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Weekly News Digest
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January 14, 2002 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.
CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.
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SOFTBASE Launches on the Web
GUIDE IT, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Information Sources, Inc., has announced the launch of the SOFTBASE database on the Web (http://www.searchsoftbase.com). SOFTBASE covers products, topics, and companies related to current information technologies for IT professionals and the full range of products and services for all platforms, operating systems, workstations, and interface tools. For the professional use, SOFTBASE includes a range of business, professional, engineering, technical, and system products and technologies that are at the core of the IT disciplines. The file uses a proprietary taxonomy, which is specially constructed to address the intricacies of information technologies research. The database provides linked, indexed, and interrelated reviews, with abstracts of reviews from over 175 technology, business, trade, and consumer publications.SOFTBASE is available now. For a a free demo, contact demo@searchsoftbase.com or call 510/525-6220. Subscriptions are available on a monthly ($195), quarterly ($875), or annual basis ($1,595). Source: GUIDE IT, LLC
EBSCO Offers Kiplinger Finance & Forecasts Database
EBSCO Publishing (http://www.epnet.com), part of the EBSCO Information Services group (http://www.ebsco.com), has announced that it now offers the Kiplinger Finance & Forecasts (KFF) online database to corporations and public libraries through an agreement with The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. Containing entirely searchable full text for nearly all the information published by the Kiplinger company since 1996, this database includes business forecasts, public policy alerts, management advice, personal finance guidance, and more in Adobe PDF, ASCII, and HTML.The database is continuously updated with the latest forecasts and outlooks and new content from publications including Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, The Kiplinger Letter, The Kiplinger Tax Letter, Kiplinger's Retirement Report, KiplingerForecasts.com, and Kiplinger books such as Kiplinger's Practical Guide to Your Money and more. Concept-based searching is facilitated by using a proprietary business thesaurus created by Kiplinger to accurately represent all Kiplinger content, or searches can be made using keywords with Boolean and proximity operators. Additionally, searching can be conducted using limiters such as title, abstract, date, forecast year, NAICS/SIC codes, ticker symbols, and DUNS number. The KFF database is also available from Kiplinger by subscription at http://www.kiplinger-kff.com. Source: EBSCO Publishing
Ask Jeeves Integrates Teoma Search Results
Ask Jeeves Web Properties, a division of Ask Jeeves, Inc., has announced that it has successfully completed the integration of Teoma search technology into Ask Jeeves (http://www.ask.com). Teoma, which was acquired by Ask Jeeves in September 2001, is a next-generation search technology that uses advanced algorithms and its proprietary "Subject-Specific Popularity" to generate what is claimed to be "the most relevant and authoritative results on the Web." The company hopes that Teoma's technology, combined with Ask Jeeves' extensive audience reach and user-friendly interface, will help to solidify Ask Jeeves' position as a top search property.According to the announcement, since introducing the results last month, Ask Jeeves has seen a 25-percent increase in the number of times a user selects a search result on the Ask.com results page. Site abandonment has also decreased by 15 percent. Teoma's search results on Ask.com are featured under the heading "You may find my search results helpful." Steve Berkowitz, president of Ask Jeeves Web Properties, said: "Previously, Ask Jeeves was very good at answering general questions, but we needed to improve our relevance for specific or rare queries. With Teoma's results we can now better satisfy the needs of our users." Ask Jeeves also operates Teoma.com (http://www.teoma.com), in beta until the second quarter of this year, as a stand-alone Web site. (For more information on Teoma, see the August 20, 2001 NewsBreak by Richard W. Wiggins at http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbreader.asp?ArticleID=17526) Ask Jeeves will also integrate Teoma into its suite of syndicated search products, currently used by companies such as About.com, iWon, MSN, and Lycos. Source: Ask Jeeves Web Properties
Laura Bush Announces Librarian Recruitment Initiative
First Lady Laura Bush has
announced a proposed $10 million initiative for 2003 to recruit a new generation
of librarians. The initiative will be managed by the Institute of Museum
and Library Services (http://www.imls.gov),
an independent federal agency that fosters leadership, innovation, and
a lifetime of learning by supporting the nation’s museums and libraries.
Recruiting a new generation of librarians is vital. Research scheduled
for publication in the March 2002 issue of American Libraries magazine
will show that based on 1990 Census data, almost 58 percent of professional
librarians will reach the age of 65 between 2005 and 2019.
Funds will be used to invest
in a variety of recruitment efforts such as scholarships and fellowships
for master’s programs; support for doctoral students who will train the
next generation of librarians; leadership development; distance learning
for underserved rural areas; and efforts to recruit librarians to serve
increasingly diverse communities with diverse language skills.
Source: Institute of Museum
and Library Services
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Brandi Scardilli
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