The Courier

President�s Letter

Daniel Lee

Members and friends of SLA Toronto,

Welcome to the third issue of The Courier for 2008. Summer is upon us and before we know it, fall will be here. My best wishes to you, your families, and friends as you enjoy your summer holidays - wherever they may take you.

Canadian Reception
SLA Toronto hosted this year's Canadian Reception in Seattle with the generous sponsorship of CEDROM-SNi and Swets. Over 150 Canadians from the three Canadian Chapters (and many of their friends!) enjoyed wines from Washington state and a delicious selection of Seattle seafood. The Canadian Reception is always a popular tradition at conference and I want to thank Heather Wilson and Claire Wollen for putting together a spectacular event.

Thanks also to Jane Cooney for acting as event photographer. An album of Jane's photographs has been posted to Facebook and can be viewed (even if you aren't a member) here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56672&l=add17&id=518492278

Conference
The annual conference and INFO-EXPO was held in Seattle 15-18 June, and exceeded the association's expectations and, for the second year in a row, included members from every chapter around the globe. According to SLA Headquarters, final attendance figures for conference totaled 5,011 individuals from six continents. Of that number, 845 participants were first-time SLA conference participants. And SLA's INFO-EXPO, the largest information and knowledge management exposition in North America, featured 283 companies and organizations and 464 total booths. In Seattle, the association welcomed 50 new exhibitors.

SLA Toronto was well represented in Seattle and even received a special mention at the Board of Directors Open Session for having 50 members in attendance in Seattle. Way to go!

SLA's centennial year conference will be in Washington, DC from 14-17 June, 2009. Planning is well underway to make 2009 one of the most memorable conferences in SLA's history. I hope to see you there!

Events The fall slate of Chapter events is being finalized as I write this letter. Mark your calendars with the following dates and check the SLA Toronto events page regularly for updates: http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/events/default.asp

Preliminary Schedule of Events, Fall 2008

August 21, 2008 - Joint Summer Social with CASLIS
September 11, 2008 - Click U Live! Best Practices for Setting up a wiki
September 18, 2008 - SLA Toronto's Partners in Technology Roundtable
October 8, 2008 - Click U Live! The Year in Web Searching: News, Updates, and Changes at Google, Yahoo!, Live, and More
October 15, 2008 - CBC Library Tour with Victoria Goodfellow
November, 2008 - SLA Toronto Annual General Meeting (Date to be determined)
December 3, 2008 - Joint Holiday Social with CASLIS

SLA's Innovation Laboratory (http://www.sla.org/innovate/)
SLA's Innovation Laboratory was launched in Seattle and is designed as a place where you can play and discover uses for the latest emerging technologies. It's a unique resource for SLA members to discover new technologies and I encourage you to become a member. The Laboratory offers a wide variety of Web 2.0 software learning tools to help you become more business savvy and technologically adept. As part of the Innovation Laboratory, "23 Things" was also launched in Seattle. From the 23 Things site:

"The new Web 2.0 tools are coming at us fast and furiously and we all mean to learn them and use them personally as well as to help our clients with them. As you probably learned at SLA this June, NOW is that time. Let's take this challenge together over the summer -- so we can all help each other. 23 Things is a step by step, week-by-week strategy that is paced so that we can all incorporate this learning and start applying it. We even have a strategy for those of you who either know some of the tools or only want to learn some within the 23. To learn more and join us in this journey, that will be done by September 15, 2008, to be eligible for a prize and certificate, please click here to register: http://tinyurl.com/6s9l6s"

As Chapter President, I would like to see as many members as possible become a part of this exciting and valuable initiative. As I write this letter, a plan is being drafted to create a local group of "23 Things" devotees. Watch the discussion list for more information.

Daniel P. Lee, MLIS
President, SLA Toronto Chapter

Editors� Letter

Heather Postill,Jennifer Burns

Another SLA Annual Conference has drawn to a close and summer is well and truly here. It was a tough winter and we hope that you are enjoying the warmer weather and maybe catching up on your beach or cottage reading!

If you�re spending time indoors to beat the heat (or if you can get a wireless signal from the dock!), maybe you�d like to join other members of SLA online via social networking. It�s easy, fun, and a great way to meet and share knowledge and ideas with other information professionals. Read all about it in this issue�s Board Watch

Enjoy this issue and have a safe and happy summer!

As always, we are looking for writers, occasional and regular, to contribute ideas, comments, thoughts, and news items. Share your experiences with your colleagues. Contact us directly anytime for more information.

Jennifer Burns
burns.jennifer@sympatico.ca

Heather Postill
hpostill@sympatico.ca

Board Watch

Joy Shanfield

SLA Toronto Chapter extends congratulations to President Daniel P. Lee, who received a 2008 Diversity Leadership Development Program Award at the recent SLA Annual Conference in Seattle, WA (see SLA�s pre-conference announcement of award winners below,)

SLA Announces Recipients of 2008 Diversity Leadership Development Program Award Sponsored by EBSCO Five SLA Members to Be Honored at SLA Annual Conference and INFO- EXPO in Seattle

Alexandria, Virginia USA, 27 May 2008 - The Special Libraries Association (SLA) Diversity Leadership Development Program (DLDP), in conjunction with EBSCO, the sponsor of the awards, today announced the five SLA members who will be honored in June as recipients of the 2008 DLDP Awards. The 2008 DLDP Awards include a US$ 1,000 cash prize, as well as complimentary registration for the 2008 SLA Annual Conference and INFO-EXPO, to be held 15-18 June in Seattle.

The DLDP Award program was developed by SLA to help accelerate the advancement and visibility of members who represent the diversity of the association by mentoring them for greater leadership opportunities.

SLA defines diversity as, "a reality created by individuals and groups from a broad spectrum of demographic and philosophical differences." The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.

Recipients must have an interest and potential for leadership with SLA, have been a member of SLA for at least one year, and have between three and ten years of professional library and information experience.

Candidates for the DLDP awards were reviewed and considered by the DLDP Committee, chaired this year by Dr. Stephanie Tolson, and confirmed by the SLA Board of Directors.

"Each and every one of these honorees is exceptionally deserving of this recognition," said Janice R. Lachance, SLA chief executive officer. "Their contributions to the association and to the information profession have helped SLA continue to grow into one of the most diverse and inclusive organizations in the field of information management today. I congratulate all of these award recipients and thank them for their continued dedication to SLA and the profession."

A very important part of the DLDP is the assigning of a mentor to each of the recipients. DLDP mentors play a very special role in the career development of each recipient. The mentors are seasoned information professionals who meet with recipients to give advice on career direction, building a portfolio of skills, and leadership opportunities in SLA and how to obtain those roles.

The 2008 recipients of the Diversity Leadership Development Program (DLDP) Award are:

Dr. Prakriti R. Goswami, Director, National Social Science Document Center, New Delhi, India
Jasmine Griffiths, Knowledge Services Organization, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tampa, Fla.
Daniel P. Lee, Research Librarian, Navigator Ltd., Toronto, Ontario
Winter S. Shanck, Archivist, Reference Library/Tape Archive, Thirteen/WNET, New York City
Bing Wang, Chemical Information Librarian, Library and Information Center, Georgia Tech Library & Information Center, Atlanta

DLDP Award recipients are showcased at the SLA Awards Ceremony and Reception on 15 June, as well as the DLDP Breakfast on 16 June, and presented at the Opening Session during the 2008 SLA Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO.

SLA Announces (June 10, 2008): The SLA Innovation Laboratory, a place to explore

Be a lab rat!

The SLA Innovation Laboratory is designed to be a place where you can play, learn, and discover uses for the latest emerging technologies. It's a unique resource exclusively for SLA members to discover, and get comfortable with, new technologies. The Laboratory offers a wide variety of Web 2.0 software learning tools to help you become more business savvy and technologically adept.

The SLA Innovation Lab also provides tools to SLA units (chapters, divisions, committees, councils, caucuses, task forces, etc.) to build and implement useful services for members. The initiative adds deep value to acquiring and retaining SLA membership.

Join us in the Laboratory

SLA has a long tradition of successful education initiatives. Learning opportunities abound, but the SLA Innovation Laboratory differs from traditional continuous learning in that it does not necessarily require a course, conference or event. It is something members -- you -- do for yourself, independently or in small groups. By offering the SLA Innovation Laboratory for members to discover, play, and learn, we have the framework for 24/7 independent learning opportunities. This is an expansion of SLA's learning programs, and is designed for you to invest the time and have fun learning.

So, join us in the laboratory! Enter your SLA userID and password and you're on your way to becoming an Innovation Lab Rat!

Harvard University Adopts Open Access Requirement for Faculty
The Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to give the university a worldwide license to make each faculty member's scholarly articles available and to exercise the copyright in the articles, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit. Harvard will take advantage of the license by hosting the Arts and Sciences faculty's scholarly articles in an open access repository, making them available worldwide for free.

Read the press release.

Read the news story.

International Special Librarians Day (ISLD) - 2009
Some may be wondering now ... what ever happened to International Special Librarians Day (ISLD)? Why haven�t I heard anything about it for a few years?

ISLD was put on hiatus in 2006 while the SLA Public Relations Advisory Council assessed its effectiveness in educating the public about special librarians and information professionals and the value you bring to organizations.

Over the course of 2007, the PRAC aspired to create an event that would replace ISLD, as well as recognize and showcase the specialized skills and the value that info pros bring to an enterprise.

After looking at the issues that are important to clients and the business community in today's information economy, the PRAC determined that there is very little knowledge out there focused on what SLA members do every day � search, gather, and share information in an ethical manner.

Do CEOs and executives realize that their resident special librarian or info pro is providing additional value by protecting their organization from scandal, litigation, or worse? Not typically. And sadly, it is often only when it is too late that matters of information ethics (or the lack thereof) are brought to their attention.

With a desire to change this unfortunate reality, a decision was made to replace ISLD with a new, more engaging and informative day of education and celebration in April 2009. (drum roll, please...)

Mark your calendars: Information Ethics Day will be held 17 April 2009.

At the start of this year, your SLA Chapter or Division appointed an SLA Ethics Ambassador, and rest assured they are already working behind the scenes to prepare for the official launch of Information Ethics Day in 2009 during SLA's Centennial Celebration.

Are you interested in shaping this effort or learning more about ethics? Most SLA units will hold town hall meetings about information ethics over the coming months, and the ambassadors will be gathering stories and feedback from members as part of SLA's Global Conversation on the topic this year.

Contact your unit's ethics ambassador, president or chair to get involved NOW!

Outraged SLA Members Act to Restore Abortion to Federal Health Database
SLA member Gail L. Sorrough was shocked to learn on 31 March that that the administrator of the reproductive-health database Popline (Population Information Online) had placed the search word "abortion" on its stop list or file of blocked terms.

After finding that a routine Popline search on the word "abortion" retrieved fewer citations at the end of March than it had in January, librarian Gloria Won, who works with Gail at the Medical Center of the University of San Francisco, e-mailed database officials to ask about the discrepancy.

To her shock, Popline's Database Manager/Administrator informed them, "We recently made all abortion terms stop words. As a federally funded project, we decided this was best for now."

Outraged, Gloria and Gail alerted the SLA community, talked about it on discussion lists, and notified medical librarians of the decision, and soon word had spread to the blogosphere and the mainstream consumer news media.

The result? A short five days later the dean of Johns Hopkins University�s Bloomberg School of Public Health announced that he was reversing the decision.

Read the full story in American Libraries.

Social networking for SLA on Facebook
Note: You must have a Facebook profile to view pages and participate in the groups linked to below.

Many SLA Units have created SLA Groups on Facebook and are already doing a great job of utilizing this great tool to keep in touch with each other as well network and share SLA information.

SLA Headquarters wants to say a big THANK YOU to Stacey Greenwell who is the fabulous SLA member from Kentucky keeping all of the SLA Members on Facebook linked through this group!

Right now there are just over 800 members of the SLA Members on Facebook group, and we know there are more of you out there, so PLEASE come on in and join the group! Take a look at the other members- maybe you find an old friend to reconnect with, maybe your SLA chapter or division has created a group as well. (If not, maybe you could start one?)

The possibilities are endless!

SLA HQ wants to encourage all of you members out there who haven't yet tried this super fun and very personalized networking tool- to give it a whirl!!

Playing around on Facebook is really quite easy (and addictive!) and has the capacity to open your network to hundreds more people and groups that can assist you in your personal and professional life.

Build your own Wikipedia
The technology popularized by Wikipedia can help companies gather and manage their own collective knowledge. CIO Magazine published, on May 1, 2008, an update to the interesting article by Margaret Locher on the subject: How to Build Your Own Wikipedia.

Thomson Corporation Acquires Reuters
The Thomson Corporation announced on 17 April that it has completed its acquisition of Reuters Group PLC, forming Thomson Reuters, a leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare, and media markets. The newly merged Thomson Reuters has more than 50,000 employees with operations in 93 countries on six continents. Read the press release.

Report From the Membership Chair

Claire Lysnes

Welcome to our New Members!

Please join me in welcoming the following information professionals who joined the SLA Toronto Chapter in February, March, and April 2008:

Patricia Aspinwall	Stouffville
Pamela Bakker	Toronto
Ryan Ban	Markham
Elizabeth Chang	Toronto
Lynda Cunha	Woodbridge
Jessie Cunningham	Toronto
Lella Dal Ferro	Toronto
Colin Deinhardt	Mississauga
Lise Doucette	London
Marjan Farahbaksh	Toronto
Sarah Folkes	London
Joanne Fowlie	Barrie
Cecelia French	Dundas
Andrea Gagliardi	Whitby
Rachel Hazlett	Toronto
Krista Jensen	Toronto
Eileen Lewis	Toronto
Carolyn Lindsay	Toronto
Kathleen MacDonald	Toronto
Patricia Mero	Toronto
Michele Miles	Toronto
Erin Murphy	Toronto
Mary Jane Murray	Hillsdale
Zachary Osborne	Oshawa
Lisa Page	Toronto
Stephanie Perpick	Toronto
Joanne Raduovich	Oakville
Sabrina Ruplall	Markham
Dolores Sedore	Toronto
Sandra Shoufani	Toronto
Alison Stirling	Toronto
Anne Sutherland	Pembroke
Leah Swift	Toronto
Corrina Switzer	North York
Weina Wang	Toronto
Jaclyn Yeh	Richmond Hill

I look forward to meeting each of you at a future SLA Toronto event!

Claire Lysnes
SLA Toronto Chapter Membership Chair
clysnes@gmail.com

Upcoming Chapter Events

Toronto SLA Chapter

Here are some of the upcoming events presented by SLA Toronto Chapter. See the Toronto chapter website for details. (/http://www.sla.org/chapter/ctor/).

Best Practices for Setting Up a Wiki
September 11, 2008
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Legislative Building, Queen's Park
Committee Room 228, (located on the 2nd Floor in the West Wing)

Partners in Technology
September 18, 2008
5:30 PM (registration), 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (event)
Toronto Board of Trade
1 First Canadian Place
Fourth Floor

Click U Live! Webinar: The Year in Web Searching:
October 8, 2008
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Ontario Legislative Assembly, Committee Room 2

SLA @ CBC: An Evening Tour & Discussion
October 15, 2008
6:30 PM (registration), 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM (event)
CBC Broadcasting Centre, 205 Wellington Street, 4th Floor

SLA Toronto Chapter Annual General Meeting (To be scheduled in November)
November, 2008
5:30 PM (registration), 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (event)
TBA

SLA / CASLIS Joint Holiday Social
December 3, 2008
5:30 PM (registration), 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM (event)
Arts & Letters Club of Toronto, 14 Elm Street (Elm & Yonge, 2 blocks north of Dundas W)

Report From The Toronto New Information Professionals (NIP) Program

Laura Warner

Summer Social 2008
Members of SLA Toronto�s New Information Professionals enjoyed food, drinks and each other�s company at the NIP Summer Social. The gathering was held at the Duke of York Pub and was very well attended.

Watch for an autumn event advertised through the SLA Toronto listserv and on the NIP Facebook site.

New NIP Members
We are always expanding our NIP network to connect students and new professionals with one another. Please pass along this information to any new professionals or students that you know.

Laura Warner is a graduate of Dalhousie University�s MLIS/MPA program and is a Reference Librarian for the CBC.

People on the Move

Frances Wong

Amra Porobic, Manager of the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) Library, took on the position of the Chair of the Toronto Solo Division Group in May. She co-chaired this group with Jasmina Landekic in 2000. Amra has been a solo librarian since 1998, when she joined the Insurance Bureau of Canada. She's also a member of TALL, CLA (CASLIS), and SLA Insurance and Employment Division and can be reached at aporobic@ibc.ca

The IBC Library, established in the late 1970s, was recently renamed "Kennedy / Martin Library". It is dedicated to two exceptional IBC employees, one of whom founded the library.

People on the Move will be a regular column highlighting the achievements of our members and help keep us all in touch. Please share your career changes, retirements, life changes, volunteer work.

Submit your news to Frances Wong at FWong@blgcanada.com.

What Goes Around, Comes Around and You�ll Find it in the Archives

Jan Moffatt

It is fortunate that organizations have anniversaries as this is often the event that sparks interest in their archives. This is the case as the 100th or centennial anniversary of SLA approaches in 2009. This has prompted us to look into SLA Toronto Chapter archives which have recently been relocated to the second floor of the Inforum: Library and Lab at the University of Toronto�s Faculty of Information. If you are looking for it on your own, it may be difficult to find as there is no identifying signage yet. When I visited, three boxes containing old copies of the SLA Toronto Bulletin which evolved into The Courier had been recently stored in this area.

The Courier documents the development of the SLA Toronto Chapter. To get an idea of the business of the Toronto Chapter during 1973-1974, I took a look at the Special Libraries Association Toronto Chapter COURIER, Volume 11, No. 1, October 1973 to Volume 11 No. 6, May 1974. The SLA logo was encircled by the phrase �Putting Knowledge to Work�, a phrase that still describes our �business�. These print issues were typewritten and the content reads like minutes of a meeting. It is not surprising that one of the editor�s New Year resolutions was to �relentlessly hunt down typographical errors�.

The 65th annual SLA conference was held on June 9-13, 1974 in Toronto at the Four Seasons Sheraton. Planning for this event was a large focus for this year with each issue including a segment entitled �Conference Corner�. The theme of the annual SLA conference was �Problem Solving in Special Libraries�. The message from the President-elect mentions all the energy needed to host a conference but identifies what was gained by this effort as she �hoped to build on the experience of working closely together�.

Many of the Toronto Chapter initiatives reported in 1974 sound very familiar: the SLA Toronto Chapter Directory was being updated; the Chapter was reaching out to Members based outside Toronto; and The Courier was allowing print advertising for the first time.

Although there was little in the way of analytical content, one issue was concerned with the need for continuing education for professionals and the idea of life-long learning.

Another issue noted the Editor�s attempt to provide a forum for members to contribute topical articles of interest to the membership. This was the beginning of sharing experiences about Special libraries so �problems� could be discussed and solved � a print blog?

At this time the success of the Toronto Chapter was measured by the enthusiasm of its members and attendance at meetings. It is evident that the Chapter was successful because it encouraged innovation, moved the profession forward by getting the membership involved and asking the right questions.

The Value of Networking

Heather Postill

We all know that professional networking is important. According to the AARP, �whether you are content in your current job, actively looking elsewhere, have not had a job in years, or are working on getting your very first position, networking is important. You never know when you will need to call on your contacts, or when they may have a lead on an exciting new opportunity.�

If you were ever wondering just how a networking opportunity can help you, just listen to this story.

Eva Lam had just graduated from FIS when she attended the SLA holiday social back in December 2007. At the social, Britta Charbonneau and Heather Ritchie noticed a collection of students and went over and introduced themselves. When Heather started talking about her job and knowledge management, explaining how she had a background in law, Eva mentioned that she was also interested in KM and was wondering about ways she might leverage her engineering degree. Heather suggested she contact Dave Hook, who graciously agreed to speak to her about his experience.

Six months later, Eva had this to say about the valuable connection she made:

�Dave is awesome! Over the past 6 months, he has been a great source for advice and has also provided me with very much appreciated encouragement during my job hunt (I just finished school and am now in the midst of the finding a job). He also encouraged me to write an essay for the SLA B&F travel stipend funds. I ended up writing an essay and won $1500 USD to go the conference in Seattle. I just got back a few days ago and am still trying to digest everything that I learned at the conference.�

You can read about Eva�s conference experience in this issue.

Resources

AARP. The Value of Networking http://www.aarp.org/money/careers/findingajob/readytosearch/networking.html

Katcher, Bruce L., Seven Ways to Maximize the Value of Networking Meetings http://www.galtglobalreview.com/business/maximize_networking.htm

My Seattle Conference Experience

Eva Lam

It has been just over two months since I finished my Library Science program and I am now in the thick of my job hunt. I am very thankful for everything that has happened to me in my library career. I am especially thankful for the generous Student Travel Stipend Fund that I received from the Business & Finance division. My experience at my first SLA conference has indeed left an indelible mark on me. I am very excited about the profession as a whole, and I have a much deeper understanding of the value of being an SLA member.

I was so excited about the conference that I deliberately flew to Seattle a few days before the official opening of the conference. I didn�t want to miss a thing! One of the first things I did when I arrived in the city was pick up my registration package. Because I arrived a few days early, I didn�t need to wait in any long lines; however, I was amazed at the enormity of the venue and was anxious to see the area filled with librarians. My first conference event was proctoring one of the Business & Finance Continuing Education courses. As a proctor, I had the opportunity to see what the continuing education courses were really like. I was very impressed with the quality of the lecture and would recommend the courses to those wondering if they should take one in the future. The speaker provided a really interactive lecture and used a variety of media formats to help novices like me grasp concepts and also keep things interesting.

Throughout the conference, I was very busy attending sessions, visiting vendor booths, party hopping, and touring the city of Seattle. I had a mix of different types of sessions on my plate, but most of them were from the Business and Finance and Leadership and Management divisions. What I enjoyed most from the sessions was the question and answer portion because I learned about different people�s libraries and what they were doing. It was also a treat attending the parties that were generously funded by the various sponsors. My successful site seeing excursions were not possible without the friendly people at the Seattle hospitality booth. I took the famous Underground Tour and loved it.

It is easy to think that the conference is simply about learning from the sessions (at least that is what I originally thought). However, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that the heart of the conference experience for me was the people � the conference attendees and the volunteers that make it all happen. One the best parts of the conference was having the chance to meet people from different types of libraries who were in different stages of their careers.

At the Business & Finance Lunch meeting I realized that the conference and the opportunity that I have been awarded was all thanks to the time, energy and heart of the volunteers of the Business & Finance division. I�ve learned so much about what SLA does and how it much of it is supported by its volunteers that I hope to be actively contributing to SLA in the future. I sincerely thank the Business & Finance Division for making my first SLA conference possible.

Eva Lam has just recently completed her Masters of Information Studies with a specialization in Library & Information Science from the University of Toronto. Eva developed an interest in business librarianship while she worked part-time at the University of Toronto�s Business Information Centre. She also worked part-time at the University of Toronto�s Data & GIS Library and is working to combine her business library experience and her GIS skills in a career in special libraries. Prior to entering the library science program, she worked in an engineering consulting firm as an Engineer-In-Training.

Bates InfoTip : PowerSet.com

Mary Ellen Bates

We have a new player in the semantic search arena. "Semantic search" refers to the idea that a better way to find the most relevant material is to not just look at word frequency, location, links to a page and so on but to understand the sense of what is being asked and the sense of what is on web pages, and then to match the most applicable pages. For example, if I typed in a query for �stock�, a semantic search engine would see that this was in the context of livestock, and would find other pages that have to do with animals on farms rather than about shares of ownership in a company, flowers, or racing cars.

PowerSet uses a technology that attempts to mine meaning out of web pages -- specifically, Wikipedia articles. This isn't a general-purpose search engine, but it is a tremendous tool if you are looking for information on a subject that spans a number of Wikipedia articles, or that has a number of meanings. Take "Barack Obama" as an example. There are thousands of articles that mention Obama -- the Wikipedia article specifically about him, as well as articles about politicians who have endorsed him, his early career, the roles of race and religion in the US presidential campaign, and so on.

Rather than going through all of those entries, including the extensive article specifically on Obama, head over to PowerSet and you will get a single search result that pulls together what it judges to be the most relevant information about Barack Obama. There is a nice summary of who he is, the key facts about his career, and a relevance-ranked list of Wikipedia pages that mention him.

What I find particularly interesting is the "Factz" section of the page, which attempts to pull together significant statements about Barack Obama in the Wikipedia articles. So, for example, the Factz for Barack Obama include information that he introduced the following pieces of legislation:

Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007
Response Act
Pandemic Preparedness
Transparency Act
Federal Funding Accountability

While that isn't a comprehensive list of the pieces of legislation he has introduced, these are probably the most significant ones, since this list includes only legislation that was mentioned in Wikipedia articles.

PowerSet is best used for those searches that cover a number of topics or areas. It's not perfect, and it only searches Wikipedia, but I find it an exciting new approach in the efforts of search engines to make sense out of web content.

This tip is reproduced with permission from Bates Information Services (www.BatesInfo.com/tip.html).