Professional Reading Shelf
Public Libraries–Exhibits
Source: St. Petersburg Times
Will Morrison exhibit light readers’ fire?
“The Clearwater Library, once a hangout for a young Jim Morrison, is considering a permanent Morrison exhibit.” (Ignore the brain-dead lead about Morrison as “a young man getting shushed a lot at the Clearwater Library.”).
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Data Quality
Source: Government Technology
MPI Report Shows Database Errors Plague Immigration Enforcement
“Thousands of times each year, police officers checking the name of an individual stopped or detained against records in the nation’s main criminal database have received an initial ‘hit’ for an immigration violation that, upon further investigation, the Department of Homeland Security could not confirm. These ‘false positives’ have likely caused wrongful detentions and diverted scarce police resources from local public safety priorities, finds a report to be released on Thursday by the Migration Policy Institute.” See the full report via DocuTicker.

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Health Statistics–United States
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Health, United States, 2005
“Health, United States is an annual report on trends in health statistics. The report consists of two main sections: A chartbook containing text and figures that illustrates major trends in the health of Americans; and a trend tables section that contains 156 detailed data tables. The two main components are supplemented by an executive summary, a highlights section, an extensive appendix and reference section, and an index.” (via DocuTicker)
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Nonprofits–Entrepreneurship
Source: Fast Company, Monitor Group
Social Capitalist Awards 2006
“Like their counterparts in the profit-driven world, our 25 winning organizations — winnowed from 278 nominations with the help of 43 experts — are masters at envisioning products and services that don’t yet exist, marshaling resources, and crafting solutions that deeply affect their customers. The results these nonprofit organizations deliver hinge on business acumen and often reflect strategies that their for-profit brethren would do well to imitate.”
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U.S. Supreme Court
Source: National Archives
National Archives Opens Additional Samuel Alito Records
“The National Archives at College Park will release 45 documents relating to Samuel Alito. These records total 744 pages from Record Group 60, Records of the Department of Justice, Files of John Bolton, Michael Carvin, Roger Clegg, Stephen Galebach, Brian Landsberg, Mark Levin, and Richard Willard.” Direct to materials.

Population–United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Census
Just Released, U.S. Population as of January 1, 2006
“The U.S. Census Bureau today projected the Jan. 1, 2006, population will be 297,821,175 up 2,713,518 or 0.9 percent from New Year’s Day 2005. In January, the United States is expected to register one birth every eight seconds and one death every 12 seconds. Meanwhile, net international migration is expected to add one person every 31 seconds. The result is an increase in the total population of one person every 14 seconds.”

Professional Reading Shelf
Questia Media
Source: Houston Chronicle
Online library isn’t ready to give up yet
“Since the company’s inception, Questia’s biggest critics have been academic librarians. Some felt threatened that they would be rendered obsolete, some didn’t like the idea of Questia marketing itself as an academic library rather than a database, and others didn’t like the idea of charging for information that is free at the local library.”
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OCLC
Library Education
Source: OCLC
OCLC and ALISE announce 2006 research grant award recipients
“OCLC Research and the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) awarded research grants to Lokman Meho with Kiduk Yang (Indiana), Joyce Kanini Mbwesa with Julius Mburi (Nairobi), Jeffrey Pomerantz (North Carolina), and Louise Spiteri (Dalhousie).”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Census
Recently Released: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2006
Summary and Fast Facts Direct to Full Text (by Chapter)
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Spam–Lists & Rankings
Source: America Online
Hey, ‘Donald Trump Wants You’!! (… & Other Lies Told by Spammers in 2005)
“Does Donald Trump really want you? Will the Penis Patch improve your sex life? Is your mortgage application ready? Can you lose 6-20 inches in one hour with a body wrap? Did Lisa send you to the wrong site? The answer to each of these questions is almost certainly no. But they are examples of increasingly sophisticated methods spammers are using to prey on email users this year, according to AOL’s third annual Top 10 Spam List.”
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Music–Concerts–Lists & Rankings
Source: Pollstar
Top 20 North American Tours of 2005
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Environment–United States–Statistics
Source: EPA
New Report,
Measuring Progress 1999-2003: The Priority Chemicals Trends Report
“EPA has released its National Priority Chemicals Trends Report. This year’s report analyzes 23 of the 31 priority chemicals found in some industrial waste, using 2003 data newly reported and compiled in the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). TRI is a publicly available database with information on the use, release, and management of more than 650 toxic chemicals within industrial and federal facilities. Priority chemicals are chemicals that are persistent, highly toxic, and can accumulate in living organisms.”
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iPod–Tutorial
Source: Apple
iPod 101: Master Your Music and More
Did you get a new iPod over this holiday season? Learn how to get the most out of it. “Whether you’re a Mac or Windows user, iPod 101 contains tons of information that’ll help you enjoy your iPod to its fullest and guide you on your way to becoming iTunes savvy (we’re using iTunes 6 in our course materials). Get ready to walk through the virtual aisles of the iTunes Music Store; learn how to sync your music, contacts, calendars, and more; admire your pretty pictures (and force others to do the same); watch TV shows and video; and find out what to do when things don’t go as planned.”

Resource of the Week
By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor

Are you familiar with 511, “America’s Traveler Information Telephone Number?” It’s not active everywhere in the United States yet, but it’s getting there. 511, basically, is a highway and traffic information system that takes advantage of detailed information on road conditions gleaned from Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). A motorist dials 511, and he or she receives localized basic travel information such as traffic conditions, construction/road closures, weather, public transit service updates, etc.

Personally, I’ve never dialed 511 but I’ve accessed it a number of times online, for the State of Florida, and for the local Tampa Bay area. Actually, there is a lot of stuff like this online; anyone with Internet access need never settle for those skimpy radio and TV traffic reports. Since we are such huge fans of one-stop shopping sites here at ResourceShelf, we commend your attention to a site which aggregates a large collection of links to highway and traffic information…and sometimes more.

Traffic Information–United States
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration
National Traffic and Road Closure Information
Nothing complicated here, folks. A clickable map you can use to get to information for the state of your choice, or use the text listing beneath it. Keep scrolling for links to sites with national information on traffic conditions, weather and road conditions, and regional information. At the very bottom is a link that will take you to a page with direct links to all 50 state transportation departments.

Click the “What’s New” button below and to the left of the map to explore the sites most recently added. There are some national links above that, including pointers to information about the 511 system.

For additional information about intelligent transportation systems, see:
+ Center for Intelligent Transportation Systems at Penn State University
+ Intelligent Transportation Systems at Transport Canada
+ Intelligent Transportation Systems at the University of Washington
+ Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute at the University of Minnesota
+ Intelligent Transportation Systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
+ Intelligent Transportation Systems Science Tracer Bullet at the Library of Congress
+ ITS America
And here is an ITS glossary.

Professional Reading Shelf
Access to Information
Source: GCN
OMB policy on posting information sparks debate
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Electronic Journals
Source: IWR
Elsevier covers archiving with Portico deal
“Scientific, technical and medical publishing giant Elsevier is creating a permanent archive for its e-journals in a deal with Portico, a specialist in electronic archiving. Elsevier will deposit over 2000 titles from ScienceDirect into the Portico archive.”
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Libraries–United Kingdom–Statistics
Source: LISU
New, A Survey of Library Services to Schools and Children in the UK 2004-05
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Serial Prices
Source: Swets
Serials Price Increase Report #3 published
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Documentaries–Ranking
Source: Video Librarian
Video Librarian 2005 Best Documentaries
“The following list, selected and compiled by Video Librarian staff, honors the best new documentaries reviewed in the magazine and online during 2005. Unless otherwise noted, titles are available from most distributors.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Employment–United States–Reference
Source: BLS
Just Released: Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition
Just Released: Career Guide to Industries, 2006-07 Edition
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Educators–United States–Statistics
Source: NCES
New Report, Background Characteristics, Work Activities, and Compensation of Instructional Faculty and Staff: Fall 2003
“This publication is the second from the 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:04), a study of faculty and instructional staff in public and private not-for-profit 2-year-and-above postsecondary institutions in the United States.”
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Climate–United States
Source: NOAA
NOAA National Weather Service Unveils New Precipitation Web Page
“High-quality precipitation analyses used for flood forecasts, drought monitoring and climate trends are being made available on the NOAA National Weather Service Web site on a trial basis through June 2006.”
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E-Government–United States
Source: CBO
New Report: Expanding E-Government: Improved Service Delivery for the American People Using Information Technology
“All 25 of the reviewed agencies had ‘effective’ enterprise architectures, or systems designed to eliminate redundancies in business functions, processes and technologies, the report stated.”
12 pages; PDF. More in this Govexec.com story.
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Baby Names–United Kingdom–Lists & Rankings
Source: National Statistics Office
Babies’ Names 2005
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Dissertations–Lists & Rankings
Source: ProQuest
Business Research Is Tops in 2004 in ProQuest Analysis of Best-Selling Dissertations and Theses
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Internet Usage
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
New Research: How Women and Men Use the Internet

Search Briefs
+ New Search Engine For Economists (via ResearchBuzz)
+ New Entry: Medio Joins Mobile Search Space in U.S.
+ Consumer Reports Looks at Travel Search Meta Engines in New Study

Professional Reading Shelf
Motion Pictures–United States
Library of Congress
Source: LC
Librarian of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry
Films Selected to the 2005 National Film Registry

Baby Face (1933)
The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man (1975)
The Cameraman (1928)
Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort South Carolina, May 1940 (1940)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
The French Connection (1971)
Giant (1956)
H2O (1929)
Hands Up (1926)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
House of Usher (1960)
Imitation of Life (1934)
Jeffries-Johnson World’s Championship Boxing Contest (1910)
Making of an American (1920)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Mom and Dad (1944)
The Music Man (1962)
Power of the Press (1928)
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, April 18, 1906 (1906)
The Sting (1973)
A Time for Burning (1966)
Toy Story (1995)
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Libraries
Source: from ARL, CNI, and SPARC
ARL, CNI, and SPARC Publishes Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues & Actions
This issues focuses on “Role of the Library in a Digital Landscape.”
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Law Libraries
Health Sciences Libraries
Source: ARL
+ ARL Publishes Health Sciences Library Statistics for 2003-04
+ ARL Publishes Law Library Statistics for 2003-04
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International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
Source: IFLA
IFLA 2005: Report of Achievements

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Information Industry
Source: U.S. Census
Just Released, 2004 Service Annual Survey: Information Sector Services
“Revenues from cellular and other wireless telecommunications firms reached approximately $126 billion in 2004, up 14 percent, from 2003, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Cable and other program distribution revenues increased 13 percent, to $73 billion. Basic cable programming, which accounts for more than half of cable distribution revenues, increased by 14 percent, to $44 billion. Up 28 percent, cable Internet access services posted the largest year-to-year percentage increase of cable distribution revenues, increasing to $9 billion.” Direct to Full Text.
See Also: The Services Annual for the Investment/Securities Industry Has Also Been Released
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Airline Industry–United States–Statistics
Source: BTS
New Issue Brief: Airline Travel Since 9/11
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2005
Source: LexisNexis
Most Talked-About News in 2005: Americans Rank Hurricane Katrina and Spike in Oil Prices Highest, Reports LexisNexis Survey
“More than 1,500 Americans ranked the stories they most talked about in 2005. It is no surprise that Hurricane Katrina ranked number one, with 97 percent of consumers reporting that it was the most talked about event at their home or office. The spike in gasoline/oil prices took second place (88%) compared to the war in Iraq, which ranked third and revealed that the domestic economy remains top of mind for most Americans.”
See also: The Clicks Are In and the Winner Is ? (Wall Street Journal)

Search Briefs
+ CiteSeer Offers New Feature; Mirrors of Database Also Added
+ Technorati Adds New Features, Rubel Offers “Hacking” Tips
+ Google Faces Patent Infringement Lawsuit Over Google Talk
+ New Microsoft Patent Apps Discusses the Building of Personalized Portals

Professional Reading Shelf
Open Access
Source: Inside Higher Ed
‘The Access Principle’
“Paying for information? In print? That’s a model that’s just so early 20th century, according to The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship, published last week by MIT Press. The book reviews the various models to bring the dissemination of knowledge online and to make it free, and along the way, the book criticizes plenty of publishing practices, copyright interpretations and scholarly traditions. John Willinsky, professor of language and literacy education at the University of British Columbia, has devoted much of his scholarship to the ideas behind the book. Among other things, he directs the Public Knowledge Project, which is financed by the Canadian government to promote the free exchange of information. Willinsky responded to questions about the themes of his book.”
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Wikipedia
Source: St. Petersburg Times
When Wikipedians run amok on orderly online encyclopedia
“What’s the difference between an expert and an enthusiast? On Wikipedia, both have equal weight in creating and maintaining the site.”
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Libraries–Books–Ranking
Source: Library Journal
Library Best Sellers 2005
“It wasn’t all The Da Vinci Code in libraries this year. LJ’s fiction list shows how responsive librarians are to patron demand. Pop titles pop right away, ride the list up, and most often ride back down to get replaced by the next big thing. But library book clubs and insightful readers’ advisory keep many books alive well past their first printings. While John Grisham’s The Broker was hot, it barely outpaced not only Dan Brown’s Da Vinci but Khaled Hosseini’s reading club sensation The Kite Runner. James Patterson ruled this year’s borrowed fiction, however, with four titles making the top 20.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Law Schools–Rankings
Source: University of Alabama Public Law Research Paper (via SSRN)
The Relationship between Law Review Citations and Law School Rankings
“Much recent scholarship has focused on the US News rankings and other ranking systems; other scholarship has focused on citations of law journals. This paper combines those two areas. It explores the connections between US News rankings (particularly the peer assessment scores) and citations of schools’ main law reviews by journals and by courts. There are high correlations between the US News peer assessment scores and citations of main law reviews by journals for the US News top 50 schools. For comparison purposes, the paper also looks to Brian Leiter’s rankings and finds a similar correlation. However, the strength of the correlations decrease for US News third and fourth tier schools. There is a weaker correlation between US News peer assessment scores and court citations across all US News tiers. The paper considers some of the implications of the correlations for law school rankings and suggests that, perhaps, future rankings should include citations as a factor in assessing the quality of law schools.”
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Telephony–Hub
Source: O’Reilly Network
O’Reilly Emerging Telephony
“I’m excited to announce the launch of our new O’Reilly site devoted to what we’re calling ‘Emerging Telephony.’ We’ll be covering the latest happenings in telecommunications, from VoIP and Internet Telephony to new mobile applications and devices to the policy and regulatory issues that impact these important technologies. Please check back regularly or subscribe to our feed: you’ll find news, analysis, reviews, and the in-depth technical articles you’ve come to expect from O’Reilly.”
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CEOs–Ranking
Source: Burson-Marsteller, Economist Intelligence Unit
The World’s Most Admired Leaders of 2005
“Despite the continuing controversy surrounding today’s corporate executives, leadership still shapes a company’s destiny. A new global study conducted by Burson-Marsteller with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) names Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman and chief software architect, the world’s most admired business leader. The 2005 CEO Capital study asked more than 600 global business influentials in 65 countries to write in which CEO or chairman they admire most in the business world today. The CEO/chairman rankings appear below.”

Professional Reading Shelf
Information Overload
Source: USA Today
Ready access to info means smarts or stress?
“‘Social networks, search engines and things [not?] yet invented are critical as we bring millions of movies, books, and musical recordings online,’ said Brewster Kahle, a search pioneer who created the Internet Archive, a non-profit preservation group. Even more important will be good research skills — infoliteracy, if you will. That means knowing where and how to look, and evaluating what you get back. And that’s crucial as people get inundated with electronic information 24/7 — not just at their computers. Cellphones are being transformed into search and browsing tools, and iPods are becoming small television displays.”
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Public Domain Works
Source: Associated Press (via Baltimore Sun)
He revives books others have forgotten
“Steve Hines spends hours camped out at the Nashville Public Library, looking for obscure works by famous authors. He’s motivated by more than just a love of literature. Hines is hoping to find and publish stories by writers such as Louisa May Alcott and Laura Ingalls Wilder — not the famous novels like Little Women or Little House on the Prairie but lesser-known works that might still appeal to the authors’ die-hard fans. The copyright for most books and stories published in the United States before 1978 expires after 75 years, putting it in the public domain. That means anyone can republish the stories for profit.”
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English Language Library–Russia
Source: The Daily Times (Maryville, TN)
Project supplies English library to Russian town
“This is a good Christmas story. It revolves around humanity, charity, kindness, and compassion. It’s about how a city of Alcoa employee named Steve Hillis inspired and led 144 people to organize and deliver a 10,000-volume English library to a struggling Russian town that was once a center of chemical weapons production.”