Online articles from September 2003

Online archives from September 2003

What's in a name?(the homepage)(Special Libraries Association)
September 1, 2003... Juliet in Act II, Scene II, of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, famously posed the question, "What's in a name?"--"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." She's talking about Romeo being named...

LexisNexis' new platform.(Industry News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A single worldwide technology platform being developed by LexisNexis should be available by the end of 2003--if you're in France, Germany, or Australia. In the U.S., customers will see incremental improvements before a full-scale rollout is...

Google advanced news search.(Industry News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... News junkies will be happy to learn that advanced search capabilities are now available for Google News. Some of these functionalities previously existed, but were not documented. Phrase searching, using the normal double quotation marks, makes...

ProQuest releases PQNext.(Industry News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... In its latest search release, PQNext, ProQuest has added many new features, including browsable lists, results grouping, comprehensive search results, and Open URL support. PQNext also offers on-the fly-formatted bibliographies, better help...

Social sciences & humanities.(Industry News)(ProQuest, xrefer add to collections)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... ProQuest has expanded its Early American Fiction collection, which now extends from 1789 to 1875, with the addition of dozens of rare early American novels and short stories. When complete, it will hold more than 750 full-text first editions,...

Thomson Financial announced the development of InSite, an offering that extends corporate visibility by creating Investor Relations microsites on the Yahoo! Finance news and information portal.(Business & Finance)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Thomson Financial announced the development of InSite, an offering that extends corporate visibility by creating Investor Relations microsites on the Yahoo! Finance news and information portal. InSite provides investor relations professionals...

Thomson Financial has also formed a partnership with Alacra, Inc., provider of Public Information Book (PIB) building solutions, to deliver its PIB generator Alacra Book via Thomson ONE Banker.(Business & Finance)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Thomson Financial has also formed a partnership with Alacra, Inc., provider of Public Information Book (PIB) building solutions, to deliver its PIB generator Alacra Book via Thomson ONE Banker. The combined content and technologies will...

Mergent, Inc. has introduced Mergent Industry Reports, in-depth analyses of key industries in the North America and Asia/Pacific regions.(Business & Finance)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Mergent, Inc. has introduced Mergent Industry Reports, in-depth analyses of key industries in the North America and Asia/Pacific regions. A European edition will be available soon [Mergent: 704/527-2700; www.mergent.com].

SkyMinder has added business credit content from Experian.(Business & Finance)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... SkyMinder has added business credit content from Experian. This adds 15 million new credit reports to SkyMinder's existing coverage of more than 48 million public and private companies in over 230 countries [813/636-0981; www.skyminder.com].

Kiplinger.com.(Business & Finance)(redesigned Web site)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Kiplinger.com debuted a redesign of its Web site featuring improved viewer navigation, new informational sections, and easier access to basic financial tools. Content is organized according to topics such as Investing, Planning, and Spending....

Inmagic, Inc.(Peopleware)(Lynda Roberts named 2003 InfoHero award winner)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Inmagic, Inc. has announced that Lynda Roberts, manager of library services for the law firm of Bull, Housser & Tupper of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is the 2003 InfoHero award winner. The InfoHero award is presented to the customer...

The reconstituted Northern Light has added three people to its executive management team.(Peopleware)(Robert Nelson, Patrick O'Malley, Igor Razboff)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The reconstituted Northern Light has added three people to its executive management team. Joining C. David Seuss, who bought back his company, is Robert Nelson, senior vice president of corporate development, Patrick O'Malley, senior vice...

Factiva.(Alan Scott named vice president and director of global marketing)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Factiva has announced the appointment of Alan Scott to vice president and director of global marketing.

Ingenta.(executive appointments)
September 1, 2003... Ingenta has announced two new appointments as part of an expansion of its U.S. client management and new business team. Janet Fisher was named director, U.S. client manager, and David Durand was named director, electronic publishing services....

Swets Blackwell has brokered a further round of deals to migrate all print subscriptions ordered by the Greek consortium HEAL-Link (Hellenic Academic Libraries Link) to electronic only.(Alliances & Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Swets Blackwell has brokered a further round of deals to migrate all print subscriptions ordered by the Greek consortium HEAL-Link (Hellenic Academic Libraries Link) to electronic only. HEAL-Link is the first national consortium in Europe to...

Nstein and BIOSIS announced an agreement that will utilize BIOSIS indexing to create Ncategorizer and Nfinder software designed specifically for the biological, pharmaceutical, and biomedical markets.(Alliances & Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Nstein and BIOSIS announced an agreement that will utilize BIOSIS indexing to create Ncategorizer and Nfinder software designed specifically for the biological, pharmaceutical, and biomedical markets. Users will have the opportunity to...

LexisNexis has entered into an agreement to acquire Applied Discovery, a Seattle-based provider of Web-based electronic discovery services.(Alliances & Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... LexisNexis has entered into an agreement to acquire Applied Discovery, a Seattle-based provider of Web-based electronic discovery services. Applied Discovery's services include data gathering, media restoration, data processing, online review,...

Extenza-Turpin and Kluwer Academic Publishers have reached an agreement to outsource Kluwer Academic Publishers' worldwide warehousing and physical distribution of books and journals.(Alliances & Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Extenza-Turpin and Kluwer Academic Publishers have reached an agreement to outsource Kluwer Academic Publishers' worldwide warehousing and physical distribution of books and journals. Extenza-Turpin will make use of the former Kluwer Academic...

SAE International (Society of Automative Engineers) has entered into an exclusive sales contract with Information Handling Services (IHS) for several of its key products, including the SAE TechKnowledge Center.(Alliances & Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers) has entered into an exclusive sales contract with Information Handling Services (IHS) for several of its key products, including the SAE TechKnowledge Center. Under the contract, IHS gains...

FIZ Karlsruhe added the bibliographic database TEMA to its product portfolio.(Sci-Tech)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... FIZ Karlsruhe added the bibliographic database TEMA to its product portfolio. Available on STN International, TEMA covers a wide range of German and international literature in the areas of technology and management [+49 7247-808-555;...

BIOSIS has enhanced the availability, functionality, and content of Zoological Record (ZR) to solidify its appeal among animal sciences researchers.(Sci-Tech)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... BIOSIS has enhanced the availability, functionality, and content of Zoological Record (ZR) to solidify its appeal among animal sciences researchers. To this end, BIOSIS has made ZR available through new vendors such as OVID, NISC, and EBSCO;...

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG (German Research Foundation).(Sci-Tech)(scientific literature portal created)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG (German Research Foundation), together with 37 front-line German libraries, research centers and academic information providers have...

Mandarin Library Automation, Inc. has announced a technology partnership with MuseGlobal, Inc. in developing M3 Web OPAC Deluxe.(Portals & Intranets)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Mandarin Library Automation, Inc. has announced a technology partnership with MuseGlobal, Inc. in developing M3 Web OPAC Deluxe, a portal product that will complement the Mandarin M3 Library Automation software suite. M3 Web OPAC Deluxe will be...

Nstein launched version 3.0 of its content management platform, Nserver suite, which includes Nstein's concept extraction, categorization, entity extraction, and summarization tools.(Portals & Intranets)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Nstein launched version 3.0 of its content management platform, Nserver suite, which includes Nstein's concept extraction, categorization, entity extraction, and summarization tools. Also released is a new guided navigation module, Nretriever,...

Ingenta, Inc., an active member of COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources), announced the launch of its library usage statistics solutions.(Portals & Intranets)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Ingenta, Inc., an active member of COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources), announced the launch of its library usage statistics solutions, providing patron usage data from ingenta.com and ingentaselect.com to the...

Context Limited has added Electronic Irish Reports and Digests, also available as a CD-ROM, to Justis.com, its online legal research service.(Legal)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Context Limited has added Electronic Irish Reports and Digests, also available as a CD-ROM, to Justis.com, its online legal research service. The Irish Reports contains the full text of published cases dating back to 1919, longer than any other...

ProLaw Software, a division of West, has announced Exchange-free Microsoft Outlook integration within ProLaw Ready, its small-firm targeted practice management suite.(Legal)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... ProLaw Software, a division of West, has announced Exchange-free Microsoft Outlook integration within ProLaw Ready, its small-firm targeted practice management suite. West km 2.0 is now the first knowledge management system in any industry to...

Factiva has upgraded its customers to Factiva products and permanently switched off its legacy product lines.(Online Services)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Factiva has upgraded its customers to Factiva products and permanently Services switched off its legacy product lines, including Dow Jones Interactive (DJI), Reuters Business Briefing (RBB), and other related products. Factiva has also...

LexisNexis has entered into an agreement to acquire the public-records businesses of Dolan Media Company.(Online Services)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... LexisNexis has entered into an agreement to acquire the public-records businesses of Dolan Media Company, a Minneapolis-based provider of electronic public-records information, including bankruptcies, civil judgments, federal and state tax...

Fast Search & Transfer (FAST) acquired AltaVista's enterprise search business, including more than 200 customers, from Overture Services, Inc.(Search Engines)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Fast Search & Transfer (FAST) acquired AltaVista's enterprise search business, including more than 200 customers, from Overture Services, Inc. Overture gained the enterprise search business as part of its acquisition of AltaVista. FAST's...

InfoSpace announced that ABCNews.com will be the first to launch a private-label version of the Dogpile Toolbar.(Search Engines)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... InfoSpace announced that ABCNews.com will be the first to launch a private-label version of the Dogpile Toolbar, a free browser plug-in that searches the Web using the Dogpile metasearch engine [425/201-8946; www.dogpile.com].

Sirsi is enhancing the search and retrieval capabilities of its Hyperion Digital Media Archive by integrating the product with Convera's RetrievalWare technology.(Search Engines)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Sirsi is enhancing the search and retrieval capabilities of its Hyperion Digital Media Archive by integrating the product with Convera's RetrievalWare technology. As a result, Hyperion becomes the first digital media archive product in the...

A landmark deal announced by the Joint Information System Committee (JISC).(Biomedical)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A landmark deal announced by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), a joint committee of the U.K. further and higher education funding bodies, and open access publisher BioMed Central places the U.K. at the forefront of the drive to...

CSA (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) and BioOne are partnering to create a bibliographic database indexing research papers in the journals available through BioOne's full-text service.(Biomedical)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... CSA (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) and BioOne are partnering to create a bibliographic database indexing research papers in the journals available through BioOne's full-text service. CSA is also functioning as BioOne's exclusive distribution...

Current Drugs has announced the launch of the Strategic Drugs database (SDdb).(Biomedical)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Current Drugs has announced the launch of the Strategic Drugs database (SDdb), a business analysis and planning solution for strategists in the international bio-pharmaceutical industries. SDdb provides comprehensive and strategic information...

AlltheWeb.(Internet Search Engine Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... AlltheWeb now offers suggested spelling corrections. After the number of search results and before the first hit, AlltheWeb may include a line with "Did you mean..." followed by the suggestion. Clicking on that suggested term automatically...

AltaVista.(Internet Search Engine Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... AltaVista has loaded larger multimedia databases for its image, audio, and video searches. It now claims to have 540 million images and about 11 million video and audio files. On the AltaVista image search, a new search limit is the "Size"...

AOLSearch.(Internet Search Engine Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... AOL Search has added an image search database, available as a separate tab. It consists of a simple query box with no advanced search options. Like the underlying Web database at AOL Search, the image database comes from Google but without the...

Ask Jeeves.(sells Jeeves Solutions to Kanisa)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Ask Jeeves has sold off its enterprise search division, Jeeves Solutions, to Kanisa. By selling off its enterprise search products, Jeeves will focus on its Web-wide search products, which include the Ask.com site and Teoma. Greg R. Notess...

Dogpile.(Internet Search Engine Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Dogpile, an InfoSpace metasearch engine, has introduced a Dogpile toolbar. For users of Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher on a Windows platform, the toolbar can be installed within the browser and provides quick access to the Dogpile metasearch...

Feedster.(Internet Search Engine Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Feedster, a search engine for blog postings and RSS files, has merged with research, another blog search engine. The combined search engine will continue under the Feedster name and has been able to expand the number of advanced search features...

FindWhat.(Internet Search Engine Update)(is buying Espotting)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... FindWhat, a lesser-known paid-ranking ad engine, is buying the European ad engine, Espotting. The combined reach of the two companies may make FindWhat into a more serious competitor for the search engine ad space. Greg R. Notess...

Gigabalst.(Internet Search Engine Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Gigablast, while still the only major search engine to default to OR, now includes a bar at the top to explain this for multi-word searches. Software updates have doubled the speed of query responses and increased the importance of phrase...

Google.(Internet Search Engine Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Google has launched a beta version of its Toolbar 2.0. The new version [http://toolbar.google.com/index-beta] has several new features, including a pop-up blocker, the ability to automatically fill out forms, and a BlogThis! button to instantly...

HotBot.(Internet Search Engine Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... HotBot also launched a new toolbar, although it is called a desk bar. It differs from the Dogpile and Google toolbars in that it does not get installed within the browser, but this from the Windows Explorer Taskbar. While it only works in...

Intelliseek.(Internet Search Engine Update)(discontinued BullsEye, its desktop metasearch engine tool)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Intelliseek has discontinued BullsEye, its desktop metasearch engine tool. Its announcement says that sales and support for BullsEye Plus and BullsEye Pro have been discontinued, but even the free version of BullsEye is no longer available. ...

MSN Search.(Internet Search Engine Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... MSN Search has relied on LookSmart, Overture, and Inktomi for years. Now it seems to be preparing a new database built by its own crawler. The new MSNBOT is actively crawling the Web [http://search.msn.com/msnbot.htm]. This is only a prototype...

Yahoo!(Internet Search Engine Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Yahoo! now has become an even more important player in the search engine industry, as it is acquiring Overture, which in its own turn had already acquired AltaVista and the FAST Web Search division, including AlltheWeb, earlier this year....

Information quality, liability, and corrections.
September 1, 2003... All of us have suffered the consequences of poor-quality information. For most of us, most of the time, the impact has minor significance and is of short duration. Perhaps we missed a bus or flight connection as a result of using an out-of-date...

Implications of expanded library electronic reference collections: from my vantage point, the movement from paper library reference works to electronic products is picking up speed.
September 1, 2003... That vantage point is as systems librarian at the Patrick Power Library of Saint Mary's University in Nova Scotia on the Canadian east coast. I have been involved in developing online library resources since before the emergence of the World...

The renaissance of Yahoo! Search.
September 1, 2003... Editor's Note: As you've read in "Internet Search Engine Update" (p. 14), Yahoo! has made an offer to buy Overture for $1.6 billion. Whether or not this will affect Yahoo!'s new search capabilities is anybody's guess. This article discusses...

Mining Web data on a budget.
September 1, 2003... If you are on a tight budget, you may shy away from pay sites as a research resource. You needn't do this. There is plenty of information to be had at pay sites without spending a dime. Granted, most information professionals already know this....

Overcoming Web page printing problems.
September 1, 2003... EVER HAD TROUBLE printing a Web page? Some printing problems are caused by empty ink cartridges, paper jams, or disrupted connections between your computer and printer. However, Internet printing problems are usually caused by the way the Web...

The Google Dance: a database update saga: for those individuals and businesses that rely primarily on search engine referrals, the outcome of a Google Dance significantly impacts their bottom line.(on the net)
September 1, 2003... A search engine must refresh its entire database on a periodic basis to provide an accurate index to the constantly changing Web. My November/December 2001 "On the Net" column, "Freshness Issue and Complexities with Web Search Engines,"...

South African business research: when it comes to international online business research, the part of the world most neglected is Africa.(the dollar sign)
September 1, 2003... Africa's been on my mind lately. Perhaps it's the business press' reaction to President Bush's July trip to the continent, which struck me as remarkably naive. The business press suddenly "discovered" there was an African continent and that...

Server logs: making sense of the cyber tracks: whether you're planning to redesign your site or just maintain it, careful examination of log files can point out intranet problems and opportunities.(intranet librarian)
September 1, 2003... There are nuggets of pure gold in your Web server logs--if you take the time to look for them. Logs provide a rich source of information about user behaviors, link choices, and typical paths through a Web site. Whether you're planning to...

Content integration heats up: users are looking for a single "go-to" place for the information they need to do their job, whether the information comes from inside or outside the firewall.(industry insights)
September 1, 2003... Content integration is a hot topic and information professionals are taking center stage in providing solutions and guidance. An Outsell analyst tour in early 2003 revealed that content deployment professionals are still seeking the Holy Grail...

Peters picks & pans.(PsycARTICLES database as implemented by American Psychological Association is discussed; others are discussed)
September 1, 2003... Psychology is one of the most popular fields for undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate studies. It tells you something when, as of mid-May 2003, there were already 5,396 dissertations written in 2002 filed in the free ProQuest Digital...

The top 10 things I hate about the Web plus other rants and ramblings: this column is devoted to all of you who want to whine about these issues, but can't do it on a large scale....(web site management)
September 1, 2003... The top 10 things I hate about the Web are issues that bug me on a daily basis--they likely bother you, too. Yet you sit and take it, or you point your browser elsewhere and vote with your clicks. When these things really become frustrating,...

E-Book Scenarios updated: my predictions about e-book uses, on the other hand, were right on.(O'Leary online)
September 1, 2003... Almost 3 years ago in this column I made sweeping forecasts for the future of e-books ("E-Book Scenarios" ONLINE, vol. 25, no. 1, January/February 2001, pp.62-64). Some of them have occurred exactly as predicted, and stand as proof of my...

The Accidental Webmaster.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... ** 1/2 by Julie M. Still ISBN: 1-57387-164-8 Published: 2003 Pages: 192 pp.; softcover Price: $29.95 Available from: Information Today, Inc. 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055; 609/654-6266; www.infotoday.com...

High-Level Subject Access Tools and Techniques in Internet Cataloging.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... ** edited by Judith R. Ahronheim ISBN: 0-7890-2025-4 Published: 2002 Pages: 115 pp.; softcover Price: $24.95 Available from: Haworth Information Press, 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904; 607/771-0012;...

The Library's Legal Answer Book.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... *** 1/2 by Mary Minow and Tomas A. Lipinski ISBN: 0-8389-0828-4 Published: 2003 Pages: 350 pp.; softcover Price: $48.00 Available from: ALA Editions, American Library Association, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL...

E-Mail Rules: a Business Guide to Managing Policies, Security, and Legal issues for E-Mail and Digital Communication.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... *** by Nancy Flynn and Randolph Kahn, Esq. ISBN: 0 8144-7188-9 Published: 2003 Pages: 254 pp.; softcover Price: $19.95 Available from: AMACOM, American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019;...

Blogs: my new addiction.(online spotlight)
September 1, 2003... When I give talks about information overload, one of the biggest culprits I name is the Weblog. Ira busy e-mail discussion list is like snorting coke, getting started on blogs means you've started mainlining the hard stuff. For example, I urge...