Professional Reading Shelf
Public Libraries
Source: National Public Radio (Talk of the Nation)
If a Library Is Bookless, What’s In It?
“What helps make the evolution of libraries so complicated are two related questions: What is the library’s role — and who should pay for it? The squeeze on county and municipal budgets prompts many to wonder if they will continue to pay for these institutions. Others insist that the public library plays a vital role as a community center and as an intellectual oasis, a place to reflect as well as a place to learn. But if it’s to survive, it has to adapt. A range of approaches are meant to help design a library for the 21st century.” Guests for this program:
+ Tom Frey, executive director, The DaVinci Institute
+ Jo Haight-Sarling, director, access and technology services at the Denver Public Library System
+ Charles Brown, director, Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, N.C.
–
Keyword Searching
Source: Journal of Electronic Publishing.
KWIC and Dirty? Human Cognition and the Claims of Full-Text Searching
“Over the last several years, full-text searching of large text corpora has placed an extraordinarily powerful tool in the hands of humanities students and scholars. Use of these corpora is now entering mainstream research and, not surprisingly, is affecting research methods and the nature and quality of research outcomes. To what extent does the availability of new and copious sources of full text–along with the tools to mine them–relieve mental economy, freeing individuals from committing to memory not only names and facts but complex thoughts? Are we finally proceeding from a traditional (and obsolete?) “just in case” paradigm to a long-overdue “just in time” model for learning and scholarship? Using evidence from the literary record and from current research in human cognition, the author points to certain disjunctions between the machine processes that enable full-text searching and the subtle cognitive processes that underlie human learning and reasoning. Like all powerful tools, full-text searching requires circumspect use–and in no way relieves humanists and other researchers of the need to read extensively and think deeply.”
–
Research Libraries
Source: ARL, SPARC, CNI
The February Issue of the ARL Bi-Monthly Newsletter is Now Online
Articles include:
+ Managing Digital Assets in Higher Education: An Overview of Strategic Issues
+ Online Music Services and Academic Libraries
+ The Grokster Decision: The Basics & Key Talking Points
+ The Role of Fair Use in Libraries and Education
–
Government Secrecy–United States
Source: Federal Computer Week
Decrying secrecy, citizen groups fight back
“Public interest groups and federal officials agree on one thing: Because of homeland security concerns, information that was once readily available on public Web sites has steadily disappeared in recent years. But the agreement ends there. The points of contention are numerous: Is government secrecy online a concerted policy with political overtones or the result of decisions made on a case-by-case basis? Is the missing information a legitimate part of the public record or sensitive data best protected from prying eyes?”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Images
Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Two Updated Images Collections
++ Bain Collection
About 42,000 photographs (all 39,744 negatives and a selection of 1,600 photographic prints). ca. 1900-1931 (bulk). Photos produced and gathered by George Grantham Bain for his news photo service, including portraits and worldwide news events, but with special emphasis on life in New York City.
++ Highsmith Archive
About 2,500 negatives and transparencies. 1980-2005. Architecture and architectural renovation projects in Washington, D.C., and throughout the United States, as well as political figures, and people in the U.S.
–
Internet–United States–Statistics
Source: Pew Internet & American Life
New Report, Home Broadband Adoption in Rural America
By John Horrigan and Katherine Murray. “Rural Americans are less likely to log on to the internet at home with high-speed internet connections than people living in other parts of the country. By the end of 2005, 24% of adult rural Americans went online at home with high-speed internet connections compared with 39% of adults in urban and suburban areas.”
–
Medicare–Statistics
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
New Issue Brief, Tracking Prescription Drug Coverage Under Medicare: Five Ways to Look at the New Enrollment Numbers
“This new analysis, which assesses Medicare drug benefit enrollment statistics released Feb. 22 (PDF) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines five different approaches to understanding the Medicare drug coverage numbers.”
See Also: New, Progress Report II on the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (PDF, via HHS.gov)
See Also: Direct to Searchable Glossary of Medicare Terms (via Medicare.gov)
–
Federal Judges–United States
Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
New Online, Monthly Vacancy Lists Archived Back to 1981
Monthly lists of judgeship vacancies that existed in the federal courts dating back to 1981 are now available online.

Briefly
+ H.W. Wilson Congratulates the 2006 John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award Winners
–
+ Dialog Launches New Knowledge-Sharing Tools on DataStarWeb

Search Briefs
+ Google Names Director of Israeli Research Office (via SearchMarketing.co.il)
“Dr. Yoeli Mark, a senior manager at IBM development center in Haifa Israel, will be the head of Google’s development center in Israel, also in Haifa.”
–
+ Amazon’s A9 Mystery (via Red Herring)
From the article, “What’s stopping Amazon from capitalizing on a system for pairing data on consumer buying habits with search engine-powered ads? No one inside Amazon would answer that question for Red Herring, and the best guess outside seems to be that A9 needs to generate much more traffic before the data is bountiful enough to be meaningful and the weird thing is it doesn’t appear to be trying to generate it.” Btw, as you know A9 made news when they launched their street-level imagery (aka “BlockView Images”) for several cities in the U.S. However, I monitor the site daily for new additions and haven’t seen any new cities added in many months.
–
+ Microsoft Begins Offering “Preview” of Street-Level Imagery (via TechCrunch)
I just said (see above) that it has been a while since I saw any new street-level imagery from A9. Today, TechCrunch reports that Microsoft’s Live Local service will begin offering street level imagery similar to what A9 is doing. Preview here. From Arrington’s post, “The service will initially target San Francisco and Seattle only due to the massive number of images needed to make it work (rumors are 10 million+ images per city).” More about the new preview from MSN Search’s WebLog. Microsoft Live Local also offers the cool “bird’s eye” aerial (vs. satellite imagery) for several U.S. cities. Examples and more here.
See Also: As I pointed out yesterday, Ask.com Now Offers Aerial Imagery (taken by a plane not satellite) for the U.S. and Canada

So Long Mr. Jeeves, Ask.com is Here
By Gary Price
Editor, ResourceShelf.com
Director of Online Information Resources, Ask.com

The big news today is that Ask Jeeves is relaunching their service with a new name and some new services.

When I announced a few weeks ago that I had taken a new job at Ask Jeeves (aka Ask.com) as Director of Online Information Resources, I made it clear that ResourceShelf would remain an independent site. The RS and DocuTicker team have complete editorial freedom on our sites and I also have the same freedom to say what I like when I like during public presentations. My live presentations will not be Ask.com sales calls.

Sure, we will talk about Ask.com if that’s on the agenda but we will also discuss plenty of other sites, tools, and ideas. To be honest, without this freedom, taking the job at Ask.com would have not occurred. Let me add that Ask Jeeves management was 100% behind this job structure from the outset.

I hope you’ve noticed that since my announcement about taking the job at Ask.com a few weeks ago, the stream of news and new resources on ResourceShelf has continued to be what you have come to expect from our site. That is, lots of material from variety of sources.

Of course, when there is Ask Jeeves news, we will also report on it and today is one of those days.

The remainder of this post will not only fill you in on “what’s new” at Ask Jeeves (so long and adios to Mr. Jeeves) but I also hope it helps answer a question many of you have asked since I told you about my new job. Why did I choose to take the job in the first place? In this case this post is both a news story and at the same time a brief look at some of Ask’s services.

SO, WHAT’S The News?

As of today, Ask Jeeves is now known as Ask.com. The butler logo and theme is gone. This is good news. Why? Ask Jeeves represented a less-than-useful search service. As I’ve said before, the Ask.com of 2006 is NOT the same thing as Ask Jeeves circa 1999. It’s a greatly improved service and I hope to contribute my share (and with your help) to make it better. NOTE: Enjoy the Ask Jeeves retirement video here. (-:

Frankly, if Ask.com was the same service it was, circa 1998 or 1999, I would not have accepted the job because back then the LAST search tool I would have recommended, used, or would have wanted to be a part of was Ask Jeeves.

Hopefully, the new name will help people realize that Ask.com has done some impressive work during the past five years. However, a name is only a name and actions and capabilities speak louder than words.

Bottom Line #1
————–

The idea of pre-supposing questions and then mining the open web for answers HAS NOT BEEN a part of Ask.com since late 2001. Unfortunately, many people, including information professionals, have, up until now, not realized this point.

Changes
——-

The beginning of the Ask.com turnaround began in September 2001, with the acquisition of the Teoma search technology from Rutgers University.

The Teoma relevancy/ranking algorithm is different than found elsewhere. Without getting into a long and technological discussion, I’ve added some additional links at the end of this post that can help give you a broad overview of what makes the Teoma technology (now incorporated into Ask.com) different. A few sentences are available here (in the “How it Works” Section). Of course, relevancy algorithms from all of the large web engines are constantly changing and being tweaked, but the readings I hope will provide you with some of the fundamental differences in concept.

Btw, as of today, the actual Teoma.com site is no more. It now redirects to Ask.com. However, all of Teoma’s power, features, and more, minus one, are now a part of Ask.com. Former users of Teoma (unfortunately, not many used it) will no longer see the “Resources Section” of subject-specific meta pages that Teoma made available. Hopefully, this feature (or something similar to it) is something that Ask.com can add in the future since many info pros found it useful but less than 1% of users took advantage of it. That’s even mentioned in this blog post.

Moving Forward
————–

Let’s go back to 2001 (September to be precise) when Ask.com began on its multi-year drive to revamp the product.

IMHO, they’ve done an impressive job and that was one of my biggest draws in joining their team.

However, let me be clear, there is much more work to be done and, again, this is a key reason why I wanted to join them.

One problem, from a marketing standpoint, is that many people, including librarians, educators, and the general public, have spent little time paying attention to what has been going on at Ask.com.

Why?

Old habits and beliefs die hard and, as I said earlier, many people still believe that Ask.com is the inferior product that it once was. That is no longer the case. In fact, it’s a goal to directly involve our profession in making Ask.com even better. That’s why your feedback/suggestions/comments are important.

Bottom Line #2
—————–

Info pros need to stay current on a variety of tools and services. That’s one of the reasons we do our best in preparing ResourceShelf everyday. I realize that this is easier said than done, but knowing about alternatives and using the right tool at the right time is key to our mission. Perhaps it’s time to begin looking more closely at a variety of tools and resources. I heard from many people thoughout 2005 who said that they appreciated ResourceShelf’s continuing coverage of a wide variety of sites and search tools. I often think that search and library news + new reports + new sites/databases that we blog on RS and DocuTicker as a form of collection development in the web age. Let’s take full advantage of the wide variety of resources (both free and fee-based) that we have available to us.

New Features, Improved Services
———————————-

Before moving forward, the Ask.com of today is by no means a completed product. Far from it. If it was, why would I be taking the job? It is one of my goals to help make Ask.com even better by involving the education and library communities.

That said, as of today, Ask.com is a worthy and improving alternative that all info pros, educators, and others should know about and make use of when needed.

Today’s name change is just that, a name change. However, as the butler says goodbye, I hope that the change will hopefully give plenty of notice to many of the new services and features that Ask.com has been building and improving upon in the past few years. Again, this is just the beginning and another reason I wanted to be part of the team and represent our community.

Review: Ask.com February 2006
———————–

Let’s get to some facts and things to look for. As you review the list, you’ll see that a few of these tools started becoming available a few years ago.

+ The new Ask.com homepage (new today) is crisp, sleek, and light. If you had an issue with the way it once looked (too busy) that issue is now solved.

+ The Ask.com Toolbox (new today), located on the right side of the homepage, can help get you to speciality databases (like the dictionary, picture search, local search, etc.) quickly. It can even be minimized if you don’t want to use it. You can even customize the order in which the links appear. The Toolbox utilizes AJAX technology. Btw, developers will be able to add direct links to other databases (how does a library catalog sound!) with the release of an API. Of course, Ask.com will also continue to develop new specialty tools as well. What databases would you suggest?

+ Beginning on April 20, 2003, Ask.com has been hard at work developing what they call “Smart Answers.” As I’ve said many times, these are examples of search engines becoming “answer engines” for certain types of ready reference queries. It’s only been in the past year or so that others have begin to really ramp up efforts in this area. Let’s be clear, most of this is done autonomously and is NOT the same thing as what Ask Jeeves was doing in 1999.

Some Examples
————

++ Holiday Dates
++ Award Winners
++ Fast Facts: The EU
++ Business: Market Cap
++ Geography Facts
++ Science

++ Placing images from the Ask.com pictures database on to web results pages

+++ Building direct links and compilations to a variety of answers

++ Animals and Pets
+++ Cities
+++ Biographies
+++ Recipes
+++ Television shows
+++ Sports
+++ Definitions (you can even hear the word pronounced)

Folks, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I think the possibilities are endless and we hope to involve the library and education communities in helping to build more “Smart Answers” with material coming from reliable and trustworthy sources. All of these and other tools can help save the time of the searcher and keep them (in some cases) from “pogo sticking” around the web. As we all know, time is something everybody wants more of. Less clicks, more quality answers!

+ The new Ask.com Picture Search Database
++ Ask.com now crawls the web for images and uses its own relevancy algorithm. They are no longer purchasing a database of imagery from a third party. Its relevance and precision have earned it high marks.

Improved Maps, Intro of Aerial Imagery, Improved Directions
Today also brings the launch of a new and greatly enhanced Ask.com map and directions service (also using AJAX technology). You’ll also find very detailed (you can “get in close” as they say) aerial and satellite imagery provided by GlobeXplorer. Imagery is available as of today for the U.S. and Canada. ALSO, SOME IMAGERY for locations in Western Europe are available. Here’s the Lourve. The new Ask.com Map and Directions is full of features. One of my favorites is the chance to see both walking and/or driving directions and then animate your route by clicking the green “Play” button. You can also add in multiple stops. You can even recalculate directions by simply dragging the numbered location pointer to a new location. Btw, Maps24.com offers animated maps and directions for many parts of the world.

+ We all know that a searcher often needs help either narrowing or expanding their search. For a long time Ask.com (and Teoma) has offered the “Zoom” feature that lets the searcher see suggested clickable options to let them focus their search. They’re listed in the right column. In some cases, even related names are extracted out of the result set and made easily searchable. Here’s an example with a search for The Beatles. Also make sure to take note of the Smart Answer at the top of the page.

+ I Know Many Educators Use Ask Jeeves for Kids.
The service is now known as Ask for Kids. What can we do to make it better?

+ Ask.com also offers cached pages for many of the pages in its database. They also provide the precise date and time that the page was cached.

+ Other features include “binoculars” that provide page previews before the searcher clicks on the live link (a potential time saver).

+ Ask was also one of the first large search providers to market (September 2004) with a service that allows you to save, annotate, organize, and share your content called My Jeeves. Think of it as a virtual briefcase and yes, you can tag and share your posts. One feature I use often is the ability to send and then share images from my cameraphone. As of today, the service is now known as “My Stuff.”

+ The Acquisition of Bloglines and Other Projects
Another key move by Ask in 2005. This is a highly loved service and lots of synergies exist between this web-based RSS aggregator and search tool. In fact, Ask is testing an improved feed search tool in Japan right now. Of course, synergies also exist using data from other IAC/InterActive properties like CitySearch, Expedia, and Ticketmaster.

+ International
ResourceShelf has a large readership outside of the U.S. and Ask.com is growing the world. We want your feedback as well. Ask.com currently has sites in The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK with more to come. The new design and some of the Ask.com features are now visible on these sites.

The Reduction of Ads
———————

While others have been increasing the number of paid ads on a search results page, it has been announced that Ask.com is reducing the number of paid ads on results pages.

Bottom Lines: What This Means
——————————

As I said earlier, by no stretch of the imagination is Ask.com a completed product. I want to help to make it better. We at Ask.com want to hear your ideas and thoughts on how to make the service work for you, your patrons, and your students.

If I had to boil down what Ask.com has been doing for the past several years, it comes down to a few key points that to some degree sound a lot like a good info pro.

+ Alternatives
In many cases the more choices the better. Google, Yahoo, MSN, Clusty and others are high quality, first rate products that we all use regularly. However, that doesn’t mean that Ask.com can’t also be one and isn’t worthy of your attention and knowledge. A great reference collection is filled with many choices and options. A great reference librarian knows about many of them.

+ Save the Time of the Searcher
Everybody wants and needs more time and the more quickly high quality results can be provided the better. Clicks mean time. To a large degree, this sounds like one of Ranganathan’s five laws of library science, “Save the time of the reader.”

+ Ease of Use, Usability
Features like Zoom are easy to explain and use.

For all of you, I hope my overview not only gives you a better idea of what Ask.com has been up to for 4 years, but also starts you brainstorming about what we can do better. That is one of my key roles at Ask.com–to represent the library and education communities. I also hope that it gives you some of the reasons why I’m excited to be joining the Ask.com team. Lots of work needs to be done in many areas and all of us can work together to continue improving the service.

Reading List
————————————
Remember, the Teoma search technology is now incorporated into Ask.com. These selected readings might help you get a better understanding of what Teoma algorithm and technology is all about.

+ “In conversation with…” Jim Lanzone & Apostolos Gerasoulis of Ask Jeeves/Teoma (2005)
Noted web search expert Mike Grehan chats with two Ask.com execs, Jim Lanzone & Apostolos Gerasoulis.

+ Teoma Technology (2002)
Chris Sherman takes a look at what makes Teoma technology different.

+ A Longer Look by Mike Grehan into the Teoma Algorithm (16 pages; PDF)
Teoma section begins on page 14.

+ For the Techies #1 (1999)
Many of the concepts that underly Teoma come from IBM’s Clever team. This search product was never publicly released. This paper explains and is one of my all-time favorite papers about web search.

+ For the Techies #2: DiscoWeb: Applying Link Analysis to Web Search (1999)
This is the first published paper on what would become Teoma. One of its co-authors, Apostolos Gerasoulis, is now the Vice President of Research and Development at Ask.com. Btw, DiscoWeb stands for Discovery Web (not a dancing search engine).

Professional Reading Shelf
Internet
Library Science
Source: Webology (via E-LIS)
Application of Ranganathan’s Laws to the Web
By Alireza Noruzi. Abstract: “This paper analyzes the Web and raises a significant question: Does the Web save the time of the users?” This question is analyzed in the context of Five Laws of the Web. What do these laws mean? The laws are meant to be elemental, to convey a deep understanding and capture the essential meaning of the World Wide Web. These laws may seem simplistic, but in fact they express a simple, crystal-clear vision of what the Web ought to be. Moreover, we intend to echo the simplicity of Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science which inspired them.”
–
Collaborative Tagging
Source: E-LIS
Collaborative Tagging as a Knowledge Organisation and Resource Discovery Tool
By George Macgregor and Emma McCulloch. Abstract: “The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of the collaborative tagging phenomenon and explore some of the reasons for its emergence. The paper reviews the related literature and discusses some of the problems associated with, and the potential of, collaborative tagging approaches for knowledge organisation and general resource discovery.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Internet and the Web
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
New Survey, Surfing for Fun
A new study from Pew researcher, Deborah Fallows. “More Americans are turning to the internet as a place to hang out. Nearly a third of internet users go online on a typical day for no particular reason, just for fun or to pass the time. Two-thirds of all internet users have tried surfing the Web just to pass the time, according to a survey we conducted in December 2005. Some 40 million people said they were surfing for fun on a typical day during the month. This number is up from 25 million people who were browsing for no particular reason in November 2004, the most recent time when this question was asked by the Pew Internet Project.”
–
Television–TiVo–Lists & Rankings
Source: TiVo
The TiVo Top 10 Moments of the 2006 Winter Olympics
–
Information Technology–Health
Source: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
New Web Site, AHRQ National Resource Center for Health Information Technology

Professional Reading Shelf
Libraries–Vandalism
Source: Sandra Hart, SLIS, University of Alberta
Vandalism in Libraries
“Vandalism is a problem that affects libraries of all types. As custodians of library collections, it is part of librarians’ responsibility to ensure they are adequately informed in order to prevent vandalism as much as possible and to be prepared in the inevitable event that vandalism occurs in their libraries. This paper will examine the problem of vandalism facing libraries. It will look at the classification of vandalism as it is thought that by understanding the categories of vandalism, prevention strategies may be better tailored to fit the problem at hand. The research on typical vandals will be explored. The different types of vandalism that occur in libraries will be discussed, with examples from the literature. Material that is a frequent target for vandalism, including sexual, religious and racist materials will be discussed. The costs of vandalism, both monetary and social, will be addressed. This paper will conclude with an examination of a host of prevention strategies.”
–
Government Printing Office (GPO)–Information Dissemination
Source: Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP)
Information Dissemination Policy Statement (PDF; 70 KB)
“This policy establishes conditions under which postings via various electronic communication mechanisms are used to communicate administrative information and announcements to Federal depository library staff and others with an interest in GPO’s information dissemination programs. Posts to electronic discussion lists on sensitive issues or those likely to generate press coverage must be cleared through the Office of Public Relations and/or the Office of Congressional Affairs. The Office of Public Relations should be informed of announcements for new services and products prior to their posting to electronic discussion lists.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Landmines–Map
Source: International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)
Global use of antipersonnel mines since May 2004 (PDF; 405 KB)
“Confirmed Use or Compelling Evidence”
See Also: Global production of antipersonnel mines 2005 (PDF; 516 KB)
–
U.S. Department of State–Experts
Source: U.S. Department of State, Office of Media Outreach
Newsmakers Search
“U.S. Department of State ‘Newsmakers’ provide insight, analysis, and expertise on foreign affairs, news and events. ‘Newsmakers Search’ provides a means for members of the media to match experts with upcoming media events.”
+ Experts by Position
+ Experts by Issue
+ Experts by Name

Search Briefs
Web Search–Google
Source: News.com
Google’s Privacy Concerns Unfounded According to Newly Filed Brief
From the article, “The Justice Department has denied requesting anything from Google that could threaten the privacy of the search engine’s users, as the company recently contended. But by trying to block the government’s efforts to review a week’s worth of search terms, Google is holding up efforts to protect children from pornography, according to a brief filed Friday by the Justice Department.” We’ve posted the full text of Friday’s brief from the feds here. (PDF)
See Also: Declaration in Support by Dr. Phillip Stark, UC Berkeley, Hired by U.S. Government to Do Statistical Analysis of Search Data
See Also: Friend of the Court Brief Filed By Law Professors (Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society)
See Also: Full Text to Google’s Brief (and Related Filings)

Professional Reading Shelf
International Affairs–Bibliographies
Source: Air University Library
Three New Bibliographies
+ Japan
+ Russia
+ Saudi Arabia
–
Web Search–Google
New Study: Google Scholar Does VERY WELL Compared to Thomson ISI citation index
The UBC Google Scholar Blog points to a summary article/interview about a new study (full text here) that shows that Google Scholar does as well as ISI’s Web of Science (WOS) in citation counts. Interesting and more good news for Google and perhaps not so good news for Thomson Scientific. A few random thoughts and things I’m thinking about after reading the article.
—-
—-
+ I’ll let Dr. Peter Jacso speak for himself (he’s a great writer, a comprehensive reviewer, and I’m honored to say a friend and mentor) but the summary says that Dr. Jacso’s articles and reviews of Google Scholar, he’s written three of them (1 2 3) might be biased (specifically the first one listed above) since he is on a Thomson advisory board***. That’s weak. Its been my experience that Peter says it like it is and has the data to back it up. Btw, Dr. Jacso has been VERY positive about other autonomous citation indexing services like CiteSeer.

+ Second, the word “outperform” means many things. OK, in this study the citation counts were close but the searchability of material on WOS is much stronger. In other words, you can do more to precisely find what you need. True, Google Scholar does offer an advanced search page that, for example, allows you to limit by source. However, getting a source list from Google (something I’ve asked many times) is impossible. Also, WOS offers more usability (at least at this time) with your results (email, bib formatting, alerts, etc.). What about time to index inclusion? How long does it take for new material to find its way into WOS vs. Google Scholar. Perhaps someone is working on that study now.

+ Third, a point I made from day one of Google Scholar’s public existence is that Google does not provide any type of definition of what they are and ARE NOT indexing. For example, while I’m honored that ResourceShelf is indexed in Google Scholar, I’ll be the first to say that our blog is not a scholarly source in even the broadest definition of the term. Our articles and links for non-scholarly cites considered a citation? How does GS define a citation? Is a conference presentation considered a citation if on one of the slides it mentions an article or book? We don’t know since we don’t know their collection/crawling policy. So how can we compare?

Btw, here Google Scholar shows 8 entries for our one blog. Also, Jacso points out that the “hit” totals found on Google Scholar are not very accurate. No surprise since it’s been discussed many times and for many years that the page totals from Google’s web database (and other large web engines) are inaccurate. That’s why we’ve said many times not to use web search total size estimates to determine the popularity of something.

+ From the article, “Dr. Pauly also notes that Thomson ISI is 40 years old, while Google Scholar “is one and a half years old, and will improve.” This might very well be the case, but how does Dr. Pauly know for sure? We still have not learned the business plan (if any) for Google Scholar. Forget business plan, what’s the long-term plan for Google Scholar? Remember that the project itself began as a Google researcher’s (Anurag Acharya, a great guy and very smart man) 20% time project. What happens if things/people change at Google? Will the Google of 2006 be the same Google in 2008? What business is Google (or any large general purpose web engine) in? I think most people would agree that Google (a bit more so that others) is in the advertising business, since 99%of their revenues come from ads. This is not a bad thing (unless you just don’t like advertising) but thinking of Google in the same way we think of the business other info companies (Dialog/Thomson, LexisNexis, Factiva, etc.) is really not accurate. Btw, what would some in the education/academic community say if keyword and contextual advertising came to Google Scholar results pages?

+ A fast fact: Thomson just launched a new component product (part of Web of Knowledge) called Web Citation Index. It would be interesting to see how this new database and GS compare. Selection methods, usability, etc. I believe some of the technology to power this product uses technology that’s also used by CiteSeer.

Bottom Lines? One, as Dean points out, it’s good to talk about these issues. Two, as I’ve said many many many times, it’s all about the right tool/resource at the right time. Remember, librarians should like alternatives. Alternatives and choices (both free and fee) are good.

See Also #1: Just for fun! Aviation is one of my (Gary’s) interests. I was searching Google Scholar and found a citation written by someone with a last name (a word you can’t say on tv in the U.S.) Is this true? Nope, parsing issues, a challenge for all database builders (not only Google). Nevertheless, what makes this a bit more surprising is that the data comes directly from a bibliographic database. Btw, the author’s name is actually Peng Shi. I’m sure you can guess the letter Google added to his name.
(-:

*** See Also #2: Dr. Jacso has told ResourceShelf that he is not on an Advisory Board of ISI. He goes on to say, “I have been on the advisory committee of the JCR [Journal Citation Reports] some years ago…There is a big difference between Thomson ISI advisory board and ISI advisory group (for JCR) in terms of involvement in ISI matters.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Business–United States–Lists & Rankings
Source: Fortune
Just Released, America’s Most Admired Companies 2006
Sort the list numerous ways. Several articles. Direct to full list of 303 companies.
Top 10 (Overall)
1. General Electric
2. FedEx
3. Southwest Airlines
4. Procter & Gamble
5. Starbucks
6. Johnson & Johnson
7. Berkshire Hathaway
8. Dell
9. Toyota Motor
10. Microsoft

Most Admired in the Internet Services and Retailing Industry
1. Google
2. eBay
3. Yahoo
4. IAC/Interactive
–
Earthquakes–California–Maps
Source: USGS
New Maps Identify Bay Area Liquefaction Risk
“Two new maps give first responders, land use planners, decision makers and Bay Area residents a new and more detailed look at the risk of ‘liquefaction’ in the soils underlaying buildings and other important components of the Bay Area infrastructure, such as roads and pipelines.”
Summary ||| Direct to Maps

Search Briefs
iTunes Launches a Personalized Music Recommendation Service
Look for the “Just For You” section on the iTunes Music Store home page. Findory’s Greg Linden has more including a reader comment (a rumor) that the service is powered by ChoiceStream. ChoiceStream also powers Yahoo Movie Recommendations, Yahoo Gift Finder, and their own MyBestBets. MBB offers personalized television recommendations. All three of these services are free.
See Also: Since we’re talking personalization and recommendation services, Findory has announced a few new features including
+ RSS Feed for Your Findory Favorites
+ More Favorites Listed on FF Page. Default moves from 10 to 20.
+ Findory Similar Articles (a first step towards clustering)
Links and examples here.

Professional Reading Shelf
Virtual Reference
Source: OCLC Research
Presentation: Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Transcripts
PowerPoint:505K/34slides. A presentation by Lynn Silipigni Connaway at the OCLC Members Council Research and New Technologies Interest Group, 14 February 2006.
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Information Organization
Source: OCLC Research
New, Using Dewey Differently
PowerPoint: 440K/15slides. A presentation by Diane Vizine-Goetz and Thom Hickey at the OCLC Members Council Research and New Technologies Interest Group, 13 February 2006.

Search News
Web Search
Weblog Search
Source: Gilad Mishne
New Academic Paper Offers a Review of Weblog Searching
The paper will be presented at the 28th European Conference on Information Retrieval (ECIR’06) 2006 in April. The paper is titled “A Study of Blog Search.” It was written by Gilad Mishne and Maarten de Rijke from the University of Amsterdam. 13 pages; PDF. From the abstract, “We present an analysis of a large blog search engine query log, exploring a number of angles such as query intent, query topics, and user sessions. Our results show that blog searches have different intents than general web searches, suggesting that the primary targets of blog searchers are tracking references to named entities, and locating blogs by theme. In terms of interest areas, blog searchers are, on average, more engaged in technology, entertainment, and politics than web searchers, with a particular interest in current events. The user behavior observed is similar to that in general web search: short sessions with an interest in the first few results only.”
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Web Search–Google
Source: News Release
Google and National Archives (U.S.) Announce Project to Digitize Historic Films
Word today that the National Archives (NARA) and Google have announced a non-exclusive pilot project to digitize and bring historical film content from the National Archives to the web. The material will be available via Google Video and via a link at the National Archives site (though the content will be hosted by Google). Some material is already available at this special interface for National Archives content. From the news release, “The National Archives and Google are exploring the possibilities of expanding the online film collection and making the Archives’ extensive textual holdings available via the Internet.” We were unable to find any type of timeline for content additions or new programs. Content can be downloaded for offline viewing. A bit more info here.
See Also: Google Makes Digitized Archive of Interviews with TV Legends Available Online (via SEW Blog)
See Also: In November, Danny and Gary wrote about Google providing $3 million in seed money to The Library of Congress to build a World Digital Library. No word at this point on how things are proceeding.
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By No Stretch of the Imagination is this Project the Only Place to Find Both New and Historic Film on the Web

Here are a few, just a few, places to find “historic” film and video content and some other “educational” material on the web from both government and non-government sources. Again, this list is FAR FROM comprehensive. Just a taste. (-: If people find this collection useful, I’ll continue to build it out.

+ The Movie Picture Archive from the Internet Archive
Take special note of the Prelinger Archives. What is it? “Prelinger Archives was founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger in New York City. Over the next twenty years, it grew into a collection of over 48,000 “ephemeral” (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films. In 2002, the film collection was acquired by the Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Prelinger Archives remains in existence, holding approximately 4,000 titles on videotape and a smaller collection of film materials acquired subsequent to the Library of Congress transaction.”

+ The Internet Archive is Also Home to the Universal Newsreels Archive
601 newsreels from 1929 to 1967.

+ Moving Images Collection (via Georgia Tech University)
“A Window to the World’s Moving Images.”

+ Survivors of the Shoah Testimony Viewer
Holocaust survivors tell their stories. Part of the Survivors of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education.

+ Multimedia Content via the Library of Congress American Memory Project
You’ll find movies, sound recordings, and more.

+ Canada: The CBC Archives

+ Canada: Digitisation Projects from Library and Archives Canada including:
++ Virtual Silver Screen
++ Featuring Gratien Gelinas

+ Europe: A Collection of Historic Television Commercials
via Blinkx. More than 5000 commercials have been digitised.

+ Germany: German newsreel archives (Wochenschau-Archiv)
Via BUFVC annotation: “The Federal Film Archives, Berlin, are digitising the Deutsche Wocheschau newsreel collection of German newsreels from 1949 and making them freely available over the internet. Over 4,000 stories have been issued so far, for lowband (56K) or broadband (250K) connections, using Windows Media Player.”

+ The National Archives of the UK Has a Collection of Digitized Content via BlinkxTV
To access, select National Archives in the “information section” on the Blinkx search page.

+ UK: British Path Film Archive and Newsplayer.com
++ Newsplayer.com offers over 100 years of digitized film.
++ Material from British Pathe newsreel archive (1896-1970).
Both services are free or available at a VERY low cost for individual use. The British Universities Newsreel Database (BUND) will also be of interest. Direct links to the Pathe database.

+ UK: Nation on Film
From the BBC.

+ Selections from the The Newsfilm Library at the University of South Carolina

+ Surgery Videos (via the National Library of Medicine)

+ NASA Video Archive NASA Image Exchange (NIX)
Limit your NIX search to movie or video.

+ NOAA: A Gallery of Historical Films

Archived Lectures and Presentations
+ ResearchChannel.org
Lectures and presentations from a consortium of many universities.
+ MIT World Archive
+ University of California, Berkeley
+ New, Institute of Politics Opens Up Video Archive to the Public

+ A Comprehensive List of Film and Video Archives Around the World
Many have online digitization prjects.