PAMnet News Brian Quigley Astrophysics Data System http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0202&L=pamnet#2 The discussion spilled over into a comparison of ADS and ISI citation rates, focusing primarily on the problems with the lack of authority in ISI citation indexing. As Sarah Stevens-Rayburn reminds us, one must always be aware of a system's limitations. In this case, "Both systems are simply approximations, not exact numbers." http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0203&L=pamnet#74 Physics Today Online http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0201&L=pamnet#48 High Performance Polymers http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0203&L=pamnet#39 Stefan University http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0202&L=pamnet#62 Compendex on Axiom http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0202&L=pamnet#52 Computerized Librarian http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0202&L=pamnet#1 Other interesting threads from the past quarter can be found in the PAMnet Discussion Archive at http://listserv.nd.edu/archives/pamnet.html
bquigley@library.berkeley.edu
In February, Liz Bryson innocently posted a press release announcing the addition of 300,000 abstracts from nine APS journals to the Astrophysics Data System (ADS). Who knew it would spark such a lively discussion? According to the press release, the system has two components. "The first is an abstract database, which now holds more than 2.8 million abstracts from more than 200 journals." The second "includes the full text of many articles in the form of scanned pages." The press release also claims that "More than 95% of the astronomical literature from 1975 or later is included in the ADS." This "95%" claim touched off a flurry of posts about its validity. The debate continued across several threads, although it sometimes seemed like one person would count apples and compare them to another's oranges. Personally, if I hear a claim of 95%, I would not mind seeing the statistics to back it up. To better understand the debate, you really need to read all the postings. You can find them spread throughout the following threads:
http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0203&L=pamnet#10
http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0203&L=pamnet#3
http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0203&L=pamnet#75
http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0203&L=pamnet#79
http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0203&L=pamnet#78
With the January 2002 issue, institutions bid farewell to Physics Today Online. Marc Brodsky from AIP posted that "Physics Today Online ... will be placed under limited access, available in its entirety only to individual subscribers and to members of AIP's 10 Member Societies." This announcement led one librarian to ask "are you saying that institutional subscribers which have had online access are losing it?" That seems to be the case. While some select content remains freely available, institutions can no longer access the full content online. Marc Brodsky claims that "[t]he print version of Physics Today and the unrestricted portions of the Web site will provide continuity for your patrons who are not subscribers." Somehow, this does not seem to be continuity.
Loren Mendelsohn reported that IOP had sold its High Performance Polymers to Sage Publications. This raised several questions about pricing and access. IOP responded with a clarification, including the fact that "Sage has assured IOPP that they will make the HPP archive, together with current content, available from 15 March 2002" and that "IOPP has agreed ... to host the electronic journal archive ... until 31 March 2002." In a follow-up, one PAMnetter reported that "the price virtually doubled" on their invoice. Furthermore, checking online today, I confirmed that IOP had removed this journal from its website. Unfortunately, so far Sage has only made the archive available back to 1999 on Ingenta. Where is the rest of the archive?
http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0203&L=pamnet#39
A question came up about conferences "published" by Stefan University. It seems Amazon identified the conferences, but provided no way to purchase them. PAMnetters raised serious questions about the validity of this press, issuing warnings to "beware of conference proceedings from unknown institutions in La Jolla, CA." See especially Deborah Kegel's posting on the subject, as well as the link (http://www.uni-magdeburg.de/ahe/misc/stefanuniversity.html) provided by Dana Roth.
http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0202&L=pamnet#63
It was a pleasant surprise to see that Ei and IOP had reached an agreement to continue access to Ei Compendex via Axiom. David Stern forwarded the news from Peter Katz at Elsevier Engineering Information, Inc.
For a little fun, Randy Reichardt posted the lyrics to "I am the Very Model of Computerised Librarian" skillfully adapted from Gilbert & Sullivan by O'Keefe & O'Keefe. Everybody sing along!
