A New ResourceShelf Beta
As I’ve mentioned on several occasions asking Shirl, Dan, and Steven to become part of ResourceShelf was one good (if I may say so) idea. Their contributions are superb. We have so much more content coming into the mix.

We’ve heard from many of you that one of your favorite features on ResourceShelf is the daily list of new full text reports found in the “Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents” section. If we added each and every new report we come across, the ResourceShelf site would become an incredibly long document each day. As you know, new documents are just one portion of the ResourceShelf site.

So, we’re going to experiment with a new “spillover” site. It’s called DocuTicker. After new reports from governments, think tanks, and other groups are selected for linking on the main ResourceShelf, we’ll post additional content on DocuTicker. We hope you’ll stop by and take a look. Oh yes, how could I forget, Docuticker is a Beta and will undergo many changes as we move forward. Shirl, Dan, Steven and I hope you find it useful. Our XML feed is at: http://www.resourceshelf.com/docuticker/feed/atom.xml

Briefly
+ ebrary Opens Up Access to APIs
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+ Ontario Government Now Using FAST Search and Transfer ESP Technology
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+ News from Verity and Recommind

Online Research
Source: eMarketer
Flawed Online Searches Cost Businesses $31 Billion Last Year
Like we mention on a regular basis, it’s all about having knowledge about and access to the best research tool (online/print/free/fee-based) at the right time. It’s also about having the skills to exploit these resources (and building a good query) at a more than “two words and click” level. This is especially true with consumer web engines. If you’re going to be a “web engine only” searcher (aka Googleaholic) it’s important to learn how to take full advantage of what it and other general engines can do. Teaching these skills is yet another role for the info pro. From the announcement, “According to a survey released by FIND/SVP, 84% of business executives feel that Web searches — using the generally consumer-centric search engines now available –take longer than they should due to poor results. It is estimated that the loss of productive time using search engines to conduct online research cost businesses $31 billion last year.”
See Also: Full Text, White Paper from Factiva, Just Updated, Free, Fee-Based and Value-Added Information Services
“Considers the quality, availability and value of information on free Web sites, fee-based Web sites and value-added information services, such as Factiva.” The paper (registration required) was written by online search expert and librarian Mary Ellen Bates.

Information Industry–BioMed Central
Biomed Central Launches PeoplesArchive
Fee-based service but for the moment access is free. “PeoplesArchive is a new video archive of the great thinkers and creators of our time. Subscriptions are available for individuals and institutions via the website.” A bit more from the site, “PeoplesArchive is dedicated to collecting for posterity the stories of the great thinkers and creators of our time. Biologists or filmmakers, physicists or craftsmen, the people whose stories you see on this site are leaders of their field, whose work has influenced and changed our world.” You’ll need to have QuickTime 6 on your system.” More on this one in the future.

Research Tools
Mac Users: Gurunet Releases Client for OS X
Gurunet, the useful and inexpensive ready-reference tool now has a client for Mac users. From the announcement, “Due to popular demand, we’ve released our first product for the Mac! GuruNet for Mac OS X allows you to ‘activate’ any word on your screen (select and hold Command+Option+G) to get instant facts on any word on your screen. (Requires OS X 10.2 and higher, and Safari must be installed).”
See Also: More About Gurunet in this March 2004 Post
See Also: Gurunet Files for IPO

Professional Reading Shelf
American Library Association
ALA Offices Hit By Internet Virus
Not good news. “On Friday, June 18th, ALA’s Chicago office was hit by the Korgo.L virus. The virus flooded our network connections and rendered the network useless.”
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Digital Object Identifiers
Source: Information Economics Journal
Full Text article, Digital Object Identifiers
From a summary, “The June issue of Butler Group’s ‘Information Economics Journal’ contains an article written by Robin Wilson, Director of Digital Identifier and Metadata Services at TSO [UK]. Headlined ‘DOI: a bar code for digital information’, Robin explains how this new method of classifying digital information will change the way people use the Net. He points out that the widespread use of the Internet has lead to an insatiable demand for globally held information. In this environment, Internet communities are struggling to overcome difficulties in locating and connecting information.”
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Search Engines
Source: Penn St. Live
Web searchers don’t tune in with radio buttons
“Web searchers could more easily zero in on relevant images, audio clips and video files if consumers made use of radio buttons, a technology literally at their fingertips, a Penn State researcher has reported. ‘This is a technology innovation that simplifies and improves multimedia searching, but our research shows that very few people use it,’ said Jim Jansen, assistant professor of information sciences and technology. ‘Consumers just haven’t caught on.’”
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U.S. Constitution
Source: First Amendment Center / Freedom Forum
First Amendment Library
“This online library aspires to become the nation’s preeminent clearinghouse for information concerning the five freedoms – speech, press, assembly, petition and religion – guaranteed by the First Amendment to our Constitution. To that end, a vast array of judicial, legislative, historical, analytical, journalistic, editorial and other materials have been collected, organized and presented, free of charge, to all users of the First Amendment Center’s Web site.” All material searchable.
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Digital Divide
Source: Digital Media Europe
UN launches new intiative to bridge digital divide

Congressional Research Service
Source: CRS via Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Univ. of Maryland
Two New Topical Archives of Congressional Research Service Reports Now Available
“The Thurgood Marshall Law Library of the University of Maryland School of Law is proud to announce the availability of two free topical archives of Congressional Research Service reports on the web.” Great stuff. One caveat, CRS reports are constantly updated, the copies available here might not be the most current.
+ Health Law & Policy
+ Terrorism & Homeland Security
More than 150 reports are available in these collections.
See Also: View the Complete Collection of CRS Materials Available via the TMLL.

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Terrorism–Statistics
Source: U.S. Dept of State
New, Corrections to 2003 Patterns of Global Terrorism Report Released
“A review of the 2003 edition of “Patterns of Global Terrorism” determined that the data in the report was incomplete and in some cases incorrect. The corrected Year in Review, Appendix A, and Appendix G have now been posted. Numbers in the text, specifically numbers of killed and wounded, will be revised to reflect to corrected Appendices.”
See Also: Bad data forces changes in terrorism report (via FCW)
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Business–Lists & Rankings
Source: Nelson
Now Available, World’s Best Money Managers (Q1 2004)
Registration (free) is required to access.
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Bankruptcy–United States–Statistics
Source: American Bankruptcy Institute
Just Released, Personal Bankruptcy Filings Doubled In Last Decade As Consumer Debt Reached Record Levels
From the Press Release: “There was one bankruptcy filed for every 73 U.S. households during calendar year 2003, up 49 percent from the 144 U.S. households per bankruptcy filing in 1993, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. Personal bankruptcies peaked in 2003, when a record 1,625,208 cases were filed, nearly double the 812,898 filings in 1993.”
Households Per Filing Rank – Chart
Influence of total consumer debt on bankruptcy filings – Chart [PDF]
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Military–United States
Source: The Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military/Univ. of California Santa Barbara
Just Released, New Data Reveal Extensive Talent Loss Under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
From the Press Release: “In the wake of last week’s Senate vote authorizing the Army to add 20,000 new soldiers, newly available data provide fresh details about many of the 9,682 service members discharged for homosexuality under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.” Access the data
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Advertising
Source: Arbitron, Inc
Just Released, Airport Advertising Reaches Upscale Consumers According to New Arbitron Study
From the Press Release: “Airport advertising is a highly effective medium for reaching upscale Americans, according to a new study by Arbitron Inc. According to The Arbitron Airport Advertising Study: Exploring an Undiscovered Upscale Medium, the reach of airports is significant, with 92 million Americans having flown in the past year. Eighteen percent of this group, or 17 million people, are Frequent Flyers who are affluent, well-educated and sophisticated consumers who take four or more flights per year and account for nearly 60 percent of all airport advertising impressions.”
Read the Report [PDF]

Web Search–Google
Source: AP
Merrill Lynch Backs Out of Google IPO
From the article, “Merrill Lynch & Co., the nation’s largest retail brokerage, dropped out of the list of underwriters taking part in the upcoming $2.7 billion initial public offering of Google Inc., mostly out of concern that the fees it would generate wouldn’t be worth it.” More from Stefanie Olson on News.com.

Briefly
+ ProQuest Expands Collection of McClatchy Newspapers
+ Thomson Gale and xrefer Form Strategic Partnership

Web Search–Ask Jeeves
Source: Search Engine Watch
New Smart Search and Page Preview Features at Jeeves
You can learn more about the changes in an article that GP has written for SearchDay.
See Also: ResourceShelf Has a List of More Smart Search Shortcuts

Professional Reading Shelf
Libraries
Source: The New York Times
Old Search Engine, the Library, Tries to Fit Into a Google World
I chatted for some time with the writer of this article but didn’t make the final cut. Oh well, that’s the way it goes. A few comments:
+ From the article, “We can’t pretend people will go back to walking into a library and talking to a reference librarian,” said Kate Wittenberg, director of the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia University.” I agree, but simply adding material to a general-purpose web database doesn’t mean people will find what they’re looking for. Why not also work to promote other REMOTELY ACCESSIBLE resources? Why can’t our community work together to show people that the REACH of the library and LIBRARIAN extends beyond the four walls of the building.

+ The article gives the impression that “online information retrieval” began with web search engines. What a joke! It’s been around for almost 40 years, and librarians have been users and developers of these tools since day one. Web engines didn’t invent the idea. Don’t take my word for it; here’s a wonderful seven-part series of interviews from Searcher magazine with several online pioneers. More in this compilation of materials.

+ Several well-known librarian types have asked me where the profession was in 1998, 1999, 2000? Why weren’t we out there from the beginning — leading the charge by teaching, training, explaining as web search began to skyrocket? This is a great question. We know we’re still relevant, but do the masses? What have we done to show them?

+ The presence of content in a general web database and finding that content in a timely manner are two totally separate things.

+ Here we go again with another headline about how libraries are search engines. One of the people quoted in the article, Dr. Joseph Janes, recently wrote an article in AL about how librarians ARE NOT search engines. ResourceShelf agreed with Dr. Janes’ comments and argued that libraries are also not search engines. In an email message, Joe agreed with our comment.

+ For a recent presentation, I prepared this page. It contains search strategies that people used to query various general web engines and they ended up clicking on ResourceShelf. You’ll see lots of wasted time, bad search strategies, and clicking to a page (this one) that has nothing to do with what they appeared to have been looking for. Sure, ResourceShelf contained all of the search terms on a single page, but just because all of the terms were there doesn’t mean the page has anything to do with the query. I wonder if sometimes returning no results would be better than returning something of no value? I think these examples also illustrate the potential power of clustering and other mechanisms that would bring more “subject-like” access to web materials. Clustering would help with what Vivisimo calls “selective ignorance.”

+ Just what business are Google and Yahoo in? Are they in business to meet the specific needs of the info and library communities? Please don’t misunderstand — they’re good corporate citizens and do great work, but they have many constituencies to please. They also have to make money for their shareholders.
+ What is the library community doing to make people better searchers? Increasing database size increases recall and reduces precision.

From the article, “We’ll see the current generation we accuse of doing research in their pajamas develop highly sophisticated searching strategies to find high quality information on the Web,” Dr. Smith said. “It’s this transition period we’re in, when not all high-quality information is available on the Web. That’s what we lament.” Perhaps only time will tell. But what about TODAY and the high-quality information that IS available electronically without requiring a visit the library? Who is telling the public and the academic community what is already available digitally and how best to use it? Are we helping people save time accessing it? Should companies like ProQuest, Factiva, and LexisNexis just pack it in and simply dump all of their content into Google and Yahoo? Nope, I still believe that the need for specialized databases, both free and fee, will grow.
+ To be honest, I see a day when digital material (of course, as Dr. Janes points out, it’s not all going to be digitized) will be searched with meta/federated search technologies. The user will pick from a variety of databases (just as we currently buy and select books), and have the technology search them, remove duplicate materials and merge the results into a set with links to the full text. This, coupled with improving personalization, will make for a powerful tool.
+ For certain types of “ready reference queries,” search tools will become more “answer engines” than search engines. The library community should be working with companies like Google, Jeeves and Yahoo to help build these products.
+ The definition of the deep web/invisible web are a bit “off” in the article. Some of what was once invisible is now being crawled, including static web pages served from databases. Of course, massive amounts of deep/invisible material still exisit. However, someone once said to me after a presentation that the invisible/deep web is everything not on the first page of results. And you know what? That person is correct. A very perceptive comment.

Finally, I’ll share a few interesting comments from well-known tech writer Walt Mossberg, in a review of an “answer engine,” Gurunet, about 15 months ago. Although his comments are specifically about Google, the limitations he’s talking about apply to most general web engines. Mossberg writes:
+ “But as brilliant as Google is, this process has several limitations. First of all, in most cases Google doesn’t actually provide you an answer, just a list of links to Web pages where information might be found. So getting the exact information you want requires more steps: You have to browse through the links Google offers, pick out one that looks good, then go to it and look for the relevant material.”
+ “Second, you’re doing all this in a general, undifferentiated piece of software called a Web browser that isn’t designed to help you drill down into information.”
+ “Third, neither the browser nor Google gives you a good sense of the credibility of the sources that turn up, just their popularity*.”
* As we’ve seen on numerous occasions, this can be manipulated.
See also: Make sure to read Peter Jacso’s review of the new Google/Cross Ref Project
Peter has also made available the tool he used when comparing results.
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Libraries
Source: TBO.com, Tampa Tribune
Librarians Play Important Role In Newspapers
Yes, librarians still play a valuable role! From the article, “Let’s just say they’re not your mama’s librarians anymore. At the News Center, we have a department of journalists – with 153 years of experience among them – who work hand-in-hand with reporters, editors and news producers researching and gathering information to help make our daily news reports and newscasts as strong as possible. The Archive & Research Department, directed by Jody Habayeb, is an unsung group whose contributions are crucial to the daily news process.”
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Digital Libararies
The June 2004 Issue of D-Lib Magazine is Now Online
Articles Include:
+ Search Engine Technology and Digital Libraries: Libraries Need to Discover the Academic Internet
+ (Opinion) Should Commercial Publishers Be Included in the Model for Open Access through Author Payment?
+ (Opinion) Comparing the Impact of Open Access (OA) vs. Non-OA Articles in the Same Journals
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Books
Source: AP
New study shows big drop in books sold
From the article: “Not even Harry Potter could prevent a big drop in book sales in 2003. With a struggling economy and competition for time from other media, 23 million fewer books were sold last year than in 2002, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Book Industry Study Group, a non-for-profit research organization. Sales fell to 2.222 billion books, down from 2.245 billion in 2002. The decline was in both hardcovers and paperbacks, in children’s books and general trade releases. Even sales of religious titles, often cited as a growing part of the publishing industry, were flat. ‘We believe this is due to a variety of factors, the biggest being the used book market,’ said Albert N. Greco, an industry consultant and a professor of business at the graduate school of Fordham University.”
See Also: U.S. Book Production Soars to 175,000 New Titles in 2003
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Maps
Source: Information Sciences Institute, USC Viterbi School of Engineering
A Super Map for Soldiers — or Business Travelers
“Decades worth of detailed, accumulated geographical information is now available to front-line special operations troops in a concentrated, portable, easy-to-use laptop package created by the University of Southern California…. HeraclesMaps can instantly solve life-and-death tactical questions like, ‘Help us find a route from point A to B where we cannot be observed (or shot at) by someone at point C.’ It can instantly dissect the geography of a city, showing users the electrical power grid, all rail, roads, pathways, and and other man-made features, plus much more both in map and photographic form.”
See: HeraclesMaps Demonstration Site

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Summer Olympics–2004–Satellite Images
Source: Space Imaging
New, Satellite Images of Key 2004 Olympic Venues
Space Imaging is making available three recent images. From the announcement, “As the start of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece nears, much scrutiny is being given whether construction of the Olympic venues will be completed on time for the opening ceremony on Aug. 13, 2004. Space Imaging’s IKONOS satellite has taken a snapshot of Athens to show the status of construction at the thee major venues. The one-meter resolution satellite images of Athens were collected on June 13, 2004.”
+ Athens Olympic Sports Complex (3.2 MB)
“The Athens Olympic Sports Complex includes the Olympic Stadium (home of the opening and closing ceremonies), the Olympic Aquatic Center, Olympic Indoor Hall (gymnastics and basketball finals), Olympic Tennis Center, and the Olympic Velodrome (cycling).”
+ Helliniko Olympic Complex (5.5 MB)
“The Helliniko Olympic Complex features the Indoor Arena (basketball preliminaries) and Fencing Hall, the Olympic Baseball Center and Softball Stadium, the Olympic Canoe/Kayak Slalom Center, and the Olympic Hockey Center.”
+ Faliro Olympic Complex (4.4 MB)
“The Faliro Olympic Complex is comprised of three Olympic venues, the Sports Pavilion (taekwondo and handball), the Olympic Beach Volleyball Center, and the Peace and Friendship Stadium (volleyball).”
UPDATE (6/24): Even More Images Have Just Been Made Available by DigitalGlobe
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Information Technology Industry–Lists & Rankings
Source: Business Week
The Information Technology 100 [PDF]
From the list: “To compile the Information Technology 100, BusinessWeek began with financial data from Standard & Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies that has computerized information on 10,000 publicly traded corporations. We trimmed this universe to information technology companies and then added non-U.S. tech companies recommended by our network of foreign bureaus. To qualify, companies had to have revenues of at least $300 million.”
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Supercomputers–Lists & Rankings
Just Released, 23rd Edition of TOP500 List of World’s Fastest Supercomputers Released
+ Read the Current List
+ Utilize the database
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Employment–Offshoring
Source: The Brookings Institution
Offshoring, Import Competition, and the Jobless Recovery
“There is a widespread perception, supported by a spate of anecdotes, that a sharp rise in the outsourcing of jobs overseas by domestic firms (”offshoring”), together with the growth of low wage imports generally, are major culprits in the surprising failure of employment to recover after the last recession. This Policy Brief gathers some of the evidence bearing on this issue, and tries to provide a sense of how important these phenomena are as a component of the shortfall in jobs during the economic recovery in 2002 and 2003.”
Full report (PDF; 95 KB)
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Substance Abuse–Databases
Source: US Department of Labor
From the site:
“Welcome to the Working Partners Substance Abuse Information Database (SAID). This interactive database provides a one-stop source of information with summaries and full text of materials relating to workplace substance abuse issues. Employers can draw on articles from experts as well as success stories from a variety of industries to assist them in establishing and maintaining a workplace substance abuse program.” Includes section of workplace-related substance abuse law(s) organized by state/territory.
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Australia
Source: Source: Parliamentary Library, Australia
Two New Full Text Reports
1) The politics of proscription in Australia
“Proscription is a mechanism by which a country can outlaw organisations deemed a threat to its national security, generally making it an offence to belong to, train with, recruit for, fund, or otherwise support a banned organisation.”
++
2) Federal government advertising
“Government advertising is a contentious issue in modern democracies. In Australia, both Commonwealth and State governments are entitled to taxpayer money to provide the public with information about their programs.”
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Philanthropy–United States
Source: Foundation Center
New, Full Text Report,Foundation Funding for the Humanities: An Overview of Current and Historical Trends
“Foundation Funding for the Humanities: An Overview of Current and Historical Trends is the Center’s first study focused exclusively on humanities giving. Prepared in cooperation with the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, it documents the size and scope of foundation giving for the humanities between 1992 and 2002.”

Weekend Database Roundup
A look at a few new local database and web resources.
+ Illinois…Illinois Campaign for Public Reform
From the news release, “Journalists covering state government have a convenient new tool available at the web site of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR). The ICPR web site offers the most complete source of information about major contributors to Illinois officeholders and candidates. The web site includes the searchable Illinois Sunshine Database, which permits easy access to complete information about candidates’ and political parties’ receipts and expenditures.”
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+ Texas…New State Web Site To Aid Job Hunters
From the article: “Forget classified ads and cold calls. Texans now have a hi-tech tool to find work. The Texas Workforce Commission is unveiling a new Web site that matches job hunters with jobs. Any one of the 100 computers in the new center can instantly link you to thousands of jobs in Texas.
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+ North Carolina…Carolina Center for Public Service Database

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Law–United States–Lists & Rankings
Source: Corporate Counsel
New Chart, Women General Counsel 2004
“Female general counsel at Fortune 500 companies in 2004.”
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Hospitals–United States–Lists & Rankings
Source: Solucient
Solucient 100 Top Hospitals
“This report identifies industry benchmarks and recognizes hospitals that demonstrate superior clinical, operational, and financial performance in overall service.”
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Lightning
Source: Mary Ann Cooper, MD (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Lightning Injury Research Program
“Our goals in preparing this website are to provide:
+ An informational and educational tool for survivors of lightning strike and the physicians who treat them.
+ A safety resource for those responsible for organizing outdoor activities including parents, coaches, teachers, camp counselors, park managers, and others engaged in outdoor activities.
+ An educational resource for students, teachers, and the media.”
Provides statistics, explanations and medical aspects of lightning injuries, safety guidelines, presentations and publications, support group information and related links.
See also: Lightning Safety (National Weather Service)
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Terrorism
Source: Center for Nonproliferation Studies
CNS – New Book Says U.S. Cities Vulnerable to Terrorist Attack with Improvised Nuclear Weapons
From the Press Release: “The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism, a new book from the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), warns that substandard security at nuclear facilities in Europe, Central Asia, Russia, and Pakistan increases the risk of terrorists seizing highly enriched uranium to make crude, but devastating, nuclear explosives. Led by CNS Director William Potter and CNS Scientist-in-Residence Charles Ferguson, a team of researchers, including Leonard Spector, Amy Sands, and Fred Wehling, conducted a two-year study of the motivations and capabilities of terrorist organizations to carry out attacks using stolen nuclear weapons, to construct and detonate crude nuclear weapons known as improvised nuclear devices (INDs), to strike nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities, and to build and use radiological weapons or ‘dirty bombs.’”
Read the full text report [PDF]
Read the Press Release

Search Tools
Search the Web, the News, and Your Computer with Blinkx
The other day Searchblog ran an item about blinkx, a new web, news, and desktop search application (here’s a screenshot) for Windows (Mac and Mozilla versions are coming soon), that ResourceShelf learned about a few weeks ago. I hope to chat with the company soon. Until then, a quick overview of the blinkx beta release.
Remember, desktop search is all the rage these days. Google has a project and Ask Jeeves just purchased Tukaroo. Hotbot/Lycos has already released a desktop app that isn’t bad (and includes an RSS aggregator). Companies like X1 also offer desktop search tools.

The Basics
+ Free to download and use.
+ Download is fast (about 4.5MB). I did have problems disabling blinx (via the system tray) and then trying to restart it.
+ The company stresses this is a “concept” search tool as opposed to a “keyword” search tool. An explanation of what this exactly means would be useful. According to this SJ Mercury News article, the Blinkx “concept” search technology comes from Autonomy. Much of what blinkx is offers reminds me Kenjin, a tool from Autonomy, that was available several years ago. IMHO (and I think many others), it did not work well. Kenjin is long gone.
+ Three types of content are searchable (local documents, news search, and web).
+ Local documents can include your Outlook, Outlook Express, or Eudora mail files.

A search queries all three content types simultaneously. Each has its own results window in the client.

+ All Search Types
++ Results change immediately as you add or remove terms.
++ Proximity searching with “” appears not to work.

+ Local/Desktop Search
++ Queries material on your hard drive.
++ Document title is provided, roll over the title and a snippet is available.
++ It would be useful if your search term(s) were shown in context.
++ I was not able to tell the indexer to not index specific folders or filetypes. If this feature is available (it should be), I was unable to find the location.
++ Click and document opens.

+ News Search
++ Queries Moreover database.
++ Article title provided.
++ Cursor over the title and a snippet is provided, search term highlighted. It would be useful to be able to see the source of the article at this point.
++ Click and article opens in a new window.

+ Web Search
++ Unable to determine which web database results are coming from.
++ Page title provided.
++ Cursor over the title and a snippet is provided, search term highlighted.
++ Click and page opens in a new window.

blinkx also provides a small toolbar that “floats” near the top of a browser window. Three icons will activate when blinkx finds — “related” local, news, and web content that it believes will be of interest to you as you browse various web pages.

Simply click on a toolbar icon and a list of “related pages” appears. Click again and the page opens. After spending some time browsing the web and reviewing “related” links via blinkx, I found most of this “web” related content not very useful. When looking at news content, I found that blinkx did an OK job saving some time and clicks finding related articles. However, it’s far from ideal.

+ Another Beta (blinkx Query) provides a web-based tool.
+ Offers same search capabilies as client software (local documents, news search, web).
+ Offers search suggestions and refinements in the left margin. Not bad.
+ Users can “refine” results by selecting one or more snippets and then clicking the “refine search” button.
+ Offers a results visualization tool (java app). It’s similar to what’s available from anacubis, TouchGraph, and others.

Bottom Line
+ A very early Beta release so it’s somewhat unfair to make more than a few comments/suggestions.
+ In what might be the most important area, relevancy of results, blinkx needs work. I’ve seen worse, but improvements are needed, especially with web search.
+ I don’t mind client software but others do and/or are unable to load in the workplace. Web version a good idea.
+ No keyword ads on result pages. Will they eventually appear? How will blinkx derive its revenue? Will the client software move to a fee-based model?
+ Better documentation and an explanation of “concept” searching is needed.
+ You can learn more about the company leadership here.
+ As new search tools go, this is one to take a look at and keep an eye on. We will. More later.

Business–Search Engines
Source: Clickz
Business Search Engine Find.com Launches
From the article: “Find.com, a search engine designed for business professionals, was launched in beta this week by partners FIND/SVP, Empire Media and TripleHop Technologies. The site delivers search results from three different types of sources. Results from business sites that charge for their content, such as Gallup and Frost & Sullivan, appear at the top of the search results pages. Users can then buy the content. Results from a list of 3,000 business sites appear in the free organic listings, along with results from a variety of search engines…Find.com also has implemented an innovative navigational scheme that’s reminiscent of that used by clustering firm Vivisimo…Empire Media and FIND/SVP each own 47.5 percent of the business.”

Professional Reading Shelf
Reference Books
Source: CILIP
Updated Reference Book (For Sale): Know It All
We don’t spend much time talking reference books on ResourceShelf but every now and then it’s good to mention one or two. Here’s one for your ready-reference shelf. A new of edition of Know It All is now available. From the announcement, “Know It All, Find It Fast, the essential source guide for busy enquiry desks, has just come out in its second edition. Winner of the ‘Best general reference work’ prize in the 2003 Emerald Literati Awards, this book has already earned its place as the key guide to where to find the answers quickly. ‘There is a queue, the phone is ringing, the photocopier has jammed and your enquirer is waiting for a response. You are stressed and you can feel the panic rising. Where do you go to find the information you need to answer the question promptly and accurately?’ challenges Bob Duckett, one of the book’s three authors. ‘That’s where our book can help.’” More info and ordering instructions.
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Public Libraries
Source: MSNBC.com
Librarians: Free CDs Too Much of a Good Thing
“Public librarians aren’t prone to looking gift horses in the mouth, but many have nevertheless been taken aback by the odd and in some cases overly generous allotments of free music CDs that have begun arriving in the last week as the result of the settlement of an antitrust lawsuit against major record companies.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Celebrities–Lists & Rankings
Source: Forbes
Recently Released, The Celebrity 100 (2004)
“The most powerful celebrities in the world.”
Sort by:
Rank
Name
Pay
Web Hits*
Press
TV
* See Also: We’ve mentioned (on several occasions) the many issues using “web hits” to determine popularity/importance. So have others.
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Consumer Issues
Source: Public Interest Research Group
Just Released, Mistakes Do Happen: A Look at Errors in Consumer Credit Reports
From the Executive Summary: “The most valuable thing we have is our good name. The most common reflection of our reputation as a trustworthy consumer is our credit report. Unfortunately, the information contained in our credit reports, which are bought and sold daily to nearly anyone who requests and pays for them, does not always tell a true story.”
View the Full report [PDF]

Professional Reading Shelf
Electronic Resources
Source: CLIR
New, Full Text Report, The Nonsubscription Side of Periodicals: Changes in Library Operations and Costs between Print and Electronic Formats
Many academic and research libraries are in the midst of what may ultimately be a major transition for various parts of their collections-a shift from print to electronic format. Libraries that had long subscribed only to print versions of journals are, in increasing numbers, licensing electronic versions to replace the print. What effects will this transition have on library operations and on nonsubscription expenditures? To answer this question, the authors collected new data on staff activities and costs from 11 U.S. academic libraries. They then performed a life-cycle analysis to study the longer-term cost implications of the transition.
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Information Industry
The May/June Issue of Research Information is Now Available
Articles include:
+ Will learned societies signal the change?
+ New legal deposit laws [UK] include digital data
+ Profile: Jerry Kline, CEO of Innovative Interfaces
+ Why librarians should switch on their radios
“Why RFID is important for libraries”
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Open Access
Source: Board on International Scientific Organizations (BISO)/NAP Press
Full Text, Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science: Proceedings of an International Symposium
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Freedom of Information–United Kingdom
Source: The National Archives
Implementation of the Freedom on Information Act in places of deposit for public records
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Digitization Projects
Source: Federal Computer Week
Congress Views E-Mail
“(T)he House Administration Committee is moving forward with a pilot test of a digital mail program that would scan letters sent via regular mail into computers and then send the images electronically to members of Congress.” Letters are sent to a facility in Leesburg, VA, where they are scanned, The digital images are then sent electronically to congressional offices. A metadata system has been added so congressional staffers can sort letters by subject. In the pilot test, it takes roughly five business days “from the time a letter is mailed until staffers can access it digitally,” although some users report mail arriving much later.
See also: Tracking the Mail