Volume 38, Number 4 - July/August 2014
EDITORIALFrontLines Page 4 Adages, those short, pithy sentences that encapsulate an entire philosophy, home truth, or worldview, can be exceptionally enlightening. They can also be completely wrong and contradict each other. By Marydee Ojala Searcher's Voice Page 33 If bq ruled the library world, she would make sure that the ALA Guide to Reference, which now connects to OCLC's Find in a Library feature, would also give users contact information from the American Library Directory, such as the email of the reference librarian from the institution whose item is being sought. By Barbara Quint DEPARTMENTSPage 8 Search Engine Update New Search Features, Developments, and Content By Greg R. Notess Page 63 Conference Corral Charming AIIP and Hacking CIL FEATURESPage 10 Dealing News to Support Competitive Intelligence: Betting on the Library Like blackjack dealers, DuPont librarians responsible for delivering news relevant to competitive intelligence are under pressure to deal the cards quickly and effectively. Unlike blackjack dealers, the librarians want all their customers to win. The library's cycle of harvesting, curating, delivering, and monitoring is paying off. By Peter M. Murphy Page 16 Rumble in the Search Jungle: The ELK Invasion The ELK in this article are not members of the deer family. Instead, ELK is an acronym for the open source search and analytics stack offered by Elasticsearch, which includes Logstash and Kibana. In its stampede into the search jungle, Elasticsearch offers important features for information retrieval. By Stephen E. Arnold Page 22 Competitive Intelligence Research Tools: Origin Inconsequential  Some competitive intelligence products were developed for and by CI practitioners, while others sprang from related professions, such as media monitoring for communications and public relations. Regardless of their origin, these tools provide important and useful features for competitive intelligence purposes. By Barbie E. Keiser Page 28 Error Determination: The Case of the Chemical Literature In a perfect world, scientific literature would be self-correcting. We don't have a perfect world, and errors can occur in the chemical literature for a number of reasons, including both innocent oversight and outright fraud. A longtime chemical searcher delineates what's happening with error determination and correction. By Robert E. Buntrock Page 54 Why do some search strategies return zero hits? Two academic librarians analyzed more than 21,000 searches to see what students use as search strategies. They found several common mistakes students made when searching subscription databases that provide guidance for teaching students how to search more effectively. By Mariann Løkse, Mona Magnussen Page 56 Perils and Pleasures of Prediction: Searching for Business, News, and Social Trends Staying ahead of the curve, noticing and responding to trends, can be hampered by information abundance. Numerous tools that help researchers winnow out the important data points can keep searchers focused on reliable predictions and accurate trends. By Jennifer A. Bartlett IN-DEPTH REPORTSPage 38 Mining for Gold: 21st-Century Search Arrives With Text Mining Text mining helps searchers better analyze trends and find new information. As she shows how text mining is aiding researchers awash in an overabundance of information sources, Nancy Herther also examines how the issue of copyright is impeding access to content and how access may finally be improving. By Nancy K. Herther Page 44 Has the online era eroded the quality of reference sources? Denise Bennett identifies issues of authority and accuracy, especially in online versions of print pubs, noting some positive developments. She looks at if the future of reference sources might produce the right combination of human and machine-aided indexes. By Denise Beaubien Bennett COLUMNSThe Dollar Sign Page 71 Fact-Checking Business Stories and Business Databases Researchers, dedicated to factuality, are suspicious by nature. They look for weasel words, distrust "facts" they can't verify, and rely on a number of different websites and resources to separate fact from opinion. By Marydee Ojala Online Spotlight Page 80 Reclaim Graduate Education: Move From What to Why A graduate degree in library/information science is, indeed, a ticket to the information future, but info pros need to see their services as transformational, something that helps clients move forward. By Mary Ellen Bates InfoLit Land Page 68 Who Owns Information Literacy? Likening the advance of information literacy in academic settings to an insurrection, Bill wonders if ownership of the movement should pass from librarians to professors, but ultimately rejects that idea.The By William Badke Control-Shift Page 74 Telling Your Library’s Story One Number at a Time Libraries have many wonderful stories to tell, not only about what's happening with programs and resources, but also about their statistics. Darlene and Jeff show how to turn numbers into stories that "pop." By Darlene Fichter, Jeff Wisniewski On the Net Page 65 Computational, Numeric, and Data Searching Greg looks at sites and techniques for searching numbers, statistics, and data, plus he gives an update on the semantic, computational, numeric, and data search engines. Linked data also impacts search. By Greg R. Notess Hard Copy Page 77 Recommended Reading on Web Metrics, Digital Libraries, Web Design, and Corporate Librarianship By Deborah Lynne Wiley Internet Express Page 35 Show, Don’t Tell: Data Visualization for Libraries Irene McDermott highlights sites to help designed-challenged and budget-strapped librarians use graphical elements to enhance their messages to those determining their budgets and to those whom they are serving - their patrons. And if you're color-challenged as well, you need not worry: There's a site for that too. By Irene E. McDermott |
