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Vol. 23 No. 5 — May 2004

Sirsi NCIP Certification Program Launched

Sirsi Corp. announced the launch of an original certification program for the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) Circulation Interchange Protocol (NCIP). The Sirsi NCIP Certification Program, modeled after Sirsi's SIP2 Certification Program, will enable third-party vendors to ensure that their NCIP-compliant products integrate with Sirsi systems. Sirsi expects to complete preliminary NCIP certification of third-party vendors during the first quarter of 2004. Current vendors working for NCIP certification include SF-Systems, Relais International, OCLC, and 3M.

Source: Sirsi Corp., St Louis, 800/325-0888; http://www.sirsi.com.

IEEE Examines Usage Reporting Methods

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) announced the completion of an independent audit of IEEE Xplore usage statistics. The controls-based audit, conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, reviewed the accuracy of the count of PDF documents downloaded from IEEE Xplore. The audit uncovered a systems reporting limitation that resulted in previously under-reported article abstract statistics. IEEE corrected the method by which abstract counts are reported; the changes are reflected in reports on abstracts downloaded since January 2004.

Source: IEEE, Inc., Piscataway, NJ, 732/981-0060; http://www.ieee.org.

IMLS Releases Digital Divide Report

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced the release of "Toward Equality of Access: The Role of Public Libraries in Addressing the Digital Divide," a report developed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in collaboration with AARP, ALA, IMLS, and a variety of civic and nonprofit organizations. The report recommends that the public and private sectors work together to ensure that libraries can continue to provide vital access to technology for years to come. "Toward Equality of Access" is available online at http://www.imls.gov/pubs/pdf/Equality.pdf.

Source: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Washington, DC, 202/606-8536; http://www.imls.gov.

Utah Legislature OKs Internet Filter Bill

In the final hours of the 2004 legislative session, the Utah state legislature amended Utah's existing Online Access of Public Libraries Act to make Utah libraries' state funding contingent on their installation of filters that block certain images on all public access computers. Those filters may be disabled, at the request of a library patron who is not a minor, to allow access for research or other lawful purposes. The bill contained no funding for implementation, had no specific effective date, and was scheduled to become law on May 3, unless vetoed by Utah Governor Olene Walker.

Source: State of Utah, House of Representatives, Salt Lake City, 801/538-1035; http://www.state.ut.us.

Fifty-One Liberal Arts Colleges Back Open-Access Publishing, According to SPARC

The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), an academic and research libraries initiative, announced that 51 members of the Oberlin Group of Liberal Arts College Libraries have become institutional members of the Public Library of Science. PloS is a nonprofit advocacy organization and a publisher of open-access journals, such as PloS Biology, that are available at no charge online and are subsidized largely by author-side charges for publication. Scientists affiliated with member institutions are entitled to substantially reduced fees for publishing in PloS journals.

Source: Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, Washington, DC, 202/296-2296; http://www.arl.org/sparc.

YOUR DIGITAL LIBRARY

ITI Titles Now Available as eBooks Through netLibrary

Information Today, Inc. (ITI) has announced that a number of its high-demand titles have become available as eBooks through netLibrary, a division of OCLC. The initial offerings include Building & Running a Successful Research Business; Super Searchers Cover the World: The Online Secrets of International Business Researchers; Assessing Competitive Intelligence Software; Net Effects: How Libraries Can Manage the Unintended Consequences of the Internet; Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to Transform American Politics; Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet; Business Statistics on the Web: Find Them Fast—At Little or No Cost; The Quintessential Searcher: The Wit and Wisdom of Barbara Quint; The Accidental Webmaster; and The Librarian's Internet Survival Guide. Additional titles are scheduled for release later in the year.

Source: Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ, 609/654-6266; https://www.infotoday.com.

Elsevier Releases Multimedia Cecil Textbook of Medicine

Elsevier announced the release of its first electronic edition of Cecil Textbook of Medicine. The 22nd edition, a full-color text, is also available to physicians as an e-edition that includes access to http://www.cecilmedicine.com, as well as a CD-ROM with all of the images and tables contained in the book. The Cecil e-edition includes full-text searching, continuous content updates, personalization features, a searchable library of downloadable images, and mobile capabilities. Cecil Online allows users to search the full contents of the book and its continuous updates; access review questions and cases; view videos of procedures; and receive medical, literature, and drug alerts. Access to Cecil Online will be available throughout the life of the 22nd edition.

Source: Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 011-31-20-485-3911; http://www.elsevier.com.

EBSCO's MetaPress Hosts U.K. Serials

EBSCO Information Services announced that the UK Serials Group has selected EBSCO's MetaPress to host its title, Serials. The publication's co-editors Hazel Woodward and Helen Henderson cited MetaPress user services, client administration functions, personalization features, alerting, and other services as key factors in the decision to work with MetaPress.

Source: EBSCO Information Services, Birmingham, AL, 205/991-6600; http://www.ebsco.com.

Sirsi Unveils Digital Heritage Room

Sirsi introduced its Digital Heritage Room, a Web-hosted solution designed
to afford libraries a cost-effective way to preserve images, documents, and more, while making the materials more accessible to library users. The service is powered by Sirsi Hyperion Digital Media Archive and Sirsi Rooms technologies.

Digital Heritage Room comes standard with a single CollectionPak that covers
the digitization and presentation of a set number of images or documents from the library. Sirsi will scan and bulk load the images and associated metadata that make up the CollectionPak for the library. As
the library continues to expand its digital collections, it can purchase additional CollectionPaks.

All metadata is fully searchable. An optional feature allows the textual material in the collection to be indexed and searched using full-text searching capabilities licensed from Convera Corp.

Source: Sirsi Corp., St. Louis, 800/325-0888; http://www.sirsi.com.

PARTNERSHIPS

U-M and Yahoo! Launch OAIster Repository

The University of Michigan (U-M) announced an agreement with Yahoo!, Inc. to offer a repository of information providing links to scholarly resources that were difficult to locate previously. The repository—developed through Michigan's University Library OAIster Project—is now available through Yahoo!'s Content Acquisition Program (CAP) and accessible through Yahoo! Search.

OAIster offers information that links to hidden digital resources, such as the complete contents of books and articles, technical reports, preprints (unpublished works that have not yet been peer reviewed), white papers, images of paintings, movies, and audio files of speeches. OAIster retrieves these resources by tapping directly into the collections of a variety of institutions via harvesting technology based on the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Protocol for Metadata Harvesting. The U-M OAIster service provides access to more than 3 million harvested records describing and pointing to these resources.

Source: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 734/764-7260; http://www.umich.edu.

ProQuest Licenses Taxonomy to Convera

ProQuest Information and Learning announced a licensing agreement with Convera to use ProQuest's taxonomy for electronic content. The deal allows Convera to use ProQuest's taxonomy to classify and organize information in its proprietary RetrievalWare software products.

RetrievalWare solutions enable searches across more than 200 forms of text, video, image, and audio information in more than 45 languages. Convera is offering industry-specific cartridges, based on slices of the ProQuest taxonomy, to plug into RetrievalWare. Convera also offers software licenses for the cartridges, based on ProQuest content, to RetrievalWare users.

Source: ProQuest Information and Learning, Ann Arbor, MI, 800/521-0600; http://www.il.proquest.com.

CONTENT/LINKING AGREEMENTS

Swets Adds Publishers to Online Content Service

Swets Information Services announced that 10 more publishers have signed agreements to participate in its SwetsWise Online Content service. The publishers are Ashley Publications, BioMed Central, the British Institute of Radiology, Future Medicine, the International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research, MA Healthcare, Ltd., Manchester University Press, Open Minds Journals, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the U.K. Serials Group. SwetsWise now carries a total of 7,813 full-text e-journals from 294 publishers.

Source: Swets Information Services, Lisse, Netherlands, 011-31-252-435-584; http://www.swets.com.

UPI and LexisNexis Renew and Expand Global Coverage Contract

United Press International (UPI) and LexisNexis U.S. announced the renewal of a long-standing relationship in a multiyear contract that expands the quantity of content that UPI will deliver. Beginning this summer, LexisNexis news content subscribers will have access to more global coverage of Middle Eastern and South American news events via the lexis.com and nexis.com services. UPI will provide LexisNexis with the English-language content from Arabia 2000, which includes regional perspectives from the Iranian News Agency, Saudi Press Agency, and Yemen News Agency. Spanish-language content additions will include the UPI-LatAm News Service and the UPI-Chile News Service.

Source: LexisNexis, Dayton, OH, 800/227-4908; http://www.lexisnexis.com.

Classical Music Library Links to H.W. Wilson Background Information

Classical International announced an agreement with H.W. Wilson to offer expanded information on composers found on its Classical Music Library service via links to Wilson's Biography Reference Bank, Humanities Full Text, and Humanities Index Retrospective databases at libraries subscribing to both vendors' services. The links offer supplementary information such as full-text articles, images, biographical profiles, interviews, and performance reviews.

Classical Music Library currently offers 20,000 tracks for listening, browsing, and searching.

Source: Classical International, Inc., New York, 800/859-9306; http://www.classical.com.

EBSCO Publishing and Baker & Taylor Release 'Book Index with Reviews'

The NoveList team of EBSCO Publishing, in association with Baker & Taylor, announced the release of the Web-based Book Index with Reviews. The Index provides 800,000 full-text reviews (fully searchable with the EBSCOhost search engine) and information on nearly 4 million book titles (powered by The Title Source from Baker & Taylor). A four-star rating system based on input from thousands of libraries and retail outlets allows users to identify high-demand titles.

Source: EBSCO Publishing, Ipswich, MA, 800/653-2726; http://www.ebsco.com.

USEFUL TOOLS

Ergotron Rolls Out Flexible Arm for Flat-Panel Monitors

Ergotron released the Neo-Flex Arm, an adjustable arm for flat-panel monitors. Built to anchor to the rear of a work surface and attach to a VESA-compliant flat-panel monitor weighing 18 lbs. or less, the Neo-Flex arm offers 8-inch arm height adjustment, 180-degree right/left monitor tilt, up to 180-degree up/down monitor tilt, 360-degree portrait/landscape viewing rotation, and 360-degree arm side-to-side rotation. It also offers an integrated cable routing clip and a safety-stop feature to avert monitor contact with the work surface (for monitors below 15.5 inches in height).

The Neo-Flex arm is designed to support optimal placement of a monitor, which ergonomics experts advise should be positioned at or just below the user's eye level to minimize fatigue and musculoskeletal disorders of the neck and shoulder.

Source: Ergotron, Inc., St. Paul, MN, 651/681-7600, 800/888-8458; Fax: 651/681-7717; http://www.ergotron.com.

Elsevier Releases Wireless Product for Hospitals

Elsevier announced the release of FIRST Consult as a wireless tool for hospital physicians and students. A hand-held decision support tool
designed specifically for point-of-care, it integrates with a hospital network
to afford physicians full access to all
resources and information available on FIRST Consult without requiring them to leave patient locations.

Source: Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 011-31-20-485-3911; http://www.elsevier.com.

Derwent Unveils World Patents Index First View

Thomson Derwent announced that Derwent World Patents Index First View is now available on Dialog. First View, the new alerting companion file to Derwent World Patents Index, provides the data needed to monitor emerging technologies, identify leading inventors, and protect R&D interests. The patents index and First View are designed to be used together to provide a complete picture of patent activity.

Source: Thomson Derwent, Philadelphia, 215/386-0100; http://www.derwent.com and The Dialog Corporation, Cary, NC, 800/334-2564; http://www.dialog.com.

Bowker Debuts New BIP Alert Service

R.R. Bowker introduced its new BIP Alert Service, which automatically sends e-mail messages to individual users any time a book is released that meets the criteria of their previously saved search settings. Subscribers to http://www.booksinprint.com and http://www.globalbooksinprint.com have the option of registering to use BIP Alert at no additional charge. If a library provides remote access to the subscription sites, its patrons can receive the alerts from their home computers.

Source: R.R. Bowker, New Providence, NJ, 888/269-5372; http://www.bowker.com.

Globetek Adds Ethernet Support to Serial Device Server

Globetek shipped GlobeLink GL 414, a new serial device server that features four ports capable of supporting either serial or Ethernet connections at the flip of a switch. Designed to link legacy serial devices to 10/100BaseT Ethernet networks as well as to accommodate RS232-based serial devices via RJ-45 ports, the GL 414 can support up to four serial and Ethernet devices in any combination. It offers a serial data transfer rate of up to 115 Kbps, static key-based 3DES data encryption, serial port or Telnet configuration, and management software for configuration and administration. Libraries in the process of migrating from serial port devices to Ethernet devices can ultimately use the four GL 414 ports to support Ethernet only, thereby reducing the need for multiple server devices and their related installation and maintenance costs.

Source: Globetek, Inc., Akron, OH, 330/920-6000; Fax: 330/923-2932; http://www.globetek.com.

NEW/ENHANCED DATABASES

Dialog Creates New Technology Platform

Dialog announced that it has developed and launched a new comprehensive technology platform for its line of business information, news, and market research services. The new platform bundles business information and offers online research services. New versions of two services—Dialog Profound and Dialog NewsRoom—are now operating on the new platform and are accessible through the unified interface. Current versions of Dialog Intelliscope, Dialog Company Profiles, and Dialog NewsEdge also are accessible through the unified interface.

The new platform features the launch of Dialog's new SmartTerms taxonomy. Developed over a 3-year period by on-staff ontologists, SmartTerms uses more than 855,000 terms, including 3,200 industry terms, 375 subject terms, 500 geographic location terms, 800,000 company names (approximately 60 percent public and 40 percent private), 8,000 publication names, and 46,000 related and secondary terms.

The SmartTerms taxonomy is available for searching in the 8,000 news sources and 201,000 market research reports accessible via the enhanced Dialog NewsRoom and Dialog Profound services. The taxonomy will be available through Dialog Intelliscope, Dialog Company Profiles, and Dialog NewsEdge later this year when new versions of those services are introduced.

Source: The Dialog Corporation, Cary, NC, 800/334-2564; http://www.dialog.com.

H.W. Wilson Unveils New Material

H.W. Wilson announced the release of two new annuals in the Current Biography family of references—Current Biography Yearbook 2003 and Current Biography International Yearbook 2003. Between them, the two resources feature nearly 400 in-depth profiles of people who were prominent in 2003. The Current Biography family of references also includes the WilsonWeb database Current Biography Illustrated.

The updated H.W. Wilson Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective 1907-1984 allows users to digitally search content in core journals in the humanities and social sciences. The database features cover-to-cover indexing of articles from 1,200 noted periodicals, including scholarly journals from the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The data comes from decades of print annuals from Wilson's Social Sciences & Humanities Index, Social Sciences Index, Humanities Index, and International Index, providing citations to more than 1.3 million articles.

Source: H.W. Wilson, New York, 800/367-6770; http://www.hwwilson.com.

xrefer Adds CIA Factbook to xreferplus

xrefer announced that it has integrated the CIA World Factbook into its xreferplus subscription service, adding interactive and exportable data tables to the content. The CIA World Factbook contains extensive information on all of the countries of the world. With the Factbook in xreferplus, researchers can create customized tables comparing countries on any of more than 130 data fields, including economic aid, government, labor figures, and Internet use. Tables can be sorted online, as well as exported and charted for additional manipulation. The Factbook also includes browseable information for all countries on topics such as people, government, economy, communications, and transnational issues, as well as images of maps and flags.

Source: xrefer, Boston, 617/426-5202; http://www.xrefer.com.

Dialog Rolls Out DialogPRO NewsEdge

Dialog launched DialogPRO NewsEdge, a worldwide business intelligence service designed for small business owners and managers. DialogPRO (Predictable Research Online) NewsEdge is a subscription news alerting tool that delivers real-time news provided by top news and research sources. The service also features options for access to Editors' Picks and Editors' Updates, daily news briefing services personally managed by Dialog editors who specialize in individual industry sectors. DialogPRO NewsEdge provides access to news reports distributed by wire services and published in newspapers, magazines, and professional journals, as well as to hard-to-find reports and data produced by government agencies and research analysts.

Source: The Dialog Corporation, Cary, NC, 800/334-2564; http://www.dialog.com.

Wiley InterScience Introduces New Organic Reactions Database

Wiley InterScience announced the launch of Organic Reactions, a new online database devoted exclusively to important synthetic reactions. The database includes a structure and substructure search, reaction search, and evolving product of critically selected content.
An explanation of the scope and limits of the reaction type will also be included. A Cross-Ref feature will enable linking to primary literature references from a variety of publishers. Internal links to other Wiley databases, such as Organic Syntheses, will be added in future enhancements.

Source: John Wiley & Sons, Inc./Wiley InterScience, Hoboken, NJ, 800/825-7550; http://www.interscience.wiley.com.

AUTOMATION AIDS

FKI Logistex Crisplant Intros Library Mate, Compact Sorter

FKI Logistex Crisplant unveiled the Library Mate, an ergonomically designed automated book return and sortation system capable of processing library materials under 16" x 12" x 4" (300mm x 400mm x 100mm) in dimension and under 11 lbs. (5 kg) in weight. Smaller libraries can leverage Library Mate as a stand-alone system. Larger ones can connect it to the Crisplant Compact Sorter, which can sort up to 4,500 items per hour and features a cross-belt design for gentle handling of delicate and mixed materials. A small footprint system configured for floor, ceiling, or wall mounting, the Compact Sorter can convey material at a range of levels; it also stacks items in correct orientation on the Crisplant Ergo Cart, which has a stacker shelf designed to electronically lift to position materials at a comfortable working height. Modular in design to enable expansion, Crisplant's library system can be integrated with almost any ILS and managed via a workstation or wireless PDA logged onto an existing library intranet. As the patron scans the bar code or RFID tag on a returned item, the data is transferred to the ILS, which records the completed transaction and instructs Library Mate to print out a receipt. Library Mate supports standard library system protocols such as SIP2 and Z39.70.

Source: FKI Logistex Crisplant, Frederick, MD, 301/663-3018; http://www.fkilogistex.com/crisplantinc.

Cuadra Updates STAR Information Management System

Cuadra Associates announced the release of STAR 3.9, an update of its information management software. STAR 3.9 provides a number of enhancements to the program's core technology, its Windows-based client interface, and its browser-based system management interface. Cuadra has added encrypted communications features to the core technology, allowing users of STAR's Windows-based client and the company's Applications Solution Provider service to communicate safely and securely over the Internet from multiple locations. The update also incorporates a new release of STAR Manager, a faster and more efficient version of STAR's browser-based management interface, the company says, which provides access to most of the maintenance functions used to manage the STAR system.

Source: Cuadra Associates, Inc., Los Angeles, 310/478-0066; http://www.cuadra.com.

Sirsi Delivers Preconfigured Z39.50 Search Maps

Sirsi announced that it is the first company to deliver preconfigured client search name maps for more than 20 of the most popular Z39.50 servers. Previously, Sirsi sent only two attributes for searches to search destination servers. Now, the company has mapped and made available all six attributes under the Z39.50 protocol. Searches are no longer dependent upon the defaults set by the server receiving the query. Versions include EBSCO Information Services, Library of Congress, National Library of Canada, OCLC, and OCLC WorldCat. A complete listing of the most popular versions of the Z39.50 preconfigured server searches is available to Sirsi clients on http://www.sirsi.com under "Client Care."

Source: Sirsi Corp., St Louis, 800/325-0888; http://www.sirsi.com.

TLC Upgrades Its Library•Solution

The Library Corporation has announced a new release of Library•Solution. The update, version 3.2, has more than 50 features and enhancements, including these: added features for holds management, patron searching, item tracking, and history of loan and fine payments in the circulation application; advanced authority management; enhanced photo imaging support; cataloging security improvements; enhanced e-mail notification; additional PAC customization capabilities; and support for presetting groups of materials for statistical reporting.

Source: The Library Corporation, Inwood, WV, 800/325-7759; http://www.tlcdelivers.com.

NEW BOOKS

ALA Offers Tips on Creating Online Library Services

ALA Editions announced the release of Library Web Sites: Creating Online Collections and Services (A. Paula Wilson, ISBN: 0-8389-0872-1, $35). The guide is meant to help systems librarians and Web developers to craft sticky library sites that emulate the style of e-commerce sites, the immediacy of top search engines, and the content variety of online booksellers in information and service delivery. It offers a checklist of key features of a library Web site as well as practical tips on Web page content management; online marketing; external database, catalog, and e-book content linking; patron advisory services delivery; calendar-based site update; and digital resource archiving. The manual offers information and direction on issues such as site planning, standards, navigation, branding, digital collections, e-mail and chat reference services, library catalogs and portals, licensed databases and electronic books, reader services, full-text content, IT administration, and content customization for specific audiences.

Source: ALA Editions, Chicago, 312/280-1537; Fax: 312/944-8741; http://www.ala.org/editions.

Thomson Launches Business Research Solutions Series

Via the Texere unit of its business and professional publishing arm, Thomson shipped Introduction to Online Company Research (Chris Dobson, ISBN: 0-538-72683-0, $49.95). The first of six volumes in Thomson's new Business Research Solutions Series, the 304-page hardcover manual outlines techniques for excavating an array of rated online databases for data on a specific company, whether for due diligence or for sizing up a potential partner, customer, competitor, or legal adversary. The book provides tips for defining the parameters and costs of the search, deciding how the information will be used and by whom, and applying professional methodologies toward mining and interpreting results.

It also features evaluations by 50 research experts of 100 online business research data sources in two classes—general sources/portals for broad data aggregation (such as Factiva, Dialog, Thomson Gale, and LexisNexis) and niche market research outlets. Online data sources are ranked on a 10-point scale according to eight criteria: cost-to-value, timeliness, comprehensiveness, ease of use, search options, support services, training offered, and special services.

Anticipated release dates for the other Business Research Solutions Series titles in the pipeline are as follows: May 2004—Introduction to Online Accounting & Financial Research (edited by Susan M. Klopper), Introduction to Online Market & Industry Research (edited by Cynthia L. Shamel), Introduction to Online Investment Research (edited by Jan Davis Tudor); July 2004—Introduction to Online Legal, Regulatory & Intellectual Property Research (edited by Genie Tyburski); August 2004—Introduction to Online Competitive Intelligence Research (edited by Conor Vibert).

Source: Texere, LLC, New York, 917/534-2401; Fax: 917/534-2128; http://www.etexere.com.

Guide Aids Web Site Strategy Planning

Facet Publishing released Managing Your Internet and Intranet Services: The Information Professionals Guide to Strategy, second edition (Peter Griffiths, ISBN: 1-85604-483-1, $65). Targeted to librarians, Web designers, and knowledge and information managers, the reference provides actionable advice on building and upgrading feature-rich Web sites for information service providers.

It offers practical guidance on strategic planning, management, and enhancement of online services, covering topics such as information architecture; intranets and portals; Weblogs; the Internet revolution; LIS professionals and the Web; the business case for developing a sophisticated Web presence; Webmaster and Web team functions; site population, organization, and deployment; publication design and accessibility; content management; tech services provision; and the "golden rules" for delivering Web page content. Additionally, the handbook features a Web jargon glossary as well as a source list for further readings. The publisher has also launched a companion Web site for the guide.

Facet is a U.K. publisher; its titles are available in the U.S. exclusively through Neal-Schuman.

Source: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., New York, 212/ 925-8650; Fax: 212/219-8916;
http://www.neal-schuman.com.