The Web As a Research Tool
Source: Library Journal
REGISTRATION Required (Free) To Access Full-Text
Could Librarians’ Help Have Prevented Hopkins Tragedy?
The web is a wonderful, no, incredible information tool. However, only using the web does not make for quality and complete research. From the article, “Librarians know too well the misperception that everything is available on the Internet–but has that misperception now proved fatal? Perhaps, say medical librarians, after recent reports in the Baltimore Sun suggested that a Johns Hopkins medical researcher failed to uncover published research suggesting the potentially lethal side effects associated with inhalation of the drug Hexamethonium. According to the Sun, while investigators found that supervising physician Dr. Alkis Togias made “a good faith effort” to research the drug’s possible adverse effects, his search apparently focused on online resources, including PubMed, which is searchable only back to 1960. Previous articles published in the 1950s, however, with citations in subsequent publications, warned of lung damage associated with Hexamethonium. Dr. Frederick Wolff, a professor emeritus at the George Washington School of Medicine, told reporters Togias was “foolish” and “lazy” for not finding the articles. “Anyone trained in academic medicine knows how to do this research,” Wolff told reporters. “What happened is not just an indictment of one researcher, but of a system in which people don’t bother to research the literature anymore.”

Web Search–Pay-Per-Click/Paid Placement
Directory: Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
Paid-Placement by some of the major general-purpose engines has received quite a bit of attention in the last few weeks. Many engines (several who license content to the big guys) are entirely made up of paid listings. This directory should assist in indentifying many of them.

Information Industry–OCLC
Source: Information Today
OCLC Abandons Proprietary Database Software, Selects Oracle
Lead of article, “OCLC (http://www.oclc.org), the leading library vendor, continues building for its future as a master player in the emerging virtual library world. Getting down to basics, it has announced that it will substitute the market-standard Oracle software as its basic platform, eliminating the proprietary software used and developed over 3 decades.”

Library Catalogs–United Kingdom
Feasibility Study For A United Kingdom Union Catalog Now Available on the Web.
47 pages .pdf

Full-Text Resource Shelf
Source: U.S. Census
Census Brief: Congressional Apportionment
8 pages .pdf

P2P–Filters
Source: Committee on Government Reform, U.S. States House of Representatives
File Sharing Programs, Filters and “Adult” Content
From the Committee web site, “Internet file-sharing programs that provide children easy and free access to thousands of explicit pornographic videos and other pornographic materials. As Napster faces litigation, Internet users are increasingly turning to alternative file-sharing programs such as Music City Morpheus, BearShare, and Aimster. Pornographic files are widely available on these networks and children can be unexpectedly inundated by files containing explicit content for simple searches like �Britney Spears.� Moreover, many popular parental filters do not block access to pornographic materials obtained through file-sharing programs.”
16 pages .pdf

Food–Genetic Modification
Source: Royal Commission on Genetic Modification (New Zealand)
Report of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification
This site includes full-text of final report, executive summary, news releases, and related documents.

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