Information World Review articles from January 2006

Information World Review archives from January 2006

Intellectual property law under government review.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Mark Chillingworth Intellectual property law under government review Mark Chillingworth Andrew Gowers, former editor of the Financial Times, is heading a government review of intellectual property rights in the UK for...

Nature gives thumbs up to Wikipedia.(Brief article)
January 9, 2006... Byline: Bobby Pickering Nature gives thumbs up to Wikipedia Scientific journal Nature has come out in support of the accuracy of Wikipedia articles, following an "expert-led investigation" involving peer reviews of the content....

Wellcome boost for OA.
January 9, 2006... Byline: mark chillingworth Wellcome boost for OA But Government refuses to endorse open access for Research Councils funding Mark Chillingworth Blackwell, OUP and Springer have agreed to give immediate free access to Wellcome...

training.(information technology courses)(Calendar)
January 9, 2006... Byline: mark chillingworth Advanced supervisory skills 18 January 2006, London Supervising staff is not as easy as it looks. Cilip has created a one-day course to kick-start the New Year training programme by providing information...

hear, hear: poetry in Motion.
January 9, 2006... Byline: mark chillingworth Listening to a poet read their own work helps to understand the motivations behind their art. The Poetry Archive is an online resource that provides access to digitised recordings of poets reading their work. ...

Google's shock to the system.
January 9, 2006... Byline: mark chillingworth "Just Google it." If you've heard people in your organisation saying something on these lines, you probably don't need convincing that Google has become part of the fabric of 21st century life. But how did it get...

a world without waffle.(Euromonitor International Inc.)
January 9, 2006... Byline: Bobby Pickering Euromonitor has just released an online country intelligence database, fashioning another weapon for the arsenal in its battle against the market goliaths -- Global Insight and EIU. A nicely designed service,...

the stories that rocked your world in 2005.
January 9, 2006... Byline: mark chillingworth January Hot: Google plans library digitisation Not: Aslib goes into liquidation As information professionals returned to work after the festive break, their minds turned to the announcement that...

Library automation market is tracking big IT vendors.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Mark Chillingworth Library automation market is tracking big IT vendors Mark Chillingworth Pressure from university IT departments is driving the development and adoption of library automation (LA) tools, and fuelling the...

in brief.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Bobby Pickering Prize Draw winners from IWR Reader Survey announced The five lucky prize draw winners from last year's annual reader survey have been announced. Sony CyberShot digital cameras were won by Ian McCulloch,...

Gorman slams digitisation.(Michael Gorman)(Google Book Search)
January 9, 2006... Byline: Tracey Caldwell Gorman slams digitisation Conference keynote speaker accuses librarians of being too techie and the industry of wasting money on scholarly texts. Tracey Caldwell reports Controversy broke out over the...

Regional government websites opt to be standardised on MediaSurface's Morello.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Kim Thomas Regional government websites opt to be standardised on MediaSurface's Morello The government's Regional Co-ordination Unit (RCU) has taken a step closer to its efficiency obligations under the Gershon review by...

Keyword search gives Ardentia the edge.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Kim Thomas Keyword search gives Ardentia the edge A keyword enterprise search engine has been developed for searching structured and unstructured data by Ardentia, a company that specialises in business intelligence tools. ...

Royal Society warns of OA's 'disastrous consequences'.
January 9, 2006... Byline: mark chillingworth Royal Society warns of OA's 'disastrous consequences' Fierce debate erupts as members demand statement withdrawal Scientific association, the Royal Society, is embroiled in controversy after it threw its...

SUSHI to satisfy usage demands.(Standardised Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative)(Brief article)
January 9, 2006... Byline: Tracey Caldwell SUSHI to satisfy usage demands Co-ordinated usage statistics aim to improve usage management and journal subscription Tracey Caldwell Librarians will be able to track their usage of online content much...

Life Science researchers get a unified stance from Infotrieve.(Life Science Research Centre)(Infotrieve Inc.)(Brief article)
January 9, 2006... Byline: Kim Thomas Life Science researchers get a unified stance from Infotrieve Kim Thomas Infotrieve's recently-launched Life Science Research Centre (LSRC) scientific search tool is now available in the UK, providing UK-based...

Libraries urged to embrace Web 2.(Brief article)
January 9, 2006... Byline: Mark Chillingworth Libraries urged to embrace Web 2.0 Library and information providers are being urged to embrace the second generation of internet technology, Web 2.0, to satisfy user demands. In a clarion call that...

Libraries urged to embrace Web 2.0.
January 17, 2006... Library and information providers are being urged to embrace the second generation of internet technology, Web 2.0, to satisfy user demands. In a clarion call that could become a major theme in 2006, industry insiders are saying that...

Nature gives thumbs up to Wikipedia.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2006... Scientific journal Nature has come out in support of the accuracy of Wikipedia articles, following an "expert-led investigation" involving peer reviews of the content. Nature asked 50 experts from a range of science disciplines to review...

Wellcome boost for OA. But Government refuses to endorse open access for Research Councils funding.
January 17, 2006... Byline: Mark Chillingworth. Blackwell, OUP and Springer have agreed to give immediate free access to Wellcome Trust-funded research papers that they publish, following an agreement with the medical research charity. But news of the...

Editor's View - Directive needs revision.(Editorial)
January 17, 2006... The European Commission's first evaluation of the 1996 Database Directive was released just before Christmas, and could, we hope, open up debate on this "monopolists' charter" in the coming year. The original directive established a new...

Lords defend libraries in debate over Terrorism Bill. Lobbying succeeds in amending the Terrorism Bill, but information professionals could still be criminalised for inflammatory content, reports Mark Chillingworth.
January 17, 2006... Peers in the House of Lords rallied to defend the library and information sector against wrongful prosecution under the proposed Terrorism Bill as the Parliamentary sessions of 2005 closed. A robust debate clarified some points in the bill, but...

New content puts Ovid in rude health. Blackwell, OUP, Nature, McGraw-Hill and Elsevier line up new content provision deals with Ovid.
January 17, 2006... Byline: Tracey Caldwell. Health content and research tools provider Ovid has announced a raft of partnerships aimed at expanding its academic offerings. It has forged strategic partnerships with Blackwell Publishing, Elsevier Bibliographic...

Royal Society warns of OA's 'disastrous consequences'. Fierce debate erupts as members demand statement withdrawal.
January 17, 2006... Scientific association, the Royal Society, is embroiled in controversy after it threw its backing behind commercial publishers and warned authors that open access will damage science. Last month, a fierce debate developed on related list-servs...

Life Science researchers get a unified stance from Infotrieve.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2006... Byline: Kim Thomas. Infotrieve's recently-launched Life Science Research Centre (LSRC) scientific search tool is now available in the UK, providing UK-based life science researchers with a concept clustering search engine for journal,...

Keyword search gives Ardentia the edge.
January 17, 2006... A keyword enterprise search engine has been developed for searching structured and unstructured data by Ardentia, a company that specialises in business intelligence tools. NetSearch applies indexing technology normally used for searching...

SUSHI to satisfy usage demands. Co-ordinated usage statistics aim to improve usage management and journal subscription.(librarians)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2006... Byline: Tracey Caldwell. Librarians will be able to track their usage of online content much more easily as the SUSHI initiative becomes more widespread this year. SUSHI, the Standardised Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative, was...

Intellectual property law under government review.
January 17, 2006... Byline: Mark Chillingworth. Andrew Gowers, former editor of the Financial Times, is heading a government review of intellectual property rights in the UK for Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Gowers has been asked to consider...

Library automation market is tracking big IT vendors. OCLC PICA says IT-aware universities are driving collaboration and consolidation.
January 17, 2006... Byline: Mark Chillingworth. Pressure from university IT departments is driving the development and adoption of library automation (LA) tools, and fuelling the current spate of mergers and acquisitions in the LA market. That was the...

RIN plans strategic leadership. Establishment of Research Information Network to pave way for common standards, finds Bobby Pickering.
January 17, 2006... A new organisation has been established to give strategic leadership in developing a national framework for research information provision. The Research Information Network (RIN), headed by Dr Michael Jubb, is being funded for an initial...

Prize Draw winners from IWR Reader Survey announced.
January 17, 2006... The five lucky prize draw winners from last year's annual reader survey have been announced. Sony CyberShot digital cameras were won by Ian McCulloch, Electronic Resources Librarian at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster, and Jay...

EIU finds compliance failure is greatest threat to reputation.
January 17, 2006... Corporate reputations are important, but difficult assets to protect, a survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has found. The last five years has seen the threat to corporate reputations rise significantly, according to 84% of the...

Cornish citizens given web content key to local politics.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2006... A Cornish council website is aiming to encourage citizens of the council to get involved with local politics. North Cornwall District Council (NCDC) has launched www.cornishkey.com and will encourage citizens to join the portal and connect with...

Harper Collins jumps on the digitisation bandwagon.
January 17, 2006... Book publisher Harper Collins will launch a digital book warehouse, following in the footsteps of rivals Macmillan. "Our content needs to be available in digital format," said Jane Friedman, president and CEO of Harper Collins (part of Rupert...

Gorman slams digitisation. Conference keynote speaker accuses librarians of being too techie and the industry of wasting money on scholarly texts.
January 17, 2006... Byline: Tracey Caldwell. Controversy broke out over the Google digitisation project last month, when Michael Gorman, outspoken head of the American Library Association, slammed it as a waste of money. Speaking at the Online Information...

Regional government websites opt to be standardised on MediaSurface's Morello.
January 17, 2006... The government's Regional Co-ordination Unit (RCU) has taken a step closer to its efficiency obligations under the Gershon review by consolidating 11 websites on to a single platform, using Mediasurface's Morello content management product. ...

Market Watch - Slice of the action.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2006... Doing a spot of pre-Christmas shopping, I visited Apple's flagship store on London's Regent Street for the first time. It's quite an experience. I've always admired the way Apple's product design breaks apart traditional 'IT' concepts of form...

Year in Review - The stories that rocked your world in 2005. As the curtain comes down on another year, IWR news editor Mark Chillingworth takes a look back at the big headlines for the industry in a year when digitisation, consolidation and compliance kept information professionals on their toes.
January 17, 2006... JANUARY Hot: Google plans library digitisation Not: Aslib goes into liquidation As information professionals returned to work after the festive break, their minds turned to the announcement that Google had agreed to digitise the...

Information on the fly is heading for your desktop. David Tebbutt looks beyond the limitations of search engines to information as it happens, drilling down into the deep web, and introducing a feedmesh.
January 17, 2006... Searching is a fundamental part of your life, right? Whether it's searching third-party databases, your own intranet, the web or your desktop, you're probably never far from a search engine. But the problem with search engines is they look only...

Awards Evening 2005 - Winners take all.(International Information Industry Awards)
January 17, 2006... And finally... ITN news anchorman Sir Trevor McDonald was the host and presenter at last month's International Information Industry Awards at London's Royal Lancaster Hotel. A total of 18 awards were presented, including a new Young Achiever...

Photo essay - Faces at an exhibition.
January 17, 2006... With more than 9,700 attendees and 250 exhibitors, last month's Online Information show at the Olympia Grand Hall in Kensington, London was a great opportunity for vendors and information professionals to meet face to face. Delegates came from...

Moveable feast. Is streaming information onto a mobile device - whether that's a PDA, a Blackberry or an iPod - a phenomenon that's set to grow? Kim Thomas unwraps the data packets in people's pockets to find an answer.
January 17, 2006... Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the influential Scottish architect, was famous for his bold innovations in furniture design. So he would probably have been pleased, says designer Katie Lackie, director of Lackie & Co, that the Charles Rennie...

Sector update - Continuing professional development. As a new year begins, thoughts turn to renewal and regeneration, so what better time to consider joining up with a professional organisation or signing up for the many training and development opportunities run by recruitment and professional development consultancies? IWR offers a guide to some of the most active organisations offering CPD services.
January 17, 2006... Aslib www.aslib.co.uk Overview: The Association for Information Management (Aslib) was set up in 1924 to serve information professionals in the private and public sector. It offers training, recruitment, publications and consultancy....

Resources - A world without the waffle. Bobby Pickering logs into Euromonitor's new Country Insight database for jargon-free profiles, datafiles and socio-economic reports on over 70 countries.
January 17, 2006... Euromonitor has just released an online country intelligence database, fashioning another weapon for the arsenal in its battle against the market goliaths - Global Insight and EIU. A nicely designed service, Country Insight will appeal to a...

Resources - BioMed tucks GeoChemical journal in OA knapsack.
January 17, 2006... Open access (OA) publisher BioMed Central will publish the American Chemical Society journal GeoChemical Transactions. From this month, the journal will become an OA title, ensuring free access to all readers. The title will retain its existing...

Resources - Oxford Journals builds on intellectual property.
January 17, 2006... Oxford University Press's journals division has launched a journal catering for the rising interest in intellectual property law. The Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice will cover drafting, enforcement, litigation and...

Resources - Chmoogle engine drives chemical structure search.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2006... Chemistry science has its own search engine with the launch of Chmoogle from US search engine provider eMolecules. Chmoogle is a free search service, which claims to have indexed all publicly available chemical information. Users can draw a...

Resources - Paris Hilton sashays her way into US Who's Who.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2006... Socialite Paris Hilton is among the new entrants to the US Who's Who in America 60th Commemorative Edition. Describing the inclusion of Hilton in the new title, Gene McGovern, CEO of publisher Marquis Who's Who, said: "In this edition we have...

Resources - Springer deal boosts ed tech titles.(Association for Educational Communications and Technology )(Brief Article)
January 17, 2006... Scientific, technical and medical specialist Springer has struck a partnership deal to publish two Association for Educational Communications and Technology journals. Educational Technology Research and Development will expand from four issues...

Resources - Shakespeare stars in JISC series.(Joint Information Systems Committee, The Shakespeare Collection)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2006... The Shakespeare Collection, launched last autumn by humanities specialist Thomson Gale, has agreed terms with the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to make the database available to the academic community in the UK. Users will gain...

Resources - Nature title officially adopted by Endosociety.
January 17, 2006... Members of the International Society of Endocrinology (ISE) will receive the Nature journal Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism following the official adoption of the journal by the society. All members who register for the ISE...

Resources - Book review - Google's shock to the system. John Battelle's must-read title thrillingly explains how search engines have radically changed business and culture, as Mark Chillingworth discovers.
January 17, 2006... "Just Google it." If you've heard people in your organisation saying something on these lines, you probably don't need convincing that Google has become part of the fabric of 21st century life. But how did it get there? The answer is that...

Resources - Site review - Hear, hear: poetry in Motion. Poet Laureate Andrew Motion is the driving force behind an online archive of modern poets reading their work. Mark Chillingworth samples the stanzas.
January 17, 2006... Listening to a poet read their own work helps to understand the motivations behind their art. The Poetry Archive is an online resource that provides access to digitised recordings of poets reading their work. Despite being aimed at a...

Resources - Training.
January 17, 2006... Advanced supervisory skills 18 January 2006, London. Supervising staff is not as easy as it looks. Cilip has created a one-day course to kick-start the New Year training programme by providing information professionals moving into a...

Diary.
January 17, 2006... International Bielefeld Conference 7-9 February 2006, Bielefeld, Germany This event aims to be an international forum for library and information services managers. The core theme for 2006 will be "rethinking" the role of information...

Backchat - The envelope please for the Backchat Awards 2005! Backchat had a thoroughly enjoyable week at the OI show and a sensational evening at the glittering Information Industry awards, mingling with the great and good. Here's Backchat's own gongs for those who deserve special credit...
January 17, 2006... Snappiest dresser Undoubtedly, this award goes to UKeIG's Gary Horrocks, who interpreted the strict sartorial instructions on the awards evening invitation ("black tie optional") with great elan. Gary's loosely interpreted "schoolboy" look...

Backchat - Endgame - The quiz for the most INFORMED information professionals!
January 17, 2006... Win [pounds sterling]20 drinks vouchers from a well-known national chain. To be eligible to enter, you must be an information professional working in the UK. Collect your answers in an email, together with your name, job title, the company or...

Backchat - Flashback - January 2001. Now that we're well in to the second half of the decade, an over-the-shoulder glance at our January issue five years ago reveals some startling surprises.
January 17, 2006... EEVL triumphs (sort of) as Roddy MacLeod scoops IWR award Information World Review's former editor Helen Jezzard looked resplendent presenting an engraved crystal decanter to Roddy MacLeod, the winner of the IWR Information Professional of...