May 2002

New Service Allows the Public to Pose Reference Question

jen writes \”
A story from the Chronicle says
Starting on Monday, members of the public will be
able to use the World Wide Web to seek answers
to reference questions from librarians around the
world, including some at college libraries.


The service, called QuestionPoint, will operate
through a Web browser and may make some visits
to the library unnecessary. The Library of Congress
and the Online Computer Library Center, better
known as OCLC, developed it. \”

Watching the (search engine) Watchers – an alt.use

Larry Gainor writes \”Search Engine Report just published a story headlined \”An Egyptian Stumper for Google\” concerning a search for an ancient Egyptian recipe for funerary bread. The author was unable to find the recipe using Google, but found this page with Vivisimo. From which result, he drew the conclusion that \”This just goes to show that Google really doesn\’t always find everything right off, or more importantly, that different search engines have different \”opinions\” of the web. The same query used at a different search engine may come through for you, so consider shopping it around.\”
Sensible advice, however checking Google\’s Usenet archive, I found a post from Nicole Hansen asserting that \”Absolutely no food recipes from ancient Egypt survive. Therefore this [recipe posted earlier in thread] is not an ancient Egyptian recipe.\”

More below…

Larry Gainor writes \”Search Engine Report just published a story headlined \”An Egyptian Stumper for Google\” concerning a search for an ancient Egyptian recipe for funerary bread. The author was unable to find the recipe using Google, but found this page with Vivisimo. From which result, he drew the conclusion that \”This just goes to show that Google really doesn\’t always find everything right off, or more importantly, that different search engines have different \”opinions\” of the web. The same query used at a different search engine may come through for you, so consider shopping it around.\”
Sensible advice, however checking Google\’s Usenet archive, I found a post from Nicole Hansen asserting that \”Absolutely no food recipes from ancient Egypt survive. Therefore this [recipe posted earlier in thread] is not an ancient Egyptian recipe.\”

More below… When asked for a source, Hansen responded: \”I am a graduate student in Egyptology at the University of Chicago and
have been studying Egyptology for 8 years. I have a particular interest in ancient Egyptian food and if anyone would like any specific references, I would be happy to provide them, although I can\’t guarantee them to be in
English.\”
By way of providing further data for those interested in comparing the authority of the Vivisimo and Google (Groups) results, here\’s a link to a web page of Ms. Hansen\’s http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/RA/DISPROP/hansen_diss.html
\”

FBI Given More Latitude

New Justice Department guidelines to be unveiled today will give FBI agents latitude to monitor Internet sites, libraries and religious institutions without first having to offer evidence of potential criminal activity, officials said yesterday.


Full Story from the Washington Post.

Bills would limit access to Internet at libraries

Jen points to a
STLToday.com Story on a
move by the Illinois House and Senate on Wednesday to advance separate measures that
would aim to limit minors\’ access to sexually explicit material in public libraries. As usual, Opponents of the measures fear they are unnecessary and a dangerous and Proponents of the bill pending in the House say their measure doesn\’t go that far.

Identity parade to test the smell of defendant’s feet

Charles Davis sent over This One
That says Judges have ordered an unusual identity parade to decide if
a defendant\’s feet exceed the smell barrier.

Teunis Teun is charged with breaching the peace after
ignoring a ban placed on him going into a Dutch library.

The jobless 39-year-old was barred for repeatedly taking his
shoes and socks off in the public library in Delft.

Officials claim the smell drove other users away.

Judges have ordered him to take part with a panel of
bare-footed volunteers to decide if his feet are much worse
than other people\’s.

Little More Than Sad Stories In D.C. Libraries

Lee Hadden writes: \”There is an interesting article in today\’s Washington Post concerning
the emphasis placed on certain aspects of public libraries, while basic
needs are ignored and budgets cut.
\”


Intersting indeed, the story says libraries are latching onto a gimmick like \”One Book\”, while the city\’s library system has seen its staff cut by 30 percent.

\”I don\’t think anyone visiting our libraries would look around and say \’This is a fantastic-looking, well-maintained, attractive place I would like to visit with my family,\’ \” says Alexander Padro, a publishing executive who lives in Shaw and serves on the D.C. library\’s board of trustees. \”We haven\’t been performing basic maintenance for 15 years. We have frayed carpeting, poor lighting, HVAC systems that don\’t work.\”

Libraries Threaten Paid Online News Archives

Stevie pointed to This One from Editor & Publisher that says if more people knew about libraries\’ database offerings, there wouldn\’t be much need or desire to use newspapers\’ paid Web archives.
Given public libraries\’ recent moves with at-home access to premium article databases, they question the strategy of charging high fees for archived news articles. An already-shaky news industry model is having its foundations chipped away \”by librarians, of all people\”.


Gary quoted as saying, \”What just about everyone has apparently not realized is that many public libraries offer free, full-text access to thousands of newspapers, magazines, etc. …\”

We need better marketing. How do we make this an ALA Key Action Area?