CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act)
“Judges Toss Out Online Porn Law” MULTNOMAH COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
From the story, “Public libraries cannot be forced to use Internet filters designed to block pornography, three federal judges said Friday in overturning a new federal law. In a 195-page decision, the judges said the Children’s Internet Protection Act went too far because the filters can also blocked access to sites that contain protected speech.”
See Also: Read the Full-Text of The Court Decision
See Also: ALA Page With Additional Details and Resources

Specialty Search–Beta
A New Beta From Amazon.Com: Search and Browse Restaurant Menus
Similar to Google Catalogs, this beta provides users with the ability to search (using optical character recognition) and browse a selection of restaurant menus in 6 cities, with more to come. The current cities available are: Washington D.C., Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle. Another useful and potentially “tasty” use of search technology. Bon Appetit!

FirstGov
Online This Monday (6/3): The FAST Search Powered/Crawled FirstGov.Gov Database Set To Debut
We’ve been looking forward to this for some time. FAST Search is the owner and operator of AllTheWeb.Com.

Web Search–Google
Winner of the Google Programming Contest Announced
A geographic search demo wins the $10,000 prize. From the announcement, “Daniel’s project adds the ability to search for web pages within a particular geographic locale to traditional keyword searching…We selected Daniel’s project because it combined an interesting and useful idea with a clean and robust implementation.” Note: Similar services have already been developed and implemented. For example, GeoSearch from divine/Northern Light/Vicinity (interface available but not functioning, 5/31). Read a news release about GeoSearch.
See Also: A Few Comments from the First Prize Winner (via News.Com)

Online Industry–LexisNexis
D&B Data Now Available via Nexis.Com
From the announcement, “Until now, D&B information was accessible only on the LexisNexis Classic system.”

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items)
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National Archives–United States
The New National Archives (U.S.) Web Site is Now Online
NARA’s two websites, http://www.nara.gov and http://www.archives.gov have been combined into a single site. The new site will be located at the Archives.Gov url.
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Documents in the News
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Full-Text, New, Attorney General Guidelines & AG Directives on Information Sharing
Background: “Ashcroft Permits F.B.I. to Monitor Internet and Public Activities” (via NY Times)
See Also: “FBI Agents Gain New Latitude in Libraries” (via LJ)
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Science and Technology Information
Source: Department of Trade and Industry (U.K.)
New Site, GlobalWatch Online
Of special interest is the “Information” section. This section is a compilation of technology news (various sources) in several areas. It also contains a “news by country” (15 nations) section. Here you’ll find reports from various British Embassies.
See Also: Site review from Kable’s Government Computing
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U.S. State Government–Statistics
Source: U.S. Census
State Government Spending, 2000
Summary/Fast Facts ||| Direct to Data

News Briefs
Google Answers Adds Keyword Search Capabilities
You can now search terms used in questions and answers. From what I’ve been told this database will NOT be updated with changed/updated facts, urls, etc.
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Digital Reference
“New Service Allows the Public to Pose Reference Questions Without Visiting the Library” (via The Chronicle of Higher Education)
More about QuestionPoint.

Web Resources of the Week
ROTW #1, News Alerts
Still Available Without a Fee, Hoover’s News Alert Service
In this time of rapidly disappearing freebies, Hoover’s continues to make available what I’ve found to be a useful news alert tool. The service delivers via e-mail, keyword alerts from a wide variety of general news sources. E-mail postings contain the headline along with a direct link to the story. Users are given the option to have the alerts appear immediately after the story is published or once/twice a day. I’ve noticed content from many sources including several news release wires, Financial Times, Associated Press (including a few regional U.S. feeds), Knight Ridder, South China Morning Post, The Telegraph, and Chicago Tribune.
According to the site, material from over 600 sources is available. Setting up e-mail alerts is quite simple.
1) Head to the Primary News Alert Page and Register for a Hoover’s Login and Password (Free)
2) Login and Select the Add Alerts Button
3) Begin Creating Your Alerts By Entering Keywords, Ticker Symbols, and/or Selecting Industry and Topic Categories
4) Select When You Want Your Alerts Delivered and in Which Format (Text or HTML)
That’s it! It’s nice to know that the selection/edit pages have the option to easily toggle all alerts on or off. A very useful option if you don’t want to return to an overflowing mailbox after a vacation. In fact, you’re also given the option to turn the alert service off over the weekend.

ROTW #2, Business Information–Directories
Business 2.0 Web Guide
I regularly suggest the importance of information professionals utlilizing non-commercial general knowledge web directories like the Librarians’ Index to the Internet, InfoMine, and the Resource Discovery Network for quality resources which have been selected by other info pros. This week, the VAS&ND Resource of the Week is a directory of business related resources that’s part of a major media conglomerate. However, in the case of this directory, we’ll visit a focused “subject directory” that continues to strive for quality and authority over size and advertiser influence.
Business 2.0, a monthly business publication from AOL Time Warner, is also the home to one of the web’s most useful directories of high-quality business information and resources on the open web. The directory covers a broad range of material with over 50,000 web pages organized into about 13,000 categories. The directory does not accept, “any fees for review or inclusion” and is built (compiled, edited, maintained) by information professionals.
Here are a Few (of many) Useful Sections Included in the Directory
*The Companies A-Z section contains compilations for more than 400 of the “most-searched-for” companies.
*People Section includes links to biographical information for many of the most well-know business execs. For example, the entry for David Filo, one of Yahoo’s co-founders contains links to a Fortune profile and a direct link to his biography on the Yahoo site. Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s section contains direct links to background pieces from the USA Today and The New York Times.
*Industries Section is home to overview information for over 35 industries.
*Company Information Section includes links to industry research & forecast, mergers and acquisitions, and press release information.
*International Section contains resources accessible by country and/or type.
The directory is also searchable. The following directions come from the Web Guide faq, “To search the Web Guide, enter a word, name, or phrase in the search box on any page of the Business 2.0 site. Relevant Web Guide categories appear at the top of the search results page. Click on a category to see the directory listings in that topic.” Finally, not only is the Business 2.0 Web Directory a “must have” resource that should be within a click or two of your browser but it can also be a useful tool to use in building a local collection of quality web-based business information sources.
Did You Know? The Business 2.0 site also provides access to a limited full-text archive of material from Fortune and Money. Look For The Option on the Search Box.

Libraries
Source: Library Journal
“Americans Library in Paris Site of Conflict”
From the article, “…the long-quiet library is the site of a heated dispute between the library�s trustees and a group of its members. The members fear that the library will be merged with the larger and adjacent American University, thus making it more difficult to fulfill its role as American culture center, research library, and family lending library.”

Web Search–Daypop
Source: Editor & Publisher
“Daypop Searches 7,500 News Sites, Blogs”
Here are a couple of additional points not included in Charles Bowen’s column.
1) In terms of news content, Daypop crawls 656 English Language and 399 non-English Language news sources.
2) Each page in the Daypop database is cached on a Daypop Server
3) Although no syntax is directly available, you can limit to words in the title, limit by language, and sort by either date or relevance. These options are located in the blue box found on every serp (search engine results page). As Bowen mentions, other options are available on the advanced interface page.
4) For RSS fans, Daypop also provides RSS formatted results
5) Daypop provides an frequently updated list of the Top 10 search terms.

Digitization Projects–Canada–Newspapers
Info Industry–Cold North Wind
Cold North Wind to Digitize Archives of The Globe and Mail
From the news release, “Cold North Wind Inc. and Bell Globemedia have agreed to publish the full-page, searchable images of the archives of The Globe and Mail on the Internet…Terms of the agreement were not released….The 1.4-million newspaper page archive represents one of the largest in Canada and covers critical periods of Canadian history.”
See Also: Learn More About and Demo Cold North Wind Technology
See Also: “Globe and Mail Archives to be Digitized” (via GlobeTechnology.Com)

Professional Reading Shelf (2 Items)
Electronic Journals
Source: Journal of the Medical Library Association
Full-Text, “Print Versus Electronic Journals: A Preliminary Investigation into the Effect of Journal Format on Research Processes” (PDF Version)
From Vol. 90. No. 2 (April, 2002)
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Library Websites
Source: Journal of the Medical Library Association
Full-Text, “Users’ Information-Seeking Behavior on a Medical Library Website” (PDF Version)
From Vol. 90. No. 2 (April, 2002)
Note: Full-Text Access to the Journal of the Medical Library Association is Now Available Via PubMed Central. The Archive Begins With Vol. 90 No.1
See Also: The Predecessor to the Journal of the Medical Library Association, the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association is also Available. The Archive Begins With Vol. 88 No.1

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items)
Corporate Filings–United States
Source: SEC
New, Real-Time Access to SEC Filings via SEC.Gov
“Previously, EDGAR filings did not appear on the SEC’s web site for at least 24 hours.” This keyword archive does not search the full-text.
See Also: Direct to SEC EDGAR Databases
See Also: Direct to “Ticker” of EDGAR Filings As They Are Released
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Business–United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Census
County Business Patterns, 2000
Summary/Fast Facts ||| Direct to Full-Text Reports
PDF reports organized by State. Thanks to P.S. for the news tip.
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Country Reports–Fact Sheets
Source: United States Department of State
Updated Content: Country Background Notes
Here’s a list of Backgound Notes updated in May.
Barbados
Botswana
Cameroon
Fiji
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Iceland
Italy
Swaziland
Uzbekistan
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State Licensing Verification–Kansas
Invisible Web
New, Kansas Dental Board License Verification ||| Learn More

Odds & Ends
Business–Tracking Pirated Material
Source: Business 2.0
“Hollywood’s Bounty Hunters”
A very interesting article. You’ll learn about a company called Ranger Online. From the article, “Ranger won’t divulge many details as to how its software works. But the basic idea is that it arms the program with relevant search criteria — including, for example, the myriad aliases and formats used by distributors of DVD “rips,” or titles — and then uses the software to scan not just the commercial Web but also file servers, chat rooms, news groups, peer-to-peer networks, and even specific Web applications such as online auction software. When IOS detects what it thinks are digital infractions, it relays the details back to the client. The client then can begin firing off “cease and desist” e-mails to the Internet service providers of the accused.” The Motion Picture Association of America, Microsoft, and the Recording Industry Association of America use this product.
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Financial Service Industry–Tracking People
Source: Washington Post
“Financial Database To Screen Accounts”
“Leading financial services firms here have formed a private database company that will compile information about criminals, terrorists and other suspicious people, for use in screening new customers and weeding out those who may pose a risk. The company, known as Regulatory DataCorp Int’l LLC , comes as financial services face strict new government mandates to make efforts to identify those who may want to use the U.S. financial system for illegal activity.”
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Libraries
Source: AP via The Washington Post
“Antiquity’s Famed Library Begins a New Chapter”
From the article, “The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, partly submerged in a pool of water, tries to live up to an ancient tradition. It stands where archaeologists believe the library of the Ptolemies stood some 1,700 years ago. After decades of research, more than a decade of planning and many delays, the new library is to officially open this year.”

Digitization in Libraries and Museums–United States
Source: Institute of Museum and Library Services
Survey Results Released: The Status of Technology and Digitization in the Nation’s Museums and Libraries
From the news release, “A federal report quantifies, for the first time, how computers, software, and information sharing technologies are changing the work of museums and libraries. The federal Institute of Museum and Library Services surveyed more than 700 professionals in libraries and museums of all types and sizes about their technology use and digitization activities.” Announcement/Summary of Key Findings ||| Direct to Full-Text ||| Full-Text in PDF (74 pages)

Web Search
Source: PC World
“The Straight Story on Search Engines”
A thorough discussion of how to identify adverstising on the major search services.

National Archives–United States
Preview Today, Online This Friday: A New National Archives Web Site
You can take a look at the redesign using this link. Also on Friday (5/31), NARA’s two websites, http://www.nara.gov and http://www.archives.gov will MERGE into a single site. The new site will be located at the Archives.Gov url.

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items)
Human Rights–Amnesty International
New Edition Available, Full-Text: Amnesty International Report 2002
The report contains summary information for 5 regions of the world and country reports for 152 nations. The report also contains a pdf chart with human rights treaty ratification information.
See Also: The report is also available in Spanish, French, and Arabic.
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Parliament–Canada
Source: Parliament Library
New Web Site, Speakers of the Senate
The site contains brief profiles of each Speaker. The profiles are also available as as 76 page .pdf file.

Public Libraries
Source: Editor & Publisher
“Libraries Threaten Paid Online News Archives”
Barbara Quint and I are quoted as Steve Outing alerts the newspaper community about public library database services. If nothing else, this will hopefully encourage a journalists or two to write a story about what public libraries offer patrons these days. Thanks to S.C. for alerting me to the fact that the story hit the E&P web site.

Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA)–United States
Source: Federal Register
A Request For Comments About CIPA is Published in the Federal Register (PDF Also Available)
You have until August 27th to send your comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Thanks to M.Z. for the news tip.
See Also: CPPA, COPA, CIPA: Which Is Which? (via ALA)

Meta Search–Kartoo
Kartoo: A Graphical Search Engine
Much has been written this week about Kartoo since it was mentioned on Slashdot earlier this week. Although I’m not a fan of most meta search engines, including this one, it’s still worth knowing about for it’s graphical display ability. However, be aware of it’s limitations (slow response, slow interface load time, poor documentation, not querying the complete Google database?). One meta engine that I’ve mentioned in the VAS&ND before is Vivisimo. This “document clustering” tool organizes results into folders “on the fly”. The advanced interface is clear and easy to use and WELL documented. You can also use Vivisimo’s clustering abilities “on top” of other engines like the LII and Yahoo News. Finally, those of you interested in graphical search tools/displays should also take a look at Antarti.Ca. The visual interface (demo) to PubMed is worth a look.

Legal Information–Canada
Online Industry–LexisNexis
LexisNexis Butterworths in Final Negotiations To Purchase Quicklaw
The deal will be finalized in the “very near future.”

Online Industry–OCLC
E-Books
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
“NetLibrary’s New Owners Hope Newer E-Books Will Be More Attractive to Academe”
From the article, “One thing we have heard loud and clear is we need to improve the currency of our collection,” Rich Rosy, the company’s new leader, said last week during a briefing about the company’s latest strategy. The briefing was broadcast to OCLC’s members over the Internet.” Also from the article, “Officials at netLibrary say they sell e-books to 7,300 libraries, about 3,000 of which are at colleges and universities. Some of those libraries joined on a trial basis, however, or have ordered only small numbers of e-books.”
See Also: Direct to netLibrary

Information Industry–OneSource
Business Browser from OneSource Adds Content from Several Providers
The announcement mentions several new services including, “Non-profit organization information from GuideStar, expanded global and regional news from FT.com and Proquest, improved analyst reports from Investext and detailed public company information from Multex.”

Online Industry–CrossRef
Source: InfoToday NewsBreaks
“CrossRef Considering Full-Text Search Service”
From Paula Hane’s article, “CrossRef a publisher collaborative that�s operated by the Publishers International Linking Association, Inc. (PILA) and enables researchers to navigate online journals via Digital Object Identifier-based (DOI) citation links, is currently considering the implementation of a full-text search service. While discussions of such a service have been circulating since late last fall, CrossRef members have recently been officially informed that the CrossRef Search Project is under consideration and that a full proposal will be presented at the group�s annual meeting in September. If the new service is approved, it would be developed with separate financing and would not divert resources from the existing reference-linking service.”
See Also: Direct to CrossRef

Enterprise Search
New From FAST: Real-Time Information Retrieval For Internet and Enterprise Environments
From the announcement, “The next-generation product suite [FAST Data Search 3.0] shatters the traditional notion of information retrieval by delivering a highly modular and scalable application suite combining real-time search functionality with a real-time filter/alert engine for dynamic information processing, advanced linguistics functionality, and flexible content access and integration options.”

Encyclopedias–Georgia
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Learn About: The New Georgia Encyclopedia
From the article, “Headquartered in the University of Georgia’s main library, the New Georgia Encyclopedia project has received a $175,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the first such award in the country for the production of an online encyclopedia. When it debuts in fall 2003 on the Internet, it will be free and available to people around the world.”
See Also: Learn More About the Encyclopedia

Libraries–United Kingdom
Source: Kablenet.Com
“Whitehall Opens E-Library”
From the article, “Government librarians are to provide a new information resource in the form of the Electronic Library for Government, it was announced on 28 May 2002. Over 20 library and information services will provide content for the site, that will be hosted by the Knowledge Network team in the Office of the e-Envoy.”

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items)
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Campaign Fundraising–United States–Statistics
Source: FEC
New Statistics, “Congressional Fundraising Continues to Trail 2000 Levels”
This news release contains links to numerous lists and rankings available in html and/or Excel formats.
Also Online Today: FEC Annual Report 2001
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Funding for the Arts–United States
Source: The Foundation Center
New, Full-Text, Research Brief: Arts Funding Update, 2002
From the brief, “…an overview of the growth…and distribution of foundation funding for the arts, culture, media, and humanities from 1996 to 2000…”
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Information Technology–Lists & Rankings
Source: Upside
Upside Hot 100
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Corporate News–Canada
Canadian News Release Service, CCNMatthews, Debuts New Web Site
New Advanced News Search allows searching/browsing back six months. The “Media Folder” contains an extensive list of media organizations, publications, and broadcast outlets.
See Also: Direct to the CCNMatthews Site
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Reading Habits–United Kingdom
Source: Orange/Orange Prize for Fiction
New, Full-Text Report: The Reading Habits of Individuals and Couples (U.K.)
Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text (73 pages .pdf)
From the summary, “The aim of the research commissioned by the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2002, was not only to give an in-depth picture of national reading habits but for the first time to measure the proportion of time spent reading books in the context of total leisure reading time.”

Internet Filtering
Source: Chicago Tribune
Protests at the Chicago Public Library
From the article, “More than 2,000 protesters outside the Harold Washington Library Sunday called for pornography-filtering software on Chicago library computers. Religious and civic leaders arranged the demonstration after Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey told them such software will not be installed because it won’t effectively prevent access to all pornography.”

National Trust–United Kingdom
Source: Managing Information
“Description of Collections Available from the National Trust Website”
From the article, “The National Trust has launched a new section on their website at http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk dedicated to providing online access to information about their holdings, which include buildings, collections, libraries and archives.”
See Also: Direct to the New Section of the National Trust Site

Academic Libraries–United States
Source: Business First
Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Accepts 124th Member Library
The University of Louisville was recently awarded membership into ARL.
See Also: Official Announcement from U of L

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items)
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Executive Education–Lists & Rankings
Source: Financial Times
Executive Education Rankings, 2002
See Also: Direct to Complete Rankings (.pdf)
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Public Libraries–United Kingdom
Source: Resource
Full-Text Report, Consortium Purchase of Electronic Resources by Public Libraries in England
Direct to the Full-Text Report
See Also: Background About the Report
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History–Australia
Source: Department of the Parliamentary Library
New, Full-Text, E-Brief: A Matter of Public Importance: Votes for Women

Books–Databases
Source: Contra Costa Times
Learn About: Bookfinder.Com
Simultaneously search mulitple book vendors.
See Also: Direct to Bookfinder.Com
See Also: ISBN.Nu (Another Excellent Book Finding Tool)

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (2 Items)
Health–MEDLINEplus
A Selection of New MEDLINEplus Compilations
-MEDLINEplus: Throat Disorders
-MEDLINEplus: Tick Bites
-MEDLINEplus: Voice Disorders
-MEDLINEplus: Wrist/Arm Injuries and Disorders
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National ID’s–United States
Source: National Academies/National Academy Press
New, Full-Text Online, IDs — Not That Easy: Questions About Nationwide Identity Systems

Web Search-Metatags
Source: News.Com
“IRS Adjusting Site Pages to Curb Fraud”
Comment: Interesting idea but simply adding metatags to a page will not automatically boost rankings. Most general web search engines use metatags along with numerous other variables to determine ranking. From the article, “The IRS publishes information on the Internet about suspect tax schemes and online scams. The agency is trying to make those pages more prominent in search results by using key words or metatags, code that is not visible to Web surfers, but helps search engines find relevant sites. Sample metatags the IRS is looking at include the terms “pay no tax” and “form 1040.”
Additional Comments About This Approach
From Chris Sherman the Editor of Search Day: “Optimized meta keyword tags might, in a very small way, help rankings at MSN, but not likely at Google — unless the IRS also launches a reciprocal link strategy that persuades webmasters around the world to link to IRS pages, rather than the ones that currently have high Page Rank — unlikely!” Sherman adds, “On the other hand, the IRS site, because it is part of the US Treasury, already has significant Page Rank for *legitimate* tax information. So an overall SEO strategy may provide some benefit. It depends on the cleverness of the IRS optimizers, and the currency of the SEO information they’re using. There’s vastly more outdated/inaccurate SEO “information” on the web than good stuff, which tends to be closely guarded by the “best” SEO operators.”

Professional Reading Shelf
Librarianship
Source: Association of Research Libraries
Full-Text, White Paper: Recruitment, Retention & Restructuring: Human Resources in Academic Libraries

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (4 Items)
Terrorism–Chronologies
Source: U.S. Department of State
“Significant Terrorist Incidents, 1961-2001″
“Treaties Relating to Terrorism”
“The United States and the Coalition Against Terrorism, September-December 2001″
Materials prepared by Office of the Historian
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Business–Canada–Lists & Rankings
Source: PROFIT
Now Online, PROFIT 100, 2002
“Canada’s Fastest Growing Companies”
See Also: The Next 100 (101-200)
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Business-Georgia–Lists & Rankings
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now Online, The Georgia 100, 2002
“The 175 best-performing companies of 2001″
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Surveillance–United States–Statistics
Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts on behalf of the U.S. Courts
Full-Text, 2001 Wiretap Report

News Briefs
-“Maryland Libraries Using Online Training” via FCW.Com
-“British Library to Discontinue Patent Express Service” via Managing Information

Resource of the Week
Library Management
Data Mining + Library Systems = Bibliomining
Time again for something new, Bibliomining. In this case we’re not talking about “mining” a web site for the most useful resources but rather utilizing some of the same concepts used in data mining to discover new knowledge. Dr. Scott Nicholson, an assistant professor at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies, defines the term this way, “Bibliomining is the combination of data mining, bibliometrics, statistics, and reporting tools used to extract patterns of behavior-based artifacts from library systems.” Dr. Nicholson has created a Bibliomining site, discussion list, brief overview of the Bibliomining process. Finally, a Bibliomining bibliography contains a link to the full-text of a “preprint” version of a soon to be published paper by Nicholson and Dr. Jefferey Stanton. The paper titled, “Gaining strategic advantage through Bibliomining: Data mining for management decisions in corporate, special, digital, and traditional libraries” can be dowloaded in Word format. According to the bibliography, this is the introduction of the term Bibliomining in print.

Information Organization–Taxonomies
Source: Government Computer News
“Taxonomy Puts Electronic Content in its Place”
From the article, “Taxonomy can matter as much in an e-government project as roof trusses do in a building. The word is familiar to biologists and library scientists, and it means the same thing in IT: a hierarchical framework for organizing data. Paperless government has brought the need for consistent, interoperable taxonomies to the forefront of IT. People use taxonomies on portals and search engines every day without realizing it, said Jan Herd, a business reference librarian in the Science, Technology and Business Division of the Library of Congress.” Thanks to NFAIS for the tip.

Professional Reading Shelf
Document Retention–Legal Issues
Source: Newsbytes
“Companies Must Prepare For E-Discovery”
A very interesting read. From the article, “Billions of these virtual documents are created each year, including e-mail and instant messaging transmissions. According to an October 2000 study by the University of California, Berkeley, 93 percent of all corporate documents are created electronically, and only about 70 percent ever make it to a printer. “Companies should delete what is not necessary for regulatory compliance. They need a systematic plan for deleting non-litigation-related documents,” said Jonathan Redgrave, who is of counsel to the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue.”

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items)
New/Updated Reports from the Congressional Research Service
Another update with a selection of new and or updated reports from the CRS. To access these full-text reports (.pdf) head to this page from Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) or this page from Rep. Mark Green (R-WI). Then, select/click the appropriate category and scroll to the report. You can also use edit/find or cntrl-f and place the report number in the “find what” box.
Issue Briefs
IB10072 Endangered Species: Difficult Choices
IB93017 Space Stations
IB87050 Strategic Petroleum Reserve
IB95112 Terrorism, the Future, and U.S. Foreign Policy
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Short Reports
RS21120 Auditing and Its Regulators: Proposals for Reform after Enron
RS21115 Enron Bankruptcy and Employer Stock in Retirement Plans
RS20037 “Junk E-mail”: An Overview of Issues and Legislation Concerning Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail (”Spam”)
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Long Reports
RL31389 Afghanistan: Challenges and Options for Reconstructing a Stable and Moderate State
RL31355 Afghanistan’s Path to Reconstruction: Obstacles, Challenges, and Issues for Congress
RL30173 Executive and Independent Agency Publications: Where to Get Official Documents
RL31364 Enron: A Select Chronology of Congressional, Corporate, and Government Activities
RL31358 Human Cloning
RL30938 Terrorism and the Military’s Role in Domestic Crisis Management: Background and Issues for Congress
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Information Quality
Health Information on the Web
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
Full-Text Report, “How Internet Users Decide What Information to Trust When They or Their Loved Ones are Sick”
See Also: “Health Advice Abounds on the Net; Which Web Sites Can Be Trusted?” (via Wall Street Journal)
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Schools–United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Census
2000 Annual Survey of Local Government Finances School Systems
Summary/Fast Facts ||| Direct to Database
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Bankruptcy–United States–Statistics
Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts on behalf of the U.S. Courts
Full-Text, Basic Bankruptcy Filings, 2001

News Briefs
OCLC Provides Enhanced Access to netLibrary eBOOKS From Worldcat
From the announcement, “The integration will allow you to quickly identify and access netLibrary eBooks from the WorldCat database. A netLibrary icon, which is now included in WorldCat brief and full record displays, clearly identifies eBooks that are included in the netLibrary collection.”

Web Portals
Source: ARL
“Seven ARL Libraries Launch Scholars Portal Project in Collaboration with Fretwell-Downing Inc.”
From the announcement, “The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) announces the launch of the Scholars Portal Project, a collaboration between several ARL member libraries and Fretwell-Downing Inc. (FD). The initial libraries participating in the project are the University of Southern California, University of California - San Diego, Dartmouth College, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Iowa State University, and the University of Utah. Plans call for expanding the number of participating libraries over the course of the three-year project.” “The initial focus of the Scholars Portal Project will use FD�s ZPORTAL and several related FD products as a base. The initial focus will be on deploying ZPORTAL to deliver cross-domain searching of licensed and openly available content in a range of subject fields and from multiple institutions. The portal will aggregate and integrate the results of the search, and support delivery of the content to the user.”

News Briefs
–MarketResearch.Com Offers Alert Service
You’ll be alerted about once a week when new titles matching your criteria enter the database.
–Factiva Debuts “Developer’s Kit”
“Web API Based on XML Technology.”
–Hoover’s Launches Hoover’s Pro Plus (Fee-Based Service)
“Hoover’s Pro Plus subscribers can now search Hoover’s Online and download contact and company records.”

Web Search–Google
Netscape’s Google Goes Live
Search results obtained from any Netscape Web Search box, including clicking the Search button on the Netscape browser, are now being powered by the Google database. This version of Google does not provide access to the Google Cache and the Similar Page features available from Google.Com. Results pages also include, when available, an option to run your search again with more specific terms. I’ve been unable to find any .pdf or other non-html material in this version. Result sets might also include links to material from other AOL Time Warner companies like CNN and Time. Finally, this implementation of Google is not querying the full Google database.
In Other Netscape News: A Preview Release of Netscape 7.0 is Now Online

Web Search–Google
Source: Reuters
“Google Faces Challenge Managing Success”
From Andrea Orr’s article, “But as Yahoo reviews its options for a new search partner when its existing deal expires this summer, Google is anything but the shoo-in. The Mountain View, California, company is without a doubt on the short list of search partners for Yahoo, yet some wonder if its popularity could work against it as Yahoo seeks a partner that is not also a formidable competitor.”

Digital Reference
LC/OCLC QuestionPoint Service Set For June 3rd Release
From the news release, “The QuestionPoint service, available at www.questionpoint.org, provides libraries with access to a growing collaborative network of reference librarians in the United States and around the world. Library patrons can submit questions at any time of the day or night through their library’s Web site. The questions will be answered online by qualified library staff from the patron’s own library or may be forwarded to a participating library around the world. The service is available to libraries by subscription.

Web Portals–FirstGov
Source: FCW
Study: FirstGov Doing Much Better
In the next few weeks FirstGov will be offering improved search functionality and a new database of crawled material powered by FAST Search and Transfer. FAST is the company that provides AllTheWeb.

Internet Domains
“GSA Proposes Rule to Make Dot-Gov Domain Available to Non-Federal Government Entities”
From the news release, “The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) published a proposed rule in the May 16, 2002 Federal Register (Volume 67, Number 95) that would amend the Federal Management Regulation (FMR) and provide a new policy for the registration of dot-gov domain names. GSA registers Federal Internet addresses using the domain designation dot-gov (e.g.,www.gsa.gov). This proposed rule would enable state and local governments and federally recognized Indian tribes to provide service using the dot-gov domain. A prior rule, located in the Federal Property Management Regulation (FPMR), which expired on August 8, 2001, allowed for the registration of state and local governments under the dot-gov domain.” For example, many of the State of California’s pages are found in the .Gov domain.
See Also: Read the Full-Text of the Proposed Rule Published in the FR
And Speaking of Internet Domain Issues, “Industry, Government Want ‘Whois’ Fixes” (from The Washington Post)
Problems with the WHOIS Registration Database

Book Publishing–Statistics
Source: R.R. Bowker
“R.R. Bowker Releases U.S. Book Production Statistics, Showing Double-Digit Increase in 2001″
A few “fast facts” about the book industry in 2001.

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (3 Items)
U.S. Census–History
Source: U.S. Census
Full-Text Available Online, Measuring America: The Decennial Census from 1790-2000
From the news release, “…Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses from 1790 to 2000, contains images or descriptions of the questionnaires used in each census, along with the instructions given to census-takers on how to fill out the form. Also included is a synopsis of how each census was conducted and information about its historical significance.”
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Federal Bureau of Investigation
Full-Text, FBI Laboratory Annual Report for 2001
Summary ||| Direct to Full-Text (.pdf)
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Astronomy–Pathfinders
Source: Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship
New, Astronomical Resources on the Internet

Librarians
Source: The Dallas Morning News
“New on shelves: Cool Librarians” (Free Registration Required)
From the article, “Librarians would like you to know that Marian’s days are numbered. Her place being taken by a new kind � or new kinds � of librarian.”
Thanks to S.H. for the news tip.
See Also: “Bookhounds to Cybersleuths” (from The Roanoke Times via LISNEWS.Com)

Web Search–Google
Welcome to Google Labs
A new site that’s a “playground” for Google technologies in development. Have fun!
The site now offers demos of the following concepts:
1) Google Glossary
2) Google Sets
3) Google by Phone
4) Google Keyboard Shortcuts
Also: Word From Googleplex that a few enhancements to the Google Toolbar are also available. You can find them by going to “Toolbar Options” from the Toolbar pull-down menu. Then, look for the experimental features link. I needed to re-install the toolbar to access the experimental options or if you already have the toolbar, try this link.
The ‘Experimental Features” are:
- Combined Search button: providing quick and easy access to all Google search services from one, compact button.
- Browser control: suppresses pop-up windows that are triggered when users leave a web site.
- Navigation: enabling users to quickly navigate between websites listed in a Google search results page, using intuitive Next and Previous buttons.

Library Schools
Digitization Projects
Source: Library Journal
“Columbia to Preserve Librarians’ Library Online”
From the article, “Columbia University Libraries has embarked on a project to preserve, rehouse, and enhance access to the collection of the School of Library Service, which closed in 1992. Over the next three years, say Columbia officials, catalog records for the school�s collection of more than 110,000 volumes will be converted to machine-readable form and made accessible in the Libraries� online catalog, CLIO, as well as through the national bibliographic utilities, OCLC and RLIN.”

Internet Domains
U.S. Houses Passes .Kids.US Domain Bill
From the article, “The House of Representatives’ today approved legislation designed to cordon off a safe online “playground” for young children.” “No Web site with a kids.us address would be allowed to post hyperlinks to locations outside of the kids.us domain. The legislation also now prohibits chat and instant messaging features, except in cases where a site operator can guarantee the features adhere to kid-friendly standards developed for the domain.” The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate.
See Also: Read and Track the Legislation via THOMAS

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items)
Terrorism
Source: U.S. Department of State
Full-Text, Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2001
The 2001 ed. of the report is now online. It’s available in .pdf and html.
See Also: Link to Additional Info and Past Editions
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Hurricane Season 2002
Source: NOAA
National Hurricane Awareness Week 2002
Here are a few resources culled from the Hurricane Awareness Week web site.
1) New Interactive Web Resource: Historical Hurricane Tracks
This new geographic information systems-(GIS) based tool allows you to query the entire Atlantic Basin tropical cyclone data record from 1851 to the present.
2) New Web Site: Hurricane History
An information brief for over 20 storms from 1900-2001. Links to additional resources are provided.
3) New Report: NOAA: 2002 Atlantic Hurricane Outlook ||| News Release
4) The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
5) Hurricane Tracking Chart (.pdf)
6) National Hurricane Center
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World Trade Center
Source: FEMA
New Full-Text Report: World Trade Center Building Performance Study (Executive Summary, Findings, & Recommendations)
Executive Summary
Observations, Findings, and Recommendations
Full-Report
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Business–Ready Reference Shelf
Source: Forbes
A Couple of Tools For Your Business Shelf
Layoff Tracker
“A comprehensive listing of big-company layoffs since January 2001.”
Andersen Defection Directory
“The definitive listing of clients lost by Arthur Andersen.”
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Business–Massachusetts–Lists & Rankings
Source: The Boston Globe
The Globe 100, 2002
“The Top Massachusetts companies of 2001″. Numerous lists and rankings.
Main Page ||| Globe 100 Chart ||| View All of the Lists

Professional Reading Shelf
Several New Papers from the Journal of Digital Information are Now Online
Here are the titles of the new papers:
Hypermedia and the Semantic Web: A Research
Enabling Dissemination of User-Specific Information in the Usenet Framework
Digital Archive Network for Anthropology
Federated Searching Interface Techniques for Heterogeneous OAI Repositories
Designing the User-Interface for the F�schl�r Digital Video Library
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The Spring, 2002 edition of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship is Now Online
Here are the titles of a few of the articles:
“Bridging the Two Cultures: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Electronic Resources”
“AgEcon Search: Partners Build a Web Resource”
Database Review, “PubMed: For More than Just Medicine This Is One of the World’s Greatest Databases”

Update
Free to Fee
The Financial Times Site Has Implemented a Fee-Based Model
Some content including “the latest news” is still available at no charge. You can learn about subscription options here.

Searching PDF on the Web
Limits When Search PDF With Google and AllTheWeb
Last week, we announced that AllTheWeb was now providing access to .pdf (Adobe Acrobat) material. Very exciting news. Today, super searcher and Search Engine Showdown proprietor, Greg Notess, makes a few crucial points about .pdf searching with Google and AllTheWeb. Notess points out:
1) AllTheWeb indexes and provides access to the full-text of .pdf files in it’s database.
2) Google does not index and provide access to the full-text of .pdf files. According to Greg, “Google tends to stop indexing at about 120K.” This means that if the material you’re looking for (quote, fact, etc.) is past the 120K in a .pdf file, the point where they stop indexing, you’ll most likely NOT be able to find it using Google. We’ve know for some time that Google stops indexing html/htm content at the 101K mark.
Here’s an example to give you an idea about .pdf document size. This .pdf, primarily text, from the Association of American Publishers is about 256K. When opened in Adobe Acrobat the document is about 55 pages. After finding the document in the Google database and “View as HTML” we see that only about 35 of of the 55 pages have been indexed by Google.

Web Directories
Source: Pandia
“Alternative Academic Search Directories”
Per and Susanne take a look at a few of their favorite, mine too, general knowledge web directories. They are the LII, Academic Info, Resource Discovery Network, and Infomine.

Information Industry–BioMed Central
Source: Information Today NewsBreaks
“BioMed Central Strengthens Research Library Connection”
From the article, ” BioMed Central, the innovative commercial venture that offers open access to peer-reviewed biological and medical research, continues to expand its connections to research libraries. The Association of Research Libraries, Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition and has named BioMed Central as a SPARC partner. BioMed Central has also expanded its connections to the National Institutes of Health (NIH; http://www.nih.gov). Besides its close ties to the National Library of Medicine (NLM), an NIH institute that archives, indexes, abstracts, and integrates BioMed Central content into its offerings, BioMed Central now has opened institutional membership to the NIH Library, which serves in-house NIH researchers.”
See Also: Direct to BioMed Central

Web Search–Google
Dilbert Visits the Google Home Page
Dilbert and his team will work this week to design a new Google logo. Once completed, you’ll be able to purchase a coffee mug with the new logo on it.
See Also: Direct to an Archive of Dilbert’s Art Work for Google

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents (5 Items)
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Documents in the News–Terrorism
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General
New, Full-Text: The Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Contacts With Two September 11 Terrorists: A Review of the INS’s Admissions of Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi, its Processing of their Change of Status Applications, and its Efforts to Track Foreign Students in the United States
Press Release
PDF ||| HTML
Exec Summary
PDF ||| HTML
Full-Text
PDF (212 Pages)
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Homeland Security–United States
New Web Site: FCC Homeland Security Council
New Web Site: New Media Security and Reliability Council
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Education–United States–Statistics
Source: NCES
Web Version Now Available, Digest of Education Statistics, 2001
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Weather–Worldwide
Source: The Met Office (U.K.)
New Web Site, Met Office Now Provides Access To Seasonal Forecasts
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Webliography–Religions
Source: College & Research Libraries News
“World Religions on the Web”
This webliography was prepared by John Jaeger from Union University and appears in the June, 2002 issue of C&RL News.

Information Quality on the Web
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“For Research, the Web is a Pipeline, Not an Authority”
A tip of the hat to AJC writer Bill Husted for alerting the masses to what many of us in the information profession have been saying for a long time. This is a must have link for all of your web training toolkits. At the end of the article Husted even gives the library profession a bit of promotion. He writes, “Check with some old-fashioned professionals if the answer is in doubt. Reference librarians are great resources and should be used when it’s important to be right.”

Information Industry–WhizBang! Labs
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
“WhizBang! to End Operations”
WhizBang! Labs, a well-known data extraction company, will shut-down this week. WhizBang has strategic alliances with Dun & Bradstreet and LexisNexis. Flipdog, a web-based job search tool, now part of Monster.Com, was originally developed as a tool to demo WhizBang! technology.

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents
Business–Houston, TX.–Lists & Rankings
Source: Houston Chronicle
Chronicle 100, 2002
“Leading Companies of Houston”. Numerous lists and specialty rankings.

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents
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Documents in the News–Terrorism
Source: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress
Full-Text: The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism (1999)
See Also: Bibliography of Future Trends in Terrorism (1998)
See Also: Learn More About these Reportsm and the FRD
See Also: “Prior Hints of September 11-type Attack” via CNN
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Economy–United States
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Full-Text, Regional Economic Patterns in the United States, 1990-1999

Web Resource of the Week #1
Web Search–AllTheWeb
The Wait is Over: AllTheWeb Begins Providing Access To PDF (Adobe Acrobat) Files
The alternative title for this entry is, �Good Things Come To Those Who Wait�. After many months of wishing, hoping, and being told that access to .pdf was “coming soon” to AllTheWeb, the wait is over. A couple of days ago, a colleague noticed a .pdf file in an AllTheWeb results set. After running a few searches and chatting with ATW officials I can confirm that the rollout is underway. Right now .pdf results are included in all results sets when appropriate. No specific syntax that limits to document format is currently available. However, using the advanced interface and limiting to the �must include� term, .pdf, in the url is a way to do some limiting.
For example:
Here�s a search for the terms librarian AND database that was constructed using the advanced search page and filtering the term .pdf in the url. You can also limit by using the syntax, url.all:pdf , in the any search box.
For example:
A search for the phrase �public television� limited to documents with .pdf in the url. In most cases, documents are labeled as .pdf next to the title line on the results page. More details about this and other ATW changes in the next 10 days or so. Kudos ATW! Thanks to R.H. for the help.

Search Technology
Source: KM World
“Gazing into the crystal ball: Search Technology Gets Smarter and More Personal”
From the article, “Search engines are also working to address an annoyance often stated by search users, particularly those in large corporations with numerous databases throughout the organization: Before they can perform a search, they have to know where the item is located. The common response is that if they knew in which database last year�s sales forecast was stored, they wouldn�t need a search engine. Many search engines are addressing that problem by searching across multiple databases as well as the Web to find the appropriate documents.”

Online Databases
Source: Library Journal
The Database Universe
A comprehensive review of the current online database industry scene. The article also includes a table with names and links to major online database providers.

Public Libraries–United Kingdom
Source: The Guardian
“Readers Deserting ‘Shabby’ Libraries”
From the article, “Readers are deserting libraries, depressed by their shabby decor, peculiar opening hours, and the impossibility of getting hold of a new bestseller. Instead they are turning to the sofas, cappuccinos and discount prices of the new generation of book shops.” “The report from the audit commission published today shows that since 1992 visits to libraries have fallen by 17%. In the same period spending on books has fallen by a third, and 9% fewer libraries are open for 30 or more hours a week - although the national library budget has remained stable, at �770m a year.”
See Also: Read the Full-Text of the Report, Building Better Library Services: Learning from Audit, Inspection and Research“
See Also: Library Stuff Material from The Times

Resources, Tools, and Full-Text Documents
Library Filtering–United States
Source:ALA
CPPA, COPA, CIPA: Which Is Which?