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Search Quality, Content Farms, and Conspiracy Theories
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by Paula J. Hane
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The blogosphere and media outlets have been abuzz lately with reports of low-quality search results from the major search engines. It started in December 2010 with a New York Times, story about an unscrupulous merchant whose bad treatment of customers and negative reviews pushed the site to prominence in Google searches. In response to the flap that arose, Google quickly addressed this with changes to its search algorithms. Since then, there have been a New York Times expose of J.C. Penney's SEO practices ("The Dirty Little Secrets of Search") and Google's subsequent changes to its algorithm, Google's assertion that Microsoft Bing was copying Google search results, Google's banning of spam from low-quality sites and so-called "content farms," and even a conspiracy theory about which company was launching a negative publicity campaign against Google. This has indeed been a wild and crazy time.
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ebrary and YBP Library Services Announce Integrated Demand Driven Acquisition and Short Term Loans
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ebrary, a provider of ebooks and research technology, and long-time partner YBP Library Services, announced the launch of an integrated Demand Driven Acquisition model that may be used in conjunction with Short Term Loans. The new program enables libraries to cost-effectively and efficiently provide patrons with access to vast amounts of information through their existing YBP workflow and only purchase ebooks that are used.
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Wolters Kluwer Health Supports Disaster Relief Efforts in Japan
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In support of disaster relief efforts in Japan following the recent earthquake and tsunami, Ovid and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, part of Wolters Kluwer Health, are providing free online access to emergency, disaster, trauma, and radiation contamination resources to Japanese hospitals and healthcare institutions affected by the disasters via the Wolters Kluwer Health Emergency Resources Portal. The access will be immediate and extend for 30 days.
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Elsevier Provides Free Clinical Reference Support for Japan Earthquake Relief Efforts
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Elsevier announced that following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, the company is providing free access to its primary online clinical reference tools—MD Consult and First Consult—to all IPs originating from Japan. Free access will be available through April 2011. This effort is part of a new initiative to provide easily accessible focused resources in response to world events that present difficult medical challenges.
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Google Book Settlement Rejected: What’s Next?
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by George H. Pike
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Last week's rejection of the proposed settlement of the lawsuit between Google and a group of authors and publishers has thrown the future of the Google Book database into question. A federal court in New York declined to approve the settlement, recognizing that while there was a benefit to society from the widespread digitization of books, the proposal "simply went too far." The court indicated that the settlement was a "forward-looking business arrangement" that would give Google too much power to exploit books at the expense of authors' rights to control their copyrights.
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