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Vol. 20 No. 11 — December 2003

Elsevier Announces ScienceDirect News

Elsevier announced that it has added The Lancet backfiles to its ScienceDirect service. The company also announced that the ScienceDirect collection now contains 5 million full-text articles.

The Lancet

With the integration of The Lancet into ScienceDirect, users can search a historical archive of more than 340,000 articles dating to the publication's inception in 1823.

ScienceDirect backfile articles are presented in fully searchable Adobe PDF and are supported by citations, abstracts, and references in re-keyed HTML. Users can cross-search backfile articles against the other journal content, abstract databases, and reference works on ScienceDirect. References are live-linked to the full-text articles on ScienceDirect and to more than 170 scientific and medical publishers via CrossRef.

ScienceDirect Growth

ScienceDirect now covers more than 1,800 journals from the core scientific literature, including titles such as Cell and Tetrahedron. In addition to this journal collection, ScienceDirect has increased its offering of other types of full-text content, such as its recently launched program of online reference works that seamlessly interlinks with the primary research that's referenced in journals.

Source: Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 011-31-20-485-2677; http://www.elsevier.com.

ProQuest Unveils New Archiving Program, Los Angeles Times Backfile

ProQuest Information and Learning has announced the introduction of the UMI Dissertation Digital Archiving and Access program, a new service for accredited institutions in North America. The company also announced the release of ProQuest Historical Newspapers­The Los Angeles Times.

Archiving Program

The UMI Dissertation Digital Archiving and Access program provides an institution with a lasting, accessible, and complete record of its doctoral dissertations and master's theses on microfilm or fiche. It creates bibliographic-citation information for all titles (with free MARC records), an archival microfilm copy for all dissertations, and access to all dissertations in print, microform, and digital formats.

Los Angeles Times Backfile

The Los Angeles Times backfile offers researchers extensive coverage and analysis of the development of Los Angeles, the Pacific Rim, and the West's major industries. The material currently available includes backfiles dating from the newspaper's founding in 1881 to 1922. Every available issue of the Los Angeles Times will be digitized from cover to cover, including its news stories, editorials, photos, graphics, and advertisements.

Source: ProQuest Information and Learning, Ann Arbor, MI, 734/761-4700; http://www.il.proquest.com.

Ingenta Continues Growth Across Publisher Services

Ingenta, a technology provider of online publishing services to academic and professional publishers, has announced an expansion in its business.

Over the past year, Ingenta has signed more than 30 new publisher customers and extended relationships with more than 40 existing clients. In addition, it has increased its network of registered institutions by 25 percent to 15,000.

New customers include a cross section of international commercial publishers, society publishers, and self-publishing nongovernmental organizations, such as Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, Jordan Publishing, and the World Tourism Organization.

Source: Ingenta, Cambridge, MA, 617/395-4000; http://www.ingenta.com.

Library of Congress Offers Wright Brothers Papers

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Wilbur and Orville Wright's first flight, the Library of Congress announced that its collection of Wright brothers papers is available online in the American Memory collection (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wrighthtml).

Nearly one-third of the Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers, totaling 30,000 items, will be made accessible online. The papers, which document the lives of the Wrights and highlight their pioneering work, span the years 1881 to 1952 but largely cover 1900 to 1940.

The 10,000 items selected include the Wrights' diaries and notebooks, which record many of their glides and powered flights at Kitty Hawk, N.C., and elsewhere, as well as their scientific experiments and data. Charts, drawings, scrapbooks, printed matter, and other materials covering the Wrights' research, work, and business pursuits are also included.

Source: Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 202/707-2905; http://www.loc.gov.

Gale Teams with Google, Completes Preservation Project

Gale has announced an agreement that will allow users of select products on its InfoTrac Web platform to link to Google Image Search while searching within the premium databases. Gale also announced that it has completed a project that duplicated the city of Boston's damaged records and preserved important historical information.

Google Partnership

Gale president Allen Paschal said: "We added the Google Image Search in response to customer requests for additional images in our databases. We chose to partner with Google because they provide more images than any other vendor. This allows Gale to provide customers added value from our products at no charge and one convenient, single search to get the information and images they need."

To ensure that inappropriate images are not returned, Gale has chosen to automatically default to the Google SafeSearch "strict" filtering option. Customers also have the option to turn off the embedded link to the image search.

Preservation Project

In the 1950s, Boston microfilmed and later destroyed the hard copies of chattel mortgages filed with the City Clerk from 1830 to 1958. Chattel mortgages utilize movable personal property, such as furniture, animals, and automobiles, as collateral. These resources are used to trace Boston's dynamic expansion in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Without a duplicate set of film, these records were unavailable to the public. Furthermore, the cellulose acetate film used at the time became unstable, resulting in deterioration. After several months, Gale was able to return the original film intact, with a new master to ensure permanent preservation.

Source: Gale, Farmington Hills, MI, 248/699-4253; http://www.gale.com.

Information Today, Inc. Publishes Two New Books

Information Today, Inc. (ITI) announced that it has published Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age, by Heting Chu, and Assessing Competitive Intelligence Software: A Guide to Evaluating CI Technology, by France Bouthillier and Kathleen Shearer.

Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age

This new book is the latest release in the ASIST Monograph Series, which is published by ITI on behalf of the American Society of Information Science & Technology (ASIST). It offers a comprehensive and current view of information representation and retrieval (IRR), a key topic for developers and users of online and Internet data-retrieval systems. With an emphasis on principles and fundamentals, Chu reviews key concepts and major developmental stages of the IRR field and systematically examines retrieval techniques, models, and Internet systems.

Assessing Competitive Intelligence Software

Bouthillier and Shearer demonstrate a practical, systematic method that can be used to evaluate competitive intelligence (CI) software independently. Firms can use this information to compare features, identify strengths and weaknesses, and invest in products that meet their unique needs. The authors provide background on competitive intelligence, offer an overview of the relevant software applications, and demonstrate their assessment methodology through an evaluation of four leading CI software packages.

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

Alacra Teams with Oxford Analytica

Alacra, Inc. has announced that Oxford Analytica will make its daily analysis of global political and economic developments available through the Alacra service.

Oxford Analytica is an international consulting firm that draws its expertise from more than 1,000 senior faculty members at major academic and research institutes around the world. Its flagship product, the Oxford Analytica Daily Brief, provides current and authoritative analysis for corporations and governments.

"We are extremely pleased to add Oxford Analytica's timely, comprehensive, and insightful analysis to Alacra," said Steve Goldstein, Alacra's CEO. "The addition of Oxford's commentary had been requested by several Alacra customers, and we're excited to be able to offer this valuable information to our entire customer base."

Source: Alacra, Inc., New York, 212/363-9620; http://www.alacra.com.

NewsStand Releases Two Publications in Digital

NewsStand, Inc. announced that Mobile Media Group has selected it to provide digital production and delivery of Handheld Computing and Mobility magazines to readers.

Handheld Computing, published nine times a year, offers consumers the latest information on portable devices. Mobility, published quarterly, focuses on portable products in the enterprise market. NewsStand's electronic editions allow subscribers to download exact digital replicas of these titles directly to their PCs, laptops, or Tablet PCs and read the publications on- or offline.

By using the NewsStand's digital distribution technology, Mobile Media Group can create user-friendly electronic editions with digital functionality such as keyword search, direct jumps to desired sections, instant article continuations, quick scan of one- or two-page spreads, and zoom-in capability for items of interest.

Source: NewsStand, Inc., Austin, TX, 512/334-5106; http://www.newsstand.com.

FIZ CHEMIE Berlin Launches New Search Engine

FIZ CHEMIE Berlin announced the release of subject-specific Internet search engines ChemGuide (chemistry), MedPharmGuide (medicine and pharmacology), and PublishersGuide (scientific publishers). These engines access more than 7,000 servers and thoroughly search them down to the last published page. All entry pages found by the guides are evaluated by FIZ CHEMIE Berlin for their relevance. With a single search query in one of these engines, users can search thousands of servers with approximately 15 million Web pages.

Use of the search engines is free of charge. An extensive retrieval language is available for search queries. In addition to the usual Boolean operators, wild cards may be used and proximity searches are possible. Also, search result lists may be coupled together with list logic. This enables, for example, results that are common to two lists to be listed in a third.

Source: FIZ CHEMIE Berlin, Berlin, 011-49-30-399-77-140; http://www.chemistry.de.

EBSCO Publishing Announces Additions to EBSCOhost

EBSCO Publishing announced that it has added index browsing, My EBSCOhost, and Biology Digest to its EBSCOhost service.

Index Browsing

Index browsing gives users the option to search from specific indexes in EBSCOhost databases from a drop-down menu of indexed fields. Once a field is selected, users can browse an alphabetical list of terms in each indexed field or browse for a specific term within the chosen field. The number of times each term appears in the database in that field is also displayed. From this point, researchers can build a search by selecting one or more terms from the index and choosing the desired Boolean operator for multiple terms.

My EBSCOhost

My EBSCOhost allows users to create personalized folders in EBSCOhost. These individual accounts are accessible across multiple research sessions, so users can retrieve previously gathered information at a later time. Building on the concept of the EBSCOhost folder, which is still available for single sessions, EBSCO has expanded the capacity of the personalized folders. The folders in My EBSCOhost can save individual search results, search histories, persistent links to searches, search alerts, journal alerts, and Web pages created using EBSCO's Composer feature.

Biology Digest

Biology Digest, produced by Plexus Publishing, offers lengthy abstracts from more than 200 journals covering all the life sciences, including medicine, health, zoology, botany, environmental science, and many other categories.

Libraries that use EBSCO's full-text databases in conjunction with Biology Digest can link from citation-only results in Biology Digest to the corresponding full-text articles from a number of sources covered in these databases.

Source: EBSCO Publishing, Ipswich, MA, 978/356-6500; http://www.epnet.com.

Thomson ISI ResearchSoft Releases RefViz

Thomson ISI ResearchSoft, in collaboration with OmniViz, announced the release of RefViz, a new visualization tool for the researcher's desktop. RefViz allows users to visually explore reference literature for major themes and topics. According to the announcement, references can be moved easily between RefViz and any of the ISI ResearchSoft products—EndNote, ProCite, and Reference Manager—to publish results faster.

RefViz provides an intuitive framework for exploring reference collections based on content. With an at-a-glance overview, it allows users to orient themselves with the literature to reveal trends and associations in references. RefViz provides a suite of tools for detailed exploration of bibliographies and online search results that helps users retain important references otherwise lost when narrowing a search or skimming a list.

RefViz's Galaxy view organizes references according to how they are related conceptually and provides an overview of how each is related to every other reference. The Matrix view lets users review subjects discussed together in the literature by highlighting the co-occurrence of key terms. This helps users understand the overlap and associations between concepts.

Source: Thomson ISI ResearchSoft, Carlsbad, CA, 760/438-5526; http://www.isiresearchsoft.com.

CISTI Launches Secure Desktop Delivery

The Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) announced that it will launch its new Secure Desktop Delivery (SDD) method in December. SDD will enable the delivery of copyright-cleared electronic documents directly to the end user through the Web.

CISTI clients who choose SDD as their delivery method will download a customized Adobe Acrobat plug-in before they use the service for the first time. The plug-in makes it possible for clients to open, view, and print the ordered documents. As the launch date for SDD approaches, the free plug-in will be made available for download on the CISTI Web site.

A client who orders a document and chooses SDD as the delivery method will receive an e-mail that includes a URL when the document is ready to download. At their convenience, clients can click on the link and log in to retrieve the document they have requested.

Source: Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, Ottawa, 613/998-2362; http://www.cisti.nrc.gc.ca.

West Adds American Jurisprudence to ResultsPlus

West announced that it has added key sections from American Jurisprudence (Am Jur) to ResultsPlus, Westlaw's new research-assistance feature.

ResultsPlus points Westlaw users to related information sources such as American Law Reports and Am Jur and suggests West key number queries to further refine their search.

According to the announcement, Am Jur articles provide guidance to researchers who are seeking the fastest route to the heart of legal issues. West's attorney/editors research and analyze cases, statutes, and regulations from all 50 states and federal courts to create Am Jur articles. Each article examines not only the point of law but also the spirit and intent of the courts in construing the law and the legislature's intent in enacting and amending it.

Source: West, Eagan, MN, 651/687-7000; http://www.west.com.

SwetsWise to Add Nine Publishers' Titles

Swets Blackwell announced that it has concluded agreements with nine publishers to provide access to their online journal content via SwetsWise. The Web-based, modular SwetsWise service is used for the procurement, access, and management of subscriptions and online information. It now carries a total of 7,645 full-text e-journals, with more than 90 percent of the top STM publishers participating.

The nine publishers that will be contributing titles are the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, American Institute of Biological Sciences, Carden Jennings Publishing Co., Ltd., Chartered Institute of Building, Hindawi Publishing Corp., INFORMS, School of Social Work, Society for Personality Research, and Westburn Publishers, Ltd.

Source: Swets Blackwell, Lisse, Netherlands, 011-31-252-435-584; http://www.swetsblackwell.com.

Surpass Software Releases Surpass Copycat

Surpass Software announced the release of Surpass Copycat, a cataloging tool for downloading free MARC records with no annual database subscription needed. Copycat employs the Z39.50 protocol to let users search for records either individually or in a multisearch batch-mode by loading in an ISBN list for automatic retrospective conversion. Multisearch allows the search list to be entered by hand, loaded from a text file, or loaded from a MARC record file.

Copycat also lets users scan the EAN bar code found on the back of many books and automatically converts it to the ISBN for searching. The tool allows users to select multiple libraries for searching and will automatically choose the most complete record when matching records are found at multiple libraries.

Surpass Copycat can be used by librarians and media specialists who regularly catalog new and donated books, are cataloging a new collection, are converting a catalog from a non-MARC database, or need to update brief MARC records to full MARC records.

Source: Surpass Software, Calhoun, GA, 706/625-5399; http://www.surpasssoftware.com.

Tribune Media Services International Launches News In Motion International

Tribune Media Services International announced that it will launch News In Motion International (http://www.niminternational.com) in December. This service will deliver News In Motion and Knight Ridder/Tribune (KRT) animations, TV graphics, and related editorial content to television stations and their Web sites on a subscription and spot-sales basis.

Prior to the launch of the international site, producers can access the service at http://www.newsinmotion.com.

Clients will have access to rundowns, scripts, and indexes of news and feature animations for broadcast and Web publication. Additionally, the site will feature over-the-shoulder broadcast graphics and animated clips as well as KRT photos, graphics, stories, and caricatures. Producers also will have access to an archive of more than 2,000 animations, which can be searched and previewed online. Customers can pull the broadcast version of archive animations from a tape archive at their station in their preferred tape format.

Source: Tribune Media Services International, Los Angeles, 213/237-7987; http://www.tmsinternational.com.

Reference Universe Now Supports OpenURL

Paratext, LLC, an independent publisher of electronic bibliographic and library services, announced that its Reference Universe database now supports the OpenURL protocol.

According to the announcement, Reference Universe is the world's largest aggregated access point for subject encyclopedias and other reference works. The database, which is updated weekly, currently contains more than 3 million citations from 2,500 titles representing 260 reference publishers.

The OpenURL standard allows electronic database searchers to link from a citation to additional related information. In the case of Reference Universe, the link is to the library's holdings.

Source: Paratext, LLC, Sterling, VA, 703/318-0285; http://www.paratext.com.

Nature Unveils Nature Reviews Microbiology

Nature Publishing Group has announced the launch of Nature Reviews Microbiology. A new addition to the Nature Reviews series, this comprehensive journal will encompass every aspect of the dynamic world of microbiology by publishing reviews and perspectives that cover developments in fundamental, environmental, clinical, and industrial microbiology.

Snapshots from the cutting edge of microbiology will be presented in the Highlights section. In addition, Nature's regular two-page briefings—Genome Watch (in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute) and Disease Watch (in collaboration with the World Health Organization)—will keep readers informed of the latest developments in microbial genomics and infectious diseases.

According to the announcement, Nature Reviews Microbiology is the only review journal in the literature to encompass the discipline of microbiology in its broadest sense. The scope will include all fields relevant to bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. Every article is carefully commissioned, written by acknowledged leaders in the field, and subject to a rigorous peer-review process.

Source: Nature Publishing Group, New York, 212/726-9200; http://www.nature.com.

IEEE Offers Journalists Free Technical Source Guide

IEEE has announced that the newly updated IEEE Technical Experts Guide can now be searched by topic and by IEEE Society, Council, or other resource. This tool for journalists and other media professionals provides multidisciplinary scientific and engineering sources on a wide range of technical topics.

The IEEE Technical Experts Guide includes more than 500 topics related to information and electro-technologies. It has an alphabetized list of entries and contact information for IEEE experts and others in industry, government, and academia who are qualified to answer questions or make referrals on a particular subject area.

Source: IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, 732/562-5376; http://www.ieee.org.

Neal-Schuman Publishes New Management Guide

Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. announced that it has released Beyond the Basics: The Management Guide for Library and Information Professionals, a practical, hands-on guide to results-oriented library management strategies.

Library management experts G. Edward Evans and Patricia Layzell Ward look at how external forces such as globalization, OCLC's recent marketing decisions, mergers of specialist software houses, new document delivery services, and the growth of electronic archives and virtual libraries affect libraries and explain how library managers can respond. They re-examine the ways these changes influence communications and work patterns between library colleagues, long- and short-term planning, and collaboration/competition between the public and private information delivery services.

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