Real-Time Web-Based Space Shuttle, ISS, and Satellite Tracking Tools
+ Shuttle and ISS Tracker #1 (Java)
+ Real Time Shuttle, ISS and Satellite Tracking (Java)
+ JTrack 3D (Java)
+ Space Shuttle and ISS Real Time Ground Spotting Opportunities
+++++ Skywatch 2.0 App (Java)

Health and Physical Activity Reference Database

The American College of Sports Medicine Office of Museum, History, and Archives is pleased to provide the Health and Physical Activity Reference Database of articles and books published over the past 200 years or more related generally, to the connection between health and physical exercise and the early history of the physiology of exercise. Most of the material was written in English and was published in North America. However, some material was published in France, Germany, and England, among a few other countries.

The references were selected from a large number of published material and are by no means a complete listing. The listings are divided into two distinct reference databases. One, titled “Health and Physical Activity”, includes 3,131 separate citations to literature. The second, titled “Exercise Physiology”, includes 223 references from the literature.

The members of the Office of Museum, History, and Archives hope these two searchable reference databases will be helpful to researchers in the field, but warn that they are not exhaustive lists of the entire published literature on these topics. Instead, they are “selected” lists and should be supplemented by searching other available databases.

Source: American College of Sports Medicine

Widgets to the rescue — USASearch.gov aims to make agency info easier to find with new spotlight tool

The rise of widgets on the Web has spawned a virtual industry of plug-in capabilities. Now a Web services group in the federal government is entering the fray with a new set of search widgets aimed at improving government Web sites.

The new plug-in applications, developed for USASearch.gov by Vivisimo, are in final testing and due for release next month. They are designed to address a frequent failure of search engines tethered to agency Web sites: getting often-sought government information and services to appear prominently in the search results.

The widgets aim to solve that problem by giving agency Web managers new tools to spotlight selected information and extend the capabilities of USASearch.gov, a customized search engine launched three years ago by USA Services, a unit of the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Communications.

Source: Government Computer News

Beta release!

Browse and download topo maps and trails from our new recreation database.

Source: NGS

+ ImportGenius: The Disruptive Shipping Database (via TechCrunch)

+ Combining OA, wikis, community annotation, semantic processing, and text mining (via OA News)

+ HighWire Press joins Serials Solutions KnowledgeWorks Certification program as part of HighWire’s Discoverability Initiative

+ GrantGopher.com Launches Free Available Grant Database to Connect Nonprofits with Funding Resources

+ Prof Creates Tattoo Database For Police (via Detroit News)

New Genealogy Database from Library and Archives Canada: Immigrants from China

The Government of Canada created documents specifically for new arrivals from China. This research tool provides access to 98,361 references to Chinese immigrants who arrived in Canada between 1885 and 1949.

The General Registers of Chinese Immigration were indexed by the Department of History at the University of British Columbia (www.ubc.ca/). This index is intended for personal genealogical use only.

Source: Library and Archives Canada

From the article:

The USDA’s Economic Research Service has launched a new online service providing statistics on feed grains, hay and related items. The database includes information published in the monthly Feed Outlook and previously annual Feed Yearbook.

Access the Database

Source: Dairy Heard

From the article:

The new online service will rate an estimated 3,000 hospitals nationwide on the intensity of care for nine serious medical conditions. Consumers Union, the not-for-profit group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine, currently rates health plans, medications and some medical treatments and might rate physician groups and elder care in the future.

Source: iHealthBeat

Direct to Full Text Guide

Cooking with the sun’s power is a fun way to use a renewable resource, and with excellent results. This guide lists books on solar oven design, solar cookbooks and Internet resources for the solar chef.

Source: Science Reference Division, Library of Congress

Biomass Document Database

The Biomass Document Database is a collection of public documents of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Biomass Program. This includes most documents prepared since 1980 by the Biofuels Technology Program, many of the more recent documents for the whole Biomass Program, and selected “related” documents that are relevant to the Biomass Program, even if not produced by it. Each citation contains a short abstract, and is coded to allow search by key words, author, and title.

As many documents as possible are attached as PDFs. However, many journal articles, book chapters, and other documents cannot be posted as PDFs because of their copyright status. These documents should be available from your library. The document database will indicate this while providing sufficient bibliographic information for you to locate them.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy

A new “Fact for Features” guide from the U.S. Census Bureau. Some of the stats include:

+ 110 million
The number of households with a television set in 2006, compared with 76 million households in 1980.

+ 2.6
The average number of television sets per home in 2005. In 1980, that number was 1.7.

+ More than 1,600
The number of television stations in the United States already broadcasting digital programs.

Many more stats on the page.

Source: U.S. Census

+ Philippines librarian accused of stealing letters walks free: court (AFP via Yahoo! Singapore News)

+ First In The Country Library Machine Unveiled Thursday (NBC 11 Bay Area)

+ Federal Aid To City Library May Be At Risk (Hartford Courant)

+ Steve Cisler: Librarian knew a lot about a lot

+ Need for new library intensifies (via Prague Post)

Posted 29 May 2008 on DocuTicker:
+ Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America (The Brookings Institution)
+ Air Travelers Avoided 41 Million Trips in Past Year – U.S. Economy Takes $26.5 Billion Hit (Travel Industry Association)
+ Canada becoming haven for would be terrorists while politicians look the other way in search of votes (The Fraser Institute)

From the announcement:

The British Library has over 20 years of experience digitising its collections. The mass digitisation of 19th century literature in partnership with Microsoft is one of fifteen British Library-led digitisation initiatives, currently taking place…Approximately 75,000 pages are being scanned daily by the digitisation studios at the British Library. A further 40,000 out-of-copyright books will be scanned as agreed in the Library’s contract with Microsoft.

Here’s the complete programme. We will feature papers and presentations that will be presented at the conference (and linked in the programme, as they become available) in upcoming RS posts. This years conference theme: “Libraries without borders: Navigating towards global understanding”. The conference will take place this August in Quebec City.

Source: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions