Web Search–Google
Source: NY Times
Audit Results Move Google a Step Closer to Offering
John Markoff writes, “Google has cleared one of the last remaining hurdles in its closely watched effort to sell shares to the public, people close to the company said Monday, receiving a clean bill of health in a company-paid audit certifying its compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley law approved by Congress in 2002 in response to the wave of corporate scandals…Google has repeatedly declined to comment publicly about any aspect of its planned offering. If the registration is given the green light at a Google board meeting that could take place as early as this week, the public offering would most likely take place during the last week in April.”
See Also: Google Considers Diverse IPO Methods (via AP)

Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items)
OCLC Research
OCLC Research Announces Experimental xISBN Service
From the announcement, “The experimental xISBN service supplies ISBNs associated with individual intellectual works represented in the OCLC WorldCat database. Give it an ISBN, and it returns a list of associated ISBNs. The ISBNs returned from the service can in turn be re-used in a query to a bibliographic database (e.g., via a FRBR Bookmarklet) to improve the chances of a user finding any/all instances of the work in a given database.”
See Also: OCLC hosts “info” URI registry
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Scholarly Materials
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Uncertain Fate of Scholarly Artifacts in a Digital Age
From the article, “The raw materials of research — novels, notes, artwork, letters — are being produced on computers and saved on floppy disks and hard drives. Many scholars fear that these materials are in danger of ending up in the junk heap, trapped in obsolete computers. Others say the information age could be an age of plenty, an age when scholars reconceive their habits of research to cope with mountains of data, which then yield bold new discoveries. That future, however, will depend on digital-archiving strategies that are just now being planned. They have not yet been tested, or paid for.”

Information Extraction
Kofax Selected by In-Q-Tel to Advance Information Extraction Technology
From the 1/13 announcement, “In-Q-Tel, a private venture group funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has signed a development and investment agreement with Kofax to advance technologies for “document exploitation,” the analysis and use of documents to extract actionable information. Kofax, the world’s largest information capture vendor, will combine its industry-leading Ascent information capture platform and Mohomine text classification product to support multi-language document exploitation activities conducted by national security and other government organizations, and state and local law enforcement.”

Academic Libraries
Association for Research Libraries
Source: Library Journal
Stanford University Leaves ARL
From the article, “For many university libraries, getting into the Association of Research Libraries (ARL)-which includes 123 leading research libraries in North America–is a major goal. For Stanford University, however, the opposite appears to be true. ARL Executive Director Duane Webster confirmed that Stanford has left the ARL. “

Online Content
PaidContent.Org is Providing Extensive Coverage of the SIIA Info Industry Summit

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items)
The PATRIOT Act
Source: Office of Inspector General, Department of Justice
Full Text Report, Report to Congress on Implementation of Section 1001 of the USA PATRIOT Act, January 2004
HTML Version ||| PDF Version
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Travel
Source: Consumer Web Watch
Full Text Report, Booking and Bidding Sight Unseen: A Consumer’s Guide to Opaque Travel Web Sites
Opaque travel sites include Hotwire and Priceline.
See Also: A summary of the report from Consumer Reports

Web Search–Gigablast
Gigablast Adds Direct Links To The Wayback Machine
If you think we mention the Gigablast on a regular basis, you’re right. This general web engine is the work of sole proprietor Matt Wells who is constantly adding new search options while at the same time enlarging the database. Today, we can report that all urls retrieved via Gigablast now contain direct links to The Wayback Machine archive. These links are labeled as “older copies” and will automatically check if archived versions of the url exist. Gigablast also caches a copy of each page it crawls onto its own server. However, unlike The Wayback Machine, Gigablast’s cached version is updated each time the page is recrawled. This new option can be a big time saver.

RSS
Source: eWeek
Yahoo Launches RSS Option for My Yahoo Users
From the article, “Using the RSS Headlines beta, My Yahoo users can add RSS feeds either by searching for feeds through the service or by entering the URL of specific feeds, according to a Yahoo FAQ about the beta. User then can customize the appearance of the RSS feed headlines on their My Yahoo pages, such as by limiting the number of headlines that appear for each feed. When users click on a headline, they are taken to the full posting on the external site…Yahoo, in a statement, noted that as a beta, the RSS Headlines service is subject to change and is not generally available. The company did not say when it plans to fully launch RSS Headlines on My Yahoo.” Actually, any My Yahoo user can go to http://add.my.yahoo.com/rss and add the RSS (beta) module.
See Also: Yahoo RSS Beta FAQ

Information Industry–HighBeam.Com
Alacritude Changes Name to HighBeam Research
The Chicago-based company, owner of eLibrary, Encyclopedia.Com, and Researchville, has been rebranded and the name changed to HighBeam Research. From the article, “The properties combined already attract 4.5 million unique visitors a month who use the site to search for free, and they also have 40,000 subscribers paying about $20 per month, or $99 per year, to search archived articles and other paid-tier materials. ELibrary has 2,600 publications and access to 28 million documents dating as far back as 20 years.” I wonder how many of those 40,000 paid subscribers know what they have access to for free by using their library? Many public, academic, or corporate libraries offer access to patrons without having to visit the library building. The MarketWatch.Com article makes no mention of this fact. By the way, via my public library, I have full access (free) to eLibrary from my home.
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UPDATE: I had the chance to chat with the author of the article this afternoon. She had no idea that some library resources are available to patrons without having to visit their local library building. No surprise. I’m happy to report that in her column on 1/27, she mentions the conversation and gives a plug to these services (last paragraph under the “Popular Trend” header).
See Also: Alacritude Turns a HighBeam on Research

Industry Briefs (5 Items)
Alan Paschal Leaves Thomson Gale (via Library Journal)
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LexisNexis Announces Campaign 2004 File
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Inxight Continues to Grow in 2003
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Nstein Chosen by VNUeMedia
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Endeca and IBM’s Online Store
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Thomson Delphion Enhances Searching and Analysis of European Patent Data

Professional Reading Shelf
Libraries and Librarians
The February 2004 Issue of Walt Crawford’s Cites and Insights is Now Online

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items)
E-Mail Scams
Source: Consumer Web Watch
New report, “The Check’s in the Mail”
History and background about “419″ or “Nigerian” fraud. The article also includes a section titled, “Why Nigeria?”
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Factiva Posts Media Visibility Index for Democratic Presidential Hopefuls (Week Ending 1/25/04)
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Government Secrecy–United States
Source: Adrus Center for Public Policy
Full Text, Freedom & Secrecy Conference Report
Full Text, Freedom & Secrecy Conference Transcript
From an Idaho Statesman article, “The report follows the policy discussion that took place last fall at a conference co-sponsored by the Andrus Center, the Frank Church Institute and The Idaho Statesman. The conference � �Freedom and Secrecy: Trading Liberty for Security?� � featured, among others, former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale, former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton of Washington, Washington Post columnist David Broder and John Deutch, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency.”

Electronic Records–United States
National Archives–United States
Source: FCW
Electronic Records Funds Approved
From the article, “Congress approved an additional $22 million in the fiscal 2004 budget for the National Archives and Records Administration’s ambitious Electronic Records Archives program. NARA will get $316.3 million, a $47.5 million increase from last year. The new budget includes $35.9 million for the electronic archives project, in addition to $13.7 million for repairs and renovations and $10 million for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The commission offers grants, training and research services to help preserve the nation’s documentary resources.”
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and speaking of electronic government records… (Updated 1/27)
Clinton’s Gift to Internet Age – Only 2 E-Mails (via Reuters)

Professional Reading Shelf
National Archives–United States
The Winter 2003 Issue of Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration is Now Online
Web-Accessible articles include:
+ Found at the Presidential Libraries: Dr. Seuss, Air Force One, and the San Diego Chicken
+ Our Documents at Work in the Nation’s Classrooms
Includes links to several guidebooks for educators.

Stylometry
Source: Science News
Bookish Math: Statistical tests are unraveling knotty literary mysteries
From the article, “Stylometry is now entering a golden era. In the past 15 years, researchers have developed an arsenal of mathematical tools, from statistical tests to artificial intelligence techniques, for use in determining authorship. They have started applying these tools to texts from a wide range of literary genres and time periods, including the Federalist Papers, Civil War letters, and Shakespeare’s plays. ‘We can now pretty accurately identify authorship�under the right conditions,’ says John Burrows, an emeritus English professor of the University of Newcastle in Australia.”

Professional Reading Shelf
Privacy
Source: ARL
New SPEC Kit Released: Library Patron Privacy
The complete kit is fee based. However, an executive summary is available at no charge.
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Freedom of Information
Source: UNESCO
Just Released, Freedom on Information: A Comparative Legal Survey
“UNESCO has published a study of freedom of information laws that examines best practices in 10 countries. Written by ARTICLE 19 Law Programme Director Toby Mendel, ‘Freedom on Information: A Comparative Legal Survey’ analyses laws in Bulgaria, India, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.”

Government Secrecy
Source: U.S. News and World Report
Letters About U.S. Goverment Secrecy Published in U.S. News
The letters are in response to a 12/22 article in the magazine titled, “Keeping Secrets.” The first letter comes from Randall Jimerson, Vice President Society of American Archivists.

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full-Text Documents
United States Congress–Calendars
House of Representatives
+ Clickable Calendar
+ House Schedule
+ Continuously Updated “Ticker” of Activities on the House Floor
Senate
+ Tentative 2004 Legislative Schedule
+ Floor Schedule
+ Executive Calendar (Updated Each Day When in Session) ||| Description
+ Senate Calendar of Business (Updated Each Day When in Session) ||| Description

Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items)
Academic Libraries
New Weblog: The Kept-Up Academic Librarian
Interesting reading from Gutman Library Director (Philadelphia University), Steven Bell. He tells ResourceShelf, “I’m trying not to give any library-oriented news – and I’m not replicating anything from the Chronicle – which so many folks already read – but there is so much more out there that academic librarians are missing.”
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Scholarly Publishing
Source: University of California
Seminar Report, Challenge and Change: Scholarly Communication and the UC Community
From the CDLINFO Newsletter, “The Office of Systemwide Library Planning sponsored two regional seminars in late fall 2003 to discuss scholarly communication issues and strategies for change. More than 60 participants hailing from all UC campuses and a wide-ranging set of disciplines (including the sciences and health sciences, humanities, and social sciences) attended. More than 20 key thematic issues were identified, and are posed as questions for UC action…”

Info Industry Briefs
IEEE xplore Database Passes 1 Million Document Mark