Information Today articles from September 2003

Information Today archives from September 2003

World Library Congress denounces USA PATRIOT Act.(Report From the Field)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... They came to Berlin from 133 countries. Leading the pack of delegates to the 69th annual World Library and Information Congress last month were large contingents from Germany, the U.S., Great Britain, the Netherlands, Russia, France, Sweden,...

Change is very exciting.(Interview with Bob Campbell)(Blackwell Publishing)(Interview)
September 1, 2003... The name Blackwell has been synonymous with scholarly publishing since the 19th century, when Benjamin Blackwell opened his first Oxford bookshop. His son Basil subsequently founded Blackwell Publishers and Blackwell Science--which in 2000 were...

ALA/CLA 2003.(Report From The Field)(American Library Association, Canadian Library Association joint conference)
September 1, 2003... For the first time in more than 40 years, ALA and the Canadian Library Association (CLA) collaborated to jointly host their annual conferences. Held in Toronto June 19-25, it could be billed as "the conference that almost didn't happen." For...

Nstein announces partnerships.(NewsBytes)(Nstein Technologies Inc. partnerships wiht Wiley InterScience, Context Media Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Nstein Technologies, Inc. announced that it has been engaged by Wiley InterScience to construct a working prototype using Nstein software. Nstein also announced the integration of its Nserver software suite with Context Media Interchange Suite,...

Snapshots' Athens authentication goes live.(NewsBytes)(Snapshots International Ltd.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Snapshots International, Ltd., a publisher of market research overviews, and EduServ, a U.K.-registered charity established with the support of the U.K. Higher Education funding bodies, have announced that the Snapshots Series is now available...

CSA, BioOne announce new affiliation.(NewsBytes)(Cambridge Scientific Abstracts)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... CSA (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) and BioOne have announced an agreement for CSA to create a bibliographic database that will index research papers in the journals available through BioOne's full-text service. CSA will also function as...

Job posting wanted.(Up Front)
September 1, 2003... Recently, a leading library vendor (name omitted to protect the vulnerable) asked me to lecture at a multi-day training session for new sales staff. We conducted the session not only virtuously but virtually through a combination of audio...

The latest on content, search engines, and more.(News Break Update)
September 1, 2003... I expected a fairly quiet summer for industry news after the major conferences ended, but it actually buzzed with activity. There were a number of content announcements, some interesting deals and acquisitions, and as always, a steady stream of...

BioMed announces national open access archive for Germany.(NewsBytes)(Partners with University of Potsdam)
September 1, 2003... BioMed Central, the open access publisher, and the University of Potsdam in Germany have joined to create a new archive of open access research. Potsdam will mirror all of BioMed Central's open access research articles, making use of the...

GPO access now offers more than 250,000 titles.(U.S. Government Printing Office documents)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) announced that the number of document titles available through its GPO Access (http://www.gpoaccess.gov) site has grown to more than 250,000. This marks a milestone in the GPO's ongoing effort to expand...

Swets Blackwell, Gale partner in Australia and New Zealand.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Swets Blackwell announced the formation of a special distribution agreement across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Under the terms of the partnership, Melbourne-based Swets Blackwell Australia will provide Gale electronic databases for the ANZ...

ProQuest acquires SIRS Publishing.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... ProQuest Information and Learning announced that it has acquired SIRS Publishing, Inc., the publisher of SIRS Researcher, SIRS Discoverer, SIRS Enduring Issues, and other databases. ProQuest Information and Learning, a unit of ProQuest Co., is...

ATLA signs database agreement with NISC.(NewsBytes)(American Theological Library Association signs agreement with National Information Services Corp. )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The American Theological Library Association (ATLA) has announced an agreement with the National Information Services Corp. (NISC) that allows NISC to produce its own version of the ATLA Religion Database in both CD-ROM and online versions. ...

Libraries for the Future wins grant.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Libraries for the Future, a national nonprofit organization that champions the role of libraries in American life, has been awarded a 3-year, $1 million challenge grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to establish a network of...

Content management is key theme at online information 2003.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Imark Communications Europe announced that content management will be one of the key themes at the upcoming London Online Information 2003 conference, the world's largest exhibition for information content, management, and delivery. Bob Boiko,...

ProLaw improves legal research cost recovery.(NewsBytes)(ProLaw Software's QuickView+ for Westlaw within ProLaw)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... ProLaw Software, a division of West and a business within The Thomson Corp., announced full integration of QuickView+ for Westlaw from within ProLaw. According to the announcement, the integration streamlines and automates how law firms...

Wilson announces database upgrades.(NewsBytes)(HW Wilson)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... H.W. Wilson announced that it has enhanced its Humanities Full Text database with greater coverage of key specialties and wider international focus. The company also announced that the Bibliographic Index reference resource will be searchable...

OverDrive, Inc. joins OCLC Program.(NewsBytes)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... OverDrive, Inc., a provider of library e-book solutions, announced that it has been added to the OCLC Cataloging Partners Program. OverDrive's participation in the program has led to the creation of a new MARC record for e-books that contains...

Elsevier, ACS to link science services.(NewsBytes)(American Chemical Society)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Elsevier and two divisions of the American Chemical Society (ACS)--Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) and Publications--announced that they have agreed to provide linking between their services for scientists. Links between these publishers will...

Use it or lose it.
September 1, 2003... Thank you for Richard Poynder's fine article, "A Question of Trust" [Information Today, July/August 2003]. Overall, I found it informative and Well-balanced. However, I was concerned about one point in the article, that "microfilm is normally...

Sound off for the freedom to read.(Opinion)(Congress considers bill called Freedom to Read Protection Act)
September 1, 2003... It's a sad day when the U.S. Congress needs to consider a bill called the Freedom to Read Protection Act. But such a measure (HR 1157) is actually before Congress. Well, it's at least before two House committees. Introduced last March,...

InfoToons.(Humor about what someone checked out of a library)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... WELCOME TO THE gibville LIBRARY THANK YOU, DEAR. HERE YOU GO, MRS. SMITH. HAVE A NICE DAY. YEAH! THAT OLD LADY WHO JUST LEFT? WE'LL NEED A LIST OF WHAT SHE'S READING. UM... OK., MRS. SMITH CHECKED OUT BOOKS ON...

Keeping journal competition alive.(Focus on Publishing)
September 1, 2003... Could a lack of competition between journal publishers end up being a positive thing for the alternative modes of scholarly and research dissemination? Is it possible that merger mania--which has been devastating the diversity of scholarly...

It's the output, stupid!(Internet Insights)(Online information services pay more attention to optimizing bottom line of information-finding process)
September 1, 2003... My title, of course, paraphrases then-Gov. Clinton's legendary rallying cry, which successfully directed the nation's attention to his campaign forte: improving the economy and everyone's bottom line. Likewise, users might be happy to see that...

Living in a Post-CIPA world.(Legal Issues)(Children's Internet Protection Act )
September 1, 2003... Concluding what turned out to be a landmark year for the information community, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). The act ties the receipt of federal E-rate and LSTA funding...

On the road.(Conference Circuit)(Information Today, Inc.'s fall conferences)
September 1, 2003... It's September. Vacations are over, classes have begun, and the cooler weather is a great energizer. September's arrival also means that it's time to get serious about registering for Information Today, Inc.'s fall conferences. Internet...

Online in South Africa.(Report From The Field)(Seventh Southern African Online Information Meeting)
September 1, 2003... The vibrancy of the South African information community was evident at the seventh Southern African Online Information Meeting, held June 4-5 in Muldersdrift, South Africa. Almost 250 info pros jammed the conference center, which was set in a...

Impressions of IFLA: 69th World Information Congress was all about access.(Report From The Field)
September 1, 2003... How could they have known? Years back, when IFLA decided to hold its 69th World Library and Information Congress in a reunited Berlin, how could they have known how ironically fitting the setting would turn out to be? Surely, when they...

Achtung! librarians in action.(IFLA organized numerous tours of local libraries, archives, and private collections for delegates to its World Congress in Berlin last month)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... IFLA organized numerous tours of local libraries, archives, and private collections for delegates to its World Congress in Berlin last month. And the professional librarians in attendance hopped on public buses and U-Bahn trains to get to them....

Essential reading from the 69th World Library and Information Congress.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... * Pictures (along with the report of the UNESCO Expert Mission to Iraq on the damage done to Iraq's libraries during recent hostilities) can be found at http://www .ifla.org/VI/4/admin/iraq2407.htm and...

Conference Calendar.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... September 21-23: Montreal (St. Sulpice Hotel). The Association of Information and Dissemination Centers (ASIDIC) will host its ASIDIC Fall 2003 Meeting, the title of which is "Digital Content: Issues and Changes." Carol Tenopir, a...

Elephants and dung trucks.(Investigative Report)
September 1, 2003... Nicholson Baker's controversial book Double Fold shone an unwelcome spotlight on preservation activities in libraries. Last month, however, I suggested that rather than shoot the messenger, librarians should recruit him to their cause. ...

International report.
September 1, 2003... London What are the nature and function of the public library in the 21st century? This has been the source of debate in the U.K. since 1995, with at least five separate reports published on the topic. While all have concluded that...

MicroPatent streamlines searching, extends IP alerts.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... MicroPatent announced a series of PatSearch FullText and patent alert enhancements that can extend users' competitive intelligence monitoring and improve their work-flow efficiencies. The company added 50 patent alerts to each PatSearch...

Reuters unveils Research On-Demand.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Reuters announced the release of Reuters Research On-Demand (formerly Multex On-Demand), its next-generation advanced research and analysis solution for information professionals. Reuters Research On-Demand has been redesigned to provide...

Publishers' sites evolving into online services.(Database Review)
September 1, 2003... Q: What's the difference between an online service and a publisher's Web site? A: Nothing, if we're talking about a state-of-the-art publisher that's committed to distributing content from its site, rather than allowing the site to serve...

ProQuest offers JHUP journals.(Product News & Reviews)(ProQuest Information and Learning now offers scholarly journals published by Johns Hopkins University Press)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... ProQuest Information and Learning announced that it now offers scholarly journals published by Johns Hopkins University Press (JHUP). The distribution agreement brings the full text of 47 academic journals to the company's ProQuest online...

Ingenta enters reference-linking initiative with JSTOR.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Ingenta, Inc. announced the launch of a new reference-linking initiative with JSTOR, the online scholarly journal archive. The partnership allows licensed JSTOR users who access full-text articles on Ingenta to link seamlessly from references...

Bureau van Dijk adds Datamonitor Profiles.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Bureau van Dijk (BvD) announced that it is adding market research information from Datamonitor to its range of company information products. The Datamonitor Industry Profiles are now included in the latest versions of FAME, which covers the...

CAS introduces Science IP search service.(Chemical Abstracts Service )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) announced the launch of Science IP, a new offering that provides personalized search services to the patenting community. According to the announcement, Science IP allows information professionals, attorneys,...

Wiley InterScience launches new database.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Wiley InterScience, the online content service of publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc., announced the launch of the Wiley Database of Polymer Properties. Based on the Polymer Handbook, 4th edition, the new database is a source of polymer physical...

Factiva unveils new taxonomy.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Factiva has announced the availability of a pharmaceutical and healthcare taxonomy with more than 800 industry-focused terms. This new tool is designed to help companies in those sectors organize and interpret information from both internal and...

Microsoft releases Encarta Reference Library 2004.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Microsoft Corp. has announced the launch of Encarta Reference Library 2004. With updated features and enhanced tools, the newest version of Encarta provides users with comprehensive, up-to-date educational content. Encarta Reference...

EBSCO announces database additions, functionality enhancement to EBSCOhost.(Product News & Reviews)(EBSCO Publishing adds H.W. Wilson's Library Literature & Information Science database and reference linking functionality to EBSCOhost service)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... EBSCO Publishing announced the addition of H.W. Wilson's Library Literature & Information Science database and reference linking functionality to its EBSCOhost service. The company also announced it has reached an agreement with the American...

Moreover adds news content into Yahoo! News Search.(Product News & Reviews)(Yahoo! Search integrates Moreover Technologies public metabase into Yahoo! News Search)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Moreover Technologies, a provider of real-time information-management solutions, announced that Yahoo! Search has integrated the Moreover public metabase into Yahoo! News Search. By clicking on the "News" tab on Yahoo! Search or searching...

Thomson ISI ResearchSoft releases EndNote Version 7.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Thomson ISI ResearchSoft announced the release of a major upgrade to its EndNote bibliographic management software. EndNote 7 delivers new types of bibliographies, flexible image handling, and connectivity to explore and mobilize reference...

Germany launches portal to scientific information.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... vascoda, a partnership of 37 German libraries, research centers, and academic information providers, has announced the release of www.vascoda.de, an interdisciplinary Web portal. The service will make scientific literature and information...

Inmagic integrates XML support into DB/TextWorks.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Inmagic, Inc. has announced the addition of XML support within its DB/TextWorks product line. Inmagic's XML-based products allow customers to edit such documents as online validation lists over the Web. The upcoming release of DB/Text for...

Advanced Technology Libraries chooses ebrary.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... ebrary announced that Advanced Technology Libraries (AT/L) is now using its service to provide librarians with freely viewable online access to AT/L digital archives. Available at http://www.advancedtechnologylibraries.com, the initiative...

AuriQ Systems unveils RTmetrics.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... AuriQ Systems, Inc., a real-time e-business analytics provider, has announced the release of RTmetrics, a new approach to optimizing online campaigns. RTmetrics is a business solution for measuring Web activities in real-time using a...

West releases My Account.(Product News & Reviews)(Free online service that presents real-time information about a customer's business )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... West has announced the release of My Account, a free online service that presents bread, real-time information about a customer's business relationship with West in a secure setting on west.thomson.com. The service enables customers to view...

Track your tax dollars: NPP is committed to researching and disseminating information to those working for social and economic justice, including national organizations, grass-roots groups, and individual citizens.(Link-up@Home: your personal guide to the Web)(National Priorities Project Database )
September 1, 2003... Last year in New York, $776 million was spent on active military salary and wages, but only $45 million on adult education. In California, the federal government spent almost $24 billion on Department of Defense procurement contracts, but $11...

It's all Greek to me.(Link-up@Home: your personal guide to the Web)
September 1, 2003... By this time next year, I could be jet-lagged, looking even more haggard than usual, and limping like the 12th-place horse in an 11-horse field. Or I could be rested, cleans-haven, and bouncing around like a thoroughbred. It all...

Asking the big questions: perspectives.(Link-up@Home: your personal guide to the Web)(Web sites that offer content about subject of philosophy)
September 1, 2003... In Meditations, 17th-century French philosopher Rene Descartes wrote, "To live without philosophizing is to have one's eyes closed without ever trying to open them." Acting on the more familiar Socrates dictum that the "unexamined life is...

Wolters Kluwer Legal, Tax & Business North America.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Wolters Kluwer Legal, Tax & Business North America announced four recent additions to head its newly created customer units. Robert Becker is joining Wolters Kluwer as CEO of the Legal unit. Most recently, he was CEO of Jupiter Media...

Northern Light.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Makes appointments)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Northern Light has announced the appointments of Robert Nelson, Patrick O'Malley, and Igor Razboff to its executive management team. As the senior vice president of corporate development, Nelson will develop sales opportunities and new...

The National Information Standards Organization.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Carl Grant is elected vice chair/chair-elect)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announced that Carl Grant has been elected vice chair/chair-elect, and Daniel Greenstein, Oliver Pesch, and Ed Ramsey have been elected to its board of directors. Grant is president...

Ex Libris.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Katrina M. Anderson joins the company as vice president of U.S. operations)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Ex Libris announced that Katrina M. Anderson has joined the company as vice president of U.S. operations. She will be the liaison for its ALEPH customers in North America and handle customer support, project management, and implementation. She...

Mark Rowse, founder and chief executive of Ingenta.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Mark Rowse founded Ingenta in May 1998. Prior to that, he was a director of Spafax, a subsidiary of Aspen Group, PLC. While there, he managed revenues of some $100 million. He was also responsible for identifying and developing the potential of...

Moving knowledge management along.(Cover Notes)('Knowledge Management and Networked Environments: Leveraging Intellectual Capital in Virtual Business Communities')(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... Knowledge Management and Networked Environments: Leveraging Intellectual Capital in Virtual Business Communities edited by Alfred Beerli, Svenja Falk, and Daniel Diemers New York: AMACOM, 2003 ISBN: 0-8144-0742-0 243 pages $29.95 ...

In other words.(Cover Notes)
September 1, 2003... "Try to remember the kind of September when grass was green and grain was yellow.... Try to remember and if you remember, then follow." Even when I was little, these lyrics from The Fantasticks put a lump in my throat. Decades later, the song...

New titles for the information professional.
September 1, 2003... Building & Running a Successful Research Business: A Guide For The Independent Information Professional. By Mary Ellen Bates Edited by Reva Basch This is the handbook every aspiring independent information professional needs to launch,...