Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Within Reach

OAIster is an index to academically-oriented "digital resources" available for free from close to 600 libraries and other organizations. These digital resources range from images at the Library of Congress to audio files, reference books such as dictionaries, articles from online journals, and electronic books.

Monday, January 30, 2006

First Order Of Business

SMEALSearch is a publicly available vertical digital library and search engine hosted at Penn State's Smeal College of Business that focuses on academic business documents. SmealSearch crawls the web and harvests, catalogs, and indexes academic business documents. The search engine crawls websites of academia, commerce, research institutes, government agencies, etc. for academic business documents, including published articles, working papers, white papers, consulting reports, etc. For certain documents, SmealSearch only indexes and stores the hyperlinks to those documents. SMEALSearch attempts to generate a citation analysis for all the academic articles harvested and ranks them in order of their citation rates.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

What's It Good For?

Statistical Summary: America's Major Wars compares the participation, casualties (including combat deaths, other deaths, and wounded), and cost of the major wars the United States has been involved in, from the Revolutionary War through the Gulf War.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Speak Out

Free Speech Movement (FSM) Digital Archive documents the role of Mario Savio and other participants in the Free Speech Movement (University of California, Berkeley, September-December 1964), as well as its origins in political protest and civil rights movements and its legacy of political activism and educational reform that can be traced throughout the country and the world down to the present.'

Friday, January 27, 2006

Second Cite

CiteSeer is a scientific literature digital library and search engine that focuses primarily on the literature in computer and information science. CiteSeer aims to improve the dissemination and feedback of the scientific literature and to provide improvements in functionality, usability, availability, cost, comprehensiveness, efficiency, and timeliness in the access of scientific and scholarly knowledge.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Lady Justice

Bureau of Justice Statistics provides data on the U.S. murder rate, drug use, and crime rates, and reports on such subjects as violence against women, capital punishment, drugs and crime, guns used in crimes, and prison populations.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Rolling Papers

On July 17, 1998, the President Clinton issued an Executive Memorandum highlighting the importance of tobacco industry documents released as a result of recent tobacco litigation and congressional subpoenas. Tobacco Industry Documents publishes tens of thousands of pages of tobacco industry documents put on the Internet by a congressional committee, ending the tobacco industry's decades-long battle to keep the papers secret.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Primary Caretaker

Repositories of Primary Sources contains thousands of Web sites "describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar." Access is by region or by an alphabetical index of state, province, or country. "The list focuses on actual repositories; therefore virtual collections are excluded." There is also a list of other's lists of archives and repositories.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Will You Read To Me?

The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection focuses on historical and contemporary American and British literature. The searchable archives contain "the original manuscripts and illustrations of more than 1200 authors and illustrators, as well as 70,000+ published books dating from 1530 to the present" and includes fables, fairy tales, folklore, alphabet books, nursery rhymes, moral tales, fantasy, and fiction. The site is created by the University of Southern Mississippi Libraries.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

A Good Book

Books & Book Collecting is for book collectors searching for rare titles, out of print books, volumes to complete sets, or back issues of magazines. The site features a search form containing over a dozen book search services and provides key collectors' references works dealing with volume identification, price guides, preservation of fine books, and collecting in such specialty areas as children's books, Americana, cookbooks, historical letters, and maps. There are author bibliographies, glossaries, discussion forums, and much more.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

The Visual Front

There are over 40 Posters of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), representing the Republican Spain point of view at the Mandeville Special Collections Library of the University of California in San Diego. The site includes an introductory essay, chronology of the war, and a bibliography.

Friday, January 20, 2006

City Of Angels

The University of Southern Californa (USC) Digital Archive provides "access to over 100,000 photographs, maps, manuscripts, records, texts and sound recordings owned by USC and collaborating institutions. Particular emphasis has been placed on materials related to Los Angeles and the Southern California region, the western United States, and the Pacific Rim." Includes collections devoted to African Americans, Korean Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese relocation camps, and more.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

History Lives And Grows

Jewish Women's Archive (JWA) aims "to uncover, chronicle, and transmit the rich legacy of Jewish women." You can "Discover" profiles Jewish women, past and present, in online exhibits. The site provides primary sources from cartoons, films, letters, photographs, speeches spanning the time period from 1800 to 2000. You can search on topics such as anti-Semitism, immigration, philanthropy and "Research" an archive of information on "hundreds of women, women's organizations, and manuscript collections." Includes links to related Web sites and resources.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Out Of Our League

League of Nations digital collection contains the full text of 260 League of Nations documents, with a focus on the "League of Nations Statistical and Disarmament Documents." Topics include "the founding of the League, international statistics published by the League, and the League's work toward international disarmament." The site provides a research guide and links to related library collections.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

San Francisco In Sepia

San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection is a searchable database that provides access to nearly 30,000 photographs covering San Francisco history from the 1850s to the present. The photos are digitized reproductions from the more than 250,000 photos in the San Francisco Public Library's Historical Photograph Collection. Besides searching the database, users can browse photos by subject. Information is also included on copyright, ordering, and using the images.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Your Order Please

Ephemera Collection Database of menus stored in the Rare Book Room of the Los Angeles Public Library. Features menus from hotels and restaurants in Los Angeles and other cities, steamships, airlines, and banquets. Entries include the address and telephone number, menu date, cuisine type, meal, and price range. Contains scanned images of the menus.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Pacific Cultures

Anthropology Collection Database contains a collection of 17,000 objects, with over 11,000 images, presenting "the indigenous cultures of western North America (exclusive of Mexico) and the Pacific Rim, including all Pacific islands and East Asia." Features tools, jewelry, toys, watercraft, and more. Searchable by category, object name, materials, maker's name, collection, culture, or geographic origin. From the Department of Anthropology, California Academy of Sciences.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Public Announcement

I have been accepted into a Masters of Library and Information Science program, I will be starting at the end of January and working my full-time job. I don't know what kind of posting schedule I will be able to maintain. I do love this blog and Electronic Ephemera, so I will be trying hard to post as much as possible. I would also like to take this opportunity to ask everybody to leave a comment, even if you've been a quiet lurker (and yes, I know I've got a few silent types) or found this blog via a one-time search.

Pre-Flight Check

Quick Aid Airport Directory includes terminal maps, ground transportation, airlines, airport hotels, airport security and visitor information at major U.S. airports. The site also provides links to other airport information world-wide.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Internet In Depth

The Living Internet is a free, in-depth reference about the Internet, prepared to provide living context and perspective to this most technological of human inventions through popular access to a concise, complete description. The ite includes 700-odd pages about the Internet's history, design, use, advanced use, key important features, security issues, help resources, and references to more information.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Name Your Price

"The Contemporary Artists Index indexes approximately 20,000 artists, artists groups, photographers, craftspeople, designers, and design firms whose work appears in group exhibition catalogs added to the Gund Library since 1991, as well as the video periodical Art Today and View, a periodical specializing in artist interviews."

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Sold!

Artfact presents "auction catalog archives of prices paid for antique, art, and collectible objects sold by the world's premier auction houses: more than six million unabridged auction catalog entries with available photos and complete research by auction house experts." Auction house information and the fine artist directory are freely available. Browsing of upcoming and completed auctions (with abridged information; images, description, year sold, and auction house) is available with free registration.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Big Leagues

Baseball America's Executive Database is a "searchable listing of baseball front office executives .... identified for clubs from 1960 on, while general managers are listed since 1950." The database features team histories (general managers, wins and losses, rankings) and the ability to view general managers by year or search by name.

Monday, January 09, 2006

One Stop World

The Encyclopedia of the Nations is a complete source for detailed information about one hundred ninety three countries in the world, information about the United Nations and the associated agencies, and World Leaders. There is a section that focuses on the history and the development of the United Nations, its structure and purpose, developments by each of the United Nation's generals, and the achievements in the fields such as security and peace between nations. The detailed nation profiles are categorized by continent and alphabetically arranged and consist of information about each country such as the population, history, ethnic groups, culture, language, transportation, government structure, technology, and contain notes about museums, media, libraries, technology, and much more.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Good Night

The National Center on Sleep Disorders Research offers information on sleep disorders such as "sleep apnea, narcolepsy, insomnia, parasomnia, jet-lag syndrome, and disturbed biological and circadian rhythms." Information available includes the problems, diagnosis, treatment, and research of these sleep disorders. Find fact sheets, audio clips and resources for health professionals include publications, research, and grants.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Road Trip

National Transportation Library (NTL) provides online access to documents and databases covering all aspects of transportation in the United States. Material is contributed by public and private organizations around the country. Search or browse the collection for full-text materials on transportation topics covering aviation, maritime, pedestrians, bicycles, freight, traffic control, highways, railways, public transportation, intelligent transportation systems, safety, laws & regulations, and more.

Friday, January 06, 2006

Urban Sprawl

Global Urban Indicators Database provides information on urban conditions and trends. The data covers over 200 cities in over 100 participating countries. Information is divided into two sections: Key Indicators (quantitative data) and Qualitative Data. Information covered includes socio-economic development, infrastructure, transportation, environmental management, local government, and housing. Part of the Urban Indicators Programme of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Annotated Archive

The Norton Anthology of English Literature is a companion to the print resource of the same name features "annotated texts and contexts grouped by topic, over 1000 illustrations, ... hundreds of annotated links to related sites and The Norton Online Archive, a searchable electronic library of over 150 literary texts and downloadable audio files, annotated by the editors." Also includes quizzes and essay topic ideas. Searchable or browsable by time period from the Middle Ages through the 20th century.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

United Kingdom Law

British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) offers "Comprehensive Access to Freely Available British and Irish Public Legal Information" in the form of full-text case law and legislation from the following jurisdictions: England and Wales; Ireland; Northern Ireland; Scotland; and the United Kingdom. All documents are searchable, and the site includes a Full Search Form allowing users to query any combination of over forty BAILII databases.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Educating The Public

School Matters is a Standard and Poor's site that offers comparison tools, benchmarks, and performance indicators designed to help policymakers and others better understand what is happening in our school systems, and how much we are spending related to student achievement. The site provides data and analysis on schools and districts nationwide. School Matters provides access to a broad set of information about schools and school districts, including student achievement measures, including national and state test results, as well as participation, attendance, graduation, and dropout-promotion rates, extensive financial data for each school district, along with state and county comparisons, performance in the context of the learning environment, which includes class size, teacher qualifications, and student demographics, adult education levels, household incomes, and labor force statistics.