=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This message was forwarded through the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE). You are welcome to send the message along to others but please do not use the "redirect" option. For information about RRE, including instructions for (un)subscribing, see http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/rre.html =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Date: Fri, Apr 13, 2001, 1:23 AM From: Marylaine Block <mblockat_private> To: mblockat_private Subject: NeatNew and ExLibris NEAT NEW STUFF, APRIL 13, 2001 Business Information Directory http://www.businessnation.com/library/index.html Lists thousands of firms, associations, and articles, browsable by category and keyword searchable, e.g., where can you find somebody that writes "advertising jingles"? Columbia Journalism Review http://www.cjr.org/ One of the consciences of journalism has added some useful features like the Language Corner, the Inflation Calculator, the Media Finder, and "Who Owns What" (useful in the fast-changing world of media consolidation) Court Challenge to Digital Millennium Copyright Act http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001040901t.htm And about time, too. Ethics in Computing http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/eos/info/computer_ethics/ Entirely aside from a nice set of well-organized links, this site is notable for an attractive, instantly intelligible interface that organizes its information as a map, where Privacy, Speech issues, Basics, Computer Abuse, Intellectual Property, etc. are separate countries Foot and Mouth Disease http://www.foot-and-mouth.org.uk/ Latest news on the outbreak in the UK, along with background info. Hints from Heloise http://www.heloise.com/ Includes Heloise's Top Ten Hints, her stain-removal calendar, tips on clutter control, monthly best buys, and lots more. Marine Corps.com http://www.MarineCorps.com/ For and about Marines. Includes an image gallery, an encyclopedia, news, videos, chat, cadences, etc. New on the Net http://marylaine.com/netnew.html These are the sites I check routinely when looking for nifty sites for Neat New Stuff, though I should point out that I also find them in weblogs like Library Stuff, Library Juice, and Librarian.net. Project for Public Spaces http://www.pps.org/ A rich source for ideas on building livable communities around vibrant public spaces. Examines great public buildings and why they work, great parks and why we need them, transit-friendly communities and how to build them, etc. the REAL Computer Virus: Misinformation http://ajr.newslink.org/ajrcarlapr01.html This article from American Journalism Review points out how, once a piece of misinformation is published and makes its way into Lexis- Nexis, it lives forever, repeated endlessly by lazy reporters and researchers. Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion http://www-camlaw.rutgers.edu/publications/law-religion/ A new journal on an always hot topic. In addition to full text of articles, it includes current developments and useful links. Scholars Urge a Boycott of Journals that Won't Release Articles to Free Archive http://chronicle.com/free/2001/03/2001032601t.htm If this movement catches on it would do much to make research done with public funds available to the public for free. Strategies for Addressing and Preventing Plagiarism in the Digital Age http://www.sccd.ctc.edu/~karenm/res.htm A brief but excellent guide for teachers, courtesy of librarian Karen Michaelson. You are welcome to copy and distribute this listing for non-commercial purposes as long as you retain this copyright statement: Neat New Stuff I Found This Week http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html Copyright, Marylaine Block, 2000. Publishers may license the content at reasonable rates. ***** GO WHERE IT IS, PART II When I first began writing ExLibris, I set forth my cardinal rules of information. The first one was, GO WHERE IT IS (http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib4.html). It still is. You see, knowing how to play nifty tricks with search engines is one reason librarians are good at finding answers on the net. But I think the real reason we succeed so often is because we know where to go in the first place; we understand how information works, who produces it, and where is the most likely place to search for anything. When people ask us a question, we automatically start by figuring out who would produce that piece of information. If somebody wants to know what cities have the biggest roach problem, I head immediately to a full-text database of business magazines, figuring that the people who might have an answer are the people who will make money by knowing it: the pesticide manufacturers and their advertisers. They lay out lots of money for market surveys, and the results of these are often reported on in business and marketing magazines like American Demographics. I just did a couple of workshops for the Delaware Instructional Technology Conference, and one of the questions that came up was a standard research project their students are asked to do on Delaware watersheds. I immediately began itemizing the agencies that logically might collect information about those watersheds: the U.S. Geological Survey. The Army Corps of Engineers. The Delaware Department of the Environment. The U.S. Environmentmental Protection Agency. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Sensing a theme emerging here, I immediately went to Searchgov (http://searchgov.com/), an engine which searches sites from federal, state and local governments, fed in the term "Delaware watershed," and got an immense collection of documents from all levels of government. But I also figured this was a general science question as well, so I also went to SciSeek (http://sciseek.com/), which looks only through high quality science sites, and asked the question there. There was overlap with the SearchGov results, but there were also a lot of unique results from scientific and engineering sites here. Since this topic would be written about by researchers in science journals, the next step was going to full-text article databases. In EbscoHost, I searched simultaneously through MasterFile Premier, Newspaper Source, and Academic Search Elite, and found hundreds of articles, not only from science journals, but from regional newspapers and magazines like Fly Fisherman. I repeat: librarians are not just good at internet searching because we understand how to play word games. We're good because we know where we need to go and the quickest routes for getting there; we are equipped not just with compasses but with mental maps of the information landscape. * * * * * NEEDED ON THE NET I have identified one of the lacunae on the Internet, a hole that needs to be filled. As best I can tell there is no clearinghouse that links in libraries' online recommended reading lists. There is a clearinghouse for library instruction information, at LOEX (http://www.emich.edu/~lshirato/loex.html), and there are several clearinghouses for Internet tutorials and for acceptable use policies, but there seems to be no central place where we can share our "If you liked Robert Ludlum, you'll like . . ." lists. This would be an immensely valuable service, first because other librarians will have thought of topics or books that never would have occurred to us, like golf novels, or war novels, or academic murder mysteries. Secondly, many of us who are working in very small libraries, where we have very little time to generate such lists, would nevertheless love to point our users to them. I have long thought that one of the useful things library school students could be assigned to do as projects would be to identify an unmet need on the net and build a web page that answers that need. I hereby offer this clearinghouse idea to some enterprising student. If any of you take me up on the offer, let me know, and I'll publicize your work on Neat New Stuff. * * * * * COOL QUOTE: It appears that, quite often, our users don't actually know what their question is. Librarians are good at solving this problem. Through a series of negotiations back and forth, using problem-solving skills, librarians help users learn what it is they really want. A note from our CEO said he had seen a number of our testimonials and commented, "What is striking is the common thread through the testimonials. People wonder how you know what they wanted when they didn't even know themselves." Eugenie Prime. "The Spider, the Fly and the Internet." E-Content, June, 2000 * * * * * You are welcome to copy and distribute or e-mail any of my own articles for noncommercial purposes (but not those by my guest writers) as long as you retain this copyright statement: Ex Libris: an E-Zine for Librarians and Other Information Junkies. http://marylaine.com/exlibris/ Copyright, Marylaine Block, 2000. Publishers may license the content for a reasonable fee. ----------- Marylaine Block Writer, Internet Trainer, Librarian without Walls http://marylaine.com ----------- Rock Music Quote of the Week: ----- Always doubt the cynical They want to ruin the world the Bogmen -----------------------------------------------
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