New Dynamic Search Term Suggestion Tool from Snap
Web Browsers Opera 8.0 Now Available The new version of Opera is out of beta and now available for Windows and Linux. Monday, April 18, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Academic Libraries Source: EDUCAUSE New From EDUCAUSE, Enterprise Electronic Content Management Constituent Group "Universities are creating electronic content at an ever-accelerating pace; however, little attention has been given to how most of that information is managed. Vast amounts of information can overwhelm users, and inaccurate information can cause inefficiency, propagate misinformation, degrade brand value, and place organizations in the path of regulatory and legal risk." -- National Archives--United States Source: Federal Computer Week The records keeper Comments from Allen Weinstein, the ninth archivist of the United States. -- Public Libraries--Geomapping Source: Sirsi OneSource Mapping Our Service Areas: Huntsville-Madison County Public Library "Find out how the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library's work to map their service area gave them a clearer picture of their political funding and patron activity - as well as shedding light on ways to improve resource allocation. Read on to learn how their efforts can benefit other public libraries too!" -- Libraries Source: MLive Commission hopes to make libraries more relevant to Americans A Q&A interview with new NCLIS Chariman, Beth Fitzsimmons. -- Libraries--Africa Source: AngolaPress South Africans to help build Timbuktu library "A group of South African academics and historians are heading to Timbuktu in Mali to help build a library to house thousands of manuscripts dating back to the 13th century."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Population--United States--Databases Demographics--United States--Databases Source: U.S. Census Improvements to American FactFinder Database from U.S. Census Now Online Several improvements went live late last week. -- Vital Statistics--United States Source: National Center for Health Statstics Just Released, Vital Statistics of the United States, 2000 Volume I, Natality -- Baseball--Prices Sports Marketing Source: Team Marketing Report Just Released, Major League Baseball 2005 Fan Cost Index "TMR's exclusive Fan Cost Index survey, now in its thirteenth year, tracks the cost of attendance for a family of four." -- Folk Music Source: Ibilbio.org New, Folktunes.org -- The Folktunes Archive As folk music is for the people and by the people anyone may contribute to this collection via wiki. There are a few types of recordings available for streaming and download: instructional, jam sessions, albums/demos, and vintage."
Search Briefs + Searching via your Mobile Phone + Shopping Research: More About Become.com + Largest U.S. Corporations: Where Do Google and Yahoo Rank?
Briefly + Organization: WebFolio 2.0 Leaves Beta + Sony Pictures Plans to Build Digital Library (via LA Times) + Visualization: Infotrieve Using Inxight ThingFinder to Identify Drugs, Diseases, Anatomy, Organisms, Genes and Chemicals in Drug Discovery Research Sunday, April 17, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries Source: Carnegie Reporter (Carnegie Corp. of NY) Do Libraries Still Matter? "In the era of the Internet, will we still go to libraries to borrow books and do research? The answer seems to be a resounding yes, because libraries are more than just a place to keep volumes on dusty shelves." -- Virtual Reference Now Available: Presentations from the 2004 Virtual Reference Desk Conference -- Libraries Dictionaries Source: The New York Times Happy 250th Birthday to Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language -- Presidential Libraries Source: AP A Visit to the New Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Baseball Source: Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) The Business of Baseball "The goal of this site is to provide research tools for those wishing to learn more about the business end of professional baseball. The site is broken into several areas, including Data (databases and spreadsheets), Relocation and/or Expansion (documentation by jurisdictions exploring relocation and/or expansion), Documents (various documents, both current and historical, dealing with issues within the business of baseball), Bios (biographies from members of SABR on persons within the business of baseball), Reading Material (suggested reading material from the Business of Baseball Committee of SABR), Interviews (interviews with individuals that have had, or still do impact the business of baseball), History, which chronicles key moments in baseball history as it relates to the business side of things. And, the BizBall Forums, a location where business of baseball articles are Blogged, and where discussion and commentary occur (registration required)." Saturday, April 16, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Federal Depositories--United States Source: FCW Librarians face existential crisis: "Some federal depository librarians are upset about the Government Printing Office's move to significantly cut the distribution of printed government documents. GPO's shift to electronic formats, which will redefine the librarians' role as government information gatekeepers, will be an issue at this weekend's Depository Library Council meeting in Albuquerque, N.M." -- Health Information--Thailand Online Information--Thailand--Quality Source: Bangkok Post Health websites mostly unreliable "Most of the almost 2,000 Thai health websites are unreliable and pose a potential danger to people seeking advice, says a study by the Health Systems Research Institute. HSRI researchers who tracked 1,888 local websites providing health information last year found that 99% could not be relied upon to offer correct advice."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Intelligence--United States Office of the National Intelligence Executive Source: Carroll Publishing Office of the National Intelligence Executive Organization Chart (PDF; 264 KB) "This chart reflects the proposed structure based upon recent public materials as interpreted by our editors. The Office of the National Intelligence Executive is still being developed; adjustments to this chart will be made as they become official." Friday, April 15, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Encyclopedias Source: AP Microsoft Asks for Help Editing Encarta Encyclopedia Make suggestions, change/update facts. Editors will then (in theory) verify and change the entry..."Encarta is not requiring such novice editors to identify themselves, said Gary Alt, Encarta's editorial director. But it is asking them to reveal the source of their information if possible, and the editorial staff will check for both factual errors and evidence of bias." ResourceShelf likes this model. In fact, MS should ask the library community (perhaps working through ALA, SLA, CILIP and other groups) to get involved. Contributing editor Steven Cohen shares his thoughts here. -- Education--Databases ERIC Source: ERIC ERIC Annouces Beta Version of Open Online Submission System "This system enables individual contributors to submit non-journal materials that will be considered for inclusion in the ERIC database. In order to continue the high quality, education focus of ERIC the submitted materials will be evaluated against the Screening Critera. As part of the Beta system, there is no established selection or processing turnaround time." -- Academic Libraries Source: News.com Way to Go Intel, NOT!!! "A day after Intel said it would offer $10,000 for a copy of a magazine in which Moore's Law was first announced, a University of Illinois engineering library noticed that one of its two copies disappeared." -- Collection Development Source: C&RL News Growing needs and limited budgets: The challenge of supporting print and electronic resources A new article by Joan Gotwals, former vice provost and director of libraries at Emory University. She writes, "As librarians understand and college and university administrators often do not, the role of libraries and librarians is ever more important in assisting users in the hybrid world to navigate the dizzying universe of electronic information and relate these sources to print and archival materials. It also requires greater subject expertise and, I believe, will likely result in a need for more Ph.D.s on the library staff, especially in research universities." -- Digital Libraries Source: D-Lib The April Issue of Digital Libraries is Now Available Articles include: + A Review of Social Bookmarking Tools + Initial Experiences in Developing a Chronologically Organized Digital Library for Continuing Education in Biodefense
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Internet--China--Filtering Source: OpenNet Initiative (via DocuTicker.com) Just Released, Internet Filtering in China in 2004-2005 "The OpenNet Initiative tested China's Internet filtering of web content, blog postings, and e-mail correspondences. Our testing found efforts to prevent access to a wide range of sensitive materials, from pornography to religious material to political dissent. Unlike the filtering systems in many other countries, China's filtering regime appears to be carried out at various control points and also to be changing over time. China operates the most extensive, technologically sophisticated, and broad-reaching system of Internet filtering in the world." -- Business--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: San Jose Mercury News Recently Released, 2004 Silicon Valley 150, 2004 The 150 largest companies in Silicon Valley. -- Rivers--United States--Pollution Source: American Rivers Just Released, Most Endangered Rivers of 2005 announced "Some 860 billion gallons of untreated sewage foul America's rivers with pollution and make millions of Americans sick each year, but the federal government has turned its back on the problem, warned American Rivers with the release of its 2005 America's Most Endangered Rivers report. These problems are particularly apparent and poised to get worse along the Susquehanna River, which tops this year's list of rivers facing uncertain futures and crucial turning points." Thursday, April 14, 2005
Resource of the Week by Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies, the number of deaths from medical errors in U.S. hospitals is estimated to be anywhere from 44,000 to 98,000 per year. The cost of medication errors alone in the U.S. are estimated at somewhere around $2 billion per year. These are not insignificant numbers. This week, we'll take a look at a new website from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) that intends to function as "a national 'one-stop' portal of resources for improving patient safety and preventing medical errors." Patient Safety Source: Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) AHRQ Patient Safety Network (PSNet) "AHRQ Patient Safety Network (PSNet) is a new national web-based resource featuring the latest news and essential resources on patient safety. The site offers weekly updates of patient safety literature, news, tools, and meetings ('What's New'), and a vast set of carefully annotated links to important research and other information on patient safety ('The Collection'). Supported by a robust patient safety taxonomy and web architecture, AHRQ PSNet provides powerful searching and browsing capability, as well as the ability for diverse users to customize the site around their interests (My PSNet). It also is tightly coupled with AHRQ WebM&M, the popular monthly journal that features user-submitted cases of medical errors, expert commentaries, and perspectives on patient safety." This site is chock full of interesting features and information. The "What's New" section on the left side of the home page offers links to journal, newspaper, and magazine articles; books and reports; audio-visual resources, and more. On the right side of the page, you can "Browse the Collection" in one of two ways -- by resource type or by general subject area: Safety Target, Approaches to Improving Safety, Error Types, Clinical Error, Target Audience, Setting of Care. The entire site is seachable via a text box in the top center of the home page, or you can use the sophisticated advanced search form to restrict your query to various combinations of resource types, topics, etc., via dropdown menus. As you browse through the site, each page offers a search box that limits the results to information in that particular area. Be sure to scroll down and click on the two resources on the bottom right-hand side: + Patient Safety Classics: "The most influential, frequently cited articles, books, and resources, in patient safety," -- keyword searchable. + Did You Know? -- Graphs illustrating particularly relevant statistics. You can browse the entire collection of these on a separate page. If this is a topic of interest to you, you may also want to see: + Medication Errors, from the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. + The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention offers a Taxonomy of Medication Errors (PDF; 48 KB) + The Institute for Safe Medication Practices publishes several Medication Safety Alert newsletters. + The National Patient Safety Foundation has an extensive library of resources. + "The MEDERRORS Library contains a unique collection of article summaries on all subjects related to medication errors, including the incidence and cost of medication errors, error reporting, and prevention programs, and the application of industrial quality assurance techniques to the health care industry." Sponsored by Bridge Medical. + Duke University Medical Center Library offers a subject guide on medical errors. + Read the Institute of Medicine's landmark study on medical errors, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, online at the National Academies Press.
Professional Reading Shelf Law Librarians Source: New York Lawyer An Ode to Librarians Open (reg req, free) Written by two associates from a NY law firm. -- Digitization--Books Source: Technology Review The Infinite Library 5 pages about the digitization of books, Google's library digitization program (pro's and con's) and comments from a number of library luminaries. Key Quotes: + "I chafe at the presumption that once you digitize, there is nothing left to do," says Donald Waters, a former director of the Digital Library Federation who now oversees the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's extensive philanthropic investments in projects to enhance scholarly communication. "There is an enormous amount to do, and digitizing is just scratching the surface." + "And considering that the flood of new digital material will make the job of classifying, cataloguing, and guiding readers to the right texts even more demanding, librarians could become busier than ever." + Also, no mention of services like NetLibrary, ebrary, Project Gutenberg, Safari, and others. -- Information Industry--LexisNexis Privacy Source: Dow Jones LexisNexis Exec: May Have Been Data Breach Before 2003 "A LexisNexis executive said Wednesday there may have been an earlier breach of consumers' personal data that was never reported to the public." -- Librarians--Jobs Source: CareerJournal.com/Wall St. Journal Librarians Reference These Sites When Seeking Work -- Librarians Source: Zap2it Remember the TV Movie The Librarian From Earlier This Year? Get ready for the sequel!!! -- Censorship Source: The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression 2005 Jefferson Muzzles "Announced on or near April 13 -- the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson -- the Jefferson Muzzles are awarded as a means to draw national attention to abridgments of free speech and press and, at the same time, foster an appreciation for those tenets of the First Amendment. Because the importance and value of free expression extend far beyond the First Amendment's limit on government censorship, acts of private censorship are not spared consideration for the dubious honor of receiving a Muzzle. Unfortunately, each year the finalists for the Jefferson Muzzles have emerged from an alarmingly large group of candidates. For each recipient, a dozen could have been substituted. Further, an examination of previous Jefferson Muzzle recipients reveals that the disregard of First Amendment principles is not the byproduct of a particular political outlook but rather that threats to free expression come from all over the political spectrum."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Poetry Source: Gale A New Free Resource from Gale: Poet's Corner "...a free Web site packed with biographies, poems and activities to help families, students and teachers celebrate National Poetry Month. This year, a special day-by-day downloadable calendar highlights important events in poetry." -- Population--United States Source: U.S. Census Just Released, U.S. County Population Estimates Flagler, Fla., is the fastest growing county in the United States. -- Computer Security QuickStudy: Biometric authentication "Biometric authentication is the verification of a user's identity by means of a physical trait or behavioral characteristic that can't easily be changed, such as a fingerprint."
Web Search Briefs (via SEW Blog) + TerraFly: Satellite and Aerial Images Plus Local Info + Real-Time Traffic Reports via Text Messaging (SMS) + Google Launches Video Upload Program But Content Not Searchable, Yet Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Library and Information Science Source: ISI New Ranking, Library & Information Science: Most Prolific U.S. Universities, 1999-2003 -- Multimedia Content--United Kingdom New Web Site and Pilot Project, Creative Archive Licence Group "The purpose of this site is to introduce the Creative Archive Licence. The Creative Archive Licence and the Creative Archive Licence Group logo are markers that let you know when you can access, download and re-use content from the contributing organisations. In developing the licence, the BBC, Channel 4, the bfi and the Open University hope that other organisations will join the Creative Archive Licence Group and release content that will fuel a truly creative nation." Note: At this time the license is only available for UK residents. -- National Archives Source: RLG Coming Next Month: RLG International Archival Gateways Meeting "Interest is growing in gateways that will make multiple national databases accessible to researchers. At this meeting, approximately 25 participants will discuss policy and technical issues in their national databases about archives, and explore collaborative solutions to accessing and integrating data from different national systems." -- Librarians--Australia--Standards Source: ALIA Standards of professional excellence for teacher-librarians launched -- Conferences Source: eContent Institute Presentations from the 2005 Information Highways Conference are Now Available Online -- Information Industry--LexisNexis Source: AP LexisNexis theft much worse than thought "Publisher and data broker Reed Elsevier Group PLC said Tuesday that up to 10 times as many people as originally thought may have had their profiles stolen from one of its U.S. databases." More in this LN news release.
Scholarly Publishing--Citation Reports Source: ISI + Top Ten Most-Prolific Journals (All Fields), 1994-2004 + Science in Canada, 2000-2004
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Space Shuttle--Satellite Images Source: Space Imaging New Image, The Space Shuttle Stack "To assist in reporting the anticipated launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery, Space Imaging is releasing an IKONOS satellite image showing the Shuttle "stack" - the orbiter, external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters - situated at Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The image was collected April 8,shortly after the Shuttle began its 4.2-mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad...The orange external fuel tank and one of the solid rocket boosters are visible in the image. The Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP) is also visible to the left of the launch pad." -- Iraq Source: Congressional Research Service Updated Report, The Kurds in Post-Saddam Iraq -- Drug Abuse Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration Drugs of Abuse "We are pleased to introduce the 2005 edition of Drugs of Abuse. This DEA magazine delivers clear, scientific information about drugs in a factual, straightforward way, combined with scores of precise photographs shot to scale." Printable version available in PDF (4.2 MB) -- Labor--Statistics--United States Source: BLS New Web Tool, Location Quotient Calculator: New BLS Web Tool Allows Local Area Comparisons by Industry "The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has added a powerful new tool for labor market analysis to its web site services: the Location Quotient Calculator. The new calculator generates location quotients, a measure that is familiar to regional labor economists as a way to readily compare the industrial activity levels among different areas of the country." -- Work Zone Safety Source: American Road & Transportation Builders Association, Texas Transportation Institute National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse "The purpose of the clearinghouse is to provide information and referrals to government agencies, public and private organizations, and the general public concerning the safe and effective operation of traffic work zones." What's here: + Accident Statistics + Laws and Regulations + Equipment and Technology Information + Public Education and Outreach Programs + Research Publications + Standards and Specifications + Federal and State Best Practices + Training Courses and Programs + Searchable database of experts Website is searchable.
Search Briefs (via SEW Blog) + Podscope: New Search Engine Will Allow You to Keyword Search Every Word Spoken in a Podcast
Briefly + Acquisitions: EBSCO Publishing Acquires SPORTDiscus(tm) from SIRC + Enterprise Search:Endeca to power web-based search of cancer information for the National Cancer Institute Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Academic Libraries--Symposium Source: Owens Library, Northwest Missouri State University Brick and Click Libraries: An Academic Library Symposium "Brick & Click Libraries Symposium is a one-day conference that focuses on providing library resources and services for students who are either on-campus learners or off-campus learners. It is sponsored by Northwest Missouri State University in order to offer academic librarians a forum for sharing practical information. The conference provides a small, collegial atmosphere in which to discuss diverse topics, current issues, and solutions. The symposium will be held on Friday, October 14, 2005 at the J.W. Jones Student Union, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, Missouri. Sessions are blind peer-reviewed and abstracts and papers are published in a symposium proceedings. In 2004, over 110 participants from 14 states attended." Call for proposals -- Book Reviews American Library Association Booklist to launch new online book review venture: "As the signature event in the celebration of its 100th anniversary in 2005, Booklist is preparing to launch Booklist Online (BOL), a state-of-the-art Internet venture that will complement and expand on the print journal. The project will combine a free Web site, updated daily, and a subscription database, which will use a powerful search engine to provide access to over 100,000 archived reviews, columns and features. The free site will mix reviews, Booklist features and an entertaining variety of Web-only content." -- Digital Archives--New Zealand Source: Stuff.co.nz National Library to build digital archive "This year the National Library will be collecting and storing material which only exists in digital form, something it has done with printed material for years. Not everything will be freely available, but almost everything can be collected -- including those embarrassing chat room conversations, especially if they were in a forum everyone could see on the web for free. 'There is potential to collect that kind of material once this scheme is up and running,' National Library collection services director Alison Elliott says." Thanks to T.C. for the news tip.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Linguistics--Web Resources Source: C&RL News Human language: Resources from linguistics and beyond A new compilation of web resources by Jung-ran Park, an assistant professor in the College of Information Science and Technology at Drexel University. -- Health Information Source: Medical Library Association "Top Ten" Most Useful [Health] Websites We hope you had a wonderful Medical Information Day on Monday! -- Retirement--United States Source: EBRI Facts from EBRI: The History of Retirement Plans Thanks to S.B. for the tip.
Search Briefs (via SEW Blog) + Blinkx Makes More Audio Content Searchable + Ask Jeeves Enhances MyJeeves; Tagging Option Added Monday, April 11, 2005
Cool! We're Happy To Report that DocuTicker.com (from the ResourceShelf team) is Pluck's Feed of the Day! Thanks for the kind words and for the comments about librarians being cool! We (the entire profession) try our best. Thanks for the recognition. Rock on!!! What is Pluck? A web-based (free) research tool.
Professional Reading Shelf OCLC Source: Business First Follow the leader: Mentors usher next generation OCLC leaders Learn about OCLC's succession management program. -- Digital Information--Organizations Coalition for Networked Information Adds RSS Feeds More material for your aggregator. ResourceShelf's Steven Cohen will be happy. (-: -- Access to Information--United States Source: Secrecy News Defense Doctrine Web Site Goes Dark -- Preservation Source: CRL "Knowledge Biodiversity:" the Precarious Economics of Preserving the World's News This paper was presented by Bernard F. Reilly, Jr. from the Center for Research Libraries at the ACRL Conference last week. -- Information Industry--EIU Source: IWR EIU adds personal touch to its reports "The Economist Group is planning a company-wide restructure that will see the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) merged with two of its key operations in the Enterprises division -- Economist Conferences and Corporate Network." -- Public Libraries Source: The New York Times New York Public Library to Sell Major Artworks to Raise Funds "The New York Public Library has decided to sell 19 works of art from its collection - including "Kindred Spirits," a widely admired landscape by the Hudson River School painter Asher B. Durand, and two seminal portraits of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart - so that it can better compete in acquisitions of important books and collections."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Food Commodities--Statistics Source: United National Food and Agriculture Organization Food Outlook "Published 4 times a year, "Food Outlook" provides a global perspective on the production, stocks and trade of cereals and other basic food commodities, through an analysis of trends and prospects. Food Outlook contains analysis and statistical information on developments in the world cereal markets, export prices and ocean freight rates. Special features are included on the impact of El Niño/La Niña on food and agriculture, specific commodity markets such as meat and milk, cassava, sugar and fats and oils, as well as trends in global food aid availability and shipments, and on food emergencies around the world." -- Taxes--United States Source: Transactional Records Clearinghouse (Syracuse University) New Edition, IRS Web Site "New IRS data show far fewer agency audits aimed at large corporations providing investment advice, various kinds of banking and credit services and insurance than to corporations in other businesses. The big disparities -- documented in previously undisclosed data obtained and analyzed by TRAC -- concern corporations with $250 million or more in assets. The new IRS data document that on an overall basis only about one in three were audited. Other data show that despite recent IRS claims that it is vigorously enforcing the tax laws, the audit rate for all corporations has continued to decline along with the face-to-face audits of wealthy taxpayers." See Also: New Findings ||| Overview -- Phishing Spam Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Just Released Memo, Spam and Phishing "More than a year after the CAN-SPAM Act became law, email users say they are receiving slightly more spam in their inboxes than before, but they are minding it less." Full Text of Data Memo.
Search Briefs (via SEW Blog) + Tagging and Library Cataloging Not a pro or con article, just pointing out a few facts.
Social Networking--Yahoo Web Search--Yahoo Want to Try Yahoo 360? Send Us an E-Mail!!! We know some of you are interested in social networking tools. Last week, Yahoo launched a very limited beta of their new Yahoo 360 service. If you're interested in checking it out, drop us an e-mail at email://resourceshelf@myway.com and we will do our best to send you an invite. We have about 100 invites to share. That's it. What you do with the invite is completely up to you. More about Yahoo 360 here and here. Sunday, April 10, 2005
Events Happy National Library Week 2005!!! How about sending a NLW greeting card? Also, tomorrow (4/11) The Medical Library Association is celebrating as "Medical Information Day." See Also: Free Access to Several Databases to Celebrate NLW
Professional Reading Shelf Academic Libraries--Special Collections Source: Cornell Daily Sun Cornell University Holds Gettysburg Address Manuscript "Several months after President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg address, renowned historian George Bancroft attended a reception at the White House. There, he asked Lincoln for a hand-written copy of the address, and that manuscript is now the highlight of Cornell University Library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. It is one of five known copies of the Gettysburg address written and signed by Lincoln himself." -- Academic Libraries--Special Collections Source: AP Alpert, Moss Donate A&M Papers, Mementos to UCLA Library "Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, whose A&M Records label recorded superstars such as Sting, the Carpenters and Quincy Jones, have donated company papers and mementos to the UCLA Library." -- Presidential Libraries Source: AP US Archivist to Visit Nixon Library "US archivist Allen Weinstein will make his first visit to the privately run Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace this week to seek assurances about the facility's commitment to professionalizing its operations before it receives federal funding and Nixon's publicly held archives."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Business--United States--Statistics Source: InfoUSA Fastest Growing and Declining Business Types in the U.S. "The survey includes a report citing the number of businesses and the corresponding business growth/decline by SIC for 2000 through 2004. According to the report, the following ten SIC's had the highest percentage business growth over the last five years." -- Spam--Lists & Rankings Source: Sophos Updated, The Top 12 Spam Producing Countries Saturday, April 09, 2005
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Ready Reference--History Source: BBC On This Day Searchable database (by month and day, not year) of historic events. RSS feed is also available. -- Baseball Source: Forbes 2005 Major League Baseball Team Valuations Sort by Rank | Team | Value | Revenue | Income. Historical info also available.
Professional Reading Shelf Weblogs Source: Science and Technology Libraries Weblogs: Their Use and Application In Science and Technology Libraries (PDF; 256 KB) "Weblogs, or blogs, emerged in the late 1990s on the Web, quickly becoming a new way to communicate ideas, opinions, resources and news. Since that time, the community of blogs has grown to encompass specific subject areas of study and research. This article briefly discusses the history and background of blogs, including blogging software." (Randy Reichardt, Engineering Librarian, University of Alberta, Edmonton; and Geoffrey Harder, Biological Sciences and Computing Science Librarian, University of Alberta, Edmonton; preprint: Science & Technology Libraries, Volume: 25 Issue: 3, Pub Date: 4/5/2005.) -- RedLightGreen Source: National Library of Australia How to Google Your Library Catalogue All about the wonderful RedLightGreen catalog from RLG. We've blogged about this service many times on RS. Also, here's a post about RedLightGreen by Gary on the SEW Blog. Some public libraries are also now a part of the database.
Events If You're in the Bay Area and Have an Interest in Search This Tuesday (4/12/05), BayCHI (the Bay Area Chapter of ACM's Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction) is having its monthly event (free and open to the public). This time around it will feature a panel with some big names in web search, IR, and the like including: + Ken Norton from Yahoo + Peter Norvig from Google + Rahul Lahiri, Ask Jeeves + Udi Manber, A9 + Jakob Nielsen, NN Group Wow! The event takes place at PARC's George E. Pake Auditorium in Palo Alto and begins at 7 PM. Details, directions, and more info here. Friday, April 08, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Digital Information Source: National Science Board New Draft Report, Long-Lived Digital Data Collections: Enabling Research and Education in the 21st Century Comments welcome! -- NARA--Information Security Source: National Archives and Records Administration, Information Security Oversight Office 2004 Report to the President "This report provides information on the status of the security classification program as required by Executive Order 12958, as amended, 'Classified National Security Information.' It includes statistics and analysis concerning components of the system, primarily classification, declassification, and the ISOO inspection program. It also contains information with respect to industrial security in the private sector as required by Executive Order 12829, as amended, 'National Industrial Security Program.'" -- Competitive Intelligence Source: Knowledge@Emory When Competitive Intelligence is Just Too Much Information "But just what is competitive intelligence? Simply put, it can be any sort of information that helps a business create competitive advantage. The increasing pace of change in the business environment demands that companies invest in competitive intelligence. In fact, according to Marion Debruyne, professor of marketing at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, the biggest trend in competitive intelligence in the last couple of years is the acceleration and growth of information availability." -- Public Libraries--Censorship Source: Tampa Tribune County Grabs Library Remote "Barney videos? Yes. Barbie videos? No. Commissioner Ronda Storms considers the purple dinosaur educational and worthy of space on the shelves of Hillsborough County's public libraries. The slim blonde, however, is just entertainment, she said. Led by Storms, commissioners on Wednesday recommended the library spend a larger portion of its DVD budget on educational videos and less on pure entertainment. The proposal still needs to be considered by the library board, library director and County Administrator Pat Bean and return to commissioners for final approval. They also need to define what is educational."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Air Shows--Calendar Source: International Council of Air Shows Air Shows: Events Schedule of air shows includes performance name (and link to home page where available, date(s), performers, state, city, country. Includes links to schedules for the USN Blue Angels, the USAF Thunderbirds and the Canadian Forces Snowbirds. Also here: profiles of individual air show performers, message boards, tips on enjoying air shows. -- Education--United States--Statistics Source: NCES Two New Reports From the National Center for Educational Statistics + Dual Credit and Exam-Based Courses in U.S. Public High Schools: 2002-03 + Dual Enrollment of High School Students at Postsecondary Institutions: 2002-03 -- Sexually Transmitted Diseases--Glossary Source: American Social Health Association STD Glossary "Explains medical and scientific terminology relating to sexual health and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)."
Search Briefs + UK's 192.com Directory Database Relaunches; Aerial Images for Many UK Locations Available + Google Joins the Question and Answer Service Mix + Yahoo Senior VP of Search Speaks at Wharton School of Business Thursday, April 07, 2005
Resource of the Week by Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor We love digitization here at ResourceShelf, and we have a stellar resource for you this week from the Land Down Under. Image Database--Australia Source: National Library of Australia PictureAustralia PictureAustralia is actually a metasearch through the visual collections of a number of different organizations, including public libraries, museums, academic libraries, archives and the national libraries of both Australia and New Zealand. Your search results will include links back to the full-size image of the agency that holds it. You can also click the Add to Favourites link to save an image; be sure to e-mail details of your "favourites" to yourself before leaving the site, at which point your collection of "favourites" goes away. A simple keyword search box is available right on the home page; an advanced search form offers dropdown menus that allow you to narrow your search to certain fields or a particular agency. Extensive search help is available. What's here? According to the FAQ page, "The images you will find in PictureAustralia relate to all things Australian. The service provides access to images from the 19th century to the present day and includes both local history and national events.... You will find black and white and colour photographs, of people, places, buildings and events, as well as drawings, sketches, paintings and some maps. You will also find images of three-dimensional items such as sculpture and costume." The millionth image was added to the collection in April of 2004, according to the site's news page; several other agencies have joined since then, and existing agencies keep adding material. Click on the Picture Trails icon near the top right of the main page to explore the collections thematically. A complete list of all picture trails is available via the site map. Anyone who'd like a particular theme made into a picture trail is encouraged to contact PictureAustralia. Images in PictureAustralia "may be reproduced for research or study," but not republished on the Internet. You can order images for your own use, but "for commercial purposes or communication to the public," you'll need to consult the copyright information.
Professional Reading Shelf Research and Reference--Reviews The April 2005 Edition of Peter's Digital Reference Shelf is Now Online This month Professor Jacso reviews a couple of dictionaries: Farlex Free Dictionary "While running a concurrent search in a number of dictionaries and encyclopedias is convenient, there are better alternatives for such cross-database searching with more current and better sources (unless you really crave the 6th edition of Bouvier's Law Dictionary from 1856 or the 9th edition of Britannica from the late 1800s)." & Webster's Online Dictionary, Rosetta Edition "An ultra-unconventional dictionary for which not even Noah Webster could provide a good definition, but which he certainly would applaud. This dictionary is not for the average college student, or for the average secretary, or for the average lawyer. It is for those who want to know as much as possible about words, their origins, histories, meanings, uses and misuses; written, spoken and graphical representation in many contexts; and formats, cultures and languages." -- Business Information Source: FreePint Trends in business information, provision and use A new article by FreePint VIP editor, Pam Foster. "An overview of their content for the first quarter of 2005 reveals that the period was relatively quiet in terms of major new alliances and mergers. However, when it comes to product development, the same period witnessed the launch of a number of new and important products, particularly covering China and Asia." -- Background Checks Source: The Virtual Chase How to Conduct a Background Check (Part 2) A new article from an authority on the topic. If you missed Part 1, here's the link. -- Librarians Source: Forbes The Lonely Librarian? We've read stuff like this before so no need to get crazy about the following comments that Josh D. spotted in a Forbes article. From what I hear, many librarians are far from lonely and guess who's helping to build the semantic web? Let's also not forget that library and info science degree programs are also very popular these days. From the Forbes article, "Google has become a verb, librarians are increasingly lonely, and most of us have mastered the basics of Boolean logic--without even knowing exactly what it is." I wonder what the librarians at Forbes would have to say about this article? However, the article once again illustrates the need for us to better market and promote our skills and services. -- Access to Information Government Secrecy Source: OpenTheGovernment.org Secrecy Report Card: An Update (PDF; 232 KB) From press release: "The federal government set a new record for keeping secrets in 2004, during which government employees chose to classify information a record 15.6 million times, according to new government figures released this week and highlighted today in an update to OpenTheGovernment.org's Secrecy Report Card. The total number of secrecy decisions is 10 percent higher than the total in 2003. The new data, released by the government's Information Security Oversight Office, show secrecy continued to grow in 2004." (via DocuTicker)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Elections--United Kingdom--Maps Source: Ordnance Survey New, Election Maps Web Site "This site is designed to help the understanding of the electoral geography of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." Kable's Government Computing adds, "Each of the 646 constituencies can be viewed and the interactive service allows users to switch between boundaries of all local authorities, wards, electoral divisions and parishes. Users can also chose between a range of views, from street level detail to a wider overview designed to help with larger rural constituencies." -- Government Contracts--United States--Database Source: Eagle Eye Publishers, Inc. US Map "A clickable US Map that reveals current and prior-year federal contract and grant spending by state." Free registration required. Also available here: CFDA Search. "Instantly search the full text of every federal grant published in the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance."
Search Briefs (via SEW Blog) + Feedster Adds Search Term Highlighting + Google Definitions Goes Multilingual + Yahoo Adds Firefox Toolbar for Mac and Linux Users; Anti-Spy Feature Also Added Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Audio Archives Historic Recordings Source: Library of Congress Librarian of Congress Names 50 Recordings to the 2004 National Recording Registry "Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has made his annual selection of 50 sound recordings for the National Recording Registry. Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian is responsible for annually selecting recordings that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Registry recordings must be at least 10 years old." See Also: 2004 Selections See Also: Selected Images and Audio from 2004 Selections (Available until 4/10/05) See Also: Full Registry List and since we're on the LC music beat...Rare Jazz Tapes Uncovered At The Library Of Congress -- Librarians Librarian is Editor of the Week at Ourmedia Ourmedia, the new grassroots organization that offers a variety of services including blog publishing and multimedia file hosting (see our 3/21 post) has a guest editor this week and it happens to be a librarian that we all know and respect big time. She is also the publisher of the legendary Librarian.net blog. Ok, now you know who we're talking about! Yes, her name is Jessamyn West and we're thrilled to see that she is representing our profession. Btw, JD Lasica, a co-founder of Ourmedia, told me via an email that he would welcome other librarians taking a turn as Editor of the Week or helping to organize content. Details here -- Journal Pricing Source: Online Open Access or Differential Pricing for Journals: The Road Best Traveled? "Open access (OA) is becoming a reality, with new cost models under development. The various cost models will have serious short- and long-term implications for libraries and dangerously impact the scholarly communication network. I believe that the adoption of the OA model for journals will create serious instabilities within the existing scholarly publication industry. OA, as a business model, is neither necessary nor desirable." By David Stern, Director of Science Libraries and Information Services, Kline Science Library, Yale University. -- Patent Databases Source: New Scientist Electronic patent databases invent difficulties "Striking deficiencies in the way patent offices around the world are digitising their information means that patents could be wrongly granted on thousands of inventions, says Willem Geert Lagemaat, president of PatCom, the European association of patent information providers." -- MEDLINE Source: NLM Updated: Fact Sheet: Journal Selection for MEDLINE
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Satellite Images Cool Tools NASA's World Wind: An Interactive Satellite and Aerial Image Resource World Wind is free software from NASA that allows you to virtually fly around the world and do lots of other cool stuff with satellite and aerial images. It's completely free to download and use. Gary has posted an overview with the necessary links to access World Wind on the Search Engine Watch blog. A great resource for educators!!! -- U.S. Congress--Spending Source: Council Against Citizens Against Government Waste Just Released, 2005 Congressional Pig Book "Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released the 2005 Congressional Pig Book, a sweeping compendium of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. Congress spent more tax dollars on pork this year than in any other year in history. For fiscal 2005, appropriators stuffed 13,997 projects into the 13 appropriations bills, an increase of 31 percent over last year's total of 10,656. In the last two years, the total number of projects has increased by 49.5 percent. Summary Direct to Full Text -- 9/11--World Trade Center Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Latest Findings from NIST World Trade Center Investigation Released "The Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today presented its analysis of how the World Trade Center (WTC) towers collapsed after two aircraft were flown into the buildings by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. This is the most detailed examination of a building failure ever conducted." + Presentation by Shyam Sunder (lead investigator) at April 5, 2005, Public Briefing (PDF) + Computer simulation of Boeing 767 aircraft striking World Trade Center 1 (side view) (avi file) (Requires RealPlayer) + Computer animation of Boeing 767 aircraft striking World Trade Center 2 (top view) (avi file) (Requires RealPlayer) + Fact Sheet: Findings on Structural and Life Safety Factors -- 9/11--Financial Impact Source: GAO (via DocuTicker) New Report, September 11: Recent Estimates of Fiscal Impact of 2001 Terrorist Attack on New York Highlights of the report here. -- Health--Web Resources Source: MedlinePlus New Compilation: Mobility Aids
Search Briefs + Search Engine Overlap: Jux2 Results Pages Receive Makeover + Spain Says Hola To Ask Jeeves + Google To Start Indexing Web Video
Briefly + IEEE Releases IEEE Xplore 2.0 Note: If you like lists, you can now view citations for the Top 100 Most Viewed Papers within the past month. Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Reference Source: Emerald This Week ONLY: Free Full Text Access to Three Recent Issues of Reference Services Review Articles include: + Bioinformatics librarian: Meeting the information needs of genetics and bioinformatics researchers (Vol. 33 No. 1) + Consumer health librarian (Vol. 33 No. 1) + Online pathfinders: Toward an experience-centered model (Vol. 33 No. 1) + What a difference a decade makes: transformation in academic library instruction (Vol. 32 No. 4) + International business students: a study on their use of electronic library services (Vol. 32 No. 4) + Librarians don't bite: assessing library orientation for freshmen (Vol. 32 No. 4) + A university-wide, library-based chat service (Vol. 32 No. 3) + Researching specific non-profit organizations: a selective bibliography (Vol. 32 No. 3) + Government information education and training: a selected annotated bibliography (Vol. 32 No. 3) -- Internet2 Source: Forbes Consortium Builds Next-Generation Net "It's called Internet2, and it works like a test kitchen for tomorrow's networking innovations." -- Mobile Access to Information Source: Campus Technology A Portal in the Hand -- National Libraries--Canada Source: Library and Archives Canada 2005-2006 Report on Plans and Priorities for Library and Archives Canada -- Librarians Source: AP Harvard Library Assistant Loses Discrimination Suit
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Area Studies Source: Federal Research Division/Library of Congress Just Released, Country Profiles for: + Eritrea + Kenya + Saudi Arabia See Also: More Country Profiles from FRD -- Technology--Canada--Lists & Rankings Source: Backbone Magazine Top 300 Tech Companies in Canada (The Branham 300) -- International Relations--United Kingdom Intelligence--United Kingdom Source: National Archives, UK Released for the first time: Over 100 Foreign Office documents on Britain's secret intelligence agencies -- Environment--United States--Timelines Source: Info Please Almanac New Timeline, Milestones in Environmental Protection -- Poverty--United States--Statistics Source: BLS Just Released, A Profile of the Working Poor, 2003
Briefly + Cool! Xrefer to Offer Free Xreferplus Access During National Library Week + Cool! National Library Week Offer: Free Access to 20 Thomson Gale Databases + Sirsi Corporation and Copyright Clearance Center Partner to Integrate Copyright Permission Into Two Leading Library Services Monday, April 04, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Online Information--History Source: Searcher Online Before the Internet: Part 9: The Federal Government's Role -- Interview with Melvin S. Day "Susanne Bjørner and Stephanie Ardito's latest installment in their "Online Pioneers" series features an interview with Mel Day, considered by many in the online industry to be a champion and facilitator of technologies that began in the 1960s and '70s." -- Government Printing Office--United States Source: GPO GPO Looks At Public-Private Partnership To Expand Access To Government Information -- Libraries--Marketing Source: Emerald Marketing your Library: Customer Loyalty and Libraries "...what does a librarian need to know about customer loyalty?" -- Information Industry--Gale Source: Information Today Thomson Gale Quietly Rolls Out New Business Service "Thomson Gale has quietly launched the beta of a new premium business content service for individual users. Goliath (http://goliath.ecnext.com), developed in connection with ECNext, lets individuals purchase business information by either pay-per-view transaction or subscription. Goliath features articles, company profiles, business reference content, market information, and more."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Journalism--United States--Awards Source: Pulitzer Prize Board Just Announced, Pulitzer Prize Winners 2005 Also includes images of all prize-winning photographs and cartoons. See Also: Searchable Database of Past Winners -- Wealth--United States--Statistics Zip Codes--United States--Statistics Source: AdAge (Free, Registration Required) New, Exploring America's Richest Zip Codes Includes six detailed maps and charts. -- Broadcasting--United States--Indecency Source: Congressional Research Service (via FPC and DocuTicker.com) Just Updated, Regulation of Broadcast Indecency: Background and Legal Analysis -- Philanthropy--United States--Statistics Source: Foundation Center Just Released, Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates: 2004 Preview "Giving by the nation's more than 66,000 grantmaking foundations increased to a new high of $32.4 billion in 2004, according to Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates: 2004 Preview, a new report from the New York-based Foundation Center. This estimated 6.9 percent rise reversed two years of modest reductions. The beginning of a stock market recovery and higher levels of new gifts into existing foundations in 2003 were the primary factors driving up 2004 giving. Newly established foundations also contributed to the growth." -- Fast Facts Source: The World Almanac New, The April 2005 Issue of The World Almanac E-Newsletter is Online Contains a chronology of March events, April holidays, "This Day in History," and much more. See Also: Back issues and subscription info (free)
Librarians Source: The Daily-Times Call Search-engine savvy librarian shares some of her expertise Our friend, frequent travelling companion, and someone who teaches us new and useful stuff on a regular basis, Mary Ellen Bates is profiled in this article. Congats MEB!!! Sunday, April 03, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Virtual Reference Source: Library Journal IM Me "Instant messaging isn't going to replace other forms of communication. But it can make your reference services relevant to a whole new group of users, while serving existing users even better." -- Electronic Publishing Source: NorthJersey.com Web sites fight to stop 'theft' of free data "Instead of using their own hands, these data hoarders - think of them as the Homer Simpsons of cyberspace - use automated programs known as "bots'' to scour the Web sites of airlines, ticket brokers, news organizations and online merchants. It's called scraping, and it's almost as old as the Web itself. But some companies have another word for it: theft. Two New Jersey companies that specialize in online listings have recently gone to federal court to stop the scraping of their sites, fearing that the culprits are trying to create competing directories." -- Podcasting--Survey Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project Just Released, Podcasting "More than 22 million American adults own iPods or MP3 players and 29% of them have downloaded podcasts from the Web so that they could listen to audio files at a time of their choosing. That amounts to more than 6 million adults who have tried this new feature that allows internet 'broadcasts' to be downloaded onto their portable listening device."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Pope John Paul II Source: Al Tompkins, Poynter Institute Special Edition of Al's Morning Meeting: Pope Resources "Online Pope prayers... Catholic glossary... Last Rites... Who's running Church... Successor rules." See also: Pope John Paul II Resources by David Shedden, Library Director, Poynter Institute See Also: Vacancy of the Apostolic See--Official Documents (via Vatican Web Site) -- Daylight Savings Time Source: Congressional Research Service All About Daylight Savings Time 5 pages; PDF. A 1998 report from the CRS. From the report, "Currently, in most parts of the United States, timepieces are moved forward one hour in the spring and back one hour in the fall to provide an extended daylight period during the summer months. This is known as Daylight Saving Time (DST). Much debate and many changes led to this present practice. This report provides a brief history of the issues surrounding DST, an outline of the legislation that created and modified it, and a list of references to more discussions." Saturday, April 02, 2005
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Graduate Schools--Lists and Rankings Source: U.S. News and World Report America's Best Graduate Schools 2006 "Find extensive rankings and a comprehensive school directory, plus exclusive U.S. News articles, new trend tables, search and comparison tools, and much more." Premium online edition with more detailed information available for $14.95. -- Academia--Salary Survey Source: College and University Professional Association for Human Resources National Faculty Salary Survey by Discipline and Rank in Four-Year Colleges and Universities (PDF; 133 KB) "This year's report contains salary comparisons for 244 disciplines at colleges and universities nationwide. Salaries within each discipline are reported separately for the ranks of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, New Assistant Professor, and Instructor." This is a 24-page executive summary of the full report, which is available for purchase. An order form, plus executive summaries of compensation reports for academic administration and mid-level executives, is available on this page.
Professional Reading Shelf Library Buildings--Awards Source: American Library Association Eight buildings win 2005 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards "Every other year, representatives from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the ALA Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) Buildings and Equipment Section gather to celebrate the finest examples of library design by architects licensed in the United States. The 2005 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards honor eight disparate projects, which all share successful resolution of their patrons' needs into harmonious and beautiful designs." -- Conference Presentations Source: Information Today Computers in Libraries: Presentation Links "This page features links to World Wide Web sites, PowerPoint slideshows, and other electronic resources used in support of presentations at Computers in Libraries 2005. Links are provided at the discretion of presenters. Additional links will be provided as they become available." Friday, April 01, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Professional Organizations--Australia Source: Australian Library and Information Association Just Released, Australian Library and Information Association Annual Report 2004 -- Copyright--Canada The Government of Canada Announces Upcoming Amendments to the Copyright Act "...proposed amendments to the Copyright Act that will address the challenges and opportunities of the Internet." -- Digital Libraries--Pakistan Source: The Daily Times Pakistan only country to have digital library "Higher Education Commission chief Dr Attaur Rehman said on Sunday Pakistan was the only country where a digital library consisting of 17,000 science journals had been established...He said it was a matter of pride for Pakistan that it was the only country in the world in which a state-of-the-art digital library had been established. 'This library has proved to be an effective source of reference and information for both researchers and students.'"
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Internet Source: National Academy of Science Just Released, Full Text, Signposts in Cyberspace: The Domain Name System and Internet Navigation "Signposts in Cyberspace: The Domain Name System and Internet Navigation examines the performance and prospects of the Domain Name System from technical and institutional perspectives, and also looks at how navigation technologies and institutions facilitate finding and accessing Internet resources. It describes the evolution of the technologies and institutions that have supported the growth of the Internet and provides the basis for future decisions that will enable its productive evolution." -- Outdoor Advertising--Database Source: Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) OAAA Creative Library Here's something different -- a database of outdoor advertising images, searchable by keyword (select a letter of the alphabet and choose from a dropdown menu), year, agency, advertiser and/or product category. Some very clever stuff here -- like this billboard advertising the Washington Wild Things, a minor league baseball team. You'll also find a handy link to Duke University's Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 database of more than 9,000 images. -- Postsecondary Education--United States--Demographics Source: National Center for Education Statistics Postsecondary Participation Rates by Sex and Race/Ethnicity: 1974-2003 "This Issue Brief examines participation in postsecondary education among women and men and among different racial/ethnic groups, from 1974 to 2003. Participation rates are defined here as the proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds who are enrolled in or have completed postsecondary education. Over this time period, the participation rates of young women and of young Whites outpaced that of their male and minority counterparts, so that by 2003 young women had a higher participation rate than young men (reversing the pattern in 1974) and the 1974 gaps in participation rates favoring young Whites over Hispanics grew larger." Full Report (PDF; 79 KB) -- Manufacturing--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Just Released, 2003 Annual Survey of Manufactures, Statistics for Industry Groups and Industries "The nation's manufacturers employed 13.8 million people in 2003, down from 14.5 million in 2002. The transportation equipment subsector was the largest manufacturing employer in the economy, with 1.7 million workers. Other major employers included manufacturers of fabricated metal products and food (1.5 million each), computer and electronic products (1.1 million) and machinery (1.0 million)."
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