Web Search Briefs (via SEW Blog)
+ Australia and Canada Get Local Versions of MSN’s Newsbot

Professional Reading Shelf
Digitization Projects–Books
Source: Hackensack Record (via WGMS)
More About Non-Google Book Digitization Projects
A look at The Universal Library from Carnegie Mellon and Project Gutenberg.
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Citation Analysis–Legal Periodicals
Source: Washington & Lee Law School
Most-Cited Legal Periodicals: U.S. and selected non-U.S.
“The single most important point to make about the rankings is that not all citations to the law journals are counted. Counted citations are those which cite journal volumes published in the preceding eight years. The reason for this limit is to prevent a bias in favor of long-published journals. Thus the study is concerned only with citations to current scholarship. The search results give only the number of citing documents, and do not show where a citing article or case cites to two or more articles in a cited legal periodical. Sources for the citation counts are limited to documents in Westlaw’s JLR database (primarily U.S. articles), and in Westlaw’s ALLCASES database (U.S. federal/state cases).”
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Libraries and Librarians
Source: IFLA
IFLA Launches Two New Mailing Lists
+ QUALITY – Quality Issues in Libraries Discussion Group
+ UNIVERS – University Libraries and Other General Research Libraries Mailing List
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Libraries–Sri Lanka
Source: IFLA
IFLA Posts Several Images of Sri Lankan Libraries Post Tsunami

Web Search Briefs (via SEW Blog)
+ No Kidding, 10GB of Free Storage Space
+ Feedster Launches Job Search Database
+ A Look at a Few Boston Area Search Companies

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Reports
Tsunami–Maps
Source: DM Solutions Group
Tsunami Disaster Mapping for Indian Ocean Coastal Regions
“This interactive, Internet-based Website contains a rapidly increasing wealth of data about all Indian Basin Tsunami affected countries and regions – collected both before and after the ongoing disaster. The goal of this Website is to help facilitate, through the use of interactive Web-mapping technology, all aspects of disaster mitigation….”
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Prescription Drugs–United States–Databases
Source: Public Citizen
Worstpills.org
From press release: “Public Citizen has launched a new Web site, www.WorstPills.org, that provides consumers with comprehensive information about 538 prescription drugs and warns them of 181 drugs that are unsafe or ineffective.”
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Military Specs and Standards–United States
Source: Defense Standardization Program Office
Online Documents (Specs & Standards on the Web)
“The most frequently asked question of the DSPO staff is, ” Where can I obtain specifications and standards online?” Following are some publicly accessible Web sites where you can search for documents. In addition, most DSP documents may be downloaded without charge, using the Web sites described below. Note that the ASSIST database is the official source of all documents listed in the DoD Index of Specifications and Standards (DODISS) and all Data Item Descriptions (DIDs).”
See also: Index of DSCC Mil Specs & Drawings (Defense Supply Center Columbus)
See also: Military Handbooks and Standards Related to Reliability (weibull.com/ReliaSoft Corporation)

Information Industry–Awards
Source: Software & Information Industry Association.
2005 Codie Award Finalists Announced
Congrats and kudos to all of the nominees!

Professional Reading Shelf
United States Government–Access to Information
Source: Government Printing Office
Revised Policy, Withdrawal of Documents from GPO Information Dissemination Programs
GPO Information Dissemination (ID) has issued a new ID policy, “Withdrawal of Federal Information Products from Information Dissemination Collection and Distribution Programs.” The policy, ID 72, supersedes SOD 72 dated July, 22, 2002. The revised policy establishes conditions under which a document may be withdrawn, recalled, or restricted in access; it outlines GPO and publishing agency responsibilities. The new policy requires concurrence of the head of the publishing agency before any action is taken. It also requires notification of professional library associations in order to assure support for the actions being taken. The new policy is available at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/sod72_policy_rev.pdf
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Metadata
Source: RLG
Just Released, Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for RLG Cultural Materials
“This document is a complete overhaul of the initial guidelines (last updated September 2003).”
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Open Access
Source: The Washington Post
NIH Revises Plan for Quick, Free Access to Study Results
“An ambitious proposal to make the results of federally funded medical research available to the public quickly and for free has been scaled back by the National Institutes of Health under pressure from scientific publishers, who argued that the plan would eat into their profits and harm the scientific enterprise they support.”
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Censorship–Public Libraries
Source: The Sun Herald (Biloxi, MS)
Torrent of e-mails dismays library director
“The director of the Jackson-George Regional Library System said last week that national media attention thrust on him after a recent book ban isn’t getting him down. In fact, Robert ‘Bob’ Willits said personal attacks he’s received in the form of 400-plus e-mails have done little more than enlighten him about the hateful way in which some people communicate…. Willits started receiving the complaints last week, after news of the library system’s decision to ban comedian Jon Stewart’s ‘America (The Book)’ made national headlines. Within 48 hours of the story circulating, the library board of trustees lifted the ban, citing intense scrutiny from the outside community as a key reason.”
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Literature–Children
Source: AP
American Library Association Gives Awards
From the article, “‘Kira-Kira,’” by Cynthia Kadohata, received the 2005 John Newbery Award at the ALA’s annual meeting at Boston on Monday. The award honors outstanding writing in a book for young people. A 15-member committee of librarians and children’s literature experts selected “Kira-Kira,” said committee head Susan Faust… Another committee gave the Randolph Caldecott Award for illustration to Kevin Henkes for “Kitten’s First Full Moon,” a book for children age 2 to 5 about a kitten who believes the moon is her bowl of milk.”
See Also: Complete List of ALA Award Winners

Briefly
+ Smithsonian Global Sound Collection Will Be Available (via Streaming Audio) to Libraries
+ ProQuest, Factiva to Extend and Expand Distribution to Libraries Worldwide
+ R.R. Bowker Introduces Ulrich’s Resource Linker
+ Australian Content Added to Dialog NewsRoom

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
International Development
Source: United Nations Millennium Project
Just Released: Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals
“We have the opportunity in the coming decade to cut world poverty by half. Billions more people could enjoy the fruits of the global economy. Tens of millions of lives can be saved. The practical solutions exist. The political framework is established. And for the first time, the cost is utterly affordable. Whatever one’s motivation for attacking the crisis of extreme poverty-human rights, religious values, security, fiscal prudence, ideology, the solutions are the same. All that is needed is action. This report recommends the way forward. It outlines a way to attain this bold ambition. It describes how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.” (PDF)
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Air Travel–United States-Statistics
Source: BTS
New, Air Travel Consumer Report–January 2005
The new issue contains statistics about flight delays in the U.S. for a 12-month period ending November 2004.
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Election 2004–E-mail
Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project (via DocuTicker.com)
Email and the 2004 Campaign
“Some 11% of internet users told us in a survey just after the election that they had signed up to receive email newsletters or other online alerts with the latest news about the election.”
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Employment–Benefits–United States
Source: BLS
New, Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2002-2003, Bulletin 2573 (PDF)

Professional Reading Shelf
Library Technology
Source: Emerald
This Week Only: Free Full Text Access to Three Recent Issues of Library Hi Tech
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Information Standards
Source: NISO
The January Issue of the ISO Newsline is Now Online
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National Archives–United States
Spotlight on NARA: Behind the Scenes with NARA’s Exhibits Staff
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Digital Libraries
The January 2005 Issue of D-Lib Magazine is Now Available
Articles include:
+ Building Educational Portals atop Digital Libraries
+ Trend Analysis of the Digital Library Community
+ Understanding Faculty to Improve Content Recruitment for Institutional Repositories
+ Transparent Format Migration of Preserved Web Content

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Health Information–United States–Calendars
Source: National Health Information Center
National Health Observances [U.S.], 2005
Complete document is available here.
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Literature–Author Interviews
Source: The Paris Review
The DNA of Literature
Collection of author interviews from the ’50s forward. Browse alphabetically or chronologically, or search.
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History–Canada
Source: Library and Archives Canada
Two New Resources from Library and Archives Canada website
+ The Kids’ Site of Canadian Settlement
+ Virtual Tour: John A. Macdonald (1815-1891)
“To mark the anniversary of the birth of Sir John A. Macdonald (January 11, 1815), Library and Archives Canada offers a virtual tour about a man whose impact on the history of Canada was significant.”
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Transportation–United States–Statistics
Source: BTS
Just Released, Government Transportation Financial Statistics 2003
“The 2003 report presents the complete dataset and discussion of data coverage, methodology and reliability. The searchable database allows users to generate customized tables. The mapping application allows users to generate customized maps of state and local government revenues and expenditures for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Have You Visited DocuTicker Lately?
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Business Jargon
Source: InfoWorld
BizSpeak for the Geek
“For better or worse, no one says mindshare anymore. Today they say wallet share, although the meanings of the terms would seem to differ. Therefore, we offer this abridged lexicon of trendy business terms — and some that won’t go away — to help you keep your poker face in any boardroom.”
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Academic Integrity–Webliography
Source: Golden Gate University Library
Academic Integrity: A Selected Webliography
Includes links to resources at a variety of institutions of higher learning.
See also: Cheating 101: Internet Paper Mills (Kimbel Library, Coastal Carolina University)

Briefly
+ Engineering Village 2 Introduces Faceted Searching
+ Sirsi Acquires Docutek Information Systems Inc.

Professional Reading Shelf
American Library Association
Live Coverage of the ALA Midwinter Conference in Boston (via PLABlog.Org)

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Weapons of Mass Destruction–China–Database
Source: Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)
China WMD Database
“The China WMD database is the world’s most complete open-source electronic database on Chinese arms control and nonproliferation developments. The database contains hundreds of primary source documents (in both English and Chinese), extensive reference materials, bibliographic information and comprehensive fact sheets. This powerful research tool provides concise and up-to-date analysis of critical issues relating to China, arms control and nonproliferation. Experts and scholars at the Center for Nonproliferation at the Monterey Institute of International Studies created and maintain this database.”

Professional Reading Shelf
Business information
Source: Free Pint
Trends in business information, provision and use
A new article by the editor of VIP and VIP Eye, Pam Foster.
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Newspapers–Digitization Projects
Source: AP
ProQuest Plans to Digitize Boston Globe Archive
The AP reports that the complete Boston Globe archive will be digitized (full text, full image) by ProQuest. You can find a list of the other newspapers that are part of the ProQuest Historical Newspapers program here.

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Tsunami–Asia
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit
Asia’s tsunami: the impact
A new 28-page report from the Economist Intelligence Unit. It’s available free. “Asia’s tsunami: the impact” assesses the political and economic implications of one of the worst natural disasters in decades.”
Summary Direct to Full Text
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Privacy–United States
Source: EPIC
EPIC Presents Privacy Year in Review
“The USA PATRIOT Act. California’s privacy reforms. Data outsourcing. National ID. Internet privacy. EPIC’s Special Alert reviews the top privacy stories of 2004 and shows you the trends to keep an eye on in 2005.”
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Climate–United States–Statistics
Source: NCDC
Just Released, Climate of 2004: Annual Perspective
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Public Opinion Polling
Source: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
Polling 101: The Basics of Public Opinion Research
“This tutorial is intended to offer a simplified glimpse into some of the fundamentals of public opinion polling. Designed for the novice, Polling 101 provides definitions, examples, and explanations that serve to introduce interested students to the field of public opinion research.”

Resources of the Week
By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor
Two totally unrelated but interesting sites for you this week.
1) Business–Country Guides
Source: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Country Guides
Reminiscent of the venerable Ernst & Young “Doing Business In…” guides — downloadable in PDF but somewhat scattered around the Global E&Y site — Deloitte’s Country Guides are conveniently available from a single page. (Select the “Country Guides” link about halfway down on the lefthand side of the page.) Actually, what we have here is three sets of guides:
+ Snapshots — “A concise digest of facts, figures, economic indicators and country tax rates for 60 significant trading countries around the world. The Snapshots are updated annually, they highlight general economic data and country analysis, and are also posted on Deloitte.com.”
+ Business Guides — “This dynamic repository contains valuable information about regulatory, tax and business matters, including the investment climate, labour relations and work force considerations, business regulations, foreign investment and tax rates for major trading nations.”
+ Human Resource Guides — “A companion to the Business Guides, the HR Guides provide helpful information for international human resource and tax professionals and international assignees, including national holidays, visa details, important addresses and web links.”

Simply select the country you’re interested in from any of the three dropdown menus and you’re off and running. According to Deloitte, these guides were produced in cooperation with The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Collections of other business-oriented country guides are available from:
+ Business Information for the Newly Independent States (BISNIS) Country guides for the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, from the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Association. Country guides for a number of eastern European nations are available at a similar Department of Commerce site — Central and Eastern Europe Business Information Center (CEEBIC). See the Trade Information Center for info on other countries.
+ Business.gov offers a variety of links to country data.
+ Country Insights (globalEDGE, Michigan State University)
+ Export.gov Market Research Library
+ HLB International
+ A select few are available from PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
+ WorldBank Doing Business Database (”provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement” across 145 countries)
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2) Intelligence Analysis and Operations
Source: CIA
New, Searchable Database, Studies in Intelligence
This is an “indexed and searchable archive of articles” from a publication called Studies in Intelligence, created by “Intelligence trailblazer Sherman Kent — the ‘father’ of intelligence analysis in America.” The database contains more than 400 articles, covering the time period 1955-1976. A simple navigation area on the left side of the page allows you to access the contents via an Author-Title index, an Analysis Subject index or an Operations Subject index. Alternately, full-text search is available. (You’ll get dumped into a general CIA search page, but you can restrict your search to the Studies in Intelligence database via a dropdown menu.) Content is PDF format.

Professional Reading Shelf
Libraries
Source: USA Today
Gates Foundation gives libraries nearly $11 million
“The philanthropic organization established by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and his wife is giving nearly $11 million to public libraries in 37 states and the District of Columbia to buy computers and software and pay for faster Internet connections.”
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Freedom of Information–United Kingdom–Web Resources
Source: CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals)
Compilation: Freedom of Information Web Resources==

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Newspaper Web Sites–Lists & Rankings
Source: The New York Times
The 10 Most Viewed NYTimes.com Articles in 2004
++
Presidential Inauguration–2005
Source: U.S. Census
Fast Facts: Inauguration Day: 2005
Inaugural firsts and other “fun” facts.

Briefly
+ Innovative Interfaces Partners with RLG to Facilitate RedLightGreen Service