Professional Reading Shelf
Preservation–Audio
Source: WAMU Radio
Listen Online: Preserving The Archive — A Race Against Time (Real Player)
“From Edison cylinders to old 78’s… from reel-to-reel tape to 12-inch vinyl records, cassettes, 8-tracks, CDs and mp3’s… recorded music has taken many forms over the years. And if you work for the Library Of Congress American Folklife Center, it’s your job to make sure the important recordings in the collection all make the transition into the digital age. Joining us today to talk about the Library’s audio archive are Michael Taft, Head of the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center… and Matthew Barton, an Audio Engineer who specializes in preserving old recordings.” The segment can also be heard via Windows Media Player.
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Public Librarians–United Kingdom
Source: MLA
Public libraries set to face serious staff shortage
“Just as public libraries are boosting their visitor numbers with an increase of more than 14 million visits last year, the service faces a new challenge. A survey carried out by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) shows that nearly a third of library staff in England will retire in the next 10 years – and library authorities are beginning to feel the pinch, with 59% saying they already have difficulty filling vacancies.”
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Libraries–Marketing–Database
Source: Marketing in library and information services: international perspectives (via E-LIS)
An IFLA Management & Marketing Section Project: The MatPromo Database
“The MatPromo database was created in October 2002 as a project of IFLA’s Management & Marketing Section. The objective of the project consists of creating a database of images of objects and documents designed for promoting all kinds of libraries in any country. The images are described and are accessible through a user-friendly interface for searching internationally. The aim of the database is to facilitate ideas for promotional campaigns of library services. The database is hosted on the project server of the University of Barcelona’s Department of Library and Information Science (http://bidoc.ub.es/pub/matpromo/) and a link to it is made available from the web of IFLA’s Management & Marketing Section (http://www.ifla.org/VII/s34/). This article attempts to introduce MatPromo and explain its technical characteristics, content, and usefulness for librarians around the world.”
Full Paper (PDF; 160 KB)

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Immigration–United States–Statistics
Source: Transactional Records Clearinghouse (Syracuse University)
Just Released, Prosecution of Immigration Cases Surge in U.S.
“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recommended the prosecution of 65% more immigration cases in FY 2004 than it did in the previous year, according to authoritative Justice Department data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).”
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Health Plans–United States–Ratings
Source: National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
Health Plan Report Card
“NCQA’s Health Plan Report Card has results on hundreds of health plans that care for commercially insured individuals and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. You can create a customized Report Card that shows results for the health plan or plans you want to know about.”
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North Korea
Source: National Security Archive (via DocuTicker)
North Korea and the United States: Declassified Documents from the Bush I and Clinton Administrations
“Next week, if all goes according to plan, the United States will resume six-party talks with North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia and host nation China on the issue of North Korea’s nuclear program. The parties are trying to reach agreement on a set of principles to guide negotiations that will lead to the dismantling of Pyongyang?s nuclear program and the threat it poses of a destabilizing North Korean nuclear weapons arsenal. This will be the fifth round of these talks….To provide additional background for the upcoming resumption of the 6-Power Talks, the Archive is today posting a collection of documents dating from the first Bush and Clinton administrations that illustrate how the themes, issues and challenges seen in the current talks have echoed through prior policy discussions.”
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Public Schools–United States–Public Opinion
Source: Phi Delta Kappa
New! The 37th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools
From press release (PDF; 128 KB): “A nationwide survey released today reports that an increasing number of Americans say they know a fair amount about the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. But the more they know about it, the less they like it. According to the 37th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public?s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, the public likes NCLB?s goals but rejects the strategies used to implement those goals. The concern rises to the level where, if a large number of schools fail to make the mandated adequate yearly progress, the public is at least as likely to blame the law as it is to blame the school.” (via DocuTicker)
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Vehicle Theft–United States
Source: National Crime Insurance Bureau (NCIB)
New! The NICB Vehicle Theft Study
“The NICB Vehicle Theft Study contains vehicle theft rates and rankings for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the United States from 2002 through 2004…. Click on your selected state below for MSA rankings.” (via DocuTicker)
See also: NICB Annual Hot Spots Report

Search Briefs
+ Image Databases to Find “Visually Similar” Imagery and More
+ Research: Automatically Classifying the Mood of Blog Posts

Briefly
EBSCO Creates International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center

Briefly
EBSCO Creates International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center

Professional Reading Shelf
Academic Libraries
Source: The Indiana Statesman (Indiana St. University)
Library a valuable resource for students
It’s always interesting to read how the college press writes about unversity libraries. This article focuses on the Library Extravaganza scheduled for Sept. 8th at ISU’s Cunningham Memorial Library.
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Copyright–United States–Guides
Source: LLRX.com
Copyright and Licensing Digital Materials — A Resource Guide
A new guide compiled and written by Therese A. Clarke Arado, Reference and Instructional Services Librarian and Assistant Professor at the Northern Illinois University.
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Government Databases–United States
Source: GCN
GSA issues RFI for database to share terrorism information
“The General Services Administration is asking industry to provide a governmentwide, searchable database of information, organizations, services and personnel related to each agency?s mission in the war on terrorism. GSA released a request for information earlier this month…”
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Public Libraries–United Kingdom
Source: MLA
MLA/UfI UK online centres public libraries ICT challenge fund
“UFI and MLA are continuing to develop their strategic partnership by announcing a UK online centres 750,000 pounds Challenge Fund for ICT innovation in English public libraries. The key theme for the Challenge Fund is improving access to ICT for local communities. The focus will be on projects that explore innovative ways of using ICT to provide opportunities for user engagement, progression into learning, or take up of e-government services and other e-services, and for work with priority and target groups.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Colleges–Rankings
Source: The Princeton Review
Just Released, Best 361 College Rankings
From press release: “According to a survey by The Princeton Review that asked 110,000 students at 361 colleges to rate their schools and report on their campus experiences, Reed College (Portland OR) has the best academics. It also has the least religious students. Bowdoin College (Brunswick ME) serves up the best campus food and Loyola College (Baltimore MD) has the best dorms. Princeton Univ. (Princeton NJ) is the best administered school and the one at which students are happiest with their financial aid packages.”
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Health–Web Resources
Source: MedlinePlus
New Resource Compilations
+ MedlinePlus: Avian Influenza
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Internet Access–United Kingdom–Statistics
Source: National Statistics Office
Internet Access: 13.1 million households on-line
Chart and background info available.
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Crime–United States–Statistics–Databases
Source: BJS
Update: National, State, and local Uniform Crime Reporting data have been updated through 2003 in Crime and Justice Data Online

Briefly
Bowker Partners with Libraries for Implementation of New ISBN-13 Standard
Note: Bowker is releasing a new web site to help with the transition. See: www.bowkersupport.com/isbn13/

Search Briefs
+ Ask Jeeves Unleashes More Smart Answers
Very useful at the reference desk. The library community should do what we can to see if Ask Jeeves is interested in working with us in developing more Smart Answers!
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+ Google Launches IM Service
Note: The article includes a comparison chart (AOL, MSN, Yahoo) of basic IM features.
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+ Share Your Search Results with Jeteye

Freebies
Thomson Gale Makes Free Resources Available to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
“September 15 through October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month and Thomson Gale, part of The Thomson Corporation, has a free Web site (www.gale.com/hispanicheritage) packed with history, biographies, literature and activities to help families and students celebrate the month.”

Professional Reading Shelf
DOI
OpenURL
Source: IWR
CrossRef launches URL and text search
“CrossRef has also launched www.crossref.org/guestquery a DOI text interface that enables users to search DOI tagged content by searching by author, article title, journal, page or year of publication.”
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Genealogy–UK–Databases
Source: National Archives, UK
QinetiQ sells 1901 Census venture to Friends Reunited for �3.3 million
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Internet–Canada
Source: Canada.com
Censoring the Internet in schools: is it going too far?
“It’s second nature for kids to plug into technology — heading online to chat with friends, play games and research their homework.”
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Public Libraries–Hawaii
Source: Honolulu Advertiser
State looking for 22 librarians
Librarians in paradise! “The Hawai’i State Public Library system is looking for 22 men and women to fill vacancies throughout the statewide system on six islands.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
History–United States–Images
Source: LC
Coming from American Memory Project on Wed.: Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman’s Party
“In celebration of the 85th anniversary of women’s right to vote in the United States, the Library of Congress is releasing online “Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman’s Party,” available beginning Aug. 24 at this presentation is a selection of 448 of the approximately 2,650 photographs in the Records of the National Woman’s Party, housed in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.
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Zimbabwe
Source: House of Commons Libary, UK
New Research Report, Zimbabwe after the 2005 parliamentary election
54 pages; PDF.
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Coral Reefs–United States
Source: NOAA, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (via DocuTicker)
Recently Released, The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: 2005
“This report is the second in a series of national coral reef ecosystem status reports. The initial report, The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: 2002 (Turgeon et al., 2002), is similar to this report in that it incorporates the work of many scientists and managers from across the world. The first report provided a broad introduction to and a preliminary look at the status of coral reef ecosystems and was based primarily on qualitative information from the contributing authors. The 2005 report differs from its predecessor in that it is based primarily on the most recent quantitative monitoring data available, rather than qualitative assessments of ecosystem conditions.”
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College Stores–United States–Statistics
Source: National Association of College Stores (NACS)
NACS: Industry Information
Includes research and statistics, FAQs on textbooks and course materials, publications, links to related associations and a section on copyright. Some materials in PDF format.
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September 11
Source: National Geographic
Companion Website to Inside 9/11 Documentary
Includes video archive of interviews, timeline, and more.

Briefly
LexisNexis Launches Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement Solution

Beta Testers Needed
The Virtual Chase Alert Begins Beta Testing Mobile Version
Our friend and colleague, Genie Tyburski, has informed us that The Virtual Chase Alert (a daily essential update) is now formally testing a version for mobile web users. If you would like to test the service and report back to GT as a beta tester, the mobile version of TVC Alert is available here.

Professional Reading Shelf
Libraries–Australia
Source: NEWS.com.au
Library porn crackdown
“The Tasmanian Government will review controls being used by libraries to restrict access to internet pornography. Education Minister Paula Wriedt called for the review in response to claims in the Sunday Tasmanian last week that people were accessing pornography on computers in the State Library. ‘A formal review of filtering policies within the State Library and Online Access Centres will be undertaken to give this matter proper consideration,’ Ms Wriedt said.”
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MARC
Source: Library of Congress
Understanding MARC Authority Records: Machine-Readable Cataloging
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Biotechnology Information
Source: NCBI
Public Collections of DNA and RNA Sequence Reach 100 Gigabases

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Toxic Chemicals–United States–Databases
Source: NLM
New Version of TOXMAP Available
“TOXMAP is an interactive web site from the National Library of Medicine that shows the amount and location of reported toxic chemicals released into the environment on maps of the United States. TOXMAP allows users to visually explore information about releases of toxic chemicals by industrial facilities around the United States as reported annually to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).”
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Schools–United States–Statistics
Source: US Census
Fast Facts: Back to School 2005
Interesting! Fun! Fast facts about schools and students in the US. Including:
+ Amount Spent on Back-to-School Shopping–$6.0 billion.
+ The number of students in the US–74.9 million.
+ Projected percentage of elementary and high school students enrolled in private schools this fall–12%.
+ Percentage of the 2003 high school graduating class that went directly to college–64%.
Many more!
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Soil Maps–United States
Source: Agriculture.com
Soil survey maps now available online for most US counties
“Soil survey maps have long been printed and bound into soil survey books free for the asking at local USDA Service Centers, NRCS field offices and public libraries. But they’re being slowly phased out. That’s because, starting today, the USDA Web Soil Survey site will provide secure public access to the national soils information system.” (via AllPointsBlog)
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Firearms–United States–Statistics
Source: BJS
Just Released, Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2004
“Provides an overview of the firearm check procedures in each State and State interaction with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), operated by the FBI. The report summarizes issues about State procedures, including persons prohibited from purchasing firearms, restoration of rights of purchase to prohibited persons, permits, prohibited firearms, waiting periods, fees, and appeals. Supplemental tables contain data on 2003 applications to purchase firearms and rejections, as well as tabular presentations of State-by-State responses.”

Search Briefs
+ New Version of Google Desktop Search Application Released, Introduction of Google Sidebar
+ The new Trovando multi purpose search service (via Pandia)

Professional Reading Shelf
Academic Libraries–Rare Documents
Source: AFP
Original Einstein documents found in university library
“Imagine visiting your local library and stumbling upon an original manuscript by scientific genius Albert Einstein. Well, that’s exactly what happened to a Dutch student recently.”
See Also: More about the manuscript in Einstein’s handwriting (dated December 1924), with editorial markup can be seen on the Einstein Archive Institut-Lorenz
Thanks to Walter H. for the “See Also” link.
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Librarians
Source: OCLC/IFLA
IFLA/OCLC Fellows for 2006 Named

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Business–United States
Corporate Counsel–United States–Lists & Rankings
Source: Law.com
Who Counsels Who (Registration Required)
Lists names of primary outside counsel for many large US companies.
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529 College Savings Plans–Lists & Ranking
Source: Money Magazine
Ultimate College Guide 2005: Best 529s
“A state 529 college savings plan is best described as a 401(k) for college, a simple plan that lets you put aside money regularly, invest in mutual funds and watch the earnings grow tax-free. In the table below you can see MONEY’s picks for best plans overall and for in-state residents. Listed are the three things you need to know about each plan: Do I get a tax break? Where can I buy it? and What are the expenses?”

Professional Reading Shelf
National Library of Scotland–Preservation
Source: NLS
Scotland’s historic newspapers saved for the nation
“NEWSPLAN SCOTLAND, an ambitious campaign to preserve almost 4 million pages of Scotland’s endangered historic newspapers from the period 1700-1950, led by the National Library of Scotland (NLS), has now been completed.”