Information Today articles from June 2004

Information Today archives from June 2004

Thomson Gale upgrades the learning experience.(Interview with Gordon Macomber)(Interview)
June 1, 2004... Gordon Macomber took the helm as president of Thomson Gale on April 5. By the end of the month, he was ready to talk about the company, its plans for 2004, and industry issues. Macomber has extensive experience in library reference publishing...

British Library initiatives: turning the pages.(International Report)
June 1, 2004... In a flurry of announcements, The British Library (BL) has released details of four projects that make material from the library and other collections available to researchers and users around the world. Anyone who visits The British...

Who will knock these heads together?(Investigative Report)
June 1, 2004... Last month, I reviewed the current state of the patent information industry and concluded that commercial vendors are caught in a vicious circle of rising costs and falling revenues. The decision by patent and trademark offices (PTOs) to start...

Thomson Gale announces acquisitions.(News Bytes)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Thomson Gale announced that it has reached a multiyear agreement with The New York Times to include the Times content in Thomson Gale electronic products. The company also announced that it has acquired more than 20 million pages of microfilm...

ProQuest, Palgrave Macmillan extend agreement.(News Bytes)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... ProQuest Information and Learning announced an extension of its exclusive distribution agreement with global academic publisher Palgrave Macmillan as well as the addition of six new journals. European Management Review (EMR), a major new...

Ingenta signs publishers, partners with Google.(News Bytes)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Ingenta, PLC announced that it has signed a number of publishers to its online publisher services division. The company also announced the successful implementation of full-text indexing by Google. Publisher Signings According to the...

Rules of ruling the road.(Up Front)(how information professionals serve end users)
June 1, 2004... New players have entered the field of database aggregation. Net newbies like Moreover Technologies, Google News, and others gather data from the open Web, tapping sources for which traditional aggregators or search services have long supplied...

The latest on Factiva, Ingenta, Google, and more.(Newsbreak Update)
June 1, 2004... May was busy, with several events offering excellent learning and networking opportunities: WebSearch University, Enterprise Search Summit, Streaming Media East, a NISO workshop on metadata, and a number of state library association...

Keeping it real.(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... I don't have any real complaints but I'd like to remain anonymous anyway. I work for a company that probably wouldn't appreciate me writing to you in a casual capacity. I really like what I see in Information Today. I don't always agree...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
June 1, 2004... On page 26 of the April 2004 issue, we incorrectly noted that Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones was produced by Steven Spielberg. It was in fact produced by George Lucas and Rick McCallum. (Thanks to Robyn Stanley of Lucasfilm...

Infotoons.
June 1, 2004... GEEZ. MY PC, LAPTOP, CELLPHONE, PALM PILOT--ALL BROKEN! WHAT AM i GOING TO DO? RELAX, DUDE. I'VE GOT AN AWESOME SET OF TOOLS. I CAN FIX 'EM!! GET THE.... LOOK JEFF, NO OFFENSE, BUT I MUST BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE. NOT TO WORRY, MY...

Appreciating what we've got.(communications technologies enabling business decisions)
June 1, 2004... We live in a technology-enabled world. Now I know that may not sound like a terribly radical statement, but sometimes it's the obvious that escapes our attention, and sometimes the point is really driven home. I have a perfect example. As...

Googling DSpace.(Focus on Publishing)(pilot project between Google and DSpace, digital repository of academic research)
June 1, 2004... These days, every gesture by the scholarly publishing camps can easily become a reason for applause, anguish, or angst (or at least a position paper). But one of the biggest surprises of all came recently when Google, the current ruling house...

The great American e-mail quiz.(Internet Waves)
June 1, 2004... Through my current job, I've reached a significant personal milestone: For the first time in my professional career, I have a dot-mil e-mail address. I've been a dot-com, a dot-net, a dot-us, a dot-org, and a dot-edu. Now I'm a dot-mil. If...

A SAFEr USA PATRIOT Act?(Legal Issues)(The Security and Freedom Ensured (SAFE) Act)
June 1, 2004... The USA PATRIOT Act was ratified less than 2 months after 9/11. It restructured many existing laws involving intelligence gathering, criminal law and procedure, and immigration practices. Though passed nearly unanimously by both houses of...

SLA moves to Alexandria, Va.(News Bytes)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... SLA announced that it has relocated its international headquarters to Alexandria, Va., from Washington, D.C. The move was expected to take place from May 20 to 23. According to the announcement, the new 15,000-square-foot facility features...

Swets establishes advisory boards, enhances SwetsWise.(News Bytes)(Swets Information Services)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Swets Information Services announced that it has founded two new industry advisory boards to assist in its e-journal management drive. Swets also announced that it has successfully established a pay-per-view service for almost 3,000 journals in...

Thomson acquires Newport Strategies, Inc.(News Bytes)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Thomson Corp. announced that it has acquired Newport Strategies, Inc., a provider of competitive intelligence for the pharmaceutical industry. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. According to the announcement, Newport Strategies'...

xrefer establishes library advisory board.(News Bytes)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... xrefer, a provider of online ready-reference services to libraries, announced that it has established an advisory board composed of leaders from the library, technology, and academic communities to offer guidance in the continuing development...

AIIP selects dialog for award.(News Bytes)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... The Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) announced that it has selected Dialog for its 2004 President's Award. The AIIP President's Award is given annually in recognition of a person or institution that demonstrates...

Former NFAIS executive director dies.(News Bytes)(Obituary)
June 1, 2004... NFAIS has announced the unexpected death of M. Lynne Neufeld, former NFAIS executive director, who was killed at the age of 64 in one-vehicle automobile accident on May 2, 2004, near Evanston, Wyo. In September 1979, Ms. Neufeld succeeded...

AOL goes full circle.(Perspectives)(America Online)
June 1, 2004... After 19 years and a merger with Time Warner, Inc., America Online's content has come full circle. In its early years, AOL's rapidly growing community had access to a lot of exclusive content. Later, the service saw its primary growth as...

Online museums.(Link-up@home: your personal guide to the WEB)
June 1, 2004... "We're serious but not solemn about potatoes here," said Thomas Hughes, founder of the Potato Museum in Washington, D.C. In 1986, Hughes told The Christian Science Monitor that "the potato has lots of eyes but no mouth. That's where I come in."...

Out to the ol' ball yard.(CyberSports)(baseball leagues websites)
June 1, 2004... Now that things have thawed out up north, you-all can enjoy what we've been doing down here in South Texas (motto: "Global Warming 'R' Us") for the last several weeks: getting out to the ol' ball yard. The youngsters in the bigger minor...

AOL channels.
June 1, 2004... Most content on AOL is clustered around channels that organize information from diverse sources and present it in a lively, compelling manner. For example, the information-rich Research & Learn channel includes content from dictionaries,...

The Ninth Annual Search Engine Meeting.(Conference Circuit)
June 1, 2004... In Europe for the first time following a long run in Boston and one diversion to San Francisco, the Search Engine Meeting, held April 19-20 in The Hague, Netherlands, had a distinctly international flavor. The global mix of delegates reflected...

Conference calendar.(Calendar)
June 1, 2004... JUNE 8-9 Information Architecture Conference http://www.infotoday.com/iaparis SEPTEMBER 27-28 WebSearch University http://www.websearchu.com June 2-4: San Francisco (Palace Hotel). The Society for Scholarly Publishing is...

Dialog Corp.(People Line)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Dialog Corp. announced that Craig Lathrop has been appointed chief technology officer. In this new position, he will manage the company's technology infrastructure. In 2000, Lathrop joined Dialog as vice president of new technologies and led...

FIND/SVP, Inc.(People Line)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... FIND/SVP, Inc. announced that Marc C. Litvinoff has been appointed its COO and will assume all responsibilities for client services. He will also lead the integration initiatives at Teltech and Guideline Research Corp., two companies that...

Convera Corp.(People Line)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Convera Corp. announced that John R. Polchin has joined the company as its executive vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer. Most recently, Polchin was vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer of InteliData...

The U.S. Government Printing Office.(People Line)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Evelyn Frangakis is The New York Public Library's Aaron and Clara Greenhut Rabinowitz chief librarian for preservation of the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division. Ann Miller is the head of Duke University's Public Documents and Maps...

Sirsi Corp.(People Line)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Sirsi Corp. announced that Marsha Stark has joined the company as vice president of sales for North America. Prior to this, she was with Avnet Corp. Previously, Stark served as vice president of worldwide sales at Innovative Interfaces, Inc....

Nielsen BookNet.(People Line)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Nielsen BookNet has announced that Mick Fortune will be the new head of sales support. In this position, he will strengthen customer relations and develop improved services. Fortune has been with the company since 2002, when he joined first...

Snapshots International.(People Line)
June 1, 2004... Snapshots International announced that John Gallini has joined the company as editor. Prior to this, Gallini was a consultant to companies and information providers, an information manager at Close Brothers Corporate Finance, and deputy head of...

Gary Foster, president and CEO of Wolters Kluwer Health's Medical Research division.(Executive Profile)(chief executive officer)(Biography)
June 1, 2004... Wolters Kluwer Health's global Medical Research division includes Ovid Technologies and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) journal publishing. Gary Foster's leadership of Ovid and LWW is focused on meeting the evolving and growing demands for...

Thomson Gale expands Spanish-language resources, introduces new collection.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Thomson Gale announced that it has expanded its Spanish-language resources to include a new series of fiction and nonfiction titles in large print for Spanish-speaking readers. The company also announced the launch of Corbis Images for...

LexisNexis to deliver information via BlackBerry.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... LexisNexis announced that business professionals can now access its content via the BlackBerry wireless platform. LexisNexis is the first information provider to offer access to comprehensive full-text news, business, legal, public records,...

Information Today, Inc. releases two directories.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Information Today, Inc. announced the publication of Information Services Market Place (ISMP): The World Directory of Independent Professionals and the 50th edition of the American Book Trade Directory (ABTD). ISMP ISMP will be...

Dialog expands eLinks, rolls out aerospace database.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Dialog Corp. announced that it has expanded its Dialog eLinks service to facilitate access from its Dialog and Dialog DataStar services to a subscribing organization's collection of electronic journals and other research documents. The company...

EBSCO Publishing releases new database.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... EBSCO Publishing announced the launch of Hospitality & Tourism Index (HTI), a new bibliographic database that features scholarly research and industry news. This index combines the records of three collections: Cornell University's former...

CrossRef launches CrossRef Search.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... CrossRef announced the release of CrossRef Search, a new initiative that enables users to search the full text of high-quality, peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and other resources. It utilizes the collaborative...

Learner's Library dumbs down.(Database Review)(Knowledge Ventures, Inc. Learner's Library )
June 1, 2004... You've heard about the dumbing down of America: the decline of thought, knowledge, and education. Well, I'm afraid it's true. My evidence is Learner's Library (LL; http://www.learnerslibrary.com). Yes, the name sounds good, but in fact the...

FIZ Karlsruhe enhances conference information service.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... FIZ Karlsruhe announced that it has enhanced and complemented its conference information service for intranets. Users can now choose between three options: CONFnet, a fully searchable database with conference previews extending to 2010;...

Factiva adds new Knight Ridder Digital sources.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Factiva announced that it has renewed and extended its publisher relationship with Knight Ridder Digital. New to Factiva's collection are the Monterey County (Calif.) Herald and el Nuevo Herald, Miami's largest Spanish-language newspaper....

Thomson ISI unveils BIOSIS Previews 3.0.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Thomson ISI announced the release of BIOSIS Previews 3.0. This upgrade includes more than 9 million CAS Registry Numbers, entries to the 1969-1992 data segment, and more than 6,300 sequence data accession numbers. In addition, every record...

SiteImprove introduces new online service.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... SiteImprove announced the launch of SiteArchive, a service that creates a snapshot of a Web site and stores it as an archive. This snapshot contains all documents found in the site, including images, internal links, and the contents of the...

R.R. Bowker enhances ulrichsweb.com.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... R.R. Bowker announced new enhancements to ulrichsweb.com, its international Web-based source for detailed information about journals, magazines, and electronic resources. The main enhancement is the Open Access Journals feature,...

FIND/SVP, Forbes.com launch online Custom Research Center.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... FIND/SVP, Inc. and Forbes.com announced the launch of the Forbes.com Custom Research Center, a tool that offers live research-based services for business executives. The Custom Research Center will allow Forbes.com's audience to purchase...

Thomson Derwent LitAlert now available on STN.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Thomson Derwent announced that LitAlert, a database of value-added U.S. intellectual property litigation, is now available on STN International. LitAlert records are created by Thomson Derwent's technical and editorial staff. They collect...

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals available on IDS.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Cambridge Scientific Abstracts announced that the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals is now available on its Internet Database Service (IDS). The database offers a comprehensive listing of journal articles on architecture and design....

Build your information a home.(Cover Notes)(reviews)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... Information Architecture: Designing Information Environments for Purpose edited by Alan Gilchrist and Barry Mahon New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2004 ISBN: 1-55570-493-X 240 pages $75 Even if you've heard the term "information...

Remote possibilities.(In Other Words)(comment on articles from Computers in Libraries, The CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research, and Searcher)
June 1, 2004... I need a vacation! And luckily, I'll get one in the middle of this month when I visit my dad (aka Mr. Weather Channel) in hopefully sunny--I say hopefully, as I seem to bring rain to the Sunshine State, even in times of severe drought--Ormond...

The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook: a Guide for the Serious Searcher.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... By Randolph Hock Foreword by Gary Price The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook is the essential guide for anyone who uses the Internet for research: librarians, teachers, students, writers, business professionals, and others who need to...

Net Effects: How Librarians Can Manage the Unintended Consequences of the Internet.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... Edited by Marylaine Block The Internet is a mixed blessing for libraries and librarians. Today, the Net challenges the librarian's ability to select, threatens the survival of the book, necessitates continuous retraining, presents unique...

The Web Library: Building a World Class Personal Library with Free Web Resources.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... By Nicholas G. Tomaiuolo Edited by Barbara Quint With this remarkable, eye-opening book and its companion Web site, Nicholas G. Tomaiuolo shows how anyone can create a comprehensive personal library using no-cost Web resources. And when...

The Accidental Webmaster.(New Titles for the Information Professional)
June 1, 2004... By Julie M. Still Here is a lifeline for the individual who has not been trained as a Webmaster, but who--whether by choice or under duress--has become one nonetheless. While most Webmastering books focus on programming and related...

Pathways to Nursing: a Guide to Library and Online Research in Nursing and Allied Health.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... By Dennis C. Tucker and Paula Craig This timely book provides a foundation within library and electronic research in the fields of nursing and allied health. It explains essential sources and techniques that can be used by nursing...

Assessing Competitive Intelligence Software: a Guide to Evaluating CI Technology.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... By France Bouthillier and Kathleen Shearer Foreword by Chun Wei Choo As commercial software products for competitive intelligence (CI) emerge and gain acceptance, potential users find themselves overly dependent on information supplied by...

Knowledge Management Lessons Learned: What Works and What Doesn't.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... Edited by Michael E. D. Koenig and T. Kanti Srikantaiah Editors Srikantaiah and Koenig follow up their groundbreaking Knowledge Management for the Information Professional (2000) with this important book. While the earlier work offered an...

Business Statistics on the Web: Find Them Fast--At Little or No Cost.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... By Paula Berinstein Foreword by Charles Cotton Statistics are a critical component of business and marketing plans, press releases, surveys, economic analyses, presentations, proposals, and more--yet good statistics are notoriously hard to...