NewsLink
Issue 24/October 2001
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NewsLink is a free weekly e-mail newsletter featuring news and resources
for the information industry. If you are receiving this issue as a forward
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SPONSOR - ACM	
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The ACM DIGITAL LIBRARY is the Ultimate Information Technology Resource! 
The ACM DL gives you around-the-clock online access to over 25 high-tech
publications with up to 15 years of publication archives plus conference
proceedings! The ACM DL also offers EXCEPTIONAL VALUE for Libraries,
Corporations, and Consortia. For more information, please visit our
Library Web site at http://www.acm.org/membership/library.

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IN THIS ISSUE
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1) WELCOME 
2) NEWSLINK MONTHLY SPOTLIGHT
3) NEWSBREAKS
4) FEATURED ARTICLES
5) CONFERENCE CONNECTION
6) BOOKSHELF

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1) WELCOME 
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Welcome to the October 2001 issue of NewsLink, Information Today, Inc.'s
FREE e-mail newsletter for library and information professionals.

A lot has happened since last month's issue of NewsLink. The events of
September 11th have forever changed our nation, and we at Information
Today continue to mourn for the losses suffered on that terrible day.

At Information Today we have heeded our leaders' requests and tried to
stay the course. As conference organizers, we will open our two fall
events on schedule. KM World 2001 will take place from October 30-November
1 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, and Internet Librarian 2001 will
open it's doors from November 6-8 at the Pasadena Conference Center. We,
like most other private and association event sponsors, feel that
conferences and exhibitions must go on, and that the face-to-face
interaction will hopefully help both our national economy and our psyche.

Besides all of the monthly information normally provided in this
newsletter and on our Web site, we have added a special NewsBreak each
week. Paula Hane has taken up the task of providing ongoing coverage of
information resources related to the terrorist attacks. The September 11
edition is available at https://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb011001-2.htm

If you have any comments or suggestions on any special content you would
like to see covered or on how to improve this newsletter and the
information held in it, please reply to newslink@infotoday.com.

Best wishes,
Tom Hogan, Jr.

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2) NEWSLINK MONTHLY SPOTLIGHT
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Blogs Are a Natural for Librarians
By Paula J. Hane

I've been a fan for some time of Gary Price's compilations-first his List
of Lists, then his Direct Search, and most recently his Virtual
Acquisition Shelf and News Desk (http://resourceshelf.blogspot.com), which
is his daily Weblog of interesting resources, or "blog," as this
increasingly popular form of Web communication has come to be called. I
had seen some fairly eclectic examples of other people's blogs, including
personal rants and total hodgepodges, but Price's stays very focused and
useful.

Another favorite resource has been Tara Calishain's ResearchBuzz e-mail
newsletter, but she also has a Weblog, a miscellaneous section of her Web
site that she calls The KnickKnack Drawer. Her current knickknacks include
everything from map resources to a new worm alert to a new joint venture
by a metasearch engine. Of course, she also provides goodies like fall
foliage in Pennsylvania and a site with a searchable subject index of
Chinese recipes-but then you never know what might be useful to a
librarian, or anyone else. Luckily, the search feature on her site
encompasses content in the Weblog, so if you're looking for all mentions
of the metasearch engine Vivisimo, for example, you can find a number of
interesting pieces of news and commentary.

Some proclaim blogging to be a new form of publishing. Some predict that
blogs are the next great information resource. Chris Sherman, associate
editor of SearchEngineWatch, has called blogs "the Web's equivalent of a
sophisticated early warning system." There are even indexes to blogs and
sites that report what topics or sites are most mentioned on popular
blogs. One of the most interesting is Blogdex, a project from the MIT
Media Lab (http://blogdex.media.mit.edu). The site says: "blogdex is a
system built to harness the power of personal news, amalgamating and
organizing personal news content into one navigable source, moving
democratic media to the masses." Besides showing the most popular sites,
Blogdex now offers a URL search capability that I find quite interesting.

Recently I stumbled on a list of blogs just for the library community
(actually, thanks to Jill O'Neill of NFAIS) and decided to check into some
of them. I was pleased, but not too surprised, by the usefulness of what I
found-what else do we expect from librarians but top quality! LibDex
(http://www.libdex.com), The Library Index, is a handy Web resource
compiled by Peter Scott that provides a worldwide directory of library
home pages, Web-based OPACs, and other useful information. He has also now
compiled a list of library-related Weblogs
(http://www.libdex.com/weblogs.html). Of course, these too run the
gamut-everything from "Guide to Problematical Library Use" by Don Saklad
to individual libraries' blogs to Charles Bailey's "Scholarly Electronic
Publishing Weblog." It's great to have them gathered together and listed.
Thanks, Peter. The following are comments about some of the blogs on his
list.

The library at Vanderbilt University (and specifically, Anna Belle
Leiserson) offers AcqWeblog
(http://acqweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/acqweb/ms_acqs.html) for news of
interest to acquisitions and collection-development librarians. Recent
blog entries mentioned Bibliopoly (http://www.bibliopoly.com), a
multilingual Web search agent that specializes in early and rare books
from international dealers, and Bublos.com (http://www.bublos.com), an
international book price comparison site. The blog also lists and links to
press releases with major announcements from library vendors and very
large publishers. The AcqWeblog is part of the larger AcqWeb site, which
provides many useful resource lists and directories.

For those techies among us, Matthew Eberle, a librarian at The Forsyth
Institute in Boston, has a Library TechLog
(http://www.meberle.com/weblog.html). Recent postings discussed library
RSS news feeds, virtual reference desks, recommended articles and
technology conferences, and behind-the-scenes coding and scripts. Library
Stuff (http://librarystuff.net) is an interesting and wide-ranging blog
produced by Steven M. Cohen, a law librarian in New York. Another blog
that deals with "the quirky to the mundane" is  by T. J.
Sondermann (http://free.freespeech.org/librarygeek).

The LibDex list also reminded me of the Internet Scout Weblog
(http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/weblog), a separate service that complements the
popular Internet Scout Reports with additional interesting resources.

Folks who are fans of information architecture and of Louis Rosenfeld,
co-author of the best-selling text on the topic, will appreciate his
comments and insights on his blog, or bloug, as he calls it
(http://www.louisrosenfeld.com). (Rosenfeld is also a librarian, founder
of the former consulting firm Argus Associates, and now an independent
consultant.) One of his recent bloug entries had an interesting discussion
on the presentation of search results and his thoughts on Google; Northern
Light; and the newcomer, Teoma.

Peter Scott also does a Library News Daily report
(http://www.lights.com/scott), which offers "the latest news on databases,
conferences, services, software, vendors, and more." He also has a
collaborative Weblog in progress called Peter Scott's Personal Onclave
(http://www.onclave.org/people/children/Peter_Scott). Scott, who is the
Internet projects manager at the University of Saskatchewan, will be
speaking about blogging in a pre-conference workshop at the Internet
Librarian conference in November. In his workshop, he will provide
examples of outstanding library-related blogs and discuss the process of
setting up a blog.

Finally, I understand that Walt Crawford is beginning a three-part series
on Library Weblogs in the October 2001 issue of American Libraries.
Knowing Walt, I'm sure it will be quality stuff. And, thanks to all the
dedicated bloggers out there who are sharing their knowledge with others.
Keep up the good work.

Paula J. Hane is contributing editor of Information Today, editor of
NewsBreaks, a former reference librarian, and a longtime online searcher.
She is the author of Super Searchers in the News: The Online Secrets of
Journalists & News Researchers. Her e-mail address is phane@infotoday.com.

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3) NEWSBREAKS
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For a complete listing of previous NewsBreaks visit the Information Today,
Inc. Web site at https://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/breaks.htm.

NewsBreaks from Monday, October 1, 2001. 
------------------------
Hoover's Announces Plans to Streamline Products, Focus on Subscriptions,
Trim Staff
By Paula J. Hane  

Hoover's, Inc., the well-known Austin, Texas-based provider of online
business information, announced some big changes to its business in a
conference call and Webcast held on Wednesday, September 26. The operator
of Hoover's Online is obviously feeling the pressures of the current
economic climate and has decided to implement some streamlining and
cost-cutting measures that it hopes will increase profitability, help its
lagging stock, and position the company for growth once the economy
recovers. Specifically, the company announced that it would now focus on
growing its core subscription business, discontinue unprofitable products,
and reduce staffing by 20 percent.
--> https://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb011001-1.htm

------------------------
More September 11 Resources Made Available 
By Paula J. Hane  

Continued ongoing weekly coverage of important information resources
related to the September 11 terrorist attack and recovery efforts.
--> https://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb011001-2.htm

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NewsBreaks Weekly News Digest
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Ask Jeeves Unveils Packaged Question-Answering Product 
Jeeves Solutions, a division of Ask Jeeves, Inc., has announced the
general availability of JeevesOne, its first packaged question-answering
software product.
--> https://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/wnd011001.htm

XanEdu Partners with Pearson Education on CoursePacks 
XanEdu, a division of ProQuest Information and Learning, has announced a
partnership with Pearson Education to create fully integrated print and
digital CoursePack solutions with Pearson's Custom Publishing Division.
--> https://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/wnd011001.htm

Tribune Media Services to Launch FluentMedia 
Tribune Media Services (TMS) has announced the formation of a new
Web-based information service for the corporate market.
--> https://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/wnd011001.htm

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4) FEATURED ARTICLES
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For full-text coverage of the following articles please use the hotlinks
provided.

------------------------
Information Today
The Open Source Movement 
By Richard Poynder

This software offers an alternative to proprietary versions and is being
adopted by a growing number of librarians and information professionals.
--> https://www.infotoday.com/it/oct01/poynder.htm

------------------------
Computers in Libraries
How We Work to Make the Web Speak 
By Susie Christensen

There's a group in Denmark that focuses specifically on teaching
electronic content providers how to make their Web sites accessible to
people who have impairments of their sight, hearing, or motor skills. This
author gives specific tips about what to do to your Web site, along with
examples of the success she's had so far.
--> https://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/oct01/christensen.htm

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Searcher Magazine 
Web Search Engine FAQs: Questions, Answers, and Issues  
By Gary Price 

Price offers ways to stay up to speed on search engine developments while
saving all-too-precious time. His "top 10 things to know" about popular
engines is also provided, as well as a handy comparison chart.
--> https://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct01/price.htm

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MultiMedia Schools
CyberBee: Copyright and Digital Content 
By Linda C. Joseph

In the digital age where massive amounts of information are distributed,
it is essential that students know and understand copyright.
--> https://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/oct01/cybe0110.htm

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Link-Up
E-Mail Appliances
By Scott Nesbitt
 
Niche tools for retrieving e-mail. 
--> https://www.infotoday.com/lu/sep01/nesbitt.htm

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5) CONFERENCE CONNECTION
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Get the latest event information available for the library and information
fields in the Conference Connection. The Conference Report/Update gives
you an inside look at the most recent information industry events, while
the Conference Calendar is updated monthly to provide you with important
contact information for up-and-coming industry events.

CONFERENCE REPORT/UPDATE
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CONFERENCE UPDATE: 
Internet Librarian 
November 6-8, 2001
Pasadena Conference & Exhibition Center

This year the Internet Librarian- conference and exhibition features four
fabulous keynote sessions, over 100 dynamic speakers in five simultaneous
tracks, plus 20 in-depth learning events and workshops, an unbelievable
evening session, cybertours, an extensive exhibit hall and much more!

Visit https://www.infotoday.com/il2001 NOW for details.

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CONFERENCE UPDATE:
Online Information 
December 4-6, 2001
Olympia Grand Hall, London, U.K.

To find out more visit http://www.online-information.co.uk/online/.


CONFERENCE CALENDAR 
-------------------
October 10-14
INTERNET RESEARCH 2.0-The Second International Conference of the
Association on Internet Researchers (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)
Contact: http://aoir.org 

October 14-17
PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION (Philadelphia)  
Contact: http://www2.sis.pitt.edu

October 17-21
ORAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION (St. Louis, MO)  
Contact: http://www.dickinson.edu 

October 18-20
SCHOOLTECH EXPO & CONFERENCE (Chicago, IL) 
Contact: http://www.schooltechexpo.com 

October 21­24
NORTH AMERICAN BUSINESS INFORMATION CONFERENCE (Toronto, Ontario)
Contact: http://www.tfpl.com 

October 29-November 1
KMWORLD 2001 (Santa Clara, CA)  
Contact: https://www.infotoday.com 

For the complete Conference Calendar visit
https://www.infotoday.com/calendar.htm.

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6) BOOKSHELF
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The Quintessential Searcher: The Wit and Wisdom of Barbara Quint
Edited by Marylaine Block

Many, many moons ago, pinned down by a lynch mob of vendor representatives
all shouting "Troublemaker! Troublemaker!," I squealed out my standard
excuse, "I don't look for trouble. Trouble looks for me!" But what still
amazes me is how diligently it finds me.
--Barbara Quint

Searcher magazine editor Barbara Quint (bq) is not only one of the world's
most famous online searchers, but the most creative and controversial
writer, editor, and speaker to emerge from the information industry in the
last two decades. bq is a guru of librarians and database professionals
the world over, and, as her readers, publishers, and "quarry" know, when
it comes to barbed wit she is in a class by herself. Whether she's
chastising database providers about unacceptable fees, interfaces, and
updates; recounting the ills visited on the world by computer makers; or
inspiring her readers to achieve greatness; her voice is consistently
original and compelling. In this book, for the first time anywhere,
hundreds of bq's most memorable, insightful, and politically incorrect
quotations have been gathered for the enjoyment of her many fans.

For more information or to get your copy visit the Information Today, Inc.
Online Store at http://st4.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?infotoday+3jXzab+/quinsear.html.
------------
2001/220 pp/softbound 
ISBN: 1-57387-114-1
$19.95   

===========================================================================
SPONSOR - ACM	
===========================================================================
The ACM DIGITAL LIBRARY is the Ultimate Information Technology Resource! 
The ACM DL gives you around-the-clock online access to over 25 high-tech
publications with up to 15 years of publication archives plus conference
proceedings! The ACM DL also offers EXCEPTIONAL VALUE for Libraries,
Corporations, and Consortia. For more information, please visit our
Library Web site at http://www.acm.org/membership/library.

============================================================================
©2001 Information Today, Inc. all rights reserved. 
This newsletter is published by Information Today, Inc. 
Editor in Chief: Tom Hogan, Jr. 
Managing Editor: Stacey Sochacki 
Phone: 609-654-6266 Fax: 609-654-4309 
Web site: https://www.infotoday.com 
E-mail: newslink@infotoday.com