Professional Reading Shelf
Libraries–Buildings
Source: Library Journal
A Storm Rains on Our Parade — Library Buildings 2005
“A year that features 185 completed public library projects should be cause for celebration, and likely those constituencies that now have access to these 91 new buildings and 94 added-to/renovated facilities no doubt have been pleased with the outcome. Yet, underlying all this solid library construction news is a sadness over the devastation suffered by other libraries and their communities following Hurricane Katrina and her sister storms.”
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Young Adults–Recommended Reading
Source: Young Adult Library Services Association
Recommended Reading for Tweens & Teens: Chronicles of Narnia Read-A-Likes (PDF; 81 KB)
“While these books were selected for tweens and teens, the titles on this list span a broad range of reading and maturity levels. We encourage adults to take an active role in helping individual teens choose those books that are the best fit for them and their families.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Now Available–2006-07 Editions of the Occupational Outlook Handbook and the Career Guide to Industries
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Business Expenses–United States
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
2002 Business Expenses Survey (BES)
“Data are collected on operating expenses including payroll and fringe benefits, contract labor costs, taxes and license fees, packaging and containers, transportation and warehousing services, depreciation and amortization charges, software and other computer expenses, communications services, computer and other supplies, office supplies, repair and maintenance expenses, lease and rental payments, printing, utilities, advertising, accounting, insurance, management and consulting services and legal services.”
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Faculty–Characteristics and Attitudes
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
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. This report describes the background characteristics, work activities, and compensation of instructional faculty and staff in fall 2003, by employment status, institution type, and program area. The results show that the majority (57 percent) of instructional faculty and staff were employed full time in fall 2003. Women made up a larger proportion of part-time than full-time instructional faculty and staff (47 percent vs. 38 percent). Full-time instructional faculty and staff, overall, reported working an average of 53 hours each week at all jobs both within and outside the institution, and part-time faculty averaged 40 hours per week at all jobs. The average basic salary from the institution for full-time instructional faculty and staff in all types of institutions was $66,800, and the average basic salary for part-time instructional staff was $11,000 in 2003.”
Full Report (PDF; 344 KB)
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Journalism–Awards
Source: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Center for Public Integrity
ABC 20/20, Sweden’s TV4 Receive International Watchdog Awards
“An ABC News 20/20 report documenting systematic sexual exploitation of girls and boys by UN peacekeepers and civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been awarded the Outstanding Investigative Reporting prize for 2005 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the international arm of the Center for Public Integrity.
Winners and Finalists

REMINDER
Make Sure to Visit DocuTicker Today!
Docuticker is a daily update from your ResourceShelf team with direct links to new reports from government agencies, ngo’s, think tanks, and other groups. Looking for primary docs? This is the place.

Professional Reading Shelf
Data Quality
Source: Science News Online
The Risky Business of Spreadsheet Errors
“Spreadsheets create an illusion of orderliness, accuracy, and integrity. The tidy rows and columns of data, instant calculations, eerily invisible updating, and other features of these ubiquitous instruments contribute to this soothing impression. At the same time, faulty spreadsheets and poor spreadsheet practices have been implicated in a wide variety of business and financial problems.”
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Libraries–Marketing
The December issue of Chris Olsen’s Marketing Treasures newsletter is available. Among other things, you can find out “what to include in Requests for Proposals seeking logo design services.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Advertising–Foreign Markets
Source: Advertising Age
Ten 2005 Ads America Won’t See
“With viewable online videos, we bring you the annual review of the most noteworthy 2005 ads from other countries that will never be shown in the U.S.” Free registraion required.
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Packaging Material–Recycling
Source: Plastic Loose Fill Council (PLFC)
Peanut Hotline
“The Peanut Hotline, 800-828-2214, is the national reuse program for plastic packing peanuts . Consumers can drop off their leftover plastic packing peanuts at Peanut Hotline collection sites. There are over 1,500 collection sites in the US. Search for a Collection Site to find the one nearest you.”
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Satellites–Database
Source: Union of Concerned Scientists
UCS Satellite Database
“The UCS Satellite Database is a listing of operational satellites currently in orbit around the Earth. It is available as a downloadable Excel file, which is updated roughly quarterly. Our intent in producing the database is to create a research tool for specialists and non-specialists alike by collecting open-source information on operational satellites and presenting it in a format that can be easily manipulated for research and analysis. The database includes basic information about more than 800 satellites and their orbits, but does not contain the detailed information necessary to locate individual satellites.”
Direct to database (xls)
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Celebrities–Ranking
Source: Internet Movie Database
STARmeter Top 25 for 2005
“IMDb.com, Earth’s biggest movie database, has released their top 25 stars for 2005. These STARmeter rankings were not based upon critical assessments or box-office performance, but the actual search behavior of over 30 million users of IMDb.com.”

Professional Reading Shelf
Digital Libraries
Call for Papers: Special Issue on Digital Libraries and eScience
To be published in the International Journal on Digital Libraries.
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eBooks–Digitization–Legal Issues
Copyright
Source: Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and Information
Acquiring Copyright Permission To Digitize and Provide Open Access to Books
“This report focuses on three efforts at Carnegie Mellon University to acquire copyright permission to digitize and provide open access to books-that is, to make books freely available on the Internet for public use. [1] To provide a context for the studies that form the basis of this report, the report begins with an overview of copyright laws, licensing practices, and technological developments that have brought about dramatic changes in the cost and dissemination of scholarly information. This section also describes the impact that these changes have had on research, learning, and libraries. The three studies, including data analyses that explore the response and success rates with different types of publishers and publications and transaction costs, are then presented in detail. Anecdotes illuminate the effort required and problems encountered in trying to acquire copyright permission for open access, from the difficulty of determining copyright status and ownership and locating copyright owners to the questions, concerns, record-keeping methods, and changing contractual practices that constrain publishers’ embrace of open access. The report describes how lessons learned in each study were applied in the next study and the benefits of flexible and innovative approaches to acquiring copyright permission.”
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National Archives–United Kingdom
Source: IWR
Archives site upgraded for FoI
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Access Services
Source: ARL
New SPEC Kit (Summary Only): SPEC Kit 290: Access Services
“In 1991, SPEC Kit 179, Access Services: Organization and Management, documented the emergence of a new trend in ARL member libraries: over the course of a decade, a variety of services related to providing access to library resources were being brought under one administrative umbrella, a department that was typically called ‘Circulation,’ though a growing number of libraries began to use the term ‘Access Services.’ This new SPEC survey, conducted in spring 2005, tracks developments and trends in access services since 1995. The survey results show a steady evolution in department name from ‘Circulation’ to ‘Access Services’ and an increasing relevance of this department’s functions to library users.” Table of Contents and Exec Summary (PDF).
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Metadata–United States Government
Source: GCN
GSA: Metadata not essential for search
“Metadata and other advanced preparation techniques may not be required to make government information available for public search, according to feedback the General Services Administration received from a request for information it posted earlier this year.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Telephone Numbers–United States–Databases
Source: Melissa Data
Area Code + Prefixes in a Radius Lookup
Find all of the prefixes and areas in a radius of a specific Zip Code (10 miles max). Melissa Data offers a number of free lookup databases that we offer an overview of here.
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Germany–Elections
Source: House of Commons Library
New Research Report, Germany: elections, the new government and Anglo-German relations
PDF; 57 pages.
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Agriculture–Economics
Source: ERS/USDA
Just Updated: International Macroeconomic Data Set
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Crime–United States–Statistics
Source: BJS
Just Released, Uniform Crime Reports: Preliminary Semiannual Report, January-June 2005
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Central Intelligence Agency
Source: CIA
Just Released, CIA Organizational Chart
PDF.
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Spam–United States–Statistics
Source: FTC
New Report, Effectiveness and Enforcement of the CAN-SPAM Act: A Federal Trade Commission Report to Congress (December 2005)
Summary ||| Direct to Full Text (PDF)

Briefly
+ InfoUSA Licenses Data to InfoSpace
+ EBSCO Focuses Search Efforts Around Endeca

Search Briefs
+ Ask Jeeves Adds New Features
AJ continues to develop into a key ready reference tool for librarians.
+ Answers.com Testing New “Find As You Type” Feature
+ Governments Ask Google to Turn a Blind Eye
All sorts of places to find satellite imagery.
+ Yahoo Launches Open Shortcuts, Allows Creation Of Custom Search Commands
You’ll also read about several toolbars that allow you to create one-click searches with just about any search engine EVEN if doesn’t offer its own toolbar. Cool!

Professional Reading Shelf
Web Search–Google
Source: Google
First Issue of Google’s Newsletter for Librarians Released
More than two months ago Google said that they would begin publishing a quartely newsletter for librarians. Today, the first issue became available. Unfortunately, not much there in terms of content except for an intro article by Jodi Healy and an interesting article about how Google works (and most other web engines for that matter) by one of our favorite Googlers, Matt Cutts. That said, the article, although interesting and well written (Cutts is a great writer), will be, for the most part, known by many of the information professionals and and library school students who read it. Info pros who have read books by Chris Sherman, Ran Hock, and Tara Calishain (books held by many libraries) and other IR titles, talk about much of what’s written here.

Btw, both the books by Chris and Ran are full text searchable via Amazon’s “Search Inside the Book” program but not accessible via Google Book Search. Tara’s, latest book, Web Search Garage, is not available (search wise, that is) from either service. Her 2003 book Google Hacks is searchable via Google Book Search.

However, Matt’s article will serve as an excellent review by an expert. The sidebar with an exercise for students about the concepts involved in an inverted index is also a great idea. I was surprised not to see more, being this is the first issue, like the latest from Google’s perspective on the Google Library Project since its first anniversary was last week (here’s a review I compiled) and this would have been a logical time for an update, more search tips, and intros to Google’s lesser known servics like the just launched (synergy) music search. Personally, I would have also enjoyed learning more about an exchange from a recently held Google Print/Library debate that took place at the NY Public Library. In a discussion with a leader from a publishing trade group, Google’s General Counsel said it would be “horrors” if people only went to libraries to gain physical access to new books found via Google Book Search. I blogged about it here. Bottom Line: ResourceShelf welcomes the Google Librarian Newsletter to the growing number of publications serving the info community. Welcome!
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Digital Libraries
Source: Corporation for National Research Initiatives
The December Issue of D-Lib is Now Online
Articles include:
+ Five Views of the Archive, Ingest and Handling Test
+ Harvard’s Perspective on the Archive Ingest and Handling Test
+ Parallel Worlds: Online Games and Digital Information Services
+ The Archive Ingest and Handling Test: The Johns Hopkins University Report
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Emergency Responders–Databases
Source: NLM
WebWISER makes WISER available on the Internet
“The National Library of Medicine announces that WISER, the Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders, is now available on the Web. This new version, WebWISER, joins the existing PDA and desktop (PC) applications. WISER was developed by the Library’s Division of Specialized Information Services.”
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Public Libraries–New York City
Map Libraries and Collection
Source: NYPL
The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division Opens After Extensive Renovation
Wow! Interested in the info technology available? Check this fact sheet.

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Influenza–Pandemics
Source: World Health Organization
WHO Handbook for Journalists: Influenza Pandemic: Updated December 2005
PDF; 24 pages.
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Bankruptcy–United States
Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts on behalf of the U.S. Courts
New, 2005 Bankruptcy Act Resources
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Women–United States–Statistics
Source: US Census
Just Released, Fertility of American Women: June 2004
Profiles current fertility patterns of American women by age, race, ethnicity, education, marital status, income and nativity. Also contains labor force participation data by fertility status. PDF.

Search Briefs
+ Specialty Databases (Verticals) the Focus of a Wall Street Journal Article
ResourceShelf Editor, Gary Price, is quoted in the article.
+ Japan’s Government Forms Study Group to Determine if Country Should Launch its Own Search Engine
+ A New Blog from WWW Founder Tim Berners-Lee and a Bit of WWW History

Briefly
Coming Soon: BBC to launch elearning site for school kids (via Netimperative)

Professional Reading Shelf
Libraries–Health Information
Libraries–Africa
Source: U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS)
Recently Released, The Role of Libraries in HIV/AIDS Information Dissemination in Sub-Saharan Africa
“The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) today announced the publication of The Role of Libraries in HIV/AIDS Information Dissemination in Sub-Saharan Africa…Believing that a key weapon in the battle against the HIV/AIDS pandemic is education and information targeted directly to the general public, especially young people, the Commission set the goal of this study to explore how information is–or can be–disseminated in parts of the world where the impact of HIV/AIDS has been the greatest, and the resources of the countries impacted have been the smallest. Nowhere is information so crucial and nowhere is information for the general population so lacking as in Africa.”
News Release (PDF) Direct to Full Text (PDF)
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RLG
Source: RLG
The December 15th Issue of RLG’s DigiNews is Now Online
Articles include:
+ When Just Doing It Isn’t Enough: The University of Oregon Takes Stock
+ Building a Digital Archive: A Dutch Experience
+ A Look at the Electronic Literature Organization Web Site
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Electronic Databases–Reviews
Source: Charleston Advisor
Review of PatronsBooksinPrint
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National Archives and Records Administration
Source: NARA
National Archives Partners with the National Coalition for History to Identify Missing or Stolen Records

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
2005
Source: InfoPlease.com
Year-in-Review Materials from Infoplease.com
+ News of 2005
+ People in the News, 2005
+ Deaths 2005
–
United Nations
Source: UN
New Web Site: The UN Global Compact
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Substance Abuse–United Surveys–Youth–Surveys
Source: Monitoring the Future, NIH
Just Released, 2005 Monitoring the Future Survey Shows Continued Decline in Drug Use by Students
From the NIH news release,
“Overall, the 2005 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey showed good news. While there was no substantive change in any illicit drug use between 2004 and 2005, analysis of the survey revealed an almost 19 percent decline in past month use of any illicit drug by 8th, 10th, and 12th graders between 2001 and 2005. This trend is driven largely by decreasing rates of marijuana use among these students. For example, since 2001, past month use of marijuana has fallen by 28 percent among 8th graders and by 23 percent among 10th graders.” Direct to Tables and Additional Materials
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Calendars–Science–Conferences and Meetings
Calendars–Medicine–Conferences and Meetings
Source: Newswise
+ Calendar of Scientific Meetings
+ Calendar of Medical Meetings
Both calendars are updated monthly.

Briefly
+ OverDrive: New Service Enables Audiobook and Music Downloads Inside the Library
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+ ProQuest Completes Chicago Tribune and LA Times Digital Archives

Search Briefs
+ Blinkx.tv Ends a Busy Year with a New Feature and Some New Content
Download content video blogs directly to your Video iPod.

Professional Reading Shelf
National Library of Medicine
Source: NLM
+ What’s New for 2006 MeSH
+ “Bird Flu” Terminology and Changes to Influenza A Viruses and Related Headings
+ New Resource: NCBI Search Toolbar
+ New Authority Index Feature in the NLM Catalog
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Literacy–United States–Statistics
Source: NCES
Just Released, A First Look at the Literacy of America’s Adults
Includes summary, full text report (PDF), data tables, and more.
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Research Libraries
ARL
Source: Association of Research Libraries
Publication Announcement: ARL Publishes ARL Statistics 2003-04
“ARL libraries are a relatively small subset of the largest research libraries in North America, but they account for a large portion of academic library resources in terms of assets, budgets, and the number of users they serve. The total library expenditures of all 123 member libraries in 2003-04 was more than $3.4 billion; of that total, almost $2.6 billion was spent by the 113 university libraries and more than $800 million was spent by the 10 nonuniversity libraries.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Congressional Research Service
Source: CRS
A Selection of New/Updated CRS Reports
All reports are PDF.
+ Same-Sex Marriages: Legal Issues
+ Muslims in Europe: Integration Policies in Selected Countries
+ Securing General Aviation
+ The Law of Church and State: Opinions of Judge Samuel Alito
+ Congress as a Consumer of Intelligence Information
+ Protecting New Orleans: From Hurricane Barriers to Floodwalls
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Manufacturers–United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Census
2004 Annual Survey of Manufactures, Product Shipments

Search Briefs
+ Google, Yahoo and Dogpile’s Top Searches of 2005 List
A very interesting list that shows info pros could play a role in training the web searcher on how it all works.
+ New Issue of Information Science Publication Focuses on “Paid Search”
+ A Brief Look at Mobile Mail Access from Yahoo and MSN