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ResourceShelf is Compiled & Edited By Gary Price, MLIS Gary Price Library & Internet Research Consulting gary@ resourceshelf.com Gary's Bio Shirl Kennedy, MLIS Contributing Editor Dan Giancaterino, MLIS Contributing Editor Steven Cohen, MLS Contributing Editor Looking For More Info? News? Search Help? News Tips?
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Friday, October 31, 2003
Web Research Internet References Are Frequently Lost, Says Study By University of Colorado Health Sciences Center From the story, Anyone who has ever typed an Internet address into a Web browser and received a message that the page was not available knows how frustrating it can be to look for information on the Internet. In a study appearing in this week's issue of Science titled "Going, Going, Gone: Lost Internet References," researchers found that very important scientific information is sometimes hard to find on the Internet... Internet references accounted for 2.6 percent of all references in a sample of more than 1000 articles published between 2000 and 2003 in three journals: The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association and Science. In articles up to only 27 months old, 13 percent of Internet references were inactive, making substantial amounts of information unavailable. UPDATE: The complete article is available (no charge) by visiting the lead author's web site and clicking on the full text link next to the title, "Going, going, gone: lost Internet references". It's the first article listed under "selected publications."
Infoglut Source: School of Information Management and Systems, University of California at Berkeley How Much Information 2003 "Print, film, magnetic, and optical storage media produced about 5 exabytes of new information in 2002. Ninety-two percent of the new information was stored on magnetic media, mostly in hard disks." To put this into perspective, the study authors note that "five exabytes of information is equivalent in size to the information contained in half a million new libraries the size of the Library of Congress print collections." Thanks to Shirl Kennedy for the link. Executive Summary Summary of Findings Full Report (PDF: 100 pages)
Web Search--Google Source: The New York Times "Microsoft and Google: Partners or rivals?" With all of the talk lately that: 1) Google will have an IPO early in 2004 2) Microsoft is going to develop its own search product this article will sure to kick the speculation of "what will happen" meter into overdrive. According to this NYT article talk about a possible purchase or partnership of Google by Mr. Gates continues. From the article: * Microsoft approached Google within the last two months to discuss options, including the possibility of a takeover. * Though seemingly spurned, Microsoft may still be interested in pursuing Google at a later date, according to an executive briefed on the discussions. * The auction route is said to appeal to Google's founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who are known for their fascination in pursing technical solutions to many different kinds of problems. But it appears that Google is more likely to take the traditional path of using Wall Street to sell its initial offering. It is still toying with the idea, executives said, of using an online auction for a possible secondary offering as a way to allow its millions of users to have a better opportunity to buy its shares. * Microsoft as a search competitor could change the market's assessment of Google's value. One of the MANY things that Google has going for it is how the company is perceived and though of by its loyal user base. No one doubts that some of Google's success, to this point, has been carefully developing and building its public image. A formal relationship with Microsoft (of all companies) would be likely viewed as the ultimate sell-out and strongly weaken how the company is viewed and used by its most loyal users. However, the role that this would play on the masses who just want to use a search engine is most likely small. However, if word-of-mouth/viral marketing can make "to Google" a verb in just a few years, can it work the other way? A gut feeling on my part, the end of talk between MS and Google (GoogleSoft?) is not over. See Also: Friendster Says No To Google Buyout (via SJ Mercury News)
Government Documents--United Kingdom Source: British Library Today, New Depository Rules Become Law in UK From the annoucement, A Private Members Bill, introduced by Chris Mole MP in December 2002 has passed all its Parliamentary hurdles and became law today when it received Royal Assent. The Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 extends previous legal deposit legislation passed nearly 100 years ago in 1911. The Act enshrines the principle that electronic or e-publications and other non-print materials will be deposited in the future under secondary legislation. It ensures that these publications can be saved as part of the published archive - and become an important resource for future generations of researchers and scholars. See Also: "British Library archives websites" via BBC News
Briefly Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals Now Available on EBSCOhost Platform -- Dialog Adds Exclusive Health, Disease Statistics to Medical Information Collection
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items) Electrcity--United States--Statistics Source: EIA Just Released: State Electricity Profiles 2001 "This Internet only report presents a summary of the key State statistics for 2001 contrasted with 1996 and 1992. The tables present summary statistics; ten largest plants by generating capacity; top five utilites ranked by retail sales; electric power industry generating capacity by primary energy source..." -- Earth Sciences--Imagery Database Source: NASA Visible Earth "The purpose of NASA's Visible Earth is to provide a consistently updated, central point of access to the superset of NASA's Earth science-related images, animations, and data visualizations. These images are considered to be public." Keyword search with standard Boolean operators; advanced search additionally allows you to specify a sensor, a location, a subject heading and/or date range. As of 10/31/03, "There are currently 5888 records in the database (44.7 GB)."
Librarians Source: Quality Planning Corporation More Drivers Are on the Roads; Who Are You Most Likely To Run Into? A Student? A Politician? A Librarian? Students, as you might expect, are most likely to get into an accident among 40 professions surveyed by Quality Planning Corporation (QPC), an insurance industry consulting firm that helps rate driver risk. Farmers are least likely to get into an accident. Says QPC: "Students are 3.5 times more likely to be involved in an accident than farmers." Students also top the list of 40 professions most likely to get speeding tickets. Homemakers are at the bottom of the list. Next to last, at number 39? Librarians. Maybe we all need to take a copy of this survey to our insurance agents and ask for a rate reduction. Thanks to SDK for the link. See: Also Worst drivers: Teens, doctors, lawyers (CNN/Money) Thursday, October 30, 2003
Specialized Search--Books Amazon's "Search Inside the Book" Discussed on NPR As ResourceShelf mentioned last Thursday and you've probably read about elsewhere, Amazon's Search Inside the Book" service is getting plenty of press attention. Yesterday, the service was discussed on National Public Radio's "Day to Day" program. From the NPR site, Amazon.com is now allowing potential book buyers to sample large parts of any given volume through a new service called "Search Inside the Book." Is it a service, or a scam? NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates talks with an Amazon representative and a critic of the new service. The segment runs about 4.5 minutes.
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries and Librarians The October, 2003 Issue (#37) of Ariadne is Now Available Articles include: + Trends in Self-Posting of Research Material Online by Academic Staff + Delivering OAI Records as RSS: An IMesh Toolkit module for facilitating resource sharing + Ebooks in UK Libraries: Where are we now? + Towards a Typology for Portals + DAEDALUS: Initial experiences with EPrints and DSpace at the University of Glasgow -- PubMed Source: National Library of Medicine A New Version of the PubMed Tutorial Is Now Online This new version incorporates changes to PubMed through June 2003. Some of the changes include: + Page selection + “Send to” pull-down menu options + Journals database + MeSH database + Abstract/full-text icons + Display of more comments/corrections + New search capabilities for corporate author, place of publication, and grant number
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items) Afghanistan--U.S. Contractors Iraq--U.S. Contractors Source: Center for Public Integrity New report, Windfalls of War: U.S. Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan This new report discusses the companies chosen to help rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. Included in the report is a list of contractors for both Iraq and Afghanistan and a ranking of contractors by contract size (lists and rankings in left column). -- Knowledge Economy--Worldwide--Statistics New, Web Edition, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2003 The Science, Technology and Industry (STI) Scoreboard 2003 brings together the latest internationally comparable data on trends in the knowledge-based economy. It is the sixth edition of a series spanning a decade and brings together over 200 indicators, many of them new to this edition. The Web book edition, Web Scoreboard 2003, which includes a data appendix and links to the underlying data for all graphs and figures is available here. Thanks to S.B. for the news tip. -- Migration--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Full-Text, Just Released, Migration by Race and Hispanic Origin: 1995 to 2000 Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text -- Knowledge Workers--Canada Source: Statstitics Canada Two New, Full-Text Reports 1) Dimensions of occupational changes in Canada's knowledge economy, 1971-1996 2) Knowledge workers in Canada's economy, 1971-2001 -- Energy--United States--Statistics Source: EIA New Edition, Just Released, Annual Energy Review 2002 U.S. energy history from 1949-2002 recorded in data tables and figures.
Briefly ProQuest, Project MUSE Agree to Offer Full-Text Linking -- FAST Search & Transfer Continues To Line-Up New Clients, Add Charles Schwab to Roster
Web Search--MSN Source: Reuters "Microsoft Realigns MSN Into Two Divisions" From the article, MSN executives also said that they had hired Paul Ryan, former Chief Technology Officer of online search advertising company Overture Services Inc., to head up MSN's nascent search efforts. See Also: Paul Ryan Bio (via Overture) Wednesday, October 29, 2003
E-Learning Source: OCLC/E-Learning Task Force Full-Text White Paper, "Libraries and the Enhancement of E-learning" From the site, The E-learning Task Force is composed of 13 representatives from OCLC member libraries in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. The white paper introduces the current state of electronic and online enhancement to college-level coursework, and it outlines the importance of library collaboration with campus staff as these technologies evolve. Summary/Intro ||| Direct to Full-Text
Librarians--United States--Recruitment Source: IMLS Nearly $10 Million Awarded to Recruit and Educate New Generation of Librarians From the announcement, Today [Tuesday] the Institute of Museum and Library Services awards $9,898,338 in 27 inaugural grants for this initiative under a new program, Recruiting and Educating Librarians for the 21st Century...Anticipating the loss of as many as 58% of the current cohort of professional librarians by 2019, this program is designed to help recruit a new generation of librarians. You can access a complete list of grant projects (27) and descriptions here.
Web Search--Google Source: Financial Times Full-Text article: "Why Google's technology may have reached its peak" (subscription only) A bit more cautious writing about Google's future by FT writer, John Gapper. Those of you who read ResourceShelf on a regular basis are more than aware of the fact that I've never bought into the "nothing will ever be better mindset." Google was in the right place at the right time and was able to market itself in many unique ways. In my opinion, the most interesting history of Google's early years will not be about their technology but will be how they marketed the product. Here are a few quotes and comments from the FT article. + "Already the bulletin board of Slashdot, provider of "news for nerds", is full of gripes that Sergey Brin and Larry Page are taking the stock market shilling." I sometimes think that to be a reader of Slashdot you need to have a complaint about everything. What the Slashdot community is realizing is that Google is a company that has more goals than satisfying the personal search needs and wants of every single user. One tool Google has used to get it to where it is today by managing how it uses the media. Google has never been seen as a big company because in many cases big companies advertise and then advertise some more. They spend, spend, spend trying to "sell" people on their product. Google hasn't needed to do this because they get plenty of positive advertising (and that's putting it mildly) for free via hundreds of newspaper/magazine articles, radio segments, and television features. Then, toss into the mix all of the "Google is great" pub they receive on various web sites and you've created a massive marketing powerhouse using non-traditional tools. It not only promotes but enhances Google's "just some people building a search engine" image. Google is a case study in how to market a company. + The loudest complaint against Google is that it has lost some of its original arm's-length attitude to commerce. The article does not mention that all of the major search players have done a good job of labeling results and that all search results are manipulated in one way or another by search engine optimizers. + The more pertinent question is whether its business model will retain the lead. To start with, it can no longer rely on others failing to grasp the importance of search. Algorithmic search engines are tough to design and maintain but others such as Teoma, owned by Ask Jeeves, and Yahoo's Inktomi are catching up. I agree 100%. Again, those of you who have been a regular on this site know that I'm a big fan and supporter of what Jeeves and Teoma are up to. No need to repeat myself. Let's not forget that Yahoo is now the owner of powerful technology from AllTheWeb and AltaVista. + Yahoo is augmenting internet search with its own information. Its Yahoo Shopping service not only allows users to search for the cheapest outlet for different models of digital cameras but also combines the results with its own guide to buying cameras, and with user reviews. Again, Mr. Gapper is correct. After preparing for a recent seminar on web consumerism and looking at the various shopping search tools, Yahoo Shopping is my current fave. Yahoo's just announced "SmartSort" personalized results tools show plenty of promise. Of course Google's founders have shown before that only a fool underestimates them, and its technology remains hard to match; there is still plenty of scope for further growth. Still, if I were on the board, I might well think that it was time to sell a few shares. + Gapper is right again. However, I think he would have made an already interesting article better by also mentioning the fact that the need for smaller, niche-based engines is still very strong and important. In other words, one search tool cannot be the end all, be all for all types of searches and types of searchers. I sometimes think that some information professionals have forgotten this point. Google has done MANY good things for the search community but it has created a belief in the general public that it's perfect technology and home to all of the answers (if it's not in Google it doesn't exist). --- AND SPEAKING OF BAD SEARCH HABITS.... Barbara Quint reports about how OCLC is allowing Google to add records (on a trial basis) from WorldCat. Quint corrrectly points out that many issues come into play here including the likelihood of an end user doing a basic Google search and a link for the book (via OCLC) appearing in the first few results (where most people look). The article also mentions that IEEE material is being added into Google. We've reported on this several times. From several test searches I've noticed estimates of less than 150,000 citations being available as of today. The full IEEE xPlore Database is closing in on 1 million records. Some questions to consider 1) I've found even with the technical nature of IEEE material, you must run an exact item search to access the abstract. Running a basic keyword search does not often produce IEEE material. 2) Searching on an author's name or initials will often not produce IEEE abstracts. 3) Here's a known item search for the article, "Scene detection in hollywood movies and TV shows" The first result is the full text of the paper from the author's web site. Who needs IEEE? Also, a database like CiteSeer not only offers a link to the full text (if available) but it also acts as a citation index. 4) An author search for Zeeshan Rasheed or Z Rasheed does not retrieve the IEEE abstract, for the paper mentioned above, anywhere in the first 100 results. 5) In the case of the soon to come OCLC/Google database, will links to the library record appear near bookstores trying to sell the book? How will this be determined. 6) Why are libraries spending so much time and effort in cataloging material for it to be thrown into a free-text database where the power of a cataloged record can be exploited?
Web Search Source: GCN "White House: Web site doesn’t steer clear of Iraq" What many thought was the perfect web conspiracy theory was really an example of how a lack of knowledge about how search engines work can cause the conspiracy theorists to have a field day. It also illustrates how quickly incorrect info can spread over the web. The robots.txt files that has been in place on WhiteHouse.Gov has been there for many months. However, it's worth pointing out that other sites block spiders from crawling because they DO NOT want the material accessible via a general engine. See Also: Learn About How Robots.Txt Works
Professional Reading Shelf (4 Items) Digital Preservation New Issue, DPC/PADI What's new in digital preservation From the UKOLN site, Specific topics covered in this issue are institutional repositories, preservation metadata, file format registries, persistent identifiers, Web archiving, and the use of XML as a preservation strategy. -- Scholarly Communication Source: ARL Conference Presentations from the "Scholarly Tribes and Tribulations: How Tradition and Technology Are Driving Disciplinary Change". The conference took place on October 17th in DC. Presentations from: + Blaise Cronin, Indiana University + Milton Corn, M.D., National Library of Medicine + Michael Lesk, Rutgers University + John Unsworth, University of Illinois + Barbara O'Keefe, Northwestern University -- Portals Workshop Presentations: The Scholar's Portal: An International Perspective The workshop took place at IFLA in August. Thanks to FOS News for the tip. -- Cybercrime Source: The JISC Legal Information Service (J-LIS), Summary/Conference Overview ||| Direct to Conference Presentations
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items) Internet Usage--United States Source: National Center for Education Statistics Two New Full-Text Reports Released Today 1) Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-2002 "...presents data on Internet access in U.S. public schools from 1994 to 2002 by school characteristics. It provides trend analysis on the progress of public schools and classrooms in connecting to the Internet and on the ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access." 2) Computer and Internet Use by Children and Adolescents in 2001 "...uses data from the September Computer and Internet Use supplement to the 2001 Current Population Survey to examine the use of computers and the Internet by American children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 17." -- Medicaid--United States Source: Kaiser Family Foundation New Searchable Online Database: Medicaid Benefits Covered by 50 States, DC, and U.S. Territories The new online database on Medicaid benefits in the 50 states, DC, and the U.S. territories is comprehensive, with information about benefits covered by each state, for what populations the benefits are available, and the limitations, co-payments and payment rules that apply to the benefits. The database is searchable by Medicaid benefit as well as by state. -- Fire Ecology--Bibliogaphic Database Source: Tall Timbers Research Station E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database "Use this database as a unique resource for locating a broad range of fire-related information. Literature on control of wildfires as well as applications of prescribed burning is included. The database is international in scope with emphasis on North America and in particular, the southeastern United States. Citations include references to books, chapters within books, journal articles, conferences and conference papers, state and federal documents. Abstracts are often included as part of the citations. The database is updated on a continuous basis, with information both current and historical. At present there are over 10,800 citations are in the database." Thanks to Shirl Kennedy for the site and annotation. See also: + Federal Wildland Fire Policy + International Association of Wildland Fire + Natural Heritage Baseline Survey and Fire Ecology/Effects Literature Review (USAF Academy) + USGS: Fire Ecology Research + Western Fire Ecology Center -- Digitization Projects Source: British Library Rare British Library copies of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales go online for the first time From the announcement, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales has been a bestseller since it was first printed by William Caxton in the 1470s and 1480s. Recently updated for modern times in the popular BBC Canterbury Tales, new digital versions of these original fifteenth century texts are now available for the first time in their entirety on the British Library's website. See Also: Direct to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales -- Philanthropy--United States--Statistics Source: Foundation Center Report Highlights, Foundation Reporting: Update on Public Reporting Trends of Private and Community Foundations, 2003 Edition
DMCA Feds grant DMCA exceptions Source: News.Com The Library of Congress created on Tuesday four narrow exemptions to a controversial digital-piracy statute but faces criticism from free-speech activists, who had hoped for more exceptions. See Also: Full-Text of LC Ruling
Citation Analysis--Lists & Rankings Scholarly Publishing Source: Institute for Scientific Information + U.S. Universities with High Concentrations in Education, 1998-2002 + Science in Switzerland, 1998-2002 + Rankings for Japan among the 151 top-performing countries in all fields
Scholarly Publishing Source: San Francisco Chronicle "Bay Area leads revolt against scientific journals..Scientists call for boycott, launch open-access project" More press coverage for the Public Library of Science and a journal boycott at the University of California, San Francisco. From the article, In another move, two prominent UCSF scientists called last week for a global boycott of six molecular biology journals, accusing the publisher, Reed Elsevier, the Goliath of science publishing, of charging exorbitant new subscription fees for online access. The boycott, led by Keith Yamamoto, UCSF's vice dean for research, and Peter Walter, a professor of biophysics and biochemistry, appears to have touched a nerve. It quickly won the support of librarians, scientists and administrators throughout the University of California system.
Briefly LexisNexis Reaches Single-Day Record of More Than Three Million Searches -- ProQuest Releases eLibrary Curriculum Edition -- Factiva and Verity Partner
Web Search--Google Source: Chilling Effects More Google DMCA Requests Posted on Chilling Effects Site 1) Fuerteventura Tourism Site Complains to Google 2) Perfect Paws Asks Google to Remove Boxer Site 3) Video Production Product Key Posted on Google Groups (#6) and in other Google legal news...Luis Vuitton Sues Google Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Congressional Research Service CRS Source Goes Offline Over the past couple of years ResourceShelf has worked hard to keep you updated with recently published or recently updated Congressional Research Service material. A favorite source was via a gateway on Congressman Chris Shay's or Congressman Mark Green's web site to a server on the U.S. House web server. What follows is a reprint of an article from Secrecy News that discusses the fact that these two sites have been taken down. Thanks to Secrecy News editor, Steven Aftergood, for allowing ResourceShelf to reprint. ---- ACCESS TO CRS REPORTS (TEMPORARILY?) CURTAILED Secrecy News Publicly accessible links from congressional web sites to an internal database of Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports suddenly went dead last week without explanation. But they may yet be restored. For about three years, the Congressional Research Service has provided online public access to hundreds of selected reports through a portal like this one: http://www.house.gov/markgreen/w3ccrs.htm No longer. The publicly accessible CRS portals were part of a "pilot program," explained a congressional staffer in Rep. Green's office. "The pilot program has just expired." Goodbye, CRS reports. But fortunately, there's more to it than that. Members can still opt to provide public access through their websites to the internal database of selected CRS reports, explained another staffer from the House Committee on House Administration. Or they can provide online access to individual reports of special interest, as they see fit. In either case, they must make new arrangements through the Administration Committee. FAS has written to Rep. Mark Green (R-WI) and Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) asking them to restore at least the same level of access to CRS reports that their web sites have provided for the past three years. A selection of recent CRS reports on aspects of national security policy, including some that were never presented in the public database, is available on the FAS web site here: http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/index.html ----- In addition to the FAS site listed above, here are a few other sources for CRS reports. All of these sites not only do a good job of posting new reports but also update older reports. This is very important. * Via the Foreign Press Center * Via the U.S. Embassy in Rome * Via the National Enviromental Library * Via the Federation of American Scientists ---Military and National Security ---Intelligence ---Nuclear, Chemical and Missile Weapons and Proliferation ---Civil Space ------ CRS Reports: Intellectual Property, Cyberlaw, Electronic Commerce
Web Search--Google Google Studies Creation of Book Database First Amazon. Now, a few days later, word of Google's project leaks out. They're sure good with marketing and keeping the Google brand in the news. From the article, "Google.com has begun talks with book publishers to compile a searchable database of the contents of thousands of volumes, a publishing executive briefed on the project said yesterday." See Also: "Google Looks to Add Book Content" (via PW)
BIOSIS Sold to Thompson Scientific Source: Information Today NewsBreaks BIOSIS Sold to Thomson Scientific "Five months after announcing its search for a partner [see “BIOSIS Looks for a Partner,” [http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb030519-1.shtml], Biological Abstracts’ board of trustees announced that it had entered final negotiations with Thomson Corp. The deal would involve the sale of publishing assets for both Biological Abstracts, Inc. and BIOSIS UK, including the Zoological Record."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) Veterans--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Fast Facts About the U.S. Veteran Population A new fact sheet from Census. It was prepared in honor of Veterans' Day, November 11, 2003. -- Health--Senior Citizens Source: National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine New Web Site, NIH SeniorHealth.Gov From the announcement, To do this, the NIA and NLM brought together researchers who study cognition, web site designers, and communications experts at the two institutes to fashion a site that is easy for older adults to read, understand, remember, and navigate. For example, the site features large print and short, easy-to-read segments of information repeated in a variety of formats -- such as open-captioned videos and short quizzes -- to increase the likelihood it will be remembered. Consistent page layout and prompts help older adults move from one place to another on the site without feeling lost or overwhelmed. Each topic provides general background information, quizzes, frequently asked questions (FAQs), open-captioned video clips, transcripts for the videos, and photos and illustrations with captions. NIHSeniorHealth.gov will have a "talking" function, which will allow users the option of reading the text or listening to it as it is read to them. Finally, in addition to being senior-friendly, the new site also complies with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, making it accessible for persons with disabilities. -- Children--Media Source: Kaiser Family Foundation Full-Text Report, Zero to Six: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers New study finds children age zero to six spend as much time with tv, computers, and video games as playing outside. Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text ||| Additional Resources -- Cancer--United Kingdom-Statistics Source: NHS New, Full-Text, NHS Cancer Plan: Maintaining the Momentum Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text
Patriot Act Source: The Wall Street Journal Full-Text, "Patriot Act Riles An Unlikely Group: Nation's Librarians" From the article, Library associations in most states have passed resolutions against the Patriot Act's Section 215, which gives the FBI broader access to the "business records" of people who aren't suspected of any crime. Speaking to Congress this past June, Attorney General John Ashcroft said that could include educational records and genetic data -- and information gathered in libraries. Libraries that say they might once have kept information on their patrons have purged it in a show of defiance. In Skokie, Ill., library director Carolyn Anthony says the only patron records she now keeps are on Skokie's small population of home-bound borrowers. In tiny Paulding County, Ohio, library director Susan Hill is one of many librarians nationwide who posted signs on public computers warnings users that "due to national security concerns," their "Internet surfing habits, passwords and e-mail content" might be monitored by federal agents. After being dogged by librarians and other protesters during a cross-country tour to boost support for the Patriot Act, Mr. Ashcroft last month accused librarians of being "duped" by liberals, and for two days running accused them of "hysteria." He also announced that the FBI hadn't requested any business records under the Patriot Act. "Section 215 has not been used. Period. Zero times," says Mr. Ashcroft's spokesman, Mark Corallo, who adds that "the 20% of the people who oppose the Patriot Act get 95% of the publicity." The full-text of this article will be available (free) for the next week. Monday, October 27, 2003
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items) Cable Television Rates Source: GAO Issues Related to Competition and Subscriber Rates in the Cable Television Industry Some rocket science here: "Competition leads to lower cable rates and improved quality." However, competition exists in only a few U.S. cable markets. Over the past three years, cable rates have risen 34%, "driven by the high cost of original programming, among other things." Sports programming in particular is very expensive. Report highlights See also: GAO: Rising Sports Tab Ups Cable TV Rates (Reuters via FindLaw) -- Military Law Source: Air War College Military Law and Legal Links Collection of links to both general and specific military legal sources, including Judge Advocate Generals offices, military courts, military commissions and tribunals, laws of war and war crimes, court martial procedures, DoD appropriations laws, international law, Islamic law, space law and treaties. -- Crime Statistics--United States Source: FBI Crime in These United States 2002 "Crime in the United States (CIUS) is an annual publication in which the FBI compiles volume and rate of crime offenses for the nation, the states, and individual agencies. This report also includes arrest, clearance, and law enforcement employee data." Statistics are compiled from 17,000 law enforcement agencies across the country. Figures for 2002 show a slight overall rise in serious crime, but crime is well down (16%) over the levels of a decade ago, with far fewer murders in 2002 than there were in 1993. Report available in HTML or PDF. FBI Press Release Index of Crime (crime data by state) See also: F.B.I. Figures for 2002 Show Slight Rise in Serious Crime (The New York Times)
Professional Reading Shelf (3 Items) Systems Librarians Source: Library Hi-Tech (via author's website) The Self-Education of Systems Librarians Mark Jordan, acting director of library systems at Simon Fraser University, "outlines the common duties and responsibilities of systems librarians, and describes how library school students and others interested in entering the field can take advantage of freely available tools to gain relevant experience." Extensive notes and bibliography. -- Libraries Should Mind Their Own Business Source: The Globe and Mail "They should leave feng shui and grief counselling to others, and expand on what they do best -- the collection and dissemination of information." (via LISNews.com) -- Open Access Publishing Full-Text, Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities
Web Search--Google Will an IPO damage Google's corporate culture? Source: Guardian Unlimited Google must keep searching for balance From the article: If the culture of the company is irreparably damaged, then it will suffer. Brin and Page insist they can retain the company's identity and please the moneymen. But for a cautionary tale of what not to do they need look no further than Alta Vista, the site Google toppled as the web's search engine of choice, and is now nothing more than an online also-ran. I think the author has a point about how an IPO could/will change the Google culture. Can Google be all things to all people? Are we starting to see this? The company does a good job these days making it appear that Google is just a bunch of people hanging out in California, running a company, having a good time. However, it's far from that. It's a big company, period. Will it be a bigger company if it goes to an IPO? Yes. Also, while AltaVista is not what it once was, I think calling it an also-ran is a bit much. In many respect's AV plays in the same league with Google. For the power searcher, AV technology often beats Google. + The AltaVista's News and Image Search databases are first rate. + In terms of pure search power (what the database is capable of) AltaVista is still more powerful than Google. AV allows you to nest searches (Google doesn't), AV allows truncation (Google doesn't), AV allows more than ten search terms (Google doesn't). What Google does and does better than anyone else is market their product. To overtake Google the war would be as much about the marketing of the product as it would be with the search technology. Thursday, October 23, 2003
Searchable Databases--Books Breaking News: Amazon Debuts New Search Tool, Acccess the Full-Text from 120,000 Book Titles The new service (online today) is called "Search Inside the Book" and allows you to search the full-text, over 33 million pages from over 120,000 titles. CBS Marketwatch reports that over 190 publishers are participating including Wiley, Time Warner Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Inc., Random House, Inc., Publishers Group West, Incorporated, McGraw-Hill Professional, Holtzbrinck Publishers and HarperCollins Publishers. Of course the full-text from 120,000 titles can have enormous research and reference value. However, Amazon's primary motivation for offering this service is to sell books. netLibrary is an example of a service geared toward the researcher. The company is calling this new service, "a significant extension" to "Look Inside the Book" service which has been online since October, 2001. How Does "Search Inside the Book" Work? + Access is via any Amazon search box. + Enter your search terms. Phrase searching with quotation marks. + No advanced search capabilities or search limits are available. + A list of all titles is returned. However, some titles contain extra information and links appearing directly below the pricing information. They begin with the word "exceprt." Click here and you'll see a scanned image of the page with your search term(s) highlighted. You can then browse (forward or backwards one page at a time) using links above the page image. You can also move forward by simply clicking on the page image. + You'll need to be registered with Amazon.Com to access the full-text. + Amazon is using optical character recognition technology to find words embedded in the scanned images. + Searching for phrases can be imprecise. I ran a search for "sports broadcaster" and received many false drops. + Implied "AND" between terms. + It's also possible to find a title and then search within it. For example, note the "search inside this book" label above the cover image. + Table of Contents and Index pages do not contain hyperlinks. + An illustrated example page is available here. An FAQ is also online. ---- + I've noticed that the full-text from many of IDG's "...For Dummies" books are included. If you do a keyword search add "for dummies" to help focus your search. ---- + Some of you might be interested to learn that many libraries offer access to thousands of web accessible full-text titles via netLibrary. This service offers full-text searching and many other options. Ask your librarian if you have access to it. If you do, you'll most likely be able to can access the database from ANY computer. Ebrary is another company in this space. The National Academy Press continues to offer free web accessible full-text access to over 2500 titles. --- -- See Also: Publishers Grudgingly Cooperate With Amazon Database Effort (via Publishers Weekly) See Also: "Amazon Plan Would Allow Searching Texts of Many Books" (via the NY Times, 7/21/03)
Web Search--Google Source: Financial Times "Google considers online IPO auction" From the article, Google is considering holding a massive online auction of shares early next year in an initial public offering that investment bankers predict could value the internet search-engine company at more than $15bn. An electronic auction would be designed to prevent a recurrence of the sort of financial scandals that have engulfed Wall Street since the collapse of the dotcom bubble, according to a person close to the company...Google executives, led by George Reyes, chief financial officer, met a number of leading investment bankers last week to sound them out about an IPO. The meetings marked the start of a process that is likely to lead to a stock market listing by about March next year, a person familiar with the IPO said. The early discussions have not touched on how much Google is worth. You've got to once again hand it to the marketing geniuses at Google for coming up with an interesting way to go public. Even if they don't use the auction method this is yet another way of keeping the "Google Buzz" at a fever pitch. See Also: "Google reportedly exploring IPO tactics" (via News.Com)
Web Resources of the Week Upcoming Event Lists, News Planning Guides, and Calendars This compilation contains 15 items (more entries coming) that can help inform you about various upcoming events. --- News Planning + BBC Monitoring: The Week Ahead "Lists key political and economic events expected to take place over a period of 10 days and is a valuable tool for planning." -- + APTN (AP Television) Weekly Editorial News Planner -- + NewsAhead A free preview provides a list of upcoming events (1-2 weeks). A fee-based database containing events up to one year out is also available. The Profile Group is another U.K. based company offering numerous resources (fee-based). -- -- Government, Politics, and Elections + World Events Calendar From the Council on Foreign Relations. -- + U.S. State Department: Public Diplomacy Calendar -- + Campaign Calendar for the 2004 Election Cycle--United States Compiled by AScribe. Available as a pdf file. You'll need to register (free) to download a copy. -- + Direct Links to Calendars and Schedules: 2004 Presidential Candidates -- + Upcoming Elections Around the World -- + Major Futures Compilation (via ABC's The Note) The list near the bottom of each issue. -- -- Academic Events + MInd: The Meetings Index "Most listings are for conferences, congresses, meetings and symposia that eventually will result in published proceedings." -- + Conference Alerts "...constantly updated database of conferences..." -- Science + Space Calendar From NASA. -- Business + TSNN.Com Searchable database of trade shows. Global coverage. -- Various Categories + Whatsonwhen.Com Searchable database for events, festivals, etc. Global in scope. Here's a review of WhatsonWhen that I wrote for SearchDay. + Festivals.Com From the site..."largest resource on the Internet for information about community festivals, fairs and special events. With more than 40,000 community events worldwide."
Librarians Source: Wall Street Journal/CareerJournal.Com Full-Text article, "The Hiring Tide Turns For Corporate Librarians" In a several hundred word article on The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal.Com site, a positive look at the world of corporate librarianship. Included in the article are quotes from former SLA President and Wayne St. Professor, Judy Field, Rachel Singer Gordon of LISJobs.Com, and Carol Berger of C Berger Group. Key Passages: * Recruiters say the hiring spurt also is due to the increased need for professionals who can help locate and organize competitive information. "Smart organizations realize that a librarian or information specialist is critical to the business-development process, which is where most senior executives are spending their time right now," says Samantha Whitney-Ulane, director of research and a managing director of Whitney Group, a New York-based search firm. - * After six years of supporting the global health-care practice at Heidrick & Struggles International Inc., a Chicago search firm, Jeanine Amilowski, 34, saw her job as an information specialist eliminated in a round of layoffs in August 2002. Unable to find a full-time position she wanted, Ms. Amilowski started working as a research contractor to search firms, eventually gaining six clients. "A lot of companies were letting go of information professionals, but they really needed the help," says Ms. Amilowski. "That's why it was a good opportunity to do contract work." - * "Companies will call the same job or skill set different things, so you might look for jobs [on the Internet] under librarian and find very few postings," says Rachel Singer Gordon, Webmaster of LISjobs.com, a career site for library professionals. "But if you look under knowledge manager, information specialist or taxonomist, you would find more." - * Regardless of the name issue, Ms. Field notes that the profession is changing and librarians who want to remain employed must align themselves with their employer's mission and find ways to improve the bottom line. She predicts that even as corporate libraries start disappearing, more specialists with library skills but with varying job titles will be hired.
Professional Reading Shelf Institutional Repository Software Source: Open Society Institute New, Full-Text, Guide to Institutional Repository Software Available as an 18 page pdf or in html. From the announcement, OSI is pleased to announce the release of the Guide to Institutional Repository Software. The guide describes the five open source, OAI-compliant systems currently available. As many institutions are developing repositories, OSI thought it would be helpful to produce such a guide so that each institution could select the software best suited to meet its needs. Included in the guide is a brief narrative overview of each system followed by a summary of the systems technical features. The guide will be updated as additional systems are developed. -- National Libraries--Canada The September/October Issue of the National Library of Canada Bulletin is Online
Depository Libraries Source: GPO GPO Announces Winner of First-Ever Federal Depository Library of the Year Award It goes to the Tulsa City-County Library. and speaking of the GPO...The Virtual Chase mentions a Roll Call story about the GPO is "considering charging fees" for some web accessible documents. -- UPDATED...Superintendent of Documents, Judith Russell, has sent a Letter to the Editor about the story. She has been kind enough to allow ResourceShelf to reprint it along with a few additional comments
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) Legal Industry--United States Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Full-Text Report: Diversity In Law Firms, 2003 A new study by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) entitled "Diversity in Law Firms" reveals that women now comprise 40% of legal professionals (resembling associates) in the private sector, a significant gain from 14% nearly three decades ago. Thanks to S.B. for the news tip. -- Technology Companies--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Deloitte & Touche Fastest-Growing Technology Companies 1) 2003 Long Island Technology Fast 50 -- School Crime Source: National Center for Education Statistics Two New Reports: 1) Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2003 2) Violence in U.S. Public Schools: 2000 School Survey on Crime and Safety -- Health Information Two New Topic Pages/Resource Compilations From MEDLINEplus * Emphysema * Cosmetic Dentistry Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Web Search Source: The Herald Mooter, A New Web Engine From Australia, Launches Beta Today From the article, "What Mooter does is that we look at the long lists of results from other search engines and then we group them using artificial intelligence algorithms..."But also we look at what you're doing and while you're working we actually move with you and push up things that you seem to be interested in...."Search is something that a lot of us spend a lot of time doing (but) it is just built by tech people instead of people who understand humans." See Also: Direct to Mooter See Also: ZDNet UK Story
Info Retrieval--Patents Another Selection of Recent Search-Related Patents Source: USPTO I've compiled another select list of search-related patents and patent applications. All entries have been either awarded or published in the last 4-6 weeks. In this update you'll find patents awarded to Yahoo, NEC, and IBM.
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Digital Libraries Source: Human-Computer Interaction Lab / University of Maryland Full-Text, "What Children Can Teach Us: Developing Digital Libraries for Children with Children" This paper by Allison Druin has been submitted to The Library Quarterly. -- DVDs Source: NIST/CLIR Full-Text Report, Care and Handling CDs and DVDs : a Guide for Librarians and Archivists We first mentioned this report in September. Today, the guide also became available on the CLIR web site. From the abstract, This report describes in nontechnical language the various types of CDs and DVDs now in use, how they are made, and how they work. It then distills current industry knowledge about disc longevity, conditions that affect life expectancy, and how to care for optical media. The guide is amply illustrated and includes a glossary and bibliography...The guide was written for use by librarians and archivists; however, it will be equally useful to any business or individual wishing to safeguard CD or DVD collections.
Government Documents--United States Source: OMB Watcher "Ideas Wanted for 10 Most Wanted Government Docs" From the article, We are looking for a few good documents--the Ten Most Wanted government documents for 2004, to be precise. And we're hoping you, as an expert in this area, can help. As part of an effort to fight increased government secrecy, we would like your help in identifying: (1) the ten or twenty government documents -- or categories of documents -- you would most like to see the government make available to the public (2) problems you have faced finding government information Send your ideas to info@openthegovernment.org. The complete article has more information.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items) United States Congress--Directories Source: GPO New, Congressional Directory, 108th Congress -- Legal Industry--Lists and Rankings Source: Law.Com Who Represents America's Biggest Companies, 2003 See Also: Chart: Who Represents America's Biggest Companies? -- Property Information--United Kingdom Pilot Project: Land Register Online From the site, Details of individual properties in England and Wales can be obtained from our database of over 18 million registered records. These represent the majority of English and Welsh properties. Individual records cost £2. -- Missile Proliferation Source: Congressional Research Service via FPC Full-Text Report, Missile Proliferation and the Strategic Balance in South Asia -- Spam Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project New Report: "Spam: Hurting email and degrading the Internet environment" Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Trade Statistics--United States Source: U.S. Department of Commerce/Federal Computer Week New Web Site: Commerce rolls out trade info site From the announcement, A new, state-of-the-art Web tool for accessing U.S. merchandise trade statistics at both the national and state levels. The TradeStats Express (TSE) features a user-friendly interface that enables visitors to retrieve, visualize, analyze, print and download trade data with ease. Graphics, data tables, and thematic maps can be custom-tailored to user needs and generated on-the-fly. Data on major geographic regions (e.g., Middle East) and trade preference regions (e.g., NAFTA) are pre-aggregated, permitting quick retrieval. Visitors also can tabulate national trade statistics using any of three major product classification systems (HS, NAICs, or SITC). See Also: "DataWeb: The Bottom Line for Trade Data" A new "Research Notebook"from the Baker Library Staff/Harvard Business School.
Online Information Source: Managing Information An Overview of "Microsoft Office 2003 Information Enhancements" Managing Information offers an overview of Factiva, OneSource, and Outlook enhancements to Office 2003. LexisNexis has also announced that they'll be included. See Also: More About Factiva's Integration See Also: More About OneSource Integration
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries and Librarians Source: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals Selected Articles from the November Issue of CILIP's Library + Information Update Are Now Online Articles available online include: + "A museum library in transition" by Victoria Stott + "Getting down to business" by Catherine Prosser + "Developing accessible library services" by Karen Hannah + Phil Bradley's Internet Q&A
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) Robots--Statistics Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe/International Federation of Robotics Highlights: World Robotics 2003 Three key findings detailed in this 15-page press release: + Robot orders in first half of 2003 were up by 26% to the highest level ever recorded. Growth rates reached 35% in North America, 25% in Europe and 18% in Asia. + Worldwide growth in the period 2003-2006 will reach an average annual rate of 7.4%. These annual rates will fall in a broad range: 4.5% in Japan, 5.3% in Europe, 9.9% in North America. + Household robots are starting to take off. Report says there are 770,000 robots now at work, including 350,000 in Japan, 233,000 in the EU and roughly 104,000 in North America. Thanks to Shirl Kennedy for the link and annotation. -- Fraud Source: Community Oriented Policing Services/USDOJ Full-Text, Check and Card Fraud Although the audience for this guide is law enforcement it might also be of interest to others. The guide covers fraud involving all types of checks and plastic cards, including debit, charge, credit, and "smart" cards. -- Small Business--Legal Issues--United States Updated, BusinessLaw.Gov Adds State and Local Government Content Quickly connect to the growing number of online transactions and business wizards offered by your state and local government, as well as sources of in-person business and legal assistance that exist in your community. Resources available in many states include: Online licensing and registration Legal guides for employers Online tax filing Sources of export assistance Lawyer referral services Government contracting opportunities Online building permit applications Contractor licensing checks -- American Indians Alaskan Natives Source: U.S. Census Fast Facts About the American Indian and Alaskan Native Populations Another list of "fast facts" in honor of American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month that will take place in November. Monday, October 20, 2003
Web Search--Google Source: Computerworld All About Google's "Cheap and Fast" Hardware Highlights from a recent speech by, Craig Nevill-Manning, a senior research scientist at Google. A few noteworthy points follow. * "Cheap hardware allows more computation per query" * "Google resonates through the more than 10,000 servers" * "One full day of Google use on a server is the equivalent of 40 machine years" * "Because the system is built this way, if a machine goes down, it doesn't have to be repaired right away," he said. "We can save money by doing this in a lazy fashion." * "Nevill-Manning said that keeping the index server updated -- where there are over 390 million images stored -- is probably the most time-intensive task..." * "The amount of time a query spends in Google is small," he said. "Search in five years will be even more accurate and more user-centered."
Web Search--Microsoft Source: Puget Sound Business Journal "Microsoft to develop its own search engine" From the article, Karen Redetzki, an MSN product manager, said the development of search technology is one of Redmond-based Microsoft's biggest priorities. MSN is an Internet portal Microsoft launched in 1997 and has one of the highest traffic rates on the Web. "We need to be in this bigger and better," she said. "We have been aggressively hiring and continue to do so to build a team that can support this very large effort." See Also: ResourceShelf's Compilation of Microsoft Search Patents and Technical Writing See Also: "MSN sticks with Overture" (via News.Com)
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items) Department of Homeland Security--United States Source: Carroll Publishing Daily Update of DHS News/Personnel Changes -- Museums--United States Source: The American Association of Museums New Web Site, Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal The mission of the resource is, "...to provide a searchable registry of objects in U.S. museum collections that changed hands in Continental Europe during the Nazi era. Over 8500 objects are currently included in the database. An email alert service is available. Additional information can be accessed in an International Herald Tribune article and an AAM news release. -- Agriculture--Country Profiles Source: Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations Updated, Country Profiles and Mapping Information System From the announcement, The FAO Country Profiles and Mapping Information System which presents the Organization's vast archive of knowledge on agriculture and food security within a single Web-based portal with groupings by country, has a new look, content and features. -- Marriage--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census New, Marital Status: 2000, a Census 2000 Brief Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text From the summary, A new analysis of Census 2000 data released today shows that of the more than 221 million people age 15 and over, there were 86 unmarried men for every 100 unmarried women. -- Magazines--Lists & Rankings Source: Ad Age Magazine A-List: Top Ten U.S. Magazines of the Year "Advertising Age's annual Magazine A-List report spotlights the best magazine work of the year. The A-List report is an outgrowth and an expansion of Ad Age's Best Magazine honors, and now includes honors for Editor of the Year, Launch of the Year and Publishing Executive of the Year. The Magazine of the Year honor goes to the No. 1-ranked title on the A-List. Magazines are selected for the A-List based on circulation and ad page prowess as well as overall achievement." This year's Magazine of the Year? Lucky. Editor of the Year? Cullen Murphy of The Atlantic Monthly. See Also: Synopsis of top ten A-List winners See Also: Full 10-page .pdf A-List and Magazine of the Year report
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Public Libraries--United States Source: IMLS Three Public Libraries Receive National Award for Library Service Congrats and kudos to the Bozeman Public Library, Free Library of Philadelphia, and Pocahontas County Free Libraries. Each organization has been awarded the National Award for Library Service by the The Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Carnegie Science Center, San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, and USS Constitution Museum were chosen in the museum category. From the announcement, The awards were created to underscore the vital role of museums and libraries as leaders in our democratic society. The winners are as diverse as the cultural landscape of our county: small and large, urban and rural. They have one thing in common: they have each found innovative ways to make serving the community central to their mission. They use their collections and programs to address real community needs. -- Association of Research Libraries Full-Text, ARL Bimonthly Report 230/231 Julia C. Blixrud takes stock of new measures in research libraries in a special issue of the ARL Bimonthly Report.
Briefly FAST Search and Transfer Lands Nordstroms - Biological & Agricultural Index and Essay and General Literature Index From H.W. Wilson Now Available via EBSCOhost
Web Search--Google Glossary Comes to English Language Versions of Google Today Google made its glossary "feature" available with all English language versions of the search engine. Google Glossary has been available on the Google Labs site since May of 2002. A direct link to a specialized interface remains available. So exactly what's new? Starting today, you can use the syntax define and <*term*> (it works with or without the colon) to see if a "glossary" definition taken from open web content is available. If one is, you'll find it at the top of the results list. In addition to beginning a glossary search with the word define, as in define skyscraper, starting a search with "definition", "what is", and "what are" will also invoke a glossary lookup. If more than one definition is available, a link labeled "more definitions" will appear. Click the link to see all definitions. This is important because only one definition is listed on a results page. Like I said last December, critical information skills are a must when using Google Glossary. One of the definitions for CNN notes that it's owned by Ted Turner. It's not. CNN has been part of Time Warner since 1996. The entry for NBA (National Basketball Association) mentions that two Canadian teams will enter the league in 1995. Yes, that's correct but only one Canadian team remains. The database is also far from comprehensive, especially with abbreviations. The building next door to the White House is often referred to as the OEOB (Old Executive Office Building). A Google Glossary search turns up nothing. As do searches for CPO (chief petty officer), MLIS (Masters of Library and Information Science, ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), NHL (National Hockey League). I was also unable to find an entry for the term weblog. Finally, many definitions come from the WordNet database at Princeton University. Sunday, October 19, 2003
American Factfinder Source: U.S. Census A Redesigned American FactFinder Database Is Now Available An overview of what's new/changed is available here.
Librarians Source: Contra Costa Times "Wishing for a dynamic librarian action figure" This piece, a response to the library action figure, was written by Julie Winkelstein. Ms. Winkelstein is a librarian at the Albany, CA Public Library. From the column, So, my disappointment isn't with whom they picked as the model, but the way she is presented. She is dressed in what could be described as predictable librarian clothes -- a conservative suit, probably extremely comfortable shoes and glasses. I'm sure it is the shallow part of me that makes me want this, but I wish she could look snazzier -- you know, shiny or elegant or glittery -- so maybe some girl somewhere might see her and say to themselves: Wow, I want one of these, she's cool; or something like that. And she would then want to be a librarian because her action figure looks not only intelligent and capable, but also exciting and brave and modern. See Also: The New York Times Publishes Letter From Librarian Regarding Action Figure
Library Schools Source: American Libraries Clark Another Library School Set to Close From the article, Clark Atlanta University will close its School of Library and Information Studies—the only accredited library-education program in Georgia—at the end of the 2004–2005 academic year. The CAU board of trustees voted October 17 to end its library-school curriculum despite efforts by library leaders from across the country asking them to spare a program that earned its initial American Library Association accreditation in 1942.
Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items) Libraries Full-Text, Speech, "Cultural Policies in Knowledge Societies: the United States of America" This speech was given by Dr. Robert S. Martin, Director, Institute of Museum and Library Services, at a UNESCO Meeting on October 10, 2003. -- Archives Source: SAA Full-Text, Speech "Archives or Assets?" A speech by Peter B. Hirtle, President, Society of American Archivists, given at the SAA Annual Meeting on August 21, 2003.
Search Engines Source: New Scientist "Air aces show fame is not fair" From the article, Mikhail Simkin and Vwani Roychowdhury from the University of California, Los Angeles, analysed the fame of "ace" pilots who fought for Germany during the World War I by comparing the number of web pages that now mention each pilot with the number of planes that the pilot shot down...They now plan to test the fame of modern celebrities such as tennis players and musicians, to see whether the same relationship still holds between achievement and fame. An interesting idea from two academics who have written on similar topics. I wonder how the study deals with the fact that page estimate totals at every engine, even Google, are just estimates and can vary from search to search. Saturday, October 18, 2003
Health Information Source: Univ. of Michigan/Journal of Medical Internet Research "Teens struggle to find accurate, useful health information online" From the announcement, "In a study of how teen-agers search the Internet for answers to health questions, University of Michigan researchers found that misspelled words, ambiguous search terms and an imprecise approach to scanning a Web site often prevented students from finding the information they sought. The study, published today in the online Journal of Medical Internet Research, suggests the importance of teaching teens better search strategies as well as encouraging Web site designers to target teens." The full-text of the article from the article is available online. Thanks to P.W. for the news tip.
Libraries--United States New National Library Advocacy Group Formed From the announcement, The Americans for Libraries Council, a new leadership group comprised of civic, education, business, library and philanthropic leaders, has been established to advocate for libraries at the national level and promote solutions for sustaining and developing libraries in the 21st century. This new national entity aims to raise awareness of challenges facing the nation's libraries and new demands for services, programs and connections to learning resources. Additionally, the Council will work to increase public-private funding for libraries.
Web Search--Google Source: Reuters Google Ordered to Pay Fine in French Trademark Case From the article, A French court has ruled against Internet search powerhouse Google Inc in an intellectual property rights case that could have far reaching technological and financial implications for Web search firms, who process tens of millions of queries a day. The civil court in Nanterre, near Paris, fined privately held Google 75,000 euros [$87,500/U.S.] for allowing advertisers to link text Internet advertisements to trademarked search terms and gave the company 30 days to stop the practice, common at Internet search services. See Also: Google France fined for trademark violation (via News.Com) Friday, October 17, 2003
Web Search--Ask.Com Ask Jeeves Now Offering Advanced Search Interface The Ask.Com advanced interface offers the same options that have been available at Teoma.Com for about a year. It allows limiting to words in the title or url of the web page, by language, to a specific domain/site/geo region and by date. A help page is available. The advanced interface is a feature of Ask Jeeves 6.0. The complete 6.0 release is scheduled for sometime in the next few months. At the moment, a link to the advanced page only appears at the top of a results page or by going to this url. Finally, some of the advanced syntax introduced last year at Teoma appears to work at Ask.Com. + site: + intitle: + inurl: + Language Syntax: lang:fr = French lang:es = Spanish lang:it = Italian lang:no = Norwegian lang:da = Danish lang:pt = Portuguese lang:de = German lang:nl = Dutch
Product Search Yahoo Releases "SmartSort", A Personalized Product Recommendation Tool Available on Yahoo Shopping. From the news release, SmartSort helps narrow the search for a specific product by taking a broad category like digital cameras, which has hundreds of choices, and asking a user to rank criteria (i.e. price, brand, optical zoom) according to importance. SmartSort then instantly recommends the top ten models based on the selected criteria. To further expedite the search, all product recommendations remain on one interface and are instantly refreshed when the consumer adjusts criteria "sliders" or scales, which either place more or less value on a specific product attribute...SmartSort is available in the following categories: digital cameras, MP3 players, personal digital assistants, desktop computers, notebook computers, printers, mobile phones, televisions, and DVD players. Here's what the SmartSort interface for pda's looks like. I've also noticed that with a Yahoo membership (free) you can set e-mail alerts to when prices for products in selected categories change. Note the "set an alert" link to the right of the product name.
Professional Reading Shelf Research Libraries Group The October, 2003 Issue of RLG DigiNews is Online Articles include: + "The Digital Opportunity Investment Trust: An Interview with Anne G. Murphy" + "PRONOM—A Practical Online Compendium of File Formats"
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items) Education--United States Source: National Center for Education Statistics New Version Available, School District Demographic System The NCES School District Demographic System (SDDS) version 2.0 is now available. The latest release of SDDS adds 3 new universes of Census Bureau School District Tabulation data. The new universes are Children's Own, Households with Children and Parents with Children. This dataset is one of the largest special tabulations developed from the 2000 census and includes more than one billion demographic estimates. The tabulation provides more than 100,000 unique demographic characteristics per school district. The tabulation creates one of the largest, most current sources of children's demographics available from the U.S. Census Bureau. In addition to new data, the SDDS Map Viewer has also been enhanced to allow more "Adjust Legend" options and 35 more available demographic selections to overlay on the school district maps. -- Women--United States--Statistics Source: BLS Full-Text Report, Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2002 -- Halloween Source: U.S. Census Fast Facts About Halloween in the U.S. All sorts of interesting statistics including: + 790.7 million pounds: Total U.S. pumpkin production in 2002. Illinois, with a production of 299 million pounds, led the country. + 24 pounds: Per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2002 -- Weather--United States Source: NOAA/NWS National Weather Service Issues 2003 Winter Weather Outlook
Databases--United States--Legislation Source: Reuters "Database protection bill advances in Congress" From the article, An effort to protect school guides, news archives and other databases from wholesale copying won the approval of a congressional subcommittee on Thursday, despite objections of lawmakers who said it is not necessary. See Also: Additional Background via this ResourceShelf Post Thursday, October 16, 2003
Resources of the Week Two items this time around. 1) FullDisclosure.Com CCBN (Corporate Communications Broadcast Network) is a company that licenses its services/database to many sites, including Yahoo Finance. The company also offers services to institutional investors. This past week CCBN released a new site aimed at the individual investor called FullDisclosure.Com. The new site offers a clean and easy-to-navigate interface with conference calls, an earnings release calendar, company presentations and more from over 6500 companies located in North America, Europe, and Asia. In most cases, webcasts are directly accessible via FullDisclosure.Com. Each company determines how long materials remain publicly available so archive sizes vary. Web sites that license content from CCBN might not provide access to all of the companies and services in CCBN's database. By using FullDisclosure.Com you're accessing the most comprehensive resource of company information that CCBN makes available to the general public. Access to FullDisclosure.Com is free. -- WHOIS Lookups Network Tools Another Great WHOIS Resource and Other Network Tools About a month ago ResourceS |
