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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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Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Federal Government--U.S.--Databases Source: FCW THOMAS refreshed "We hope, by year's end, to deliver several enhancements to the current features to provide for quicker searches with more relevant results," said Kevin Novak, director of education outreach and Web services at the library's Office of Strategic Initiatives. 'The release of THOMAS set for early September is a refreshment of the site with a new, more pleasing look and feel.'" -- Federal Government--U.S.--Privacy- Source: InformationWeek Federal Data Miners Urged To Better Address Citizen Privacy "Federal investigators say the government isn't doing all it should to notify citizens that information about them is being collected by systems employing data-mining techniques." See GAO Report: Data Mining: Agencies Have Taken Key Steps to Protect Privacy in Selected Efforts, but Significant Compliance Issues Remain Highlights ||| Full Report -- Scholarly Publishing--Biomed Central--Alerts Source: BioMed Central Article Alerts from BioMed Central via the BioMed Central site, "Article alerts are now available for all journals published by BioMed Central. Visit the homepage of your journal of interest to sign up." -- RFID--Institutes Source: NISO RFID Institute "NISO and the Univ. of North Texas Center are bringing you a 2-day Institute on RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). We have tapped an array of experts to examine the use of RFID in business and the library and book world; this event will inform you about the benefits and opportunities this technology offers and the standards needed to maximize performance. RFID goes way beyond replacing a barcode - this is about transforming the business!"
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Hurricane Katrina--Imagery Three Sources for Hurricane Katrina Imagery + FEMA Photo Library FEMA has started to add images from their work in the Hurricane Katrina zone to their photo library. Direct links to download images are provided. + Satellite Images from NASA Direct links to download are provided. ||| More Images from NASA + Collection of Images from NOAA #1 ||| #2 UPDATE 8/31: Aerial Images of Katrina's Devastation Are Now Being Released by NOAA See Also: Interactive Mapping Tool (via Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality) Includes aerial and satellite imagery. See Also: MARIS (Mississippi Automated Resource Information System) This site is not reachable at the moment. -- Journalism--History Source: Professor Chris Roush, Univ. of North Carolina New Web Resource, History of Business Journalism "Business journalism is one of the most fascinating aspects of media in recent years as it has documented such well-known corporate scandals as Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia Communications, HealthSouth and Tyco. Browse through this timeline of important events in business journalist history and learn more about the significance of the field." -- Elections--Australia Source: Parlimantary Library New Research Brief, Timetable for the next Australian elections PDF. -- Charities--Missouri--Databases Source: Government Technology Missouri Launches Online "Check a Charity" to Better Inform Charitable Givers "Missourians who give to charity have a new resource to be better-informed donors. Attorney General Jay Nixon recently launched "Check a Charity," an online database where consumers can look up financial information about hundreds of charitable organizations that solicit donations in Missouri." -- College Entrance Exams--United States Source: College Board New, College Entrance Test Scores, 2005 "The College Board announced SAT scores today for students in the class of 2005, the last to take the former version of the SAT featuring math and verbal sections. The College Board also previewed results from the first three administrations of the new SAT. The new SAT features higher-level math, additional reading passages, and a new writing section with an essay."
Citation Reports Source: ISI + Science in Belgium, 2000-04 + Top 20 Scientists in Clinical Medicine + Food Science/Nutrition: High-Impact U.S. Universities, 2000-04 + Journals Ranked by Impact: Applied Mathematics + Geosciences: High-Impact U.S. Universities, 2000-04
Briefly + Credit.net Site Now Offers Business URLs and Company News + LexisNexis, Biz360 Expand Alliance to Deliver Co-Branded Solution for Global Reputation and Brand Management Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Law Librarians--Ireland Law Librarians--United Kingdom Source: MangagingInformation.com New Award Scheme For Legal Information Professionals "The British & Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) and LexisNexis Butterworths have joined forces to launch a new award scheme that honours the dedicated work of legal information professionals, and recognises the best use of technology in a library project." -- Patent and Trademark Searching--United States Source: USPTO New Search Option Added to USPTO's Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) "TESS now features a new Trademark Official Gazette (TMOG) 'search line.' By entering the publication date of a particular TMOG into the new search line, users can generate a list of all marks published for opposition in that TMOG, or a list of all new registrations published in that TMOG." -- Geology--United States--Maps Source: USGS New USGS map reveals geology in and around Las Vegas Download info here. -- Aerial Imagery--United States--Maps New Imagery Added to National Map Source: USGS "USGS Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangles with 1-meter ground resolution are now available for most of the United States and its territories. These images, which are available for viewing in The National Map Viewer, are black and white, natural color, or color infrared. Additionally, the images may be downloaded in both native and GeoTIFF formats from the National Center for Earth Resources Observation (EROS)." Direct to National Map viewer.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Hurricanes--United States--Insurance--Statistics Source: Insurance Information Institute Hurricane Insurance Info Center (Facts and Stats) "...information about the costliest, and deadliest, hurricanes." -- Population--United Kingdom Source: National Statistics Office New Estimate, Population of England passes 50 million and UK approaches 60 million -- Social Security--United States Source: Congressional Research Service (via FPC) New, Social Security: The Trust Fund 17 pages; PDF. -- Workplace--United States--Statistics Source: BLS New, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries 2004 -- Breakfast Cereal Source: American Cereal Council Fun Facts About Cereal "The word cereal comes from Cerealia, the name of ancient Roman ceremonies that honored Ceres, the goddess of grain." Who knew?
Search Briefs + Will Google's Keyword Searching Eliminate the Need for LC Cataloging and Classification? A new article by Thomas Mann, Librarian at LC, author, and a ResourceShelf friend. + Google Print Goes International + Enhancements Made to Yahoo Mail Search Monday, August 29, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries--United States--Law Enforcement Activities Source: American Library Association Impact and Analysis of Law Enforcement Activity in Academic and Public Libraries (PDF; 224 KB) From press release: "The American Library Association (ALA)...released complete findings from its survey measuring law enforcement activity in America's libraries. Preliminary findings, released in June, revealed that at least 137 legally executed requests by federal and state/local law enforcement in both academic and public libraries have taken place since October, 2001 - 63 legally executed requests for records in public libraries and 74 such requests in academic libraries. The full report of survey findings includes contextual data including responses to interviews and an appendix containing the survey instrument." -- Digital Repositories Source: JISC Digital Repositories: Helping universities and colleges Two new papers. -- Internet Source: FCW NSF announces program to create a new Internet "NSF officials said they envision the creation of new network architectures that will be more secure, easier to use and more beneficial to society. GENI [Global Environment for Networking Investigations] will 'enable the vision of pervasive computing and bridge the gap between the physical and virtual worlds by including mobile, wireless and sensor networks,' according to an NSF fact sheet." -- Information Industry--LexisNexis Source: Information Today New LexisNexis ContentGuard Verifies Content Originality -- Web Archives Source: Centre for Internet Research, University of Aarhus (via SEPW Blog) Archiving Websites. General Considerations and Strategies
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Small Business--United States--Statistics Flooding--Glossary Source: Flood Control District of Maricopa County Glossary of Flooding Terms In alphabetical order, from Aggradation to Zone D. -- Government Contracts--United States Small Businesses Garnered a Record $69 Billion In Federal Contracts in FY 2004 (PDF) "U.S. small businesses reaped a record $69.23 billion in federal prime contracts last year, surpassing the previous high by almost 6 percent...The report from the Federal Procurement Data Center (FPDC) shows federal prime contracting in FY 2004 amounted to $299.9 billion on 9.97 million contracting actions. Small businesses garnered $69.23 billion on 4.36 million actions." Direct to Full Text Report (PDF) and Supplementary Data (PDF). -- Insurance--United States--Lists & Rankings Real Estate--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Forbes + The Most Expensive States To Insure Your Home 2005 Direct to list. + Most Expensive Homes In America 2005: West
Search Briefs + Two Roundups of New Search Technology and Services Published Today + PubSub Kicks Off Football Season With New Service + Google, the Naked Emperor (via Library Journal)
Briefly + Bloomberg Chooses Verity + Thomson Custom Solutions Introduces First Database for Tailored Literature Anthologies Sunday, August 28, 2005
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Scientists--Employment--Lists & Rankings Source: The Scientist Best Places To Work In Industry, 2005 "For the third year in a row, The Scientist has asked industry scientists to tell us what makes their company a great - or not so great - place to work. We took the factors scientists rated as the most important in terms of job satisfaction, and combined them with the scientists' ratings of their own workplaces. The result? The Best Places to Work in Industry, 2005." Top Ten Large Companies (5,000+ employees) Top Ten Small Companies (less than 5,000 employees)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Hurricane Katrina--Web Resources Up-to-the-Minute Coverage of Hurricane Katrina NewsNow aggregates content from more than 21,000 sources. Page auto-refreshes every five minutes. -- Audio and Video + Live TV Coverage from WDSU-TV, New Orleans, LA + Watch Live TV Coverage from WWL-TV, New Orleans, LA + Listen to Radio Station, WJBO, Baton Rouge, LA + Listen to Mississippi Public Radio + Watch Live TV Coverage from WAPT-TV, Jackson, MS + Watch Live TV Coverage from WPMI, Mobile, AL + Police Scanner, Mobile, AL Police Department + Various Webcams In and Around New Orleans + NWS Weather Radio, New Orleans, LA -- + Louisiana Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness -- + Maps and Satellite Imagery via Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (Geographic Information Systems) -- + Real-Time Streamflow Data (via USGS) ++ via LSU Hurricane Center + Current Observations + Satellite Imagery ++ via NOAA + National Weather Service Forecast Office, New Orleans/Baton Rouge, LA + Satellite Imagery ||| Animated Satellite Image National Hurricane Center All Current U.S. Weather Warnings The Most Intense Hurricanes in the United States 1851-2004 Costliest U.S. Hurricanes 1900-2004 (unadjusted) The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1996 The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Tropical Cyclones From 1851 to 2004 U.S. Mainland Hurricane Strikes by State, 1851-2004 + Hurricane Insurance Info Center (Facts and Stats) "...information about the costliest, and deadliest, hurricanes."
Search Briefs + More Publishing Trade Groups Weigh In On Changes to Google's Library Scanning Project + Research from Microsoft: Personalized Search, Determining a Query's Dominant Location, and Much More Saturday, August 27, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Specialty Databases--Answers.com Source: Answers.com Answers.com Makes Educators Toolkit Available Great idea! Will other search tools do the same thing? They should. -- PATRIOT Act Source: AP Library sues over controversial Patriot Act " A controversial Patriot Act clause allowing the U.S. government to demand information about library patrons' borrowing habits is being challenged in federal court for the first time by a library. The lawsuit was filed against U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut by an unnamed library and the American Civil Liberties Union." See Also: More in this ACLU News Release See Also: Redacted Version of ACLU Complaint Filed With Court -- Access to Information--Satellite Imagery Source: GovTech Agency drafts guidelines on satellite imagery
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Medicaid Source: KFF Improved, 50 State Medicaid Benefits Database Includes 2004 Data "A newly enhanced interactive database based on 50-state survey data provides easy access to information on health services provided by each state's Medicaid program. You can search the database by state or Medicaid benefit and compare benefit packages from 2003 and 2004." -- United Nations Source: UN New Report, The 2005 Report on the World Social Situation: The Inequality Predicament News Release ||| Tables and Graphs "Over the years, the Report has served as a background document for discussion and policy analysis of socio-economic matters at the intergovernmental level, and has aimed at contributing to the identification of emerging social trends of international concern and to the analysis of relationships among major development issues which have both international and national dimensions."
Briefly Research Tools: Onfolio Announces General Availability of Onfolio Academic and Scientific Edition Friday, August 26, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Science/Technology/Mathematics--Publishing Source: Scope e-Knowledge Center Knowledgespeak "Knowledgespeak is the world's first online news service to report all the relevant developments within the STM publishing industry, on a daily basis. This is a free service that also offers additional resources including a blog area, calendar of events, articles, white papers and a directory of STM publishers." You can subscribe (free) to a daily e-mail newsletter. -- Audiobooks Source: AP Libraries offering audiobook downloads Always great to see public library services receiving the attention they deserve!
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Contracts--Database Source: Contracting and Organizations Research Institute (CORI), University of Missouria, Columbia CORI Contracts Library "CORI's digital contracts library contains over 40,000 contracts and is growing weekly. Most of the contracts in the collection are executed agreements made available in public disclosure filings or filed with a regulatory agency. Currently, the collection is primarily drawn from filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) EDGAR Database. The required disclosure filings made by publicly traded companies frequently contain contracts that are of material interest to investors. CORI is downloading, extracting, and categorizing these contract filings to make them more directly available." Free registration required. Also here: + Research Papers + Reading List -- Employee Benefits--United States--Statistics Source: BLS National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry in the United States -- Country Studies Source: Federal Research Division/Library of Congress Just Updated, Just Released, Country Profile of Russia PDF. See Also: More Country Profiles from the FRD Thursday, August 25, 2005
Resource of the Week ----------------------------- By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor Just because you are an adult doesn't mean you can't have fun while learning something. And just because you are an information professional doesn't mean you know all there is to know about information literacy. Enlighten yourself, challenge yourself and entertain yourself by taking a cruise through this week's selected site. Information Literacy Source: Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy 21st Century Information Fluency Project (21CIF) "Digital Information Fluency (DIF) is the ability to find, evaluate and use digital information effectively, efficiently and ethically. DIF involves knowing how digital information is different from print information; having the skills to use specialized tools for finding digital information; and developing the dispositions needed in the digital information environment. As teachers and librarians develop these skills and teach them to students, students will become better equipped to achieve their information needs." You'll get no arguments from us here. As information professionals, we know that locating "answers" is the easy part. Locating the correct answers -- and the best answers -- is much more challenging in today's online information overload environment. And the folks who designed this website have come up with some clever tools, tutorials and games designed to hone your information literacy skills. Just for the heck of it, start by clicking on the "Search Challenge" icon to jump right into the activities here. A Flash-powered activity challenges you with a question -- "What is the URL of a page that list all the shows that have opened on Broadway since 1984, year by year?" Click the Google button to crank up the search engine and a timer starts running. See if you can answer the question in less than 10 minutes. Or if you prefer, start with a set of Keyword Challenge Exercises that show you how to select the best keywords for your online search. If you're a classroom teacher, a school media specialist or a librarian who teaches online research, you'll really like the extensive set of instructional "MicroModules", covering such topics as Accessibility Awareness: Section 508 & ADA, Bias, Copyright, Evidence, Invisible Web, Plagiarism, Search Box Strategy, Sitemaps, and Vanishing Web. Each of the more than 40 modules is a self-contained, multimedia instructional unit that starts with a pretest and finishes with a posttest. And there are links to the Illinois state and National Educational Technology Standards addressed by each module. And if you're in need of handouts, each module is downloadable in PDF format. Suggested course sequences are also offered. Check out the collection of "Wizard Tools", which are designed "to help you become an effective power searcher." You'll learn to: + Build an effective search query + Perform a comprehensive evaluation of Web resources + Format a proper citation (in APA, Chicago, Council of Biology Editors, ISO or MLA format) There's also a handy thesaurus and a spelling tool. But that's not all ! (I'm beginning to feel like an infomercial here.) You'll find a load of additional goodies on the Resources page: + Search, evaluation and ethical use tips + Lesson Plans and Action Research Repository + A "core competencies" document + Events materials -- e.g., syllabi, handouts, etc. + A Digital Investigator Training online course + Links to related resources The 21CIF Project is backed by a U.S. Department of Education grant; according to Dennis O'Connor, the project's Online Curriculum Development Specialist, they've been working in Illinois for awhile and are looking to take the project national. We think they've got something special here, and you owe it to yourself to have a look.
Professional Reading Shelf Preservation--Audio Source: WAMU Radio Listen Online: Preserving The Archive -- A Race Against Time (Real Player) "From Edison cylinders to old 78's... from reel-to-reel tape to 12-inch vinyl records, cassettes, 8-tracks, CDs and mp3's... recorded music has taken many forms over the years. And if you work for the Library Of Congress American Folklife Center, it's your job to make sure the important recordings in the collection all make the transition into the digital age. Joining us today to talk about the Library's audio archive are Michael Taft, Head of the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center... and Matthew Barton, an Audio Engineer who specializes in preserving old recordings." The segment can also be heard via Windows Media Player. -- Public Librarians--United Kingdom Source: MLA Public libraries set to face serious staff shortage "Just as public libraries are boosting their visitor numbers with an increase of more than 14 million visits last year, the service faces a new challenge. A survey carried out by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) shows that nearly a third of library staff in England will retire in the next 10 years - and library authorities are beginning to feel the pinch, with 59% saying they already have difficulty filling vacancies." -- Libraries--Marketing--Database Source: Marketing in library and information services: international perspectives (via E-LIS) An IFLA Management & Marketing Section Project: The MatPromo Database "The MatPromo database was created in October 2002 as a project of IFLA's Management & Marketing Section. The objective of the project consists of creating a database of images of objects and documents designed for promoting all kinds of libraries in any country. The images are described and are accessible through a user-friendly interface for searching internationally. The aim of the database is to facilitate ideas for promotional campaigns of library services. The database is hosted on the project server of the University of Barcelona's Department of Library and Information Science (http://bidoc.ub.es/pub/matpromo/) and a link to it is made available from the web of IFLA's Management & Marketing Section (http://www.ifla.org/VII/s34/). This article attempts to introduce MatPromo and explain its technical characteristics, content, and usefulness for librarians around the world." Full Paper (PDF; 160 KB)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Immigration--United States--Statistics Source: Transactional Records Clearinghouse (Syracuse University) Just Released, Prosecution of Immigration Cases Surge in U.S. "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recommended the prosecution of 65% more immigration cases in FY 2004 than it did in the previous year, according to authoritative Justice Department data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)." -- Health Plans--United States--Ratings Source: National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Health Plan Report Card "NCQA's Health Plan Report Card has results on hundreds of health plans that care for commercially insured individuals and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. You can create a customized Report Card that shows results for the health plan or plans you want to know about." -- North Korea Source: National Security Archive (via DocuTicker) North Korea and the United States: Declassified Documents from the Bush I and Clinton Administrations "Next week, if all goes according to plan, the United States will resume six-party talks with North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia and host nation China on the issue of North Korea's nuclear program. The parties are trying to reach agreement on a set of principles to guide negotiations that will lead to the dismantling of Pyongyang?s nuclear program and the threat it poses of a destabilizing North Korean nuclear weapons arsenal. This will be the fifth round of these talks....To provide additional background for the upcoming resumption of the 6-Power Talks, the Archive is today posting a collection of documents dating from the first Bush and Clinton administrations that illustrate how the themes, issues and challenges seen in the current talks have echoed through prior policy discussions." -- Public Schools--United States--Public Opinion Source: Phi Delta Kappa New! The 37th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools From press release (PDF; 128 KB): "A nationwide survey released today reports that an increasing number of Americans say they know a fair amount about the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. But the more they know about it, the less they like it. According to the 37th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public?s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, the public likes NCLB?s goals but rejects the strategies used to implement those goals. The concern rises to the level where, if a large number of schools fail to make the mandated adequate yearly progress, the public is at least as likely to blame the law as it is to blame the school." (via DocuTicker) -- Vehicle Theft--United States Source: National Crime Insurance Bureau (NCIB) New! The NICB Vehicle Theft Study "The NICB Vehicle Theft Study contains vehicle theft rates and rankings for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the United States from 2002 through 2004.... Click on your selected state below for MSA rankings." (via DocuTicker) See also: NICB Annual Hot Spots Report
Search Briefs + Image Databases to Find "Visually Similar" Imagery and More + Research: Automatically Classifying the Mood of Blog Posts Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Academic Libraries Source: The Indiana Statesman (Indiana St. University) Library a valuable resource for students It's always interesting to read how the college press writes about unversity libraries. This article focuses on the Library Extravaganza scheduled for Sept. 8th at ISU's Cunningham Memorial Library. -- Copyright--United States--Guides Source: LLRX.com Copyright and Licensing Digital Materials -- A Resource Guide A new guide compiled and written by Therese A. Clarke Arado, Reference and Instructional Services Librarian and Assistant Professor at the Northern Illinois University. -- Government Databases--United States Source: GCN GSA issues RFI for database to share terrorism information "The General Services Administration is asking industry to provide a governmentwide, searchable database of information, organizations, services and personnel related to each agency?s mission in the war on terrorism. GSA released a request for information earlier this month..." -- Public Libraries--United Kingdom Source: MLA MLA/UfI UK online centres public libraries ICT challenge fund "UFI and MLA are continuing to develop their strategic partnership by announcing a UK online centres 750,000 pounds Challenge Fund for ICT innovation in English public libraries. The key theme for the Challenge Fund is improving access to ICT for local communities. The focus will be on projects that explore innovative ways of using ICT to provide opportunities for user engagement, progression into learning, or take up of e-government services and other e-services, and for work with priority and target groups."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Colleges--Rankings Source: The Princeton Review Just Released, Best 361 College Rankings From press release: "According to a survey by The Princeton Review that asked 110,000 students at 361 colleges to rate their schools and report on their campus experiences, Reed College (Portland OR) has the best academics. It also has the least religious students. Bowdoin College (Brunswick ME) serves up the best campus food and Loyola College (Baltimore MD) has the best dorms. Princeton Univ. (Princeton NJ) is the best administered school and the one at which students are happiest with their financial aid packages." -- Health--Web Resources Source: MedlinePlus New Resource Compilations + MedlinePlus: Avian Influenza -- Internet Access--United Kingdom--Statistics Source: National Statistics Office Internet Access: 13.1 million households on-line Chart and background info available. -- Crime--United States--Statistics--Databases Source: BJS Update: National, State, and local Uniform Crime Reporting data have been updated through 2003 in Crime and Justice Data Online
Briefly Bowker Partners with Libraries for Implementation of New ISBN-13 Standard Note: Bowker is releasing a new web site to help with the transition. See: www.bowkersupport.com/isbn13/
Search Briefs + Ask Jeeves Unleashes More Smart Answers Very useful at the reference desk. The library community should do what we can to see if Ask Jeeves is interested in working with us in developing more Smart Answers! -- + Google Launches IM Service Note: The article includes a comparison chart (AOL, MSN, Yahoo) of basic IM features. -- + Share Your Search Results with Jeteye
Freebies Thomson Gale Makes Free Resources Available to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month "September 15 through October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month and Thomson Gale, part of The Thomson Corporation, has a free Web site (www.gale.com/hispanicheritage) packed with history, biographies, literature and activities to help families and students celebrate the month." Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf DOI OpenURL Source: IWR CrossRef launches URL and text search "CrossRef has also launched www.crossref.org/guestquery a DOI text interface that enables users to search DOI tagged content by searching by author, article title, journal, page or year of publication." -- Genealogy--UK--Databases Source: National Archives, UK QinetiQ sells 1901 Census venture to Friends Reunited for £3.3 million -- Internet--Canada Source: Canada.com Censoring the Internet in schools: is it going too far? "It's second nature for kids to plug into technology -- heading online to chat with friends, play games and research their homework." -- Public Libraries--Hawaii Source: Honolulu Advertiser State looking for 22 librarians Librarians in paradise! "The Hawai'i State Public Library system is looking for 22 men and women to fill vacancies throughout the statewide system on six islands."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents History--United States--Images Source: LC Coming from American Memory Project on Wed.: Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party "In celebration of the 85th anniversary of women's right to vote in the United States, the Library of Congress is releasing online "Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party," available beginning Aug. 24 at this presentation is a selection of 448 of the approximately 2,650 photographs in the Records of the National Woman's Party, housed in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. -- Zimbabwe Source: House of Commons Libary, UK New Research Report, Zimbabwe after the 2005 parliamentary election 54 pages; PDF. -- Coral Reefs--United States Source: NOAA, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (via DocuTicker) Recently Released, The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: 2005 "This report is the second in a series of national coral reef ecosystem status reports. The initial report, The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: 2002 (Turgeon et al., 2002), is similar to this report in that it incorporates the work of many scientists and managers from across the world. The first report provided a broad introduction to and a preliminary look at the status of coral reef ecosystems and was based primarily on qualitative information from the contributing authors. The 2005 report differs from its predecessor in that it is based primarily on the most recent quantitative monitoring data available, rather than qualitative assessments of ecosystem conditions." -- College Stores--United States--Statistics Source: National Association of College Stores (NACS) NACS: Industry Information Includes research and statistics, FAQs on textbooks and course materials, publications, links to related associations and a section on copyright. Some materials in PDF format. -- September 11 Source: National Geographic Companion Website to Inside 9/11 Documentary Includes video archive of interviews, timeline, and more.
Beta Testers Needed The Virtual Chase Alert Begins Beta Testing Mobile Version Our friend and colleague, Genie Tyburski, has informed us that The Virtual Chase Alert (a daily essential update) is now formally testing a version for mobile web users. If you would like to test the service and report back to GT as a beta tester, the mobile version of TVC Alert is available here. Monday, August 22, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries--Australia Source: NEWS.com.au Library porn crackdown "The Tasmanian Government will review controls being used by libraries to restrict access to internet pornography. Education Minister Paula Wriedt called for the review in response to claims in the Sunday Tasmanian last week that people were accessing pornography on computers in the State Library. 'A formal review of filtering policies within the State Library and Online Access Centres will be undertaken to give this matter proper consideration,' Ms Wriedt said." -- MARC Source: Library of Congress Understanding MARC Authority Records: Machine-Readable Cataloging -- Biotechnology Information Source: NCBI Public Collections of DNA and RNA Sequence Reach 100 Gigabases
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Toxic Chemicals--United States--Databases Source: NLM New Version of TOXMAP Available "TOXMAP is an interactive web site from the National Library of Medicine that shows the amount and location of reported toxic chemicals released into the environment on maps of the United States. TOXMAP allows users to visually explore information about releases of toxic chemicals by industrial facilities around the United States as reported annually to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)." -- Schools--United States--Statistics Source: US Census Fast Facts: Back to School 2005 Interesting! Fun! Fast facts about schools and students in the US. Including: + Amount Spent on Back-to-School Shopping--$6.0 billion. + The number of students in the US--74.9 million. + Projected percentage of elementary and high school students enrolled in private schools this fall--12%. + Percentage of the 2003 high school graduating class that went directly to college--64%. Many more! -- Soil Maps--United States Source: Agriculture.com Soil survey maps now available online for most US counties "Soil survey maps have long been printed and bound into soil survey books free for the asking at local USDA Service Centers, NRCS field offices and public libraries. But they're being slowly phased out. That's because, starting today, the USDA Web Soil Survey site will provide secure public access to the national soils information system." (via AllPointsBlog) -- Firearms--United States--Statistics Source: BJS Just Released, Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2004 "Provides an overview of the firearm check procedures in each State and State interaction with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), operated by the FBI. The report summarizes issues about State procedures, including persons prohibited from purchasing firearms, restoration of rights of purchase to prohibited persons, permits, prohibited firearms, waiting periods, fees, and appeals. Supplemental tables contain data on 2003 applications to purchase firearms and rejections, as well as tabular presentations of State-by-State responses."
Search Briefs + New Version of Google Desktop Search Application Released, Introduction of Google Sidebar + The new Trovando multi purpose search service (via Pandia) Sunday, August 21, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Academic Libraries--Rare Documents Source: AFP Original Einstein documents found in university library "Imagine visiting your local library and stumbling upon an original manuscript by scientific genius Albert Einstein. Well, that's exactly what happened to a Dutch student recently." See Also: More about the manuscript in Einstein's handwriting (dated December 1924), with editorial markup can be seen on the Einstein Archive Institut-Lorenz Thanks to Walter H. for the "See Also" link. -- Librarians Source: OCLC/IFLA IFLA/OCLC Fellows for 2006 Named
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Business--United States Corporate Counsel--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Law.com Who Counsels Who (Registration Required) Lists names of primary outside counsel for many large US companies. -- 529 College Savings Plans--Lists & Ranking Source: Money Magazine Ultimate College Guide 2005: Best 529s "A state 529 college savings plan is best described as a 401(k) for college, a simple plan that lets you put aside money regularly, invest in mutual funds and watch the earnings grow tax-free. In the table below you can see MONEY's picks for best plans overall and for in-state residents. Listed are the three things you need to know about each plan: Do I get a tax break? Where can I buy it? and What are the expenses?" Saturday, August 20, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf National Library of Scotland--Preservation Source: NLS Scotland's historic newspapers saved for the nation "NEWSPLAN SCOTLAND, an ambitious campaign to preserve almost 4 million pages of Scotland's endangered historic newspapers from the period 1700-1950, led by the National Library of Scotland (NLS), has now been completed."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents GPO--Databases Source: GPO Access Updated, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States 2002 papers from the Bush Administration are now available. -- Internet--United States--Statistics Source: BLS Methods of Internet job searching See Also: Job searching via the Internet Friday, August 19, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Science and Technology Resources--Open Access Source: Dr. Harish Chandra, Librarian, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (via E-LIS) Open Access to Knowledge Resources in Science and Technology: The Role of Digital Reference Service to Facilitate Accessing Scholarly Information "The present paper discusses the importance, objectives and major developments in open access initiatives. It further examines the specific use of digital information services including the digital reference service. The paper also highlights the various steps taken in this direction at the Central Library of IIT Madras." Full Paper (Word; 700 KB) -- Libraries--Sweden Planet Out via Yahoo! News, Wed, 17 Aug 2005 5:24 PM PDT Swedish library 'lends' out gays, minorities "A Swedish library is offering to lend out representatives of minority groups, including lesbian and gay people, in a bid to tackle prejudice." -- Federal Library and Information Center Committee Fedlink Source: LJ Shaffer Named Head of FLICC "Roberta Shaffer has been named executive director of the Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) and Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) at the Library of Congress (LC). FLICC fosters interagency cooperation and makes recommendations on federal library and information policies, programs, and procedures"
RSS Wrap Up by Steven Cohen, Contributing Editor A few RSS resources that may be useful for the information professional. + A new study was released this past week which showed that one in 10 blog readers use RSS. + RSS Creator can "create an RSS feed for any journal or newspaper indexed by one of our databases, so long as that database is searchable via Metalib -- regardless of whether the publisher or database provider makes those feeds available now."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Online Games Source: GftB UPDATE: GamesfortheBrain Addictive! "Play neverending quiz and memory games to train your thinking skills." Games designed and built by ResourceShelf friend, Philipp Lenssen. UPDATE: GamesfortheBrain is now available in several languages in addition to English: + Chinese + German + Slovak + Spanish -- Electronic Commerce--United States Source: DoC Just Released, Retail 2Q, 2005 E-commerce Report -- UFO's--Digital Collections Source: Library and Archives Canada New, Canada's UFO's: The Search "Within the vault of Library and Archives Canada there exist files from five government departments that were involved with collecting data and conducting investigations on unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The Department of Transport, Department of Communications, Department of National Defence, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the National Research Council all dealt with reports, sightings and investigations of UFOs across Canada. Each department had different interests and goals. The truth about their investigations is found in files held by Library and Archives Canada. A selection of these files have been digitized and made available on this site." -- Books--Valuation Source: Enoch Pratt Free Library, Humanities Department How Much Is My Old Book Worth? "You've been thinking about cleaning out that dusty old attic for a long time. And now, at last, you're ready! You decide to begin by inspecting that carton of old books that belonged to your Uncle Fred. As you blow the dust off these books, the thought occurs to you: 'I wonder if these books might be worth something.' Although we do not provide appraisals, the Humanities Department can help you in searching a variety of useful print sources as well as relevant web links that can be of assistance in researching the value of an old book." -- US Courts--Statistics Source: BJS Federal Tort Trials and Verdicts, 2002-03 "Presents findings on jury and bench tort trials concluded in Federal district courts during fiscal years 2002-03. Analyzing public use data assembled by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and BJS, the report is the latest edition in a series on the topic of tort trials. Information includes the types of tort cases that proceed to trial, plaintiff win rates, case processing times, and estimated median damage awards."
Briefly + Downloadable E-Books Come to LA Public Library + Bibliography of Native North Americans Now Available via EBSCOhost Thursday, August 18, 2005
Resources of the Week By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor -------------------------------------- Whither the Weather Can you believe The Weather Channel has been around since 1982? Even more remarkable is that a television channel devoted to nothing but the weather 24/7/365 could survive for all these years, much less prosper. And yet it has. People are, in general, fascinated by weather phenomena, and we've come to depend on the availability of up-to-date weather info. Here in Florida during the hurricane season, we tend to get up close and personal with The Weather Channel; we know that when Jim Cantore shows up on a beach anywhere close to where we live, it's time to run for our lives. Then there's the Web. Looking for weather information is one of the most common online activities for everyone. The National Weather Service (NWS) website is a jewel, of course. It runs broad and deep, offering a staggering amount of data that is useful to almost everyone, from the office worker wondering if he or she should take an umbrella to work today to farmers, fisherman, pilots and others whose livelihood is critically tied to meteorology. Not surprisingly, there has been an ongoing uproar since Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) introduced the National Weather Services Duties Act of 2005 in the Senate last April which, according to the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF), "would ban NWS from 'competing' with private entities by making it unlawful for the agency to publish user-friendly weather data and barring NWS experts from speaking one-on-one to news agencies." The end result, according to the EFF, and other entities and concerned individuals -- who generally feel that the wording of Santorum's bill is extremely vague -- is that we could end up paying for our weather data twice, since the NWS is a taxpayer-supported government agency. Seems to me that this is an issue worth keeping on our radar screen in the information profession. At any rate, I spent some time prowling around the Web, looking at a few other countries' national weather/meteorological service sites, just to see what they were offering. Maybe you'll be interested as well. + Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) What's cool here: The Top Ten Weather Stories page, which not only offers the Top Ten Weather Stories for 2004, but also provides you with a timeline of the Top Weather Events of the 20th Century. + Met Office Homepage (UK) What's cool here: The National Meteorological Library and Archive, "one of the most comprehensive collections of literature on meteorology anywhere in the world." Offers an OPAC and accessions lists of new materials for the most recent three months. + Met Éireann (The Irish Meteorological Service) What's cool here: A comprehensive Climate of Ireland page that brings together a variety of information on temperature, sunshine, rainfall, and wind, including a lot of historic data. + Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology What's cool here: Monthly features that draw attention to some Bureau's many products, services and agencies. An archive is available. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is "(t)he UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources." It has a membership of 187 countries and territories; you'll find links to their National Weather Services sites, if available. Some things worth browsing here: + Publications of the World Meteorological Association 2005. Includes direct links to the full text. + MeteoWorld, the WMO's bi-monthly newsletter. + WMO Technical Library. Offers an OPAC; a list of recent acquisitions (by subject area: Agricultural Meteorology, Climatology, Education & Training, Environmental Studies, Hydrology, Marine Meteorology, Observations & Instruments, Tropical Meteorology, Weather Analysis & Forecasting, General Works); a small collection of specialized, vetted links in such topic areas as Agrometeorology, Global Warming, and Ozone & UVB.
Professional Reading Shelf Virtual Reference Source: AP Experts offer homework help online Lots of examples of both free and fee-based services but NO mention of the fact that many public libraries offer virtual reference services. Sad, since so much effort has been put into building vr services. -- Copyright--United States Source: LC New Web Site, Library of Congress Launches Web Site on Independent Copyright Committee "The Library of Congress has launched a new public Web site to cover the groundbreaking work of a special independent committee. By 2006, this committee will recommend changes to copyright law that recognize the need for exceptions to the law for libraries and archives in the digital age." -- Intellectual Freedom Source: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Just Released (Highlights Only), IFLA/FAIFE World Report 2005 on Intellectual Freedom and Libraries: Libraries, National Security, Freedom of Information Laws and Social Responsibilities -- Scholarly Publishing Open Access Source: The Guardian Springer hires open access pioneer "One of the leading lights of the open access movement - dedicated to making academic research freely available to everyone over the internet - has joined the ranks of the traditional publishing world. Jan Velterop, publishing director of pioneering open access publisher BioMed Central is joining Germany's Springer, the world's second largest producer of scientific journals, as director of open access, heading up its fledgling open access publishing arm." See Also: Additional Coverage via Open Access News -- National Archives--United Kingdom Source: NA Natalie Ceeney Appointed new Chief Executive of The National Archives "Ms Ceeney is currently director of operations and services at the British Library, where she manages all of the British Library's services, including both its famous reading rooms and its remote delivery services. She has previously managed clinical services in the NHS, and has led strategic consultancy projects across a range of industries at McKinsey and company. She takes up her new post on October 17." -- Libraries--Marketing Source: Chris Olson The August Issue of Chris Olson's Marketing Treasures Newsletter is Online
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Legal Research--Canada Source: Tax Court of Canada New, Records of the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court and the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada now available on-line "...recorded entries of the Federal Court of Appeal, Federal Court and Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada are now available to the public on the websites of these three Courts...proceedings of close to 400,000 cases are now available online by accessing a secure copy of the databases of the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court and the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada. Site visitors can access docket entries for each case, with the exception of a very limited number of cases that have been classified as confidential by the presiding judge, for which online access is not provided. In addition, more limited information (style of cause, names of parties, date and place of filing, type of case) is available online for another 150,000 cases that took place before the process was computerized." -- Internet--Filtering Source: OpenNet Initiative New, Internet Filtering in Singapore in 2004-2005: A Country Study "Singapore's Internet content regulation depends primarily on access controls and legal pressures to prevent people from posting objectionable content rather than technological methods to block it. Compared to other countries that implement mandatory filtering regimes that ONI has studied closely, Singapore's technical filtering system is one of the most limited." News Release (PDF) Direct to Full Text -- Country Studies Source: Federal Research Division/Library of Congress Just Released, Country Profile of Bolivia PDF. See Also: More Country Profiles from the FRD -- U.S. Military Casualties Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists) American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics (PDF; 120 KB) "This report is written in response to numerous requests for war casualty statistics and lists of war dead. It provides tables, compiled by sources at the Department of Defense, indicating the number of casualties among American military personnel serving in principal wars and combat actions. Wars covered include the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam Conflict, and the Persian Gulf War. Military operations covered include the Iranian Hostage Rescue Mission, Lebanon Peacekeeping, Urgent Fury in Grenada, Just Cause in Panama, Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Restore Hope in Somalia, Uphold Democracy in Haiti, and the ongoing Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom." (via DocuTicker) -- Scientists--United States--Statistics Source: NSF New Report, Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians in the United States: 2001 (NSF 05-313) "This report presents estimates of the total number of positions filled by scientists, engineers, and technicians employed in the U.S. economy, by industry and by occupational category. Estimates are also presented for mean wages (hourly and annual) of scientists, engineers, and technicians by industry and by occupational category." -- World Hunger--Map Source: United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) WFP interactive map: Hunger in the Development World "Around the world people are battling hunger. Use this interactive map to find out where food crises threaten lives."
Briefly + Enterprise Search: Convera Wins $2 Million DoD Contract + LexisNexis Butterworths Launches Online Research Tool (via ManagingInformation.com) + CrossRef Deploys Free OpenURL Resolver
Search Briefs + Automating the Mining of the Deep Web + Yahoo Local Expands With City Pages & More User Reviews + Yahoo Has Social Networking Patent Published + Google Increases Size A Smidge: Was Planned Before Current Size Dispute Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Freebies Source: CQ Press In Honor of National Constitution Day "CQ Press will devote a section of the CQ Press in Context web site to documents and analytical content related to the U.S. Constitution. This content will include a ready-to-teach, downloadable lesson plan written by CQ Press author Maryam Ahranjani and designed specially for teachers who want to take advantage of Constitution Day as a classroom learning tool. CQ Press in Context is a free web site for information on pivotal events shaping today's world of politics. The site offers anyone with access to the Internet a substantial sampling of valuable CQ Press content that is usually available only on a subscription basis. During the weeks leading up to Constitution Day, the site will offer Constitution-related documents and analysis from the award-winning CQ Press Electronic Library, plus other original content, including an informative video interview with a constitutional scholar and the free lesson plan for teachers."
Professional Reading Shelf College Textbooks--United States--Prices New GAO Report (PDFs) Source: General Accountability Office College Textbooks: Enhanced Offerings Appear to Drive Price Increases Highlights ||| Full Report (via DocuTicker) -- Science Librarianship Source: ISTL The Summer 2005 issue of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship is Now Online Articles Include + Ask a Science Librarian A great read from Margaret Clifton at the Library of Congress. + The National Science and Technology Library: A Chinese Model of Collaboration + Citation Analysis: A Method for Collection Development for a Rapidly Developing Field + Book Review: Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals -- Public Libraries--Washington, D.C. Source: The Book Standard Library Spotlight: Washington, D.C., Public "If the primary characteristic of the public library that serves the nation's capital and its 500,000-plus residents were to be defined, by one word, a strong candidate would be 'versatility.' Patrons of D.C. Public -- which has a collection of nearly two million titles, counting books and all other forms of media -- range from upper-echelon government officials to local residents who have no access to the Internet save what the library provides them. It is a credit to the library system's architects that it does serve as both a high-level academic facility, and as a place where residents can access the most basic features endemic to a modern public library." -- Google Scholar Source: California Digital Library UC Libraries Use of Google Scholar, August 2005 12 pages; PDF. "On June 22, 2005, the CDL requested information from the campuses about librarian and library staff use of Google Scholar in their own work and at public service desks. Eight of ten campuses responded with a wealth of information about the creative ways in which the libraries use Google Scholar, as well as with their objections to its use...The replies indicate a core of respondents do not use Google Scholar at all. Others use it rarely, instead strongly preferring licensed article databases purchased by the libraries for use in specific disciplines. Some are reluctant to use it because they are unsure of what it actually covers." Hat Tip to OGS for the link.
Citation Reports Source: ISI + Science in Sweden, 2000-04 + Canadian Universities: Most Prolific in Molecular Biology & Genetics, 2000-04 + Journals Ranked by Impact: Infectious Diseases
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents United States Supreme Court--Nominations Source: The Reagan Library/NARA Just Released, Files Relating to Judge John Roberts "5,383 pages from the records of the Staff Member Office Files of John G. Roberts Files, 1982-1986, will be opened. The remaining Roberts' documents will be opened as soon as possible. Judge Roberts was an Associate Counsel to the President during the Reagan Administration. The Reagan Library staff has identified approximately 50,000 pages of records related to Judge Roberts. 4,864 of these pages have already been opened in response to previous FOIA requests. Direct to Files See Also: More Records Pertaining to John Roberts from NARA See Also: The Published Opinions of Judge John G. Roberts "Search and analyze the published opinions of Supreme Court nominee, Judge John G Roberts. On July 19, 2005, Judge John G. Roberts was nominated by President George W. Bush to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court left by the retirement of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. In two years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge Roberts has helped decide about 120 cases and written 49 published opinions." -- Population--United States--Statistics Source: US Census Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 "Part of a series of Census 2000 special reports, addresses the growing complexity of U.S. households and alternative ways to highlight that complexity. Uses a 'partner' or nonpartner' household classification and measures change in these categories for the first time, including by whether or not children are present in the household. Also, includes the first tabulations of households by the number of generations present." -- Government--Australia Source: Parliament Library New Research Brief, House of Representatives by-elections 1901-2005 -- Energy--United States--Statistics Source: EIA Just Released, Annual Energy Review 2004 "The Annual Energy Review 2004 records U.S. energy history from 1949-2004 in data tables and figures. All major forms of energy (fossil fuels, nuclear electricity, and renewable energy) and total energy by activity (e.g., production, consumption, trade, stocks, and prices) are covered. Also included are financial indicators related to energy; international energy; environmental indicators; and data unit conversions. Key long-term trends are graphically illustrated in a special section called 'Energy Perspectives.'"
Briefly Alacra Begins Offering Pay-Per-View/On-Demand Documents Via AlacraStore.com Content from D&B, Datamonitor, Oxford Analytica, Gale, Hemscott, and many other publishers.
Congrats and Kudos Congrats to ResourceShelf's Dan Giancaterino!!! Philly got ready for work today with a guest appearance by Dan on the Michael Smerconish Talk Show. He discussed the latest news in web search and online research. Also, smart thinking by WPHT to ask a librarian about what's going on with online search tools. (-: Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries Digital Information Souce: RLG The August 15 Issue of RLG Digi News is Now Online Articles include: + Watch This Space: Ten Promising Digital Preservation Initiatives + FAQ: Predicting the Life Expectancy of Modern Tape and Optical Media -- Online Search Source: Boston Globe Turning the concept of search on its head "Watson, software produced by Chicago-based Intellext, does the searching for you. It runs in the background as you work, analyzing your documents and looking for relevant information. The results (clickable links) are continuously delivered in a side panel on your screen. Watson goes to work when you open a Microsoft Office application such as Word or PowerPoint, or the Internet Explorer browser." -- Libraries--United Kingdom Source: The Telegraph Online library's novel attraction for bookworms "The "doors" of Britain's first known online lending library are to open for business next week, bringing reassurance for literary luddites who fear the march of technology could overcome the manuscript. My Book Your Book, which operates only in cyberspace, will offer thousands of paperback titles to its members, from fiction hits such as Zadie Smith's White Teeth to the GCSE staple To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee." -- Library Service--Gitmo Source: The Washington Times Detainees under Harry Potter's spell "Harry Potter's worldwide popularity is so broad-based that it has become favorite reading for Islamic terror suspects at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. Lori, who for two years has overseen the detention center's library, said J.K. Rowling's tales about the boy wizard are on top of the request list for the camp's 520 al Qaeda and Taliban suspects, followed by Agatha Christie whodunits. 'We've got a few who are kind of hooked on it. A couple have asked if they can see the movie,' said Lori, a civilian contractor who asked that her last name not be publicized."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents The British Library--Databases Source: ManagingInformation.com British Library's Database Of Original Celebrity Gossip fully searchable database of more than 250 rare Renaissance festival books is available for the first time on the British Library's website at www.bl.uk/treasures/festivalbooks/homepage.html. Drawing from the British Library's existing collection of over 2,000 volumes of festival books, Users can access and read over 14,000 pages which describe 300 years of festival entertainments in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe." -- Middle East--Gaza--Satellite Imagery Source: Digital Globe Gaza City Imagery collected July 4, 2004 "2.4-meter QuickBird overview of Gaza City. Natural color image in JPG format." -- School Districts--United States Source: National Center for Education Statistics Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 2002-03 "This report presents information drawn from the Common Core of Data (CCD) Local Education Agency Universe survey about the 1 percent of the Nation's school districts that serve 23 percent of all public school students. It includes information about the numbers of dropouts and high school completers, student participation in selected programs, the numbers of teachers, and revenues and expenditures in these districts. Although the 100 largest school districts are large by definition, they differ in many characteristics. The size ranges from more than 1 million students in New York Public Schools to about 46 thousand in Cherry Creek, Colorado. Current expenditures ranged from $3,563 per pupil in Puerto Rico to $14,012 in Boston." Full Report (PDF; 625 KB) -- Human Resources Executives--Compensation Source: Human Resource Executive HR's Elite (PDF; 75 KB) "Who are the 40 highest-paid HR executives listed in SEC filings? And what did they earn?" -- Intelligence--United States September 11th Attacks FBI Souce: US DOJ Inspector General A Review of the FBI's Handling of Intelligence Information Prior to the September 11 Attacks, (released publicly June 2005) (Redacted and Unclassified), November 2004
Search Briefs + Universities, Search and IR Research + Searching for Movie Reviews with the Movie Review Query Engine + Multimedia Search: Murdoch Wants Blinkx + Early Release of Findory's Personalized RSS Reader Now Online
Briefly + IBM Introduces Open Software Framework for Analysis of Unstructured Information (via Information Today) + Elsevier Develops Account Management Tool in Response to Market Need + New Database: Now available-Education Index Retrospective: 1929-1983 Monday, August 15, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Library Education Source: LJ ALA COA Announces Accreditation Actions "The Committee on Accreditation (COA) of the American Library Association (ALA) has announced accreditation actions taken at the 2005 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. Among its actions, COA announced that the Master of Library and Information Science program offered by the School of Library and Information Science, University of Southern Mississippi, has been granted continued accreditation until 2012--unless evidence persuades COA that the review should be conducted at an earlier or later date." -- Markup Languages Quickstudy: A Review of Markup Languages "Markup languages use sets of embedded tags or labels to characterize text elements within a document so as to indicate their appearance, function, meaning or context. Originally used for production within the publishing industry, markup languages have proliferated since the widespread adoption of XML." Learn more about specific languages here and here. -- USA PATRIOT Act Source: Congressional Research Service USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization in Brief 6 pages; PDF.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Birds--Database Source: BirdLife International Avibase "Avibase is an extensive database information system about all birds of the world, containing over 2 million records about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds, including distribution information, taxonomy, synonyms in several languages and more. This site is managed by Denis Lepage and hosted by Bird Studies Canada, the Canadian copartner of Birdlife International. Avibase has been a work in progress for nearly 12 years and I am now pleased to offer it as a service to the bird-watching and scientific community." Includes Bird Checklists of the World and a directory of global Bird Links. Nice! -- Development--Bibliography Source: Bentz, Whaley, Flessner Bibliography: An Online Guide to Development Research Resources 121 pages; PDF. Thanks to Mike Ravnitzky
Briefly ALPSP adds weight of the Law to AJLC collection + Proquest Supports African Libraries With Access To African Writers Series' Sunday, August 14, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries Source: RLG The August 2005 Issue of RLG Focus in Now Online Articles Include: + Stanford Groks RLG Union Catalog + Libraries Australia: Metasearching the RLG Union Catalog from Down Under -- Presidential Libraries Source: NARA Reagan Library to Open Additional Records Relating to Judge John Roberts Available tomorrow. "5,383 pages from the records of the Staff Member Office Files of John G. Roberts Files, 1982-1986, will be opened. The remaining Roberts' documents will be opened as soon as possible."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents U.S. Military Source: DoD New, Deployment Health and Family Readiness Library "This library provides servicemembers, families and healthcare providers a quick and easy way to find the deployment health and family readiness information they value. The contents of this library include fact sheets, guides and other products on a wide variety of topics that we have made available on a single website for your use." -- Population--United States--Statistics Source: US Census Just Released, We the People: Pacific Islanders in the United States A Census 2000 Special Report. 23 pages; PDF. Saturday, August 13, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf OCLC--Milestones Worldcat Source: OCLC It's Official: Worldcat Celebrates Its One Billionth Holding "At 2:21:34 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday, Aug. 11, Anne Slane, a cataloger at Worthington (Ohio) Libraries for 23 years, entered the 1 billionth holding in WorldCat for the book, The Monkees : The day-by-day story of the '60s TV pop sensation. By entering this holding information to the WorldCat database..." Congrats to everyone (many of them regular users of ResourceShelf) at OCLC.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Sensing Technologies--Research Guide Source: Library of Congress, Science Reference Services Science Tracer Bullets Online: Remote Sensing "This guide focuses on the technologies used for observation and data collection from a significant distance; satellite remote-sensing and imaging of the earth and other celestial objects. Major fields within which remotely sensed data are most frequently used include agriculture, archaeology, astronomy, climatology, engineering, environmental science, forestry, geology, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, and soil science. Also inextricably linked with remote sensing are the disciplines of cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), surveying, and geodesy. Remote sensing is used in surveillance of human activities for everyday security purposes, as well as in biology and medicine. Some resources on these related topics are included." -- Teachers--United States--Professional Development Source: National Center for Education Statistics Characteristics of Public School Teachers' Professional Development Activities: 1999-2000 "A majority of teachers reported receiving eight or fewer hours of professional development in either subject matter content or teaching methods. In terms of the format of professional development activities, 95 percent of teachers attended a workshop, conference, or other training session in the previous year, compared with 42 percent who participated in mentoring, peer observation, or coaching. Seventy-four percent of teachers participated in regularly scheduled collaboration with other teachers on issues of instruction." Full Report (PDF; 65 KB)
Search Briefs + Google Makes Change to Google Print/Library Scanning Program, One Group of Publishers Still Not Happy Postscript: Barbara Quint has much more here. + Growing Vivisimo scouring region for workers (via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Friday, August 12, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf ERIC Source: ERIC ERIC Releases New Content to Database Vendors "New ERIC content (2004 and 2005 materials) was made available in early August to all database vendors with whom ERIC has an active agreement. Subsequent vendor updates will be released on the first Monday of each month." -- Government Documents-United States Source: GPO GPO Posts New Internal Policy Document On Web Harvesting: ID 73 "Effective July 6, 2005, Information Dissemination (ID) staff will be operating under a new internal policy, ID 73: 'Harvesting Federal Digital Publications for GPO's Information Dissemination (ID) Programs.' This policy governs both manual and automated harvesting of publications from Federal agency web sites for inclusion in the Federal Depository Library and National Bibliography Programs." -- Digital Curation Source: Digital Curation Center First installment of Digital Curation Manual now available "One of the key objectives of the DCC is the creation and maintenance of a world-class Digital Curation Manual. The DCC Digital Curation Manual is a community-driven resource -- from the selection of instalment topics through to authorship and peer review. Individual instalments authored by leading experts in the field of digital curation will cover a range of issues relating to digital curation. The Digital Curation Manual is designed to assist data creators, curators and re-users to better understand the challenges they face and the roles they play in creating, managing and preserving their digital information over time." -- Government Documents--United States Source: Administrative Notes/GPO FDLP [Federal Depository Library Program] Myths and Monsters -- PubMed--User Guides Source: NLM Full Text, PubMed Help Searchable.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Data Mining Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists) Data Mining: An Overview (PDF; 100 KB) "Data mining is emerging as one of the key features of many homeland security initiatives. Often used as a means for detecting fraud, assessing risk, and product retailing, data mining involves the use of data analysis tools to discover previously unknown, valid patterns and relationships in large data sets. In the context of homeland security, data mining is often viewed as a potential means to identify terrorist activities, such as money transfers and communications, and to identify and track individual terrorists themselves, such as through travel and immigration records." -- Higher Education--United States--Statistics Source: National Science Foundation New, Graduate Enrollment in Science and Engineering Programs Up in 2003, but Declines for First-Time Foreign Students (NSF 05-317) "The 2003 Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (S&E) shows S&E graduate enrollment increasing 4 percent and academic postdoctoral appointments increasing 6 percent since 2002. Sixty percent of postdoctoral appointees had temporary visas. Enrollment grew in all demographic groups and in all major S&E fields and subfields except computer sciences. For the second consecutive year, first-time, full-time enrollment of temporary-visa holders decreased (8 percent), mostly among men. Tables show 1993-2003 trends." -- Internet--United States--Statistics Internet in the Workplace--United States Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Computer and Internet Use At Work Summary "In October 2003, 77 million persons used a computer at work, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. These workers accounted for 55.5 percent of total employment. About 2 of every 5 employed individuals connected to the Internet or used e-mail while on the job. These proportions were slightly higher than those measured in the prior survey conducted in September 2001." -- Population--United States--Statistics Source: US Census Texas Becomes Nation's Newest 'Majority-Minority' State "Texas has now joined Hawaii, New Mexico, and California as a majority-minority state, along with the District of Columbia, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. Five states -- Maryland, Mississippi, Georgia, New York and Arizona -- are next in line with minority populations of about 40 percent. (The minority population includes all people except non-Hispanic single-race whites. According to July 1, 2004, population estimates, Texas had a minority population of 11.3 million, comprising 50.2 percent of its total population of 22.5 million. In comparison, 77 percent of Hawaii's population was minority. In New Mexico and California, the proportions were 57 percent and 56 percent, respectively, while the District of Columbia was 70 percent minority." Thursday, August 11, 2005
Resource of the Week By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor If you had to buy a house right now, in the community where you live, could you afford it on your salary? If so, you're more fortunate than a lot of people. Many of us work for government entities with modest pay scales -- and we can identify with the teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees who are being priced out of the housing market. And we're probably doing better than most of those who work in...say, retail or the hospitality industry. For an up-close look at the ugly reality, explore this week's informative resource. Housing Affordability--Database Source: Center for Housing Policy Paycheck to Paycheck: 2005 Findings "In this revised and updated version of its online, interactive database Paycheck to Paycheck, the Center for Housing Policy presents wage information for more than 60 occupations and home prices and rents for nearly 200 metropolitan areas. Paycheck to Paycheck utilizes consistent measures of wages and housing costs so you can: * See how workers in your metropolitan area are faring in the housing market; * View the big picture for housing affordability for working families in various occupations across the country; and * Use these analyses as a template to examine wages and housing costs in neighborhoods in your community." You can browse the data here in several ways. For example, choose one of 183 metropolitan areas from a dropdown menu, and then click "View 5 Pre-Selected Occupations," and you'll generate a bar graph showing the income needed to purchase a median price home in that metro area, along with the average salaries of the five occupations. The 2005 median price for a home is shown above the graph. Alternately, you can specify which occupation or occupations you wish to appear on the bar graph (maximum of five) by using checkboxes on a form that also provides a dropdown menu where you can choose to look at figures for the homeownership market, the rental market, or both. Or, if you wish, you can start with a dropdown menu that lets you choose one of occupations and then select metropolitan areas using check boxes, comparable to the options described in the last paragraph. For example, choose "librarian" from the dropdown menu, select five metropolitan areas and see if you can afford a house in any of them. Good luck. Clicking on a "Print this chart" link in the upper right portion of the screen will display a printable version for you. According to a press release, "The median price of a home in the U.S. rose 20 percent in just a year and a half, while at the same time wages for key community workers remained weak, even stagnant...." This probably is not a shock to you. If you're interested, you can also browse the data for 2003. About the information in this database: + "Wage information is as of February 2005 and was provided by salary.com, a private provider of salary information, which maintains a database of salaries by geographic location." + "A rental unit is considered affordable if rent does not exceed 30 percent of income." + "Conventional mortgage underwriting guidelines require that not more than 28 percent of household income should be used to pay the mortgage, property taxes and insurance. A downpayment of 10 percent is assumed." + "Data on the median-priced home are from the National Association of Home Builders' Housing Opportunity Index for the first quarter of 2005." The Center for Housing Policy is the research arm of the National Housing Conference, "the nation's premier public policy and affordable housing advocacy organization."
Professional Reading Shelf Metasearch--Surveys Source: RLG Metasearch Survey Among RLG Members "In May and June 2005, RLG surveyed a cross-section of RLG member institutions to learn more about their expectations and experiences of metasearch. Most of our respondents were very enthusiastic about metasearch, although their definitions varied. Most of their definitions shared a focus on undergraduate students, use of a simple search box, and full-text resources in the results." -- Demonstrations Source: Human Computer Interaction Lab/University of Maryland Show Me! Guidelines for Producing Recorded Demonstrations From the abstract, "Although recorded demonstrations (screen capture animations with narration) have become a popular form of instruction for user interfaces, little work has been done to describe guidelines for their design. Based on our experience in several projects, we offer a starting set of guidelines for the design of recorded demonstrations. Technical guidelines encourage users to keep file sizes small, strive for universal usability, and ensure user control etc. and provide tips to achieve those goals. Content guidelines include: create short demonstrations that focus on tasks, highlight each step with auditory and visual cues, synchronize narration and animation carefully, and create demonstrations with a clear beginning, middle, and end." -- U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) Library Research Source: NCLIS Dr. Neal K. Kaske named NCLIS Director of Statistics and Surveys (PDF) "Dr. Kaske brings to NCLIS over 30 years of broad experience in the field of library and information science, including working as a reference and systems librarian, researcher, professor, federal grants officer, and library administrator. He has conducted many library surveys over the years and participated in numerous research projects that have been published in the form of technical reports and journal articles." -- Librarians--Professional Publication Source: Library Link Publish, Don't Perish! "In the library field...few publications provide monetary compensation to authors - and, in the case of peer-reviewed journals, entire review boards (and often editors) also donate their time to reviewing and editing authors' manuscripts.... So, what makes writing for the library literature different? Our common bond as members of the profession in itself gives us reason to participate. We all give back to the profession in different ways - some of us get passionately involved in associations, others lobby for libraries and librarians, and some of us write for the library literature. Librarianship as a field is built on the contributions and conversations of its members." Shirl adds, "Take it from one who knows -- this column by Rachel Singer Gordon nails it. If you've ever had even the slightest interest in professional writing for publication, it's a must-read." -- Public Libraries--Collection Development Source: The Denver Post Keep tabs on those new books "Vulgar illustrated Spanish-language fotonovelas depicting the rape, brutalization, and murder of women don't seem appropriate for stocking on the shelves of public libraries. Yet an unknown number of the books, which feature lots of nudity, have shown up on Denver Public Library shelves." -- Professional Conferences--Canada Source: EContent Institute Call for Presentation and Speakers: The Information Highways Conference 2006 This year's theme is: People + Content + Technology = Chaos? : How Intelligent Enterprises Introduce Order and Enhance Profitability. http://www.econtentinstitute.org/article.asp?id=45491
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Computer Security--Databases Source: NIST New, Comprehensive Database of Computer Vulnerabilities Now Available " The new National Vulnerability Database (NVD) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will make it easier for system administrators and other security professionals to learn about vulnerabilities and how to remediate them. The NVD is a comprehensive database that integrates all publicly available U.S. government resources on vulnerabilities and provides links to many industry resources. NVD is built upon a dictionary of standardized vulnerability names and descriptions called Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures." -- Clinical Trials--Databases Source: NLM ClinicalTrials.gov Scope Expanded -- Bus Travel and Tours--Fare Search Source: IvyMedia GotoBus.com "Search thousands of bus, tour, vacation services over 50 cities, including daily bus schedules for Boston, New York and Washington DC. Reviews available at Bus Forum." -- Immigration--United States Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) New Guidebook, "Welcome to the United States" "Welcome to the United States also gives new immigrants tips on how to get involved in their new communities, and how to meet their responsibilities and exercise their rights as permanent residents." -- Business--Regulations--Australia Source: Parliamentary Library, Australia Research Brief: Australia's corporate regulators--the ACCC, ASIC and APRA -- Hurricanes Source: NOAA August 2005 Update to Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook -- Energy Industry Source: Congressional Research Service (via FPC) Oil Industry Profits: Analysis of Recent Performance
Search Briefs + Google Improves Wildcard Matching + Yahoo Announces Total Size Count + Google Asked to Remove Imagery from Google Earth + Forget Static Satellite Images, How About Real-Time Satellite Imagery? Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries--Iraq Source: OCLC International program brings state-of-the-art library technologies and skills to Iraq " A collaborative project between OCLC Online Computer Library Center and the International Human Rights Law Institute of DePaul University College of Law recently brought together 12 Iraqi librarians for a training workshop on cataloging standards and technology in Amman, Jordan."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Financial Institutions Source: Bank Information Center (BIC) and freedominfo.org New, IFI (International Financial Institutions) Transparency Resource "The IFI Transparency Resource-an extensive information tool on transparency at the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). This Resource has been developed to support the Global Transparency Initiative which is an informal network of civil society organizations focused on opening the IFIs and promoting higher standards in global governance." -- Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender--Encyclopedia Source: glbtq, Inc. glbtq: The Online Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture "The glbtq encyclopedia was founded with a single objective in mind: to serve as the most comprehensive, accessible, and authoritative encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (glbtq) culture.... The encyclopedia's Literature, Arts, and Social Sciences Departments feature more than 1.2 million words in more than 1200 entries. Hundreds of complementary illustrations help showcase the lives and contributions of thousands of glbtq people who have influenced society through literature, the arts, law, politics and more.... More than 300 artists, academics, independent scholars, and practicing professionals have contributed signed entries to the glbtq encyclopedia." Searchable. -- Cigarettes--United States--Statistics Source: FTC New, Federal Trade Commission Issues Cigarette Report for 2003 "The FTC's annual report on cigarette sales and advertising shows that the major cigarette manufacturers spent $15.15 billion on advertising and promotional expenditures in 2003, an increase of $2.68 billion (21.5 percent) from 2002 and the most ever reported to the Commission. The total number of cigarettes sold or given away by those manufacturers decreased by 19.8 billion cigarettes (5.1 percent) from 2002 to 2003. The manufacturers also reported spending $72.9 million on advertisements directed to youth or their parents intended to reduce youth smoking, a 1.8 percent decrease from the $74.2 million reported in 2002." Summary Direct to Full Text (PDF) Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Professional Organizations--Australia Source: Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) ALIA Offers RSS Feeds Seven feeds are available. -- Librarianship--Current Awareness Source: Roy Tennant Current Cites -- 15th Anniversary Press Release "The popular current awareness service "Current Cites" turns 15 years old this month. The monthly electronic newsletter features citations and evaluative abstracts of articles in information technology and librarianship considered by the Current Cites team as the most significant for that month. Sources of citations include professional magazines, journals, web sites and occasionally books." Note: ResourceShelf Deputy Editor Shirl Kennedy is a member of the Current Cites team. -- Maps--United States Source: All Points Blog Librarians and The National Map "Librarians like maps and know patrons want to look at them. So, new tech, like The National Map, makes them nervous. How will it be archived? How will patrons print out a whole county? Those are questions USGS has yet to address, though it acknowledges these are important questions."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents World War II--Atomic Bomb Source: National Security Archive The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II: A Collection of Primary Sources "With the material that follows, the National Security Archive publishes the most comprehensive on-line collection to date of declassified U.S. government documents on the atomic bomb and the end of the war in the Pacific. Besides material from the files of the Manhattan Project, this collection includes formerly "Top Secret Ultra" summaries and translations of Japanese diplomatic cable traffic intercepted under the 'Magic' program. Moreover, the collection includes for the first time translations from Japanese sources of high level meetings and discussions in Tokyo, including the conferences when Emperor Hirohito authorized the final decision to surrender." -- Business--United States--Statistics Source: US Census Just Released, 2003 County Business Patterns "New York County (Manhattan), N.Y., had the highest payroll per employee among the nation's largest counties, while Los Angeles County, Calif., had the highest number of business establishments, according to 2003 County Business Patterns, released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The updated report contains a variety of information on businesses in more than 1,000 industries from the national level down to states and more than 3,100 counties. It provides data on the number of establishments, number of employees and quarterly and annual payroll based on the 2002 North American Industry Classification System." Summary Direct to Full Text -- Job Searching--Internet--Statistics Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Job searching via the Internet "Slightly more than 1 in every 10 individuals in the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over reported that they had used the Internet between January and October 2003 to search for a job." -- Documents in the News Oil-For-Food Program Source: United Nations Independent Inquirty Committee Full Text, Third Interim Report PDF. "Issued by the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme, on 8 August 2005"
Briefly + More Than 3,000 News Sources And Custom News Alert Functionality Now Available For More Than One Million Companies Worldwide Monday, August 08, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Institutional Repositories Source: DSpace Creating an Institutional Repository : LEADIRS Workbook 138 pages; PDF. "This extensive document covers all aspects of building institutional repositories such as planning, choosing repository software platforms, including digital preservation considerations, legal and regulatory environmental and policy development and cost modelling. Each section has associated worksheets and key questions. There are many references to case studies which are used to highlight approaches to the various issues in developing an institutional repository." -- PATRIOT Act Source: ALA Senate Passes Patriot Act Reauthorization "Minutes before adjourning for its month-long recess July 29, the Senate unanimously passed a USA Patriot Act reauthorization bill (S. 1389) that would make permanent 14 of the 16 provisions set to expire at the end of the year, extend Sections 215 and 206 through 2009, and provide stricter standards for seeking library and bookstore records, the New York Times reported July 30."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Law Firms--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: American Lawyer AmLaw 200, 2005 The nation's highest-grossing firms. Several charts available (reg. req., free) -- Prescription Drugs--New York--Databases Source: WGRB Law to create online list of drug prices "New Yorkers will soon be able to compare prices for prescription drugs online. The state is preparing an online database that officials say is the first in the nation to list the prices for the most popular drugs at every pharmacy in the state." -- Health Plans--United States Source: Kaiser Family Foundation/Consumers Union A Consumer Guide to Handling Disputes with Your Employer or Private Health Plan, 2005 Update -- Taxes--Australia Source: Parliamentary Library, Australia The new Child Care Tax Rebate 2 pages; PDF. Sunday, August 07, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf E-LIS E-LIS: an international open archive towards building open digital libraries "Established in 2003, E-LIS is an international open access archive related to librarianship, information science and technology, and related disciplines. It uses the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) protocol and tools to facilitate interoperability between repository servers. To date E-LIS is the biggest repository in library and information science and after only two years contains over 2200 papers. E-LIS is the first international e-server in this area, is part of the RCLIS (Research in Computing, Library and Information Science) project and is organised, managed and maintained by an international team of librarians working on a voluntary basis." Direct to full text article (PDF). -- Public Libraries--UK Source: Department for Culture, Media and Sport Museums, Libraries and Archives Council Public Libraries: Efficiency and Stock Supply Chain Review (PDF; 467 KB) From ALA press release: "A consulting firm commissioned by the U.K. Museums, Libraries, and Archives Council and the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport has issued a report recommending that the British government set up a national library agency to centralize book purchases and cataloging for public libraries in England."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Check Processing--United States Source: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (via DocuTicker) Writing a Check: Understanding Your Rights (PDF; 290 KB) From press release: "The advisory, 'Writing a Check: Understanding Your Rights,' discusses the different ways checks can be processed, and the significance for consumers of those differences. Many checks are now being processed electronically, which may mean that funds are taken from consumers' bank accounts more quickly than before. As a result, it is even more important that consumers are careful to assure that they have enough money in their accounts to cover checks at the time they write them." -- Music--Vacation Themes Source: Hotwire.com Hotwire.com Survey Reveals Americans' Favorite Vacation Theme Songs "What tune do most Americans feel personifies their vacation? More than one in four (26%) Americans adults who identified the best theme song for their vacation picked Otis Redding's classic '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay,' according to a recent survey released by discount travel site Hotwire.com."
Search Briefs + Wow! Forget Static Satellite Images, How About Real-Time Satellite Imagery? Note: If you haven't tried NASA's World Wind (it's mentioned in the post, worth a look) + New Services for the Mobile Web Geek Saturday, August 06, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Maps Special Collections Source: Hartford Courant Map Thefts Not So Rare After All "At least three prestigious libraries that were visited by a map dealer accused of stealing rare maps from Yale University have found that materials are missing from their world-renowned collections. Officials of the British Library in London, the Newberry Library in Chicago and the New York Public Library confirmed this week that E. Forbes Smiley III had visited their collections and that maps are missing. The British Library and the Newberry say their records show Smiley had requested and reviewed rare books that contained the maps." -- Public Libraries--Special Collections Source: Oregon Public Broadcasting Portland Library Creates Native American Literature Collection "The Multnomah County Library has set its sights on gathering the most comprehensive collection of Native American literature on the West Coast."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Minimum Wage--United States--Statistics Source: CRS New, Historical Relationship Between the Minimum Wage and Poverty, 1959 to 2005 PDF; 4 pages. -- Minumum Wages--Europe--Study Source: EIROnline Minimum Wages in Europe Thanks to S.B. for these links. -- Avian Influenza--Map Source: United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) South Asia: Avian Influenza A [H5N1] - Area of concern (25 Jul 2005; PDF, 2.28 MB) Includes SE Asia poultry density, SE Asia pig density, number of confirmed outbreaks in animals and humans, potential migratory routes for avian influenza. Friday, August 05, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Digitization Projects--Film Source: JISC Interview: Newsfilm online, digitising ITN and Reuters archives "Newsfilm Online is a unique JISC-funded £2.8 million project, managed by the British Universities Film & Video Council in partnership with ITN and Reuters, to encode and deliver up to 3,000 hours of film archives. We interviewed the Newsfilm Online Project Manager, Jeff Hulbert, who gives this articulate and indepth account into how the project is getting on." -- Library Science--Australia--Research--Conferences Source: NLA/Charles Stuart University RAILS2: 2nd Research Applications in Information and Library Studies Seminar The conference will be held next month in Canberra, ACT. Conf. program here. " This seminar will continue to build partnerships among educators, researchers and practitioners to ensure that a culture of informed and innovative practice is nurtured in the provision of library and information services (LIS). RAILS 2 has the theme of LINKING RESEARCH WITH PRACTICE." -- Librarians Source: The Times-Leader Librarian leaves College $3.2M
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents John G. Roberts--Opinions--Database Source: askSam The Published Opinions of Judge John G. Roberts "Search and analyze the published opinions of Supreme Court nominee, Judge John G Roberts. On July 19, 2005, Judge John G. Roberts was nominated by President George W. Bush to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court left by the retirement of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. In two years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge Roberts has helped decide about 120 cases and written 49 published opinions." -- Business Case Studies Source: The Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program (BSP) CasePlace.org "CasePlace.org is a free, online service for business school faculty, students and businesses. We can help you find some of the best cases, references, and commentary published by and for business educators and business executives. For business materials that incorporate social impact management, corporate social responsibility, and business ethics, you've come to the right place." -- Floods--United Kingdom--Databases Source: Kable's Government Computing Flood data goes online "A new database has been set up to help warn people on the likelihood of being swept away. Three UK environment authorities have launched a new database for assessing flood risk. The Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Northern Ireland Rivers Agency have set up the online system which provides flood data and supporting information for areas across the UK." See Also: Flood Map -- Maps Source: CIA CIA Now Selling Updated New Maps for Several Regions and Countries New Maps for: Gaza Strip, North Korea, Sierra Leone, Thailand and Uganda.
Search Briefs + Employment Databases: Indeed.com Adds Sources and Services + UK Real Estate Listings+Google Maps=OnOneMap Thursday, August 04, 2005
Resource of the Week by Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor Substance abuse has long been a topic of ongoing concern...and has, thus, generated mountains of research material over the years. Our resource for you this week is a site that aggregates some of this information and offers a large bibliographic database. Substance Abuse--Hub Source: Department of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School Project Cork "Cork's mission is to assemble and disseminate current, authoritative information on substance abuse for clinicians, health care providers, human service personnel, and policy makers. Project Cork produces a bibliographic database, offers current awareness services, produces resource materials, responds to queries, and collaborates in professional education efforts. The CORK database of more than 61,000 holdings is searchable online." The database offers simple keyword search. Titles are highlighted in the results list; when you click on one, you get a bibiliographic entry that includes a detailed abstract -- i.e.: Author: Bolhofner B; Carmen BA; Donohue SD; Harlen K Title: Motorcycle accident injury severity, blood alcohol levels, insurance status, and hospital costs: A 4-year study in St. Petersburg, Florida. (22 refs.) Source: Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma 8(3): 228-232, 1994 Cork LOC: Cork Reprint Institution: All Florida Orthopaedic Association, 4600 4th St. N., St. Petersburg FL, 33703 Material Type: Bibliographic Record. Journal Article Subjects: accident. alcohol related. driving. health insurance Date: 1994 Abstract: Clinical, demographic, and financial information for 337 patients injured in motorcycle accidents who were admitted to a community hospital over a 4-year period was reviewed for injury severity, prevalence and degree of alcohol intoxication, and effects of insurance status on hospital, patient, and community costs. Ninety percent of the patients were males (average age 31 years), and 52% had some form of insurance. Of those tested at the time of admission, 36% had blood alcohol levels of =/> 100mg%. Uninsured patients had higher blood alcohol levels (p = 0.0001), as did older patients (p = 0.01). Forty percent of patients had injury severity scores of =/> 16. Uncompensated costs to the hospital of caring for the uninsured totalled > $850,000 over the 4 years. The need to enforce existing statutes and to increase awareness through education is discussed, and statutory changes are recommended. Copyright 1994, Raven Press, Ltd. Accession No.: 5822 *September 1994* What else is here? + A collection of PowerPoint presentations on various aspects of alcoholism and drug abuse. + Subject bibliographies generated from the Cork database; in alphabetical order, from Absorption, Alcohol to The Workplace. + A listing of resource materials, including websites, organizational directories, journals and periodicals, a list of "relevant films," and a simple downloadable bookmark list. + Current awareness newsletters + Clinical tools, including screening tests, interview guides, and a "summary chart" (PDF) that covers "8 major drug classes: alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, stimulants, opiates, sedatives, hallucinogens, and inhalants. Identifies acute effects, desired effects, chronic effects, signs of overdose, as well as likelihood of psychological and physical dependence, brand names for prescription drugs, and street names for illicit drugs." -- Bonus Resource Here's something timely for you from the National Archives and Records Administration, about the current Supreme Court nominee. John G. Roberts, Jr.--Historical Records Source: National Archives and Records Administration John G. Roberts: Department of Justice Record Group 60 "One folder of records from Record Group 60: Department of Justice, Files of the Attorney General, entitled "John G. Roberts, Jr. MISC" has been processed for release. These records relate to RobertsÂ’ tenure as Special Assistant to the Attorney General in 1981-82. The file comprises approximately 350 pages and consists of memorandums and other materials sent from John Roberts to the Attorney General's office and related materials. Many of the documents found in the file are originals of the records that were released last week by the National Archives." Documents available in PDF format.
Professional Reading Shelf Public Libraries--Denmark Source: CLIR New Report, Århus Public Libraries: Embracing Diversity, Empowering Citizens in Denmark (PDF) "The Århus Public Libraries in Denmark received the 2004 Bill & Melinda Gates Access to Learning Award. This report focuses on the progress the Libraries have made in reaching out to immigrant and refugee communities with library services based on the latest in information technology." -- Presidential Libraries--United States Source: USPS/NARA Postal Service Honors 50th Anniverary of The Presidential Libraries Act with Commemerative Stamp "The U.S. Postal Service will celebrate Presidential Libraries with a commemorative postage stamp to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955. The Aug. 4 First-Day-of-Issue dedication ceremonies will take place at all of the nation's 12 Presidential Libraries and Museums. The new stamp recognizes the libraries' role in preserving and extending access to Presidential materials while recounting the lives and times of many of our nation's Presidents." The legislation was signed into law on August 12, 1955. -- Reference--Reviews The August 2005 Edition of Peter's Digital Reference Shelf is Now Online This time around Peter takes a look at: Journal Citation Reports The new content enhancements of the Web version of Journal Citation Reports and its informative charts provide further help in selecting the most influential journals in subject categories. They provide category-wide median and aggregate impact factors, an aggregate immediacy index and cited half-life scores, in addition to the journal-level performance indicators. & The London Review of Books A small but worthy open-access subset of the thousands of substantial reviews and commentaries of "Europe's most-read literary magazine" with good browsing and searching capabilities. The topical coverage is pleasantly eclectic and the geographic coverage is cosmopolitan. -- Academic Libraries--Digitization Projects The college library of tomorrow Most of what's covered in this story will be old news to many of you. Nevertheless, glad to see that libraries are getting some tech press coverage they more than deserve. Keller from Stanford, Smith from MIT, and Greenstein from the CDL are quoted. Also a mention of Highwire's TopicMap feature. -- Encyclopaedia Britannica Source: EB List: Who is On the New EB Editorial Board of Advisors? The complete list. -- Information Literacy--United Kingdom Source: ManagingInformation.com Law Takes Lead On Information Literacy "Cardiff Law School has been one of the first law schools in the UK to introduce information literacy into a core module. 2005 will see the second year of graduates to benefit from the training which is increasingly becoming a key requirement for employers. 'Information literacy' is the ability to recognise when information is needed, to find this information and evaluate and use it effectively to accomplish a specific purpose. The model is ideal for teaching in a law context as it has strong parallels with the benchmarks for law graduates set by the QAA."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Congressional Research Service Source: Congressional Research Service (via FPC) Three New/Updated Reports from CRS + Islamist Extremism in Europe + Islamic Terrorism and the Balkans + Recess Appointments: A Legal Overview -- US History--Slavery--Digitization Projects Source: UNCG NEH Grant Awarded to Complete Slavery Petitions Project "Thus far, the Slavery Petitions Project has published five, bound guide/indexes, between 450 and 697 pages in length, for the microfilm edition (107 reels), a letterpress collection of select petitions titled 'The Southern Debate over Slavery,' and a searchable database (http://library.uncg.edu/slavery_petitions) of nearly 3,000 legislative petitions. With the completion of the Digital Library, scholars and interested members of the public can access a total of 17,500 legislative and county court documents." -- Hispanic Americans--Fast Facts Source: US Census Fast Facts about America's Hispanic Population -- Water--United Sates--Statistics Source: USGS New Report, Estimated Withdrawals from Principal Aquifers in the United States, 2000 "In its latest report on water use in the United States, the USGS looked at the nation´s dependence on ground water. The report, entitled Estimated Withdrawals from Principal Aquifers in the United States, 2000, provides details of ground-water withdrawals and use from principal aquifers in each state. The USGS found that more than 90 percent of ground-water withdrawals are used for irrigation, public supply (deliveries to homes, businesses, and industry), and self-supplied industrial uses. On a daily basis, 76.5 billion gallons are used for these three purposes with irrigation accounting for nearly three-quarters of this amount. California and Nebraska use more ground water for irrigation than any other states; 8,910 million gallons per day in California and 7,050 million gallons per day in Nebraska." Summary Direct to Abstract and Full Text -- Spam Source: Sophos List: Sophos identifies the most prevalent spam categories of 2005
Search Briefs + A Conversation with Rich Skrenta and Chris Tolles from Topix.net Note: If you're never visited Topix.net, a news search and aggregation site, you should! + MSN Virtual Earth Team Answers Questions and Announce New Site for Developers + On the SMS and Mobile Search Beat
Briefly + Fast Search and Transfer Signs Deal With Hoover's + Robert S. Martin to join OCLC as consultant after completing term as IMLS Director + Thomson Gale's InfoTrac OneFile Exceeds 10,000 Periodical Mark + Hawaii's Public Libraries Launch New Digital Collection
Briefly Factiva Launches New Service to Help Execs Measure Company Reputation (via SEW Blog) + Facts On File News Services to Celebrate 65 Years Serving Libraries by Offering Free Access Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf FBBR Source: IFLA Invitation to World-Wide Review of Functional Requirements for Authority Records: Functional Requirements for Authority Records - A Conceptual Model Direct to full text document (64 pages;PDF) -- Online Databases--Reviews Source: Charleston Adviser A Review of EBSCO's Business Source Premier Reviewed by Burton Callicott, a reference librarian at the College of Charleston. -- Internet in Schools--United States--Survey Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project Just Released: The Internet at School "The most recent Pew Internet Project survey finds that 87% of all youth between the ages of 12 and 17 use the internet. That translates into about 21 million people. Of those 21 million online teens, 78% (or about 16 million students) say they use the internet at school. Put another way, this means that 68% of all teenagers have used the internet at school. This represents growth of roughly 45% over the past four years from about 11 million teens who used the internet in schools in late 2000." -- PubMed Central Source: NLM A List of New Publications Recently Added to PubMed Central -- Science--Blogs Source: The Scientist The Power of the Blog "Few scientists have caught on to the Internet's power of posting, commenting, and debating - where are the rest?" -- School Libraries--Publications Source: LJ LJ's Kenney To Edit School Library Journal Congrats to Brian Kenney on his new position!
Citation Reports Source: ISI + U.S. Slide in World Share Continues as European Union, Asia Pacific Advance "Over the last 15 years, the United States has seen its share of world output in science steadily decrease, while the collective shares of nations in the European Union and the Asia Pacific region have increased, according to a new Science Watch survey. The graph below (left) illustrates this trend, comparing percent share of papers for each year between 1990 and 2004. In the image below (right), separate graphs chart the decline in U.S. world share, and the concurrent advance of the other two regions, in three main physical-science fields: Physics, Engineering, and Materials Science." + The 20 Most-Cited Scientists in Clinical Medicine, 1995-2005 + Computer Science & Engineering: Most Prolific U.S. Universities, 2000-04 + Journals Ranked by Impact: Geriatrics & Gerontology + Science in Spain, 2000-04 + Highest Concentrations in Agriculture/Agronomy, 2000-04
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Internet Advertising--Lists & Rankings Source: TNS Media Intelligence (via Clickz) Just Released Rankings, Top 50 Internet Advertisers by Media Value in June, 2005 -- Cities--Rankings--Senior Citizens Source: Bankers Life and Casualty Company Portland, Oregon tops best cities for seniors says new study from Bankers Life and Casualty Company "A new survey conducted for Bankers Life and Casualty Company reveals Portland, Ore. is the best city in the United States for senior living with Seattle, San Francisco, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh rounding out the top five. A panel of experts on gerontology and senior issues identified the qualities for optimal senior living. Major categories were: health, disease, economics, social, environment, spiritual, transportation, housing, and crime. Each category was statistically weighted to reflect the needs of the senior population." -- Microsoft Word Source: O'Reilly and Associates Word Annoyances -- Chapter 3: Text Editing and Entry (PDF; 1.8 MB) "Almost every document needs some text -- and Word offers many features for helping you create it quickly and accurately without wearing out your fingertips. This chapter explores how to eliminate annoyances you may encounter when entering or editing text." Full-text sample chapter from Word Annoyances: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things About Microsoft Word. -- Computer Viruses Source: Sophos Top ten viruses and hoaxes reported to Sophos in July 2005
Search Briefs + Search Engine Results Continuing to Diverge We've said for a long time that no two search engines (the big name players) are the same. New data shows that this is the case. Must read stuff!!! You'll also read that MSN results have been added to Dogpile. See Also: Different Engines, Different Results 30 Pages; PDF. -- + A9 Enhances Toolbar with Cool New Feature Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Information Industry Legal Information Source: TVC Alert The Virtual Chase Announces Beta Test of TVC Alert for Handheld Devices One of our favorite sites is now available formatted for your handheld device. Cool! congrats to our friend, Genie Tyburski and her team. If you don't read TVC Alert (in any format), you should. Of course, The Virtual Chase itself is one of the most useful guides for web researchers. -- Library and Archives Canada Collection Development--Canada Source: Library and Archives Canada Uodated, Collection Development Framework for Library and Archives Canada "The Framework sets an overall strategic direction within which LAC collection policies will be expanded and enhanced in consultation with stakeholders and partners." -- Public Libraries--Censorship Source: The Virginia Pilot Library painting too revealing for some; shifted to stacks "The complaints of two patrons prompted librarians to move an oil painting of a partially clothed woman to a less-public portion of the library -- much to the artist's displeasure.... Margaret Stillman, libraries director, said she loves Kinser's work, but she felt obliged to respond to the complaints about the 16-by-18-inch painting. 'We have a very keen sense of intellectual freedom tenets that are critical to a free library system, but we always apply common sense,' she said. 'In this case, we had a complaint about nudity.'" -- Librarianship Source: MLA The July 2005 Issue (Vol.93 No.3) of the Journal of the Medical Library Association is Now Online Articles Include: + I see blog people + Library as place: results of a delphi study + Avoiding versus seeking: the relationship of information seeking to avoidance, blunting, coping, dissonance, and related concepts + "What does this mean?" How Web-based consumer health information fails to support information seeking in the pursuit of informed consent for screening test decisions + Site-ation pearl growing: methods and librarianship history and theory
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Knowledge Management Source: Canadian Institute of Knowledge Management Read to Download: Free Books from the Canadian Institute of Knowledge Management -- Cities--United States--Rankings Source: Forbes Best Cities For Singles "Feel as if you're looking for love in all of the wrong places? Look no further--the Denver-Boulder metro area is America's best city for singles. Topping our list for the second consecutive year, the Mile High City edged out larger metros like Boston and San Francisco, thanks to its booming job market, relatively low cost of living and large university population. Our fifth annual listing of America's Best Cities for Singles ranks 40 of the largest metropolitan areas in six different categories: nightlife, culture, job growth, number of other singles, cost of living alone and coolness." Complete Rankings Methodology -- Online Education Source: eLearn New, How to Be a Successful Online Student "Following are some tips for evaluating individual courses and getting the most out of the online learning experience. These tips can be used not only by prospective students seeking academic success, but by organizations running online programs that want to design better information and support for prospective and new students." -- Spam--United States--Survey Source: FTC New, FTC Survey Tests Top E-Tailers Compliance with Can-spam's Opt-Out Provisions -- Government Regulations--Surveys Source: EIU New Report, Regulatory risk: Trends and strategies for the CRO "Nine out of ten executives expect the business costs of regulation to rise over the next three years, according to a new global survey of senior risk managers by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The survey, which captures the views of CEOs, CFOs, Chief Risk Officers and other executives responsible for managing risk, indicates that companies now see regulatory risk as the most significant threat to business, and a greater source of concern than country risk, market and credit risk, terrorism and natural disasters."
Search Briefs + Google Current is On the Air + Yahoo Files to Patent User-Specific Vertical Search Techniques + Yahoo News Adding More Video Content + Gigablast Debuts Toolbar for Internet Explorer
Briefly LexisNexis and Critical Mention (TV Search) Announce Partnership, Available via LexisNexis Alacarte Note: TVEyes and ShadowTV also play in this space. Direct to LN AlaCarte. Monday, August 01, 2005
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries Source: AP World's smallest presidential library planned in Kansas "In a state with a presidential library, a presidential loser's library and a gallery of Oval Office occupant wannabes, add what's being billed as the "world's smallest presidential library." -- Academic Libraries Source: The Daily Comet Some LSU students upset by plans for library Starbucks "A university library is no place for business, let alone a coffee shop, some students say. Louisiana State University planners say it's a done deal: Starbucks will set up shop on the first floor of the Middleton Library, as well as two other sites on campus." -- Libraries--Conference Presentations Source: OCLC Research Libraries in the Age of Amazoogle: Flattened and Turned Inside Out (3.8MB/36 slides) A presentation by OCLC's Lorcan Dempsey at the NoWAL meeting, 12 July 2005, Manchester Metropolitan University, (UK) -- Web Preservation Source: Monica Berko, Director, IT Applications, National Library of Australia Automating Online Delivery of Database Content : an Open-Source XML- Based Alternative "One of the goals of the Deep Web working group of the IIPC (International Internet Preservation Consortium) was to develop a web-based access tool to search and navigate structured data archives, stored as XML, which are the long-term preservation copies of deposited databases and document archives. This paper describes the development of a public domain tool to provide access to archived databases. It describes the background and search for this type of software and examines several alternatives, including Xing and Xedit." -- Digital Information Libraries Source: Ariadne The July 2005 Issue of Ariadne is Available Articles include: + Involving Users in the Development of a Web Accessibility Tool + Revealing All All About Revealweb + The RAMBLE Project "...how mobile blogs for personal reflection may be related to institutional learning environments"
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents Schools--United States--Bullying--Statistics Source: NCES Student Reports of Bullying "Using data from the 2001 School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), this report examines the prevalence and nature of bullying as reported by students ages 12 through 18 in relation to student characteristics, school characteristics, and criminal victimization. In addition, the report explores other behaviors that were reported by the bullied student, such as fear, avoidance behavior, weapon carrying, and academic grades. This report examines student reports of being bullied by direct means only, by indirect means only, and by both direct and indirect means." -- Industry Relations--Europe Source: European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) Online (via IWS News Service) Country Reports: Industrial Relations Developments 2004 Reports for more than 25 countries. -- Energy--United States--Statistics Fuel Economy Source: EPA 2005 Fuel Economy Trends Report Now Available on the EPA Website "EPA is releasing its annual report, 'Light-Duty Automotive Technology and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 Through 2005.' The report provides data on the fuel economy and performance characteristics of light-duty vehicles (cars, vans, sports utility vehicles (SUVs), and pickup trucks) for model years 1975 through 2005. Since 1997 fuel economy has been relatively constant, ranging from 20.6 to 21.0 miles per gallon (mpg). Model year 2005 vehicles are estimated to average 21.0 mpg. This is 0.2 mpg higher than 2004, but five percent below the fleet-average fuel economy peak value of 22.1 mpg achieved in 1987." -- United Nations--History Source: UN New, History of the UN Charter |
