Category Archives: Online Databases

Open Source Living

Posted on 27 December 2007 by Rick Mason

Open Source Living is a directory of open source software. Directories are nothing new, with SourceForge and FreshMeat leading the lists.  However, most directories are chock full of software not fully fleshed out, or with so many choices that the … Continue reading →

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Zotero Commons

Posted on 14 December 2007 by Rick Mason

Kind of an interesting application of the Zotero add-on for Firefox : the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University (no relation 😉 ) and the Internet Archive are working to create a storage for scholarly annotation … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Education, Libraries, Library 2.0, Online Databases | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Two Essays by Eric Lease Morgan

Posted on 7 December 2007 by Rick Mason

I have run into two essays by Eric Lease Morgan this week that paint an excellent picture of today’s challenges for library technology and possible future solutions within our reach: Catalog Collectivism : XC and the Future of Library Search … Continue reading →

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Firefox : Add to Search Bar

Posted on 29 November 2007 by Rick Mason

For those of you using the Firefox web browser (and if not, why?) here is an add-on that is currently impressing me to pieces : Add to Search Bar. It isn’t flashy, or obvious, but it does one thing that … Continue reading →

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Survey of Library Database Licensing Practices – Highlights

Posted on 29 November 2007 by Rick Mason

ResourceShelf has a list of highlights of the Survey of Library Database Licensing Practices.  The highlights are pretty interesting, and the cost of the complete survey results ($80 for a paper version and a whopping $89.50 for a downloadable pdf) … Continue reading →

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Browsing LCSH

Posted on 16 November 2007 by Rick Mason

Bernhard Eversberg of the Braunschweig University Library (or Universitätsbibliothek Braunschweig ) has created a very neat, and very useful online tool : a Library of Congress Subject Headings Browser. Try it out; put in some of your favorite gnarly subject … Continue reading →

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American FactFinder

Posted on 17 October 2007 by Rick Mason

American FactFinder is a lookup service from the U.S. Census Bureau that will provide a decent snapshot of statistical information for a given geographical area.  Enter your zip code, city or county and there you go! found in the third … Continue reading →

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isbndb.com

Posted on 21 September 2007 by Rick Mason

isbndb.com is one of several websites that allow you to search for books by isbn, as well as the usual title/author/keyword searching.  Give it a try:  grab a nearby book (if you are like me, there are quite a few … Continue reading →

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OncologySTAT

Posted on 10 September 2007 by Rick Mason

Oncology by OncologyStat is an experiement by Elsevier to see if they can provide access to scholarly journals for free using an ad-based revenue formula.  In addition, they offer many resources for medical staff, patients, and families. The press release … Continue reading →

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AltLaw

Posted on 28 August 2007 by Rick Mason

AltLaw.org, according to the site, “is a joint project of Columbia Law School’s Program on Law and Technology, and the Silicon Flatirons Program at the University of Colorado Law School.”  The site’s purpose:  to allow the user to search case … Continue reading →

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BASE Lab search

Posted on 8 August 2007 by Rick Mason

BASE Lab is a search site/tool from the Bielenfeld University Library in Germany that has a couple of very interesting features. One feature is that it can translate your search terms into different languages using the Eurovoc thesaurus, and retrieve … Continue reading →

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The Open Library

Posted on 16 July 2007 by Rick Mason

The Open Library is a project I have been hoping for years that someone would start – an open source universal book catalog.   Think WorldCat meets Wikipedia meets Amazon and you won’t be far off. So go to their demo … Continue reading →

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PLoS ONE goes 2.0

Posted on 11 July 2007 by Rick Mason

PLoS ONE, an open access publishing site created by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), has instituted a ratings system for articles published through them. By asking readers to rate every article they read for insight, reliability, and style, they … Continue reading →

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Free Science Search Tools

Posted on 11 July 2007 by Rick Mason

A Quick Look of a Few Free Science Search Tools is a post on ResourceShelf (if you only have time to follow two blogs, they should be the other one!) that provides a good starting point for finding free and/or … Continue reading →

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WorldWideScience.org

Posted on 23 June 2007 by Rick Mason

WorldWideScience.org is a federated search tool for science resources sponsored by The British Library, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information, and eight other participating countries.  It searches 15 science portals and combines the results for … Continue reading →

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Melissa DATA

Posted on 19 June 2007 by Rick Mason

They’ve been around for a while, but I haven’t blogged about them yet, and they keep adding great features, so here is another great site for finding info related to location: Melissa DATA has links to resources that give you … Continue reading →

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LOUISdb

Posted on 19 June 2007 by Rick Mason

It is called the Library Of Unified Information Sources, a.k.a. LOUIS.  It’s purpose is to make it easier for people to learn about what is happening in the federal government, and is sponsored by the Sunlight Foundation. It currently contains … Continue reading →

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FOB : Firms Out of Business

Posted on 5 June 2007 by Rick Mason

FOB : Firms Out of Business is a database of publishing companies that are no longer in business.  Why this type of database?  The results screen provides information in tracking down copyright holders, useful for when you are attempting to … Continue reading →

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Geonames

Posted on 26 May 2007 by Rick Mason

Geonames is an online database of places.  Type in the name of a place, be it a town, city, geographic feature, or landmark, and you get a list of places with that name. Want to know how many places in … Continue reading →

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Plantfacts

Posted on 25 May 2007 by Rick Mason

PlantFacts is a resource from the Ohio State University which provides a wealth of information about plants and horticulture through a plant web search, an image database, how-to videos, a collection of over 800 FAQs, and an illustrated glossary. from … Continue reading →

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