U.S. Government Information
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Source: Federal Computer Week
“Energy Agency says Web Info Poses Threat”
From the article, “Citing the threat of terrorism, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is proposing new rules to limit the public’s access to information about power plants, pipelines and other components of the energy infrastructure. Only those with “a need to know” will have access to the information, and they might be required to sign an agreement that prohibits them from revealing what they have learned.”

Union Catalogs
Source: Research Libraries Group
Pilot Study: “RLG’s Union Catalog on the Web”
From the announcement, “Responding to new expectations in this environment, libraries, archives, and museums have begun asserting their role in the information discovery process, rethinking and repositioning their traditional tool�the catalog. In 2002, RLG began working to reinvent and transfer its largest bibliographic database, the RLG Union Catalog, to the open Web environment in a completely new way.”

Professional Reading Shelf
Selected Articles from the September Issue of Information Technology and Libraries
Are Now Available Online
Articles Available Include:
“Hanging Indents and the Reference Librarian: Offering Productivity Software in the Public Library Using Microsoft Access and HTML to Produce Browseable Web Lists”
Book Review: The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World by Lawrence Lessig
Software Reviews

Resources, Tools and Full-Text Documents (2 Items)
U.S. Congress–Lists & Rankings
Source: Roll Call
“The 50 Richest Lawmakers”
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Comic Books–Online Exhibits
Source: National Library of Canada
New, Beyond the Funnies: The History of Comics in English Canada and Quebec

Libraries–Museum Exhibits
An Odyssey in Print: Adventures in the Smithsonian Library
The web site for An Odyssey in Print: Adventures in the Smithsonian Library an exhibit currently at the National Museum of American History here in D.C. The complete catalog is for sale. It’s published by the Smithsonian Institution Press.
See Also: Smithsonian Institution Libraries Home Page
See Also: Smithsonian Institution Libraries Digital Collections

Web Search
Search Engine Showdown Gets a New Look
Congrats and kudos to our friend and colleague Greg Notess on the new look to his informative and important site. Along with the new site design, Greg has added reviews of Gigablast and Openfind. You’ll also find an updated Search Engine Features Chart (a must have resource) and Search Engine By Features page.

Censorship
Banned Books Week Is Underway
Resources from the American Library Association
1) Librarians’ Quick and Easy Guide to Banned Books Week
2) Reporters’ Quick and Easy Guide to Banned Books Week
3) The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2001
4) 1990�2000 Challenges by Initiator, Institution, Type, and Year (*.PPT and *.PDF)
5) The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990�1999
Additional Resources: The Free Expression Network
Additional Resources: Banned Book Online (via the Online Books Page)

The Library of Congress
Sounds Great: LC Seeking Public Nominations for Inaugural (2002) National Recording Registry
From the announcement, “Librarian of Congress James H. Billington will name culturally, historically or aesthetically significant sound recordings to the National Recording Registry. The Act sets forth a program to ensure the preservation of our heritage in sound and includes the establishment of the National Recording Preservation Board and National Recording Preservation Foundation, in addition to founding the Registry in the Library of Congress.” Go to this page for more info, criteria, and a link to a nomination form.
See Also: Learn More About the Recorded Sound Reference Center at LC
See Also: Direct to SONIC (Recorded Sound Catalog) from LC

Libraries–Privacy
Source: Library Journal
“Make Sure You Are Privacy Literate”
Karen Coyle writes, “The renewed awareness of privacy issues sparked by the Patriot Act creates an opportunity to take stock of policies and procedures. How effectively is your library protecting privacy? Are your policies and procedures up-to-date with current technology?”

and while we’re on the topic of privacy…

Web Search–FAST Search and Transfer
Privacy Issues
Source: News.Com
“Search Firm Takes Heat for Sharing Data”
From the article, “In a complaint filed this week with the Norwegian government, Public Information Research (PIR) charged the search provider’s [Fast Search and Transfer] showcase site, AlltheWeb, with failing to notify visitors that it uses tiny electronic tags to monitor search queries in partnership with online portal Lycos and DoubleClick, an advertising technology company. The privacy watchdog said that the practice breaches Norwegian laws requiring companies to disclose if personal data about consumers is shared with third parties.” “Peter Gorman, a spokesman for Fast Search and Transfer’s (FAST) AlltheWeb, said that the company is newly aware of the problem and plans on issuing a corrective measure soon. He said FAST will either post a privacy policy that makes clear to people that information is being collected, or it will work with partners Lycos and DoubleClick to remove the tags, otherwise known as clear gifs.” Let’s see how long it takes FAST to respond. Stay tuned.

Information Visualization
Web Tools
Source: PC World
What’s a Web Thumbnail?
A very brief article about Allison Woodruff from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and her research using Web Thumbnails. From the article, “What we do with our Web Thumbnails is return a set of small screenshots of the pages themselves, and if you click on one of the pictures, it takes you to the page, just as a Web link would. Keywords within the picture are blown up to large size in the thumbnail view, so you can get a feel for how relevant the document’s text is to your search.”
See Also: A Demo/Screen Shots of Web Thumbnail Software
See Also: Download/Demo the Popout Prism Browser (Free/90 Days)

Web Search–Google
What’s Up With Google News?
We’ve seen mentions on a few lists that changes (new design/organization) are underway at Google News. It’s true but this “testing” is not available for all users. So, some of you will see it but others will see what you’ve seen for the past six months. A Google spokesperson confirms the test but no dates for a general release are currently available. Stay tuned.

Web Search–Google
Source: PC World
“Google Eyes the Next Innovation”
From the article, “Web services give us a lot of promise in terms of enabling communication by means of speeding up communications and creating new services,” Brin said.

Resources, Tools and Full-Text Documents (3 Items)
Terrorism–United States
Full-Text, The Intelligence Community’s Knowledge of the September 11 Highjackers Prior to September 11, 2001
See Also: Full-Text, Joint Inquiry Staff Statement 1
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Documents in the News
Source: The White House
Full Text, The National Security Strategy of the United States of America
See Also: A Full-Text PDF Version is Also Available
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Crime–United States–Statistics
Source: BJS
Full-Text, Crime and the Nation’s Households, 2000 with Trends, 1994-2000
Summary/Excel Spreadsheets ||| Direct to PDF

Web Resource of the Week
Statistics–Global
Source: Library of Statistics Finland
Need A Statistic? Check WebStat
If you’re in need of statistics compiled by governments from around the world, WebStat might be a very useful to in helping you access what you need. From WebStat, “The material is classified by subject field and by country. The search result contains both a description of the source and a direct link to it.”
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The database is straightforward and simple to use. At the bottom the home page you’ll find several clickable links.
Select “subject fields” to see the vocabulary used to describe various types of statistics. Selecting “search” will take you to the interface. You can conduct a free-text search and/or limit by publisher, title, description, keywords, country, region, and subject. Another link at the bottom of the home page will take you to a comprehensive list of links to statistical publishers. Not only useful but also interesting! Thanks to B.B. for alerting me to this site a long time ago.
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See Also: If Webstat wasn’t enough, the Library of Statistics Finland also provides “The World In Figures”
Here you’ll find packaged and ready to view/download in Excel spreadsheet format. From the site, “The World in Figures table package contains 28 Excel tables of country-specific structural data on all the countries of the world. The number of countries is 241 and themes 248. The data can be found easily by means of a separate index.” Each spreadsheet (table) is labeled as to when the data was last updated. Wow!

The Library of Congress
Source: The Washington Times
“Nation’s Library’ Welcomes Public”
One of the best things about living here in D.C. is having LC only a few minutes away. Of course many LC services are now available online but a visit to the three buildings here in Washington is a must for librarians and non-librarians alike. From the article, “This is the nation’s library,” says Diana Nestor Kresh, director of the Library’s Public Service Collections. “We are very interested in attracting the average person.”

Info Industry–Thomson/Gale/Dialog
Product Introduction: ReferenceLink
ReferenceLink a new gateway designed for public and educational libraries was formally introduced today. From the announcement, “The new product enables library patrons and students to search thousands of news sources and databases simultaneously through a single, friendly interface without having to jump between individual Web sites or access multiple online information services. The product is the first to be introduced in a line of planned online products and services serving academic and public libraries worldwide.” Also, “ReferenceLink is a multidisciplinary database containing medical, reference, health, science, technical and regulatory sources, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Consumer Reports, Medline, GeoRef and thousands of other widely used sources. News coverage is rich, containing nearly 50 databases with more than 1,500 newspaper and journal titles pulled from the acclaimed Dialog� NewsRoom online service, including The Boston Globe, USA Today and Global Reporter. Libraries may subscribe to only the newspaper database, which provides access to the news content, or in combination with ReferenceLink to get the broader full content set.”

News Briefs
The Library of Congress to Evaluate Data Grid Technology (via AScribe)
(Updated 10/2/02 “Library of Congress Taps the Grid” (via Wired News) )
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The British Library Names Head of Publisher Relations (via Managing Information)

Resources, Tools and Full-Text Documents (2 Items)
Driving Laws and Regulations–United States
Source: Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute
Driving Regulation Fact Sheets
Several fact sheets from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute
These include:
Current Speed Limit Laws by State
Child Restraint Laws by State
Children Not Covered by Safety Belt or Child Restraint Laws
Safety Belt Use Laws by State
Automated Enforcement Laws by State (includes chart)
State Court Decisions on the Constitutionality of Sobriety Checkpoints (includes chart)
See Also: Additional Charts and Highway Safety Facts
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Medicine
Source: History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine
New Resource, Greek Medicine
Includes profiles, timeline, further reading list.

And Finally, Happy Birthday
To the Online Smiley Face (: