Information Today articles from October 2003

Information Today archives from October 2003

Finding the right balance.(Interview with Roy M. Martin Jr.)(Dialog Corp. CEO)
October 1, 2003... Since becoming part of Thomson Corp. 3 years ago, Dialog Corp. has been working to enhance its content and services as well as leverage the technology and content of other Thomson units. Dialog's CEO Roy M. Martin Jr. talked with me about...

Bibliographic databases in a changing world.(Investigative Report)
October 1, 2003... It's no secret that we live in turbulent times. Change is happening all around us, whether it's technological, political, or economic. With increasingly more severe budgetary constraints, the products and services that are bought by the...

The great copyright debate.(Report From The Field)
October 1, 2003... Digital music copyright has become a media circus with a jumble of contending lawsuits, claims, and counterclaims. Every day we hear new stories about the 261 suits filed by the Recording Industry Association of America that allege copyright...

EBSCO, NPR renew in-kind grant.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... EBSCO has announced that, in its fifth year, the EBSCO and NPR (National Public Radio) in-kind grant continues to supply the NPR Reference Library with a collection of EBSCOhost full-text and secondary databases, as well as document delivery...

West's FindLaw, washingtonpost.com expand alliance.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... FindLaw, the legal Web site, and washingtonpost.com, a national news and information site, have announced an expansion of their alliance. FindLaw is a business within Thomson Corp. as well as the online home of West Legal Directory. ...

Digital Preservation Program requests project applications.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The Library of Congress announced that its National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) is seeking applications for projects that will advance the nationwide plan to collect and preserve digital materials. ...

At war with copyright.(Up Front)(Column)
October 1, 2003... When it comes to the broad issues of copyright, the legal eagle's eye turns first to the "-tainment" side of the infotainment field. After all, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which threatened the indefinite postponement of...

What's new in linking, archiving, and more.(News Break Update)
October 1, 2003... Industry news seemed to slow a bit in late August and early September while people squeezed in their last days of summertime enjoyment and students headed back to classrooms. But then the pace surged as companies rolled out projects and...

Elsevier to donate major toxicology collections. (Comprehensive Toxicology Series 1-13).(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Elsevier announced that it will partner with the International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX) in an effort to promote educational and career development for toxicologists in 24 countries in Eastern Europe, South America, and Asia. In 2002,...

Infosources Publishing debuts new Web site. (www.informedlibrarian.com).(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Infosources Publishing announced that The Informed Librarian Online now has its own free Web site (http://www.informed librarian.com). According to the announcement, the site is the information professional's one-stop location for all of...

Petroleum Abstracts links service with AAPG. (Association of Petroleum Geologists).(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Petroleum Abstracts (PA) Service, an information resource from The University of Tulsa, has announced its first-ever cooperative venture with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). PA subscribers can now access the PA...

Infotrieve appoints U.S. Academic Advisory Board.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Infotrieve, an article retrieval and delivery specialist that serves researchers in STM fields worldwide, announced that it has appointed nine university librarians to its newly created U.S. Academic Advisory Board. Infotrieve said the...

Avoiding the new dark ages.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2003... I found Richard Poynder's article "Elephants and Dung Trucks" in the Sept. 2003 issue of Information Today [p. 33] quite interesting--especially in the third paragraph, when he states: "Why? Because preserving digital materials is far more...

The day the music died?(interpreting lyrics of song 'American Pie')
October 1, 2003... When Don McLean released his song "American Pie" back in 1971, I can remember sitting around the campus with my buddies debating what the enigmatic lyrics meant. What was the allusion McLean was making? When was the day the music died? ...

The new content syndication. (RSS).(Focus on Publishing)
October 1, 2003... RSS is an XML-based technology that revisits the publishing question, "Just what is the value of a new headline or the title of a magazine article?" In some ways this is, of course, an old question, because table-of-contents services have been...

Service ethic personified.(Internet Waves)
October 1, 2003... "Shirl, can you help this guy on the phone? He needs to download forms off the computer or something. I couldn't figure out what he was talking about." Sure, I can help. I'm a librarian: service ethic personified. I pick up the phone. The...

Spam and brand spoofing.(Legal Issues)
October 1, 2003... A longtime family friend recently discovered the Internet. On days when she receives fewer than 200 spam messages in each of her five e-mail accounts, she hunts down free offers and adds herself to mailing lists in hopes of raising the volume...

Publishers, librarians promote freedom of expression.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) announced that an international joint steering group of librarians and publishers has reasserted the importance of freedom of expression on the Internet for democracy...

Nylink, Blackwell Publishing announce license agreement.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Nylink and Blackwell Publishing have announced a license arrangement for Nylink members who wish to access Blackwell's online journal collections. The license, agreed upon after several months of negotiation, will help university, college, and...

SIAM selects AIP as its CrossRef agent.(NewsBytes)(American Institute of Physics is chosen by SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) to be its agent in AIP's dealings with CrossRef)
October 1, 2003... The American Institute of Physics announced that it has been chosen by SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) to be its agent in AIP's dealings with CrossRef. CrossRef is the collaborative reference-linking service that acts as a...

Serials Solutions, NewsBank to improve e-journal access.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Serials Solutions, Inc. and NewsBank, Inc. announced an agreement to improve the accessibility and accuracy of electronic content for mutual subscribers. As part of this agreement, NewsBank electronically transfers metadata for its...

Swets Blackwell introduces new name in December.(to become Swets Information Services)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Swets Blackwell announced that it plans to change its company name to Swets Information Services in December. The new name will be officially launched during the Online Information 2003 conference and exhibition, which will be held Dec. 2-4 in...

Inmagic continues worldwide expansion of dealer network.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Inmagic, Inc., a global provider of content and information management software and services, announced the addition of Thompson Henry, Ltd. to its network of worldwide authorized resellers. Thompson Henry is now the second Inmagic authorized...

Globe Pequot Press publishes book by industry figure.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The Globe Pequot Press, Inc. has announced the publication of Spooky New England: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore, by Sandy Schlosser, the new-media product manager for consumerreports.org and a longtime industry...

Thomson acquires Techstreet, Inc.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The Thomson Corp. announced that it has acquired Techstreet, Inc., a digital content delivery company that provides full-text industry standards and specifications to engineers, researchers, and technical and information professionals...

The truth about federated searching.
October 1, 2003... Federated searching is a hot topic that seems to be gaining traction in libraries everywhere. As with runny technologies that are rapidly adopted, there are some misconceptions about what it can do. WebFeat, a provider of federated search...

Internet World UK 2003.(Conference Circuit)
October 1, 2003... Back in the early 1990s, when you were more likely to have heard about the National Research and Education Network (NREN) than the World Wide Web, and the popular browsers were Mosaic and Cello (not Netscape or Internet Explorer), you might...

Conference calendar.(Calendar)
October 1, 2003... October 16-27: San Francisco (Jenner & Block, One IBM Plaza). ALA will host the Lawyers for Libraries West Regional Training institute, an event for attorneys to increase their understanding of legal issues affecting libraries,...

U.K. lottery-funded initiatives.(International Report)
October 1, 2003... Several articles in Information Today have discussed resources that are funded by the U.K.'s National Lottery. These include such diverse online projects as the British Pathe newsreel archive, the Proceedings of the Old Bailey, and Resources...

The battle against spam: according to an April report by the Federal Trade Commission, two-thirds of all spam is deceptive in some way.(Link-up@home: your personal guide to the Web)
October 1, 2003... One of every two e-mails is spam, according to a July study by Brightmail, Inc., an anti-spam software company based in San Francisco. Two years ago, spam accounted for only 8 percent of e-mail messages, the company says. AOL vice chairman Ted...

Governor who? CyberSports.(Link-up@home: your personal guide to the Web)(Musings on California)
October 1, 2003... Every morning, millions of Americans awaken with a single thought: "Thank God and Vince Lombardi that I don't live in California." Don't get me wrong. There are some nice things about California. There was last year's feel-good story: the...

Find it on Bartleby.com.(Link-up@home: your personal guide to the Web)
October 1, 2003... "Never judge a book by its cover," wrote the editors of Yahoo! Internet Life magazine. "Bartleby might not look like much--just a whole lot of text--but this online library is one of the Net's true gems." Last year, Yahoo! Internet Life...

Factiva introduces new subscription options.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Factiva announced two new subscription options for individuals or small businesses that conduct occasional business research. These subscribers can now access Factiva's content directly from Factiva.com or via links at The Wall Street Journal's...

Dialog announces content additions.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Dialog Corp. announced that it has added new content to its Intelliscope, Dialog Company Profiles, Dialog, and DataStar services. Intelliscope Dialog has integrated 128 new providers of brokerage reports into Intelliscope. The service...

The many meanings of ICDL.(Database Review)(International Children's Digital Library )
October 1, 2003... Is there any medium that has more meanings than children's literature? Whether we're recalling our favorite childhood books or reading to our own kids, we endow children's literature with layers of emotion and expectation. We remember these...

OUP updates American National Biography Online.(Oxford University Press)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Oxford University Press (OUP) announced that it has released the latest quarterly update to the American National Biography Online. This resource features new articles, photographs, and revisions. The American National Biography Online...

Gale implements new features, upgrades.(Product News & Reviews)
October 1, 2003... Gale announced the introduction of In the Loop, a biweekly e-mail alert for librarians. The company also announced that it is adding new features and content to its InfoTrac, Biography Resource Center, CPI.Q, Ward's Business Directory, and...

EBSCO Publishing releases InfoSci-Online.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... EBSCO Publishing announced the release of InfoSci-Online, a database produced by Idea Group, Inc. InfoSci-Online provides a comprehensive, full-text collection of literature from the field of information science, enhanced by the searching and...

CSA launches Thesaurus, integrates database.(Cambridge Scientific Abstracts Biocomplexity Thesaurus and other additions)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) announced the release of Biocomplexity Thesaurus, a free Web-based resource for the biocomplexity and bioinformatics communities. The company also announced the addition of the International Bibliography of...

Morningstar.com Library Edition adds new service.(Help & Education Center )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Morningstar, Inc. has added a Help & Education Center to Morningstar.com Library Edition, a Web site for libraries and their patrons. The new area provides a glossary of key terms, online courses, reference guides, and training seminars to help...

Swets Blackwell unveils Journal Collection.(ALPSP Learned Journals Collection)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Swets Blackwell announced the launch of the ALPSP Learned Journals Collection (ALJC), a database of 247 journals from 25 diverse publishers. ALJC enables small and medium-sized publishers to package their journals with a single umbrella...

Nature rolls out 10-year Archive.(Nature Publishing Group)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Nature Publishing Group has announced the launch of the Nature Archive: January 1987-December 1996, a resource that provides online access to the 65,000 articles published in Nature during that 10-year period. Users can freely search...

NISO releases guide for publishers.(Product News & Reviews)(National Information Standards Organization teams up with The Sheridan Press to issue Metadata Demystified: A Guide for Publishers)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announced that it has teamed with The Sheridan Press to issue Metadata Demystified: A Guide for Publishers. This work presents an overview of evolving metadata conventions in publishing as...

Ovid integrates medical content with Microsoft Office.(Ovid Technologies)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Ovid Technologies announced a new medical information research solution that's accessible through the Research and Reference Pane within Microsoft Office 2003 applications. Healthcare professionals who use Microsoft Office now have direct...

Information Today, Inc. publishes Net Effects.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Information Today, Inc. announced the publication of Net Effects: How Librarians Can Manage the Unintended Consequences of the Internet, edited by Marylaine Block. According to the announcement, the Internet is challenging librarians'...

Wiley InterScience launches new interface.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Wiley InterScience announced the launch of a new interface. This update is a comprehensive redesign of the site's underlying information architecture and graphical interface. Based on feedback from customers as well as scholarly and...

ebrary unveils Library Center.(Web site for librarians and M.L.S. students)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... ebrary announced that it has launched Library Center, a Web site for librarians and M.L.S. students. This resource provides research materials, industry news, and information about librarianship and related fields. Library Center currently...

Nstein launches Knowledge Base Manager.(Nstein Technologies)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Nstein Technologies, Inc. announced the launch of Knowledge Base Manager. This new module automates the creation and refinement process of knowledge bases, a data set needed for automated document indexing. In a single click, users can now...

CAS introduces SciFinder 2004.(Chemical Abstracts Service)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Announced the addition of new capabilities for chemical reaction exploration and analysis in SciFinder 2004. These enhancements are integrated with CAS's weekly updated reaction database, which now contains 7...

SAGE Full-Text Collections to add new modules.(Education and Psychology module)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... SAGE Publications and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA), the producers of SAGE Full-Text Collections, have announced that they will add Education and Psychology modules to the database in 2004. SAGE Full-Text Collections is a research...

Thomson Legal & Regulatory.(Mike Boswood has been appointed president and CEO of Thomson Legal & Regulatory International)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Thomson Legal & Regulatory announced that Mike Boswood has been appointed president and CEO of Thomson Legal & Regulatory International. He will continue as managing director of Thomson Legal & Regulatory Europe and will oversee activities in...

Elsevier.( Bridget Taxy named director of marketing and customer relations for science and technology)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Elsevier has announced the appointment of Bridget Taxy to the newly created position of director of marketing and customer relations for science and technology. Before this, Taxy was with LexisNexis, a part of the Reed Elsevier Group....

Inmagic, Inc.(David M. Darsch was elected its chairman of the board; Lourdes Engle named VP of engineering)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Inmagic, Inc. announced that David M. Darsch was elected its chairman of the board, on which he has served since 1999. Currently, Darsch is principal (and founder) of Dynamic Management Decisions, Inc., a firm that provides business adviser...

Factiva.(Alan Scott named vice president and director of global marketing)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Factiva announced that Alan Scott will be its new vice president and director of global marketing. According to the announcement, he will lead Factiva's global marketing organization, form a deeper understanding of customers, develop a value...

Cambridge Information Group (CIG).(Andrew Snyder named executive vice president)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Cambridge Information Group (CIG) has announced that Andrew Snyder is its new executive vice president. He will manage CIG's business development and corporate planning operation. Prior to this, Snyder was vice president of the principal...

The executive profile.(William J. Pesce, president and CEO of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. )
October 1, 2003... William J. Pesce, president and CEO of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. In May 1998, William J. Pesce became president and CEO of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., where he had been a member of the company's leadership team since 1989. Pesce previously...

Back to the basics.(Cover Notes)(book review)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... Expectations of Librarians in the 21st Century edited by Karl Bridges Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003 ISBN: 0313322945 231 pages $67.95 Lately, I've been reviewing business-oriented books about knowledge management, strategizing, and...

Going solo, steno, or stego.(In Other Words)(a discussion of handling the Information Research Center)(Column)
October 1, 2003... I should have known not to pick up the ringing phone when my new caller ID box flashed "unavailable." But what if it were the newly available Ben Affleck calling from an undisclosed, J.Lo-free location? So I answered it, only to find out it was...

Building & Running a Successful Research Business: a Guide for the Independent Information Professional.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... By Mary Ellen Bates Edited by Reva Basch This is the handbook every aspiring independent information professional needs to launch, manage, and build a research business. Organized into four sections, "Getting Started," "Running the...

Net Effects: How Librarians Can Manage the Unintended Consequences of the Internet.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... Edited by Marylaine Block The Internet is a mixed blessing for libraries and librarians. Today, the Net is challenging the librarian's ability to select, threatening the survival of the book, necessitating continuous retraining, presenting...

Business Statistics on the Web: Find Them Fast--At Little or No Cost.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... 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...

The Accidental Webmaster.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... 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...

Arist 38: Annual Review of Information Science and Technology.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... Edited by Blaise Cronin Since 1966, ARIST has been continuously at the cutting edge in contributing a useful and comprehensive view of the broad field of information science and technology. ARIST reviews numerous topics within the field...

Assessing Competitive Intelligence Software: a Guide to Evaluating CI Technology.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... By France Bouthillier Foreword by Chun Wei Chao As commercial software products for Competitive Intelligence (CI) emerge and gain acceptance, potential users find themselves overly dependent on information supplied by the software makers....

Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... By Heting Chu This is the first book to offer a comprehensive view of Information Representation and Retrieval (IRR). With an emphasis on principles and fundamentals, author Heting Chu reviews key concepts and major developmental stages of...

The Accidental Systems Librarian.(New Titles for the Information Professional)(Book Review)
October 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...