Professional Reading Shelf
Census–United Kingdom–Digitization Projects
Source: JISC
Interview: Putting 150 years of census back on the map
“We find out more in an interview with Matthew Woollard and Jenny Ball, Project Director and Project Manager respectively of the Online Historical Population Reports Project. Matthew and Jenny explain how data, much of it previously hidden away in books and microforms at institutions and departments around the UK, is being brought to life through funding provided by JISC’s multi-million pound CSR2 Digitisation Programme.”
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Libraries and Librarians
Source: CILIP
The March Issue of CILIP’s Library + Information Update is Now Online
Articles Include:
+ Recovering from disaster — the loss of Edinburgh’s AI Library
+ Phil Bradley’s Internet Q & A
+ Foundation degrees: FE and HE working together
+ Peer review: learning from critical friends
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Libraries and Librarians
Source: Council on Library and Information Resources
The March/April Edition of CLIR Issues is Now Online
Articles Include:
+ New Partnerships for Digital Preservation by Abby Smith
+ CLIR Seeks Input on New Strategic Plan by Nancy Davenport

Conferences
Live “Blog” Coverage from the NFAIS Conference on the InfoToday Blog
NFAIS = National Federation of Abstracting and Indexing Services

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Women–United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Census
A Collection of Facts About Women in the United States
Lots of statistics to help celebrate Women’s History Month.
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Elections–Australia
Source: Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Australia
Just Released, Federal election results 1949-2004
4.5 MB; PDF; 81 pages.
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Vehicle Theft–United States
Source: National Insurance Crime Bureau
Hot Wheels: Now You See Them, Now You Don’t
“The nation’s motor vehicle thieves continue to find the most popular automobiles as their primary targets for feeding the underground need for replacement parts and for export to foreign countries. Hot Wheels, the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s companion study to its annual Hot Spots auto theft report, takes a look at the same data reported to the National Crime Information Center and determines the vehicle make, model, and model year most reported stolen in 2003.”
See: What Are the Top Ten Stolen Vehicles in Your State (interactive map)

Web Search Briefs
+ Multimedia Search: Blinkx To Make Movie Trailers Keyword Searchable
+ Northern Light Adds Market Intelligence Centers (via Information Today)

Professional Reading Shelf
Education–Net Generation
Source: EDUCAUSE
Educating the Net Generation
“The Net Generation has grown up with information technology. The aptitudes, attitudes, expectations, and learning styles of Net Gen students reflect the environment in which they were raised — one that is decidedly different from that which existed when faculty and administrators were growing up. This collection explores the Net Gen and the implications for institutions in areas such as teaching, service, learning space design, faculty development, and curriculum. Contributions by educators and students are included.” E-book; sections downloadable in HTML or PDF, or download entire book in PDF (4.5 MB).

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Hockey–Online Exhibitions
Source: Library and Archives Canada
Hockey Is Alive and Well at Library and Archives Canada!
“Backcheck: A Hockey Retrospective explores the history and development of hockey using English and French language newspaper articles, rare photos and manuscripts, based on material from Library and Archives Canada’s collections. The website also contains valuable information for researchers and hockey buffs. There is also a parallel site, Backcheck: Hockey for Kids, geared to a younger audience and featuring curriculum tie-ins and classroom activities with a hockey theme…”
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Best of the ResourceShelf (From 6/2003)
Awards–Searchable Databases
Source: AMPAS
It’s A Wonderful Search for Oscar! The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Reintroduces Academy Awards Database
From the announcement, Search by nominee name; film title; song title; award category or year, alone or in combination. Results can be sorted, displayed and printed in multiple ways…The database had been unavailable while navigational and presentation difficulties in the previous search engine were corrected and improved. “The old database contained only the basic information about nominees and winners,” said Academy Executive Administrator Ric Robertson. “So while all the data was correct, it was only searchable by keyword and had limited and often inadequate capabilities for sorting and displaying search results.” This complete historical record of the Academy’s 75-year-old Awards competition lists some 6,500 people, almost 600 companies and countries and nearly 13,600 nominees (because many of the 6,500 people appear multiple times). Over the years there have been more than 9,000 nominations in 4,000 films…Librarians Libby Wertin and Lucia Schultz were the principal architects of the database’s features, with Information Systems Coordinator Vionette Sellars providing the technical coordination with Solus Development, which provided the actual programming. It took Wertin, assisted by Schultz, over two years to gather information from Academy Historian Patrick Stockstill’s printed nominations resource books and create a completely restructured database. “Ours is the only site where Academy Awards data is guaranteed to be correct,” Wertin said. That guarantee is not to be taken lightly, she added, “taking into account 75 years of changing award rules and the challenge of correctly reflecting the changes in the presentation of the data while still allowing it to be searched comprehensively.
See Also: Resources for the 77th Academy Awards (2/27/05)
Source: AMPAS
77th Academy Awards Nominations Press Kit
Images of nominees, fact sheets and more.
77th Academy Awards Press Kit

Briefly
Three New Employment Databases
+ WorkZoo
E-Mail alerts available. Check out the cool job maps.
+ Indeed.com
Search multiple job databases simultaneously.
+ Feedster Job Search

Professional Reading Shelf
Publishing Industry–United States–Statistics
Source: American Association of Publishers
Book Publishing Industry Net Sales Totaled $23.7 Billion in 2004
“Net sales for the entire United States publishing industry are estimated to have increased by 1.3 percent from 2003 to 2004 to a grand total of $23.72 billion, according to figures just released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP). Overall, trade sales rose 1.9 percent, with sales of $5.16 billion. Adult trade hardbound gained 6.3 percent ($2.61 billion), while paperbound sales were also up 2.8 percent ($1.51 billion). Juvenile hardbound sales were down 16.7 percent ($581 million), however, paperbound sales were up 3.8 percent with sales of $465.6 million.”
Additional sales data (PDF; 177 KB)
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Public Libraries–United States
Three Items in this Roundup
Source: Quad-City Times
Library will not display warning
“Bettendorf Public Library Director Faye Clow faced what she called a ‘terrible choice’ when asked by the Quad-City chapter of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union to put up warning signs near library materials.”
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Source: Ft. Bragg Advocate-News
Banned from thought: Public libraries protect citizens intellectual freedom
“Public libraries play a unique role in the preservation of democracy. They were established to provide an open, non-judgmental institution where individuals can pursue personal interests and gain an understanding of diverse opinions.” (via DrWeb)
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Source: Berkeley Daily Planet
The Library Defends its Principles: Privacy, Freedom, Access
A commentary by Laura Anderson, president of the Berkeley Public Library Board of Trustees. From the commentary, “Public libraries in the United States stand on three principles: The first is patron confidentiality, the idea that every one may use the library in privacy, that everything you read is personal and private. The second is intellectual freedom, the idea that you may read, view and listen broadly: that all ideas should be available to discuss and to learn from, even those which are repugnant to society as a whole. The third principle is equal access to information.”

Web Search Briefs
+ Useful: Search Preview from AOL Search

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Media Formats/Duplication–Glossary
Source: AfterDawn.com
Glossary
“Do you need to know what exactly do terms like XVCD, Overlay, Dolby Digital, DivX , etc., mean? Simply check out AfterDawn.com’s glossary of terms….” Also here: extensive collection of guides and articles.

Professional Reading Shelf
Museums–Digitization Projects
Source: Chicago Tribune
Old shows never die, they digitize
“The Museum of Broadcast Communications [in Chicago] is digitizing its extensive collection of radio and TV programs for visitors and Internet use.”
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Special Libraries Association
SLA Announces 2005 Award Winners
Kudos and congrats to everyone!

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
E-Commerce–United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Census
Just Released, Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales 4th Quarter 2004
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Linus Pauling–Online Exhibition
Source: Oregon State University Libraries
Linus Pauling and the Nature of the Chemical Bond: A Documentary History
“Utilizing over 800 scanned documents, photographs, audio clips and video excerpts, this website narrates the incredible achievement of Linus Pauling and others in the discovery of the nature of the chemical bond. Scattered throughout the project are images of a number of very important and extremely rare items, most of which are held within The Valley Library’s Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers, and many of which have not been previously displayed. It is expected that this website will serve as a primary reference point for individuals interested in the history of chemical bond.”
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Astronomy–Thesaurus
Source: Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University
The Astronomy Thesaurus
“The main aim in producing this reference work is to try to standardise the terminology in the field of astronomy for the purposes of aiding unambiguous library cataloguing and more precise recall of data from computer databases. The thesaurus is intended for use by astronomy librarians and scientists.” Available in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Extensive help available.
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United States Budget–2005
Source: askSam
askSam Makes Searchable Version of 2005 U.S. Budget Available
Yet another useful tool from askSam. The database along with the askSam reader are free downloads. Search, browse, and analyze the text. Several other databases are also available (free).

Search Briefs (via SEW Blog)
+ AOL Unveils New Local Search Service
+ The Networking Effects of the Web
+ Yahoo! Adds Video Search Tab to Several Local Yahoo! Sites

Briefly
+ ProQuest Will Digitize Full Run of the British House of Commons Parliamentary Papers from 1801 to 1900

Resources of the Week
By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor
A bit of self-indulgence from your ResourceShelf deputy editor this time around…but I know I’m not the only one whose heart is beating a little bit faster this week because Major League Baseball spring training is underway. So here are a couple of excellent baseball resources for all you fans out there.
1) Baseball–History
Source: MLB.com
History of the Game: Doubleday to Present Day
Every fan knows that the MLB.com site runs deep with rich content; we direct your attention here to the Baseball History section. Resources here include:
+ Historical statistics: Settle that barroom wager right here, right now. Forms with a variety of options — radio buttons, dropdown menus — allow you to extract such information as Historical Player Stats, Historical Leaders (e.g., hitting, pitching), Historical Team Stats, and Earlier Franchises (e.g., defunct teams and leagues).
+ This Week in Baseball History: Check the bottom half of the page for links to archives for each week of the year.
+ Individual team histories
+ Awards and Honors: “A listing of past winners of the various MLB annual awards, including MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year.”
+ Negro Leagues Legacy: “…features on popular players, team histories, photo galleries, multimedia and more.”
+ Milestone Tracker: “…uses a player’s season and career production in various statistical categories to project when they will achieve career and historical milestones.”
+ 100 Years of the World Series

The navigation menu on the left side of each page contains some hidden treasures. Click the “Rare Feats” link and find out such things as which players have hit for the cycle or pitched a perfect game. Read bios of all the baseball commissioners, from Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis to Allan H. “Bud” Selig. Explore the history of interleague play.
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2) Baseball–History
Source: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Baseball History
You’ll find less focus on statistics here and more detailed profiles of historical baseball notables, lists and trivia, and cool photos of archives from the venerable museum. Every time you reload the page, a new photo appears; click on the link provided to learn about it. Also, with each page reload, you get a new “Hall of Fame Quote.” And yes, the expected daily feature, This Day in Baseball History.

Browse through a wealth of feature articles and columns here, including articles by researchers at the Hall of Fame’s Library and Giamatti Research Center. Other interesting things here — scroll and click — include an archive of trivia quizzes, Hall of Fame game capsules, Baseball Writers’ Association of America Hall of Fame Vote Totals from 1936 through 2004, and a link to highlights of and information about Baseball As America, “the first traveling exhibit featuring artifacts from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.”

Professional Reading Shelf
Training
Source: ARL
New, ARL Special Collections Task Force Issues White Paper on Education and Training
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Special Collections
Source: Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
Ten Tips for Getting Close to Rare Materials
“Don’t be fooled by the quiet look of a special collections library. There’s real excitement in tracking down information in old documents…. With a little information and some advance planning, you can be researching with the best of them. Here are ten tips to help you research like a pro at your very first visit.”
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Conservation
Source: Canadian Conservation Institute
New, Guidelines for Dealing with a Mould Infestation in a Heritage Collection

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
London–Portals
Source:
Prototype/Pilot Version, Your London
From Kable’s Government Computing, “The UK capital’s e-government agency is offering directions to the nearest public toilet, among other features, on its prototype e-services portal. A prototype of London’s long awaited e-services portal is soon to be tested with users, according to the capital’s e-government agency. The portal, known as Your London, is now accessible in a pilot version but has not yet been publicly unveiled. The pilot site has a section offering advice for business, information for tourists and a “find your nearest” search engine. The system provides a map with directions to the nearest cash machine, police station, hospital and public toilet.”
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Federal Judges–United States–Databases
Source: Federal Judicial Center
Improved, New Wrinkle for Federal Judges Biographical Database
“A valuable tool for anyone doing research about the nation’s federal judges, past and present, is the Federal Judges Biographical Database. Maintained by the Federal Judicial Center, the database provides information about all judges who have served on the U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, the Supreme Court, and other life-tenured courts since 1789. One problem had been trying to distinguish between current and past judges. That problem was addressed in a new research question added in February 2005: Users now can [limit?] their query to sitting judges.”
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Health Spending–United States–Outlook
Source: Health Affairs/Kaiser Family Foundation (via DocuTicker)
Just Released, Trends: U.S. Health Spending Projections For 2004-2014
See Also: Briefings/Webcasts about the report are also available

Scholarly Publishing–Citation Reports
Source: ISI
+ Top Ten Most Prolific U.S. Universities (All Fields), 1999-2003
Includes info about the “top” paper from each univeristy.
+ Top Ten Most-Cited Journals (All Fields), 1994-2004
+ Science in Israel, 1999-2003
+ U.S. Universities with High Concentrations in Education, 1999-2003

Briefly
SwetsWise Title Bank: The Next Generation

Professional Reading Shelf
OCLC
Source: OCLC Abstracts
OCLC Members Council discusses impact of technology on delivery of library services
From the article, “‘This is an exciting time. I view this as an information renaissance,’ [J. Richard] Madaus [Director, College Center for Library Automation] continued. ‘I think libraries will have a role to help society understand the differences between data, information, knowledge and wisdom.’”
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Information Management
Source: The Age
Fortune awaits as duo cut to the paperchase
“The paperless workplace might still be a pipedream, but two Melbourne men are striving to make it a reality for the building industry.”
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Libraries–Iraq
Source: Christian Science Monitor
The tale of the Iraqi librarian who saved the books she loves
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The Institute of Museum and Library Services
Source: IMLS
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Swears in Eight Members of the National Museum and Library Services Board