When you have a moment to devote to professional reading but you don't want to wade through all your sources for something appealing, check here for items other NCSLA members have found useful, intriguing or worth while. Also, if you found something great you would like to share feel free to suggest a site, article, etc.
Harnessing the Deep Web: A Practical Plan for Locating Free Specialty Databases on the Web
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentType=Article&contentId=1593499
Brett Spencer n this article, Brent Spencer presents a step-by-step plan to access the content of the Deep Web - the “hidden part of the internet� that is missed by using general tools like Google to search only the “surface Web�. In addition to his “self-paced, adaptable worksheet� of techniques which is intended to help librarians find free specialty search engines and databases, he also provides tips on compiling toolkits resources in order to make them available to patrons. Some of the applications he suggests for such collections are as resources for libraries in developing countries that may not have access to subsidized databases and for use by virtual reference services.
Bioethics Resources on the Web
http://bioethics.od.nih.gov/
Designed by the National Institutes of Health, this searchable directory points to web-based bioethics resources such as organizations, academic centers, publications, documents, educational and training opportunities, funding opportunities, and much more from NIH, other federal sources and general sources. Specific topics are addressed within three main areas of biomedical ethics: research ethics, genetics, and medicine and healthcare. This directory is intended to help researchers, participants and the general public “think through ethical issues and problems� and “facilitate research, scholarly activities, and training�.
Wikipedia: To Use or Not To Use
By Caryn Wesner-Early
From FreePint newsletter December 2006 issue. http://www.freepint.com/issues/071206.htm#tips
This article provides a concise, objective overview of the interesting controversy that has surrounded Wikipedia throughout its history: does this user-edited encyclopedia provide inaccurate information or is it a “useful resource for students and professional researchers�? Ms. Wesner discusses the issue of editorial accountability and other weaknesses that permeate the controversy, as well as the value of using a “community-based� source like Wikipedia.
Intute
http://www.intute.ac.uk/
Intute is a free database of web resources for education and research that have been evaluated for “quality and relevance� by subject specialists and librarians. A “high quality' description accompanies each resource. The database currently contains 115,056 records in the areas of Science and Technology, Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Health and Life Sciences, and each main category can be browsed by subject or searched by keyword. The newest additions to the database can be viewed by subject area, and suggestions for including resources in the Intute database are welcomed.
Current Cites
http://lists.webjunction.org/currentcites/
This website is an “annotated bibliography of selected articles, books, and digital documents on information technology�. Edited by Roy Tennant, this free monthly publication provides citations to the best print and digital resources in the information technology literature. Current Cites has been published since August 1990 and was created to help librarians and library staff keep abreast of changes in technology. Each issue is available via mailing list and as an RSS feed.
LLRX.com
http://www.llrx.com/
Sabrina Pacifici, librarian, web editor and publisher, was named one of Library Journal's Movers and Shakers in 2006. She has won many awards for this online journal which provides "legal, library, IT/IS, marketing and administrative professionals with the most up-to-date information on a wide range of Internet research and technology-related issues, applications, resources and tools". The site publishes new content monthly, and also provides an archive of past content that is browsable and searchable by date, topic and keywords. Readers can join an email list to be alerted to the content available in each new issue.
Developing and Sustaining
A Web-Based Library Newsletter, by Anthony J. Frisby et al. in Medical Reference Services Quarterly , Vol. 25, No. 1, (c) 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. Informed Librarian Online, Accessed November 2006.
http://www.informedlibrarian.com/current_issue.cfm?Issue=iloaug2006.html
In reflecting on the challenges inherent in developing and sustaining a Web-based library newsletter over the course of five years, the authors of this article provide some excellent guidelines for other types of organizations that seek to communicate to their customers.
Some of the issues addressed are building and tracking readership, soliciting feedback, and maintaining staff interest after the initial novelty has worn off. These challenges and strategies described in this article are not unique to academic libraries, but have implications for other institutions and organizations interested in providing web-based newsletters.
UI Current LIS Clips
http://clips.lis.uiuc.edu/
UI Current LIS Clips is provided as "a current awareness service for the library and information community" by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It offers summaries of key issues and current events of interest to the library and information science community. Issues are published irregularly, and an archive of past issues is available on the site.
Considering your Career
The book "Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Career Professionals" by G. Kim Dority can help library students trying to determine what path to take, mid-career librarians considering their next options, and longtime information professionals considering a change. A posting on the BUSLIB-L listserv recommended this $38 book, whose author is an adjunct professor at the University of Denver's Library and Information Science program. For more information, please go to http://www.greenwood.com/books/printFlyer.aspx?sku=LU180X. -- Contributed by Roger Magnus.
On top of technology issues
TechEssence Info, which bills itself as "the essence of technology for library decision-makers," gets to the heart of some issues important to librarians. Some recent posts include "Hiring a systems librarian," "Continuous Learning: Making it a Priority Without Breaking the Bank," and "Using Grant Money for Technology Projects." Give it a shot at http://techessence.info/.
FreePint
A free e-mail newsletter called FreePint is full of tips for the information professional -- from good research sites to website usability news to job listings. Check out the Aug. 10, 2006, issue at http://www.freepint.com/issues/100806.htm; it includes tips for researching public companies and writing effectively for your library website. You can sign up for the twice-monthly newsletter on the site. FreePint is a community of information researchers and users.
The real (estate) deal
Zillow.com is an online real estate service providing estimated property valuations on more than 65 million homes in the United States. The site also provides historical valuation data for properties for the previous 1-year, 5-year and 10-year periods. It is possible to compare the value of homes in the same neighborhood, the same zip code and the same city. There's a lot of interesting information here, but caution should be advised to not depend on it as a sole source for evaluating the value of a property. Read how Zillow got its name here: http://www.zillow.com/corp/About.htm. (Contributed by Barb LeBlanc)
Share your photos on Flickr
Flickr, a cool site where people can share their digital photos with others, is a snap to use. Just go to http://www.flickr.com and type in "ncsla" in the search box at the top, for example, and you can view pictures from the NCSLA banquet. That's because those photos are tagged "ncsla." If you go into Flickr and add your own banquet photos - or other SLA photos - you can tag them "ncsla," and they'll come up in that search, too! Of course, you'll probably want to post family photos here, too - and you can give other people permission to organize your photos and add comments and tags to them so it's a collaborative process. Best of all, it's not only fun, it's free!
Google Finance rich in features
Google Finance (http://www.google.com/finance) is similar to Yahoo! Finance, but has a few unique features. When you type a company's ticker symbol into the search box, you will see a customized page for the company. Besides providing the standard stock price, 52 week high, etc., an interactive graph tracks the company's stock price over time; you can move it to any point in time. The graph also ties to recent news articles about the company, which are presented to the right of the graph. A click on "more news" will bring up a page that aggregates news articles for the company by month. The Company Summary section, which links to Reuters content, seems a bit more robust on Google Finance than Yahoo! Finance. The Management section has a unique feature that allows you to mouse over the > next to each member of management's name to see the age of the person and links to their bio and compensation information as well as their trading activity.
Check out this library tech blog! Ask.com digg.com Library 2.0 New Google newsletter Fugitive documents and files New diversity book for librarians Job-hunting advice from listservs Effective searches for podcasts New hurricane archive 32 Tips to Inspire Innovation for You and Your Library Part 3 The third part in this series offers tips for innovation and product development success in a library based on the experience of Stephen Abram, Vice President of Innovation for SirsiDynix. Knowledge Management Conference: The International Conference for Knowledge Management held last week in Charlotte generated a lot of interesting PowerPoint presentations, which are posted here. The page doesn't look pretty, but many of the individual presentations on topics ranging from case studies to best practices are very useful. The Fading Memory of the State Technology Review (July 2005) Discusses the enormous (and mounting) problem of preserving digital government records faced by the National Archives and Records Administration. ~Blogs~ Are you using the right blogging tool? The basics of blog development, including a handy glossary of blog jargon and a comparison chart of blog software. Legal Guide for Bloggers Free site offers extensive guidance to help bloggers avoid potential legal pitfalls. ~SLA Annual Conference~ 2005 SLA Annual Conference Presentations Whether you didn't make it to this year's conference or are just seeking a refresher on tips from a great session, the national SLA site maintains these links to many of the presentations from the 2005 annual conference in Toronto, ON. ~Article~ The Google Opportunity With Google there is a fine line between friend and foe, but no one can deny its vast reach. This article discusses possibilities for libraries seeking to make their mark in a "Googlized" world. ~Report~ Outsell's Outlook 2005: Power Play In The Information Industry Free download ~Wrap-up~ Information Today's Wrapping Up 2004; Looking Forward The year in review, librarian style. ~Article~ Going Public Library Journal article on why some special librarians are making a mid-career shift to the public library arena. Compares benefits and necessary skill sets for the two environments. ~Resources~ Fair-Use Issues The Copyright Management Center guidelines and checklist for copyright compliance in the library, classroom. etc. Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States Part of Cornell's portal to copyright information, this site gives current public domain definitions in a handy table form. ~Text~ Web Design on a Shoestring For web do-it-yourselfers: full-text of a chapter from a new (librarian-authored) book. Advice on web project planning in a pound-wise, and pitfall-avoiding, way. ~Conference~ Web Research: What's New in 2004 The conference experience in the comfort of your own office. Gary Price (resourceshelf.com) & Chris Sherman (Searchwise) in an LC-sponsored cybercast. Other 2004 cybercast topics: Cultural Heritage Preservation in the Digital Age & LS education.
~Report~ The Digital Library Federation's Electronic Resource Management Workflow Flowchart Graphically explains the difference between physical and digital asset acquisition and management. Useful as support material for resource allocation and as a point of reference in digital project management. Also serves as indirect proof that the digital age means job security for librarians. ~Resources~ Google's Directory of LIS Blogs The latest from the wide world of librarianship -- direct from its varied trenches. ~Article~ The Devil You Don't Know: The Unexpected Future of Open Access Publishing A look into the future (near and far) of research information channels. A good primer on the evolutionary possibilities, and pitfalls, of research publication ~Tutorial~ Getting Started with RSS: The Fifteen-Minute Tutorial from Free Range Librarian Promises "to get you from baffled to 'ah hah' in less than fifteen minutes" ~Article~ Jessica Baumgart's RSS Intro in News Library News Explains the value of RSS syndication as a tool for keeping up-to-date personally, distributing content, and keeping your intranet site timely. Members are encouraged to share useful links and articles with the chapter.
Helene Blowers provided lots of great tips for librarians hoping to improve their websites through blogs, RSS feeds and patron input, among other things, at the joint NC-SC meeting. She shares a wealth of really helpful information on her blog at http://libtechbytes.blogspot.com/. The April 2 post includes her PowerPoint presentation and some other sites she mentioned at the meeting. Blowers is public services technology director at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County.
In honor of Gary Price's move from Search Engine Watch to Ask.com, here's an update about changes at the search engine Ask.com, which include dropping Jeeves the butler and adding a new toolbar of search features: http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3587686. Price is the new Director of Online Information Resources at Ask Jeeves. He will still maintain his very useful ResourceShelf blog at http://www.resourceshelf.com/.
Trying to keep up with technology news? This new technology website, digg.com (http://www.digg.com/), shows technology articles as rated by readers. Users submit stories for review, but rather than allowing an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do. Check it out; RSS feeds available, too.
One definition of Library 2.0 from a recent blog is "making your library's space (virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs. Examples of where to start include blogs, gaming nights for teens, and collaborative photo sites." There has been a lot of debate around the buzzword Library 2.0 - especially whether this is really a new idea. Two interesting readings: http://www.librarystuff.net/2006/01/library-20-questions-and-commentary.html (a blog) and http://cites.boisestate.edu/civ6i2.pdf (a bulletin).
Google distributed the first issue of its newsletter for librarians in December. The inaugual issue - http://www.google.com/newsletter/librarian/librarian_2005_12/newsletter.html - includes an article about how Google and other search engines work by Matt Cutts. The newsletter is planned to be quarterly.
More than one working week a year is wasted searching for documents, reports ManagingInformation.com. The article - http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=4522 - discusses a survey of 250 professionals that shows much time is wasted searching for documents that have not been saved appropriately so that they are easy to find. I personally recommend the book "Getting Things Done" by David Allen by getting your personal and professional lives organized. There are great ideas in there for everyone!
"Achieving Diversity: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians" by Barbara I. Dewey and Loretta Parham, was published this month by Neal-Schuman, reports Mike Crumpton, diversity chair. The 275-page book includes chapters covering strategic planning; recruiting and retaining minorities; reaching out to new users; marketing to underrepresented populations; building collections for marginalized groups; overcoming the digital divide; assessment; and other important topics. --submitted by Mike Crumpton, academic relations chair
Professional listservs are a great source of advice on getting perspective employers points of view regarding resumes and interviewing. A good summary of comments include: make it clear in your cover letter and resume why you're qualified for the specific position; ensure grammar and spelling are clear; and remember to include your language and computer skills. Prepare and speak to the specific position that you are applying for. In addition to the websites listed on NCSLA's website, sign-up for updates on librarian positions with professional listservs as well as publications such as the Chronicle of Higher Education. I have a complied listing of comments from a variety of listservs for anyone interested in more details; just send me an email at macrumpton@waketech.edu. --submitted by Mike Crumpton, academic relations chair
If you're into digital media, you might want to try two new search engines: Podzinger and blinkx, which help you find podcast content. Podcasts are technologies that distribute audio or video programs over the Internet. Check it out at www.podzinger.com and www.blinkx.com. They each search audio content for keywords -- a step above mainstream search engines, which look only at audio metadata such as headlines.
The Internet Archive announces the availability of the Hurricanes Katrina & Rita Web Archive (http://websearch.archive.org/katrina/). It's a collection of more than 25 million unique pages, all text searchable, about the devastation and relief effort in the hurricanes.
http://www.imakenews.com/sirsi/e_article000458643.cfm
http://www.ickm2005.org/ickm2005_powerpoint_presentation.htm
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/07/issue/feature_memory.asp
WEB DEVELOPMENT
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050714gardner/
http://www.eff.org/bloggers/lg/
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
http://www.sla.org/content/Events/confpresentations/05confpresent.cfm
BRANDING
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA498846.html
INFORMATION INDUSTRY
http://www.outsellinc.com/subscribe/freebriefsOutlook.htm
Annual look back at the year past and ahead at emerging trends in the information industry.
http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb050103-1.shtml
LIBRARY CAREER TRENDS
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA479156
COPYRIGHT LAW
http://copyright.iupui.edu/fairuse.htm
http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm
WEB DESIGN
http://www.webreference.com/promotion/design/
(More from the author at: http://www.roguelibrarian.com/)
WEB SEARCHING
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/lectures/gpcs.html
DIGITAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
http://www.diglib.org/pubs/dlfermi0408/dlfermi0408appb.htm
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Libraries/Library_and_Information_Science/Weblogs/
INFORMATION ACCESS
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_8/esposito/index.html
BRANDING; PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
http://frl.bluehighways.com/frlarchives/000123.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/nln/nln04/nln262.pdf
(Article begins on page 1 and continues pages 14-16.)
Return to top
To suggest a site or article contact Jennifer Klimas