Information Today articles from January 2008

Information Today archives from January 2008

Google 2.0 as 'calculating predator'.
January 1, 2008... If you think of Google as a company that just does web search and advertising, think again. Your future prospects in business could depend on it. That was Google version 1.0. Google version 2.0 is a new type of company, according to search...

User-generated content principles: a new balance.
January 1, 2008... In mid-October 2007, five leading commercial copyright owners (CBS Corp., Disney, Fox Entertainment Group, NBC Universal, and Viacom, Inc.) collaborated with four leading user-generated content sites (Daily-motion, Soapbox on MSN Video,...

Act like a leader.(Leading With Information: Part II)
January 1, 2008... [Previously, in Part I of this three-part series, we discussed the importance of getting the right information to the right people at the right time and how this can be a critical factor in the success of an enterprise. In Part II, Bob Boiko...

Call for APA award nominations.(NewsBytes)
January 1, 2008... The American Psychological Association (APA) is seeking nominations for the 2008 APA Excellence in Librarianship Award. The award, now in its second year, recognizes a candidate who has made outstanding contributions to psychology and...

RefWorks partners with four online services.(NewsBytes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... RefWorks LLC partnered with several online services to export data from their platforms into RefWorks. Users can now export search results directly into a RefWorks' account, which will speed up the workflow process, while automatically...

John Edwards debuts on 10Questions.com.(NewsBytes)
January 1, 2008... Presidential candidate John Edwards announced that he will participate in 10Questions.com, a voter-generated presidential video forum that was created with The New York Times editorial board, MSNBC, and the co-sponsorship of 40-plus...

Live from Antarctica.(NewsBytes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Sandra Passchier, a geoscientist and assistant professor in the department of earth and environmental studies at New Jersey's Montclair State University (MSU), has been blogging about her experiences as an Antarctic researcher in the MSU...

OECD launches statistics database.(NewsBytes)(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The not-for-profit Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced the launch of OECD.Stat in beta that will let researchers search for statistics and gather data across OECD's 50 databases. Toby Green, head of OECD...

Thomson Scientific adds Chinese Science Citation Database.(NewsBytes)(Thomson Corp. Thomson Scientific)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Thomson Scientific has added new content to its collection since the first of the year. It has just announced a partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to bring the Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD) into the ISI Web of Knowledge...

Why isn't print dead ... yet?(Up Front With Barbara Quint)(Column)
January 1, 2008... The other day I was reading an essay analyzing the impact of this fact on scholarly societies: Academics now expect and prefer to read journals online. Societies typically offer free or sharply discounted subscriptions to their print...

Encyclopedias, social networks, and health resources lead the news.(NewsBreak Update)
January 1, 2008... The online encyclopedia space continues to generate a lot of activity and interest. This is a result of two factors: the success of the wildly popular Wikipedia and the credibility issues it raised. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Wikipedia...

Elsevier debuts 2collab.(NewsBytes)
January 1, 2008... As part of Research 2.0, Elsevier has introduced 2collab, a community forum where scientists and researchers can meet and interact to share insights and findings. While still in beta, 2collab lets researchers add/share/rate bookmarks, tag...

SAGE, Hindawi team up on OA publishing initiative.(NewsBytes)
January 1, 2008... SAGE Publications, Ltd. and Hindawi Publishing Corp. launched a joint initiative to publish a collection of open access (OA) journals. This is just the first phase for both companies to continue collaborative efforts in the OA publishing arena....

Industry Leaders establish Information Technology Certification Council.(NewsBytes)
January 1, 2008... Several organizations in the IT industry formed the Information Technology Certification Council (ITCC) to position future professional certifications and address issues such as exam security, perceptions/ realities of certification value and...

TDS and EMpact add medical reference library to worldwide institutions.(NewsBytes)(Teton Data Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Teton Data Systems (TDS) joined EMpact, the publisher representation group within the EBSCO Information Services division, in providing TDS' STAT!Ref to libraries and medical research organizations worldwide. STAT!Ref is a subscription-based,...

iParadigms making the grade in plagiarism prevention.(IT Spotlight)
January 1, 2008... In this article, we profile another high-tech company with an innovative service that offers a solution to ensure original content from start to finish. FOUNDER In the 1990s, John Barrie, iParadigms' founder and CEO, was working on...

Finding a little humor in the 'L' word.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2008... I always enjoy reading the articles written by Shirley D. Kennedy, but the one about the "L" word in the September 2007 issue of Information Today was so good! As a librarian, I had a good laugh and agree completely with everything she...

And there's more ...(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2008... I just read ["The 'L'Word," September 2007 IT] and I have to say "Amen, Sister!" Thank you for describing my feelings so perfectly. And the nature documentary comment made me laugh out loud! Keep up the great work. --Cal Shepard ...

Getting on board.(Column)
January 1, 2008... When our team of ITI editors blogged the Online Information show in London last month (www.infotodayblog.com), we listened, we interviewed, and we discussed the impact of Web 2.0 technologies on the information industry. Is there really...

Infotoons.
January 1, 2008... HMMM... I'LL HAVE TO TIGHTEN MY ASTROBUDGET THIS YEAR. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] JANE, WE'LL HAVE TO POSTPONE OUR TRIP TO MARS THIS YEAR. MR. SPACELY IS SWITCHING FROM SPROCKETS TO WIDGETS NEXT WEEK... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] OH...

Life in the new world order--Part I.(Focus on Publishing)(Column)
January 1, 2008... In my column a year ago, I wrote that I was embarking on a digital journey where I would give most of my life to the new world order of computing. Departing from the land of Windows O/S to the land of Macintosh, I also decided to try my hand at...

Revisiting Tasini.(Legal Issues)
January 1, 2008... The Supreme Court's 2001 decision in the New York Times v. Tasini case represented a watershed event for the database industry. The court addressed the difference between a freelance author's individual copyright in an item that is published as...

I never got your email.(Internet Waves)
January 1, 2008... "He never responds to my emails!" My brother was complaining about a lack of communication from No. 2 son, who is 16. "He really doesn't use email that much," I explained. "Most young people don't use it that much." This was news to my...

The Geoweb--democratizing the map and changing the Web.(Insider's Perspective)
January 1, 2008... [Insider's Perspective lets experts in the information technology industry discuss the challenges and trends in their special niche in the marketplace. --Ed.] Last May at O'Reilly's Where 2.0 conference, John Hanke, director of Google...

LexisNexis launches enhanced version of martindale.com.(NewsBytes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... LexisNexis launched the enhanced version of martindale.com, an online resource that helps corporate counsel and buyers of legal services manage, evaluate, and maintain relationships with outside counsel. Among the enhancements are Web 2.0...

The British Library wins two awards at CorpComms 2007.(NewsBytes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The British Library (BL) won honors for Best Online Report for its Annual Report and Accounts 2006/07 (www.bl.uk/mylibrary) and Best Communications by a Public or Voluntary sector Organisation at the 2007 CorpComms Awards. The BL was credited...

Ingram Publisher Services adds five clients.(NewsBytes)(Ingram Publisher Services, Inc. distribution agreements with North-South Books, Inc.; Patagonia; Lunchbox Lessons; Rvive Books; and St. Lynn's Press. Ingram Publisher Services)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Ingram Publisher Services, Inc. announced distribution agreements with five clients: North-South Books, Inc.; Patagonia; Lunchbox Lessons; Rvive Books; and St. Lynn's Press. Ingram Publisher Services, which was founded in 2005, now provides...

Keep that content coming.(Library Stuff Revisited)
January 1, 2008... If you maintain any type of content delivery service these days and don't provide the information in RSS format, you are falling behind. Consumers of information want to use feeds to increase the amount of information they ingest while...

Vinton G. Cerf to present SLA 2008's opening keynote address.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Vinton G. Cerf, vice president and chief internet evangelist for Google, has been selected as the opening keynote speaker next June during the 2008 SLA Annual Conference and INFO-EXPO in Seattle. In a new format for the keynote,...

adds new members to advisory board.(NewsMakers)(appointment of Erin McKean and Anthony Watkinson at Credo Reference Ltd.)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Credo Reference, previously known as Xrefer, added two people to its advisory board: Erin McKean of Oxford University Press and Anthony Watkinson of University College in London. McKean, who calls herself a "Dictionary Evangelist," is the...

The great salary divide.(NewsMakers)(Survey)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... So, do you think you're making a good salary? The results of the "SLA Salary Survey and Workplace Study" (its annual salary survey) have been tabulated and released. For the first time ever, the survey adds figures from Europe, including the...

A peek at the World Digital Library prototype.(International REPORT)
January 1, 2008... Digital libraries are springing up regularly around the world: those with digitized images of existing print materials and those offering access to "born digital" texts. They range from the output of a single publisher to special collections of...

Forecast for 2008: what's next?
January 1, 2008... If there's a word that sums up the IT industry in 2007, it is "change." And the chain reaction of new business models, M&As, digitization projects, technological innovations, user-generated content, and social networking that was alive and well...

Protecting customer privacy.
January 1, 2008... Privacy--it's getting tougher to maintain, as is evidenced by the rise of identity theft. In fact, a growing number of Americans are making demands on corporate America to treat their personal information with secrecy. According to a...

Thomson resumes share repurchase program.(News Bytes)
January 1, 2008... The Thomson Corp. resumed its share repurchase program. Under the current program, the company may repurchase up to 15 million common shares. Thomson temporarily suspended the program before it announced its proposed acquisition of Reuters...

Ex Libris celebrates 10th anniversary.(News Bytes)
January 1, 2008... Ex Libris Group celebrated the 10th anniversary of the first installation of its ALEPH integrated library system in North America at the University Libraries of the University of Notre Dame and the libraries of Saint Mary's College of Notre...

Springer selects MPS Technologies for online platform.(News Bytes)
January 1, 2008... Springer Science & Business Media selected MPS Technologies' JournalStore platform as its online platform provider for Springer Protocols for easier access for end users and more discoverable content. JournalStore offers publishers multiple...

Preserving 19th-century British Library newspapers.
January 1, 2008... There's a saying in the U.K. that yesterday's newspapers are only good for wrapping fish and chips at High Street fast-food outlets. But the ever-increasing amount of newspaper archive digitization programs would suggest otherwise. Gale...

Swets: introducing License Bank.
January 1, 2008... Swets is starting off the new year with a bang. Now that the dust has settled on the business deal last summer--Gilde Buy Out Partners agreed to acquire the shares of Royal Swets & Zeitlinger--the Swets team is shifting its attention again to...

Welcome to 2008.(Conference Circuit)(Calendar)
January 1, 2008... Now that the new year has begun and the holiday season is behind us, we are ready for the first of the 2008 conferences. Last month, I provided some statistics on conferences held over the past 3 years. At the end of 2007, one more data point...

The 27th Annual Charleston Conference: what tangled webs we weave.(REPORT FROM THE FIELD)(Conference news)
January 1, 2008... A record audience of more than 1,100 people assembled at the 27th Annual Charleston Conference on Issues in Book and Serial Acquisition, held Nov. 7-10 in Charleston, S.C. Katina Strauch, conference founder and head of collection development at...

Information: get ready to collect and compute.(Conference Circuit)(Conference news)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Text mining is now being used to analyze large scholarly information collections, according to Clifford Lynch, executive director of the Coalition for Networked Information. In his opening keynote at the Charleston...

Conferences around the world.(Conference news)(Calendar)
January 1, 2008... For information on ITI's conferences, turn to page 32. January 11-16: Philadelphia (Pennsylvania Convention Center). Registration for the American Library Association (ALA) 2008 Midwinter Meeting includes attendance to more than 200...

Serials Solutions offers 360 Counter e-resource assessment service.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Serials Solutions recently launched its 360 Counter e-resource assessment service to help libraries evaluate the usage and cost of e-resources to make the most of their electronic collections. The new tool aggregates Project COUNTER usage...

EBSCOhost offers access to International Bibliography of the Social Sciences.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... EBSCOhost added The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) to its platform. IBSS, produced by the London School of Economics and Political Science, concentrates on the four social science disciplines of anthropology,...

Prosperity Index defines national well-being.
January 1, 2008... Isn't the U.S. the most prosperous country in the world? What about its wage stagnation, failing infrastructure, and erratic healthcare? In fact, how do you define the "prosperity" of a nation? Is it solely its GDP or per capita national...

ProQuest introduces Marketing Toolkit for academic libraries.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... ProQuest's new Library Marketing Toolkit combines "how-to" advice from library marketing expert Beth Dempsey along with library best practices and customizable print and digital marketing tools. According to Dempsey, "This kit is designed to...

CCC: licensing services now extend to blogs.(Product News & Reviews)(Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. )(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC) and Newstex have teamed up to add licensing services to blog content. Newstex, which offers Content On Demand, also provides access to more than 1,000 blogs in its Blogs On Demand. Among the...

dtSearch releases major upgrade dtSearch 7.5.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... dtSearch 7.5 is dtSearch's latest major upgrade. The enterprise search software searches terabytes of data across a desktop, the internet, or an intranet. It also includes a 64-bit dtSearch Engine for Win and .NET to let users integrate...

EBSCO offers new management service of OA titles, adds more ejournals.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... EBSCO introduced new packages to its EBSCO A-to-Z service. With the Open Access (OA) Journals collection that represents nearly 2,000 OA titles, EBSCO created subject-specific OA packages to help librarians focus their collections in specific...

DynaMed enhances drug reference information.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... EBSCO Publishing and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists have incorporated more than 800 American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) drug records into EBSCO's DynaMed database. With the combination of AHFS' drug reference...

ProQuest launches The Annual Register, adds permissions feature to CSA Illustrata.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The online version of The Annual Register gives researchers access to nearly 250 years of world history. This 240-plus volume reference offers a chronicle of world events from world politics to society weddings dating from 1758. It is billed as...

Thomson Healthcare introduces tool to evaluate medical care.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The Physician Performance Assessment, from Thomson Healthcare, is a tool designed to help health plans, regional healthcare collaboratives, and other organizations evaluate the quality and cost of healthcare. The tool is billed as the first of...

SGI: powering faster enterprise solutions.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... SGI, previously known as Silicon Graphics, has channeled its 25 years of expertise into creating the latest technology to power database performance. SGI's new solution for the enterprise increases database performance, speed, and throughput...

EconLit incorporates software from Access Innovations, Inc.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... The American Economic Association (AEA) is using Data Harmony MAIstro software from Access Innovations, Inc. to index EconLit, an electronic bibliography. EconLit indexes more than 30 years of worldwide economics literature, which is compiled...

Wiley-Blackwell launches healthcare blog.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... Wiley-Blackwell and the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) recently launched a new blog called Wachter's World (www.wachtersworld.org), written by physician Robert M. Wachter. The blog addresses timely issues in hospital care and inpatient...

YouSendIt: files on-the-go.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... Didn't get that big file you expected via email? You could try having the sender compress the file or putting it on the company's FTP site, but chances are you'll be battling the large-file demons on most fronts. That's one of the reasons why...

MuseGlobal teams up with Mark Logic, Microsoft.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... MuseGlobal and Mark Logic, Inc. have collaborated on a solution for content management and delivery. While Mark Logic's XML Content Server provides maximum value of XML content, MuseGlobal's integration applications allow content harvesting in...

Accessible Archives pumps up coverage of newspapers.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... Accessible Archives, Inc. recently announced the availability of Part III of The Liberator and Part XII of African-American Newspapers: The 19th Century. William Lloyd Garrison, an advocate of emancipation, published the first issue of The...

Columbia University debuts Spatial Data Catalog.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Columbia University's Electronic Data Services (EDS) launched the Columbia University (CU) Spatial Data Catalog, a resource to identify and locate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) that are compatible with data sets from CU's spatial data...

Scopus: the source for World University Rankings.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Scopus has become the go-to source for data to establish the annual The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World University Rankings. The London-based THES weekly, which covers higher education topics, has been publishing ranking reports...

LibraryWorld online version 2 debuts enhancements.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... LibraryWorld v. 2 added a number of enhancements to its online service: book jacket covers, reserves, global changes, and a new search engine. LibraryWorld is an online web service that automates small and medium-sized libraries without...

Thomson Scientific expands Chinese patent coverage in Derwent World Patents Index.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... Thomson Scientific broadened its coverage of Chinese patents by adding English-translated Chinese Utility Model Registrations to its Derwent World Patents Index (DWPI). Thomson Scientific is the first patent information provider to offer...

Credo Reference adds eight Greenwood titles.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... Credo Reference integrated eight Greenwood Publishing Group titles into the Credo General Reference collection. Each of the following titles will provide researchers with key information in specific academic disciplines: * Contemporary...

FortiusOne: tracking new territory.(Product News & Reviews)
January 1, 2008... FortiusOne's GeoCommons (www.geocommons.com) has emerged as a key player in the Geoweb. GeoCommons is a mapping social network tool with more than 2,500 data sets and 45,000 attributes so users can mash up layers of information for a...

The Library Corp.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Library Corp. (TLC) announced the appointment of Paul Leppert as vice president and managing director of the company's Denver operations. Most recently, Leppert was executive project manager at the Chicago...

Endeca Technologies, Inc.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Endeca Technologies, Inc. announced two newly created positions. Mark Riggs has been appointed senior vice president and worldwide head of its customer solutions organization and Ben Gaucherin was named chief technology officer. Riggs will...

LibreDigital.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] LibreDigital, a division of NewsStand, Inc., announced the promotion of Craig A. Miller to vice president in addition to his role as general manager. In this position, he will be responsible for product definition,...

OCLC.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Online Computer Library Center )(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] OCLC announced the appointment of Cindy Cunningham as director of partner programs, effective this month. In this position, she will have a leadership role in expanding the coverage of WorldCat and in managing...

H.W. Wilson Co.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] H.W. Wilson Co. announced the appointment of Bob McIntosh as sales representative for the North Central territory, which includes Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas. His previous experience in the publishing and information...

Jose Luis Andrade, president, Swets North America.(People Line & the Executive Profile)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In a world where traditional print models are accompanied by electronic journals with different licensing options, Swets can help simplify the process, according to Jose Luis Andrade, the new president of Swets North...

Create and manage your life list on the web.(Link-Up @ Home: Your Personal Guide to the Web)(Website overview)
January 1, 2008... Instead of trying to stick with a few measly New Year's resolutions, why not go all out this year and create a life list, a checklist of things you want to accomplish before you die. Become fluent in French, run 3 miles a day, learn how to...

Wild Things attempt biggest gambit in team history.(CyberSports)
January 1, 2008... In the eternal struggle to keep up with the arms--and bats--race in the ever-competitive Frontier League, the Washington (Pa.) Wild Things have attempted the biggest gambit in team history. The Wild Things are trying to sign Barry Bonds....

Developing a strategy for the next generation.(The Academic Library and the Net Gen Student)(Book review)
January 1, 2008... The Academic Library and the Net Gen Student: Making the Connections by Susan Gibbons Chicago: ALA, 2007 ISBN: 978-0-8389-0946-1 119 pages; $45, softcover Oh, those pesky millennials! Born after 1981, this generation has now been in...

Tryouts, try-nots, and rip-offs.(In Other Words)
January 1, 2008... The internet offers a bevy of services. But as two articles from the January issues of Computers in Libraries and Searcher (along with one from the January/February issue of ONLINE) point out, nearly every web-based product can be improved....

The promise of natural language search.
January 1, 2008... In the last year, a flurry of newfangled search engines entered the scene. In addition to verticals (such as people search) that claim to generate entirely new approaches from the major search engines and "human-powered" sites such as Mahalo,...