COLUMNS & NEWS
NewsBytes
Librarians Release New Info Pro Web Log
Sarah Johnson and Rachel Singer Gordon have announced
the release of Beyond the Job, a new career-development
Web log for information professionals.
The first Web log to focus exclusively on professional
development opportunities for librarians, Beyond the
Job fills a niche in the online library world, according
to the announcement. Updated daily, the site provides
current information on calls for contributors and presenters,
job-search advice, scholarship and grant information,
and other news and ideas on how to further your library
career. For more information, visit http://librarycareers.blogspot.com.
Beyond the Job supplements both authors' library-employment
Web sites as well as Gordon's book, The Information
Professional's Guide to Career Development Online
(co-authored by Sarah L. Nesbeitt), published by Information
Today, Inc. in 2002.
Johnson is assistant professor of library services
at Eastern Illinois University's Booth Library. Gordon
is librarian at Franklin Park (Ill.) Library.
Source: Beyond the Job; http://librarycareers.blogspot.com.
FreePint Publishes Data-Protection Report Online
FreePint announced that it has published a new report,
"Data Protection for Websites and Intranets" by Paul
Pedley. According to the announcement, it's essential
reading for anyone working with electronic information
as it explains how data-protection laws specifically
deal with Web sites, intranets, and online services.
The report is available to purchase online at http://www.freepint.com/shop/report.
New European legislation on privacy and electronic
communications took effect in the U.K. on Dec. 11. The
new regulations apply to the use of online public directories
with telephone numbers, addresses, or e-mail addresses.
They also apply to such activities as the use of invisible
tracking devices like cookies or Web bugs and the use
of electronic communication for direct-marketing purposes.
The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive)
Regulations 2003 (ISI 2003/2426) have a direct impact
on the use and transfer of electronic personal data.
Source: FreePint, Middlesex, U.K., 011-44-1784-420044;
http://www.freepint.com.
ProQuest Signs Three New Agreements
ProQuest Information and Learning has announced agreements
with three companies.
OxResearch Database
A distribution agreement for Oxford Analytica's OxResearch
database gives ProQuest exclusive worldwide distribution
rights for the K-12, academic, and U.S. military/government
library markets.
OxResearch is an archival database of articles published
in the Oxford Analytica Daily Brief series dating to
1984. It covers economic and political developments
of major significance and analyzes their impact on the
political, business, and operating environment. ProQuest
will offer OxResearch as a stand-alone online subscription
service in the ABI/INFORM business database suite.
News International
The agreement with News International continues coverage
of The Times and The Sunday Times in ProQuest
online databases and brings two new newspaper titles,
The Sun and News of the World, to ProQuest
products.
News International is the major U.K. subsidiary of
the News Corporation, Ltd. The News International content
will appear in ProQuest Newsstand products, eLibrary
products for K-12 libraries and schools, and several
products targeted at international ProQuest customers,
such as ProQuest Learning: News.
The Medical Journal of Australia
ProQuest Information and Learning will offer content
from The Medical Journal of Australia. The agreement
brings the full text of this clinical journal to the
company's ProQuest online databases, including ProQuest
Medical Library, MEDLINE with Full Text, and Health
and Medical Complete. The partnership allows ProQuest
to distribute the journal content to educational institutions,
hospitals, and other libraries around the world.
Source: ProQuest Information and Learning, Ann Arbor,
MI, 734/761-4700; http://www.il.proquest.com.
IFLA Announces Donation to FAIFE
IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations
and Institutions) announced that FOBID, the library
umbrella organization of the Netherlands, will donate
$61,000 to the IFLA Free Access to Information and Freedom
of Expression (FAIFE) core activity.
FOBID president Jan-Ewout van der Putten said that
his organization was "convinced of the importance of
IFLA's core activities, especially FAIFE, because it
is concerned with the core content of the profession
and of utmost importance to the international advocacy
of libraries."
The FOBID contribution will be in the form of an annual
contribution of $12,200 over 5 years. The following
conditions are attached by FOBID:
• IFLA should take measures to secure
broader financial support for its FAIFE program by
encouraging other organizations to follow FOBID's
example.
• Full reports, including financial reports
and accounts, should be made available to FOBID so
that an evaluation of the effect of its contribution
can be made after 2 years
Source: IFLA, The Hague, Netherlands, 011-31-70-3140884;
http://www.ifla.org.
NESLi2, Blackwell Publishing Announce Agreement
Blackwell Publishing, Ltd., and NESLi2 announced an
agreement that will enable U.K. universities and higher
education institutions to gain online access to Blackwell's
collection of 660 international peer-reviewed journals,
many published on behalf of scholarly and professional
societies. The collection includes journals covering
medicine, life and physical sciences, social science,
and the humanities.
The Blackwell Publishing/NESLi2 agreement for 2004
offers institutions two options for purchasing access
to the journals: the option to maintain all print subscriptions
and, new for 2004, the option to convert some or all
existing subscriptions to online-only. Both comply with
the Model Licence, which was devised with librarians
for librarians.
The collection prices are based on the NESLi2 banding
for size of the institution. There are volume discounts—based
on the number of sites participating in the deal—that
are available for orders placed before Nov. 1, 2003.
Source: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd., Oxford, U.K.,
011-44-1865-791100; http://www.blackwellpublishing.com.
LexisNexis Partners with American Bar Association
LexisNexis and the American Bar Association Section
of Public Utility, Communications, and Transportation
Law announced an extensive sponsorship agreement between
the two organizations.
As part of the new relationship, LexisNexis becomes
the primary corporate sponsor of the section. This will
provide the company with key content licensing and sponsorship
opportunities. Section members will realize benefits
of the agreement through the development of new and
enhanced programs and activities as well as firsthand
access to LexisNexis products and services. The term
of the agreement is 3 years.
LexisNexis will offer a wide range of research and
information products to section members as part of its
sponsorship.
Source: LexisNexis, Dayton, OH, 937/865-6800; http://www.lexisnexis.com.
OCLC Purchases CAPCON Assets
OCLC announced that, in a move initiated by the CAPCON
board of trustees and approved by the CAPCON membership,
it has purchased the business assets of the CAPCON Library
Network to form the OCLC CAPCON Service Center. The
new unit will continue to serve libraries in the Washington,
D.C., area under the leadership of executive director
Katherine Blauer.
The agreement, finalized in November 2003, enables
OCLC to serve libraries that were formerly served by
the CAPCON Library Network. The OCLC CAPCON Service
Center will continue to offer the CAPCON Collection
as well as OCLC services, training, and support to more
than 300 libraries in the District of Columbia, Maryland,
and Virginia.
Source: OCLC, Dublin, OH, 614/764-6000; http://www.oclc.org.
CrossRef Drops DOI Retrieval Fees
CrossRef, the cross-publisher reference-linking service,
announced that it will drop its DOI retrieval fees for
all members and affiliates starting this month. This
move gives all CrossRef users unlimited access to DOIs
and is particularly significant for secondary publishers.
According to the announcement, DOI links from citations
and bibliographic databases to full text are expected
to increase greatly as a result.
The decision by the CrossRef board to drop DOI retrieval
fees is the latest move intended to open access to the
CrossRef system. Last May, CrossRef made library accounts
on its system completely free.
According to the announcement, CrossRef continues
to experience membership growth. Fifty scholarly and
professional publishers have signed on in the last 6
months alone, bringing the total number of members to
250.
Thousands of book and conference-proceeding DOIs have
also been added to the CrossRef system, including 700
titles from Oxford University Press. With these additions,
CrossRef now covers more than 8,700 journals and nearly
10 million individual content items.
Source: CrossRef, Lynnfield, MA, 781/295-0072; http://www.crossref.org.
Elsevier Signs On with CISTI
The Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical
Information (CISTI) announced the signing of a key agreement
that makes Elsevier's major STM titles available to
CISTI clients who choose Secure Desktop Delivery (SDD).
This new document delivery method was launched in December.
A number of other major publishers, including Taylor
& Francis and IEEE, have signed similar agreements
with CISTI in recent months. CISTI is in ongoing negotiations
with key STM publishers, and several additional agreements
are nearing completion.
According to the announcement, SDD will allow CISTI
customers to order documents on the Web and receive
them at their desktop. The new document delivery system
will effectively prevent redistribution, copying, and
storage of documents through the use of a customized
Acrobat plug-in that enables the customer to view and
print their documents using a simple Web interface.
Source: Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical
Information, Ottawa, 613/998-2362; http://cisti.nrc.gc.ca.
BioMed Central Signs Two New Members
BioMed Central announced that it has signed institutional
membership agreements with two U.S. consortia, the Consortium
of Southern BioMedical Libraries (CONBLS) and Maine
Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN).
CONBLS is a consortium of biomedical libraries in
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico,
South Carolina, and Tennessee.
The Maine BRIN is a seven-institution network that
links biomedical research laboratories, universities,
and colleges in the state. Twenty-four BRINs are active
across the U.S.
Source: BioMed Central, London, 011-44-20-7323-0323;
http://www.biomedcentral.com.
ATLA to Produce New Testament Abstracts
The American Theological Library Association (ATLA)
announced a formal agreement with the Weston Jesuit
School of Theology to produce electronic versions of
the New Testament Abstracts (NTA). The agreement calls
for an online version developed by ATLA and available
through EBSCO as well as a CD-ROM version of New Testament
Abstracts to be produced directly by ATLA.
According to the announcement, NTA is a comprehensive
and vital tool for all aspects of New Testament studies.
It provides more than 2,000 abstracts annually from
more than 500 journals as well as notices on approximately
800 new books. ATLA also offers Old Testament Abstracts
in collaboration with the Catholic Biblical Association
and The Catholic Periodical and Literature Index with
the Catholic Library Association. All four databases
will be available online from EBSCO.
Source: American Theological Library Association,
Chicago, 312/454-5100; http://www.atla.com.
Inmagic Changes Solution's Business Model
Inmagic, Inc. announced a partnership with Digital
Vantage Point, an open standards systems integrator.
Digital Vantage Point, which will work with Inmagic
Content Server customers in the U.S. and Canada, will
provide consulting, integration, development, and delivery
services for businesses that need to make their content
widely available across the enterprise via a Web services
solution.
Inmagic introduced Inmagic Content Server in the first
quarter of 2003 as part of a new business model. The
solution was developed in direct response to requests
from Inmagic's largest customers for a product based
on an open standards database that provides enterprise
performance and scalability.
Inmagic Content Server extends the use of Inmagic
products across the enterprise, turning unstructured
information into content intelligence that drives important
business decisions. According to the announcement, business
users can easily create or integrate content from internal
and external sources; deploy that content to Web pages
on intranets, extranets, and the Internet; and organize
and manage information flows that drive business intelligence.
Source: Inmagic, Inc., Woburn, MA, 781/938-4444; http://www.inmagic.com.
SLA Adopts New Values Statements
The Special Libraries Association (SLA) board of directors
announced that the organization has adopted new vision,
mission, and values statements during its fall board
meeting.
The new vision, mission, and core values were created
by SLA's Strategic Planning Committee with input from
thousands of leaders and members and are at the hub
of SLA's strategic branding initiatives. According to
the announcement, the statements (which can be found
at SLA's Web site) are based on the values that shape
and inspire SLA's operations and clearly articulate
the purpose and desired state of the organization.
Source: Special Libraries Association, Washington,
DC, 202/234-4700; http://www.sla.org.
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