DEPARTMENTS
Product News and Reviews
LexisNexis Enhances lexis.com
LexisNexis announced that it has enhanced lexis.com, its flagship
legal information service, with advanced functionality for Shepard's reports.
According to the announcement, several upgrades to the Shepard's reports
are being released, all of which allow customers to tailor and integrate LexisNexis
information more easily into their work flow. The newly added Shepard's Summary
of legal case histories lets users view the most important aspects of a case's
treatment right at the top of the report. Shepard's now features pop-up definitions
for analysis phrases and a navigation trail similar to that used in the rest
of LexisNexis.
In addition, lexis.com now includes extensive intra-document hyperlinking
and a navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. Each of the analysis phrases
and other listed sources is hyperlinked to the first occurrence in the report.
The customer can then use the navigation bar to move to subsequent occurrences.
The navigation bar also contains a pull-up box that lists all of the phrases,
jurisdictions, and secondary sources within the report.
Source: LexisNexis, Dayton, OH, 937/865-7942; http://www.lexisnexis.com.
Ovid Introduces LinkSolver
Ovid announced the release of LinkSolver, its new universal link resolver.
According to the announcement, LinkSolver provides end users with advanced
linking capabilities that they can use to access their library's entire collection
of Web-based content.
LinkSolver can be purchased independently of Ovid's current product line
or integrated into the Ovid Web Gateway platform. It provides information professionals
with flexibility in defining, organizing, and displaying links based not only
on their institution's existing electronic content collections, but also on
a full range of linking options available to researchers through the Web.
When used with Ovid's search engine, LinkSolver also features a unique option
that lets end users conduct a search in Ovid's bibliographic resources and
limit the results to citations in which full text is available—either
located within Journals@Ovid or hosted externally.
Source: Ovid, New York, 646/674-6300; http://www.ovid.com.
MicroPatent Upgrades Systems
MicroPatent announced three system upgrades: a new PatentWeb navigation tool,
additional German data, and improved date-range options in PatSearch FullText.
According to the announcement, these new features increase work-flow efficiencies,
save time, improve the search experience, and provide more comprehensive results.
PatentWeb's new navigation tool lets searchers move from one search environment
to another (according to their subscriptions), access a personal repository
of their MicroPatent information, order and retrieve documents (including file
histories), and link to other MicroPatent product information.
The new German data consists of DE-T and DE-U documents available in PatSearch
FullText. Both of these collections contain bibliographic data only, dating
from 1989 to the present. (Abstracts and full text are not available.)
According to the announcement, the new PatSearch FullText date-range options
let customers better qualify their search strategies and more efficiently execute
their research. There are two data sets: one searches backward from the most
recent data, and the other searches sequential time segments.
Source: MicroPatent, East Haven, CT, 203/466-5055; http://www.micropat.com.
RefWorks Announces New Release, Feature
RefWorks announced that it has released a new version of its RefWorks Web-based
bibliographic management tool. The company also announced the availability
of direct exports from OCLC, Ovid, and ProQuest.
Among other features, RefWorks now includes the following:
• Output format enhancements that allow users to cite specific
pages in text or leave out the author name and cite just the year for a particular
in-text citation
• New reference types such as newspaper articles, videos/DVDs,
maps, and sound recordings
• New fields such as call number, database, data source, identifying
phrase, and retrieved date
• An enhanced administrator tool that offers new reporting capabilities,
the ability to e-mail users with RefWorks information, improved account management,
and the ability to create a custom link from RefWorks to an institution's
information page
Source: RefWorks, Encinitas, CA, 760/753-3885; http://www.refworks.com.
Gallup Launches Platform to Support Archive
The Gallup Organization announced the launch of the Gallup Brain,
a Web-accessible repository for public-opinion data collected by the Gallup
Poll since 1935. Subscription-based access to the Gallup Brain is available
at http://brain.gallup.com with
a subscription to Gallup's weekly Tuesday Briefing news source.
The Gallup database contains more than 50 gigabytes of stored data and 5
gigabytes of newspaper articles, datasets, and news releases. It also includes
current Gallup Poll News Service and Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing articles
that feature the latest in-depth poll analysis and news stories. The archive
comprises data and analysis of Americans' attitudes on topics such as government,
public affairs, religion, and values.
Source: The Gallup Organization, Washington, DC, 202/715-3030; http://www.gallup.com.
ITI Releases New Books
Information Today, Inc. announced the publication of The Accidental
Webmaster, a new book by Julie M. Still, and Building & Running
a Successful Research Business, by Mary Ellen Bates.
The Accidental Webmaster
The Accidental Webmaster is designed to help new Webmasters—especially
those with limited financial and human resources—deal with the range of
challenges they face on a daily basis. Still provides readers with practical
advice on how to get started, set policies, work with Internet service providers,
design effective Web pages, and select information content.
Building & Running a Successful Research Business
This new book is a how-to guide for entrepreneurs who are interested in launching,
managing, and growing an independent research firm.
Organized into four major sections, "Getting Started," "Running the Business," "Marketing," and "Researching," the
book walks readers through every step of the process. Longtime industry figure
Bates covers such topics as closing the sale, managing clients, promoting the
business, and tapping into powerful online information sources.
Source: Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ, 609/654-6266; https://www.infotoday.com.
Dialog Adds Market Research Reports to Profound
Dialog announced that it has enhanced its Dialog Profound Researchline service
by adding market and industry data and analysis from 20 new information providers.
More than 200,000 market research reports are now available for electronic
searching and retrieval through Researchline. The newly added reports, used
by marketing professionals and business researchers worldwide, feature expert
insight into technology-based businesses and other global market segments.
The content is supplied by more than 130 of the world's top market research
firms, including Frost & Sullivan, Aberdeen Group, Cahners In-Stat, Decision
Resources, Gartner, Inc., Semico Research Corp., Simba Information, Wintergreen
Research, and The Yankee Group. These new providers have contributed about
3,000 reports to the Researchline database, with new ones added as they are
published.
Source: Dialog Corp., Cary, NC, 919/462-8600; http://www.dialog.com.
Copernic Rolls Out Copernic Agent 6.1
Copernic announced the availability of Copernic Agent 6.1, the newest
version of its Internet desktop search tool. This update features improvements
and enhancements that are based on customer feedback.
Highlights of the new release include the following:
• Improved result-filtering features
• New country-based search categories
• Support for Adobe PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files
• Better access to result/search sorting functions
• Customizable views and field choosers for results and searches
• A backup and restore feature for search history and tracked
pages
• An easier, faster installation process
Source: Copernic, Sainte-Foy, PQ, 418/527-1751; http://www.copernic.com.
ebrary Unveils New Fee-Based Research Site
ebrary announced the availability of ebrary Discover (http://discover.ebrary.com),
a new fee-based Web site that provides independent researchers with anytime,
anywhere access to titles from more than 150 leading publishers, such as Cambridge
University Press, Random House, Inc., and The McGraw-Hill Companies.
ebrary Discover also offers ebrary InfoTools, research technology that provides
word-level interaction. Simply by selecting words, independent researchers
can instantly link to additional information within the ebrary collection or
access resources on the Web, such as definitions, encyclopedic abstracts, biographical
information, and translations.
ebrary Discover features the following:
• More than 20,000 full-text books, sheet-music titles, reports,
and other documents
• Full-text search and advanced navigation
• Bookmarks, highlighting, and annotations
• Automatic bibliographic citations
Source: ebrary, Palo Alto, CA, 650/475-8700; http://www.ebrary.com.
Convera Introduces RetrievalWare 8
Convera announced the availability of RetrievalWare 8, a new knowledge
discovery platform that helps large organizations automate their knowledge
management and discovery processes with an infrastructure that can be optimized
for specific industry and government agency applications.
RetrievalWare 8 integrates Convera's scalable enterprise search with industry-specific
taxonomies, new categorization software, and dynamic classification software.
It provides a single, integrated platform that categorizes and organizes all
content, including unstructured text; image, video, and paper assets; and a
variety of structured data sources.
Using Convera's dynamic classification software, end users can launch a search
and automatically classify the results based on pre-defined or dynamically
generated classifications. By combining these classifications on the fly, end
users are able to isolate and discover critically relevant information that
existing search and categorization software cannot uncover, according to the
announcement.
Source: Convera, Vienna, VA, 800/788-7758; http://www.convera.com.
Inmagic Releases Content Server
Inmagic, Inc. announced the release of Inmagic Content Server, a product
that combines a robust and flexible database management environment with high-speed
search and categorization.
Content Server allows business users to create content; integrate existing
content from internal and external sources; deploy that content to Web pages
on intranets, extranets, and the Internet; and organize and manage information
flow.
Content Server is built on the Microsoft SQL Server. By using this platform,
Inmagic is able to provide content management solutions for single departments,
workgroups, or enterprisewide systems.
Source: Inmagic, Inc., Woburn, MA, 781/938-4444; http://www.inmagic.com.
GPO Provides Access to McCarthy Transcripts
The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) announced that it is providing
public access to the transcripts of closed-door hearings conducted by Senator
Joseph McCarthy from 1953 to 1954. Paper copies are available from GPO's sales
program. Copies are also being distributed to federal depository libraries
around the nation for free use by the public. Transcripts may be viewed online
free of charge via GPO Access (http://www.gpoaccess.gov),
GPO's online information service.
The printed transcripts comprise more than 4,300 pages of hearings in five
volumes. They are the proceedings of executive sessions of the Senate's Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations, during which subcommittee chairman McCarthy
and others questioned nearly 400 individuals about their alleged involvement
in communist activities.
Under the rules of the Senate, the transcripts were deposited in the National
Archives and sealed for 50 years, in part to protect the privacy of the many
witnesses who testified in closed executive sessions. The seal expired recently
and the transcripts were ordered released by the Senate Committee on Governmental
Affairs following preparation by the Senate Historical Office.
Source: The U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 202/512-1530; http://www.gpo.gov.
Stellent Launches City/County eGovernment Solution
Stellent, Inc. announced the release of the Stellent City/County eGovernment
Solution, a content management product suite that offers a pricing model
to accommodate county and municipal agencies' diverse application needs and
budgets.
The Stellent City/County eGovernment Solution annual software license is
priced per resident and includes maintenance fees. It lets government agencies
use Stellent technology to deploy an unlimited number of e-government initiatives—such
as public Web sites, intranets, and document management applications—while
enabling an unlimited number of content contributors and consumers to utilize
the system.
Source: Stellent, Inc., Eden Prairie, MN, 952/903-2000; http://www.stellent.com.
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