Information Today articles from February 2003

Information Today archives from February 2003

Online information offers strong program.(Online Information conference)
February 1, 2003... There's nothing like presenting two papers at Online Information to keep you focused on the program. In fact, for the first time in many years, I spent more time attending sessions than I did on the exhibit floor. During one session, I was...

Divine debacle rocks the industry.(Divine Inc. subsidiary RoweCom financial collapse)
February 1, 2003... RoweCom, the Massachusetts-based library subscription agency that is a subsidiary of divine, Inc., has suffered financial collapse. The orders for subscriptions and payments that libraries placed with RoweCom throughout the fall were simply not...

What's ahead? (Inside).(information industry executives comment management in the current economy)
February 1, 2003... Every year at this time we run our "What's Ahead?" article, in which a number of information industry executives comment on the year ahead. This time, however, we tried something new. Most of the 15 executives below were interviewed in December...

ITI acquires Streaming Media. (News Bytes).(Information Today Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Information Today, Inc. (ITI) announced that it has completed the acquisition of Streaming Media, Inc. from Penton Media, Inc., a Cleveland-based publisher and trade-show company. Streaming Media produces conferences and exhibitions in the...

Cambridge University selects MARC link, OCLC. (News Bytes).(joint contract to convert library catalog)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... MARC Link announced that it and OCLC have been awarded a joint contract for the retrospective conversion of Cambridge University Library's guardbook catalog. The guardbook contains an estimated 1.3 million records that cover books and...

NISO publishes Standards Guide for Library Systems. (News Bytes).(National Information Standards Organization)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announced the publication of The RFP Writer's Guide to Standards for Library Systems, by Cynthia Hodgson. This manual is intended to aid library system request for proposal (RFP) writers...

Only one winner following divine implosion. (Up Front).(financial disaster at divine Information Services' RoweCom/Faxon )
February 1, 2003... For almost 2 decades now, I've made my living in the publishing industry. Although my heart and soul remain devoted to the service of information professionals and librarians, I have sincere concerns for and commitments to publishers and their...

New developments in search engines, copyright, and more. (News Break Update).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The main focus of our attention over the last month or so has definitely been the sad state of affairs at RoweCom/ divine and the ensuing panic among its library and publisher creditors. We monitored the listservs and press releases and also...

WilsonWeb databases now link to SwetsWise e-journals. (News Bytes).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... H.W. Wilson announced that SwetsWise will be added to the list of WilsonWeb's WilsonLink full-text sources. This integration is part of a reciprocal agreement that will also make WilsonWeb an information source for SwetsWise databases....

World Chambers Network teams with Dialog. (News Bytes).(to launch an online search engine that will help businesses research international markets)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... World Chambers Network (WCN), a Paris-based trade service for chambers of commerce, has announced a deal with Dialog to launch an online search engine that will help businesses research international markets. Companies can now receive...

IEEE announces service upgrades, partnership. (News Bytes).(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... IEEE announced that it will add content and open universal access to its online archive. The organization also announced that it has entered into a linking agreement with ISI. Content Additions IEEE will add more than 85,000 technical...

Corrections.
February 1, 2003... Credits for the photos that accompany the article "E-Books Are Not Dead Yet" (January 2003, p. 40) were inadvertently omitted. The photo of Joshua H. Morrill was taken by Wallys W. Conhaim. The photo of conference attendees is courtesy of...

To cap or not to cap?(Joseph Throw advises capital letter be dropped from the word Internet)(Brief Article)(Column)
February 1, 2003... As if to mark the 20th anniversary of the Internet, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication made headlines recently by proposing that the capital "I" be dropped from the name of the ubiquitous network....

Letters to the Editor.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... [This letter was sent to Richard Poynder in response to his interview of Mark McCabe in December 2002's Poynder on Point column.] Great article. One reservation: You never mention, maybe because McCabe doesn't, the role of copyright. To me the...

Disability access and the Internet. (Legal Issues).(recent court decisions take different approaches)
February 1, 2003... Access is the name of our game. Regardless of our specific role within the information community--database producer, traditional print publisher, librarian, or consumer--we all share the same goal of increasing knowledge through information...

Jacso's cheers and jeers for 2002. (Internet Insights).
February 1, 2003... The following is my annual year-end roundup of the best and worst digital archives. These archives are the backbones of digital libraries, growing ever larger and more sophisticated. There are some exceptions, of course. CHEERS for the......

Can Science and Nature be trumped? (Focus on Publishing).(scholarly electronic periodicals planned, but face challenges)
February 1, 2003... The Public Library of Science (PLoS) has just brought the debate over scholarly publishing's future to new heights. Thanks to a $9 million, 5-year grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, a group of prominent scientists announced in...

A happy accident. (Interview with Pierre Buffet).(Interview)
February 1, 2003... Pierre Buffet, executive vice president of online host Questel*Orbit, is a rare animal. After 30 years in the industry, he is one of the few early pioneers still at his desk. And despite his low profile, Buffet remains an influential figure. He...

ProQuest adds new content. (News Bytes).(ProQuest Information and Learning acquisition of Norman Ross Publishing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology agreement)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... ProQuest Information and Learning announced that its acquisition of Norman Ross Publishing will expand its international content in microform. The company also announced an agreement with Massachusetts Institute of Technology that will bring...

Survey shows public opinion on biometric identifiers. (News Bytes).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Privacy & American Business (P&AB) announced the results of a survey commissioned by SEARCH, funded by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, and developed by Alan Westin, P&AB's president and publisher. The survey found that 56 to 91...

International report.(news items )
February 1, 2003... Durham, U.K. As the scholarly communications crisis intensifies, interest in alternative publishing models is growing in Europe. The creation of a European chapter of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) and...

Are we being ripped off?--Part 2. (Investigate Report).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Pricing for high-value electronic information is a complex subject--and often highly charged. If the perception is of overpricing, then the reality becomes irrelevant. In last month's issue, I solicited the views of one academic user and two...

Is the doctor online? Doctors and especially health-providing institutions have a vested interest in encouraging folks to consult the Internet. (Perspectives).(patient use of Internet health information will reduce time physician needs to consult with them in the future, research suggests)
February 1, 2003... Concerned about your aging father's blood pressure? Afraid your heart palpitations and breathlessness might be something more ominous than a panic attack? If only your doctor were available through your Internet connection, which can link you...

Public library Web sites. (Your Personal Guide to the Web).
February 1, 2003... Where can you view an art exhibit, vote for a favorite children's book character, or order a Cow Parade figurine? A public library Web site. Just as the physical library is no longer a collection of dusty book stacks supervised by shushing...

SpamKiller vs. Spam alert. (Software Review).(McAfee Associates' SpamKiller and Symantec's Spam Alert )(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Originally, this review was going to be about SpamKiller. But then I received Symantec's latest version of Norton Internet Security, which comes with Spam Alert. This gave me the opportunity to compare the two products and let readers make...

Computer humor. (Personal Computing).(computer and information technology related jokes and anecdotes)(Column)
February 1, 2003... When we laugh, there's always some truth lurking behind humor--insights that can be illuminating. That's why the best humor is self-deprecating. By poking fun at ourselves, we reveal our humanity. Other jokes poke fun at those who we...

On the road. (Conference Circuit).(Info Today 2003, includes list of scheduled keynote speakers)(Column)
February 1, 2003... Planning conferences means living in the future. As I write this column in January, we've just finished the program planning for Info Today 2003, which will be held May 6-8 in New York. That means summer vacation time is just around the corner,...

Safeguarding patrons' privacy. (Report from the Field).(Teleconference participants discuss patrons' privacy amid passage of USA PATRIOT Act)
February 1, 2003... The U.S. Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act on Oct. 26, 2001, 6 weeks after the 9/11 attacks. The legislation amended 15 existing laws and applies to every business, association, university, library, and individual. On Dec. 11, 2002, five...

Should life science information be restricted? (Report from the Field).
February 1, 2003... Into the category of difficult-if-not-impossible public policy questions must go the one that's now being pondered by scientists and security experts: Can scientific communication possibly stay open in an age of bioterrorism? Can...

Sci-tech publishers show resiliency at online information 2002. (Report from the Field).
February 1, 2003... The changing face of the Online Information conference may mean that more and more services condense into fewer and fewer large stands, while some services come and go with the vagaries of the economy or changing technology. The big sci-tech...

Online Information's wrap-up session. (Report from the Field).
February 1, 2003... Following the 2001 silver jubilee event--which naturally spent some time looking back at 25 years of online information industry history--Online Information 2002 promised to explore the major issues that shape the industry, determine key...

Conference calendar.(Calendar)
February 1, 2003... February 23-25: Philadelphia (The Ritz Carlton Hotel). NFAIS will hold the NFAIS 45th Annual Conference, the theme of which is "Markets, Technologies and Standards: Strategies for Success." The keynote speech will be delivered by Derk...

SparkNotes softens student life. (Database Review).(Offers CliffsNotes-like database)
February 1, 2003... Students today have it far too easy. When I was in school and had to do research, I had to walk to the library. I had to flip through a shoebox-type drawer full of finger-begrimed cards to look up books. Getting journal articles was even worse....

IEEE's ITeL bundles 900 IT journals, proceedings. (Product News & Reviews).
February 1, 2003... IEEE announced the launch of the IEEE Information Technology Library (ITeL), a new online collection that offers the full text of more than 900 IEEE conference proceedings and periodicals in computing, communications, signal processing, and...

Blackwell Book Services offers new feature. (Product News & Reviews).(Partners with ebrary, adding feature to Collection Manager purchasing system for libraries)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Blackwell's Book Services has announced that its Collection Manager purchasing system for libraries now includes a full-text preview feature powered by ebrary, a provider of information distribution and retrieval technology that serves...

Cleveland Public Library to open e-book collection. (Product News & Reviews).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Cleveland Public Library announced that it has entered into an agreement with digital media company OverDrive, Inc. to open a circulating e-book and digital media collection. Patrons will be able to access and download digital books and...

AIP launches Search OJPS service. (Product News & Reviews).
February 1, 2003... The American Institute of Physics (AIP) has announced the release of Search OJPS (http://searchojps.aip.org), a service that offers free searching of all the bibliographic records on its Online Journal Publishing Service (OJPS) for which Adobe...

Dialog adds searchable domain name database. (Product News & Reviews).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Dialog Corp. announced the launch of a searchable database of more than 65 million current and historic Internet domain name records. The database includes records for about 20 million currently active domain names, with most containing...

MITRE Corp. Management software now available. (Product News & Reviews).(Enters into technology transfer agreement with Ensenyo Software)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... MITRE Corp. announced that its eCommunities Collaborative Knowledge Management software is now available through a technology transfer agreement with Ensenyo Software. The product is built upon a team portal framework that uses Java 2...

InfoExpress releases new Web agent. (Product News & Reviews).
February 1, 2003... InfoExpress announced that, in a key update to its remote-access policy enforcement system, the latest version of its CyberGatekeeper Suite now offers policy enforcement for Web-based applications. CyberGatekeeper lets administrators...

Mergent, Inc. introduces Mergent Online. (Product News & Reviews).
February 1, 2003... Mergent, Inc., a source for global business and financial information, announced the release of Mergent Online, its new flagship product, at http://www.mergentonline.com. Mergent Online will replace Mergent FISonline, a Web-based source for...

ProQuest adds titles, co-develops application. (Product News & Reviews).(ProQuest Information and Learning enters into agreement with Rogers Publishing Ltd; co-develops application with Berkeley Electronic Press)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... ProQuest Information and Learning has announced an agreement with Rogers Publishing, Ltd. that will bring the full text of 64 periodicals to the company's line of business and general reference databases. The agreement, which is effective...

AP, Yahoo! Launch AP archives on Yahoo! News. (Product News & Reviews).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The Associated Press (AP) and Yahoo!, Inc. have announced the release of AP Archives, a fee-based news archive on Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com). This service reinforces both companies' commitment to providing comprehensive news and...

Bureau van Dijk, Zephus offer free M&A Synopsis. (Product News & Reviews).
February 1, 2003... Bureau van Dijk (BvD) and Zephus, researchers of global M&A activity, announced the publication of a free quarterly M&A Synopsis, prepared in association with the ZEPHYR database. Zephus also offers M&A-related research service for journalists....

H.W. Wilson upgrades its Biography Reference Bank. (Product News & Reviews).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... H.W. Wilson Co. announced that its Wilson Web database Biography Reference Bank now features an innovative new structure that makes finding information more precise, as new content increases the number of people covered to beyond 400,000. The...

Macromedia launches Macromedia Contribute. (Product News & Reviews).(Enables one to update, add, and publish Web content to existing Web sites without HTML knowledge)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Macromedia, Inc. has announced the release of Macromedia Contribute, a new desktop application that enables anyone to update, add, and publish Web content to existing Web sites without needing to learn HTML. According to the announcement, in...

SIRSI Corp. (People Line).(Don McCall will be new chief operating officer)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... SIRSI Corp. has announced that Don McCall will be its new chief operating officer. He will oversee key business and strategic elements, including customer support, product management and development, implementations and training, and library...

Imark Communications. (People Line).(Announces presentation of first Online Information industry achievement awards )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Imark Communications Europe has announced that the first Online Information industry achievement awards were presented in London in December. The awards were sponsored by NextPage and were created to recognize excellence and innovation by...

PointGlobal, Inc. (People Line).(Herbert Senft II is new vice president of 1stBooks Library)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... 1stBooks Library has announced that W. Herbert Senft II is its new vice president. In this position, he will oversee the accounting, marketing, and IT departments, as well as formulate and set new business development strategies. ...

Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia. (People Line).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia (EPIC) has named Michael Luby as its manager of publisher relations and Roberto Falck as a Web developer. In addition, Patricia A. Moran has been appointed director of development for the...

The executive profile.(Clare Hart is president and CEO of Factiva)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Clare Hart leads Factiva, a news and information solutions company that counts more than 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies as clients and whose products and services are available to more than 1.6 million paying subscribers worldwide. ...

Naked in Cyberspace, 2nd Edition: How to Find Personal Information Online. (New Titles for the Information Professional).(Book review)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... Naked in Cyberspace, 2nd edition: How to find personal information online. (New titles for the information professional) By Carole A. Lane, foreword by Beth Givens In this revised and updated second edition of her best-selling guide,...

The Librarian's Internet Survival Guide: Strategies for the High-Tech Reference Desk. (New Titles for the Information Professional).(Book review)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... By Irene E. McDermott edited by Barbara Quint In this authoritative and tremendously useful guide, Irene McDermott helps her fellow reference librarians succeed in the bold new world of the Web. This handy book features troubleshooting tips...

Net Crimes & Misdemeanors: Outmaneuvering the Spammers, Swindlers, and stalkers who are targeting you online. (New Titles for the Information Professional).(Book review)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... By J. A. Hitchcock, edited by Loraine Page Cybercrime expert J. A. Hitchcock helps individuals and business users of the Web protect themselves, their children and their employees against online cheats and predators. Hitchcock details a...

Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet. (New Titles for the Information Professional).(Book review)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... Edited by Anne P. Mintz Intentionally misleading or erroneous information on the Web can wreak havoc on your health, privacy, investments, business decisions, online purchases, legal affairs, and more. Until now, the significance of this...

Smart Services: Competitive Information Strategies, Solutions, and Success Stories for the Service Businesses. (New Title for the Information Professional).(Book review)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... By Deborah C. Sawyer Here is the first book to focus specifically on the competitive information needs of service-oriented firms. Author, entrepreneur, and business consultant Deborah C. Sawyer illuminates the many forms of competition in...

The Accidental Systems Librarian. (New Titles for the Information Professional).(Book review)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... By Rachel Singer Gordon Foreword by Kathy Dempsey The Accidental Systems Librarian takes the approach that anyone with a solid foundation in the practices and principles of librarianship and a willingness to confront changing technology can...

Super Searchers Make It on Their Own: Top Independent Information Professionals Share Their Secrets for Starting and Running a Research Business. (New Titles for the Information Professional).(Book review)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... By Suzanne Sabroski, edited by Reva Basch If you want to start and run a successful Information Age business, read this book. Here, for the first time anywhere, 11 of the world's top research entrepreneurs share their strategies for...

The Information Professionals Guide to Career Development Online. (New Titles for the Information Professional).(Book review)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... By Sarah L. Nesbeitt and Rachel Singer Gordon This is the first book designed to meet the needs of Internet-connected librarians interested in using online tools to advance their careers. Authors Gordon and Nesbeitt provide practical...

How to move Databases and collections online. (Cover Notes).(Book review)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... Web-Powered Databases edited by David Taniar and Johanna Wenny Rahayu Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing, 2003 ISBN: 1059140-092-9 340 350 pages $89.95 The Web is the front end for more and more information access. Consumers...

What's new in ITI's other publications. (Cover Notes).
February 1, 2003... As the editorial services manager here at Information Today, Inc. (ITI), I'm going to be peeking under the covers, so to speak, of some of ITI's other magazines and journals to periodically share interesting tidbits with you. This month, I'll...

The Internet marks its 20th anniversary.
February 1, 2003... This year is the 20th anniversary of the birth of the Internet. Given it use by hundreds of millions world wide, it may seem as if today's Interne were an inevitable development. Indeed it probably was inevitable that something like it and the...

Nstein, Gale announce partnership agreement. (News Bytes).(Nstein Technologies and Gale Group; Nstein makes automated indexing software)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Nstein Technologies, Inc. announced an agreement to provide Gale's subject taxonomy through its flagship automated indexing software. According to the announcement, this partnership will enhance content search-and-retrieval services and extend...

CAS announces product enhancement, new finding. (News Bytes).(Chemical Abstracts Service)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) announced that STN International has enhanced STN Easy for Intranets. The company also announced a new finding based on data from its Chemical Registry system. STN Easy for Intranets According to CAS,...

MetaPress will host Taylor & Francis journals. (News Bytes).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... MetaPress, a service of EBSCO Industries' Publisher Promotion & Fulfillment division, announced that it will produce and host online editions of all journals published by Taylor & Francis Group. In an extension of an agreement begun in...

Cambridge Scientific Abstracts. (People Line).(Appoints Sheila Marks to position of senior director)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) has announced the appointment of Sheila Marks to the position of senior director. She will oversee both the journal division and publisher services. Prior to this, Marks held positions as customer...