Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Congressional Research Service
A Selection of New/Recently Updated CRS Reports
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists and National Library for the Environment)
+ Tracking Current Federal Legislation and Regulations: A Guide to Basic Sources
+ Information Sharing for Homeland Security: A Brief Overview
+ Military Aviation: Issues and Options for Combating Terrorism and Counterinsurgency
+ China’s Trade with the United States and the World
+ Mercury in the Environment: Sources and Health Risks
+ Chemical Plant Security
–
Hans Christian Andersen–Fairy Tales
Source: Institute of Literature, Media and Cultural Studies (Hans Christian Andersen Center); University of Southern Denmark
The Complete Andersen
“The Complete Andersen is a rather extensive collection of Andersen’s tales — and this is the most comprehensive edition of Andersen’s fairy tales in English (American) on the internet. Collection, translated by Danish actor Jean Hersholt, is searchable (in Danish as well as English).”

Search Briefs
Four New Clients for Vivisimo (via Pittsburgh Business Times)
Note: The University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System is one of the four. Vivismo’s technology is available to the public via Clusty.com.
–
Google Releases New Version of Toolbar (Beta)
–
Science.gov has Plans for an Alert Service
A note on the the federated search/directory site home page mentions that Science.gov alert service is coming soon. Stay tuned.

Professional Reading Shelf
Digital Libraries
The February 2005 Issue of D-Lib Magazine is Now Available
Articles include:
+ A Metadata Search Engine for Digital Language Archives
by Baden Hughes and Amol Kamat, University of Melbourne
+ Concepts and a Design for Fair Use and Privacy in DRM
by Pasi Tyrv�inen, University of Jyv�skyl�, Finland
–
Wikipedia
Source: The Harvard Crimson
Citing Riots
Harvard student and Crimson columnist, Matthew Gline, asks if the Wikipedia and other “online sources” can be “trusted in an academic environment.”
Quick comment: I wonder if the headline writer understands the differences between the many types of material found “on” and “via” the web?
–
Digital Maps
Source: MAGERT
Historical Maps Online
“For 20 years, David Rumsey assembled a collection of more than 150,000 historical maps of the Americas and the world. Motivated by a desire to make his private map collection a free public resource, Rumsey then created an online map library, http://www.davidrumsey.com/, which currently has over 10,000 high resolution images of maps from his collection. He has also built a suite of tools for users to experience and interpret the maps online. These include GIS, which allows users to combine historical maps with modern geospatial data to see change over time.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Tape Recording Laws–United States
Source: Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Can We Tape?
Chart shows “tape recording laws at a glance” for all 50 states. Indicates whether consent of all parties is required, if there are criminal penalities, whether statute allows for civil suits, if a specific hidden camera law exists, and whether there are additional penalities for disclosing or publishing information.
–
U.S. Military Personnel–Locator Services
Source: Embassy of the United States, London UK
Tracing Former Military Personnel In The U.S.
“It is difficult to trace someone in the United States when their whereabouts are completely unknown, as there are no central records of names and addresses available to the public. For those trying to locate former colleagues, friends or relations the following information may be of assistance. When writing to an agency or organization listed below, you should provide as much information as possible about the person you seek. At least the full name, date and place of birth should be given. For military personnel, the rank, serial number and branch of service should also be specified.”
–
Substance Abuse–United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (via DocuTicker.com)
Just Released, State Estimates of Substance Use from the 2002-2003 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health
“This report presents State estimates on substance use or mental illness problems from the combined 2002 and 2003 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUHs), formerly called the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA).”
–
Science–Higher Education–Surveys
Source: The Scientist (Registration Required, Free)
Best Places To Work For Postdocs: 2005
“Each year The Scientist asks postdocs from the United States, Canada, and Europe to reveal how they feel about their jobs, and this year more than 3,500 answered the call.”
–
Microsoft Office–Reviews
Source: PC World
Free Tool Identifies Hidden Data in Office Docs

Web Search Briefs
+ Google’s Scholarly Initiatives
Items about Google Scholar and their library digitization project.
+ More Mobile Access to Yahoo! Local Content: Driving Directions
Cool!

Professional Reading Shelf
Personal Information Management
Source: Seattle Times
UW ponders how to best store and retrieve electronic information
More about the Keeping Found Things Found project at the University of Washington. We’ve posted about it before. Gary offers a few comments about PIM and related “stuff” on the SEW Blog.
–
Censorship–Public Libraries
Source: Houston Chronicle
Houston Texas: Mayor wrote a new page in library history
“It wasn’t unusual for the Houston library to receive a complaint about a sexually explicit book like porn star Jenna Jameson’s autobiography. What was unusual was that the mayor dealt with it personally, according to a Chronicle review of 10 years of library complaints.”
–
Information Industry
The January/February Issue of Research Information is Now Available
Articles include:
+ High-tech business embraces new library technology
+ Tailoring tools — from clothing to patents
A profile of Charles Besson, CEO of Questel Orbit
+ Mobile data could help medicine
+ Portals enable national access
–
Information Industry–LexisNexis
Legal Research
Source: The Virtual Chase
The Devil Is in the Details
Genie Tyburski writes about a technical “glitch” with the LN’s free service, LexisOne.
–
EJournals
Online Databases–Higher Education–United Kingdom
JISC
Source: Public Technology
More online content available to UK academics as NESLi2 has 2nd successful year
“The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has announced that it has secured agreements for 2005 with nine major international publishers via NESLi2, the national electronic journals initiative for further and higher education, funded by JISC. In addition to the renewal of significant agreements with Blackwell Publishing and Oxford University Press, brand new agreements were concluded with AAAS for Science Online, The American Chemical Society, The British Psychological Society, BMJ Publishing Group, Cell Press, The Institute of Physics and Sage. These agreements will mean considerable savings for the education and research communities through the lower cost of journals secured through national negotiations.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Sir Francis Drake–Digitized Collection
Explorers
Source: Library of Congress
Voyages of Sir Frances Drake Are Subject of New Online Presentation
The LC Global Gateway is now home to the The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake. “The Kraus Collection comprises important materials about Drake’s voyages throughout the then Spanish territory of the Americas. It consists of 60 items — 16 manuscripts, 29 books, eight maps and views, and seven medals and portraits. The materials range from 1579 to 1765.”
–
Linus Pauling–Digitized Collection
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.”
–
Military–United States–Statistics
Source: National Archives
Updated Database, Records About Military Goods and Services Provided to Foreign Countries, 1950-2002
Part of the Access to Archival Databases (AAD) System from NARA. “This series, previously titled the Military Assistance Program (MAP) series, provides information about deliveries of material or services for participating countries. Materials include both arms transfer and the sale or transfer of military supplies. Services include military education of individuals from other countries both in United States and abroad. We have recently added data from the 2002 release.”
See Also: Other AAD Databases
–
Employment–United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
EEOC Releases Fiscal 2004 Year-End Data
Statistics from previous years can be found here.

Search Briefs (via the SEW Blog)
+ Video Search: Say Hello to Annodex from Australia
+ Findory Adds Favorites
+ Google and Its Betas

Professional Reading Shelf
Public Libraries–UK–Most Borrowed Books
Source: Public Lending Right (UK)
Public Lending Right Data Reveals Jacqueline Wilson Is Still the Borrowers’ Choice
“Figures released today by Public Lending Right confirm that in 2003-2004, books by children’s writer Jacqueline Wilson were borrowed over 2 million times from public libraries, thus ensuring her place as the nation’s most borrowed author for the second year running.”
See: Public Libraries’ Chart Toppers, 2003-2004
–
Censorship–Public Libraries–Lists and Rankings
Source: ALA
Most Challenged Book List 2004
“Robert Cormier’s “The Chocolate War” tops the list of most challenged books of 2004, according to the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom.”
See Also: Porn Star’s Book Returns To Houston Library Shelves
–
National Archives–United States
Source: SAA
Dr. Allen Weinstein Confirmed as Archivist of the United States

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Art Exhibits–United States
Satellite Images
Source: Space Imaging
Just Released, Satellite Image of The Gates Project in NYC’s Central Park
“The image was taken Saturday, Feb. 12, 2005, the same day that The Gates were unfurled. At a cost of $20 Million, The Gates was conceived by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The image shows all of Central Park the gates geometrically placed throughout the park…Space Imaging decided to commemorate this environmental art exhibit by tasking its IKONOS to share its bird’s eye view of the 7,500 gates with saffron-colored fabric panels. From 423 miles in space moving over the Earth in a north-to-south orbit at 17,000 mph, this perspective showcases the size and scope of 23-mile-long The Gates project.”
–
Business–United States–Lists & Rankings
Venture Capitalists
Source: Forbes
The Midas List: Top Dealmakers 2005
“The Midas List considers all technology and life sciences deals that have gone public or been acquired in the past five years. A candidate’s rank is determined by the size and frequency of his or her deals.”
–
Musical Instruments–Pathfinders
Source: Sibley Library, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester
Reference Web Guides (Instruments)
Online guides “to help you find information about, and music for” various musical instruments. Includes call numbers, subject headings, bibliography, periodicals, Internet resources.
–
Australia
Source: House of Commons Library
Two New Research Briefs
+ Australia’s Uranium after Kyoto
+ Whistleblowing in Australia–transparency, accountability — but above all, the truth

Briefly
+ WilsonWeb Databases Now Feature Automatic Link to Scirus Search
+ Announcing FamPat, a New International Patent Database from Questel Orbit (via Info Today)

Professional Reading Shelf
NASA–Database
Source: Spaceflight Now
NASA’s data could fill Library of Congress 300 times
“The largest scientific data system on the planet, the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), is providing users around the world with unprecedented access to huge amounts of important information about the Earth’s environment. Five years after the launch of the flagship satellite, Terra, the current volume of available data is 4 petabytes (4 followed by 15 zeros), the equivalent of a DVD movie with a running time of more than 160 years or the equivalent of enough information to fill the Library of Congress 300 times.”
–
Public Libraries–Philadelphia
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
Protest draws hundreds at library
“‘We are fed up with the latest assault on library services,’ Amy Dougherty, executive director of the Friends of the Free Library of Philadelphia, shouted to a cheering crowd. ‘We want books, we want librarians, and we want open libraries, and we want it now!’”
–
Censorship
Source: The Grand Rapids Press
Banned Book Flies Off Shelves
“Author Chris Crutcher is banned temporarily from Grand Rapids Public Schools, but at local libraries, his book ‘Athletic Shorts’ is flying off shelves…. In fact, all 44 copies in the eight-county book-sharing network covered by the Lakeland Library Cooperative were spoken for Saturday, with more people waiting.”
–
Rare Book Collection–Ian Fleming
Source: The Times (UK)
The Man With the Golden Library
“Fleming’s own career in the book business started long before James Bond. As a youth in 1929, almost a quarter of a century before Casino Royale was published, he was attracted by an unlikely item in a Mayfair bookshop window — D. H. Lawrence’s controversial volume of poems, Pansies.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Music and Musicians–Pronunciation
Source: WOI Radio, Iowa State University
Pronouncing Dictionary of Music and Musicians
“Pronouncing the titles of classical music and the names of composers and performers is a daunting task for many Americans because so many of the words are foreign to us…. This dictionary provides some help in the form of pronunciations by a phonetic system devised by E. Douglas Brown of the staff of WOI Radio at Iowa State University. Many of the pronunciations in the dictionary were derived from tape-recorded pronunciations made by foreign nationals who were speaking their respective native languages. Prepared primarily for the announcing staff of WOI, the dictionary has been found useful by them and is being made freely available to others who may find it of value. Although imperfect and far from complete, the dictionary, with its 30,000 entries, is the most extensive of its type now available.”
–
U.S. Military–Food
Source: Defense Logistics Agency
Operational Rations: Meal, Ready to Eat
“The Meal, Ready-To-Eat (MRE) is designed to sustain an individual engaged in heavy activity such as military training or during actual military operations when normal food service facilities are not available. The MRE is a totally self-contained operational ration consisting of a full meal packed in a flexible meal bag. The full bag is lightweight and fits easily into military field clothing pockets. Each meal bag contains an entree and a variety of other components as may be seen in the table of Menus.” Everything you wanted to know about MREs.
See also: MRE Taste Test (Airman Magazine)
–
Erma Bombeck–Online Museum
Source: University of Dayton
ErmaMuseum.org
“Erma Bombeck graduated from the University of Dayton in 1949 with a degree in English and never forgot that she got her start as a writer at UD. For three decades, she celebrated the extraordinary in the ordinary and chronicled life’s absurdities in a syndicated column carried by 700 newspapers prior to her death of kidney disease in 1996. She credited the University of Dayton with preparing her for life and work, for making her believe she could write.” Includes her writing, a biography, photos.

Information Literacy
Source: The New York Times
Teaching Students to Swim in the Online Sea
If this is the info age, shouldn’t teaching the skills to access (searching and finding) and then judging information be paramount? We think so. From the NYT article, “Clearly, ‘computer skills’ are not enough. A teacher of Scandinavian literature at Berkeley recently described how students used the Web to research a paper on the Vikings: ‘They’re Berkeley students, so, of course, they have the sense to restrict their searches to ‘vikings NOT minnesota.’ But they’re perfectly willing to believe a Web site that describes early Viking settlements in Oklahoma…Up to now, librarians have taken the lead in developing information literacy standards and curriculums. There’s a certain paradox in that, because a lot of people assumed that the digital age would require neither libraries nor librarians. But today, students have only limited contact with librarians, particularly because they do most of their online information-seeking at home or in the dorm. More important, leaving information literacy to librarians alone suggests a failure to understand the scope of the problem.”

Professional Reading Shelf
PubMed
Alert Tools
Source: NLM Technical Bulletin
New Tools for the PubMed Researcher: My NCBI Replaces the Cubby: Includes Automatic E-mailing of Search Updates and Filters
The PubMed Cubby has been replaced by My NCBI. My NCBI features include:
+ Saved Searches: Similar to the Cubby stored search feature, you can save search strategies in order to generate updates — including automatic e-mail updates.
+ Filters: Group your retrieval by topics of interest to you. You can also add an icon to the filters with links to resources provided by outside organizations.
See Also: PubCrawler, PubMed Alerts via E-Mail
See Also: HubMed, PubMed Alerts via RSS

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Consumer Resources–United States
Source: Federal Citizen Information Center
Just Released, 2005 Consumer Action Handbook
“Not only is it the same, helpful guide with listings of contacts for consumers and advice on consumer problems and complaints, but we have added some new features: easy to use navigation to consumer topics (including some new ones), a new state resources page, and a consumer news and feature links section.” Order a print copy (free) here.
–
Airport Security–United States
Source: Transportation Security Administration
Security Checkpoint Wait Times
“As a customer service initiative, TSA is providing security checkpoint wait time information to assist travelers in planning for their next flight. The wait times are historical so please note actual wait time may vary depending on factors including weather delays which result in increased passenger levels.” Choose a state from the dropdown menu, click “submit” and then choose the airport, day of the week and time period from the next three dropdown menus. Click “submit”. You’ll see average and maximum wait times over a five-hour span for the different terminals. There’s also a link to the airport’s home page.

Professional Reading Shelf
Digital Library Federation
Source: DLF
Katherine Kott Named Aquifer Director
Katherine Kott has been named director of the Digital Library Federation’s Aquifer initiative. Her appointment became effective January 1, 2005. Kott comes to the DLF from Stanford University Libraries, where she was head of cataloging and metadata services. As Aquifer director, she will continue to work from Stanford. Aquifer is an initiative of the DLF that will support research, teaching, and learning with high-quality online special collections and distinctive information services. It will leverage extant digital collections, institutional capacities, curatorial expertise, and library services to benefit scholarly communities. Eleven DLF member libraries are currently participating in Aquifer. Aquifer’s products and services will be shared freely with other DLF participants and with the library community at large.”
See Also: Direct to Aquifer Initiative Home Page
–
Librarians
Catalogers
Source: The New York Times
A Bibliophile, 3,600 Friends and a System
Soft-voiced and carefully spoken, Kathie Coblentz displays the studious demeanor you would expect from someone who has been cataloging materials at the New York Public Library for 36 years. But browse her home library, which she estimates at 3,600 volumes, and you will find a lampoon of library science’s organizational schemes..”Your system doesn’t have to be logical, it just has to work for you,” said Ms. Coblentz, the author of “The New York Public Library Guide to Organizing a Home Library” (Running Press, 2003). Those who can’t see their walls — or floors or tabletops — can consider that advice encouraging.”
–
MedlinePlus
Source: NLM
Florida Physicians to Write Prescriptions for Patient Information

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Documents in the News–September 11th
Source: National Security Archive (via DocuTicker.com)
Just Released, 9/11 Commission Staff Report on FAA Failings Published on Web
“As a result of a Freedom of Information Act appeal filed by the National Security Archive, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) corrected its October 2004 blunder of withholding the names and numbers of aviation warnings known as Information Circulars that were widely cited and quoted in the best-selling 9/11 Commission Report.”
See Also: Direct to Memo (Full Text, 120 pages; PDF)
–
Laws–United States–Databases
Source: GPO
New on GPO Access, Public and Private Laws, 109th Congress
–
Health–Antidepressant Medication–Children
Source: National Institute of Mental Health
Just released: Antidepressant Medications for Children and Adolescents: Information for Parents and Caregivers
“Research has shown that, as in adults, depression in children and adolescents can be treated. In particular, antidepressant medications — called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) because they specifically target the neurotransmitter serotonin — have been shown to be of benefit to children and adolescents with major depressive disorder. Certain types of psychological therapies have also been shown to be beneficial. In those with moderate to severe depression they are especially useful when combined with medication. Our knowledge of antidepressant treatments in youth, though growing substantially, remains limited when compared with what we know about treatment of depression in adults.”

Briefly
+ Elsevier’s Scopus bags 50th licence (via IWR)
+ Thomson Reports Revenues up 9% and Earnings Per Share up 15% in 2004

Resources of the Week
by Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor
Variety is indeed the spice of life, and we have a couple of completely different databases for you to explore this week.
1) Postsecondary Education–Accreditation
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education
Postsecondary Educational Institutions and Programs Accredited by Accrediting Agencies and State Approval Agencies Recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education
“The database lists approximately 6,900 postsecondary educational institutions and programs, each of which is accredited by an accrediting agency or state approval agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as a ‘reliable authority as to the quality of postsecondary education’ within the meaning of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA).” Click the link at the bottom of the page that says Institutional accreditation system, and you are off and running.

You’ll see a multi-faceted search form that offers you a variety of options. If you just want to see if a particular institution is accredited, simply type its name in the box provided and press or click the search button. Your results page will list the name of the institution and its city, state and size (if available); click on the name to see the accreditations.

The options get a little more interesting as you make your way down the search page. The second dropdown menu allows you to choose from among a list of “Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies” to generate a results list of postsecondary institutions accredited by that agency. Choose multiple agencies by holding down the control key as you click the ones you want. This could be useful, for instance, if you wanted to find schools offering a program of study accredited by the American College of Nurse-Midwives. On the results page, the schools are listed in alphabetical order; you can sort by city, state or size by clicking on the column headings.

The other dropdown menus on the page allow you to narrow your search further, depending on your needs. Use them to choose a regional accrediting agency (e.g., the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools), a geographic region or state, and/or a type of institution (e.g., public, private, two year, four year, etc.). To really narrow things down geographically, type a city name in the space provided. There’s even a dropdown menu to let you search by institution size, say, if you were only interested in attending a smaller school.

According to the website, “The database is compiled entirely from publicly available information obtained by the U.S. Department of Education, as of the above date (January 2005), from recognized accrediting agencies and state approval agencies.” No guarantees are made as to its completeness, currency or accuracy, and the department recommended that “additional sources of qualitative information be consulted.”

A Wired News article says the database was created “in response to calls for action from Congress in 2004 following revelations about high-level government officials holding questionable degrees and concerns that diploma mills are using the internet to deceive would-be students.”
–
2) Disability Statistics–United States
Source: Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Program on Employment and Disability
Disability Statistics.org
“The DisabilityStatistics.org web site condenses several data sources into a single, user-friendly, accessible, Internet resource. It also provides essential background information on key issues related to disability statistics.” The data here emanates from the Cornell Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Economic Research on Employment Policy for People with Disabilities (RRTC), and includes “a large volume of national statistics on the occurrence and prevalence of disability and the employment, income, and poverty status of people with disabilities. These statistics were often calculated over many years, across states, by type of disability and/or across demographic characteristics.”

Users of the database may register or log in as “guest.” Then you choose a general topic; right now, two are available: Prevalance (”The percentage or number of persons reporting disabilities”) and Employment (”The percentage or number of persons who are employed”). In both cases, you are presented with a form that allows you to slice and dice data (e.g., by gender, geographically, time frame), and specify whether you want to see the data in bar chart or line graph format. You can also generate comparisons by gender and location and, additionally for the Employment topic, disability.

Statistics are “calculated by the Cornell University Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (Cornell RRTC) using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), which is conducted by the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” The site indicates that three additional topics are forthcoming: Income, Social Security Participation and Demographics.
Many thanks to Stuart Basefsky, a Cornell University librarian and Editor of the IWS Documented News Service, for letting us know about this new database.