Volume 37, Number 5 - September/October 2013
EDITORIALFrontLines Page 4 Recognizing what is included and excluded from our traditional resources and newer services such as Google Scholar reflects our values about providing complete and unbiased information. By Marydee Ojala Searcher's Voice Page 33 bq wistfully recalls the heady days when intermediate searchers ruled over the searching realm. Now, in the Age of the End User, with the power of corporate librarians and information professionals greatly diminished, bq wonders how librarians and info pros can reclaim some of their clout for the betterment of all in the searching kingdom. By Barbara Quint DEPARTMENTSPage 8 Search Engine Update New Search Features, Developments, and Content By Greg R. Notess Page 60 Conference Corral Oh La LA: Library Association Conferences - SLA, ALA, and AALL FEATURESPage 10 Orbit Reincarnated Orbit 1.8, although not completely new, exemplifies what is happening in the online world as it moves from supermarket search services to entirely new entities. Questel's Orbit platform focuses on the patent literature, but searchers also need to consider competitive products. Page 16 Building Communities Through Knowledge Management Knowledge management initiatives at A.T. Kearney and EDR have built communities among their target constituencies through careful design and cultivation of their internal and external websites. By Barbie E. Keiser Page 22 Today’s Self-Publishing Gold Rush Complicates Distribution Channels  Self-publishing is a growing phenomenon that affects librarians, booksellers, and readers, although in somewhat different ways. It now enjoys a stigma-free reputation as a legitimate option to traditional publishing, but it poses challenges to distribution channels. By Nancy K. Herther Page 28 The Future of Peer-Reviewed Scientific Video Journals JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, exemplifies a new wave of peer-reviewed scholarly publishing. David Stern asks whether there is enough value in this type of journal to bring it into the mainstream and, if so, how to further improve on the model. By David Stern Page 51 Digital Publishing: The Next Library Skill Many librarians and information professionals have already added digital publishing to their repertoire. For those who haven't, it's a superb opportunity to enhance the role of the librarian and the functionality of the library. By Terence K. Huwe Page 56 Fruitful and Robotic Open Source Hardware Open source is usually thought of in terms of software, but open source hardware, such as Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and Roomba, have interesting applications in the library and nonlibrary worlds. By Stephen E. Arnold IN-DEPTH REPORTSPage 38 Makerspaces and Fab Labs: Exploring the Physical and the Digital Susanne Bjørner attended the 6th annual Spring Event this past May in Rome via live streaming feed. The conference had as its theme Modern Leonardos, a clever title for an event that was all about the makerspace movement. Bjørner shares some of the presentations that illustrate just what the makerspace is all about and how libraries worldwide are embracing it. By Susanne Bjørner Page 44 Robert E. Buntrock, semi-retired chemist and info specialist, starts off with a concise overview of the evolution of chemical literature. He then shares his findings from a comparison of SciFinder, the ACS' Chemical Abstracts Service's end-user product, and Elsevier's Beilstein's counterpart, Reaxys. The product of choice depends on a number of factors. By Robert E. Buntrock COLUMNSThe Dollar Sign Page 68 Looking Under Streetlights: Where Business Information Can Hide Business information frequently resides in nontraditional sources and requires creative search strategies to locate it. By Marydee Ojala Online Spotlight Page 80 A Tale of Two Services The new ProQuest Dialog and Dow Jones Factiva platforms demonstrate radically different approaches toward their customers. By Mary Ellen Bates InfoLit Land Page 65 Coming Back to Google Scholar Teaching about and searching Google Scholar presents ?opportunities to develop the information literacy skills of students. By William Badke Control-Shift Page 74 Taking Task-Based Usability Testing to Task Personas, fictitious people that represent constituent demographics, are very useful when designing the task-oriented pieces of library websites. By Jeff Wisniewski On the Net Page 62 Experimentation is the order of the day, as Google, Bing, blekko, Yandex, and Yahoo! make major changes to their sites. By Greg R. Notess Hard Copy Page 77 Recommended Reading on Mobile Technology, Elearning, Future of the Library, and Web Analytics By Deborah Lynne Wiley Internet Express Page 35 Theater Websites and Apps Anyone involved theatrical productions will want to give Irene McDermott an honorary Tony Award for this column. Are you an actor needing to learn an accent for a role? Do you want help memorizing your lines or musical numbers? As McDermott shows, there are websites, and often apps, for all types of actor-related needs. Directors, stage managers, and set designers can find online assistance as well. McDermott even points theatergoers to sites for procuring discount tickets to plays on The Great White Way and London's West End. By Irene E. McDermott EBook Buzz Page 71 For the Love of the Written Word Some think that ebooks have failed on many of their promises, ?but they may teach us something about the values of publishers and librarians. By Mirela Roncevic |
