Archive for August, 2008

Audio: Listen Online: Top Political Speeches of All-Time

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

From the article:

University of Texas professor Michael E. Eidenmuller has amassed a huge online database of speeches in audio and text forms. You can take a listen to your favorites at americanrhetoric.com/speechbank.htm.

Source: Denver Post

First Open Access Day Set for October 14, 2008

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

Get the details here.

Open Access Day will help to broaden awareness and understanding of Open Access, including recent mandates and emerging policies, within the international higher education community and the general public.

Source: SPARC, PLoS

See Also: SPARC News Release

Four new Web 2.0 offerings for those new to the wiki game

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

From the article:

What if about the only thing you know about wikis is how to spell the word? Fear not. Here are some free – and fantastic – offerings to help you get your wiki feet wet without installing software on a computer.

Source: itbusiness.ca

Sask. librarian off to jail for book scam

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

From the article:

The former top librarian of a rural Saskatchewan library system will be going to jail over a massive book-buying fraud.

Source: CBC

Check out the library’s high-tech tools

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

From the Boston Globe article:
Another hooray article!!!

…But for deep research, you can’t beat a well-stocked library, with its books and specialized databases. Yet you can access many library resources without stirring from a chair. Using online services that cost nothing, you can scour academic journals, borrow best-selling audiobooks, and download music legally. You can even type messages to a nationwide network of librarians who will help find the answers you seek.

Source: Boston Globe

Czech PM reckons with new national library building

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

From the article:

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek still reckons with the construction of a new building for the National Library (NK), he said after meeting Culture Minister Vaclav Jehlicka today.

Source: Czech Happenings

Starbucks Coffee Recipe E-book

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

Starbucks Coffee Recipe E-book

Get ready to grab (for free of course) one of the most delicious collections of coffee recipes available online. It’s an amazing 32 page collection of their world famous coffee recipes such as iced Frappuccino, Caramel Macchiato, Chai Tea and many more. Plus delicious and one of a kind coffee pastries and amazing coffee sauces.

For your safety our e-book has been virus scanned and checked for any of that bad stuff and is completely safe and clean. There are also no irritating ads in it and there is nothing in it for you to buy.

+ Zip file (717 KB)

Briefs

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

+ Search & Internet Explorer 8 (via SEL)

+ Indians gift to Google, Map Maker (via Times of India)

+ For Google, More Ads Per Search (via Red Herring)

Opium cultivation in Afghanistan down by a fifth…and other full-text reports on DocuTicker

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

Posted 27 August 2008 on DocuTicker:
+ Opium cultivation in Afghanistan down by a fifth (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
+ Recent Trends in Home Prices: Differences across Mortgage and Borrower Characteristics (Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight)
+ Police Chiefs Call on Next President to Do More to Protect America’s Hometowns (International Association of Chiefs of Police)

New Science Reference Guide from the Library of Congress

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Just released: Beer and Brewing

A guide of selected resources on the history and science of beer and brewing from the Library of Congress collections.

Source: LC

U.S. on Track to Top Mobile Web Market, Study Says

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

From the article:

After years of lagging behind European countries, the U.S. is poised to take the top spot for mobile Web usage by month’s end, according to data collected by technology firm Bango, which provides mobile Internet access platforms to 100,000 Web sites worldwide.

Source: AdWeek

See Also: Dial Directions Gives Evite Guests a Voice-Activated Mobile Service for Directions

Web Sites Compare How Hospitals Measure Up

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

From National Public Radio:

A new Web site called “Hospital Compare” evaluates hospital death rates around the country and shows how individual hospitals stack up against the national average. Guests discuss the reliability of the data on the site and describe the measures hospitals are taking to improve performance.

Source: NPR

Records Management: SPEC Kit 305 Published by ARL

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Like all SPEC Kits full-text are fee-based document BUT the table-of-contents and executive summary is available at no charge. 18 pages; PDF.

Source: ARL

PubMed Now Indexes Videos of Experiments and Protocols in Life Sciences

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

From the article:

PubMed Central, the National Library of Medicine’s online database, is now indexing videos from The Journal of Visualized Experiments. According to the publication’s official blog, JoVE is “the first video-journal to ever be accepted for publication in PubMed.”

Source: Wired Campus

The BookFinder.com Report: Out of Print Book Trends

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

The 2008 report is now online.

Source: BookFinder.com (via LISNews.org)

Panel reverses English-only policy for libraries

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

From the article:

The Frederick County Commissioners voted to eliminate an English-only restriction on audio books bought by the Frederick County Public Libraries.

Four commissioners voted on the issue Tuesday after Commissioner Kai Hagen asked the board to reconsider the policy. John Thompson Jr. voted against the reversal.

Source: Washington Examiner, AP

September Issue of Roddy MacLeod’s Internet Resources Newsletter is Now Online

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Professional Reading: The September 2008 Issue of the Internet Resources Newsletter is Now Online
News and several large helpings of high quality web resources from Roddy MacLeod and crew at the Heriot-Watt University Library in the UK.

Psst! Are you Twittering yet?

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Psst! Are you Twittering yet?

Michael Sauers, technology innovation librarian at the Nebraska Library Commission, uses Twitter, a free message-routing and social-networking tool, to communicate with colleagues and spread the word about his organization’s reference service. He encourages others to check out Twitter for themselves — but don’t ask him to describe it.

“People are always asking me to explain it to them, and there really is no good way to do that,” Sauers said.

“My best answer is that it’s a mix between e-mail and chat, where you get the benefits of the group without requiring the group to be there all the time.”

Twitter might be hard to describe, but that hasn’t deterred thousands of people — including a growing number of government officials — from using the microblogging service to quickly and efficiently update others on their activities.

Source: Federal Computer Week

Note: Both ResourceShelf and DocuTicker are available on Twitter. Subscribe to the “ResourceShelf” feed.

The Google Controversy — Two Years Later

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

The Google Controversy — Two Years Later (PDF; 56 KB)

Two years have passed since Google startled the world with its free, online, high-resolution mapping products of the world. Foreign governments expressed their shock and concern about such detailed imagery in the hands of the general populace; their facilities and state secrets exposed to the world. “Today, with the advent of civilian satellites here and abroad, we have opened wide the window on places and events that, not so long ago, only spies could see,” writes Sharon Weinberger.

As the initial shock wore off, five main responses to the “Google threat” emerged from nations around the world: negotiations with Google, banning Google products, developing a similar product, taking evasive measures, and nonchalance. This report discusses foreign reporting and government response to the online mapping revolution after the initial brouhaha.

Source: Open Source Center (via Secrecy News)

Great .gov Web sites

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Great .gov Web sites

Government agencies are finally catching on to the World Wide Web. Ten years ago, most government executives saw the Web as a sort of electronic brochure. Now they have come to realize that the Web can be the primary form of interaction with constituents.

So when we sought to compile a list of the best government Web sites, we looked for those that offered more than information — we looked for those offering services. We also kept an eye out for sites that reflect the needs of the constituents.

We were pleasantly surprised by the number of great government Web sites. We received more than 70 nominations from a blog entry posting on GCN that was also forwarded on the Web Content Managers list server.

We scanned other awards programs for suggestions and consulted with Web design experts on their favorite sites. Here are 10 we feel exemplify how government agencies are making the best use of the Web.

Source: Government Computer News