SPARC introduces Open-access Journal Publishing Resource Index

New resource helps streamline launch and operation of open-access
journals

Washington, D.C. -- SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic
Resources Coalition) today released a free online Open Access
Journal Publishing Resource Index with information and documents
to support the launch and operation of an open-access journal.
Materials in the index will help libraries, presses, and other
academic units on campuses as they work together to make the work
of their researchers more widely available.

This new resource is launched in conjunction with the SPARC
Campus-based Publishing Resource Center
(http://www.arl.org/sparc/partnering), which delivers a guide to
critical issues in campus-based publishing partnerships, case
studies, a bibliography and resource list, an index of
collaborative initiatives (operated in partnership with Columbia
University Libraries), and access to the LIBPRESS online
discussion forum (operated by the University of California). The
Center is overseen by an editorial board representing library and
university press staff who are actively engaged in creating and
managing publishing partnerships.

The new index complements the rich existing resource center by
pointing to relevant sections in existing open-access journal
publishing guides and to sample journal proposals, policies,
bylaws, and other documentation to help with planning,
development, and collaboration issues. Topics covered include:

* New Journal Planning
* Journal Publishing Program Policies
* Governance
* Editorial
* Marketing & Promotion
* Technical Platforms
* Sustainability Planning

Relevant sections of existing open-access publishing guides,
including those by David Solomon, Carol Sutton, Kevin Stranack,
Jan Velterop, Howard Goldstein and Raym Crow, and others are
indicated under each topic area.

By highlighting samples and best practices, the index will help
give campuses the tools they need to develop and maintain
long-term, successful open-access publishing ventures. "As
campus-based publishing gets more ambitious in scope, it's
important to build on the successes and challenges of earlier
initiatives and adopt best practices," said Raym Crow, senior
consultant at SPARC. "Ultimately, campus-based publishing can
offer universities greater control over the intellectual products
they help create. SPARC is pleased to provide another tool to
support libraries and publishers in sustainable, professional,
open-access publishing."

Lee C. Van Orsdel, Dean of University Libraries at Grand Valley
State University, says faculty are beginning to consult
librarians for advice on journal publishing options, including
open-access models, and the SPARC site is a welcome resource.
"We're deepening our knowledge as quickly as possible, but it's a
whole new area of expertise for most of us," she said. "It will
save us time and increase the probability that we can get to the
right solution when advising our faculty on their best options."

The editorial board invites contributions from other campuses to
help build this resource and expand the bibliography --
especially with primary research papers on collaboration issues.
"SPARC hopes this will seed an effort where people will give
documents to share, making it a community hub," said Crow.
Members of the board and how to contact the managing editor with
suggestions are detailed on the Center home page.

The Open Access Journal Publishing Resource Index is available
online at http://www.arl.org/sparc/partnering.

National Academies Press - free downloads

As of June 2, 2011, all PDF versions of books published by the National Academies Press (NAP) will be downloadable free of charge to anyone. This includes our current catalog of more than 4,000 books plus future reports published by NAP.*

Free access to our online content supports the mission of NAP--publisher for the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council--to improve government decision making and public policy, increase public education and understanding, and promote the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge in matters involving science, engineering, technology, and health. In 1994, we began offering free content online. Before today's announcement, all PDFs were free to download in developing countries, and 65 percent of them were available for free to any user.

Like no other organization, the National Academies can enlist the nation's foremost scientists, engineers, health professionals, and other experts to address the scientific and technical aspects of society's most pressing problems through the authoritative and independent reports published by NAP. We invite you to sign up for MyNAP --a new way for us to deliver free downloads of this content to loyal subscribers like you, to offer you customized communications, and to reward you with exclusive offers and discounts on our printed books.

Sign up now. It's quick, easy, and free.
Sincerely,
Barbara Kline Pope
Executive Director for Communications and The National Academies Press
*There are a small number of reports that never had PDF files and, therefore, are not available for download. In addition, part of the "Nutrient Requirements of Domestic Animals" series is not available in PDF. Future titles in this series will also not have PDFs associated with them.

Disappeared: Google’s U.S. Government Search Sites and Other Special Search Interfaces Gone « INFOdocket

 

Disappeared: Google’s U.S. Government Search Sites and Other Special Search Interfaces Gone

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Gary D. Price

In the past few days we began noticing a number of Google Help Forum posts from users reporting that Google’s-Uncle Sam search is unavailable. The Uncle Sam interface provided a search of only government and military material and has been online for MANY years. “Uncle Sam” continues to redirect users to the Google homepage at this hour.

Another Google U.S. government search resource, USGov.Google.com is ALSO redirecting to the Google homepage. This site was “rebranded” on June 15, 2006 and received notice from a variety of sources. The USGov.Google.com documentation does remain online.

Reports say that users first noticed the redirects on June 2, 2011.

On Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz has also posted on the disappearance of both sites. He points out that Google is using a temporary redirect so perhaps this is a glitch or something else.

We wonder (and this is only a guess) if some new government site is planned to go live next week as USgov.Google.com marks its fifth anniversary.

As we’ve said in the past with similar situations, our issue is not with Google ending a service or temporarily taking it offline.

What does cause concern is that Google doesn’t let users know what’s going on until sometime after it happens or never make an announcement  Just because a service like USGov.Google.com is not used by the masses use doesn’t mean it’s any less important to those who do use it.

The reason for this might have something to do with advanced search sites and features in general. While 95% of users never use advanced search syntax (including members of the search team at Google) there are 5% of users who DO utilize these tools when they’re needed. With the vast amount of resources that Google has it’s difficult to imagine that they don’t have what’s needed to keep updates coming about comings and goings, syntax problems, etc.

In many cases Google is at or near the top of the list for getting their message(s) out to the public but in some situations it appears the opposite is true. We hope that the company looks at why this happens and find a way or ways to combat it.

INFOdocket finds it rather ironic that a company whose mission includes providing access to all of the world’s information has trouble providing updated info to users.

UPDATE: It appears that all of Google’s “Special Searches” for conducting limited searches of material about Linux, Macintosh, BSD, Microsoft as well as Uncle Sam are gone. Again, if this is the case why is the info page still live with the URL’s listed? Confusing! Why couldn’t a sentence or two explaining what’s going on be added to the page?

Disappeared: Google’s U.S. Government Search Sites and Other Special Search Interfaces Gone « INFOdocket

eHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Trusted Advice for the Curious Life | eHow.com

 

eHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Trusted Advice for the Curious Life | eHow.com

eHow.com: Trusted advice for the curious life

What do you want to do today?

No matter what's on your list, eHow can help. With more than 30 categories that cover just about everything, eHow is your one-stop online resource for life's challenges. Professionals in every field come together to offer expert advice, backed by the additional support of a can-do eHow community. Together, they've created a library of accomplishments online–and it's available to you anytime, anywhere.

On any given day, you'll find all this on eHow. And it's free:

• More than two million articles and videos
• A supportive online community
• A place to share experiences and get feedback

Cook, decorate, fix, plan, garden, budget or update your wardrobe…that's just the beginning of the kind of advice and inspiration you can find at eHow. So join the millions of people who visit us every month. You'll be delighted to find the support you need to navigate through your day. Even better, you'll love the sense of accomplishment you'll feel when the day's done.

So, we'll ask again: What do you want to do today?

Read more: About eHow | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about-us.html#ixzz1O9rYu1Mw

USA Counties

 

USA Counties features over 6,800 data items for the United States, States and counties from a variety of sources. Files include data published for 2009 estimates and many items from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing, the 1990 census, the 1980 census and the 2002, 1997, 1992, 1987, 1982 and 1977 economic censuses.

Information in USA Counties is derived from the following general topics: age, agriculture, ancestry, banking, building permits, business patterns, crime, earnings, education, elections, employment, government, health, households, housing, income, labor force, manufactures, population, poverty, retail trade, social programs, veterans, vital statistics, water use, and wholesale trade.

Files contain a collection of data from the U. S. Census Bureau and other Federal agencies, such as the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Social Security Administration.

USA Counties

Military History Encyclopedia on the Web

Military History Encyclopedia on the Web

Welcome to HistoryOfWar.org. We aim to make our site your first call for information on any aspect of military history. If we don't have what you want,then contact us via our military history discussion forum or contact us directly

Currently we have 3,945 articles, 1,530 pictures, 370 maps, 357 unit histories and over 2,775,700 words in original articles. We don't just cover the best known conflicts, although we do have good coverage of the First and Second World Wars, the Napoleonic Wars and now the American Civil War.

We now open a new section of the site, a day-by-day history of the Second World War, covering the 2,214 days of the war from the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 to the Japanese surrender in Hong Kong on 16 September 1945 (two weeks after the surrender in Tokyo Bay), and currently containing 5,276 individual facts.

Check our recent articles page (last update 2 June 2011) to see what we are doing at the moment. New articles will also be announced on our Blog, our forum and our mailing list (sign up using the form at the base of this page).

Our section of reviews of new book and DVD releases was last updated on 30 May 2011.

In 2006 we ran our first two themed months, on the Napoleonic Wars, where we more than doubled our coverage of the period, and more recently on the American Civil War. Our first theme of 2007 was on War in the Air. The first day of the War in the Air theme also saw us post our 1,000th article, on the Supermarine Spitfire Mk XII. Our 2,000th article is a look at the German battlecruiser Von der Tann, part of our recent focus on the First World War. Our 3,000th article looks at the battle of Truillas (22 September 1793), a Spanish victory early in the War of the First Coalition.

We have now added our two millionth word, in our biography of the Roman general Manius Aquillius (died 89/88 B.C.), our 1000th battle - the battle of Rivoli of 14 January 1797, and our 500th military aircraft, the Kawasaki Ki-48 Army Type 99 Twin-engined Light Bomber (Lily)

Military History Encyclopedia on the Web

North American Transportation Statistics

 

North American Transportation Statistics

The need for North American Transportation Statistics reflects the increase in global economic growth and greater integration of trade, finance and manufacturing in recent decades. Transportation is vital in the changing global economy, linking people and places, businesses and consumers, facilitating trade and tourism, and contributing to economic development. The North American experience mirrors these worldwide trends. Reduced trade barriers and increased personal mobility have created a heightened need for information on transportation infrastructure and services among Canada, the United States, and Mexico. While the positive contributions of transportation to the national economies and to the daily life of people everywhere are important, transportation also has adverse impacts. Transportation accidents are a major cause of death and injury every year in North America. Transportation consumes significant amounts of energy, mainly derived from petroleum and also contributes to environmental problems.

The On-Line Database provides for the first time a central web based source for North American transportation statistics for all three countries on common subjects. The working group members evaluate each table for data comparability and note all definitional differences among the three countries.  Accurate data, comparable across modes and countries, is important to understand changes in dynamic transportation markets; to evaluate transportation benefits and impacts; and to support critical decision-making in the public and private sectors.

DRAM

 

DRAM

DRAM is a not-for-profit resource providing educational communities with on-demand streaming access to CD-quality audio (192kbps Mp4), complete original liner notes and essays from independent record labels and sound archives. Continuing in the tradition of DRAM's sister company New World Records, one of DRAM's primary focuses is the preservation and dissemination of important recordings that have been neglected by the commercial marketplace, recordings that may otherwise become lost or forgotten.
Currently DRAM's collection contains more than 3,000 albums worth of recordings from a distinctive set of 26 independent labels, and we are continually working to add more content. The basis for the current collection is the diverse catalogue of American music recordings by New World Records. From folk to opera, Native American to jazz, 19th century classical to early rock, musical theater, contemporary, electronic and beyond, New World has served composers, artists, students and the general public since its inception in 1975 with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.
DRAM also includes music from other contributing sources, including the CRI, Albany, innova, Cedille, XI, Pogus, Deep Listening and Mutable Music labels. In the future, alliances with other major and independent labels and archival sources will be crucial to enhancing DRAM's role of serving the needs of serious music scholars.

DRAM is accessible to anyone at a participating university, college or public library. At this time, individual subscriptions are not available, though DRAM intends to offer them in the future.
DRAM does not limit the number of users at any one time, and offers subscribers unlimited access to all its contents from either on or off-campus locations. DRAM observes all legal and industry mandated copyright and artist royalties.
DRAM has been made possible with an initial grant from the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation and by substantial ongoing support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, as well as all of DRAM's participating institutions.