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Vol. 23 No. 5 — May 2003

Endymion Systems, Inc. has announced that it has expanded its Web-based enterprise content management service offerings by shipping OpenBridge Release 2.0, a taxonomy-independent knowledge management software solution for content search and navigation applications.

OpenBridge Release 2.0 imports and classifies more than 200 standard office documents automatically, without the need for meta-tagging or taxonomy generation. The product provides an intuitive and easy means for navigating and locating information in large text and structured databases.

OpenBridge 2.0 features an automatic builder that converts and indexes document collections incrementally, builds search databases, and deploys automatically. Its builder user interface allows a nontechnical user to maintain document collections and also logs builds and search query statistics. Its conversion capability offers best-of-breed PDF conversion, XML indexing, and connector architecture. This new release also offers increased capacity: Database compression allows 2 million to 4 million pages per server.

Source: Endymion Systems, Inc., Oakland, CA, 510/563-4100; http://www.goendymion.com.

xrefer Offers New Options for Subscribers

xrefer, a supplier of institutional digital reference services, has announced that the new content selection system for xreferplus, its digital reference library, is now available to all subscribers.

The new content selection system will allow customers to choose the titles included within their subscriptions, giving libraries choice and flexibility to meet their individual information requirements. Subscribers to xreferplus currently receive access to a set collection of 100 reference books provided by leading publishing brands. With the release of the new content selection system, xreferplus customers will be able to select the subscription option and content selection that best suit their needs.

Subscribing institutions will also be able to change their content selections throughout the lifespan of their subscription.

Source: xrefer, Ltd., London, 011-44-20-7479-9200; Fax: 011-44-20-7479-9212; http://www.xrefer.com.

Elsevier Engineering Information Adds Four New Databases to ChemVillage

Elsevier Engineering Information, Inc. has announced that it has added additional databases to ChemVillage, its online information delivery product.

ChemVillage now provides access to Bretherick's Reactive Chemical Hazards Database, which contains information on potential reaction hazards; Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology Abstracts, produced by the German Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology and covering all areas of chemical engineering; Advanced Chemistry Development Labs Databases, which provide a source of experimentally referenced physico-chemical property data and NMR data; and OHS Material Safety Data Sheets Database, which contains almost 56,000 Material Safety Data Sheets from MDL Information Systems, Inc. With these additions, users now have access to up to 19 databases.

Additional new features include a chemical industry news link from LexisNexis. ChemVillage subscribers will have access to the latest national and international news that is directly affecting the chemical industry.

Source: Elsevier Engineering Information, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 201/356-6800; http://www.elsevier.com.

Company News

TDNet Takes Over JournalWebCite Services

TDNet, Inc., a supplier of electronic journals and electronic content management solutions, has announced that it has reached an agreement with JournalWebCite wherein it will take over service for all JournalWebCite subscriber libraries.

TDNet currently manages more than 50,000 electronic journals and 400 aggregated databases and also provides an advanced service with enhanced application features such as subject and keyword searching, automatic TOC alerts, usage statistics, document delivery, and article-level searching and linking.

According to the president of TDNet, JournalWebCite decided to pursue other business opportunities apart from the library marketplace. Under the terms of the agreement reached by the companies, TDNet will continue service to all libraries until the end of their current subscriptions at no additional charge. Payments made to JournalWebCite will not be lost, and service will continue under similar terms. In addition, JournalWebCite customers will be offered a variety of upgraded renewal options as well as the option to maintain their current levels of service.

Source: TDNet, Inc., West Chester, PA, 888/705-3582, 610/738-0280; http://www.tdnet.com.

Vernon to Use TAGSYS RFID Technology

Vernon Library Supplies, Inc. and TAGSYS have announced a partnership under which Vernon will supply radio frequency identification (RFID) from TAGSYS to North American libraries.

According to Vernon's product development team, the company's various products for material circulation, sorting, tracking, and security take full advantage of TAGSYS' economical, low-memory, high-speed tag. TAGSYS has designed a mobile inventory reader capable of scanning up to 20 items per second to enable inventory at regular and frequent intervals. This same lightweight reader can also be used to find missing materials buried within stacks and to track usage of reference materials. Multiple items can be checked out simultaneously at either staffed circulation desks or patron self-checkout stations. The company reports that while some RFID systems require that each item have a separate security tag, the TAGSYS RFID tag utilized in Vernon's system has a built-in security bit that is turned off and on as materials are checked out and checked in. Security is therefore not server- or database-dependent. In addition to the security bit and the item's bar code number, the tag is also capable of storing shelf location information. This data can be accessed during the sorting process.

The first installation of the Vernon RFID system was scheduled for March 2003 at the Rose Creek branch of the Sequoyah Regional Library System in Georgia.

Source: Vernon Library Supplies, Inc., Norcross, GA, 800/878-0253; http://www.vernlib.com and TAGSYS, La Penne sur Huveaune, France, 011-33-4-91-27-57-00; http://www.tagsysrfid.com.

Reuters and Factiva Offer Integrated Product

Reuters and Factiva have announced an expanded relationship that will increase customer access to Factiva's content through Reuters' products. Under the 3-year agreement, selected Factiva content will be embedded in Reuters financial products, including Reuters 3000Xtra and Reuters BridgeStation.

The agreement covers two types of Factiva services. Global Press Watch, a collection of articles from more than 550 national newspapers and 50 national news wires, will be integrated in Reuters' products aimed at trading and investment professionals. Knowledge Worker, a 5-year archive of nearly 6,000 periodicals, news weeklies, and specialist publications organized by industry sector, will be a component of Reuters's products for research-intensive financial professionals and investment advisers.

Both services will be included at no additional charge to Reuters' customers. For local-language services, Reuters will integrate Factiva sources, including newspapers and news wires, in the language of the target customer base.

Source: Reuters, New York, 646/223-5224; http://www.reuters.com and Factiva, Princeton, NJ, 800/369-7466, 609/627-2000; http://www.factiva.com.

ITI Relaunches streamingmedia.com Site

Information Today, Inc. has announced that it has relaunched the Web site for Streaming Media, Inc., which it acquired in December 2002. According to the announcement, streamingmedia.com has been retooled to provide users with the knowledge they need for real-world implementations of streaming media technology and applications.

Information on the revamped site includes news articles, breaking news, research reports, an updated industry directory, a weekly e-newsletter, and case studies that showcase the latest real-world streaming media implementations. Additionally, the site has all-new book, white paper, and research sections categorized by technology and business implementation.

Source: Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ, 800/300-9868, 609/654-6266; https://www.infotoday.com.

Scholarly Publishing

Open Access Journals Directory Underway

The Information Program of the Open Society Institute, along with the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) and Lund University Libraries in Sweden, has announced the establishment of the Directory of Open Access Journals (http://www.doaj.org). The project creates a directory of open access journals, and was scheduled for completion in late spring 2003.

According to the announcement, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) aims to increase the visibility and ease-of-use of open access scientific journals, thereby promoting their increased usage and impact. The directory will comprehensively cover all open access scientific journals that use an appropriate quality control system. It will not be limited to particular languages or subject areas.

The DOAJ will be implemented in two phases. During the first phase, the directory itself will be established. The second phase, which will begin in late spring 2003, will involve developing a comprehensive search system for article-level content. The Open Society Institute will work with the eIFL Network (http://www.eifl.net), an umbrella organization for national library consortia in nearly 50 countries, to make the directory available to more than 3,000 libraries in developing countries.

To include an open access journal in the directory, contact Sara Kjellberg at sara.kjellberg@lub.lu.se.

Source: Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, Washington, DC, 202/296-2296; http://www.arl.org/sparc.

ACRL Creates New SCHOLCOMM Listserv

The Association of College and Research Libraries has announced its new listserv SCHOLCOMM.

SCHOLCOMM is a discussion group that provides a forum for the examination and analysis of topics such as open access to scholarly information, new models of scholarly publishing, increasing journal prices, copyright law and policy, related technologies, and federal information law and policies that impact the access of scholars, students, and the general public to scholarly information. In addition to ongoing discussions of timely issues, the list will contain postings on upcoming conferences, calls for papers, legislative news announcements, and other relevant material.

In order to subscribe to the SCHOLCOMM listserv, go to http://www.ala.org/membership, or if you are already registered within the ALA structure of listservs, simply log in and scroll down to SCHOLCOMM. Click on SCHOLCOMM, and you will be registered for the list. To send a message to the list, the address is scholcomm@ala1.ala.org.

Source: Association of College and Research Libraries and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, Washington, DC, 202/296-2296; http://www.arl.org/sparc.

ISI Uses eFirst for Faster Article Delivery

ISI has announced the addition of eFirst technology to ISI Current Contents Connect (CC Connect). eFirst will provide access to the bibliographic information from peer-reviewed journal articles in electronic form before the complete journal issue is published. eFirst offers the author and user communities the advantage of a shortened publishing cycle, and it helps publishers to differentiate between their electronic and print products.

Currently, ISI has agreements with Blackwell, Karger, Springer, Thieme, Walter de Gruyter, and HighWire. Additional publishers were expected to finalize their participation early this spring.

According to the announcement, within CC Connect, eFirst article records will be clearly identified, and they will be delivered to subscribers weeks—sometimes months—in advance of the published issue. Information from scholarly articles will be delivered in its most current state.

Source: ISI, Philadelphia, 215/386-0100, 800/336-4474; http://www.isinet.com.

Linking Initiatives

Wilson Uses SFX Technology in WilsonLink, Expands Its Art & Social Sciences Databases

H.W. Wilson has announced WilsonLink, a component of the new WilsonWeb service that uses SFX technology. WilsonLink provides extensive linking features with other online database vendors.

Powered by Ex Libris' SFX technology, WilsonLink allows researchers to click from citations on WilsonWeb databases to the full text of articles and related material from a multitude of sources, where the library subscribes to both WilsonWeb and the linked resource. Besides making research easier with access to a wider range of data, Wilson says that WilsonLink can save libraries money because it links to other open-URL sources without the need for the library to invest in its own link server.

The new WilsonWeb, a complete redesign of the database first introduced in 1997, made its debut in November 2002.

In a separate announcement, Wilson said that two periodicals databases, Art Full Text and Social Sciences Full Text, are being enhanced with increased journal coverage, new treatment of key specialties, and broader international scope.

The Art Full Text database has received 51 new periodicals, beginning with January 2003 issues, boosting total coverage to 450 titles. This new coverage includes sources from Europe, East and Central Asia, Australia, and Canada. The Social Sciences Full Text database has gained 32 journals, beginning with June 2003 issues, which more than doubles its coverage of mass media and communications titles, while also increasing coverage of area studies. New area studies titles encompass Africa and Asia, with a focus on Korea and Japan.

The new coverage will also be reflected in Art Abstracts, Art Index, Social Sciences Abstracts, and Social Sciences Index. According to the announcement, all additions are peer-reviewed journals and core sourcebooks in their respective specialties, and are recommended by Magazines for Libraries and the ALA RUSA Committee on Wilson Indexes.

Source: H.W. Wilson, New York, 800/367-6770; http://www.hwwilson.com.

Users Can Access 100 Million Full-Text Links Using SmartLinks in EBSCOhost

EBSCO has announced that due to its advanced linking technology, called EBSCO SmartLinks, EBSCOhost database subscribers have available more than 100 million records with access to full text.

EBSCO SmartLinks allows users to gain seamless access from a citation in an EBSCOhost proprietary or secondary database results list to the corresponding full text located in a variety of electronic resources. In addition to linking to the full text available within EBSCOhost databases, users may also link to their library's collection of electronic journals available through the EBSCOhost Electronic Journals Service and publishers contributing to CrossRef.

EBSCO SmartLinks dynamically inserts the appropriate links to full text into the citation record in EBSCOhost search results. SmartLinks employs various authentication techniques to verify the links and to ensure that they appear only for the full-text databases and e-journals to which the library subscribes.

Source: EBSCO Publishing, Ipswich, MA, 800/653-2726; http://www.ebsco.com.

Gale Links InfoTrac and OCLC WorldCat

Gale has announced the launch of linking technology that allows patrons to search library holdings in WorldCat (the OCLC online union catalog) on the OCLC FirstSearch service through Gale's InfoTrac search interface. This link is expected to enhance a user's experience with library gateways for online searching.

The link from InfoTrac to WorldCat can be activated at no charge by any library that subscribes to both services. When InfoTrac users receive search results, a Link-to-Holdings button will appear. Clicking that button will allow them to view holdings without having to switch services. Libraries can enable the link by entering their FirstSearch authorization number and completing a short linking profile within the InfoTrac administrative module.

Source: Gale, Farmington Hills, MI, 800/877-4253, 248/699-4253; http://www.gale.com.

Online Resources

UC Offers Online Japanese Map Collection

A partnership between the East Asian Library at the University of California­Berkeley (UC) and private map collector and owner of Cartography Associates David Rumsey has resulted in an online collection of rarely seen and fragile historic maps of Japan, some dating as far back as four centuries.

More than 200 images of early maps of Japan from UC's East Asian Library Japanese Historical Map Collection, including examples of some especially rare woodblock print maps of the city of Edo (now Tokyo), are represented in the online collection found at http://www.davidrumsey.com/japan. Eventually the entire map collection will be scanned by Rumsey and the university and then placed online.

The collection includes works of art as well as renditions of cities, regions, and countries from the Japanese perspective. The university acquired the maps as part of a collection of more than 100,000 texts, scrolls, and maps in 1949 from the Mitsui family.

Source: David Rumsey's Cartography Associates, San Francisco, 415/386-1749; http://www.davidrumsey.com.

xrefer Sponsors Current Resources Blog

xrefer has reported that it is providing sponsorship and support for a new Web log from Internet pioneer Peter Scott. Hosted at http://blog.xrefer.com and using systems from blogger.com, the daily blog will provide timely and useful information for librarians.

Scott's blog will cover issues such as databases, conferences, library services, software, and vendors. It will also provide industry-related links, including listings of new books, journals, and conferences of interest to librarians. xrefer says that plans to increase the editorial and technical scope are under consideration: Scott intends to add interviews with leading information professionals, as well as interactivity that would allow users to submit information and to comment on existing stories.

Source: xrefer, Ltd., London, 011-44-20-7479-9200; Fax: 011-44-20-7479-9212; http://www.xrefer.com.

Thomson Derwent Opens the Patent Store

Thomson Derwent has announced the launch of the Thomson Patent Store—a one-stop resource for original patent documents. According to the announcement, the Thomson Patent Store is unique in that it is the only service that enables users to order any patent document from anywhere in the world through a single interface.

The service's Web interface allows customers to view and download original patent documents. It offers 40 million patent documents from major patent offices (U.S., World PCT, European, Japanese, and German), which are updated within 1 week of publication.

The Direct View one-click delivery process provides customers with instant electronic access to all available patent documents in the Thomson Patent Store. In addition to Direct View, documents can be delivered as high-resolution PDF files via e-mail or hard copy. Single documents cost as little as $3 per patent.

Flat-fee pricing is available for users who need high volumes of patent documents, as is a customized implementation of the resource. In addition, customers have the option to access Thomson Patent Store via the Derwent Patent Alert Service, which regularly provides users with copies of patent documents that meet their specified information needs.

Source: Thomson Derwent, London, 011-44-20-7344-2800; http://www.derwent.com.

Professional Opportunities

ITI's IL Conference to Be in Monterey, Calif.

Information Today, Inc. has announced that the seventh annual Internet Librarian (IL) conference and exhibition will take place Nov. 3—5, 2003, at the Monterey Conference Center, Doubletree Hotel, and Monterey Marriott in Monterey, Calif.

Internet Librarian 2003, which includes INTERNET@SCHOOLS, will cater to all interests and all levels of knowledge with four simultaneous tracks, plus many workshop and networking opportunities. Some of this year's tracks and themes will include topics such as managing content and knowledge assets, e-learning and training, case studies of Internet and intranet librarians, digitizing resources, distance learning and instruction, streaming multimedia, and school media. Speakers are encouraged to focus on practical applications and case studies, as well as technical and managerial issues.

For more information on attending or speaking at Internet Librarian 2003, please contact ITI or visit https://www.infotoday.com/il2003.

Source: Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ, 800/300-9868, 609/654-6266; https://www.infotoday.com.

SLA Conference to Be Held in New York

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) has announced that its 94th Annual Conference will feature several notable keynote and session speakers. Scheduled June 7—12, 2003, in New York City, the conference theme is Putting Knowledge to Work, focusing on the critical role of information professionals exploring and employing knowledge for strategic decision making in the global information arena.

On Monday, June 9, author David McCullough, whose biographies have earned him two Pulitzer Prize awards, will address conference participants at the Opening General Session. Futurist Stewart Brand is the featured general session speaker on Tuesday, June 10. At the Closing General Session on Wednesday, June 11, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will speak on issues and trends that have global impacts on the industry.

For more information about the conference, visit http://www.sla.org/nyc2003.

Source: Special Libraries Association, Washington, DC, 202/234-4700; http://www.sla.org.

CLIS at the University of Maryland Offers Its First Series of Distance Learning Courses

The College of Information Studies (CLIS) at the University of Maryland has announced a series of distance education offerings for this spring and summer. These are CLIS's first online courses and are expected to be followed by others.

Two courses, "Legal and Policy Issues" and "Virtual Reference Workshop," will take place before this issue is printed, but "E-Reference" will be offered in the first summer session, June 2­July 11. This is a for-credit course that is part of CLIS's M.L.S. program. The course provides a thorough overview of innovations in digital reference service with a focus on virtual (chat) reference. Students will increase their skills as virtual reference providers and will learn how to design and implement a virtual reference service.

For information on these courses, including how to register, visit CLIS's Web site.

Source: College of Information Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 301/405-3600; http://www.clis.umd.edu.

New Books

O'Reilly Offers New Titles for Linux Users

Learning Red Hat Linux, 3rd edition (ISBN: 0-596-00469-9, $39.95), by Bill McCarty, provides a comprehensive entry to the world of Linux with new users in mind.

Learning Red Hat Linux guides readers through the process of installing and running Red Hat Linux on their PCs and includes the complete Red Hat 8.0 distribution on CDs. With new tutorials covering OpenOffice Tools and the desktop, O'Reilly says that this book is ideal for first-time Linux users who want to install the operating system on a new PC or convert an existing system to Linux. Throughout the book, the author addresses security issues on a level appropriate for a beginning user. The book shows readers how to prepare a system for installing Linux; how to install and configure Linux and the two popular desktop environments, GNOME and KDE; how to set up a Linux system for networking, either on a local area network (LAN) or via dial-up connection to the Internet; and how to use system administration tools.

Linux Server Hacks (ISBN: 0-596-00461-3, $24.95), by Rob Flickenger, is a collection of industrial-strength, real-world, tested solutions to practical problems. The book contains 100 independent but related tips, tools, and scripts that solve common but frequently difficult administrative tasks. The book offers hacks devoted to tuning the Linux kernel to make a system run more efficiently, as well as using CVS or RCS to track the revision to system files. There are hacks covering alternate ways of doing backups, using the system monitoring tools to track system performance, and a variety of secure networking solutions. Linux Server Hacks also includes tips on managing large-scale Web installations running Apache, MySQL, and other open source tools that are typically part of a Linux system.

According to the announcement, every hack can be read in just a few minutes, but will save hours of searching for the right answer.

Source: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, CA, 800/998-9938, 707/827-7000; http://www.oreilly.com.

Shorter OED Now Available on CD-ROM

Oxford University Press has announced that the latest edition of The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is now available on CD-ROM (ISBN: 0-19-860613-3; $109.95). This reference contains the entire contents of the two-volume dictionary in a completely cross-referenced database.

According to the announcement, the advanced search capabilities of this lexicographical database make finding complete definitions faster and easier than ever before. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM Version 2.0 offers several improvements and new features, including Boolean and exact-character searches; new sound recordings to allow you to hear the standard British pronunciations of more than 100,000 words; and automatic look-up from any Microsoft Office application.

Source: Oxford University Press, New York, 212/726-6057; http://www.oup-usa.org.

LU Publishes Network and Internet Intro Guide Specifically Geared to Librarians

Libraries Unlimited has announced publication of The Internet Under the Hood (ISBN: 1-59158-005-6, $40), by Robert E. Molyneux. This guide, unlike other introductory texts, is specifically designed for information professionals in library, education, and business settings. It covers the technology at a less complex level than do texts for systems and network engineers.

In this introduction to network applications and concepts, the author covers LANs, WANs, the Internet, IP addresses, network operating systems, routing, domain names, servers, file formats, and more. Labs and case studies illustrate the use of these technologies. Additionally, the book includes information about the economics of the Internet, privacy, intellectual property, and legal issues.

Source: Libraries Unlimited, Westport, CT, 203/225-5800; http://www.lu.com.

Neal-Schuman Offers Literacy Activity Book

Hands-On Information Literacy Activities (ISBN: 1-55570-456-5, $75), by Jane Birks and Fiona Hunt, is a comprehensive collection of interactive learning activities designed to develop key information literacy skills.

The included activities for 20 instructional sessions support a variety of learning styles. Neal-Schuman reports that all sessions have been tested successfully with both secondary school and undergraduate college students, including ESL students. Exercises focus on the library catalog, search engines, databases, search strings, Boolean and advanced searching, and types of information. The organization of the sessions is flexible, allowing the instructor to use the lessons in any order or any grouping that meets the needs of the students and situation.

The package includes a CD-ROM with all of the activity materials and handouts included in Microsoft Word format for easy customization.

Source: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., New York, 212/925-8650; http://www.neal-schuman.com.