Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
GPO–Databases
Source: GPO Access
Updated, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States
2002 papers from the Bush Administration are now available.
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Internet–United States–Statistics
Source: BLS
Methods of Internet job searching
See Also: Job searching via the Internet

Briefly
Mobile Web: 4INFO Releases Directory of Mobile Web Sites and Resources

Professional Reading Shelf
Science and Technology Resources–Open Access
Source: Dr. Harish Chandra, Librarian, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (via E-LIS)
Open Access to Knowledge Resources in Science and Technology: The Role of Digital Reference Service to Facilitate Accessing Scholarly Information
“The present paper discusses the importance, objectives and major developments in open access initiatives. It further examines the specific use of digital information services including the digital reference service. The paper also highlights the various steps taken in this direction at the Central Library of IIT Madras.”
Full Paper (Word; 700 KB)
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Libraries–Sweden
Planet Out via Yahoo! News, Wed, 17 Aug 2005 5:24 PM PDT
Swedish library ‘lends’ out gays, minorities
“A Swedish library is offering to lend out representatives of minority groups, including lesbian and gay people, in a bid to tackle prejudice.”
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Federal Library and Information Center Committee
Fedlink
Source: LJ
Shaffer Named Head of FLICC
“Roberta Shaffer has been named executive director of the Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) and Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) at the Library of Congress (LC). FLICC fosters interagency cooperation and makes recommendations on federal library and information policies, programs, and procedures”

RSS Wrap Up
by Steven Cohen, Contributing Editor
A few RSS resources that may be useful for the information professional.

+ A new study was released this past week which showed that one in 10 blog readers use RSS.

+ RSS Creator can “create an RSS feed for any journal or newspaper indexed by one of our databases, so long as that database is searchable via Metalib — regardless of whether the publisher or database provider makes those feeds available now.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Online Games
Source: GftB
UPDATE: GamesfortheBrain
Addictive! “Play neverending quiz and memory games to train your thinking skills.” Games designed and built by ResourceShelf friend, Philipp Lenssen. UPDATE: GamesfortheBrain is now available in several languages in addition to English:
+ Chinese
+ German
+ Slovak
+ Spanish
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Electronic Commerce–United States
Source: DoC
Just Released, Retail 2Q, 2005 E-commerce Report
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UFO’s–Digital Collections
Source: Library and Archives Canada
New, Canada’s UFO’s: The Search
“Within the vault of Library and Archives Canada there exist files from five government departments that were involved with collecting data and conducting investigations on unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The Department of Transport, Department of Communications, Department of National Defence, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the National Research Council all dealt with reports, sightings and investigations of UFOs across Canada. Each department had different interests and goals. The truth about their investigations is found in files held by Library and Archives Canada. A selection of these files have been digitized and made available on this site.”
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Books–Valuation
Source: Enoch Pratt Free Library, Humanities Department
How Much Is My Old Book Worth?
“You’ve been thinking about cleaning out that dusty old attic for a long time. And now, at last, you’re ready! You decide to begin by inspecting that carton of old books that belonged to your Uncle Fred. As you blow the dust off these books, the thought occurs to you: ‘I wonder if these books might be worth something.’ Although we do not provide appraisals, the Humanities Department can help you in searching a variety of useful print sources as well as relevant web links that can be of assistance in researching the value of an old book.”
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US Courts–Statistics
Source: BJS
Federal Tort Trials and Verdicts, 2002-03
“Presents findings on jury and bench tort trials concluded in Federal district courts during fiscal years 2002-03. Analyzing public use data assembled by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and BJS, the report is the latest edition in a series on the topic of tort trials. Information includes the types of tort cases that proceed to trial, plaintiff win rates, case processing times, and estimated median damage awards.”

Briefly
+ Downloadable E-Books Come to LA Public Library
+ Bibliography of Native North Americans Now Available via EBSCOhost

Resources of the Week
By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor
————————————–
Whither the Weather
Can you believe The Weather Channel has been around since 1982? Even more remarkable is that a television channel devoted to nothing but the weather 24/7/365 could survive for all these years, much less prosper. And yet it has. People are, in general, fascinated by weather phenomena, and we’ve come to depend on the availability of up-to-date weather info. Here in Florida during the hurricane season, we tend to get up close and personal with The Weather Channel; we know that when Jim Cantore shows up on a beach anywhere close to where we live, it’s time to run for our lives.

Then there’s the Web. Looking for weather information is one of the most common online activities for everyone. The National Weather Service (NWS) website is a jewel, of course. It runs broad and deep, offering a staggering amount of data that is useful to almost everyone, from the office worker wondering if he or she should take an umbrella to work today to farmers, fisherman, pilots and others whose livelihood is critically tied to meteorology.

Not surprisingly, there has been an ongoing uproar since Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) introduced the National Weather Services Duties Act of 2005 in the Senate last April which, according to the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF), “would ban NWS from ‘competing’ with private entities by making it unlawful for the agency to publish user-friendly weather data and barring NWS experts from speaking one-on-one to news agencies.” The end result, according to the EFF, and other entities and concerned individuals — who generally feel that the wording of Santorum’s bill is extremely vague — is that we could end up paying for our weather data twice, since the NWS is a taxpayer-supported government agency. Seems to me that this is an issue worth keeping on our radar screen in the information profession.

At any rate, I spent some time prowling around the Web, looking at a few other countries’ national weather/meteorological service sites, just to see what they were offering. Maybe you’ll be interested as well.

+ Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC)
What’s cool here: The Top Ten Weather Stories page, which not only offers the Top Ten Weather Stories for 2004, but also provides you with a timeline of the Top Weather Events of the 20th Century.
+ Met Office Homepage (UK)
What’s cool here: The National Meteorological Library and Archive, “one of the most comprehensive collections of literature on meteorology anywhere in the world.” Offers an OPAC and accessions lists of new materials for the most recent three months.
+ Met �ireann (The Irish Meteorological Service)
What’s cool here: A comprehensive Climate of Ireland page that brings together a variety of information on temperature, sunshine, rainfall, and wind, including a lot of historic data.
+ Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
What’s cool here: Monthly features that draw attention to some Bureau’s many products, services and agencies. An archive is available.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is “(t)he UN system’s authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources.” It has a membership of 187 countries and territories; you’ll find links to their National Weather Services sites, if available. Some things worth browsing here:
+ Publications of the World Meteorological Association 2005. Includes direct links to the full text.
+ MeteoWorld, the WMO’s bi-monthly newsletter.
+ WMO Technical Library. Offers an OPAC; a list of recent acquisitions (by subject area: Agricultural Meteorology, Climatology, Education & Training, Environmental Studies, Hydrology, Marine Meteorology, Observations & Instruments, Tropical Meteorology, Weather Analysis & Forecasting, General Works); a small collection of specialized, vetted links in such topic areas as Agrometeorology, Global Warming, and Ozone & UVB.

Professional Reading Shelf
Virtual Reference
Source: AP
Experts offer homework help online
Lots of examples of both free and fee-based services but NO mention of the fact that many public libraries offer virtual reference services. Sad, since so much effort has been put into building vr services.
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Copyright–United States
Source: LC
New Web Site, Library of Congress Launches Web Site on Independent Copyright Committee
“The Library of Congress has launched a new public Web site to cover the groundbreaking work of a special independent committee. By 2006, this committee will recommend changes to copyright law that recognize the need for exceptions to the law for libraries and archives in the digital age.”
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Intellectual Freedom
Source: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
Just Released (Highlights Only), IFLA/FAIFE World Report 2005 on Intellectual Freedom and Libraries: Libraries, National Security, Freedom of Information Laws and Social Responsibilities
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Scholarly Publishing
Open Access
Source: The Guardian
Springer hires open access pioneer
“One of the leading lights of the open access movement – dedicated to making academic research freely available to everyone over the internet – has joined the ranks of the traditional publishing world. Jan Velterop, publishing director of pioneering open access publisher BioMed Central is joining Germany’s Springer, the world’s second largest producer of scientific journals, as director of open access, heading up its fledgling open access publishing arm.”
See Also: Additional Coverage via Open Access News
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National Archives–United Kingdom
Source: NA
Natalie Ceeney Appointed new Chief Executive of The National Archives
“Ms Ceeney is currently director of operations and services at the British Library, where she manages all of the British Library’s services, including both its famous reading rooms and its remote delivery services. She has previously managed clinical services in the NHS, and has led strategic consultancy projects across a range of industries at McKinsey and company. She takes up her new post on October 17.”
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Libraries–Marketing
Source: Chris Olson
The August Issue of Chris Olson’s Marketing Treasures Newsletter is Online

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
Legal Research–Canada
Source: Tax Court of Canada
New, Records of the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court and the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada now available on-line
“…recorded entries of the Federal Court of Appeal, Federal Court and Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada are now available to the public on the websites of these three Courts…proceedings of close to 400,000 cases are now available online by accessing a secure copy of the databases of the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court and the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada. Site visitors can access docket entries for each case, with the exception of a very limited number of cases that have been classified as confidential by the presiding judge, for which online access is not provided. In addition, more limited information (style of cause, names of parties, date and place of filing, type of case) is available online for another 150,000 cases that took place before the process was computerized.”
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Internet–Filtering
Source: OpenNet Initiative
New, Internet Filtering in Singapore in 2004-2005: A Country Study
“Singapore’s Internet content regulation depends primarily on access controls and legal pressures to prevent people from posting objectionable content rather than technological methods to block it. Compared to other countries that implement mandatory filtering regimes that ONI has studied closely, Singapore’s technical filtering system is one of the most limited.”
News Release (PDF) Direct to Full Text
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Country Studies
Source: Federal Research Division/Library of Congress
Just Released, Country Profile of Bolivia
PDF.
See Also: More Country Profiles from the FRD
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U.S. Military Casualties
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)
American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics (PDF; 120 KB)
“This report is written in response to numerous requests for war casualty statistics and lists of war dead. It provides tables, compiled by sources at the Department of Defense, indicating the number of casualties among American military personnel serving in principal wars and combat actions. Wars covered include the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam Conflict, and the Persian Gulf War. Military operations covered include the Iranian Hostage Rescue Mission, Lebanon Peacekeeping, Urgent Fury in Grenada, Just Cause in Panama, Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Restore Hope in Somalia, Uphold Democracy in Haiti, and the ongoing Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.” (via DocuTicker)
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Scientists–United States–Statistics
Source: NSF
New Report, Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians in the United States: 2001 (NSF 05-313)
“This report presents estimates of the total number of positions filled by scientists, engineers, and technicians employed in the U.S. economy, by industry and by occupational category. Estimates are also presented for mean wages (hourly and annual) of scientists, engineers, and technicians by industry and by occupational category.”
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World Hunger–Map
Source: United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
WFP interactive map: Hunger in the Development World
“Around the world people are battling hunger. Use this interactive map to find out where food crises threaten lives.”

Briefly
+ Enterprise Search: Convera Wins $2 Million DoD Contract
+ LexisNexis Butterworths Launches Online Research Tool (via ManagingInformation.com)
+ CrossRef Deploys Free OpenURL Resolver

Search Briefs
+ Automating the Mining of the Deep Web
+ Yahoo Local Expands With City Pages & More User Reviews
+ Yahoo Has Social Networking Patent Published
+ Google Increases Size A Smidge: Was Planned Before Current Size Dispute

Freebies
Source: CQ Press
In Honor of National Constitution Day
“CQ Press will devote a section of the CQ Press in Context web site to documents and analytical content related to the U.S. Constitution. This content will include a ready-to-teach, downloadable lesson plan written by CQ Press author Maryam Ahranjani and designed specially for teachers who want to take advantage of Constitution Day as a classroom learning tool. CQ Press in Context is a free web site for information on pivotal events shaping today’s world of politics. The site offers anyone with access to the Internet a substantial sampling of valuable CQ Press content that is usually available only on a subscription basis. During the weeks leading up to Constitution Day, the site will offer Constitution-related documents and analysis from the award-winning CQ Press Electronic Library, plus other original content, including an informative video interview with a constitutional scholar and the free lesson plan for teachers.”

Professional Reading Shelf
College Textbooks–United States–Prices
New GAO Report (PDFs)
Source: General Accountability Office
College Textbooks: Enhanced Offerings Appear to Drive Price Increases
Highlights ||| Full Report
(via DocuTicker)
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Science Librarianship
Source: ISTL
The Summer 2005 issue of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship is Now Online
Articles Include
+ Ask a Science Librarian
A great read from Margaret Clifton at the Library of Congress.
+ The National Science and Technology Library: A Chinese Model of Collaboration
+ Citation Analysis: A Method for Collection Development for a Rapidly Developing Field
+ Book Review: Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals
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Public Libraries–Washington, D.C.
Source: The Book Standard
Library Spotlight: Washington, D.C., Public
“If the primary characteristic of the public library that serves the nation’s capital and its 500,000-plus residents were to be defined, by one word, a strong candidate would be ‘versatility.’ Patrons of D.C. Public — which has a collection of nearly two million titles, counting books and all other forms of media — range from upper-echelon government officials to local residents who have no access to the Internet save what the library provides them. It is a credit to the library system’s architects that it does serve as both a high-level academic facility, and as a place where residents can access the most basic features endemic to a modern public library.”
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Google Scholar
Source: California Digital Library
UC Libraries Use of Google Scholar, August 2005
12 pages; PDF. “On June 22, 2005, the CDL requested information from the campuses about librarian and library staff use of Google Scholar in their own work and at public service desks. Eight of ten campuses responded with a wealth of information about the creative ways in which the libraries use Google Scholar, as well as with their objections to its use…The replies indicate a core of respondents do not use Google Scholar at all. Others use it rarely, instead strongly preferring licensed article databases purchased by the libraries for use in specific disciplines. Some are reluctant to use it because they are unsure of what it actually covers.” Hat Tip to OGS for the link.

Citation Reports
Source: ISI
+ Science in Sweden, 2000-04
+ Canadian Universities: Most Prolific in Molecular Biology & Genetics, 2000-04
+ Journals Ranked by Impact: Infectious Diseases

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
United States Supreme Court–Nominations
Source: The Reagan Library/NARA
Just Released, Files Relating to Judge John Roberts
“5,383 pages from the records of the Staff Member Office Files of John G. Roberts Files, 1982-1986, will be opened. The remaining Roberts’ documents will be opened as soon as possible. Judge Roberts was an Associate Counsel to the President during the Reagan Administration. The Reagan Library staff has identified approximately 50,000 pages of records related to Judge Roberts. 4,864 of these pages have already been opened in response to previous FOIA requests. Direct to Files
See Also: More Records Pertaining to John Roberts from NARA
See Also: The Published Opinions of Judge John G. Roberts
“Search and analyze the published opinions of Supreme Court nominee, Judge John G Roberts. On July 19, 2005, Judge John G. Roberts was nominated by President George W. Bush to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court left by the retirement of Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. In two years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge Roberts has helped decide about 120 cases and written 49 published opinions.”
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Population–United States–Statistics
Source: US Census
Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000
“Part of a series of Census 2000 special reports, addresses the growing complexity of U.S. households and alternative ways to highlight that complexity. Uses a ‘partner’ or nonpartner’ household classification and measures change in these categories for the first time, including by whether or not children are present in the household. Also, includes the first tabulations of households by the number of generations present.”
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Government–Australia
Source: Parliament Library
New Research Brief, House of Representatives by-elections 1901-2005
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Energy–United States–Statistics
Source: EIA
Just Released, Annual Energy Review 2004
“The Annual Energy Review 2004 records U.S. energy history from 1949-2004 in data tables and figures. All major forms of energy (fossil fuels, nuclear electricity, and renewable energy) and total energy by activity (e.g., production, consumption, trade, stocks, and prices) are covered. Also included are financial indicators related to energy; international energy; environmental indicators; and data unit conversions. Key long-term trends are graphically illustrated in a special section called ‘Energy Perspectives.’”

Briefly
Alacra Begins Offering Pay-Per-View/On-Demand Documents Via AlacraStore.com
Content from D&B, Datamonitor, Oxford Analytica, Gale, Hemscott, and many other publishers.

Congrats and Kudos
Congrats to ResourceShelf’s Dan Giancaterino!!!
Philly got ready for work today with a guest appearance by Dan on the Michael Smerconish Talk Show. He discussed the latest news in web search and online research. Also, smart thinking by WPHT to ask a librarian about what’s going on with online search tools. (-:

Professional Reading Shelf
Libraries
Digital Information
Souce: RLG
The August 15 Issue of RLG Digi News is Now Online
Articles include:
+ Watch This Space: Ten Promising Digital Preservation Initiatives
+ FAQ: Predicting the Life Expectancy of Modern Tape and Optical Media
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Online Search
Source: Boston Globe
Turning the concept of search on its head
“Watson, software produced by Chicago-based Intellext, does the searching for you. It runs in the background as you work, analyzing your documents and looking for relevant information. The results (clickable links) are continuously delivered in a side panel on your screen. Watson goes to work when you open a Microsoft Office application such as Word or PowerPoint, or the Internet Explorer browser.”
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Libraries–United Kingdom
Source: The Telegraph
Online library’s novel attraction for bookworms
“The “doors” of Britain’s first known online lending library are to open for business next week, bringing reassurance for literary luddites who fear the march of technology could overcome the manuscript. My Book Your Book, which operates only in cyberspace, will offer thousands of paperback titles to its members, from fiction hits such as Zadie Smith’s White Teeth to the GCSE staple To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.”
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Library Service–Gitmo
Source: The Washington Times
Detainees under Harry Potter’s spell
“Harry Potter’s worldwide popularity is so broad-based that it has become favorite reading for Islamic terror suspects at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. Lori, who for two years has overseen the detention center’s library, said J.K. Rowling’s tales about the boy wizard are on top of the request list for the camp’s 520 al Qaeda and Taliban suspects, followed by Agatha Christie whodunits. ‘We’ve got a few who are kind of hooked on it. A couple have asked if they can see the movie,’ said Lori, a civilian contractor who asked that her last name not be publicized.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Documents
The British Library–Databases
Source: ManagingInformation.com
British Library’s Database Of Original Celebrity Gossip
fully searchable database of more than 250 rare Renaissance festival books is available for the first time on the British Library’s website at www.bl.uk/treasures/festivalbooks/homepage.html. Drawing from the British Library’s existing collection of over 2,000 volumes of festival books, Users can access and read over 14,000 pages which describe 300 years of festival entertainments in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe.”
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Middle East–Gaza–Satellite Imagery
Source: Digital Globe
Gaza City Imagery collected July 4, 2004
“2.4-meter QuickBird overview of Gaza City. Natural color image in JPG format.”
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School Districts–United States
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 2002-03
“This report presents information drawn from the Common Core of Data (CCD) Local Education Agency Universe survey about the 1 percent of the Nation’s school districts that serve 23 percent of all public school students. It includes information about the numbers of dropouts and high school completers, student participation in selected programs, the numbers of teachers, and revenues and expenditures in these districts. Although the 100 largest school districts are large by definition, they differ in many characteristics. The size ranges from more than 1 million students in New York Public Schools to about 46 thousand in Cherry Creek, Colorado. Current expenditures ranged from $3,563 per pupil in Puerto Rico to $14,012 in Boston.”
Full Report (PDF; 625 KB)
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Human Resources Executives–Compensation
Source: Human Resource Executive
HR’s Elite (PDF; 75 KB)
“Who are the 40 highest-paid HR executives listed in SEC filings? And what did they earn?”
–
Intelligence–United States
September 11th Attacks
FBI
Souce: US DOJ Inspector General
A Review of the FBI’s Handling of Intelligence Information Prior to the September 11 Attacks, (released publicly June 2005) (Redacted and Unclassified), November 2004

Search Briefs
+ Universities, Search and IR Research
+ Searching for Movie Reviews with the Movie Review Query Engine
+ Multimedia Search: Murdoch Wants Blinkx
+ Early Release of Findory’s Personalized RSS Reader Now Online