DEPARTMENTS
Product News and Reviews
Vivísimo Launches Clusty.com
Vivísimo unveiled Clusty.com, a full-service search site powered completely
by clustering technology. Instead of presenting long lists of results, Clusty
groups search results into folder topics, giving users a quick overview of
the main themes in the results.
The default Web search on Clusty includes several intuitive shortcuts for
items like stock quotes, weather, the dictionary, and more. Besides basic Web
searching, visitors can also search dedicated tabs for shopping, news, blogs,
images, Wikipedia, and gossip. The final tab, "Customize!," lets users customize
Clusty to suit their requirements. Visitors can choose the tabs they want displayed
from a list or they can create their own by selecting information sources to
search.
Source: Vivísimo, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, 412/422-2499; http://www.vivisimo.com.
ProQuest Adds Features to PCI, Expands Full-Text Coverage of The New York
Times
ProQuest Information and Learning added new features to Periodicals Contents
Index (PCI). The company also announced that 4 additional years of The New
York Times are now available through ProQuest online information system.
PCI
ProQuest Information and Learning has added new features and functionality
to the PCI suite of research databases. PCI and PCI Full Text now offer enhanced
searching, OpenURL support, and Z39.50 compatibility.
In addition to these and other enhancements, MARC records are also available
at no charge for all titles in PCI and PCI Full Text with durable URLs that
conform to the OpenURL standard. The New York Times ProQuest Information and Learning announced that users of the ProQuest online
information system will receive 4 additional years of full-text content from The
New York Times. The expanded coverage provides users with access to the
current full-text file of The New York Times from 1995 to the present
(with daily updates). The content is available in a stand-alone subscription;
as part of a newspaper package incorporating other national newspaper titles;
or in customized packages that include a choice of national, regional, and
local newspapers.
Source: ProQuest Information and Learning, Ann Arbor, MI, 734/761-4700; http://www.il.proquest.com.
Swets Launches SwetsWise Linker
Swets Information Services announced that it has launched SwetsWise Linker
as part of its e-journals management drive. SwetsWise Linker is an OpenURL
link resolver that provides users with a cohesive search environment for more
than 9,000 e-journals and 500 e-journal aggregators and secondary databases.
SwetsWise Linker enables libraries to integrate all of their electronic holdings
resources in one intuitive and customizable interface, providing seamless linking
from one article's bibliographic information to another's full text. Based
on Openly Informatics' 1Cate technology, SwetsWise Linker reduces the number
of steps needed to move from one resource to another.
Source: Swets Information Services, Lisse, Netherlands, 011-31-252-435-584;
http://www.swets.com.
The Wall Street Journal Online, ConsumerReports.org Forge Agreement
The Wall Street Journal Online (WSJ.com) and ConsumerReports.org announced
an agreement to integrate selected, consumer-focused content into each other's
subscription sites.
ConsumerReports.org's Ratings and Recommendations will now be complemented
by a daily offering of WSJ.com's news and features. ConsumerReports.org editors
will choose and update the selection of WSJ.com articles for its subscribers.
The selections will include consumer-focused breaking news and coverage on
topics ranging from air travel to automotive innovations and personal technology.
WSJ.com subscribers will find daily news coverage that is enhanced by relevant
information from ConsumerReports.org. WSJ.com editors will supplement news
coverage with such information from ConsumerReports.org as buying advice and
product reviews.
Source: Dow Jones & Co., New York, 609/520-4057; http://www.dowjones.com.
xrefer Launches Specialist Reference Service
xrefer announced that it has launched a new service, xreferplus Specialist
Reference. xreferplus Specialist Reference delivers in-depth, subject-specific
expertise from reference works by such publishers as Blackwell, MIT Press,
and Berkshire Publishing, and it includes works previously unavailable online.
xreferplus Specialist Reference enables libraries to develop reference collections
that target the research needs of the institution's programs. Specialist Reference
titles can be ordered individually or combined with one of xreferplus' ready-reference
solutions.
Source: xrefer, Boston, 617/426-5202; http://www.xrefer.com.
Thomson Gale Introduces New Database Platform, Incorporates OpenURL Connectivity
into Resource Centers
Thomson Gale announced the introduction of a single platform for its online
databases. The company also has incorporated OpenURL connectivity into several
of its Resource Centers.
Single Platform
Thomson Gale announced the introduction of a new platform for its online
databases that will allow the company's eight-plus terabytes of content to
be searched through one user interface.
Currently, Gale Virtual Reference Library, Thomson Gale's e-book product,
and all InfoTrac products are running on the new platform. All electronic products
will be migrated onto the new platform by 2006.
OpenURL Compliant
Thomson Gale has incorporated OpenURL connectivity into several of its Resource
Centers. The company announced that support for OpenURL inbound linking was
scheduled to be released at the end of September 2004, while support for outbound
linking was scheduled to be released in two phases over the next 2 months.
Source: Thomson Gale, Farmington Hills, MI, 248/699-4253; http://www.gale.com.
ISI Emerging Markets Launches Feed from Financial Times
Internet Securities, Inc. (ISI) Emerging Markets and Financial Times announced
a global agreement to distribute information from FT.com and the Financial
Times newspaper on ISI's products, including its flagship Emerging Markets
Information Service.
Under the agreement, Financial Times will deliver editorial content from
FT.com, including all the reports and supplements published in the Financial
Times newspaper, to ISI. According to the announcement, this content was
scheduled to be available to subscribers of ISI's subscription-based services
by September 2004.
Source: Internet Securities, Inc., New York, 888/ISI-4-INFO; http://www.securities.com.
Ovid to Offer Martindale Drug Reference Text on Books@Ovid
Ovid Technologies announced that Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference will
be accessible on the newly enhanced Books@Ovid platform beginning January 2005. Martindale is
an evidence-based resource that covers the properties, actions, and uses of
drugs and medicines, with more than 37,000 references and 130,000 preparations
that link from the relevant drug monographs.
Martindale users will be able to search Martindale's encyclopedia
of information on drugs and medicines with Books@Ovid's advanced features,
including linking from book references to the full text and to other subscriptions
to which the users have access, searching and browsing using natural language
search capability, relevance ranking, and back-of-the-book index browsing.
Source: Ovid Technologies, New York, 646/674-6300; http://www.ovid.com.
Dialog Launches Dialog Live News, Offers Streaming Live News on Dialog
NewsEdge
Dialog announced the launch of Dialog Live News. The company also announced
that streaming live news will be available to subscribers of Dialog NewsEdge.
Dialog Live News
Dialog Live News is a personalized news-monitoring service that offers automated
streaming of real-time news reports from 2,300 global sources. Users can create
up to 10 profiles on topics relevant to their professions or businesses and
then receive streaming headlines of news reports that match those profiles.
Dialog Live News can be viewed from within the service itself, or it can be
detached and run as other desktop applications are operating.
Dialog Live News is now available for subscription as a stand-alone service
or as an optional add-on feature to two of the company's other online services,
Dialog NewsRoom and Dialog Profound.
Streaming Real-Time News
Dialog announced that it is now offering streaming live news at no additional
charge to subscribers of its Dialog NewsEdge service.
Dialog NewsEdge users can now monitor breaking news stories throughout the
day. Based on individual user profiles, Dialog NewsEdge filters thousands of
wire services, pre-publication newspapers, and other sources of news reporting
from around the world, delivering stories to a user's desktop. Scrolling news
headlines can be read through a floating window or may be accessed through
a tab labeled "My Live News."
Source: Dialog Corp., Cary, NC, 919/462-8600; http://www.dialog.com.
Blackwell's Enhances Collaborative Collection Development
Blackwell's Book Services announced an enhancement to its Collaborative Collection
Development service to accommodate library groups in creating more diverse
collections and sharing subject expertise. Blackwell's can link librarians
with Collection Manager, at no charge, enabling a designated group to see orders
placed, titles blocked, requests pending, and more. With Collection Manager,
each library remains independent, no action can be taken on another library's
activity, and invoice activity remains private.
Blackwell's Collaborative Collection Development meets the needs of libraries
of varying sizes with many different types of consortia. It allows library
groups to collaborate and evaluate acquisition activity to develop and strengthen
their own collections. Additional features will be added in upcoming months.
Source: Blackwell's Book Services, Lake Oswego, OR, 503/684-1140; http://www.blackwell.com.
EBSCO Offers A-to-Z with MARC Updates
EBSCO announced the launch of A-to-Z with MARC Updates. This service provides
a customizable file in MARC 21 format representing the library's e-resource
holdings, title URLs, and online coverage information. It supplies bibliographic
records from CONSER and monthly updates to facilitate online catalog maintenance.
A holding change report is now included for A-to-Z with MARC customers. Using
the information, which is delivered as a Microsoft Excel file, customers can
see changes made to their A-to-Z account. The report lists new and removed
titles as well as any resources that have had changes to the URL, coverage,
or embargo information. The report reflects both changes made by the customer
and changes to the underlying A-to-Z knowledgebase.
Source: EBSCO Information Services, Birmingham, AL, 205/980-6794; http://www.ebsco.com.
EDGAR Online to Utilize New XBRL Taxonomies in Product Enhancements
EDGAR Online, Inc. announced its plans to provide complete company financials
in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) via EDGAR Online Pro and its
other product offerings. Currently, customers of EDGAR Online can access summary
data in XBRL, but the new taxonomies will allow EDGAR Online to offer complete
company financials in XBRL for all U.S. public companies. EDGAR Online will
release the series of product enhancements over the next 6 months.
Source: EDGAR Online, Inc., Norwalk, CT, 203/852-5666; http://www.edgar-online.com.
Wilson's Bibliographic Index Gets New Name
Bibliographic Index has become Bibliographic Index Plus. It features indexing
of more than 350,000 bibliographies across a broad range of disciplines, plus
nearly 100,000 full-text bibliographies. Bibliographic Index Plus provides
access to research in all subject areas, with indexing of bibliographies published
in English, German, and Dutch, as well as the Scandinavian, Slavic, and Romance
languages (including some 2,300 bibliographies published in Spanish).
The database draws its content from ongoing coverage of more than 2,800 periodicals
and 5,000 books annually. Bibliographic essays, literature reviews, serial
bibliographies, and bibliographies appearing as regular features are among
the resources cited.
Source: HW Wilson, New York, 718/588-8400; http://www.hwwilson.com.
Eliyon Awarded Patent for Automatic Classification of Web Site Type
Eliyon Technologies announced that it was awarded U.S. patent no. 6,778,986
for a computer process that reads the content of a Web site and performs a
series of tests and evaluations to determine what "type" of site has been read.
The newly patented process allows Eliyon to extract information from the site
and use it to build profiles of business people and companies. Using the process,
Eliyon has built a searchable database of more than 22 million profiles of
business people from nearly 1.5 million companies.
Source: Eliyon Technologies, Cambridge, MA, 617/588-7500; http://www.eliyon.com.
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