Briefly
+ TiVo Adds “Guru” Recommendations
“Gurus from Entertainment Weekly, Star, Sports Illustrated, Automobile, Billboard, CNET and others will offer TiVo subscribers program recommendations based on popular television categories including sports, films, music, comedies, drama and more. As an added benefit, TiVo subscribers will be able to automatically record Guru Guide recommendations via the company’s online scheduling feature.”
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+ Treasury picks Convera for search
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+ UK: Web Of Libraries Around M25 (via ManangingInformation.com)
“…he M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries, established to bring together the resources of university and other libraries within the M25 geographical area. The new Website can be accessed at: http://www.m25lib.ac.uk.

Multimedia Shelf
New webcasts, archived presentations, and more covering a variety of topics.
New Webcast, Commencenment Address (Video): U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts Delivers the Commencement Address at Georgetown University Law Center.
This speech was delivered on May 21, 2006.
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Politics
Journalism
Source: National Archives and Records Administration
Video Lindy Boggs And Cokie Roberts: Two Generations of an American Political Family
Boggs and Roberts were interviewed on May 10, 2006 as part of NARA’s American Conversations series. “Former Congresswoman Lindy Boggs and her daughter, noted journalist Cokie Roberts, joined Archivist Allen Weinstein for a conversation about their mother/daughter relationship in an influential political family. Mrs. Boggs served nine terms in the House of Representatives?the first woman elected to the House from that state. She was the first woman to chair a national political convention and the first woman to serve as Ambassador to the Vatican. Mrs. Boggs is the author of Washington Through a Purple Veil. Cokie Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News covering Congress, politics, and public policy. She has won countless journalistic awards and has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. Her books include We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters and Founding Mothers.”
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CIA
Bush Administration
Source: Princeton University
“State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration”
A presentation by James Risen, Pulitzer-Prize Winning Reporter, The New York Times at Princeton on May 2, 2006. RealVideo: 300K ||| Windows Media 300K.

Professional Reading Shelf
Online Books
eBooks
Amazon.com
Amazon.com’s Search Inside the Book Gets a New Look with New AmazonOnlineReader and Your Media Library
The way you view material from Amazon.com’s Search Inside the Book (SITB) has gotten a new look and several new features with the debut of the AmazonOnlineReader. At the same time Amazon’s “Your Media Library” hit the web. SITB debuted a couple of months before Google Print/Book Search and continues to provide limited full text and full image content (as determined by the publisher). There is still no interface or option that will limit your search to only SITB ready content.

To find SITB content, simply run an Amazon book search and look for books marked with the “Search Inside” logo. You can also search for books using Amazon’s A9.

A book found via SITB offers several ways to view the content and allows us to see Amazon’s. Here’s a quick review.

1) First a search for the children’s classic, “Where the Wild Things Are.”

2) Let’s look at the first entry by clicking either the title or the book cover.

3) Here’s the Amazon.com page we’re all used to. Pricing info, related titles of possible interest, reviews, etc. Placing your cursor over the book cover provides links to citations, a search box and more.

4) Click the book cover. Now, the AmazonOnlineReader opens. Pages contain no advertising. More about the reader here.

5) From the reader, you can:
+ Search for words or phrases in the book (you can also search the entire Amazon.com database or A9.
+ View single pages or continuous pages by scrolling
+ Zoom in or Zoom out (very useful)
+ Overall, we’re impressed so far. One thing that would help is more explanation directly on the page (mouseovers) vs. having to go to a help page.

6) A lot of what we’re seeing here is part of the new Amazon.com upgrade program where you can read purchased books online, print pages, add notes, bookmark pages, etc. This in many ways is similar to what you can already do with books accessible (for free) via NetLibrary and ebrary.

7) This FAQ page has more info about how to buy an upgrade (if available), upgrading past purchases and also clearly states that you can only “upgrade” to online access IF YOU purchase a physical copy of the book. Btw, upgrades are only available in the U.S. at the present time. Let’s be clear, the free services and content SITB has offered continue at no charge.

The Amazon.com upgrade program was first reported in November.
Btw, you’ll also still find (good news) the interesting statistics and tools that Amazon.com has offered for a year or so including text stats, concordance, Statistically Improbable Phrases, and Capitalized Phrases.

9) The Amazon.com Media Library aka “Your Media Library” (formerly Amazon.com Locker) is now live. This is where all of your media purchases from Amazon (books, music, videos) AS WELL AS digital media purchases (content for online viewing, reading, listening) are placed OR WILL BE PLACED (think of the possibilities) for easy access and review. Yes, you can even add tags to your purchases. You’ll also find links to product manuals that can be downloaded.

See Also: Learn More About the Amazon.com Reader.

See Also: A Few More Examples of Search Inside the Book and AmazonOnlineReader
+ Title/Info Page: The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
Via AmazonOnlineReader

+ Title/Info Page: Marley & Me : Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog
Via AmazonOnlineReader

+ Title/Info Page: How to Win Friends & Influence People
Via AmazonOnlineReader
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Medical Librarians
Librarians
Source: AP
Internet searches: Librarians do it better
Although this article focuses on the work of librarians with cancer patients (some very very important work) we think many of us have known for a long time (ever?) that in many situations librarians can add value for all searchers. From the article, “Librarians have access to resources sometimes unavailable to the public such as subscription-based databases. But the biggest advantage, [Ruti] Volk, a professional librarian and manager of the Patient Education Resource Center (PERC) at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center] said, is expertise in searching. ‘I do this every day, I should do it better than other people,’ she said.” Right-on Ruti! However this does not mean for other types of searching end users can’t also do a good job IF (a big if) they know what is and is not available, have some basic info literacy skills, and a basic understanding about using the right tool at the right time. Of course, a bit of training (not teaching) on how to take full advantage of what most commercial web engines offer can also help. Not only do info pros have the ability to get people to the “best” info but we can also save them time. Everyone wants more time. However, like we’ve said before, the public can’t use (human or electronic) what they don’t know about. This is why marketing is so important.
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Academic Publishing
Source: Inside Higher Ed
The Quest for Crossover Books
“For many scholars — especially in the humanities and social sciences — their secret or not-so-secret is to be the next ‘crossover’ author: the Ph.D. whose book becomes a best seller, and not just in campus bookstores. The next Freakonomics, perhaps. University presses are equally anxious to publish such books, which end up paying the bills so that presses can publish the many books that don’t sell much at all. If you want to know what the presses are betting on for the next crossovers, there may be no better place to go than BookExpo America, an annual conclave at which publishers try to woo the people who buy books for bookstores, create some buzz among the reporters who cover publishing, and anyone with any connection to Oprah.”
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Health Research
Library Outreach
Source: NLM
Information Rx Tool Kit Redesign
“Following the success of the pilot sites in Georgia, Iowa, and Virginia (see Information Rx project summary), NLM worked with the Virginia pilot sites to develop the Information Rx Tool Kit to assist librarians in promoting Information Rx to physicians, patients and their families, as well as to public libraries and community organizations. The tool kit contains tested promotional materials and suggestions for a variety of activities. The Information Rx Tool Kit Web site has recently undergone a facelift and reorganization to make it easier to use. The Web site, renamed the Health Sciences Information Rx Tool Kit, was launched in May 2006 and is a step-by-step online guide designed to assist health sciences librarians with project-related outreach activities they may wish to initiate.”

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Venture Capital–Europe
Source: PWC
Preliminary European Investment & Fundraising Activity
2005 Summary & Data
See Also: 2005 Global Report on Private Equity
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Business–United States–Statistics
Economics–United States–Statistics
Source: BLS
100 Years of U.S. Consumer Spending: Data for the Nation, New York City, and Boston
“This report, 100 Years of U.S. Consumer Spending: Data for the Nation, New
York City, and Boston, BLS Report 991, offers a new approach to the use of
Consumer Expenditure Survey data–http://www.bls.gov/cex/home.htm. Also, available as a PDF.
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Business–United States–Lists and Rankings
Source: Black Enterprise (via DocuTicker.com)
BE 100s: 2005 Report
“Today’s business environment moves at lightning speed. For the chief executives of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses, keeping pace is priority No. 1. They must continually re-evaluate corporate capabilities and tinker with their company’s infrastructure to gain maximum advantage. Many must contend with emerging competitors, but the most daunting challenge for these CEOs, whether they operate an industrial/service company or a financial services firm, is dealing with large majority corporations treading on their turf.”
+ Industrial/Service 100
+ Auto Dealer 100
+ Advertising Agencies
+ Insurance Companies
+ Banks
+ Investment Banks
+ Asset Managers
+ Private Equity Firms
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Ready Reference–Lists & Rankings
Source: Infoplease.com
Fast Fact Shelf
+ Music (Various Lists and Rankings)
Updated compilatiopn including: Top 10 Most Played Songs, 2005; Most Played Music Videos, 2005; Top 10 Digital Songs, 2005; and more.
+ The 100 Largest City Parks (U.S.)
+ Offbeat National Parks
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Business–Houston–Lists and Rankings
SoSource: Houston Business Journal
Houston Small Business 100
Each entry contains a brief profile about each company.
#1 ||| #2 to #9 ||| 10 ||| 11-19 ||| 20 ||| 21-29 ||| 30 ||| 31-39 ||| 40 ||| 41-49 ||| 50 ||| 51-59 ||| 60 ||| 61-69 ||| 70 ||| 71-79 ||| 80 ||| 81-89 ||| 90 ||| 91-100

Search Briefs
Multimedia Search
Source: Searchforvideo.com
Searchforvideo.com Adds New Content From Discovery Networks
The always useful (and improving) Searchforvideo.com, the search site that aggregates video content from a large number of sources (we find lots of content here before we find it anywhere else, if ever) has added new video clips from Discovery Networks. Of course the clips can be searched (using metadata associated with each entry) but it’s now also possible to browse clips by program and/or network. Great idea!
See Also: Real-Time Access to Video Clips as They Enter the Searchforvideo Database
See Also: Search Searchforvideo by IM

New Library RSS Feed
New RSS Feed from NLM’s Division of Specialized Information Services
New feed of the SIS news page. The SIS feed address is: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/rss/sisnewsfeed.rss

Briefly
+ Elsevier’s ScienceDirect Announces Redesign
The redesigned ScienceDirect will roll-out over the next two years.

DocuTicker
Best of DocuTicker
DocuTicker is ResourceShelf’s sister site and is updated daily with a wide variety of new full text reports on many topics from government agencies, think tanks, ngo’s and many other organizations. Here’s a small, very small, sample of what we’ve posted during the past week.

+ Bureau of Justice Statistics Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005
+ Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Program: Delivering Sustainable Public Health Protection for America: 2005 Annual Report
+ Estimating Potential Impact of an Influenza Pandemic Using 1968- and 1918-Type Scenarios
+ Cumulative Number of Confirmed Human Cases of Avian Influenza A/(H5N1) Reported to WHO
+ Consumer Expenditures in 2004
+ Canada: Over 380,000 Households in Five Major Centres Intend to Buy a Home in 2006
+ Hybrid Vehicle Registrations More Than Double In 2005
+ Libel in the Blogosphere: Some Preliminary Thoughts
+ Calories In, Calories Out: Food and Exercise in Public Elementary Schools, 2005

Professional Reading Shelf
Weblogs
Source: Dr. Gilad Mishne, University of Amsterdam
New Position Paper, Information Access Challenges in the Blogspace
Published in IIIA-2006 — International Workshop on Intelligent Information Access, 2006.
See Also: Other Writing by Gilad Mishne on Weblogs, Search and Access
+ New Research Paper (DRAFT): Large Scale Study Looks at Comments Posted on Weblogs (8 pages; PDF)
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The following items were co-authored with Maarten de Rijke.
+ AutoTag: A Collaborative Approach to Automated Tag Assignment for Weblog Posts
and
+ Deriving Wishlists from Blogs: Show us your Blog, and We’ll Tell you What Books to Buy
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+ New Academic Paper Offers a Review of Weblog Searching

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Agriculture–United States
National Agriculture Library
Digitization Projects
Source: NAL
National Agriculture Library Digital Repository (NALDR)
From the announcement, “While documents will continually be added to NALDR, currently available in the repository are:
* The Rural Development Publication Digitizing Project, providing access to publications produced since the 1800s and chosen as being the most relevant titles on rural development. These include the entire series of Rural Development Research Reports, Rural Development Perspectives, Agricultural Economic Reports, and Agriculture Information Bulletins, as well as selected Economic Research Staff Reports and the first 300 volumes of Agriculture Handbooks.
* The Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture series. Published from 1894 to 1992, the yearbooks contain statistical information, summaries of research developments, and comprehensive surveys of particular subjects important to agriculture, providing an important annual “snapshot” of U.S. agriculture. The yearbooks for 1894 to 1914 are currently available in the NALDR. The remaining volumes will be added in 2006.”
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Military Law–Bibliography
Source: Air University Library
Law of Armed Conflict in Air and Space Operations
New bibliography contains Internet resources, books, documents, periodicals.

Search Briefs
+ Ask.com’s Seven Day Forecast Smart Answer
Here’s a quick look at some of the weather and climate info you can access via various Ask.com Smart Answers.

+ A Seven Day Forecast
Just enter “forecast, city name or Zip Code” or “seven day forecast, city name or Zip Code. Here are two examples. 1 2.
+ Current Conditions
Enter weather (city name, Zip Code). Some of this info is also available for several major cities in Canada and other major cities around the globe. Btw, the current weather and many more local links are available by entering a city name.
+ Detailed Weather Conditions
Enter city name or Zip Code and the words “detailed weather.”
+ Climate
Enter city name or Zip Code and the word climate. You can then select a month.
UPDATE 1: Need boating info? Try boating conditions (city) or surf conditions (city).
UPDATE 2: On a somewhat related note, Ask.com also offers real-time info about earthquakes. Enter earthquakes for the latest. Here’s an example. Search “earthquakes” without a location and a Smart Answer with the latest earthquakes anywhere in the World. This method will also provide a link to the Ask.com Recent Earthquake Activity page.

Professional Reading Shelf
eBooks
Coming this Summer: Free Access to Thousands of eBooks via The World eBook Fair
As Project Gutenberg celebrates its 35th anniversary this summer (yes, e-books are hardly a new idea and congrats to Gutenberg founder, Michael Hart) The World eBook Fair will work to promote eBooks around the globe. From the World eBook Fair site, “July 4th to August 4, 2006, marks a month-long celebration of the 35th anniversary of the first step taken towards today’s eBooks. 35 years ago the United States Declaration of Independence was a first example of hundreds of thousands of eBooks downloadable on the Internet today in a variety of languages totalling over 100. The World eBook Fair welcomes you to absolutely free access to a variety of eBooks unparalleled by any other source. 1/3 million eBooks await you, all free of charge [as PDF files] for the month of July…This event is brought to you by the oldest and largest free eBook source on the Internet, Project Gutenberg, with the assistance of The World eBook Library, the providers of the largest collection, and a number of other eBook efforts around the world. The World eBook Library normally charges $8.95 per year for their online collection, and allows unlimited permanent downloading. During The World eBook Fair all these books are available free of charge through a gateway at http://www.gutenberg.org
See Also: Learn More/Subscribe to The World eBook Library

Business–Guides
Source: U.S. Foreign and Commercial Service and U.S. Department of State
Every year the U.S. Foreign and Commercial Service and the U.S. Department of State publish Country Commercial Guides (CCG) about doing business in a specific nation (from a U.S. perspective, of course). These reports contain info on the basic business situation in that country, investment climate, import issues, business travel and much more. All of the following CCG’s were placed on the web in the past two months. ResourceShelf will post updates and more 2006 Country Commercial Guides going forward. All of these documents are free as PDF files. The guides frequently run 25 or more pages. For example, the CCG for France is 170 pages. To locate reports for other countries, archived reports, etc., that are not listed here or to access a specific chapter from one of these reports use this database and select “Country Commercial Guides” in the report type pull-down box.
Here’s the list of some recently Country Commercial Guides:

Austria
Canada
Costa Rica
Denmark
France
El Salvador
Ethiopia
Honduras
India
Laos
Macedonia
Malawi
Maldives
Nigeria
Panama
Rwanda
Senegal
Serbia and Montenegro
Slovakia
Sri Lanka
Switzerland
Togo
Tunisia

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
VoIP/Internet Telephony
Source: Science Reference Services/Library of Congress
New Science Tracer Bullet Tackles VoIP/Internet Telephony
Includes intro, bibliography, articles, web resources.
See Also: List of All Science Tracer Bullets
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Fantasy Sports–Directory
Source: Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA)
FSTA Members
“The following companies are corporate associates of FSTA. Each company’s representative(s) is indicated. There are currently 260 companies that are members of the FSTA.” Web links where available.
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Immigration–United States
Source: Dept. of Homeland Security, Inspector General
Detention And Removal Of Illegal Aliens: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
“This report assesses DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement program for detaining and removing illegal aliens apprehended in the United States and at ports of entry. It is based on interviews with employees and officials of relevant agencies and institutions, direct observations, and a review of applicable documents.”

Briefly
+ Digitization: Readex Announces Completion of Digital American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I
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+ Dr. Anne-Imelda M. Radice, New Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Sworn-In

Professional Reading Shelf
User Interfaces
Source: Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, University of Maryland
Exploratory Search Interfaces: Categorization, Clustering, and Beyond
From the introduction, “Although the Semantic Web is making new richer and more flexible kinds of Web-based querying possible, a burning question remains ‘Are current search technologies enough to meet all user demands?’ The answer of course is yes and no. Search engines, bibliographic databases, and digital libraries provide adequate support for users whose information needs are well defined. However, they do not work well in situations where users lack the knowledge or contextual awareness to formulate queries or navigate complex information spaces [2].”
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Libraries–Australia
Resources for Library and Information Week
Library and Information Week begins on May 22nd.
Overview FAQ (PDF) Resources for Library and Info Week
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Reference Books
Source: Book Publishing
ref*er*ence pub*lish*ing
“…reference publishers face significant challenges reflected in a significant drop in new titles released in 2005 as they strive to adapt to new trends in the market.”
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Professional Literature–Nursing
Source: Journal of the Medical Library Association (Volume 94(2 Suppl))
Symposium: Mapping the Literature of Nursing
+ Mapping the general literature of American nursing
+ Mapping the literature of emergency nursing
+ Mapping the literature of rehabilitation nursing
+ May More
See Also: Journal of the Medical Library Association (Volume 94)
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Cataloging
Source: ALA
ALA urges more deliberation, library involvement in Library of Congress’s cataloging changes
See Also: Report from Library Journal

Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text
Law–Global
Source: Law Library of Congress
New Publication: Global Legal Monitor, Vol 1. No. 1
“This online publication will be updated frequently, drawing upon information selected from the Global Legal Information Network, official national legal publications, and reliable press sources. Occasionally, a special section may be added to include lectures, conferences, symposia, and exhibits on timely legal topics sponsored by the Law Library of Congress.” 50 pages; PDF.
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Phone Records–Government Access
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists and Docuticker)
Government Access to Phone Calling Activity and Related Records: Legal Authorities (PDF; 87.5 KB)
“Recent media disclosures regarding an alleged National Security Agency (NSA) program designed to collect and analyze information on telephone calling patterns within the United States have raised interest in the means by which the Government may collect such information. The factual information available in the public domain with respect to any such alleged program is limited and in some instances inconsistent, and the application, if at all, of any possibly relevant statutory provisions to any such program is likely to be a very fact-specific inquiry. It is possible that any information provided to the NSA from the telephone service providers was provided in response to a request for information not founded on a statutory basis. If this were the case, such a request would not necessarily be limited by the statutory structures discussed below, but in some instances, depending upon the facts involved, might expose the telephone companies to some civil remedies or criminal sanctions. In addition, a request, not founded upon a statutory scheme, would appear to lack a means of compelling production of the information requested. This would seem to be consistent with the statement in the USA Today article that one of the companies refused to comply with NSA’s request for calling detail records, while at least one other company appears to have complied. This report will summarize statutory authorities regarding access by the government, for either foreign intelligence or law enforcement purposes, to information related to telephone calling patterns or practices. Where pertinent, we will also discuss statutory prohibitions against accessing or disclosing such information, along with relevant exceptions to those prohibitions.
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E-Commerce–United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Census
Just Released, Retail 1Q, 2006 E-commerce Report
“The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2006, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, was $25.2 billion, an increase of 7.0 percent (�3.5%) from the fourth quarter of 2005.”
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Business–United States–Surveys
CEOs–United States–Surveys
Source: Booz Allen Hamilton
Global CEO Turnover Set New Record in 2005
“Global CEO departures reached record levels for the second year in a row, and may be peaking, according to the fifth annual survey of CEO turnover at the world’s 2,500 largest publicly traded corporations released today by Booz Allen Hamilton. The study also found that performance-related turnover set a new record in North America, and merger-driven successions were at their highest level globally of any year other than 2000.”
See Also: CEO Succession 2005: The Crest of the Wave (via Strategy + Business)
Article also available in PDF.
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Mutimedia Shelf
Interesting speeches, lectures, and more.
Source: National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law
Complete History of Murder and Science in One Hour, presented by Dr. Michael Baden
Audio Only Video

Search Briefs
Yahoo
Yahoo Renames Link from “Translation Tools” to Babel Fish on Yahoo UK “Low Impact” Search Page
Look for the link to the right of the search box. The Yahoo Canada page reads “translation.” The low-impact Yahoo.com, Yahoo Asia, and Yahoo Australia pages have no direct links to the Babel Fish translation tool at the present time.
See Also: Yahoo Brings Babel Fish Translation Service into Suite of Services
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Ask.com–UK
Ask.com UK Sponsors England’s Cricket Team
See Also: Check out the Ask.com UK Cricket Page

Briefly
New WorldCat Selection service will help libraries streamline workflows for selection, ordering of new materials
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Thomson, Tribune Company Sign Agreement to Add Full Coverage of Two Top Ten Daily U.S. Newspapers to Westlaw, Thomson Business Intelligence