Text Mining
Source: UPI
“Software can detect text inconsistencies”
From the article, Scottish researchers have developed software based on Internet search engines that could help investigators rifle quickly through complex documents involving such controversial issues as nuclear power, genetically modified organisms, airplane disasters, health care policy and weapons of mass destruction. “These documents are often so long and complex that my techniques are intended to help identify or sketch the arguments that they contain, in a way that makes it easy to identify omissions or contradictions,” lead researcher Chris Johnson, a computer scientist at the University of Glasgow, told United Press International.
See Also: “Graphs test official reports” (via Nature)
See Also: The Homepage of Lead Researcher Chris Johnson

Translation Tools
UPDATED, The Translation Wizard from FaganFinder (Beta)
About 3 weeks ago ResourceShelf featured The Translation Wizard from FaganFinder as a Resource of the Week. Make sure to read the post for a complete overview. Since we posted news of the Wizard, its creator and developer Michael Fagan has added several new features to make it even more useful. Here’s a list of ‘what’s new’.
1) The ability to save your options (using a cookie)
2) A new language identification page
3) A “Translate Wizard” Bookmarket
4) A ”translate this page’ Tool For Webmasters
5) Other Changes and Additions

The Library of Congress
Source: AP
“Library of Congress Is Bursting at Seams”
From the article, If the Smithsonian Institution is America’s attic, then the Library of Congress is the basement. And like so many other cellars around the country, there’s stuff everywhere. Librarians must maneuver around books stacked on the floor because there’s no room on shelves. The space problem began 200 years ago and has only worsened as the library accumulated 127 million items, with 10,000 more coming in every working day. Most of the books are in the Madison Building, which is among Washington’s biggest but can’t come close to meeting the needs of the world’s largest library collection… “People think that everything goes on to the Internet these days, but the amount of print material is increasing by 7 percent a year,” Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said. The article mentions LC storage facilities in Ft. Meade, MD. and Culpepper, VA.
See Also: Learn More About the Ft. Meade Storage Facility
See Also: A Report About the Cataloging Arrearage at LC

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents
National Football League–Lists & Rankings
Source: Forbes
NFL Team Valuations, 2003
See Also: Related Articles and Charts

Reference Tools–Dictionaries
Jacso Unveils Tool To Search Multiple Dictionaries Simultaneously
Peter Jacso, the legendary reference resource guru, writer, and educator has announced a new addition to his list of PolySearch tools. The new resource, PolySearch General English Dictionaries, allows the user to select up to 20 web-based English language dictionaries (if Peter selects them you know they’re of the highest quality), and then simultaneously run simple searches. Browser windows will then open (how many windows is determined by how many dictionaries you select) with results. To access PolySearch Dictionaries:
1) Go to http://www2.hawaii.edu/~jacso/extra/poly-page.html
2) Click the Peter’s PolySearch Button
3) Click the General English Language Dictionaries Button
4) Select the Dictionaries You Want to Search, Enter Your Term, Click Search
5) Make Sure to Take a Look at PolySearch Bio (Biographical Databases) and PolySearch Energy.

Professional Reading Shelf
Scholarly Communication
Source: ACRL
Now Online, Principles and Strategies for the Reform of Scholarly Communication
The document, which was prepared by the ACRL Scholarly Communications Committee and approved by the ACRL Board at the ALA annual conference in Toronto, is the foundation statement for the ACRL scholarly communications initiative. The document contains a brief definition of the existing system of scholarly communication, an overview of the scholarly communication crisis, and an enumeration of general principles and specific strategies that ACRL supports in working for reform of the system of scholarly communication.

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items)
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
Source: CIA/National Intelligence Officer for Economics and Global Issues
New, Full-Text Report, SARS: Down But Still a Threat
–
Education–United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Census
New Report, School Enrollment: 2000
Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text

Resources of the Week
Three items for you this week.
1) Higher Education–United States–Database
Source: Council for Higher Education Accreditation
CHEA Institutional Database
The database lists approximately 6,500 institutions that are accredited by participating or recognized organizations of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) or are recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE) as of 2000-2001. Each accrediting organization’s list of institutions is prefaced by a brief description of the accredited status of the institutions on the list and the year for which the list is accurate. Search by name, state, or accrediting organization.
–
Military–Database
Air University Library’s Index to Military Periodicals
“The Air University Library’s Index to Military Periodicals is a subject index to significant articles, news items, and editorials from English language military and aeronautical periodicals. The Index contains citations since 1990 and is updated quarterly as the hard copy version of the AULIMP is released.” This is not a full-text database, only bibliographic citations.
See Also: The Dudley Knox Library at the Naval Postgraduate School offers a very impressive collection of direct links that can save you time finding answers to many military related “ready reference” questions. Make sure to check out other pages in the Knox Library “Resources By Topic” Directory.
–
Ready Reference
Source: USNO
Sunrise/Sunset+ Calculation Database
Compute times by filling out a simple form. Worldwide in scope. Two databases to choose from
A) Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day
B) Construct Table for Any Year (Past, Present, Future)

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items)
Internet Statistics–United States
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
Just Released, Internet Use by Region in the United States
See Also: Data Files (xls) are Available
–
Transportation–United States–Statistics
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
New Edition Now Online, Full-Text, National Transportation Statistics 2002
Material in pdf, html, and xls formats.
–
Armed Conflicts
Source: Center for International Development and Conflict Management/Univ. of Maryland
Full-Text Report, Peace and Conflict 2003: A Global Survey of Armed Conflicts, Self-Determination Movements, and Democracy
From the site, Peace and Conflict 2003 is the second edition in the Integrated Network for Societal Conflict Research (INSCR) Program’s biennial global report series. This full-color, 72-page global report details major trends in armed conflict, self-determination movements, and democracy through the contemporary era, 1946-2002, and provides a “conflict ledger” assessing each country’s “peace-building capacity” in 2003. Appendix offers numerous tables with ready reference value. Thanks to the Univ. of Michigan Doc Center for the alert.
–
Astronomy
Hubble Space Telescope Images of Mars (Taken 8/27/03)

Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items)
Professional Development
Learn About the Dynix Institute Web Seminar Series
Free access to web-based seminars (archived too!) from industry leaders and educators. I was not asked to register or provide any personal info to view an archived program. ManagingInformation.Com with information about a few additional speakers not listed on the homepage.
–
Academic Libraries
Source: Ubiquity
Full-Text Article, “Redefining the Role of the Library”
An interview with Chuck Henry. Mr. Henry is Vice President and CIO at Rice University, and also University Librarian, in charge of academic technology, university library and digital library initiatives.

Copyright
Scanning Software
Source: AP
“RIAA discloses methods used to track music downloaders”
From the article, The US recording industry yesterday provided its most detailed glimpse to date into some of the detective-style techniques it has employed as part of its secretive campaign to cripple music piracy over the internet…For example, the industry disclosed its use of a library of digital fingerprints, called “hashes”, that it said can uniquely identify MP3 music files that had been traded on the Napster service as far back as May 2000. Examining hashes is commonly used by the FBI and other computer investigators in cases of cracking. By comparing the fingerprints of music files on a person’s computer against its library, the RIAA believes it can determine in some cases whether someone recorded a song from a legally purchased CD or downloaded it from someone else over the Internet.
See Also: Lean About Ranger
From the EPIC site, The RIAA will be using scanning software such as Ranger to find the illegally shared files on P2P networks.

Briefly
Web Domains…Overview of kids.us Policies & Procedures Available
The domain “launches” on September 4, 2003.
–
Dialog Enhances “Company Profiles” Product
–
Cold North Wind Announces Plans To Digitize 110-Year Archive Of Afro-American Newspapers

Briefly
Web Domains…Overview of kids.us Policies & Procedures Available
The domain “launches” on September 4, 2003.
–
Dialog Enhances “Company Profiles” Product
–
Cold North Wind Announces Plans To Digitize 110-Year Archive Of Afro-American Newspapers

Quote of the Week
Another one for your, “what many people think about libraries/librarians” file. From an AP article about the decline of pay phones, “We used to find answers to simple questions by hand, predominantly in the library; now we turn to an Internet search engine. We have become accustomed to reshaping ourselves and quickly embracing the next generation of cultural clapboard.” Why isn’t the library community drilling it into the heads of journalists, aka information gatekeepers, that libraries and more importantly librarians are useful, relevant, and important in the age of web search?

Computers
Business Week via CRM Daily
“The Ghost in Your Machine”
From the article, The world of smart computers — machines that would be familiar with your habits and know when you’re stressed or fatigued — could be only a few years away. The computers would note your mental logic for saving information and follow the same logic in saving files. They would accurately infer your intent, remember past experiences (for instance, that you tend to make errors in multiplication), and alert you to mistakes. Chris Forsythe of Sandia National Labs is interviewed by a Business Week reporter about smart computing. A couple of questions deal specifically with info retrieval.
Q: How are cognitive machines better than the search engines and functions we currently use?
A: The technologies available today are inadequate. There are a lot of days when I can’t find a file and I just give up. The search engines today — such as Google — offer very generic, word-based searches. They have no understanding of the structure of your life. In contrast, our software develops a model based on what you know about your own work. It structures the knowledge on the computer in the same way you structure it in your brain.
Q: What kinds of data would the program need to look at to do that?
A: Your archived files. The software you use, how you use it. For instance, in e-mail, it’s going to look at how you use the actual software — do you frequently forward e-mails, do you blind-copy people? It’s going to look at who you interact with. Then, it’s going to look at the content, the body of the e-mail. [You can tell] a great deal [about] what a person knows in the words that they use.
Q: When do you expect the product to be commercialized?
A: We could see some capabilities that could go into product development within the next year — such as the ability for the computer to sift through your e-mail application. But I think most of the capabilities I talked about are going to be commonplace 10 years from now. The technology is already there. But it will take time to put this kind of application into automobiles, for example — simply because they have to be tested and proven.

Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items)
Digital Reference–Bibliography
Updated, Bernie Sloan’s Digital Reference Services Bibliography
Over 80 new entries! The bib now has over 600 entries.
–
Information Science
Source: Emerald
THIS WEEK ONLY: Free Full-Text Access to the Journal of Documentation
Access is via Emerald’s Journal of the Week program. Free full-text access is available for Vol. 53 (1997) -Vol. 59. No. 4 (2003). Restricted access will begin again next Monday.

Web Search–Google
Google Responds to a Couple of Recent ResourceShelf Posts and Other Stuff
1) On our recent post about Google size estimates being off, a Google spokesperson tells us what we for the most part already knew, “We looked at your queries and the bottom line is that Google’s estimator is an estimate, not an exact number…we’re working to making it more accurate.” Like I said a few days ago, those of you who use Google page estimates as a way of determining popularity need to be very careful.
-
2) On Google’s SafeSearch eliminating key U.S. government sites, we learn that Google is ’seeing’ what they can do to correct the problem. I think I’ll follow-up letting them know that SafeSearch also eliminates useful pages from well-known library directories like the LII and IPL. Very sad because these types of tools are of tremendous value to all researchers.
-
3) Earlier today Greg Notess reported about his discovery of Google’s “Supplemental Index”. ResourceShelf has learned the following about this index from a Google spokesperson:
* It’s an experimental feature
* It augments search results for hard-to-answer queries, by searching a supplemental collection of web pages — in addition to its main index of 3.3 billion web pages. Results from this index are marked “Supplemental” because they originate from a separate, experimental index that is only used to answer the most obscure and infrequent queries.
* I’ve asked a few follow-up questions to this somewhat cryptic response including: how does Google determine what goes into the supplemental index and what’s an obscure query? Stay tuned.

* Here are a few searches that show results coming from the supplemental index. Pages are identified as “supplemental” directly next to link for the cached version of the page.
* “invade iraq” “student opinion” (Last 3 results)
* site:livejournal.com ridiculous ovation

Librarians–Australia
Source: The Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia)
“Librarians? No, information professionals”
A brief article in the mainstream press (always good to see) about the Asia Pacific Special Health and Law Librarians Conference being held in Adelaide. As to the name, librarian, info professional, etc. Call us whatever you want, just call us.

Web Search–Google
Google Ups Total Page Count. Remember AllTheWeb’s Announcement Last Week?
Last Wednesday ResourceShelf reported that AllTheWeb’s was claiming that their database of web pages was the largest publicly available with 3,151,743,117 pages. Well, it only took 6 days and Google raised their total page count to 3,307,998,701 (previously, 3,083,324,652). This same thing happened last year. I guess Database Size Wars, 2003 is underway. (-: I said last week, this is purely a pr/marketing thing and means little to the searcher. Make sure to check our 8/21/03 comments along with a link to Greg Notess’s useful breakdown of Google page totals.

It will be interesting to see is how much publicity Google gets out of this one in the mainstream press. It’s something they do better than just about anyone else in any industry. I saw little to no mention of the Overture/ATW announcement outside of the info industry press…and while we’re on the topic of Google’s marketing …
—
Web Search–Google
Source: USA Today
“The search engine that could”
Can a week go by without a “isn’t Google great” article appearing in a major publication. I think the answer might be no. A couple of comments.
* Challenging Google is and will remain as much about the companies public relations ability than anything else. How many companies get this type of publicity week after week? Google doesn’t need to advertise, they get it free. Kudos must go to the Google marketing team. However, competent searchers and info pros should be aware of and use other search tools.
* Overall, Google “represents 75% of all searches,” says Danny Sullivan, editor of the Search Engine Watch online newsletter (searchenginewatch.com). “It’s gotten to the point where people think if it’s not in Google, it doesn’t exist.” We’ve been saying exactly the same thing since ResourceShelf started. What does this say about the marketing libraries and database vendors have done?
* Take, for example, Havva Eisenbaum. She Googles people “every day” � friends she went to school with, old boyfriends, new clients, buddies she meets via instant messages. “I don’t know what I’d do without it,” says Eisenbaum, 25, who works at a Hollywood talent agency and as an SAT tutor. When she books new students, she looks up their parents first. “I want to make sure they’re not crazy,” she says. “I always find stuff, too.” I wonder when the last time Ms. Eisenbaum looked at results from any other engine? They could be even more useful and give her additional material. Maybe using a remotely accessible database from the LA Public Library might be useful. It’s just as easy and just as free. However, Ms. Eisenbaum can’t use these and other tools, if she doesn’t know about them.
* I will give a tip of the ResourceShelf cap to the writer of the article for including a few comments about relying on only one source of information. Everett Ward, assistant director of the Salt Lake City library, says the danger in researchers relying so much on Google and online information is that much of it is unsourced and inaccurate. “One of the problems with online searching is trying to understand the credibility and authority of what they’re looking at. Google sends you everything. People still come to the library to research, not because they can’t find it online, but they’re finding too much.” In her fifth-grade classroom in Atlanta, Amy Wilson worries that Google “doesn’t teach (students) the basic skills they need, because they’re getting quicker access in a shorter amount of time. They hardly go to the library or encyclopedia anymore.”
* Page says he wants people to still frequent libraries, even if it is “a lot easier to go to Google first.”
What does this mean? Yes, it’s easier for most people to go to Google because they know about it. Again, the lack of knowledge about what libraries offer both in their buildings and remotely is not the fault of Google. However, I wonder if Mr. Page is aware of what, for example, anyone with a New York Public Library can access for free from the comfort of their home or office, 24×7x365. This is also the case for all students/faculty associated with just about any university and employees of many companies. Finally, I wonder if Mr. Page is aware of the fact that Google Answers competes with the virtual reference services offered by many libraries?

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items)
Space Shuttle Columbia–Investigation
Documents in the News
Source: Columbia Accident Investigation Board
Full-Text Report, Columbia Accident Investigation Board Vol. 1, August, 2003
Direct to Full-Text (10MB) ||| Download Report by Chapter
–
Manufacturing
Source: Stanford University Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing
How Everyday Things Are Made
“If you’ve ever wondered how things are made – products like candy, cars, airplanes, or bottles…you’ve come to the right place.” Showcases more than 40 different products and manufacturing processes. Requires Macromedia Flash Player. Features more than four hours of manufacturing videos; a high-speed Internet connection is recommended for optimal viewing. Includes a collection of links to online factory tours at a variety of different companies. Ever wonder how they make hot air balloons?
–
Canada–History–Audio
Digitization Projects–Canada
Source: National Library of Canada
Virtual Gramophone Adds 870 Complete Recordings
Phase 6 of the popular Virtual Gramophone website features of a variety of Canadian recordings from the 1920s and 1930s and an additional 870 complete recordings, in both RealAudio and MP3 formats.