LibWorm.com provides a librarian RSS filtering service. Data from over 1500 librarian RSS feeds is collected and output via different categories. This feed contains the latest headlines from the user generated query: open source Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:16:59 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://hhsmedia.blogspot.com/2009/11/fond-farewell.html Friday, 11.20.09 will be my last day here at Huntingtown High School. I will be taking on a new job which will allow me to explore Open Source Online Learning Management Systems that will let us provide classes for both students and teachers online throughout the state of Maryland. Every school in which I have worked has a special place in my heart, and HHS will be no different. I have learned so much from the HHS staff and students, and for that I thank you! I wish each and every one of you happiness and success in your future endeavors. Don't be afraid to embrace change and sieze opportunities that come your way. Remember that "keywords unlock information," and be a lifetime learner! My email address is the same, so if you need any help, feel free to email me at: voelkerc@calvernet.k12.md.us or follow me on twitter: voelkerc Proud to be a Hurricane,~Ms. Voelker (Source: Huntingtown High School Library Media Center) Thu, 18 Nov 2010 05:00:00 +0100 795093 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/M5EgWYWaLx4/sam-baker-stepmothers From Mrs Dashwood to the Wicked Queen, the novelist considers one of the culture's most traduced figuresSam Baker has edited some of Britain's bestselling magazines, including Company, Cosmopolitan and currently, Red. She published her first novel, Fashion Victim, in 2005, and a second, This Year's Model, followed in 2008. The Stepmother's Support Group, her third, is published this week in paperback. She lives between Winchester, Hampshire and central London with her husband and grown-up stepson.Buy Sam Baker books at the Guardian bookshop"Stepmothers get what can only be called a "bum rap" in literature. From Snow White and Cinderella to Tolstoy to Judy Blume, whenever fiction needs a character to pin it on a stepmother comes in handy. Euripedes didn't help our cause when he wrote, "Better a serpent than a stepmother". And it's pretty much been that way since, with stepmothers pitted, in the main, against their stepdaughters, to create stories of two women battling for one man's attention."There aren't many positive role models, and often you need to dig below the surface, finding characters whose "stepmother-ness" is incidental. That's why I wanted to rehabilitate stepmothers, and made my characters in The Stepmothers' Support Group many things to many people – friends, professionals, lovers, confidantes… Stepmothering is just one of their tasks, and some of them are even good at it! Here are my favourite fictional stepmothers – some good, some very bad, and some downright put upon."1. The Wicked Queen in Snow White by the Brothers GrimmHardly a positive role model, but I can't omit the mummy of them all. The wicked queen in Snow White is the baddest of all. But don't worry, the Brothers Grimm made sure she got her comeuppance. In their original, which has since been sanitised for our more sensitive constitutions, the queen attends Snow White's wedding, ignorant of the bride's identity. ... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:44:27 +0100 814692 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/e3wBSHLIzXg/the-spirit-level-book-equality The Spirit Level argues for an equal society, but the book ignores the impact of economics, culture and neoliberal ideologyRichard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett are right to talk about inequality and do so at length in The Spirit Level, a debate that seems to have captured something about the anxieties and fears we have about modern Britain and life. Yet, despite its popularity and the claims of its authors, The Spirit Level does not offer a new egalitarian credo, and instead leaves crucial areas unexplored.Wilkinson and Pickett pose that inequality hurts and harms all of us and set out to show across a range of international examples that more equal affluent countries are happier, more secure and have a better quality of life. In a 330-page book on inequality, the authors surprisingly say next to nothing about factors that created the rising tide of inequality we have witnessed these last few decades. Not only that, they take their argument that rising inequality has occurred as proven, and don't offer any historical examination even of the recent past.Even more surprisingly, they dismiss in a couple of paragraphs the role of ideology in creating more inequality. Specifically neoliberalism is curtly dismissed, apparently because it did not set out to cause the symptoms of inequality such as teenage pregnancy, obesity, and greater levels of violence. This is naive and a complete misunderstanding of the nature of neoliberalism, centred on the encouragement of market relationships and inequality with all the symptoms that flow from this.Following on from this, there is no recognition of how economics and politics have forged a new coalescing of power – not just corporate, but across society, from the media to culture and academia. This power has reshaped government, policy and the character of the state in the UK and elsewhere. There is no examination of the changing nature of the economy, as instead they focus solely on social factors. ... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:30:00 +0100 814698 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8493006.stm (Source: Library Link of the Day) Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +0100 814715 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SellersLibraryTeens/~3/4Vhl9t36a0g/two-hour-delay.html The Upper Darby School District has already called a two-hour delay for tomorrow, and the library has followed their lead. We will open on Wednesday, February 3, at 11:00. (Source: Sellers Library Teens) Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:34:08 +0100 814685 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=32022 Healthy Eating Trends Source: Nielsen Part 1: Commitment Trumps the Economic Pinch Part 2: Organic Enthusiasts Remain Loyal Part 3: Eating Healthy Doesn’t Have To Cost More Part 4: Store Brands Expand Healthy Offerings Part 5: Healthy Eating Index Debuts (Source: Docuticker) Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:08:01 +0100 814581 http://lib.wmrc.uiuc.edu/enb/2010/02/02/improvements-to-regulations-gov-make-for-easier-access-to-federal-regulations/ As part of President Obama’s commitment to more effective and open government, the public can more quickly access federal regulations at Regulations.gov, thanks to comments received during the Regulations.gov Exchange online forum held last year.  Regulations.gov provides one-stop public access to information related to current and forthcoming regulations issued by the federal government. The eRulemaking Program made the following specific-site improvements to Regulations.gov: a new rotating panel of images and video clips offering a preview to the latest Web site changes a dashboard of regulatory documents housed on Regulations.gov a new A-Z index of rules and proposed rules categorized by topic instructional video-clips highlighting site functions improvements to the site’s homepage and search wizard In addition, the eRulemaking Program has re-launched its Regulations.gov Exchange online forum to allow the public to explore proposed new designs and features, provide comments, and engage with other site visitors and the eRulemaking Program staff.  The public can also link to the Regulations.gov Twitter page to further support visitors’ participation in Regulations.gov and their government. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the managing partner of the inter-agency eRulemaking Program, which operates Regulations.gov. More information: http://www.regulations.gov (Source: Environmental News Bits) Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:57:14 +0100 814580 http://joblist.ala.org/modules/jobseeker/controller.cfm?rssjobid=14360 Associate Director and Head of Public Services (Ohio Wesleyan University) Ohio Wesleyan University (www.owu.edu) is a selective, private, undergraduate liberal arts, residential institution founded in 1842 and is located just 20 miles north of Columbus. We invite applications for: Associate Director and Head of Public Services - This is a continuing, full-time, 12-month position. Associate Director and Head of Public Services – Search #0910-0007 Required Qualifications: He/she must have an ALA-accredited MLS; second master’s in another discipline is desired; and have a minimum of five years progressively responsible experience in academic libraries, including extensive expertise with information literacy. Candidates must have strong leadership and supervisory experience. ... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:20:01 +0100 814539 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=32058 Top Ten Jury Verdicts of 2009 Source: Lawyers USA After years of decline, the Top Ten Jury Verdicts rose dramatically in 2008. The increase in 2009 was less pronounced, but the average increased again, from $112 million to nearly $145 million. The top award was slightly lower in 2009 – $370 million versus $388 million. But two other awards in the $300 million range, along with five verdicts of $70 million or more, helped push the average appreciably higher than last year. The year’s top verdict went to five former employees of Guess Jeans mogul Georges Marciano, who claimed that Marciano falsely accused them of stealing from him and used his wealth and connections to dog them with investigations, tax audits and accusations in newspaper ads and on Internet sites. And seven of the Top Ten Verdicts stemmed from personal injury cases, includes two drunk driving accidents, one $300 million tobacco verdict, and one verdict in the ongoing Prempro litigation against Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Lawyers USA compiles the Top Ten Jury Verdicts each year, applying certain ground rules. First, verdicts must be to an individual plaintiff, defined as a single person, family or small group of individuals injured in a single incident who had their claims tried in one case before the same jury. Second, we do not include business-against-business suits, class actions or consolidated cases. Finally, cases must have been defended – default verdicts and suits against incarcerated individuals are not included. (Source: Docuticker) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:37:42 +0100 814583 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Elsua/~3/IsUY1CXK2VQ/ It has been nearly a month since the last time I put together a blog post over here on how I’m doing living "A World Without Email" and, while looking into the last few weeks, I have just realised that I’m almost on the closure of the second year experiment of giving up on corporate email altogether. So I thought I would write down today the one before last blog entry for Year #2 of those weekly (Now probably more monthly) progress reports sharing some further insights on the state of things at this point, as I am about to close the second year of this my new reality. Over at my Flickr account you would be able to see the weekly progress reports for weeks #49 and #50. However, for week #51 I am going to share it over here, so you can get a quick glimpse of what the last three weeks have been like put together in combination. So here you have it: As you would be able to see things are looking amazingly good, since, during the course of those three weeks, I received a total number of 44 emails, with an average of 14 per week! Yes, 14 emails received per week! Not sure what you would think, but I am feeling incredibly excited that what started as 30 to 40 emails a day (Nearly two years ago), it’s now turned to 14 emails a week! Huge achievement, if you ask me, and well on target for that follow up challenge that I set up at the beginning of the year of receiving 20, or less, emails a week. Yes, I know … double w00t!!! If you notice, you will see there has been a steady decrease in the number of emails received over the last few weeks, yet that doesn’t mean that virtual online interactions have not been taking place. Actually, quite the opposite. I can certainly share with you folks how the number of those online interactions through social software tools have tripled during that time. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:11:48 +0100 814667 http://www.hsdl.org/hslog/?q=node/5350 Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community In an open hearing of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, Director of National Intelligence , presented his statement for the record on current and projected threats to the United States. While the Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence covers issues including terrorism, changing threats to the global economy, the growing proliferation threat, and most regions of the world, it also covers threat assessments regarding climate change, strategic health challenges, and international organized crime. But Blair’s testimony, and the statement for the record, focuses on one large-scale threat to the fundamental interests of the United States: the impact of the Cyber Threat. According to the report, “neither the US Government nor the private sector can fully control or protect the country’s information infrastructure.” It stresses the need for a coordinated and collaborative effort that incorporates both the US private sector and international partners to fend off “nation states, terrorist networks, organized criminal groups, individuals, and other cyber actors.” The President’s Cyberspace Policy Review can be found here. read more (Source: HSDL Weblog - On the HomeFront) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:05:34 +0100 814506 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/nrc-launches-user-friendly-web-tool-for-searching-agency-documents/ NRC Launches User-Friendly Web Tool for Searching Agency Documents The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has added a search interface to its online Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) to improve the public’s ability to find and obtain NRC documents. “This is another example of the efforts the agency has underway to be as open and transparent as possible,” said NRC Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko. The Web-based “ADAMS PUBLIC” interface replaces access to the Publicly Available Records System (PARS) that required downloading additional software. The original Web-based PARS interface introduced in 2003 remains available. ADAMS PUBLIC runs as an application in a user’s browser, using multiple search fields to identify and retrieve relevant information. The new interface also provides access to the Public Legacy Library, which holds 2 million bibliographic citations to microfiched documents dating from the late 1940s to 1999. The new interface includes a “user-friendly” search screen and content search capability for more exact searches, and it can generate reports from search results. The ADAMS PUBLIC Web page (http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/adams-public.html) provides easily understandable instructions for searching, viewing and downloading documents. Source: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:52:03 +0100 814612 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=32026 Briefing on the 2001 Budget by OMB Director Peter Orszag and Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Christina Romer Source: White House Press Office That fiscal year 2011 budget focuses on three things: job creation, middle class security, and putting the nation back on a path to fiscal sustainability. Before turning to the details of the budget let me just give a little bit of context and background. We just came through a year in which a second Great Depression was averted. At the end of 2008, real GDP was declining by more than 5 percent on an annualized basis. At the end of 2009, it was increasing by more than 5 percent on an annualized basis. Although real GDP in the economy is now expanding, the employment market remains too weak. The unemployment rate is 10 percent and there are now 7 million fewer jobs than in December 2007. That’s why this budget includes important investments to spur job creation now, including the jobs and wages tax credit that the President spoke about last week, and including key investments in the drivers of longer-term economic growth — education, innovation, and moving toward a clean energy future. (Source: Docuticker) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:36:35 +0100 814585 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=32024 New GAO Report (PDFs) Source: Government Accountability Office 1. Littoral Combat Ship: Actions Needed to Improve Operating Cost Estimates and Mitigate Risks in Implementing New Concepts Highlights ||| Full Report (Source: Docuticker) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:34:09 +0100 814587 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/just-announced-nlm-%e2%80%9cbookshelf%e2%80%9d-web-site-adds-national-academies-reports/ From the Announcement: More than 70 reports by the National Academies are available online at the National Library of Medicine’s Bookshelf). The Academies collection will continue to grow, both as new reports are published and as NLM processes older reports dating back to 1995. The reports include workshop summaries, as well as formal reports, that were funded by NIH and produced by the four organizations that comprise the National Academies: the National Academy of Sciences (http://www.nasonline.org), the National Academy of Engineering (http://www.nae.edu/nae/naehome.nsf), the Institute of Medicine (http://www.iom.edu) and the National Research Council (http://sites.nationalacademies.org/nrc/index.htm). The reports are produced under a contract between NIH and the National Academies that allows NIH to issue task orders to fund Academy activities to support the NIH mission. The contract enables NIH and the Academies to address pressing policy concerns, emerging health issues, and scientific opportunities, and to post resulting reports on the Bookshelf. In order to provide the reports quickly, NLM initially makes the reports available in PDF format. As soon as possible, NLM makes available a final online HTML version of each report, with active links for references, glossary words, and other resources. Source: NLM (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:31:34 +0100 814614 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/ala-committee-on-accreditation-coa-announces-accreditation-actions-taken-at-2010-ala-midwinter-conference/ From the Announcement: + Master of Library and Information Studies offered by the University of Alabama. + Master of Library and Information Studies offered by McGill University. + Master of Library Science offered by North Carolina Central University. + Master of Library and Information Science offered by the University of South Carolina. + Master of Library and Information Science offered by Wayne State University. The next comprehensive review visit at each institution is scheduled to occur in 2016. A complete list of programs and degrees accredited by ALA can be found at: http://www.ala.org/ala/educationcareers/education/accreditedprograms/directory/index.cfm. Source: ALA (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:08:47 +0100 814615 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/michael-dell-buys-magnum-photo-print-archive-valued-over-100-million-will-lend-photos-for-five-years-to-ransom-center/ From the Bloomberg Story: Billionaire Michael Dell’s investment firm, MSD Capital LP, has acquired about 185,000 vintage photographic prints from the Magnum Photos agency in what is thought to be among the largest photo transactions in history. While no price was disclosed, the collection has been insured for more than $100 million, according to a knowledgeable source who declined to be identified. MSD Capital will lend the photos for five years to the Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin. Dell, chairman and chief executive officer of computer maker Dell Inc., which is based in Round Rock, Texas, is an Austin resident and University of Texas dropout. [Snip] Ransom is among the leading acquirers of research materials from the 19th and 20th centuries. Among its holdings are the Watergate Papers, Norman Mailer’s archives and page proofs from James Joyce’s “Ulysses.” The Magnum archive includes the work of 103 photographers, images dating from the 1930s to 1998 that in some case are as much photojournalism as fine art. They chronicle world events such as the Spanish Civil War and the U.S. civil-rights movement. See Also: Learn More About Preserving, Cataloging and the Prints Themselves at the Ransom Center (via U. of Texas at Austin) You’ll also find some selected images from the collection. (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:35:19 +0100 814617 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/major-report-on-scholarly-communication-needs-mellon-study-encompasses-45-research-institutions-across-seven-academic-fields/ From the News Release: (PDF) Access the Report The center’s final report on this multi-year research project, Assessing the Future Landscape of Scholarly Communication: An Exploration of Faculty Values and Needs in Seven Disciplines, brings together the responses of 160 interviewees across 45, mostly elite, research institutions in seven selected academic fields: archaeology, astrophysics, biology, economics, history, music, and political science. “Our premise has always been that disciplinary conventions matter and that social realities (and individual personality) will dictate how new practices, including those under the rubric of Web 2.0 or cyberinfrastructure, are adopted by scholars,” says Principal Investigator and Director, Higher Education in the Digital Age Project, Diane Harley, Ph.D. “That is, the academic values embodied in disciplinary cultures, as well as the interests of individual players, have to be considered when envisioning new schemata for the communication of scholarship at its various stages.” The report’s executive summary concludes that scholarly communication traditions, “which rely heavily on various forms of peer review, may override the perceived ‘opportunities’ afforded by new technologies, including those falling into the Web 2.0 category.” In addition, the report targets five key topics in the current scholarly communication system that require attention: the development of more nuanced tenure and promotion process; a reexamination of peer review; competitive high quality and affordable journals and monograph publishing platforms; new models of publication that can accommodate material of varied length, as well as rich media and embedded links to data; and support for managing and preserving new research methods and products. Access the Report Source: Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), UC Berkeley (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:15:28 +0100 814618 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/standby-video-might-finally-be-ready-to-be-viewed-on-wikipedia/ From the Article Part of the reason why Wikimedia has to deal with a huge influx of data is that volunteers are increasingly uploading videos, and content partnerships with museums and archives have brought in hundreds of hours of additional footage. Wikimedia announced two years ago already that it was getting ready to include more of this content into Wikipedia. Little of this has materialized so far, but now it finally seems like video on Wikipedia is actually going to happen soon. So how is the free encyclopedia going to use moving images, and why has this taken so long? Wikimedia announced a partnership with open source video platform provider Kaltura to get Wikipedia fit for video in early 2008. However, two years later, you’ll be hard-pressed to find any video clips on the site. [Snip] Wikipedia’s collective structure has been another reason for the delay. The site is ruled by consensus, and its tens of thousands of volunteers need to be on board with any major changes, which is one of the reasons why Wikipedia’s basic look and functionality have remained the same over the years. Walsh assured me that “Wikipedians are thrilled” about the possibilities of including video on their site, but Kaltura VP of Business and Community Development Shay David said that this hasn’t always been the case. “People needed to understand that video is an important aspect of Wikipedia,” he told me, adding: “That needed some time.” Access the Complete Article Source: NewTeeVee (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:44:51 +0100 814621 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/review-peters-digital-reference-shelf-looks-at-microsoft-academic-search/ Back in October, 2009 (we believe it was during Internet Librarian), you might remember a ResourceShelf post where we first mentioned the relaunch (of a new, improved, and limited version) of Microsoft Academic Search. It was titled, “Here they Come Again? Microsoft Research Launches Academic Search Database (Beta),” and provide a quick overview of what the service offered along with a bunch of hyperlinks to illustrate a few points. Now, it’s February 2010, and reference review legend, Péter Jacso, has written a review of Microsoft Academic Search for his Digital Reference Shelf monthly column. Like all of Péter’s reviews they are nothing short of complete, loaded with examples. This review is now different. Here is how it begins (let’s consider this the summary): This second coming of a free academic database is much smaller than the earlier (very poor and withdrawn) version was, but it is far better in terms of both content and software, focusing on computer science and – to a limited extent on information science. It is a promising start by the Microsoft Research Asia group for extending it to many other disciplines. Access the Entire Review Source: Gale.com (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:10:04 +0100 814622 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/new-facebook-page-for-national-archives-in-atlanta/ Several months ago, we put together this compilation of social media pages that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) we using to share info with the community. Since then more pages have come online with the most recent going live in the past couple of weeks. The National Archives at Atlanta, GA Facebook page is now available. You’ll not only find information about the location of the archive along with info about events and images from places, events, and people in the Southeast Region. Source: NARA (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:41:01 +0100 814623 http://news-libraries.mit.edu/blog/technology-enlightenment/2797/ A new exhibit opens in the Libraries’ Maihaugen Gallery on Wednesday, February 3. Technology and Enlightenment: The Mechanical Arts in Diderot’s Encyclopédie explores one of the most important and controversial publications of the eighteenth century, Diderot’s Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. This massive work became infamous in its day as an enlightened attack on French and European religious dogmatism and monarchical inefficiency and injustice. Containing over 2,500 elaborately engraved plates, it documented the mechanical arts and technology, placing equal importance on the manual trades as the arts and sciences. Curated by Jeffrey S. Ravel, MIT Associate Professor of History, and Kristel Smentek, MIT Assistant Professor of Art History, the exhibit features fascinating images chosen from the 32 original folio volumes owned by the MIT Libraries, as well as multimedia components illustrating the Encylopedie’s significance.  The exhibit is open to the public Mon.-Thurs. during gallery hours, and runs through July 2010. (Source: MIT Libraries News) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:12:56 +0100 814465 http://infobib.de/blog/2010/02/02/urheberrechtstage-skillshare/ Der Rahmenterminkalender des DFB ist immer wieder umstritten wegen der terminlichen Ansetzungen zum Beispiel von Freundschaftsspielen der Nationalmannschaft. Dennoch ist er eine hervorragende Einrichtung, die Termindopplungen mit großer Zuverlässigkeit verhindert. Die Informationsszene hat solch einen Rahmenterminkalender leider nicht. Daher werden nun am ersten Juni-Wochenende (4. bis 6. Juni 2010) gleich zwei Veranstaltungen stattfinden. Der mir bislang unbekannte Skillshare e.V. organisiert eine Tagung in Lüneburg rund um Wikipedia, wo ich auch folgende Infos gefunden habe: Skillshare ist eine offene Konferenz der deutschsprachigen Wikimedia-Community, die an einem Wochenende in Lüneburg stattfindet. Skillshare bietet den Mitarbeitern der Wikimedia-Projekte eine Plattform zum Austausch und zum Ausbau ihrer Fähigkeiten durch persönliche Kontakte, Workshops, Vorträge und Schulungen. In Kooperation mit externen Projektpartnern werden die Inhalte der Wikimedia-Projekte in Teilprojekten ausgebaut oder verbessert sowie Kenntnisse zur Wikipedia und ihrer Schwesterprojekte vermittelt. An unserem Tagungsort haben die Teilnehmer alles, was sie benötigen, um Projektideen zu entwickeln, Themen zu vertiefen oder auch erste Einblicke in bisher unbekannte Bereiche der Wikimedia-Projekte zu bekommen. Erste Workshops und Schulungen sind in Vorbereitung, die Räumlichkeiten sowie die Infrastruktur für weitere Themen und Arbeitsgruppen stehen zur Verfügung. Neben Veranstaltungen zu heißen Eisen wie Ethik und Artikel zu lebenden Personen und Dauerbrennern à la Urheberrecht werden der Maschinenraum rund um Bots, Scripts und Skins sowie Fotografenthemen aufgegriffen. Schirmdame ist u.a. Edelgard Bulmahn. Die Webseite (gerade down) hält noch ausführlichere Informationen bereit. Persönlich etwas spannender finde ich die zeitgleich in Wilhelmshaven stattfindenden Urheberrechtstage. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:06:43 +0100 814663 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/save-some-time-easy-e-mailing-of-large-search-results-restored-in-pubmed/ From the Announcement: A “start from citation” field has been added to the PubMed Sent From E-Mail Screen. From that point out, Annette M. Nahin from the MEDLARS Management Section explains how to send large sets of results using just a few clicks. Source: National Library of Medicine (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:57:01 +0100 814624 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=32020 U.S. Less Free than Lithuania, Hungary and Malta in InternationalLiving.com’s 2010 Quality of Life Index Source: InternationalLiving.com According to the 2010 Quality of Living Index published by InternationalLiving.com the U.S. is less free than Lithuania, Hungary, Malta and 42 other countries. Out of a possible 100 points, the U.S. gets a score of 92, behind countries like Slovenia, Puerto Rico, Micronesia, and Estonia. How is it possible that the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave ranks lower than Chile and Panama in the category of Freedom? “You can blame much of it on the Patriot Act,” says Dan Prescher, Special Projects Editor at International Living. “Freedom is a hard thing to measure, so perception figures heavily into the Freedom ranking of the Index. And since the passage of the Patriot Act, many Americans have the feeling that their basic rights and freedoms, especially the right to privacy and the freedom from unwarranted searches and seizures, have been drastically reduced.” Prescher says that, although the specific provisions of the Patriot Act are unclear to most Americans, there is a sense that the Act gives the government wide powers to limit personal freedoms in the name of fighting terror. + 2010 Quality of Life Index: 194 Countries Ranked and Rated to Reveal the Best Places to Live (Source: Docuticker) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:53:20 +0100 814589 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/the-fascinating-world-of-forgotten-information/ The fascinating world of forgotten information There’s a fascinating world of all but hidden information out there waiting to be tapped. A growing number of news organizations are beginning to mine and manipulate that information, which in many instances rests in government records files that while public are, for practical purposes, obscure. The conversion by government units to electronic record keeping has not, in many instances, made it easier for the average reporter, let alone the average citizen, to get access to that information. And even when agencies post records online, the data is frequently difficult to find. Media Web sites that have found ways to cull or link to this data are helping regular readers get information they want and need, and bringing new readers to their Web sites It’s a fresh way to deliver “news” that holds enormous potential to increase site visits and time spent, and to build a new allegiance as a source of essential information about neighborhood and community. Some months ago, ASNE’s Freedom of Information Committee began a survey of newspaper Web sites, exploring their use of public records data. The initial goal was to establish a baseline of available records and make that report available so news organizations could use the information to push for greater online transparency in their communities and states. … The survey found enormous variations among media Web sites. On some sites, we were unable to locate a single database feature utilizing a public record or any other database presence. But many are doing highly innovative and exciting work, putting up database pages that offer scores of information searches that could be enormously helpful, intellectually satisfying, and sometimes just plain fun. The databases permit both critical and trivial pursuit of information, and a lot of simply useful searching in between. + Full Report (PDF; 6. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:42:03 +0100 814625 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/inaccurate-age-and-sex-data-in-the-census-pums-files-evidence-and-implications/ Inaccurate age and sex data in the Census PUMS files: Evidence and Implications (PDF; 209 KB) We discover and document errors in public use microdata samples (”PUMS files”) of the 2000 Census, the 2003-2006 American Community Survey, and the 2004-2009 Current Population Survey. For women and men ages 65 and older, age- and sex-specific population estimates generated from the PUMS files differ by as much as 15% from counts in published data tables. Moreover, an analysis of labor force participation and marriage rates suggests the PUMS samples are not representative of the population at individual ages for those ages 65 and over. PUMS files substantially underestimate labor force participation of those near retirement ages and overestimate labor force participation rates of those at older ages. These problems were an unintentional by-product of the misapplication of a newer generation of disclosure avoidance procedures carried out on the data. The resulting errors in the public use data could significantly impact studies of people ages 65 and older, particularly analyses of variables that are expected to change by age. Source: J. Trent Alexander, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota; Michael Davern, NORC at the University of Chicago; Betsey Stevenson, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, CESifo, and NBER Hat tip: Freakonomics blog (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:35:39 +0100 814626 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/coming-apri-1-2010-in-dc-blue-ribbon-task-force-hosts-symposium-on-economics-of-sustaining-digital-information/ From the Announcement: The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access (BRTF-SDPA) will hold a one-day symposium convening a diverse group of speakers from the academic, private, and public sectors to discuss one of the most pressing issues of the Information Age: identifying practical solutions to the economic challenges of preserving today’s deluge of digital data. Called “A National Conversation on the Economic Sustainability of Digital Information”, the symposium will be held April 1, 2010 at The Fairmont in Washington, D.C. Scheduled to speak is a spectrum of national leaders from the Executive Office of the President, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum, Nature Magazine, Google, and other organizations for whom digital information is fundamental for success. A preliminary agenda has been posted. The symposium will also provide a forum for discussion of the recommendations in the Blue Ribbon Task Force’s Final Report on economically sustainable digital preservation practices, to be issued in mid-February. When released, the report can be found online at http://brtf.sdsc.edu. Please visit http://brtf.sdsc.edu/symposium.html for a preliminary agenda for the BRTF-SDPA symposium. Seating is limited. General registration opens February 1 and will be on a first-come first-served basis by visiting http://brtf.sdsc.edu/symposium_reg.php. There are a limited number of spaces reserved for accredited media. The list of scheduled speakers is quite impressive. + William G. Bowen– President Emeritus, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation + Daniel E. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:05:07 +0100 814627 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/02/nara-president-requests-460m-for-national-archives-fy11-budget/ From the Announcement: President Barack Obama today sent to Congress a proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget request for the Federal Government that calls for $460,287,000 for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The requested amount for NARA is a two percent decrease from the FY 2010 appropriated funding levels of $469,870,000. “Given the tight fiscal constraints the Federal Government is under, we are pleased that the President recognizes our vital mission to preserve the nation’s most important records and to make them accessible to the public as soon as possible,” said Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero. “This funding will allow us to hire additional personnel to monitor the security of our holdings, speed the processing of classified and other sensitive records, help ensure a new generation of archivists for the future, and improve the research environment and the visitor experience for those who come to the National Archives Building to view the Charters of Freedom and related exhibits,” he added. Although the President is requesting decreased overall funding for NARA, he is seeking increased Operating Expenses (OE) funding of $348,689,000, up from this year’s appropriated level of $339,770,000, or a 2.6 percent increase. The OE base increase will fund the increased costs for staff, energy, security, building operations, and information technology requirements. More in the Complete Announcement Source: NARA (National Archives and Records Administration) (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:55:35 +0100 814628 http://info.pop.psu.edu/2010/02/02/soldiers-kids-good-at-handling-stress-study-finds/ Researchers at the Army War College say that while adolescent children of frequently deployed U.S. soldiers experience high levels of stress, they have good coping mechanisms which can be further strengthened by family and activities. (CNN Health) Source: Wong, L., & Gerras, S. (2010). The Effects of Multiple Deployments on Army Adolescents. Carlisle, Pa.: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College. (Source: News from the PRI Library and Data Archive) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:51:09 +0100 814458 http://news-libraries.mit.edu/blog/american-meteorological/2760/ The American Meteorological Society (AMS) has confirmed that their recently adopted policy on open access repositories is fully consistent with the new MIT Faculty Open Access Policy. The AMS, which publishes 13 journals, including the Journal of Climate and Monthly Weather Review, has just established a new policy to support the “increasing demand for institutions to provide open access to the published research being produced at that institution.” Their policy allows for the posting of the published articles into a repository like MIT’s DSpace@MIT. Because the AMS is allowing MIT to obtain copies of their final published articles from their website, authors do not need to submit their manuscripts in order for them to appear in DSpace@MIT. This will happen automatically. To review other confirmed publisher responses to the policy, please see: Publishers and the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy. Publishers are being added to this web page as information becomes available. Please send any questions about publishers not yet on the page to Ellen Duranceau, Scholarly Publishing & Licensing Consultant. For more information: MIT Faculty Open Access Policy Details on working with the policy Ellen Duranceau, Scholarly Publishing & Licensing Consultant, x 38483. (Source: MIT Libraries News) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:41:22 +0100 814466 http://lib.wmrc.uiuc.edu/enb/2010/02/02/new-one-stop-source-for-scientific-information-about-u-s-oceans-and-waters/ A one-stop source for biogeographic information collected from U.S. waters and oceanic regions is now available from the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Program. The OBIS-USA website offers a unique combination of tools, resources, and biodiversity information to aide scientists, resource managers and decision makers in the research and analyses critical to sustaining the nation’s valued marine ecosystems. OBIS-USA was established in 2006 in cooperation with the U.S. National Committee for the Census of Marine Life a committee composed of renowned marine community leaders. OBIS-USA – a partnership of state, federal and scientific organizations — is the United States’ contribution to the International Ocean Biogeographic Information System, an effort led by the Census of Marine Life to provide “open access” to global biodiversity data on the myriad of marine life that inhabits the ocean. “The world’s ocean is critically important, not only because of how it influences the climate, but also because it provides the resources for commercial, recreational, cultural, scientific, conservation, and national security activities,”” said John Mosesso, OBIS-USA co-lead. “At the same time, the ocean is threatened by a variety of changes, including warming temperatures, increasing ocean acidity, invasion by non-native species, overharvesting, and loss of habitat for species of concern.” OBIS-USA provides data and functional tools to address key questions and information needs related to scientific understanding of sustainable and resilient ecosystems, marine spatial planning, climate change, ocean acidification, invasive species, and managing the nation’s fisheries. To address these ocean threats requires access to critical information on marine biodiversity, Mosesso noted. OBIS-USA data holdings comprise millions of individual records supplied by marine data sponsors from across the nation. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:55:59 +0100 814588 http://lisnews.org/loc_explores_ways_release_open_source_software Library Explores Ways to Release Open Source Software In the spirit of transparency and community, the Library of Congress has established an internal process to create open source software. This will make it easier for software developers and sponsors within the Library to produce software that can be freely redistributed to users worldwide. (Source: LISNews.org) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:33:20 +0100 814569 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31167 Improving School Leadership: The Promise of Cohesive Leadership Systems Source: RAND Corporation Improving the nation’s public schools is one of the highest priorities of federal, state, and local government in America. Recent research has shown that the quality of the principal is, among school-based factors, second only to the quality of the teacher in contributing to what students learn in the classroom. New programs to develop school leaders who can exercise vigilance over instruction and support effective teaching practices are not likely to succeed, however, if they are inconsistent with other state and district policies affecting school leadership. The Wallace Foundation, which focuses its grantmaking in education primarily on school leadership, has posited that well-coordinated policies and initiatives to develop leadership standards, provide high-quality training, and improve the conditions that affect principals’ work will increase their ability to improve instruction in their schools. This study documents the actions taken by the Foundation’s grantees to create a more cohesive set of policies and initiatives to improve instructional leadership in schools; describes how states and districts have worked together to forge such policies and initiatives around school leadership; and examines the hypothesis that more-cohesive systems do in fact improve school leadership. The study found that it is possible to build more-cohesive leadership systems and that such efforts appear to be a promising approach to developing school leaders engaged in improving instruction. Although the study did not find evidence that the full underlying theory behind this initiative is sound, it did find a correlation between improved conditions for principals and their engagement in instructional practices. (Source: Docuticker) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:52:12 +0100 814382 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/dH40nLQuQuA/ Writer Henry Melton has posted a pair of blog entries meditating on e-book font and layout from a couple of different directions. Melton’s first post, a couple of days ago, looks at the iBooks reader from his perspective as a writer and self-publisher who formats his own printed and electronic books. Fundamentally, Melton was disappointed that underneath the fancy user interface, iBooks was simply going to be another plain-vanilla ePub reader instead of creating a new format that better replicated the printed experience. When he formats with InDesign, Melton notes, he has a great deal of control over the final look and feel of his book. He can select fonts, adjust word and line spacing, and generally make it look professional. When an ebook is displayed, the source material has no layout, and relatively inexpensive web browser like software quickly lays out the text line by line. An individual line of the text may look good, but the screen as a whole may look poor. Add to that, a limited font selection, chosen by a reader based on the whim of the moment or personal taste rather than with an eye to compliment the words, and even a perfectly created source ePub file can never be expected to look as good as a well designed paper page. In his second post, Monday, Melton goes into additional detail about the kind of font choices that are possible in paper books but not in e-books: A writer can bring to bear various fonts, a range of italic and bold flavors, dozens of underlining and framing options, and even drop-caps. And that’s just for the manuscript. The thing is, because new writers have all this power, they assume that they can use it. The standard manuscript format, instead of being a shining template of order, is viewed as a straight-jacket that chafes. Many people writing their fantasy opus or convoluted mystery use changing fonts like setting a scene. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:15:00 +0100 814408 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/kkJF/~3/Eded7b6CMO4/de-getwitterde-bieb-1-februari-2010.html In de rubriek # De getwitterde bieb een greep uit de 24 uur tussen 1 februari 14.00 uur en 2 februari 14.00. Ik laat de gebruikersnamen voortaan weg, dat lijkt me beter. Je leert overigens niet alleen iets over opvattingen over bibliotheken, ook over het gangbare taalgebruik onder jongeren leer je veel. Ik moest opzoeken: "skere", "soggen" en "feunen". wat gaan jullie doen? -- Op activiteitendag Naar de Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam..Hoeso skere school?  Ik nu met iemans ze eet die hele ontbijt in de bieb Togg hou ik vn der vandaag begint de 8 weken lange terreur. ik denk dat ik maar een matrasje ga regelen in de bieb.   Eén dag zonder internet: oké. Drie dagen zonder internet: liever niet. Derde dag vrij: onverdraagbaar. Nu in bieb om mail te checken. #1997  Net thuis kapot vies weer buite.Tv kijkende op de bank. Ik moet nog boeken halen van de bieb,Ik ga gwn me beste vriend internet gebruiken   Pfff geneeskunde tentamens... in de bieb achter computer studeren, wat ga je dan doen? Juist, SOGGEN!  net weer een reeds boeken besteld bij de Zeeuwse bieb... zodra ze klaar liggen kom ik op de koffie! Weg uit de bieb.. Nu ff naar Sinbad voor een kapsalon ! / ze zijn nog niet open XD lulkind! zou je nie elke dinsdag naar de bieb met me gaan 8-)v Bon giornooooo! Mail en een meeting bij de bibliotheek, want daar word je wijzer van. Dilemma: Word ik lid van de bibliotheek in Nijmegen of niet? Ik ben weer eens de slimste! Ga een boek terugbrengen naar de bieb dat ik zelf gekocht heb. Net met papa lopend naar de bibliotheek geweest, op zoek naar 2 boeken. Hadden ze natuurlijk niet. Bummer. Ik ben nu in de bieb ik zie letterlijk iedereen feunt hier gewoon ?? Xd Aangekakt in de bieb? Deze bieb verrast me elke keer weer. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:59:00 +0100 814420 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31629 Language Trends 2009 Source: CILT (National Centre for Languages,UK) The survey was carried out from September to December 2009 by CILT, the National Centre for Languages with support from the Association for Language Learning and the Independent Schools’ Modern Language Association. It is based on responses to a questionnaire sent to a representative sample of 2,000 secondary schools in England (1,500 maintained schools and 500 independent schools). The survey has been carried out annually since 2002 to track developments in language provision and take-up in secondary schools. Key findings: There is little sign yet of a recovery in take up for languages in Key Stage 4: it is still too early for the many initiatives taken to reverse the trend to have had an impact on the figures nationally. The benchmark of 50%-90% of pupils expected to continue with a language, set in 2006, is often being abandoned as unrealistic in a context of ever-widening choices for students post 14. Performance table pressures and narrowly defined whole school objectives emerge as key factors which obstruct greater take up. Schools are involved in a wide range of national and local initiatives to motivate students and improve take up, which are seen as valuable and effective in improving attitudes towards languages. However their effectiveness in raising participation is limited by a) the ever-widening choice of subjects available; b) pressure on schools and pupils to achieve higher grades; c) narrowly focussed advice from parents, form tutors and others. Reductions in lesson time and in the length of Key Stage 3 are both reported as having a negative effect on take up of languages in Key Stage 4. Good teaching in Key Stage 3 seen as essential for healthy uptake in Key Stage 4. There has been significant growth in the number of schools offering alternative accreditation to GCSE – 47% up from 22% in 2006. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:49:59 +0100 814383 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31626 Cutting crime: the case for justice reinvestment Source: House of Commons Justice Committee From the Summary: The criminal justice system is facing a crisis of sustainability. Public expenditure generally is under pressure in all areas in the worst economic climate since the Second World War. The Ministry of Justice is no exception, being tasked with finding £1.3 billion worth of cost savings over the next three years. New and existing resources are being pre-empted by planned spending to accommodate a potential prison population of 96,000 by 2014 at enormous capital and running costs. This forecast represents an incarceration rate of 169.1 per 100,000 people in England and Wales, the highest proportion in Western Europe.1 Household crime, such as car theft and burglaries, and violent crime, as experienced by victims, has fallen by 46 per cent., and 43 per cent., respectively since 1995 while the prison population has more than doubled since 1992. Our evidence suggests that prison is a relatively ineffective way of reducing crime for other than serious offenders who need to be physically contained for the protection of the public. For others, prison is a very expensive way of dispensing justice and seeking reform. It seems to have deterrent effect for only some sorts of crime and some potential criminals. We are concerned that an unthinking acceptance has evolved of punishment—for its own sake—as the paramount purpose of sentencing, and as the only way of registering the seriousness with which society regards a crime. Members of the public, when asked to determine the appropriate sentence for a particular type of offence, are generally quite close to the sentence given by the courts. Furthermore, when the public are consulted on the best means of reducing crime in their local area, they are less inclined to see the criminal justice system as the answer. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:47:31 +0100 814384 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/zvYWHixYthg/publishing-morrissey Following Faber's brown-nosing public appeal for Morrissey's memoirs, I'm launching my own bid to get a star's book on the blog"If there's something you'd like to try, ask me I won't say no, how could I?" sang Morrissey in 1986, and Faber editor Lee Brackstone seems to have taken the Smiths frontman's lyrics to heart. He has arguably gone beyond simply asking in his open letter to Morrissey urging the singer to publish his autobiography with Faber – some would say begging and crawling might be more appropriate descriptions of his plea."Our shelves groan and bulge and spill over under the weight of Ezra, Larkin, Hughes and Heaney. And that's just the surface; deep as it may seem. We feel very strongly that you belong in this company," Brackstone writes. He adds, excruciatingly, "It would be the fulfilment of my most pressing and persistent publishing dream to see that 'ff' sewn into the spine of your Life. Just any other publisher won't do. You deserve Faber and the love we can give you. History demands it; destiny commands it … Morrissey, the doors of our Georgian Bloomsbury-based publishing house are open to you wherever you may be: Rome, LA, Manchester."Of course, publishers wooing authors to their houses is nothing new, though it is more commonly done by waving large wads of cash at agents than via such public and blatant brown-nosery. Still, straitened times call for desperate measures and pitiful though Brackstone's plea is – "forlorn as this hope may be, I can only fantasise that at least you might read my letter" – it might just work with the famously miserable singer. He did, after all, recently tell Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs that he had been "slighted and disregarded" by the music business. Perhaps his bruised ego is ready to be embraced by the publishing industry instead. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:01:29 +0100 814319 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/iRcS/~3/qCIMpKOIC_U/new-features-added-to-regulationsgov.html Regulations.gov is an online source for U.S. government regulations from nearly 300 federal agencies (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:49:25 +0100 814353 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31161 Ethnic differences in transition to first marriage in Iran: The role of marriage market, women’s socio-economic status, and the process of development Source: Demographic Research This paper, using data from 2000 the Iran Demographic and Health Survey and a range of time-varying district-level contextual information derived from 1986 and 1996 censuses of Iran, applies a discrete time hazard model to study ethnic differences in women’s transition to first marriage. The model specification accounts for both spatial and temporal changes in the socio-economic context of transition to marriage. We found ethnic-specific responses on women’s marriage timing to changes in the socio-economic context between the mid 1970s and 2000. Some ethnic groups appear to be more resistant to change despite sharing similar changes in their socio-economic context. + Full Paper (PDF; 640 KB) (Source: Docuticker) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:46:47 +0100 814385 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/UvTQPBW18cI/faber-editor-morrissey Lee Brackstone says publishing singer's memoirs would be 'the fulfilment of my most pressing and persistent publishing dream'A Faber editor has written an open letter to Morrissey pleading with the singer to bring his "much-rumoured memoir to the House of Eliot".Lee Brackstone, editorial director at Faber, wrote that it would be "the fulfilment of my most pressing and persistent publishing dream" if Morrissey were to pick Faber as the publisher of his autobiography. The singer and former frontman of the Smiths revealed in late 2008 that he would be writing his memoirs in order to "[set] the record straight", and in November an essay from his forthcoming autobiography was published in The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art, entitled "The Bleak Moor Lies".Posting the open letter on Faber's company blog, Brackstone wrote that "forlorn as this hope may be, I can only fantasise that at least you might read my letter through and consider the pleasures and prestige of being an author at Faber, the last great family-owned independent publishing house in the western hemisphere"."We love the perverse and the contrary at Faber," he continued. "And we also like to think we are the custodians of 20th-century Modernist poetry. In fact we are. Our shelves groan and bulge and spill over under the weight of Ezra, Larkin, Hughes and Heaney. And that's just the surface; deep as it may seem. We feel very strongly that you belong in this company."Brackstone said this morning that he corresponded with Morrissey via fax around five years ago, "and he was definitely interested". "A year ago a few publishers here offered big money [for the singer's memoirs], there's been correspondence all over the place, and I'm pretty sure he's well away with it," Brackstone said. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:34:36 +0100 814315 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/iRcS/~3/6lHL_CAyW8I/find-gps-uk.html "Find your nearest GPs surgery quickly and easily, anywhere in England! England has almost 11,000 registered General Practices (GPs) and surgeries on the NHS alone. So if you've moved to a new area and need to find a doctor to register with, or if you need to sort out a new GP for someone else, from miles away, then this app will help! The app is based on Open Government data provided by the UK's Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) together with the Office for National Statistics Access to Services Team and covers 97.9% of all registered practices in England" (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:59:48 +0100 814354 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=32010 New Century, Old Disparities: Gender and Ethnic Wage Gaps in Latin America (PDF; 678 KB) Source: Inter-American Development Bank Working Papers This paper surveys gender and ethnic wage gaps in 18 Latin American countries, decomposing differences using matching comparisons as a non-parametric alternative to the Blinder-Oaxaca (BO) decomposition. It is found that men earn 9-27 percent more than women, with high cross-country heterogeneity. The unexplained pay gap is higher among older, informal and self-employed workers and those in small firms. Ethnic wage differences are greater than gender differences, and educational attainment differentials play an important role in explaining the gap. Higher ethnic wage gaps are found among males, single income generators of households and full-time workers, and in rural areas. An important share of the ethnic wage gap is due to the scarcity of minorities in high paid positions. Hat tip: IWS Documented News Service (Source: Docuticker) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:41:41 +0100 814386 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=32008 Best of HBS Working Knowledge 2009 Source: Harvard Business School What were the management trends in 2009? Fascination with social networking and rethinking common wisdom about goal setting. Here are the Top 10 articles and Top 5 working papers that appeared in HBS Working Knowledge in 2009. Enjoy! + Top 10 articles (with links to full text) Understanding Users of Social Networks Social Network Marketing: What Works? Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times Sharpening Your Skills: Managing Teams When Goal Setting Goes Bad Sharpening Your Skills: Career & Life Balance 10 Reasons to Design a Better Corporate Culture Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting (Working Paper) High Commitment, High Performance Management Can Entrepreneurs Drive ‘People Movers’ to Success? + Top 5 working papers (with links to full text) Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting Do Friends Influence Purchases in a Social Network? ‘I read Playboy for the articles’: Justifying and Rationalizing Questionable Preferences Corporate Social Entrepreneurship The Devil Wears Prada? Effects of Exposure to Luxury Goods on Cognition and Decision Making (Source: Docuticker) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:35:27 +0100 814387 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/s1m6Tao3BcY/anna-karenina-ending Tolstoy is such a staggeringly good novelist that it's a serious shock to find this book ending with such a whimperRegular readers may remember that earlier this year I was seduced by the brilliance of Anna Karenina. However – and shoot me now, aficionados – I have a bone to pick with the great man over the novel's frankly disappointing denouement. Let's face it: this is a book that readers give up weeks, months or, in the case of his original audience, years of their lives to read. So why the letdown? In short, Tolstoy, why have you done this to us?For the vague of memory, a swift recap: at the end of a superb Part Seven, including the desperate showdown between Anna and Vronsky following which she has flung herself under a train in morphine-fuelled despair. We approach Part Eight with trepidation, anticipating lengthy reaction scenes from Anna's estranged husband Karenin (now reduced to making decisions under sway of a French psychic), her mischievous brother Oblonsky, his wife and her best friend Dolly, and, of course, a rich interior monologue from Vronsky. But no. Tolstoy elects instead to follow minor character Koznyshev's support of the Serbs and, most languorously, Levin's final religious rebirth. A handful of pages inform us of Vronsky's decision to die for the Slavic cause, because his life "is of no value" to him, although most of the remaining information relating to Anna's suicide (Karenin and the issue of Anna's child; the chronology of the tragic day itself) is glossed over in a gossipy monologue from Countess Vronksy. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:00:02 +0100 814321 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=32002 Assess, Don’t Assume, Part I: Etiquette and National Culture in Negotiation (PDF; 812 KB) Source: Harvard Business School Working Papers When facing a cross-border negotiation, the standard preparatory assessments—of the parties, their interests, their no-deal options, opportunities for and barriers to creating and claiming value, the most promising sequence and process design, etc.— should be informed and modified by two classes of potentially relevant cross-border factors, the general and the negotiation-specific. Drawing on considerable literature in cross-border and cross-cultural negotiation, this paper develops the first two levels of a four-level prescriptive framework for effectively carrying out such assessments: Common expectations for surface behavior: etiquette, protocol, and deportment. A surface-level assessment informs one about local expectations concerning greetings, business cards, gift giving, dress, punctuality, body language, table manners, and so forth. Deeper cultural characteristics and their implications for the negotiation process itself. Below the surface are characteristics such as whether a culture is focused on the individual or the collective, the nature and importance of relationships, how personal space and the role of time are viewed, the extent to which authority and hierarchy are accepted, how ambiguity and risk are regarded, and so on. Extending this assessment to expectations that are more specific to the negotiation process itself yields several questions: Is there a view that negotiation is a collaborative process aimed at mutual advantage or a competitive battle? Should one focus on specific issues early on or is there a lengthy process of relationship building first? Is the process formal or informal? Is communication direct or indirect? Are agreements constructed from general principles “down” or from specific provisions “up”? And so on. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:26:57 +0100 814388 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31996 Focus on Fire Safety: Older Adults and Preparedness for Fire Source: U.S. Fire Administration Adults age 65 and older are at a higher risk of death from fire than any other age group. According to the USFA report Fire in the United States Fifteenth Edition, older adults account for approximately 32 percent of all fire deaths. Fire prevention and planning are key elements in reducing the risk of deaths and injuries from fire. In the event of a fire, remember that every second counts, so you and your family must always be prepared. Escape plans help you get out of your home quickly. In less than 30 seconds, a small flame can get completely out of control and turn into a major fire. It only takes minutes for a house to fill with thick black smoke and become engulfed in flames. Developing and practicing a fire escape plan and installing and maintaining smoke alarms are ways in which you can prepare for the possibility of a fire occurring in your home. Being prepared in the event a fire occurs may increase your chances of survival. + Fire Prevention and Home Fire Safety for Seniors (Source: Docuticker) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:15:15 +0100 814389 http://blogs.ubc.ca/dean/2010/02/try-hope-lemans-blog-significant-science/ “Before we begin, Dean, I’d like to give readers a bit of background as to who you are and why they should know about you. You are already well known and admired by medical and sci/tech librarians, by those in the Open Access community, and by those interested in the ... (Source: UBC Academic Search - Google Scholar Blog) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:15:02 +0100 814245 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31994 BTS Releases Reports on Ocean Passenger Vessels Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics today released two special reports on the ocean passenger vessel industry. U.S. Ocean Passenger Terminals: serving larger vessels closer to home and central transit connections provides an overview of the trend since 2004 to larger vessels and terminals located closer to population centers and transit connections. Ocean Passenger Vessels: migrating south for the winter examines the seasonal pattern of cruise departures from northern ports in the summer and southern ports in the winter. The report on terminals can be found at http://www.bts.gov/publications/bts_special_report/2010_01_19/ and the vessel report can be found at http://www.bts.gov/publications/bts_special_report/2010_01_20/. For the latest maritime-related BTS data products, please visit the BTS Maritime Program website. (Source: Docuticker) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:09:09 +0100 814390 http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2010/02/google-news-now-allows-starringfavourites.html Nice little bit of new functionality from Google - you can now star particular news items that interest you, in the same way that you can star Gmail or GReader content. If you run a search (or simply open up the news page) you'll see little starts next to the stories: If you star an item it turns yellow, as you can see above. It's important to note, as the Google News blog post explains, you're telling Google that you're interested in the story, not the specific news item. If more news stories come up about the same subject area Google will highlight this by emboldening the headline for you. You can also see a listing of all the stories (up to 20) that you can have starred at once. If you don't see the above left menu on your screen, don't worry, it is there. If you check the first screen shot, you'll see a link to 'More sections'. Just click that and you'll get the menu as you can see to the left. (Source: Phil Bradley) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 814371 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GovernmentNewsForMontana/~3/aXPxAXze_so/2011-federal-budget.html From the New York Times: "The budget projects that the deficit will peak at nearly $1.6 trillion in the current fiscal year, a post-World War II record, and then decline but remain at economically troublesome levels over the remainder of the decade. In the coming fiscal year 2011, which begins in October, the projected shortfall would be under $1.3 trillion."You can find the 2011 budget on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) website. The site includes the budget broken down by department, analytical tables, historical comparisons, recommended budget cuts, and other supplemental information.Source: Calmes, J. (1 Feb. 2010). "In $3.8 Trillion Budget, Obama Pivots to Trim Future Deficits." New York Times. (Source: Government News for Montana) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 814488 http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2010/02/arl-acrl-scholarly-communication.html Registration is now open for Strengthening Programs through Collaboration, the ARL ACRL Scholarly Communication Institute Webinar Series that Julie Garrison & I are co-coordinating. (Source: The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 814500 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JohnBattellesSearchblog/~3/3os3-EHMsWI/005112.php The folks at Aardvark have posted an ambitious paper over on the 'vark blog. Titled after Brin and Page's original “Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine”, the paper presents the Aardvark engine and, in its authors' words: "describes the fundamental differences between the traditional “Library” paradigm of web search — in which answers are found in existing online content — and the new “Village” paradigm of social search — in which answers arise in conversation with the people in your network." I have read most of the paper, which has been accepted at WWW 2010 (it reminded me of all the search papers I read in preparation for writing The Search), and found a lot worthy of interest. First, the paper's authors, both of whom have worked at Google, clearly have a sense of potential history here, in that they not only crib Google's original paper's title, they also mirror the first line (substituting "Aardvark" for "Google", of course). Now that's some b*lls. Of course, when Larry and Sergey first presented Google, they couldn't even get their paper accepted (it took three tries, if I recall correctly. Someone should write a book about that...). Second, it's unusual for a Valley startup to lay out its architecture and technological specs as willingly as Aardvark has. There's a lot of math in here that I couldn't parse even if I had the will to try. Third, we learn some cool things about how Aardvark works. Check this quote out: "...unlike quality scores like PageRank [13], Aardvark’s quality score aims to measure intimacy rather than authority. And unlike the relevance scores in corpus-based search engines, Aardvark’s relevance score aims to measure a user’s potential to answer a query, rather than a document’s existing capability to answer a query. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 814547 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/earlham/dGCQ/~3/HShW037m_TE/february-soan.html I just mailed the February issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter.  This issue takes a close look at four analogies between the political fortunes of open access and the political fortunes of clean energy.  The roundup section briefly notes 116 OA developments from January. Here's a quick overview of the four analogies: The gap between breakthrough and uptake Putting obstacles in our way Slowing down to protect the incumbents Some pay for all Update (3 hours later).  A list problem has snagged delivery of the email edition.  Apologies for the delay.  Meantime, the online edition (link above) is the same as the email edition and already available. (Source: Open Access News) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 814554 http://librarytwopointzero.blogspot.com/2010/02/interesting-books.html I've just quit smoking (or am trying to quit smoking). This has meant rather than going for a cigarette at breaks, I've started reading a lot more. I did read Groundswell. It focuses on how companies can take advantage of emerging social technologies. What a load of tosh. Felt like reading microwaved Clue Train manifesto but at 2 star Michelin restaurant price tag. If you've not read it, well done. I just felt Charlene Li was just trying to make money for Forrester's by underlining how good they are. The book was so bad I sold it on Amazon.Then I read Cyburbia by James Harkin. He says of that Cyburbia, in his interpretation, is the place to which we go when we spend huge swathes of our time hooked up to other people via a continuous loop of electronic information, and online social networks are only its most visible manifestation. This was a more enjoyable read for me. Looking at the impact of the network society are affecting us and how we interact. Worth a look.Then I just finished The Accidental Billionaires: Sex, Money, Betrayal and the Founding of Facebook. I really was not expecting much from this but its a good read, and feels more like a thriller. The author Ben Mezrich obviously seems to side with Eduardo Saverin than Mark Zuckerberg as the originators of facebook. This is not surprising as Eduardo gave him the most time in his researh for the novel. The author also does not have the greatest grasp of Facebook. At one stage he describes how open facebook is. Really? It doesn't even allow you to customise your page unlike Myspace. Its also open to data mining users profiles and is often seen as a walled garden.Apart from that its a good read. (Source: librarytwopointzero) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 814635 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31988 Moving Through Time Source: Psychological Science Setting humans apart from other species is the ability to travel subjectively through time (Suddendorf & Corballis, 2007), a process termed chronesthesia (Tulving, 2002). Mental time travel enables people to tailor their behavior to satisfy the challenges of daily life (Schacter, Addis, & Buckner, 2007; Tulving, 2002). To date, work on chronesthesia has elucidated the neural basis of retrospection and prospection (Addis, Wong, & Schacter, 2007; Schacter et al., 2007) and documented how the process of mental time travel is affected by both aging (Addis, Wong, & Schacter, 2008) and mental illness (D’Argembeau, Raffard, & Van der Linden, 2008). These insights aside, however, remarkably little is known about the wider psychological characteristics of this pivotal social-cognitive activity. One intriguing question is, how is temporal information processed when one revisits the past or anticipates the future (see Schacter et al., 2007)? One possibility is that mental time travel may be represented in the sensorimotor systems that regulate human movement. Specifically, the metaphorical “arrow of time” (Casasanto & Boroditsky, 2008) may be grounded in a processing architecture that integrates temporal and spatial information in a directional manner (i.e., past = back, future = forward). Given that abstract mental constructs can be revealed motorically, or embodied (see Barsalou, 2008), this viewpoint gives rise to an interesting hypothesis: If chronesthesia entails a coupling of thought and action, episodes of retrospection and prospection may be accompanied by backward and forward motion, respectively. To explore this possibility, we measured spontaneous fluctuations in the magnitude and direction of postural sway while individuals engaged in mental time travel. (Source: Docuticker) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:58:49 +0100 814391 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Davidrothmannet/~3/bav_6VeBC60/ I finally broke down and bought a Motorola DROID from Verizon several weeks ago- that’s the new phone that runs Google’s Android 2.0.1 Operating System. Thus far, I don’t regret the decision. AT&T’s coverage where I live stinks, so as much as I like the iPhone, it just wasn’t an option for me. Fortunately, the DROID does most things as well as the iPhone, and does some things much better than the iPhone. I agree with most of the accolades and criticisms you’ve probably already read about the DROID. Things I Like: The touchscreen is large, responsive, and looks terrific. Syncing of my Gmail contacts, my work contacts, and my Facebook contacts is pretty darn great. I always have ALL my contact information on me- and it is updated whenever Facebook, my Gmail contacts, or the Address Books at my place of work are updated. The “open” model is appealing. Even without having a rooted phone, I have *much* more control over the device than with an iPhone. If there’s any file I want on my Droid, I can put it there without jumping through any hoops. I have complete control over the file structure. iPhone/iTouch users has undoubtedly been annoyed by how strictly Apple controls what can (and cannot) be moved over the device’s USB cable and have to use third party applications to move data from an iPod/iTouch to a new computer- even if that data has no DCM. Customization-I can tweak so much about the DROID’s interface that it took me several days to explore a lot of options and make some decisions about how I wanted it laid out. As my continued use of it reveals new/different/unexpected needs, I can quickly and easily make changes. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:59:01 +0100 814341 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/VFTi-tiuCT4/soyinka-england-cesspit-islamists England is a "cesspit" and breeding ground for fundamentalist Muslims, the Nobel laureate and political activist Wole Soyinka has said in an interview in which he also accused Britain of allowing the existence of "indoctrination schools".His extraordinary attack on what he views as Britain's part in fuelling Islamist terrorism was published on the US news and opinion website The Daily Beast. It was coupled with his assertion that the 1989 fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie meant that the assumption of power over life and death had passed "to every ­inconsequential Muslim in the world".Soyinka, the first African to win the Nobel prize for literature in 1986, made his claims in response to a question about his homeland of Nigeria being added to the watchlist of countries deemed to be incubating terrorists, after the failed attempts of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to bring an airliner down over the US on Christmas Day."That was an irrational, knee-jerk reaction by the Americans," the writer said. "The man did not get radicalised in Nigeria. It happened in England, where he went to university."England is a cesspit. England is the breeding ground of fundamentalist ­Muslims. Its social logic is to allow all religions to preach openly. But this is illogic, because none of the other religions preach apocalyptic violence."And yet England allows it. Remember, that country was the breeding ground for communism, too. Karl Marx did all his work in libraries there …"Soyinka added: "This is part of the character of Great Britain. Colonialism bred an innate arrogance, but when you undertake that sort of imperial adventure, that arrogance gives way to a feeling of accommodativeness. You take pride in your openness. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:50:31 +0100 814317 http://freegovinfo.info/node/2893 Recently, when I have spoken about "data as evidence" in several academic settings, there has been a recurring question. Essentially it concerns the fact that dishonest people acting in bad faith will generate false, badly formed, or misleading data and propose it as evidence in support of predetermined (i.e. prejudiced / pre-judged) positions. To this day, parties or groups that base themselves in "values" or "beliefs" that are assumed a priori – i.e. values that are non-negotiable – in fact, not subject to discussion -- dominate our political landscape. One has only to watch the response of some of the Republican Congressional caucus to President Obama’s discussion there this past week to see clear evidence of this. A fundamental tenet for these believers is that compromise with any other set of beliefs represents moral "relativism" – which is equivalent to amorality (if not immorality). I believe that much of the trouble we experience in contemporary civil discourse can be traced to a confusion, conscious or otherwise, of the distinctions between "Church" (institutionalization of religious belief) and "State" (government based on trust in a diverse and tolerant community). From the time of European settlement of this continent we have had problems in separating Church and State [See LoC for an excellent summary history ] AND, concomitantly, in maintaining the distinction between empirical knowledge as a basis for public policies and commitments to "truth" based in belief. The former can be understood as "objective and invariant" (as discussed previously) the latter as subjective and highly variable -- the phrase used by John Searle of UC Berkeley, "first person ontology" is well applicable. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:47:43 +0100 814154 http://joblist.ala.org/modules/jobseeker/controller.cfm?rssjobid=14346 Library Director (City of Brentwood, Tennessee) The City of Brentwood (population 36,000) located in the Nashville Metropolitan area (population 1.4 million) is accepting applications for the position of Library Director. The Brentwood Library is recognized as the premier community library in the State of Tennessee with a state-of-the-art facility and technology, an extensive collection totaling 160,000 items, and a focus on innovative programs and services. The Brentwood Library operates as an integral department of City government with the Director reporting to the City Manager. The annual operating budget is $2.05 million with over 90% of the funding provided by the City. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:20:03 +0100 814124 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/facts-for-features-super-bowl-xliv/ Facts for Features: Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV will be played Feb. 7 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., a Miami suburb. To commemorate this occasion, the Census Bureau has compiled a collection of facts examining the demographics of the host city, as well as the cities represented by the contenders, in this year’s edition of our nation’s most celebrated sporting event. With the mail-out of 2010 Census questionnaires slightly more than a month away, the Census Bureau will run three ads promoting census awareness during the Super Bowl telecast — two during the pregame show and one during the third quarter. Source: U.S. Census Bureau (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:19:25 +0100 814201 http://lib.wmrc.uiuc.edu/enb/2010/02/01/epa%e2%80%99s-budget-proposal-seeks-efficiencies-increased-environmental-protection-budget-proposal-aligned-with-administrator-jacksons-key-priorities/ The Obama Administration today proposed a budget of $10 billion for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This budget heeds the president’s call to streamline and find efficiencies in the agency’s operations while supporting the seven priority areas EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson outlined to guide EPA’s work. “To meet our environmental challenges and ensure fiscal responsibility, we’re proposing targeted investments in core priorities. This budget cuts spending while promoting clean air, land and water, growing the green economy and strengthening enforcement,” said Administrator Jackson. ”The president’s budget is focused on creating the conditions that help American families, communities and small businesses thrive. Clean air, clear water and green jobs are rebuilding the foundations for prosperity in communities across the country.” Budget Highlights Cleaning up communities: This budget includes $1.3 billion to address Superfund sites that may be releasing harmful or toxic substances into the surrounding community. Cleaning up these sites improves communities’ health and allows for these properties to be used for economic development. In addition, $215 million is provided to clean up abandoned or underused industrial and commercial sites that are available for alternative uses but where redevelopment may be complicated by the presence of environmental contaminants. Revitalizing these once productive properties, known as brownfields, helps communities by removing blight, satisfying the growing demand for land, and enabling economic development. EPA will focus its efforts on area-wide planning and cleanups, especially in under-served and economically disadvantaged communities. This budget also offers $27 million for EPA’s new Healthy Communities Initiative. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:17:29 +0100 814275 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31992 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (PDF; 6 MB) Source: U.S. Department of Defense From press release: The QDR examines DoD strategies and priorities. It assesses the threats and challenges that the nation faces and re-balances DoD’s strategies, capabilities, and forces to ensure the U.S. military has the flexibility to address today’s conflicts and tomorrow’s threats. The BMDR evaluates the ballistic missile threat to the U.S. and its allies and articulates policy. It determines the appropriate role of ballistic missile defense in the country’s national security and military strategies. (Source: Docuticker) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:08:23 +0100 814162 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31990 New GAO Report and Correspondence (PDFs) Source: Government Accountability Office 1 February 2010 + Report 1. NASA: Assessments of Selected Large-Scale Projects – + Correspondence 2. Defense Acquisitions: Observations on the Department of Defense Service Contract Inventories for Fiscal Year 2008 (Source: Docuticker) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:02:28 +0100 814163 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/the-economist-special-report-on-social-networking/ A world of connections Although Facebook is the world’s biggest social network, there are a number of other globetrotting sites, such as MySpace, which concentrates on music and entertainment; LinkedIn, which targets career-minded professionals; and Twitter, a networking service that lets members send out short, 140-character messages called “tweets”. All of these appear in a ranking of the world’s most popular networks by total monthly web visits (see chart 1), which also includes Orkut, a Google-owned service that is heavily used in India and Brazil, and QQ, which is big in China. On top of these there are other big national community sites such as Skyrock in France, VKontakte in Russia, and Cyworld in South Korea, as well as numerous smaller social networks that appeal to specific interests such as Muxlim, aimed at the world’s Muslims, and ResearchGATE, which connects scientists and researchers. Source: The Economist (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:47:54 +0100 814202 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/report-wikipedia-considering-to-start-indian-edition-of-web-encyclopedia/ From an Article: The World’s largest online encyclopedia Wikipedia plans to launch an Indian edition of the website as part of its strategy to expand its footprint in the lucrative internet markets of India and China. The non-profit foundation is considering a proposal to launch Wikipedia.in, a local India chapter, similar to its country-specific portals in China, Germany, US and UK. [Snip] While Wikipedia is available in local languages including Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi and Bengali, the number of articles in these languages is still limited. Wikimedia noted that language is not a barrier in India. “In India anyone who has internet access has functional literacy in English, so language is not a huge issue, but the way people interact with the articles, shows that there is a lack of ownership and understanding about the fact that they can own and edit the articles. Lack of an India chapter is an issue.” said Achal Prabhala, an advisory board member of Wikimedia Foundation. Source: The Economic Times (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:31:22 +0100 814203 http://libraries.mit.edu/media/scholarly/carter.mp3 The latest in the series of podcasts on scholarly publication and copyright is an interview with Craig Carter, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. He directs the Carter Research Group, which uses modeling to predict complex material behavior. In the podcast, Professor Carter speaks about the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy from his perspective as a member of the faculty committee that put the policy forward for a faculty vote in March of 2009. Under the policy, the faculty gives MIT nonexclusive permission to make the faculty’s scholarly articles available and to exercise the copyright in those articles for the purpose of open dissemination. He reflects on the “swiftness with which [the committee] reached consensus” about changes needed in the publishing environment, and his belief that “participation in the [policy] will help us do our job better by allowing us to freely distribute our works.” Download the audio file. (5:32 minutes) More information: Submitting a paper under the policy Working with the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy Listening to other episodes in the podcast series To subscribe to the MIT Libraries’ Podcasts on Scholarly Publishing, paste this link into iTunes or another podcast reader: http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/6772/ We encourage and welcome your feedback, which you may direct to: Ellen Finnie Duranceau / Scholarly Publishing and Licensing Consultant / efinnie@mit.edu (Source: MIT Libraries News) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:22:19 +0100 814139 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/VfX35_PVchQ/amazon-macmillan-ebooks-apple Macmillan capitalises on bitter rivalry by forcing through price increase for digital versions of its bestselling titlesIn a plot twist worthy of one of its own thrillers, publisher Macmillan has capitalised on the bitter rivalry between two of America's largest technology companies to strike a blow for old media by forcing through a price increase for digital versions of its bestselling titles.Apple and Amazon are locked in a fight over the future of the book. Both are trying to dominate the market for ebooks, which are expected to become increasingly important to readers in the digital decades ahead.Amazon made an early play two years ago with its monochrome Kindle ebook reader, but last week Apple's tanks arrived on Amazon's lawn with the launch of its latest invention. Having taken the music market by storm with its iPod and iTunes combination, Apple now hopes to repeat the trick with its new iPad and iBookstore.Macmillan is one of five publishers – the others being Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette – that have signed up with Apple to make ebooks available through its online store.In doing so, they have moved the pricing of ebooks away from the bargain $9.99 (£6.26) price Amazon has been criticised by publishers for charging in an attempt to lure more people on to the Kindle.Last weekend, Amazon removed Macmillan books – including Booker prize-winning Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel – from its US website in protest at the publisher's demand that Amazon stop discounting its titles and start selling them instead at the $12.99 and $14.99 suggested by Apple.There was outrage in the publishing industry at Amazon's move, and hours later it was forced into a U-turn.It is now assumed that Amazon will have to match Apple's price for ebooks on Macmillan titles. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:02:25 +0100 814112 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/u-s-national-archives-nara-joins-the-commons/ From the Blog Post: Please welcome the U.S. National Archives to The Commons, the world’s public photography archives on Flickr to which you can contribute information and knowledge. With over 3,000 images in 49 sets uploaded already, perusing these important archival images should keep you entertained for a long time. Their four collections encompass important Americana, ranging from the famous Mathew Brady Civil War images to historical and iconic images of American history. Step back to the 1860s to see Civil War battle scenes in the Mathew Brady Civil War Photography collection. Visit the DOCUMERICA Project by the Environmental Protection Agency collection, which documents everyday life in the 1970s. The Development and Public Works collection contains images of the Flatriver irrigation project in Montana. Their Historical Photographs and Documents collection contains milestones in U.S. history, including the Declaration of Independence, the Earth as seen from space, and just a series of favorites, including Ansel Adams. Source: Flickr (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:52:39 +0100 814204 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/overdrives-most-downloaded-ebooks-audiobooks-from-the-library-jan-2010/ Most Downloaded Books from OverDrive We list the #1 title here. A total of 10 titles are listed in each category on the web page. Download Audiobooks – Adult Fiction 1. The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown (Books on Tape) Download Audiobooks – Adult Nonfiction 1. Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell (Hachette Audio) Download Audiobooks – Juvenile Fiction 1. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer (Listening Library) Download Audiobooks – Juvenile Nonfiction 1. Night, by Elie Wiesel (Audio Bookshelf, LLC) Download eBooks – Adult Fiction 1. The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group) Download eBooks – Adult Nonfiction 1. Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown and Company) Download eBooks – Juvenile Fiction 1. Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) Download eBooks – Juvenile Nonfiction 1. Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson (Penguin USA, Inc.) Rankings are based on a formula that includes books checked out and/or on a waiting list for the month of January 2010 at more than 8,500 public, private and special libraries worldwide. Download Audiobooks include WMA and MP3 formats. Download eBooks include PDF (Adobe), PRC (Mobipocket) and EPUB (industry standard) formats. Source: OverDrive (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:07:49 +0100 814205 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/paula-hane-with-more-on-gales-acqusition-of-questia/ From the Article: Questia’s book content is a clear attraction for Gale, adding scholarly content from leading publishers to support learning in high school and college-a great complement to Gale’s extensive reference content. As for the articles, they are mostly licensed from Gale, a longtime partner. In Questia’s early days, it licensed and loaded content directly from publishers, but after a few years, it saw the benefit of licensing content from Gale. So the two companies have a long and cordial working relationship. [Snip] Ned May, industry analyst with Outsell, Inc., says, “I think this is a smart move by Gale. It’s a quick build-out of their customer base and content collection while eliminating a competitor. I’d expect we’ll continue to see this type of market consolidation in response to a combination of structural market pressures and low cyclical valuations. It also speaks to Gale’s renewed strength and vitality following its separation from what was at the time Thomson Corp. In short, they got what they needed in the HighBeam deal, and they are back for more.” Access the Complete Article Source: InfoToday NewsBreaks See Also: Acquisitions: Questia is Acquired by Gale Cengage (via ResourceShelf, January 28, 2010) (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:06:31 +0100 814206 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/online-exhibition-in-motion-the-african-american-migration-experience/ From the Website: In Motion presents a new interpretation of African-American history, one that focuses on the self-motivated activities of peoples of African descent to remake themselves and their worlds…this exhibition documents 400 years of migration to, within and out of the United States. In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience presents more than 16,500 pages of texts, 8,300 illustrations, and more than 60 maps. The Web site is organized around thirteen defining migrations that have formed and transformed African America and the nation. Each migration is presented through five units: 1. A narrative 2. About 100 illustrations, each with caption, and bibliographical, indexing, and ordering information 3. From twenty to forty research resources consisting of essays, books, book chapters, articles, and manuscripts 4. Maps 5. Lesson plans for teachers In addition, each migration has a bibliography (references) and a gateway of related Web sites. Migrations can be reached through “Browse by” Migrations, Geography or Timeline. Once a migration has been selected, users can either read the narrative and look at the images, or focus on images only by clicking on “View Image Gallery.” From the drop-down menu, they can elect to see all the images, or only those associated with a particular part of the narrative. In the narrative, highlighted words take users to a glossary definition. The glossary can also be accessed through the Glossary box on the lower bar of each page. A “Search” function is accessible from all pages. It enables users to search through texts, illustrations, maps, lesson plans, and glossary for a particular keyword, or sentence. All books, book chapters, essays, articles, and manuscript are presented in their original form as well as in a searchable version. All texts and images can be printed. Printer-friendly versions of the texts are available. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:54:04 +0100 814208 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/a-sneak-preview-lexis-for-microsoft-office-will-launch-in-spring-2010/ Mike Mintz writes: The partner at a law firm gets an email about a pending litigation involving a major corporate client in a case about defective tires. He has a few choices at this point: (1) drop everything and start looking into the case, (2) delegate the task to an associate, or (3) click “Background” in Lexis for Microsoft Office. Choosing option “3? will highlight terms in the email that relate to the case and opens up a side panel with research results including documents from the Lexis system, firm articles, and web results, all in context. Without ever leaving Outlook a lawyer can have hours of research presented to them with the click of a button. If the lawyer wants to suggest a term that wasn’t bubbled up by the tool, they can do that too and get even more results, which can then be filtered in context for what needs to happen next. The result is that the partner can hand over a focused stack of results to an associate. The associate is saved the tasks of figuring out where to start, researching, and culling results allowing them to do some real analytical work on what has been presented before handing it back to the partner for sign off. Source: Martindale.com Blog See Also: Official News Release Lexis for Microsoft Office will launch for Microsoft Office 2007 in spring 2010, and will be available with Microsoft Office 2010. To access and use these capabilities, users will require a current LexisNexis subscription. (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:36:47 +0100 814209 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/thomson-reuters-introduces-weslawnext/ From the Announcement: WestlawNext offers a clean, modern interface and powerful new search functionality that makes legal professionals significantly more efficient and gives them the confidence that they’ve explored every relevant document. The cornerstone of this significant advancement in legal research is WestSearch, a proprietary search engine that automates the best practices of expert legal researchers, delivering more inclusive, better ranked results. WestlawNext also includes powerful new tools to help legal professionals analyze and organize legal information more efficiently than ever before. [Snip] After watching hundreds of legal professionals perform research and thousands of hours of Westlaw log analysis, it was clear to the project team that researchers typically start by finding relevant documents, then turn to powerful finding aids that link documents together, such as the West Key Number System, KeyCite and Westlaw’s vast collection of authoritative treatises and practice guides, to complete their research. Observing this iterative process, the team wondered if these steps could be replicated by sophisticated search algorithms: could a new search engine find relevant documents and then automate the process of applying Key Numbers, KeyCite, and secondary sources to find additional critical documents, then rank them with the most important documents at the top of the result list? [Snip] WestlawNext is available for U.S. practitioners now; Warwick said the ground-breaking capabilities of WestlawNext will be progressively added to Westlaw platforms across the globe. Access the Complete Announcement Source: Thomson Reuters (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:35:44 +0100 814210 http://freegovinfo.info/node/2892 This month's depository spotlight shines on University of Maryland's Thurgood Marshall law Library. Congratulations to Bill Sleeman, Jeff Elliott and the rest of the staff at TMLL! The spotlight highlights 2 solid long-standing digital projects from TMLL: Historical Publications of the US Commission on Civil Rights Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports focusing on various aspects of law and foreign policy (for which I heavily rely both as a trusted information source and a source of harvesting for my CRS harvesting project For those projects as well as their everyday work to support their community, TMLL deserves the spotlight! But I also found another aspect of their work very interesting and worthy of highlighting. This aspect was mentioned in the post to the FDLP-l listserv announcing the spotlight: Do you ever wonder how your library can contribute online content to the depository community when you do not have a large staff, extensive resources, or state-of-the-art digitization facilities? Read about the variety of projects that the Thurgood Marshall Law Library at the University of Maryland School of Law manages. Despite being geared towards the Thurgood Marshall Law Library's own specific user group, every library can profit from their focused and high quality endeavors. Many libraries are creating unique digital research collections that both support their own local user base as well as the larger public's information needs. Depository collections offer a vast and rich base from which to build these digital collections. Whether you work in a library that supports 900 or 90,000 information seekers, depository libraries can and DO assist in the larger collaborative work of giving access (digital or otherwise) to historic and current government documents. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:24:52 +0100 814155 http://lib.wmrc.uiuc.edu/enb/2010/02/01/leveraging-opportunities-for-campus-sustainability-a-case-study-of-water-resources/ “Leveraging opportunities for campus sustainability: a case study of water resources” Kristan Cockerill & Jana Carp Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy 5(2), 2009. Read it online at http://ejournal.nbii.org/archives/vol5iss2/0904-017.cockerill.html Abstract: Institutions of higher education are well situated globally for transformation toward sustainability. The case of the Water Resources Planning Committee (WRPC) at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, United States offers insight into how educational institutions might identify and leverage transformative opportunities. The article suggests that a window of opportunity can open when diverse actor-groups share a common interest or goal and when individuals are able to bridge the groups as a way to create synergy. Once together, these groups can collaborate by sharing knowledge and resources. They do not avoid conflict, but rather constructively use organizational tensions and cultivate flexibility to further common goals. This case study focuses on interrelationships among a public university’s teaching and research missions and its place within a broader community as it transforms toward sustainably managing campus-water resources. (Source: Environmental News Bits) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:17:13 +0100 814278 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/fy-2011-u-s-budget-now-available-via-gpo-access/ Budget of the U.S. Government – Fiscal Year 2011 ssued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Budget of the United States Government is a collection of documents that contains the budget message of the President, information about the President’s budget proposals for a given fiscal year, and other budgetary publications that have been issued throughout the fiscal year. Other budget items, such as related publications and supporting materials, are included, which may vary from year to year. GPO has signed and certified the PDF files to assure users that the online documents are official and authentic. The digitally signed PDF files should be viewed using Adobe Acrobat or Reader version 7.0 or higher. Source: GPO (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:43:22 +0100 814211 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/usgs-new-one-stop-source-for-scientific-information-about-u-s-oceans-and-waters/ New One-Stop Source for Scientific Information about U.S. Oceans and Waters A one-stop source for biogeographic information collected from U.S. waters and oceanic regions is now available from the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Program. The OBIS-USA website offers a unique combination of tools, resources, and biodiversity information to aide scientists, resource managers and decision makers in the research and analyses critical to sustaining the nation’s valued marine ecosystems. OBIS-USA was established in 2006 in cooperation with the U.S. National Committee for the Census of Marine Life a committee composed of renowned marine community leaders. OBIS-USA – a partnership of state, federal and scientific organizations — is the United States’ contribution to the International Ocean Biogeographic Information System, an effort led by the Census of Marine Life to provide “open access” to global biodiversity data on the myriad of marine life that inhabits the ocean. Source: U.S. Geological Survey Hat tip: Craig Pittman (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:15:22 +0100 814212 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/talis/panlibus/~3/zZ14P7OCHBY/perceptions-2009-an-international-survey-of-library-automation.php In the latest Perceptions survey, the most popular library management system is from a relatively new supplier to libraries and is available exclusively on a Software as a Service basis. The survey also reveals that interest in open source library management systems is weak outside the community of libraries that has already adopted one. The Perceptions series of surveys is three years old now, and is part of Marshall Breeding’s armoury of library technology commentaries, the most well-used of which is Library Technology Guides. Meanwhile, Perceptions 2009: An international survey of library automation,  like its predecessors, aims to ascertain levels of satisfaction within libraries with their library management system and suppliers thereof. Despite disruption in the library software arena, the library management system (LMS), or integrated library system (ILS) as it’s known to Marshall Breeding in the US, remains important: The integrated library system (ILS) for most libraries represents the most critical component of its technology infrastructure and can do the most to help or hinder a library in fulfilling its mission to serve its patrons and in operating efficiently. Interest may be waning in open source One of Marshall’s central aims this year is to gauge interest in open source ILS products, which he describes as “one of the major issues brewing in the industry”. A key overall finding was that companies supporting proprietary library management systems tend to receive higher satisfaction scores than companies involved with open source library management systems. Marshall notes explicitly that LIbLime received particularly low marks in customer satisfaction, whilst libraries that undertook to implement Koha without external support were highly satisfied with this arrangement. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:59:01 +0100 814305 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/presidents-budget-freezes-library-funding-omits-school-libraries-from-education-increase/ From the Summary: President Obama today released his FY2011 Budget Proposal to Congress, calling for a freeze to federal library funding under the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), the primary source of federal funding for libraries. Under the President’s plan, LSTA would be level-funded at $214 million. As Americans deal with the weakened economy, they are using their libraries more than ever before, visiting them over 119 million times each month. American Library Association (ALA) President Camila Alire said freezing federal funding for libraries at this time of increased demand will hinder libraries from serving job-seekers, who are flocking to the library for help with online job searching and applications, resume writing, computer classes and much more. [Snip] The President’s budget also included a $400 billion investment into education but did not include specific funds for school libraries. Alire said the federal government should invest in school libraries to ensure every student graduates from high school with 21st century skills. “It is alarming that the President did not recognize the value of school libraries in today’s schools and include them in this effort to improve education,” Alire said. “Research repeatedly shows that a well-funded and fully staffed school library program with a state-licensed school librarian is an integral component of a student’s education.” Read the Complete Announcement Source: American Library Association (ALA) See Also: The IMLS Announcement President Obama has requested $265,869,000 for fiscal year 2011 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The request, which was transmitted to Congress today, is the same as the FY 2010 enacted levels for the Institute’s programs and administration. The President requested $213,523,000 for the nation’s 123,000 libraries. Of that amount, approximately 80 percent ($172. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:19:11 +0100 814213 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/nature-publishing-group-releases-iphoneitouch-app-will-publish-e-books-in-epub-format/ Two news items from NPG (Nature Publishing Group) today. First, an iPhone App and then word that the EPUB format for e-Book Material is Coming Soon. iPhone/ITouch App Features: Free: Download and Learn More Here About the App Here Browse, Read and Bookmark Full Text Content from Nature and Nature News; Search PubMed FREEBIES: Access to the full text of all Nature and Nature News content through the app is free as an introductory offer until the 30 April 2010. Users will need to be registered on nature.com… Read Nature Articles Immediately or Save Them For Later; Develop and Save Searches Nature Promises that the App was Developed So Articles Can Be Seen in High-Resolution; zoomable figures, and a special references view. App Will Work with iPad Once it Launches “Enhanced functionality is planned for the nature.com mobile app later in 2010, and personal and institutional pricing options will be available. NPG will be trialing site license access with selected institutional customers. Subject to feedback from customers, NPG intends to roll out access to other Nature branded journals and publications available on nature.com, including Scientific American. An application for devices using Android is expected to be available within the next few months.” e-Book Formats Nature Publishing Group Has Also Announced that They Will Begin Publishing and Supporting e-Books in the EPUB Format during 2010. Our guess, is that It will likely be sometime around the release of the iPad. Source: Nature Publishing Group (Announcement) (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:38:08 +0100 814214 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/059QaSnHnaI/ So, who lost the weekend’s ebook war, Amazon or Macmillan? Neither, actually. Amazon gets to raise its prices, make more money and come off looking like the good guy. Macmillan proves yet again that Big Publishing doesn’t get it (did you see even a single mention of book-buying customers in their open letter) and who loses most? The customers—the ones who buy books and upon whose money the whole house of cards actually operates! I have been delighted to find that some readers are starting to fight back. There are alternatives to Big Publishing, if you know where to look and what to look for!1) Public domain and creative commons-licensed books. Manybooks (http://www.manybooks.net), Feedbooks (http://www.feedbooks.com) and Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org) are the big repositories here. All allow you to download the book in any format of your choosing, for reading on the device of your choosing. And if you haven’t been to such a site recently, you’ll be gratified to know that the public domain isn’t just Shakespeare and the Bible anymore. You can get pulp sci-fi classics, hundreds of novels from the golden age of mystery (Raymond Chandler just entered the public domain in Life+50 countries) and current titles from contemporary authors like Cory Doctorow, Kelly Link and Charles Stross who have licensed them under Creative Commons licenses. 2) Self-published titles from contemporary authors. Feedbooks (http://www.feedbooks.com) and Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com) are the main hubs for this. Feedbooks has only free titles and Smashwords has some free titles and some in the $5 and under range—nearly all of these titles allow readers to sample a portion of the book for free. Once you purchase a title, it’s yours to download, DRM-free, in the format or formats of your choosing, without restriction. 3) DRM-free titles from publishers who get it. Baen (http://www.baen. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:35:35 +0100 814180 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/webcast-fiction-collections-at-the-library-of-congress/ This webcast runs 68 minutes and was recorded on 10/23/2009. Access the web page and webcast. Discussion of the current fiction collections of the Library of Congress with an emphasis on the papers of National Book Award winners in the Manuscript Division. Four Library of Congress veterans present “Fiction at the Library of Congress.” The program and discussion focus on the history and future directions of the Library’s American literature collections and highlight an online feature focusing on the fiction collections of the Library of Congress, available at www.read.gov. Speakers make special note of the strong Library of Congress holdings of prominent National Book Award Fiction winners Ralph Ellison, Philip Roth and Bernard Malamud. Speaker Biography: John Cole is director of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. Speaker Biography: Alice Birney is a literary specialist in the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress. Speaker Biography: Guy Lamolinara is the communications specialist in the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. Speaker Biography: Mark Dimunation is chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress. From the Series: Books & Beyond Source: Library of Congress (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:21:46 +0100 814215 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31986 9 in 10 Will Watch Super Bowl at Home; Most will Spend the Same or Less on Food and Bev Source: Nielsen The great majority of U.S. households (9 out of 10) say they will be watching Super Bowl XLIV at home or at a friend’s or relative’s house instead of watching it from a restaurant or bar, according to a new survey by The Nielsen Company. And for their home viewing, only five percent of households expect to spend more on food and beverages for the Super Bowl this year. “Staying in is the new ‘night out’ and we see this trend continue to play out with the Super Bowl,” said Nick Lake, vice president, group client director, Beverage Alcohol at Nielsen. “Consumers continue to rein in spending and while this ‘new normal’ provides challenges for restaurant and bar owners, it presents opportunities for consumer packaged goods (CPG) retailers and manufacturers.” (Source: Docuticker) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:50:09 +0100 814164 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/the-ipad-and-libraries/ In a post on Library 1.5, “iPad and libraries – some thoughts,” Scandinavian librarian, Thomas Brevik, writes about what he thinks the the new device will mean for libraries when they first hit the streets and then later on. Here are just a couple of blurbs from the complete post. For libraries the iPad will have little immediate impact. What it probably will do, if it is a hit in the marketplace, is that it will fuel reader demand for e-books. I predict that it will be a slow development, but maybe too fast for many librarians. When the demand for e-books is for Nora Roberts latest romance novel, rather than some science fiction blockbuster or main stream popular science non-fiction, and the person wanting the e-book is the harassed mother with three kids running around her at the library desk, then e-books will have arrived in the library. For libraries there are two main challenges: 1. How do we get content from the library to the iPad and similar devices, and can libraries use iBook or the AppStore as a delivery method? 2. Will the iPad and iPad like devices change the media habits of readers? Brevik answers these questions and has several more interesting comments in the complete post. Source: Library 1.5 Hat Tip: TeleRead (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:38:36 +0100 814216 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/J-LVTsG4BMw/ The Librarian 1.5 blog, written by Norwegian librarian Thomas Brevik, has a few thoughts on what the iPad means to libraries. Here is a snippet: How do we get content from the library to the iPad and similar devices, and can libraries use iBook or the AppStore as a delivery method? I think there will be several opportunities, and that binding libraries to a cooperation with Apple to get in through the iBook store probably will be difficult and even counterproductive. There are at least two avenues to go, either create an international LibraryBook app (open source of course), that will work on any operating system, or cooperate with the creators of any of the open source apps that are out there to deliver books through them. Both avenues has their pros- and cons, but I believe that to secure a future for the library brand it would be a good idea to develop a special library app. Will the iPad and iPad like devices change the media habits of readers? Very likely. The iPod and iPhone has both changed a lot of behaviour and expectations from library users, and how other devices are viewed and used. I expect to see increasing demand for content on tablets from readers and probably pressure on the library to deliver certain types of content, i.e. ebooks. Digg us. Slashdot us. Facebook us. Twitter us. Share the news. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:06:19 +0100 814185 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/YItlU-LYaKE/ The worst-kept secret in recent tech history, Apple’s iPad, was unveiled last week. Some folks were wowed by the announcement while others were left asking, “is that all there is?” I was somewhere in between. A buddy called me that day and said he bet Jeff Bezos was…, well, requiring an undergarment change. I told him I doubted it. Not because the iPad won’t have a significant impact on the Kindle…it will…but because Wednesday’s announcement was the confirmation of something Amazon, like the rest of us, already knew about. I’ll get to the Kindle effect in a moment, but first let me say why I think every publisher on the planet should warm up to the iPad. One word: Pricing. Not device pricing but content pricing. Ever since the Kindle arrived in late 2007 Amazon has led us on this downward path to lower and lower prices. On the one hand, I don’t blame them for this. After all, we, the publishers, are the ones trying to build a significant business around quickie print-to-e conversions.Amazon has been more than an accomplice in this regard though as they’ve developed a device that discourages and effectively prevents publishers from enriching their content offerings. Two plus years into the life of the Kindle and they’re just now announcing plans to open the platform to third-party developers?! Are you kidding me? Did they not notice that the App Store is one of the keys to the iPhone’s success? Compare the functionality of the Kindle to what the iPad will offer. Look at the rich content opportunities the iPad presents. Your newspaper won’t just be a lousy text feed with a few grayscale images; it will be full color with video and audio built in. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:47:35 +0100 814187 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31020 Growing Demand for Soybeans Threatens Amazon Rainforest Source: Earth Policy Institute Some 3,000 years ago, farmers in eastern China domesticated the soybean. In 1765, the first soybeans were planted in North America. Today the soybean occupies more U.S. cropland than wheat. And in Brazil, where it spread even more rapidly, the soybean is invading the Amazon rainforest. For close to two centuries after its introduction into the United States the soybean languished as a curiosity crop. Then during the 1950s, as Europe and Japan recovered from the war and as economic growth gathered momentum in the United States, the demand for meat, milk, and eggs climbed. But with little new grassland to support the expanding beef and dairy herds, farmers turned to grain to produce not only more beef and milk but also more pork, poultry, and eggs. World consumption of meat at 44 million tons in 1950 had already started the climb that would take it to 280 million tons in 2009, a sixfold rise. This rise was partly dependent on the discovery by animal nutritionists that combining one part soybean meal with four parts grain would dramatically boost the efficiency with which livestock and poultry converted grain into animal protein. This generated a fast-growing market for soybeans from the mid-twentieth century onward. It was the soybean’s ticket to agricultural prominence, enabling soybeans to join wheat, rice, and corn as one of the world’s leading crops. U.S. production of the soybean exploded after World War II. By 1960 it was close to triple that in China. By 1970 the United States was producing three fourths of the world’s soybeans and accounting for virtually all exports. And by 1995 the fast-expanding U.S. land area planted to soybeans had eclipsed that in wheat. (Source: Docuticker) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:23:24 +0100 814165 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/01/free-today-only-e-book-from-u-chicago-press-piracy-the-intellectual-property-wars-from-gutenberg-to-gates/ From e-mail: Today only, February 1, you can get Piracy, Adrian Johns’s latest book, free as an e-book from the University of Chicago Press: Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates. “[Johns] traces the tensions between authorized and unauthorized producers and distributors of books, music, and other intellectual property in British and American culture from the 17th century to the present. . . . The shifting theoretical arguments about copyright and authorial property are presented in a cogent and accessible manner. Johns’s research stands as an important reminder that today’s intellectual property crises are not unprecedented, and offers a survey of potential approaches to a solution.” —Publishers Weekly Link: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ebooks/free_ebook.html (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:23:14 +0100 814014 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31581 Labour market statistics January 2010 Source: Office for National Statistics, UK From the summary: The employment rate for September to November 2009 was 72.4 per cent. This is the lowest since the winter of 1996-97 and is down 0.1 on the quarter. The number of people in employment fell by 14,000 on the quarter to reach 28.92 million. The number of people in full-time employment fell by 113,000 on the quarter while the number of people in part-time employment increased by 99,000 on the quarter to reach a record high of 7.71 million. There were 1.03 million employees and self-employed people working part-time because they could not find a full-time job. This is the highest figure since records for this series began in 1992 and it is up 46,000 on the quarter. The unemployment rate for September to November 2009 was 7.8 per cent, unchanged on the quarter. The number of unemployed people fell by 7,000 over the quarter to reach 2.46 million. This is the first quarterly fall in the number of unemployed people since the three months to May 2008. The number of people unemployed for more than 12 months increased by 29,000 over the quarter to reach 631,000, the highest figure since the three months to November 1997. The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (the claimant count) in December 2009 fell by 15,200 on the month to reach 1.61 million. This is the second consecutive monthly fall in the claimant count and the largest monthly fall since April 2007. The inactivity rate for September to November 2009 was 21.2 per cent, up 0.2 on the quarter but below the record high of 23.3 per cent recorded in 1983. The number of inactive people of working age increased by 79,000 over the quarter to reach a record high of 8.05 million. This increase in inactivity was largely driven by the number of students not in the labour market which has increased by 81,000 on the quarter to reach 2.24 million, the highest since comparable records began in 1993. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:22:25 +0100 813992 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TameTheWeb/~3/6d71EeJMl3Y/ Thomas and I have worked together at Internet Librarian International 2008 and back in the day doing a podcast or two about Library 2.0. He’s one of the good thinkers in LIS who I wish I had more of a chance to sit with and talk. Glad to see his take on the iPad this morning. http://lib1point5.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/ipad-and-libraries-some-thoughts/ For libraries the iPad will have little immediate impact. What it probably will do, if it is a hit in the marketplace, is that it will fuel reader demand for e-books. I predict that it will be a slow development, but maybe too fast for many librarians. When the demand for e-books is for Nora Roberts latest romance novel, rather than some science fiction blockbuster or main stream popular science non-fiction, and the person wanting the e-book is the harassed mother with three kids running around her at the library desk, then e-books will have arrived in the library. This could happen if the iPad really hits it off with the public. For libraries there are two main challenges: 1. How do we get content from the library to the iPad and similar devices, and can libraries use iBook or the AppStore as a delivery method? I think there will be several opportunities, and that binding libraries to a cooperation with Apple to get in through the iBook store probably will be difficult and even counterproductive. There are at least two avenues to go, either create an international LibraryBook app (open source of course), that will work on any operating system, or cooperate with the creators of any of the open source apps that are out there to deliver books through them. Both avenues has their pros- and cons, but I believe that to secure a future for the library brand it would be a good idea to develop a special library app. 2. Will the iPad and iPad like devices  change the media habits of readers? Very likely. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:18:32 +0100 814005 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=30853 Retirement Research — Five New Working Papers Source: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College + Impact of Immigration on the Distribution of American Well-Being by Gary Burtless + How Seniors Change Their Asset Holdings During Retirement by Karen Smith, Mauricio Soto, and Rudolph G. Penner + Will Automatic Enrollment Reduce Employer Contributions to 401(k) Plans? by Mauricio Soto and Barbara A. Butrica + Retirement Security and the Stock Market Crash: What are the Possible Outcomes? by Barbara A. Butrica, Karen E. Smith, and Eric J. Toder + Actual and Anticipated Inheritance Receipts by Norma B. Coe and Anthony Webb (Source: Docuticker) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:21:30 +0100 813993 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/OoXUHMXRqcU/ It is time for me to give an ereader a serious shakedown. In Slow Reading, I asserted that print books are still the superior technology for reading anything of length or substance; that view remains. However, it is clear that the writing and publishing world is changing. I am discovering excellent writers who are publishing their material independently, often as ebooks. I want to read this material, but not on a computer, and without printing it. A specialized reading device might fill the gap. Amazon’s ereader, the Kindle, came to Canada in late 2009. No doubt there are good reasons not to buy a Kindle. Personally, I find Amazon’s competitive practices too aggressive (such as disabling the buy button for publishers who do not use their print-on-demand service). Also, I was vaguely aware that Kindle uses Digital Rights Management (DRM) to try to restrict access to it content, unlike Sony’s Reader which uses the open epub format. I am better informed now. However, Amazon was the first to offer a wireless reader in Canada. I was curious and felt the need to play. I put the Kindle on my Christmas list. The Kindle was not previously available in Canada because Amazon had not reached a deal with local wireless providers. Even now the deal is limited. In Canada, Kindle wireless only permits access to Amazon’s store and Wikipedia. In the US, users can also browse the web, read blogs, and email documents to the device. My hope is that the Canadian wireless deal will eventually match the American one. Amazon has said as much about their document delivery service. Sony later followed with wireless capability but the equivalent product costs a hundred dollars more. I ordered the Kindle 2 with six-inch display for $259.00 CAD. (Just recently the larger Kindle DX has become available internationally.) It arrived very quickly, left on my front porch even though no one was home. It was a Christmas wish so I had to wait until Christmas to open the present. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:15:05 +0100 814007 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/ZaHK1ElLo9g/salinger-widow-privacy Colleen Salinger expresses gratitude for 'protective envelope' provided by the people of Cornish, New HampshireJD Salinger's wife has thanked residents of the town he made his refuge for more than 50 years for protecting the world's most famous literary recluse from what one resident described as "the annual parade of English majors".Salinger, who died last week at the age of 91, moved from New York to the small town of Cornish, New Hampshire in 1952, a year after the publication of The Catcher in the Rye made him a literary sensation. His wife, Colleen Salinger, told a local paper that the author had been grateful for the "protective envelope" that locals had given him."Cornish is a truly remarkable place. This beautiful spot afforded my husband a place of awayness from the world," she wrote in an email to the Valley News. "The people of this town protected him and his right to his privacy for many years. I hope, and believe, they will do the same for me."Neighbours told the paper that "how to keep everyone guessing where Jerry Salinger lived" was "one of the most enjoyable municipal conspiracies ever". "You very quickly got kind of wrapped up in the joke of it all. They were all so desperate to see if they could talk to the great man," said resident Peter Burling, who lived a few doors down from Salinger for 44 years.Mike Ackerman, who runs the Cornish General Store, said he had never revealed to visitors where the author lived, giving out various false directions to literary tourists. "It really depended on the attitude of the person coming in how much fun we would have with that person," said Ackerman, who met Salinger when he was working for UPS and delivering packages. "He was the type of individual where, if you treated him like he was everyone else, he would tend to open up a bit. A very nice guy. ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:49:54 +0100 814108 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/iRcS/~3/kQmyL4_9F_0/largest-book-in-world-klencke-atlas.html "It takes six people to lift it and has been recorded as the largest book in the world, yet the splendid Klencke Atlas, presented to Charles II on his restoration and now 350 years old, has never been publicly displayed with its pages open. That glaring omission is to be rectified, it was announced by the British Library, when it will be displayed as one of the stars of its big summer exhibition about maps. The summer show will feature about 100 maps, considered some of the greatest in the world, with three-quarters of them going on display for the first time" (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:28:57 +0100 813974 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31975 Raising Estate Tax Will Substantially Affect Middle Class Families Source: National Center for Policy Analysis If Congress does not act soon to repeal the estate tax it will impose an enormous tax rate that will even affect middle-class families and cause substantial economic damage, according to a new analysis by the National Center for Policy Analysis. The tax is scheduled to disappear this year but return at a much higher rate in 2011, … In 2009 the estate tax rate was 45 percent for estates valued at $3.5 million down from 55 percent in previous years, due to the 2001 Bush tax cuts. However, in 2011 the estate tax will go back up to 55 percent for estates valued at $1 million. There are several layers of the estate tax that will affect millions of Americans if not completely repealed this year, including a generation-skipping tax and taxes on savings and labor, according to the NCPA analysis. A generation-skipping tax (GST) is enforced if a bequest goes to a grandchild or other relative more than one generation removed from the decedent. The GST rate is equivalent to imposing a 45 percent estate tax rate, then imposing another 45 percent rate on the remaining 55 percent of the estate if it goes from the surviving child to the grandchild. Then there is a tax on savings and labor. In 2009, a worker in the 33 percent tax bracket faced tax rates of over 72 percent – nearly 85 percent with GST. However, in 2011 these rates are scheduled to rebound to pre-2001 levels, in which their federal income tax rate would have been 36 percent. The combined federal and state income, payroll, and eventual estate tax rates could have easily exceeded 78 percent – or 90 percent with the GST. + Full Document (Source: Docuticker) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:18:34 +0100 813994 http://weblog.ib.hu-berlin.de/?p=7839 In der zweiten Förderphase des DFG-Projekts “Open-Access-Netzwerk” (2009-2011) wird ein Projektmitarbeiter (Teilzeit) für die technische Weiterentwicklung gesucht. Die Beschäftigung erfolgt in der Arbeitsgruppe Elektronisches Publizieren am Computer- und Medienservice der Humboldt-Universität nach Vgr. IIa/Ib – BAT-O nach AnwTV HU (Drittmittelfinanzierung befristet für 2 Jahre).  Das Aufgaben- und Anforderungsprofil ist nachzulesen beim Personalrat der Humboldt-Universität. Die Bewerbungsfrist endet am 22. Februar 2010. (Source: IB Weblog) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:50:03 +0100 814103 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31973 December Restaurant Performance Index Rose to Highest Level in Nearly Two Years Source: National Restaurant Association Driven by improvements in both business performance and expectations for future business conditions, the National Restaurant Association’s comprehensive index of restaurant activity rose to its highest level in 22 months in December. The Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) – a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry – stood at 98.7 in December, up 0.9 percent from November and its strongest level in nearly two years. … Driven by improvements in both business performance and expectations for future business conditions, the National Restaurant Association’s comprehensive index of restaurant activity rose to its highest level in 22 months in December. The Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) – a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry – stood at 98.7 in December, up 0.9 percent from November and its strongest level in nearly two years. + Full Report (PDF; 198 KB) (Source: Docuticker) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:15:42 +0100 813995 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=31971 OPM Releases Strategic Plan on Veterans Employment Source: Office of Personnel Management The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a government wide Strategic Plan to increase support and access for Veterans seeking employment with the Federal government. The plan is part of President Obama’s Veterans Employment Initiative, a pragmatic, straightforward approach to helping the men and women who have served our country in the military find employment as civilians in the Federal Government. “This is America’s first strategic blueprint to increase and support the hiring of Veterans throughout the Federal workforce,” said OPM Director John Berry. “This plan aggressively dismantles barriers for Veterans seeking Federal employment. Additionally, it provides ongoing career support to Veterans working within the Federal workforce and specifically looks to support new veterans as they adjust to civilian work life.” OPM convened senior leaders from the Departments of Defense, Labor, Veterans Affairs, Commerce, Homeland Security, Treasury, and Transportation to develop the plan. + Full Document (PDF; 1.3 MB) (Source: Docuticker) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:11:42 +0100 813996