Archive for July, 2003

Keyword Search PBS Video, Canadian Local History Database

Thursday, July 31st, 2003

Resources of the Week
1) Video Search
Keyword Search Video from PBS, View It Online
More and more spoken word material is becoming searchable. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) not only offers television programming throughout the U.S. but also has a website that provides additional resources for each program. Included on the PBS site are several databases of archived video. Every word spoken in these video segments can be searched by keyword. Simply enter your terms, use some of the limiting options, and click search. Once you the material that interests you, click and watch the section of the program where your search terms are spoken or the entire segment. You’ll need a RealAudio/Video player. That’s it! There is no charge to access and use these tools. These databases were created using voice recognition technology, no human intervention. Next to every entry on a results page you can also read a text transcript of the video segment.
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Not only is this material of potential value to many of you but it’s also a great demonstration of this type of keyword search technology. PBS uses software from a company called Virage. This company was recently acquired by UK based, Autonomy. Finally, most of the material in each of these databases is only accessible by utilizing these specialized search tools.

Here’s a list of what’s available.

* PBS NewsHour Video Search
Search segments of the program beginning in February, 2000.

* Washington Week Video Archive
This archive dates back to July 21, 2000.

* American Field Guide
Keyword search (or browse), “the sights and sounds from a wide variety of environments throughout America. We’ve collected over 1400 video clips that enable you to experience America’s wilderness firsthand…”

* Scientific American Frontiers Video Archive
“Every episode of the series, from 1990 to the present, is available for online viewing.”-

* Nature Video Archives
Search by keyword and/or program title.

* Mathline
From the site, This FREE professional development resource helps teachers quickly and easily find standards-based Mathline video clips and lesson plans on different mathematical topics and teaching techniques for grades K-12.

* Julia Child: Lessons With the Master Chef
Keyword search (you can even limit by ingredient) and view online this PBS series.


2) Canada–History
Our Roots: Canada’s Local Histories Online
From the site, “Our Roots provides universal access to unique materials concerning the cultural and social heritage of our nation. Written by Canadians, for Canadians, these local histories represent this nation�s history from the perspective of those who helped shape it. Now available in digital format (viewable online), these resources are not only accessible from anywhere via the world wide web, but are also preserved for future generations of students, teachers and researchers.” Material can be accessed by keyword or browsed by title, author or subject. An advanced search interface allows you to use Boolean connectors and search the full-text of each document. Content is in English and French.

Two Pieces of Library and Database Legislation Introduced in U.S. Congress

Thursday, July 31st, 2003

Privacy–Databases
Two Pieces of Library and Database Related Legislation Introduced in U.S. Congress

1) Feingold Introduces Library, Bookseller, and Personal Records Privacy Act
From the announcement, “…legislation is aimed at protecting the privacy of law-abiding Americans by limiting the ability of the FBI to obtain library, bookstore, medical, and financial records and other sensitive personal information under the USA PATRIOT Act. Feingold’s legislation would place reasonable limits on the FBI’s access to this information by requiring the FBI to show how the information it is seeking relates to a suspected terrorist or spy before the information can be obtained.”


2) Oregon Senator Introduces Citizens� Protection in Federal Databases Act of 2003 Bill
From the news release, “Currently, there are no comprehensive privacy laws regulating the federal government�s access to, or use of, public and private databases. The Wyden proposal would require the Attorney General, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Treasury, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations to provide to Congress a detailed report explaining the use of databases for law enforcement or intelligence purposes.”
See Also: Full-Text of the Legislation (via EPIC)
See Also: From the EPIC website, FBI documents (pdf) obtained by EPIC show that Bureau use of private databases increased by 9600 percent over a ten-year period. The FBI document begins with the words, “In the beginning there was Lexis-Nexis……”

“How to Win the Information Battle � Lessons from a Modern War”

Thursday, July 31st, 2003

Business Intelligence
Source: Strategy + Business
Full-Text article, “How to Win the Information Battle � Lessons from a Modern War”
From the article, Business leaders can learn a lot from how the military manages the flow of real-time information. The article is also available as a pdf file.

.”Changes for Collection Development & Reference Librarians: Looking into the 21st Century”

Thursday, July 31st, 2003

Professional Reading Shelf (3 Items)
Librarianship
* “Changes for Collection Development & Reference Librarians: Looking into the 21st Century”
by Katina Strauch and Tom Gilson, Librarians at the College of Charleston
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* “Virtual Reference: guiding readers to resources”
by Dr Stephen Bury, Head of European & American Collections at The British Library
Note: Both of these articles appear in the July issue of xrefer’s reference update.

Patriot Act
Source: AP
“Librarians Chafe Under USA Patriot Act”

.”Changes for Collection Development & Reference Librarians: Looking into the 21st Century”

Thursday, July 31st, 2003

Professional Reading Shelf (3 Items)
Librarianship
* “Changes for Collection Development & Reference Librarians: Looking into the 21st Century”
by Katina Strauch and Tom Gilson, Librarians at the College of Charleston
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* “Virtual Reference: guiding readers to resources”
by Dr Stephen Bury, Head of European & American Collections at The British Library
Note: Both of these articles appear in the July issue of xrefer’s reference update.

Patriot Act
Source: AP
“Librarians Chafe Under USA Patriot Act”

Changes and Other Happenings at AltaVista

Wednesday, July 30th, 2003

Web Search–AltaVista
Changes and Other Happenings at AltaVista
All sorts of stuff going on at AV. The big question about how Yahoo will utilize the Overture technology (AV and ATW) and programming talent is to be determined. Nevertheless, it’s good to see the AV team continuing to improve their product.

* AV has dropped using a Moreover news feed for their wonderful AV News database. They’re now using their own crawler to gather material from about 4000 sources.
* The AV News database now contains over 10,000,000 archived urls back to May, 2001. This means that you’ll likely find material beyond the 2/4 week limit that you often see with other news search tools. These urls are checked on a regular basis to see that they still link to available material. Make sure to use the pull-down option to access this content.
* AV’s Prisma, a tool that helps refine your search, is now available with AV News.
* AV is now using the ODP (Open Directory Project) as its web directory. Wouldn’t it be great if a major engine would also license content from a non-commercial source like the LII, InfoMine, or AcademicInfo where quality of entries really matters? They also provide very useful annotations.
* You’ll see a few changes on results pages including the elimination of the sponsored ad links that often appear along the right margin of a results page. AltaVista Prisma “refine your search” choices will move to this location.
* Look for AltaVista and AllTheWeb to begin using an “integrated back end” (the best of each engines capabilities) and the same underlying database sometime this Fall. However, both AV and ATW will remain online with each site potentially offering different search capabilities.
* Look for another AV announcement in the next two weeks.

More About KeepMedia

Wednesday, July 30th, 2003

Online Content
Source: News.Com
More About KeepMedia
Last week I included a story and some comments about this new fee-based consumer service selling full-text content from about 140 periodicals and newspapers. The article linked above is an interview with KeepMedia’s co-founder Louis Borders. In the past week many other articles have been written about this new company but I haven’t seen one that mentioned that libraries offer remote access for FREE to THOUSANDS of newspapers and magazines. I’m starting to wonder if KeepMedia has any idea of what many libraries offer. Once again an illustration of the services (not just databases) that libraries offer being of the radar of some people. Make sure to read this interview.
See Also: The KeepMedia site is now online. A ‘media pass’ (full-text access to about 140 magazines and newspapers) costs $4.95/month.

More on the Google is God Discussion

Wednesday, July 30th, 2003

Web Search–Google
Source: The Globe and Mail
“Sees all, knows all: Is it God or Google?”
The Globe and Mail’s science editor shares his thoughts the NY Times ran an article with a similar headline a few weeks ago. I had a few comments shortly after it ran. You can review them if you like. Perhaps a few folks from the Toronto area should let Mr. Strauss know that it’s not all online, often search engines other that Google give high quality results, and other resources (electronic, print, and human) exist that can give you an answermore quickly than Google (don’t forget web engine info quality issues). I wonder if he’s aware of what’s accessible to him via the library at the paper and to readers of the Globe and Mail from the Toronto Public Library and other Canadian libraries?

The Future of Human Knowledge: The Semantic Web

Wednesday, July 30th, 2003

Professional Reading Shelf (4 Items)
Semantic Web
Source: TechNewsWorld
“The Future of Human Knowledge: The Semantic Web”

Information Science
The July Issue of Ariadne is Now Online
Articles include:
* Domesday Redux: The rescue of the BBC Domesday Project videodiscs
* Mapping the JISC IE service landscape
* eBank UK: Building the links between research data, scholarly communication and learning
* The RoMEO Project: Protecting metadata in an open access environment

Library Technology
New, ebrary Is Providing (Free) Full-Text Access to an Archive of the Advanced Technology Libraries Newsletter
Online archive of material back to 2/2002. Learn more about the arrangement here.

Conferences
Registration for the Access 2003 Conference is Now Open
The conference is set to take place in Vancouver, B.C., October 1-4. Tim Bray from Antarti.ca will be the keynote speaker.

105957999123175186

Wednesday, July 30th, 2003

Industry Briefs
Westlaw Now Offering Access to Thomson’s Delphion Patent Database

Cleveland Public Library Selects SIRSI

Canada’s Federal Publication Locator Service

Wednesday, July 30th, 2003

Resources, Reports, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items)

Government Documents–Canada–Database
Federal Publication Locator Service
The Federal Publication Locator Service provides you access to:
* Bibliographic records of Canadian Federal Government Publications in the National Library of Canada Catalogue (a subset of the AMICUS database).
* Canadian Library Locations information for titles held in the National Library Catalogue.
* Access to electronic Canadian Federal Government Publications.
See Also: Direct to Federal Publication Locator Service ‘Basic Search’ Interface

Cellular Phones–United States
Consumer Resources
Source: Consumer Reports/TeleBright.Com
Cellular Telephone Comparison Tool
From the site, Currently cellular plan comparisons are available here for the top 70 Markets. Coverage may extend beyond the boundaries of a city limit, so if you live in or near one of the cities we encourage you to enter your zip code and do a search.

Accounting Industry–United States
Source: GAO
New Full-Text Report, Public Accounting Firms: Mandated Study on Consolidation and Competition
This 147 page report contains numerous charts/tables, an analysis of Big 4 Firms�, and an Arthur Andersen case study.

Postage Stamps–United States
Source: National Postal Museum/Smithsonian Institution
New Online Exhibit, Art of the Stamp
This is a web version of an exhibit that opened at the National Postal Museum here in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. The exhibit, “showcases over 100 original pieces of stamp illustrations featured over the past 50 years.” Click on the artwork link to view each stamp and learn its history.

“Ready to Wear: Metadata Standards to Suit Your Project”

Tuesday, July 29th, 2003

Professional Reading Shelf
Metadata
Source: RLG
Presentations: “Ready to Wear: Metadata Standards to Suit Your Project”
The forum was held in New York City on May 12-13, 2003. The forum included presentations by the following people. All presentations are online.
* Tony Gill, ARTstor
* Sherman Clarke, New York University
* Merrilee Proffitt, RLG
* John Perkins, CIMI
* G�nter Waibel, RLG
* Ronald J. Murray, Library of Congress
* Steven Abrams, Harvard University
* Robin Dale, RLG

105949025980848178

Tuesday, July 29th, 2003

Web Search–Microsoft
Source: IDG News Service
“Microsoft Takes Sides on Search”
From the article, Microsoft believes Web search can be done much better than any search engine does it today. “Our research indicates that only 30 percent to 40 percent of the Web is indexed and that people’s questions [to search engines] go unanswered half the time,” [Lisa Gurry, group product manager for MSN] Gurry said.
See Also: ResourceShelfPLUS Compilation of MS Search Related Patents and Publications

Meet the Director of the Univ of Kentucky’s Main Library

Tuesday, July 29th, 2003

Librarians–Profiles
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader
Meet Mary Molinaro, Director of the William T. Young Library
The Young Library is located at the University of Kentucky. From the article, The William T. Young Library has 1.2 million of the 3 million volumes in all of UK’s libraries. “One of our jobs is helping students realize they won’t find all the information they need if they only do a Google search. We try to help students learn to combine the world of electronic information with the incredibly large and valuable world of books and other print resources.”

The financial crisis at the New York Public Library

Tuesday, July 29th, 2003

Public Libraries–United States
Source: NY Daily News
“Library in crisis has its hand out”
A report on the financial crisis at the New York Public Library.

Information Access Alliance Launches Web Site

Tuesday, July 29th, 2003

Library Organizations
Scholarly Publishing
New Web Site, Information Access Alliance
From the announcement, The Information Access Alliance, a coalition of six leading library organizations in North America, has published a white paper that examines the impact of mergers among scholarly and legal publishers and calls for a new standard of antitrust review of merger transactions in this industry by antitrust enforcement agencies.
See Also: Direct to Information Access Alliance Web Site
See Also: Direct to White Paper, Publisher Mergers: A Consumer-Based Approach to Antitrust Analysis

Who Protects IP America, 2003

Tuesday, July 29th, 2003

Resources, Reports, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items)
Intellectual Property–United States–Lists & Rankings
Source: IP Law & Business
Who Protects IP America, 2003
Three charts are included in the article:
1) Who Protects IP America
2) Top IP Firms/Firms That Prosecuted the Best Patents in 2002

Maritime Trade–United States–Statistics
Source: BTS
New, Full-Text Report, Maritime Trade & Transportation 2002

GPO Access–Training Materials
Source: GPO
Government Printing Office Updates Training Manual
Direct to Full-Text Manual (2.13MB) ||| STAT-USA appendix

First Co-Managed City/University Library in Nation Opens Its Doors August 1

Monday, July 28th, 2003

Libraries–United States
First Co-Managed City/University Library in Nation Opens Its Doors August 1
The $177.5 million Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library will be both a public library (San Jose Public Library) and San Jose State’s University Library. It is the first library in the nation to be funded, managed and operated by a city and a major university.
See Also: Take a Virtual Tour of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library

Library & Information Science: Most Prolific U.S. Universities, 1998-2002

Monday, July 28th, 2003

Citation Analysis
Source: ISI
1) Library & Information Science: Most Prolific U.S. Universities, 1998-2002
2) Journals Ranked by Impact: Business

Library & Information Science: Most Prolific U.S. Universities, 1998-2002

Monday, July 28th, 2003

Citation Analysis
Source: ISI
1) Library & Information Science: Most Prolific U.S. Universities, 1998-2002
2) Journals Ranked by Impact: Business