Moving Terminology
Understand the terms in your quotes and documentation.

Source: American Moving and Storage Association.

Posted 6 October 2008 on DocuTicker:
+ The Economic Bailout: An Analysis of the Economic Emergency Stabilization Act (CCH/Wolters Kluwer)
+ First Metro Green Jobs Report Projects 4.2 Million Jobs by 2038 (U.S. Conference of Mayors)
+ Payday loans strip wealth from communities of color (Center for Responsible Lending)

NEA’s Read Across America 2009 Resource Calendar and Toolkit Request

Fill out this form and we’ll put your name on the list to receive a 2009 Resource Calendar and Toolkit (should be available in the fall of 2008). Be sure to select your correct member status. Requests are filled on a first come, first served basis.

+ Read Across America website

Source: National Endowment for the Humanities

The Evolving Role of the Business Researcher: A Dow Jones Research Study

Today’s Information Professionals and knowledge workers perform a far more valuable function to your business than discovering and organising information. It is in the extraction of facts, in-depth analysis and timely distribution of information where they really add value. In late 2007. Dow Jones launched Research the Researcher, an on-going survey of Professional Researchers, focused on bringing the customer experience forward in product strategy. Drawing from this in-depth research and analysis, Dow Jones Factiva has developed strategic enhancements such as De-duplication, Widgets and Factiva Reader for External Distribution to enable customers to become more efficient and demonstrate value throughout their organizations.

Please join Dow Jones for a one hour webinar where we will share key findings from this research project. Product Manager, Ken Sickles and Market Research Manager, Ellen Maccabe will discuss the results of our research and how emerging technologies, organizational trends, and end user expectations are impacting the way researchers work.

Free registration required.

askSam Announces Free Presidential Debate eBook

A free, searchable database of the presidential debate transcript has been released by askSam Systems. The askSam database contains a full-text searchable archive of the full debate between Republican candidate John McCain and Democratic candidate Barak Obama. You can search, browse, and analyze the 2008 presidential debate online at www.asksam.com/ebooks/2008-presidential-debates. askSam will make available at this same site free searchable versions of upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates.

+ Other askSam searchable eBooks, including the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Source: Information Today NewsBreaks

Hat tip: PW

24 Words the CED Want to Exuviate

Here are a list of words the Collins English Dictionary want to discard to make room for up to 2,000 new entries.

Abstergent: Cleansing
Agrestic: Rural
Apodeictic: Unquestionably true by virtue of demonstration
Caducity: Perishableness
Caliginosity: Dimness
Compossible: Possible in coexistence with something else
Embrangle: To confuse
Exuviate: To shed
Fatidical: Prophetic
Fubsy: Squat
Griseous: Somewhat grey
Malison: A curse
Mansuetude: Gentleness
Muliebrity: The condition of being a woman
Niddering: Cowardly
Nitid: Bright
Olid: Foul-smelling
Oppugnant: Combative
Periapt: An amulet
Recrement: Refuse
Roborant: Tending to fortify
Skirr: A whirring sound, as of the wings of birds in flight
Vaticinate: Prophesy
Vilipend: To treat with contempt

Source: Time.com

Hat tip: PW

Resource of the Week: Guide to the Global Economic Crisis
By Robert J. Tiess, Reference Department, Middletown (NY) Thrall Library

Editor’s note: We are big fans of one-stop shopping sites here on ResourceShelf, and we are unabashedly partial to sites created by librarians. This week’s resource is both…and since the topic is especially timely, we’ve invited one of its creators to tell you about it.

Mary Flannery Climes, our Head of Reference, and I created a web resource guide in hopes of helping people locate key information on the current economic crisis, related concepts and initiatives, as well as recent U.S. Government statements and actions concerning the situation.

Our web resource guide contains:

• National & International Economic Information
  • Learning about the Economy
  • Economic Indicators
  • Global Economic Crisis Coverage
  • Economic News (U.S. & Global)
  • Government Information (relevant to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008)
  • International / Global Economies
• Personal Finances / Consumer Interest Topics
  • Banking
  • Credit & Debt
  • Energy
  • Housing Crisis / Mortgages / Subprime Mortgages
  • Investments
  • Labor & Unemployment
• Economy keywords/subject headings for researchers

The guide is updated as new information becomes available.

Our decision to create this resource guide partly stems from our long-held belief that a library can and probably should (wherever possible, appropriate, in support of the institution’s mission) act as sort of a “first responder” whenever the public’s need for substantial and immediate information intensifies.

At such a time, when search engines have yet to index key points of information, when media sources are just starting to make sense of and report on breaking news, and when the general state of information (on and off the Web) can range from the uncertain to the chaotic, libraries can step in and lend a sense of stability, direction.

How?  By combining traditional library strengths (such as organizational skills and resource awareness) and related knowledge and practices with the latest resources and technologies, we believe libraries can provide some notable degree of “informational relief” by offering clear and convenient paths to critical sources.

What can make such efforts especially advantageous and attractive is the ability to not only point to remote websites but also to feature otherwise unknown resources available within one’s own library or library system.  Collections, databases, and any other materials or services (library, community-based, or local government) relevant to the cause can be highlighted for the instant benefit of each library’s patrons.

These considerations inspired us over the years to create topical web guides (http://thrall.org/guides), our Special Coverage Center (http://thrall.org/special), Current Interests (http://thrall.org/current), and even our blogs (http://thrall.org/blogs). Many of these guides have local linkage.

Several factors determine the content and structure of our guides, including, but not limited to:

• The nature and complexity of the subject.
• The strength of local (in-house or library system-wide) resources.
• All the local service area considerations, including demonstrations of the need for specific information by local patrons; local news coverage sources; local government and community services,   activities, contacts, and so on.
• The currency, quality, and relevancy   of information available; consequently:
• Collection development criteria.
• The information actually available at the moment and how that information might be made more navigable through classic, contemporary, or novel subject headings and groupings.
• How information might need to be reorganized as new sources/materials become available.
• How the guide could be integrated and cross-referenced with our other resources and Reference services and, later, incorporated with items like our in-house publications and classes.

Afterwards, each guide remains in a state of perpetual reconstruction, organic and evolving in response to dynamics in the informational environment, which often influence and require the resource guide to adapt in various ways if it is to survive (i.e. be visible, discernible, relevant) amid millions of other web pages indexed by search engines.

Such work requires a strong initial effort, preceded by planning and achieving a familiarity with the resource you wish to create a pathfinder for, and succeeded by a long-term commitment to keep the guide alive and thriving through periodic edits and link reviews (and not simply automated link validation, but actual human site checks to ensure every resource included is still at least what it once was when you first listed it in your guide).

We believe such efforts are indeed worthwhile — necessary, even — if a library is to give its patrons a better starting point than an empty search box. We applaud other libraries engaging in comparable local/web resource organization for patrons.  Likewise, we would encourage other libraries not currently involved in such resource guide creation to consider pursuing something comparable. In doing so, more libraries might enjoy increased appeal, relevancy, and utility within their communities, possibly to the point of reclaiming the “first-stop-for-information” status often lost to search engines these days.

Sunlight Foundation Releases First Online Foreign Agent Lobbying Database

In its continuing effort to make hard to access government data accessible with the click of a mouse, the Sunlight Foundation is releasing a beta version of FARAdb, which digitizes disclosures filed by lobbyists representing 15 foreign countries required by the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

These reports are filed twice a year by firms hired to lobby Congress and the executive branch by foreign governments, political parties, individuals and organizations–including for-profit companies. The lobbying firms disclose specific details about which government officials, including members of Congress and their staffs, were contacted by lobbyists for each client, and gives details about what specific issues were discussed. The firms must also disclose all the campaign donations made by their employees who lobby for foreign clients.

Source: Sunlight Foundation

District Court Rules against National Archives in Lawsuit to Obtain Health Care Records from Clinton Presidential Library

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled against the National Archives (PDF; 62 KB) on September 30th, refusing to dismiss Judicial Watch’s lawsuit to obtain Hillary Clinton’s health care task force records from the Clinton Presidential Library and denying the Archives’ separate motion to stay the lawsuit for one year [Judicial Watch, Inc. v U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Civil Action No: 07-1987 (D.D.C.) (PLF)].

The National Archives filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that Judicial Watch’s original Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was overly broad. In the alternative, the Archives asked the court to stay the lawsuit for one year, citing a lack of resources and a backlog of requests. Judge Friedman rejected both requests (PDF; 63 KB).

Source: Judicial Watch

The World’s Best Paid Authors

While the publishing industry has struggled to come up with a “Happily Ever After” storyline in recent years, there’s still plenty of money to be made in the business of books.

Sure it isn’t the success it once was–blame it on the economy, the Web and the big-box stores–but the publishing industry’s top earners still manage to turn pages of prose into piles of cash. In fact, the 10 stars on our list of the best-paid authors pulled in a combined $563 million between June 1, 2007, and June 1, 2008, thanks to hefty advances, impressive sales and silver screen adaptations.
…
Topping the list: J.K. Rowling, who banked a jaw-dropping $300 million over the course of the year.

+ Slideshow

Source: Forbes.com

Ballot Measures Database
From press release:

The November election is roughly five weeks away. While ballots are taking their final form across the country, the total number of ballot questions is expected to be just shy of 160. 63 of these are citizen initiatives. In 2006, the number of initiatives totaled 76, the second-highest total. (The record of 87 ballot initiatives occurred in both 1914 and 1996.)
…
This year, some of the most controversial issues include abortion (California, Colorado and South Dakota), anti-affirmative action (Colorado and Nebraska), immigration (Arizona, California, Missouri and Oregon), and same-sex marriage (Arizona, California and Florida, and a ban on adoption by gay couples in Arkansas). Other issues on the ballot in more than one state include environmental protection and land/water conservation (Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota and Ohio), criminal justice (multiple measures in both California and Oregon), elections (Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio and Oregon), campaign finance reform (Colorado, Oregon and South Dakota), and legislatures (Colorado and South Dakota).

Major tax limitation initiatives are on the ballot in Massachusetts, North Dakota and Oregon. The measures before voters in Massachusetts and Oregon this year will look familiar — voters rejected virtually the same measures in those states in 2002 and 2000, respectively. The Massachusetts proposal would eliminate more than a third of the state’s budget. Estimates are that Oregon’s would cut state revenues by about 10 percent, and North Dakota’s by about 15 percent.

Voters in Colorado, Oregon and California have the most measures on the ballot this year. 18 measures will be before voters in Colorado and 12 each in Oregon and California.
…
To view details on the 156 measures already on the ballot, visit NCSL’s Ballot Measures Database.

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures

FDA Launches New Public-access Database of Animal Drug Approvals

The FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) today announced the availability of a new database of approved animal drugs. The database, called “Animal Drugs @ FDA,” is a publicly-accessible web-based application available through the CVM home page.

“Animal Drugs @ FDA” replaces the “Database of Approved Animal Drug Products,” or Green Book, a database that was previously developed and managed by the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) Drug Information Laboratory at Virginia Tech.

The application allows users to search for detailed descriptions of all FDA-approved new animal drugs. The search tool not only allows users to conduct simple word searches, but is also capable of more complex searches through the following eight specific search criteria: NADA/ANADA, Sponsor, Ingredients, Proprietary, Dose Form, Route, Species, and Indication.

Under the Generic Animal Drug and Patent Term Restoration Act (GADPTRA), CVM will continue to make available electronic files of listed drugs previously provided through the Green Book on its web site.

Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Posted 3 October 2008 on DocuTicker:
+ Gun shows do not increase homicides or suicides (Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Maryland)
+ FHFA Releases New Mortgage Metrics Report (Federal Housing Finance Agency)
+ Federal Spending Increased 4.4 Percent in 2007 (US. Census Bureau)

Green Building Glossary
Alphabetical listing, from Absorption Chiller to Worm Bin (”System for on-site management of food scraps and other organic materials. Similar to a compost bin, a worm bin uses worms to digest organic wastes, in a process known as ‘vermicomposting’.”)

Who knew?

Source: City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development

Free Our Libraries! Why We Need A New Approach to Putting Library Collections Online (PDF; 128 KB)

Long ago, mankind figured out that special kinds of public institutions are needed to preserve cultural heritage—libraries and museums. They’ve been a grand success, enabling successive generations to learn from and build on the record of man’s achievements and failures.

But a momentous, ill-considered shift is now afoot that threatens to limit the public rights in the collections assembled and maintained, often at public expense, in libraries around the globe.

Today Google and other businesses are scanning millions of books from the world’s great libraries and offering access to them on the Web. This conjures up the vision of a vast, free, Internet public library of accumulated knowledge. It seems like a marriage made in heaven—the union of corporate capital and enormous library collections, carrying knowledge into virtually every home and workplace.

Unfortunately, it’s not.

Source: Universal Access Digital Library Summit (Boston Library Consortium)