Information World Review articles from September 2005

Information World Review archives from September 2005

New award to honour victims of terrorism.
September 5, 2005... Byline: Bobby Pickering New award to honour victims of terrorism The organiser of the International Information Industry Awards, VNU Exhibitions, has announced a major new award this year to honour the OneSource employees caught up in...

SciFinder browses for similar.
September 5, 2005... Byline: mark chillingworth SciFinder browses for similarity CAS database overhaul introduces new search tools, writes Mark Chillingworth CAS, the scientific, technical and medical (STM) database arm of the American Chemical...

OFT launches investigation into PSI market. Government investigators analyse whether business community loses out to public sector information holders.(Office of Fair Trading, public sector information)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is investigating whether government agencies that sell public sector information, such as HM Land Registry, have an unfair competitive advantage over private sector information providers. Public sector...

Aggregators win reprieve as FT abandons embargo. Factiva and LexisNexis fears allayed at the last minute, writes Mark Chillingworth.
September 12, 2005... The Financial Times has abandoned a move to delay feeds of its content to news aggregators until after noon on the day of publication. The midday embargo was due to be implemented on 1 September, but a reprieve was won on the afternoon of...

OneSource victims of terror attack.(OneSource Information Services Inc., Jeremy Lakin, Annalie Vickers )(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... Members of staff at OneSource UK have paid tribute to two of their colleagues who died in the terrorist bomb attacks at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh on 23 July. Annalie (Ali) Vickers, European product marketing director, and...

Editor's View - Kings of all they survey?
September 12, 2005... Type the character string "Google world domination" into a certain web search engine, and you'll get back 700,000 results (a very precise and exact figure don't you think?). Type in "Microsoft world domination", however, and a mere 546,000...

ALPSP and academics fight it out over RCUK IR rules. Letter-writing battle reveals differences over funding council repository mandate.(Research Council UK, institutional repositories)(Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... Byline: Mark Chillingworth. Academics and society publishers have clashed over a potential mandate by the Research Council UK (RCUK) in support of institutional repositories. Senior academics, including web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee,...

K2E in focus.(Verity K2 Enterprise)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... The online stock photography house Stockbyte has adopted the Verity K2 Enterprise (K2E) search engine for its e-commerce website. Stockbyte licenses photography ranging from sports events (pictured), people, places and activities on the web...

Local authorities face categorical failure.(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... Byline: Kim Thomas. A mere 22 per cent of local authorities fully comply with e-government targets that come into force on 31 December, according to a new research report from APR Smartlogik. The survey suggests it is unlikely that all...

Google's diverse plans dominate headlines - Publishers berate Google as it pulls back Print project. As search engine giant adds another $4bn to its war chest, Bobby Pickering focuses on its two key announcements during the summer.
September 12, 2005... Publishers have given the thumbs down to Google's announcement that it is scaling down its Google Print Library Project. Google is giving publishers three months to provide it with lists of in-copyright books that will not be scanned if it...

Google unleashes beta of Desktop Search 2. Sidebar gives users a new interface to information on their PCs and draws dynamic content from the web.
September 12, 2005... Google has launched an updated beta version of its Desktop Search tool, adding a Sidebar interface with functionality that could pose a challenge to Microsoft and other rivals. Google Desktop 2, available for free download at...

Velterop springs surprise. Springer creates new position as Open Access advocate joins major journal publisher to help promote potential benefits of Open Choice, writes Mark Chillingworth.
September 12, 2005... Open access champion Jan Velterop is joining Springer, the world's second largest journal publisher, in a move that has surprised the Open Access (OA) community. Velterop announced in May that he was leaving scientific publisher BioMed Central...

Stellent gets the GIST.(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... Byline: Kim Thomas. Road haulage and shop delivery corporation Gist has deployed the Stellent Universal Content Management platform to manage content on its websites. Gist, part of the BOC Group, provides logistics to major retailers like...

JISC cash fuels philosophy for Stanford.(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... Funding from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) will keep the Stanford Enclyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) online as an Open Access resource to universities in the UK. Initial funding for SEP ended in July 2005 and Stanford University...

T&F fades as Informa adopts old moniker.
September 12, 2005... An extraordinary general meeting of T&F Informa's shareholders has approved a name change that will see the Taylor & Francis acronym disappear for good. But the company has insisted that the re-birth of the Informa moniker does not signal a...

LexisNexis searches out video for A La Carte menu.
September 12, 2005... TV and video search engines are attracting interest from high circles at the moment, with rumours that Rupert Murdoch is interested in buying Blinkx. Legal and business information aggregator LexisNexis has signed a deal with US video search...

Free software trial offer send-off for STN AnaVist.
September 12, 2005... Free software-only trials are on offer for the new STN AnaVist patent analysis software. The offer, until December, does not include data source fees. STN AnaVist allows users to search, analyse and visualise data drawn from CAplus, and the PCT...

Wiley slips three lubrication journals online.
September 12, 2005... Three journals covering scientific research into lubrication have joined the Wiley stable from Professional Engineering Publishing. Lubrication Science studies lubricants and their uses. The Journal of Synthetic Lubrication covers advanced...

National Archives approves Vignette RM application.(Vignette Records & Documents 7.0)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... The Vignette Records & Documents 7.0 application has been approved by the National Archives (NA) for government use. NA tests and validates records management applications for government use in records archiving, retention and management....

Blackwell packs Travel Medicine Journal deal.
September 12, 2005... Oxford-based society publisher Blackwell Publishing has been selected to publish the Journal of Travel Medicine by the International Society of Travel Medicine. From January 2006, Blackwell will publish the journal six times a year, which...

Thomson gives bibliographic package a major overhaul.
September 12, 2005... Thomson ResearchSoft has released a new version of EndNote, its bibliographic software package that allows authors, researchers and librarians to search online databases, organise their references and create instant bibliographies. EndNote 9 is...

CPORTAL meets e-gov target. Linking multiple information sources with a hosted application will help put Medway council on track for e-government compliance, writes Kim Thomas.
September 12, 2005... Fretwell-Downing Informatics has launched a hosted application that will enable local government information professionals to link their content and deliver it to searchers without the user needing to know which department holds that...

Acquisition doubles Palgrave Macmillan's biz journal list. Henry Stewart sells 21 titles as Palgrave Macmillan strengthens its position in the growing business journals market, reports Mark Chillingworth.
September 12, 2005... With the acquisition of 21 journals, Palgrave Macmillan has signalled its intentions to become a major player in the business journals market. Titles covering finance, management, marketing and property have been acquired from London-based...

Market Watch - RSS - what's all the fuss?(really simple syndication)
September 12, 2005... Regular industry watchers could be forgiven for thinking that RSS is taking over the infosphere, given the amount of passion the technology is generating among industry analysts. Recent research reveals that there is some way to go before...

Special report - BT project rings the changes. A British Telecom project has revolutionised land registry information management in Northern Ireland. Mark Chillingworth checked it out.
September 12, 2005... Today, Northern Ireland is a place of major change, whether it is the IRA decommissioning its weapons or its booming economy. The rapid pace is forcing government agencies to embrace change, and that means delivering information online. ...

News Analysis - Finding Scopus to grow big in the A&I market. As Scopus gains credibility in the A&I market, Bobby Pickering talked to Amanda Spiteri, marketing director for the division, about its latest developments.
September 12, 2005... It's just over a year since Scopus got its first public airings at the SLA and ALA conferences in the US. Since its official launch in late 2004, the abstract and indexing (A&I) database has been slowly building up its user base, claiming over...

Legal information - On-line competition forces legal publishing shake up. The internet is creating competition and widening lawyers' options in the range of services they can select. Eira Hayward looks at what's new.
September 12, 2005... Like other service industries, the UK legal profession has seen many changes in the past decade. It has become more competitive and lawyers now have to be much more business-like in their approach and more responsive to clients' needs. ...

Opinion - Wikis offer informal focus for collaboration. Despite highly publicised failures of freely available wikis in the US this year, David Tebbutt thinks these communally edited collaborations do have their uses.
September 12, 2005... Does your organisation use wiki software? If that question makes sense to you, then you are in a small but growing minority. To clarify, a wiki facilitates collaboration between people who need no more than a web browser to participate. It is...

Blogs in libraries - Pen a blog buster. Blogging is a great way for library staff to communicate with each other and spread their message to a wider base. Tracey Caldwell talked to some pioneers treading the blogger path.
September 12, 2005... Weblogs are increasingly becoming part of library life. As libraries debate how to handle information contained in weblogs, they are also becoming bloggers themselves. Warwick University has seized the initiative by hosting blogs itself....

Enterprise search - A wider view. As new vendors and technologies begin to make their mark on the enterprise search market, Davey Winder investigates how the established players are fighting back and wonders where the next phase of innovation will come from.
September 12, 2005... While it is undeniable that the enterprise search space has matured during the past couple of years, in maturing, it has also become more sceptical of new technologies offering magic-bullet search solutions. There's a strong argument to...

Sector update - Legal, Patent and Regulatory. Patent data, legal and regulatory information is the lifeblood of major corporations. Legal and patent information is increasingly used online and sits alongside up-to-the-minute news. This month's Sector Update focuses on five key players and their latest developments. Compiled by Mark Chillingworth.
September 12, 2005... EMPLAW www.emplaw.co.uk Overview: Online since 1997, Emplaw is a web resource about British employment law. The site includes regularly updated employment law information as well as a "Find a Lawyer" directory. Main Product:...

Preview - Online Information Conference 2005 - One high-powered line-up. The IWR team looks forward to what could be one of the best Online Information conferences in years - everything from cutting-edge sessions on wikis and desktop search, to a renewed focus on business information.
September 12, 2005... Preparations for this year's Online Information Conference, which runs in parallel with the annual Online Information show, are well-advanced, with one of the best keynote speaker lists in years. Among the big name speakers scheduled for...

Resources - Product review - Google opens up a Sidebar. Bobby Pickering got to grips with Google's powerful new interface the morning after its launch and found the new platform both agenda-setting and innovative.
September 12, 2005... Google has released an updated beta version of its desktop search tool, adding a Sidebar feature with functionality that could pose a serious challenge to Microsoft and other rivals. Google Desktop 2 (available for free download at...

Resources - Site review - JSTOR archive well tooled. A new search engine opens up the scanned journals archived on the JSTOR web service. Mark Chillingworth delves into this important humanities resource.
September 12, 2005... With 2,862,949 full-text articles available online, JSTOR requires a powerful search engine to deliver quick results. The US-based archive of scholarly journals launched a new open source search engine in the spring to improve access to the 499...

Resources - British women in WW1 get archive at Thomson Learning.(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... An archive of material detailing the important role British women played in the First World War has been digitised and released on to the internet by Thomson Learning. Women, War and Society 1914-1918 was developed in conjunction with the...

Resources - APA launches historical archive for PsycArticles database.
September 12, 2005... The American Psychological Association (APA) has doubled the size of its PsycArticles database by adding 100 years worth of backfiles from its 24 journals to the archive. APA said the PsycArticles 1894-1985 archive will be the largest full text...

Resources - Wiley takes microbiology methods and protocols online.(John Wiley & Sons Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... Current Protocols in Microbiology, the laboratory manual for microbiological methods, is now available online from scientific, technical and medical publishers John Wiley & Sons. The manual covers experimental methods for the study of...

Resources - Springer takes steps into Russia following deal in China.
September 12, 2005... German scientific publisher Springer has signed an agreement with MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica, the Russian Academy of Sciences, to publish Russian journals in English. The new deal follows a similar agreement with two major Chinese publishers,...

Resources - Education in Retrospective launch from HW Wilson.
September 12, 2005... US database publisher HW Wilson has launched the latest addition to its Retrospective periodical collections - Education Index Retrospective: 1929-1983. The database features 830,000 articles from 600 periodicals on subjects such as education,...

Resources - Business ownership revealed by D&B and AP Information.(Dun and Bradstreet)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... The latest issue of Who Owns Whom 2005/06 has been published by AP Information Services and Dun and Bradstreet (D&B). The two business information providers have created a set of four globally regional titles covering 1.4 million businesses....

Resources - Site review - Feeding the RSS appetite. The Feednation RSS reader is a simple service that allows users to keep informed by email, mobile phone or online. Mark Chillingworth takes a bite of its wares.
September 12, 2005... The landscape of the internet is covered with little orange boxes with the letters RSS written inside, and a plethora of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) reader technologies are arriving on the scene. Feednation is one of the latest, and,...

Resources - Book review - Classification brought to book. The core skill of classification is vital for information professionals, and Jonathan Gordon-Till finds it's a subject that can be very valuable when space allows.(Essential Classification)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 12, 2005... Despite its dry title, and still drier subject matter, Essential Classification manages to whet the appetite for the essential information management task. Author, Vanda Broughton, has spiced up the copy with amusing examples and case studies....

Resources - Training.
September 12, 2005... Managing Change 20 September 2005, Manchester Business School Change is part and parcel of information management. This course aims to help attendees spot change and adapt to it when it is forced upon them. The course provides tuition...

Diary.(Calendar)
September 12, 2005... ECDL 2005 18-23 September 2005, Vienna, Austria The 9th European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries (ECDL) aims to bring together digital library researchers, developers and content providers into a...

Backchat - Dracula discovered in archives.(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... Academic libraries and archives share top billing with Dracula in a new novel from first-time author Elizabeth Kostova. The Historian is not the usual blood and gore vampire horror novel though. Backchat was relieved to hear that librarians and...

Backchat - Googlistas want a bigger slice of Pi.(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... When Google announced it was seeking to raise $4bn through a new shares issue last month, it was very precise in the number of stocks it would issue - 14,159,265 to be exact. Why such precision? One observer suggested that it had a lot to do...

Backchat - Wikipedia gets compliment from Uncyclopedia.
September 12, 2005... If you didn't know that a banana phone is a "telecommunications banana that transmits speech by means of electric signals", or that kitten huffing is a "great alternative to normal street drugs and vitamins", then Uncyclopedia is the place to...

Backchat - Endgame - The quiz for the most informed information professionals!
September 12, 2005... And finally... a simple little quiz put together by the finest minds at IWR. Assemble your answers into an email, send it to endgame@iwr.co.uk along with your name, job title, the organisation you work for, and phone number. The first correct...

Backchat - Flashback. September 2000 - We delve into our archives to find out who and what were making the headlines in our pages five years ago, a few months after Thomson had nabbed Dialog.
September 12, 2005... Dissenting view on Thomson's acquisition of Dialog. Some commentators were staunchly behind Thomson's takeover of Dialog, but others took a more jaundiced view. Paul Blake's opinion piece, The Jury's Out, suggested it was too early to...