DigiCMB

Today we finally updated the large xml-file of our library holdings to the PubMed Linkout utility. This file makes it possible to -for instance- to present a special FULLTEXT Tab via the MyNCBIShare- . In our case we had -till yesterday- a total of 5.588.468 record available for the RUG/UMCG! And that should become even more after the update. It took us some time to compare and limit the standard complete SFX-output to the list of PUBMED journals. According to the very friendly Tansy from Linkout Helpdesk shortly the option will be available to limit the SFX-output to just the PUBMEd journals. Now thát would be useful!

I should be reading my feeds in Bloglines, -and take in what's really important-;) but first i have to adjust my meaning about the Second Life Library initiative. First I went there, had a look, talked to some people (mostly librarians) and tried to get some feeling with Sl itself. The librarians are getting organized, having meetings in SL (too late for me!), are taking care of their building (designing, decorating ...). I will follow the development closely, and maybe even consider offering my services as medical information specialist. It would be great if you could search while online in the game for any information you are after and I would advice to get for instance Google Scholar in there via some screen. Are the rooms for rent in the Library for subject librarians? This is the first time I am playing a so called massively-multiplayer online real-life game (MMORLG) and I must say, I like it and the danger is that it will take too much time ...... The library focuses it...

While we are barely getting ready for the Net-generation , there is a new generation already emerging according to numerous posts and newsitems. Even in Dutch blogs like the Zeeuwse Bibliotheek and in Dutch Newspapers NRC 2006, April 1st (no joke), p51. There are two aspects I want to talk about. First the apparent differences between gamers and non-gamers, and secondly the link between games and libraries. "Watch out! It's a gamer!" Being raised and growing up with "videogames" has an influence on the way of learning and working, according to researchers. I am not suggesting we can do anything with it right now, but the subject is just too interesting for me, as a computer gamer. The article of Carstens and Beck (2005) "Get ready for the gamer generation" in TechTrends. 49 (3) 22-25. http://www.nslg.net/Get%20Ready%20For%20The%20Gamer%20Generation.pdf Beck (and Wade) published their research of the influence in the business environment in the boo...

Link between gamers and libraries Jenny Levine (The Shifted Librarian) posted about the creation of a special library program INSIDE the popular online virtual live game, SecondLife ! "Alliance Library System(http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/) and OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) – (http://www.opal-online.org/) are pleased to announce that selected OPAL programs will soon be offered in the online virtual reality game Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com/). Book discussions, training sessions, and other programs will be offered to current virtual residents. The goal of the project is to promote the real library and online library services to adults who might not otherwise use the library." Wait! Stop! This is too much for me. Are we now chasing after our users who are willingly and knowingly left the library, because what we offer is not relevant for them, presented the wrong way, or whatever .. and got into a online game to do .... anything but learnin...

According to WoWter almost "tout" university library land was in Utrecht for a presentation of Scopus. I'll expect more to hear from the Groningen representatives later this week, perhaps somebody has put some ppt's on the web? For now the most interesting for me to hear was the fact that Scopus will launch their new author identification tool on May 12th this year. UBU staff tested & demonstrated Scopus and made comparisons with Google Scholar and Web of Science but i am not sure yet if they "discovered" many new stuff compared to for instance the Pipp-review , but according to Wouter they should publish it! His list of 2006 reviews about this issue is nice. Maybe it would be nice to share this with the CitULike community? Maybe even a special group for the comparison between Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, Microsoft Academic Search, and in the future Yahoo and ...?

If you have experienced any popup from ILEAD or anything after visiting my blog, you can now be sure that won't happen again. I just removed the free Netstat codes, they do business with Webstats4U now and delivered you with free advertisment pages. I have changed to StatCounter now

Who is starting a blog to compare Windows Live Academic with Google Scholar and ..? Posts are blazing over blogland. Here are just a few things I noticed. While Windows Live gives you a growing number of options to build your own webpage with your own feeds, mail and gadgets, the search function is starting to get an important feature. The search results are offered in the tabs Web, News, Feeds, Images and Academic. Academic search compared to Google Scholars search does not offer any citing mechanism, just gives a nice link to Citeseer if available! But they are thinking about it, yeah sure. You can easily add/save your searches to "your stuff" on your Live-page. You can sort search results by Author, by Journals, or by Conferences. Windows Live Academic Search lets you add your library’s link resolver to the search results. You can then access your library’s collection by using Academic Search. They do tell us what sources they use for the WLA search: http://academic.l...

You can not deny the influence of "Google Anything" on everything they throw at us. The main reason for librarians to like all this, is the fact that changes in their environment (network, organizational, anything) normally take much, much more time before even getting into BETA .... And yes,we like the hype of that "Everything 2.0" stuff, wiki's and blogging, but there I want to make a point. Just a remark really, about not overdoing it, not confusing Google for the company you are working for, or the other way around, you working for Google. Blogs with ads from Google (or anything) should not become normal among library blogs. Ok, I admit I tried the Google Adsense/AdWords service for a week to have a look how it works, but it's my opinion that bloggers should refuse to activate this service. You never now what it will present to your users, and every time they active a link your credits go up. You could argue that the current library services do the s...

Picked up from Knowledgespeak : "Publisher EBSCO Publishing, US, has announced that it has expanded its suite of free databases to include the new Teacher Reference Center . The move follows the success of its recently launched Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) database. Teacher Reference Center indexes over 260 titles from popular teacher and administrator trade journals, periodicals, and books, and is delivered via the EBSCOhost platform. It covers key education topics such as Science & Mathematics, Continuing Education, Current Pedagogical Research, Assessment, Curriculum Development, Instructional Media, Language Arts, Literacy Standards and more. Available as a free resource, this bibliographic database can be accessed via EBSCO's Web page and at www.libraryresearch.com. Existing EBSCOhost customers may request to have Teacher Reference Center added to their current EBSCOhost profiles at no additional cost. " We should do that!...

There is heavy debate in the educational world in the Netherlands about the effectiveness of the new learning system called "Studiehuis" a form of learning based on the social constructivist learning theory. But how to prove the success or failure of such a educational design? It's not exact science and certainly not always comparable to for instance the evidence based medical research. An interesting article in the NRC of Saturday, April 8th does state that there should be "decent" research béfore starting with new teaching designs. The Educational Board calls for Evidence Based research into this new learning and takes as an example the What Works Clearinghouse (www.whatworks.ed.goc). This website contains a database with research that hás the required scientific level, standards and the evidence! A Dutch version of this site seems like a good idea. Tags: evidence+based , research , education , teaching

I am still trying to find out an easy way to let our users order medical literature via our library services. It should: be easy to use within the network ánd at home, (almost)without extra clicking from webpage where the desired publication is mentioned, with the option to fill in our orderform automatically with previously used values (via cookies or bookmarklet?) The best way would be via our SFX-menu ( RUGLinks )that is being presented in most databases now. Just offer a Order-option and make sure the reference-details are parsed into the correct webform. But what if the database is not sfx-enabled and we can not push our SFX-button? I am thinking of a bookmarklet that copies any selected text (citation-details) on the webpage and pastes it into the correct webform. It should be browser independent (but always work in IE-;). Another bookmarklet can take care of filling the rest of the form. That way the users does not have to fill in his personal details over and over aga...

If you are providing your users in PubMed with FULLTEXT links via, for instance, SFX you have to make a new XML file and update your LinkOut files! Thanks to the Krafty Librarian. "Elsevier will be taking over the submission of links for titles published by Mosby and Saunders. These publishers are now part of Elsevier's Health Sciences Division. If you have any Mosby and Saunders titles in your library's LinkOut holdings you need to update your holdings information and select Elsevier as the provider. This effects all of the Mosby titles and the following Saunders titles: Adv Neonatal Care 1536-0911 Am J Contact Dermat 1046-199X Am J Emerg Med 0735-6757 Am J Kidney Dis 0272-6386 Am J Otolaryngol 0196-0709 Ann Diagn Pathol 1092-9134 Appl Nurs Res 0897-1897 Arch Phys Med Rehabil 0003-9993 Arch Psychiatr Nurs 0883-9417 Arthroscopy 1526-3231 Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 1542-3565 Compr Psychiatry 0010-440x Gastroenterology 0016-5085 Hepatology 0270-9139 Human pathology 0046-8...

I am very surprised the Royal Society of Medicine is using a site like DoctorsGadgets.com to host the online e-learning course to accompany the RSM Press book: The Doctor's PDA and Smartphone Handbook. I mean, ok doctors always have the interest of the commercial sector, like bees onto honey, but forcing people to even have a look at this site, should be a criminal offence -;) I mean the sheer load of advertisements and the layout make it almost impossible to detect the content you are looking for. Or is this a way to train young doctors to cope with the future of medical information in the hands of commerce? Responsible for this site is one of the chairpersons of the workshop for beginners, Dr. Chris Paton(New Media Medicine!) The more advanced part is chaired by Dr Mo Al-Ubaydli ( Mo.md ). He is now a Visiting Research Fellow at the National Centre for Biotechnology Information at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA. He is on the Executive Committees of the UK H...

Just listened in tonight at a very crowded live audio session via OPAL of Michael Stephens (www.tametheweb.com)with his presentation of the Top Ten Technologies for Libraries 2006. The slides are available at: http://www.opal-online.org/Stephens200604_files/frame.htm and the audio recording, including text chat session is also there! http://www.opal-online.org/archivelis.htm About 330 visitors were there at the same time, looking, listening and chatting. Weblogs RSS Wiki's IM : Instant Messaging * Podcasting OpenSource Software * SMS Text Messaging Social Software * User-created content * Mashing-up services * It is all getting down to "getting a presence" as a library for the users. Show you are there and available for them. Creating conversation, with real voice or with "comments on" on blogs or websites. User involvement: these technologies make this very easy to get the users to work with innovation and developments of library services in an early stage. U...

How many time does it take every year for institutions or faculties to make an output of the scientific publications published by all of their staff? And how much effort does it take to make it a highly accurate one? To be sure you got all the articles from all possible staff members? And they need to be, because management decisions are based on it. The future of the organization depends on it, in some cases. All Dutch universities are now working together in METIS (in Dutch, sorry), a research information database program and one of the new projects connected to METIS is DAI , Digital Author Identification (sorry again, the title is English, but the rest just in Dutch). It's purpose is to give every Dutch scientist a unique DAI-number to make the most accurate and complete selection of publications of the author. The project organization and control is directed from the University of Groningen and the backoffice is handled by OCLC PICA. I have not been searching yet for simular ...