up2date

Google Scholar has a 'new look'

From the Google Scholar blog :

"We've made several adjustments based on feedback from the legal search user survey...You can limit your search to specific jurisdictions by clicking in the sidebar of the search results page instead of navigating through advanced search. You can print legal cases in a cleaner, more streamlined format using the "Print" option in your browser.

We've also clarified the ... settings page by organizing it into sections, performed a minor facelift on pages that deal with configuration of email alerts, and next we'll be working on updating the author profile pages and help pages.

As announced last summer, we're unable to continue supporting older and infrequently used versions of Firefox (<3.6) and Internet Explorer (<7)....

If you don't like our new modern look, or simply prefer to wait a little longer before switching, you can temporarily revert to the old venerable look. ...

If you're wondering why you're still seeing the old look, that's probably because we're gradually rolling out the new look to all users. But you don't have to wait. You can beat the crowds and upgrade right away."

opportunities to be an editor for Public Services Quarterly

From the Library Writer's blog :

*** Column Editor for “Best of the Literature” – this person will write columns and/or recruit others and edit columns that provide an annotated bibliography of 5-8 recent publications on a topic of interest to public services librarians.

*** Column Editor for “Internet Resources” - this person will write and/or recruit others and edit columns that review web resources that would be useful to public services librarians. 

*** Members of the Editorial Board – we need two to four people to serve as peer reviewers for manuscripts submitted to the journal. 

If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please send [Beth Blakesley, beth.blakesley@wsu.edu] a note expressing interest and providing information about your experience or qualifications.

See http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/WPSQ for more details about the journal.  If you don’t have access to the journal and would like to see samples of the columns, just let [Beth Blakesley] know.

Interview with EBSCO Publishing exec. about H.W.Wilson

From INFOdocket :

New: Interview with Sam Brooks, Senior VP for Sales and Marketing with EBSCO Publishing, About H.W.Wilson

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Gary D. Price

From The Charleston Advisor:

Sam Brooks, Senior VP for Sales and Marketing with EBSCO Publishing is interviewed for his views about EBSCO’s May 2011 acquisition of the H.W. Wilson Company. The interview covers topics such as the future of the H.W. Wilson Company and its various products, the future of the H.W. Wilson brand, plans for integrating the product line into EBSCOhost and general observations about mergers and acquisitions in the information

The interview was conducted by George Machovec1, Managing Editor, The Charleston Advisor

Read the Full Text (PDF)
An HTML Version Is Also Available

HathiTrust Enhances Full Text Search & Collection Builder Tool

From INFODocket (although N.B., one still cannot search the entire run of a journal (sigh) :

Four new features are now live for users when conducting research using HathiTrust full text search database and collection builder tool.

The Full-text Search index now includes bibliographic data, which is being used to:

• Improve results ranking

• Allow users to refine results using bibliographic facets

...

In Collection Builder, the display of collections has been improved, and you can now:

• Search collections by title and description

• Filter collections by featured status, most recently updated, those created by the user, and number of items in the collection

Direct to HathiTrust

WIPO’s Global Brand Database

From InfoDocket :

From a WIPO [World Intellectual Property Organization] Announcement:

A new on-line tool launched by will make it easier to search over 640,000 records relating to internationally protected trademarks, appellations of origin and armorial bearings, flags and other state emblems as well as the names, abbreviations and emblems of intergovernmental organizations. The Global Brand Database allows free of charge, simultaneous brand-related searches across multiple collections.

...

new Humanities & SS portal from CNRS

from the enssib blog :

Isidore, le portail du CNRS pour les sciences humaines et sociales

Par Anne-Laurence Margérard, le 07 avril 2011

Le CNRS - TGE Adonis vient d’ouvrir le portail ISIDORE qui donne accès à plus d’un million de publications de la recherche scientifique française en sciences humaines et sociales.

Isidore est une plateforme web d'agrégation, de recherche et de diffusion qui offrre un accès unifié à plus d'un million de documents numériques provenant de laboratoires de recherche, de bibliothèques universitaires et de plateformes d'édition électronique. Isidore agrège plus de 850 sources de données différentes de formats variés : entrepôts de données semi structurées (thèses, fonds multimédia, livres), sites Web, blogs et carnets de recherche, flux RSS. Toutes ces données sont par nature structurellement et qualitativement très hétérogènes.

Ce nouvel outil est destiné à la communauté scientifique mais aussi à tout internaute... du moins pour les documents en accès libre...

Lire la suite : Le CNRS lance Isidore, les SHS sur le web, Sylvestre Huet, Libération {science²}, 04 avril 2011

...

"A Survey and Empirical Study of Virtual Reference Service in Academic Libraries"

From the JAL :

A Survey and Empirical Study of Virtual Reference Service in Academic Libraries

Xiangming Mu , Alexandra Dimitroff, Jeanette Jordan and Natalie Burclaff

Abstract

Virtual Reference Services (VRS) have high user satisfaction. The main problem is its low usage. We surveyed 100 academic library web sites to understand how VRS are presented. We then conducted a usability study to further test an active VRS model regarding its effectiveness.

"Millennial Students' Mental Models of Search: Implications for Academic Librarians..."

From the latest JAL (corrected proof) :

"Millennial Students' Mental Models of Search: Implications for Academic Librarians and Database Developers

Lucy Holman

Abstract

Today's students exhibit generational differences in the way they search for information. Observations of first-year students revealed a proclivity for simple keyword or phrases searches with frequent misspellings and incorrect logic. Although no students had strong mental models of search mechanisms, those with stronger models did construct more complex searches."

Irish research online

From Intute, which will be sorely missed :

Rian.ie

Rian is the main portal or gateway to Irish research publications online. These include outputs from Irish Universities Association (IUA).Item types listed are theses, doctoral dissertations, conference papers, book chapters, journal articles. Where copyright allows links are provided to the full text. All subject areas from the humanities, social sciences and sciences are covered.

"JSTOR Announces Current Collections"

I have mixed feelings about this, as JSTOR has pretty much a monopoly on professorial & grad. student attention already. We have so much else!

From the ResourceShelf :

From the Announcement:

In conjunction with the 2011 launch of the Current Scholarship Program (CSP), JSTOR is pleased to introduce the Current Collections. Recently, JSTOR announced that 176 titles from 19 publishers will be available in the Current Scholarship Program for the 2011 subscription year. Individual titles will be available and, based on input from our participating libraries, this current content has also been organized into collections that mirror JSTOR’s archive collections. The Current Collections are detailed below. Each collection has a link to a downloadable title list for that Collection, which libraries can use for comparison purposes with their own holdings.

A complete Current Scholarship Program Title List for 2011 Subscription Year (.csv file) is available here. 

...

Information Commons Help Desk Transactions Study

From JAL :

Abstract

With the purpose of designing a training program for a new team serving at a technology service point, the author analyzed the transactions log using a new, multi-faceted, taxonomy. The resulting list of competencies and the methodology would be useful for managers of information or learning commons.

Search Patterns

From : ResourceShelf.

Search Patterns: A New Book by Peter Morville and Jeffery Callendar

We would not be at all surprised if Search Patterns (like other books by Morville) become required reading in library and info science programs.

Info Architecture Guru, Peter Morville and Design Director, Jeffery Callender have just released a new book titled, Search Patterns. This book takes a look at design patterns that, “apply across the categories of web, e-commerce, enterprise, desktop, mobile, social, and real time search and discovery.”

...The SearchPatterns.org web site is also full of material and is free to browse, read, and use. Here’s some of what you’ll find:
+ The Full Text of Chapter One
+ A Partial Set of Illustrations from the Book. They could be very helpful if needing help illustrating an idea for a presentation
+ A Recommended Reading List
+ Book Reviews
+ Feedback and Discussion Secion [sic]
 +Search Patterns Library (via Flickr)
“A sandbox for collecting search examples, patterns, and anti-patterns.” Interesting, useful, and informative.
Searchable here.

From the News Release:

Users are invited to speak Boolean and then wait patiently for irrelevant results. These disparities exist because expertise is situated in multiple disciplines and design patterns are scattered across contexts. Our book aims to bridge these gaps and help design teams to make search better through incremental improvement and radical innovation.”

Conference Proceedings now in WorldCat.org

From the ResourceShelf :

From the Blog Post:

Two additional databases called PapersFirst and ProceedingsFirst have now also been added to WorldCat.org results. These two indexes contain papers from conferences, symposiums and expositions worldwide. Created from items received by The British Library Document Supply Centre–you’ll find 7.4 million published items in English, French, Spanish and Chinese.

...

The blog post has representative entries from both databases.

Widget for Gale's Expanded Academic

From the tweet :

Gale's Expanded Academic ASAP widget is now available: http://bit.ly/7Psmp0

Cengage (formerly Gale) CEO on info. portals & textbks

It's always interesting to me to read about our vendors as they're presented in publishing (non-library) context. This article in Publishing Perspectives, "Cengage CEO Ron Dunn on Re-imagining Information Portals and TXTBKS".Discusses Cengage's new moves into portals and compressed (condensed?) textbooks.

Scopus articles added to WorldCat

I think this is a really bad idea, personally. WorldCat is valuable as a fairly comprehensive catalogue of books. It is not valuable as a way to find a selected and restricted number of articles. What do you think?

From the ResourceShelf :

Elsevier Metadata is Added to Database

Elsevier metadata for SCOPUS and ScienceDirect collections from 2006 to the present have now been indexed in WorldCat.org search results. This article-level metadata joins similar content such as the GPO Monthly Catalog, ArticleFirst, Medline, ERIC and the British Library Inside Serials. The ScienceDirect content corresponds to 1,800 journals, 150 book series and more than 1.3 million records. Source: OCLC

more French library records in WorldCat

Wonderful!

from the OCLC news blog:

ABES to add French Sudoc records to WorldCat [OCLC].

OCLC and ABES (l’Agence Bibliographique de l’Enseignement Supérieur), in France, have signed an agreement to load 9 million records from Système Universitaire de documentation (Sudoc), the cataloguing system for French academic libraries managed by ABES, into WorldCat, the largest global online resource for finding information in libraries. As a result of this agreement, collections of 110 participating Sudoc institutions that represent over 1,000 libraries will be visible to searchers worldwide through WorldCat.org.
...

Peter Jacso Reviews Encyclopedia.com

from the ResourceShelf:

Peter Jacso Reviews Encyclopedia.com

From the Summary: At this much-coveted URL, there is far more than meets the eye of the user who looks up the list of ready reference sources. Actually, it offers the largest free collection of widely respected encyclopedias, guides and compendiums of Gale and Oxford University Press, including many Oxford dictionaries, as well as a collection of almanacs, biographies, maps and images, along with subscription-based access to magazine, journal and newspaper articles, TV transcripts and some additional ready reference sources. The site needs a far more complete listing of all the sources, consistent and correct indication of the completely free sources in the result list, and an advanced mode of searching to increase its popularity and efficiency.

Read the Complete Review
Source: Gale.com

LibrariesTexting Services

From the ResourceShelf ... Pilot Programs Get Attention: Libraries Launching Texting Services.

Two stories two report [sic]. 1) from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and 2) from San Jose Public Library.

Rule Britannica?

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Rule Britannica?.

An interesting article investigating why 'a poll of Britain's top consumer brands has placed Encyclopaedia Britannica in 10th place.' The article cites 'Strong pedigree,' e.g. 'reputation and reliability,' and 'personality.'