Writers in News: Peter Watts and John Gribbin

•  Tiger Woods accident pushes up sales of physics book
•  Canadian sci-fi writer arrested at US border

John Gribbin Get a Grip on Physics,



Watts' books include "Starfish," "Maelstrom" and "Behemoth," known as the "Rifters Trilogy."

Reading now: Usage Statistics of E-Serials

Managing tight budgets, finding right service providers, selecting compatible-and-standardized tools to handle e-serials (data, access, licensing, technical support and usage statistics), motivating staff to adapt to the changing dynamics of e-librarianship, and finally meeting maximum user needs are all the crucial issues of today’s libraries. And for such a scenario here is a book--by David Fowler, presently Head Acquisitions Department, University of Oregon Libraries--as a resource, that helps in moving ahead in some of the significant areas of handling e-serials.

Incidentally, in the context of e-serials, cost (be it as single subscription or consortial bundles), purchasing decisions, library budgets, staff experience and exposure, and most importantly tools (especially,Issues with standardization of usage statistics) are all directly related to available and standardized tools for a ROI both for libraries, and information suppliers (aka information service providers). A few relevant questions, this reviewer can think, that are faced in dealing with e-serials’ usage data include:

a. What type and level of data do libraries want or expect in selecting / de-selecting e-serials (as discussed on p. 261)?

b. Is the supplier collecting legitimate numbers and facts and revealing this as-is to libraries (as discussed on p. 233)?

c. If data indicates a low use of a particular title (as discussed on p. 154, 220), does it mean first that the user is not in-need or otherwise unaware of ways and means to find it, or second, the library lacks a mechanism to create user-friendly gateway (especially the e-resources that may need a different path than what is required for a traditional print), or third there is a communication gap, in other words: lack of semantic synchronization (information seeking behavior matching with information provision)?

d. Is there a relationship between libraries using e-serials (be it on a stand-alone or consortial arrangement) in dealing with—transactions for instance, such as, a) Interlibrary loans, and b) document delivery-- and its impact on collection development / collection management?

e. Advantages and disadvantages of deriving usage statistics from local library management software (as discussed on p. 111), vis-à-vis supplier delivered metrics?

f. Shared-purchase and shared responsibility (as discussed on p. 43) is one size fits-for-all or requires customization by subjects / geography (e.g, Cancer library on p. 183; National Laboratory on p. 151; and Connecticut Academic Libraries, p. 79)? and

g. Electronic Resource Management (ERM) (as discussed on pp. 8, 130, and 252) is one part of the information management solution, but how about integrating a stand-alone resource and looking for an interface with enterprise content management (ECM) system?

While the above hypotheses are a good fit for a new book, and comparative librarianship always looks for such Web analytics, however, Usage Statistics of E-Serials addresses only a few of these concerns, issues and matrixes.

Usage Statistics of E-Serials, lacks a glossary of terms, such as, e-metircs (specifically in relation to web-metrics, librametrics, infometrics, etc.), usage (online, offline, and other modes of distribution permitted / adopted by libraries or end-users), access (in-house, campus wide, remote), tools (local, global, library vendor-supplied, publisher / service-provider supplied), techniques (standard, local), etc.

Further, the book lacks a conclusion. Any reader of a book on statistics is keen on finding an authoritative summary of all that is discussed in the book. For instance, a reader is left with no last word or opinion or ways to know if the editor agrees (fully, partially or not-at-all) with one of the author’s in this collection: ‘Lies, Damn Lies, and Usage Statistics: What's a Librarian to Do?’

Thematically speaking, the utility of the book would have been far more if it was focused on fewer themes or about any specific libraries. In this day of constantly changing dynamics, this book planned in 2004, data collected in 2006 (most cited references are pre-2006), published in 2007, today presents a little dated stories.

Hopefully the editor may consider a (qualitative and quantitative) sequel that is also inclusive of both vertical (within a library system: systematically analyzing budget, user needs, subject specialization, staff—generalists and specialists--storage, retention and deletion) and horizontal (across libraries on the above lines) usage statistics of e-serials .

Nevertheless, I recommend Usage Statistics of E-Serials as a useful resource for serials librarians and those involved in serials management in libraries.

On the same shelf:

• Viewing Library Metrics from Different Perspectives: Inputs, Outputs, and Outcomes ~ Robert E. Dugan
• E-metrics for Library and Information Professionals: How to Use Data for Managing and Evaluating Electronic Resource Collections ~ Andrew C. White and Eric Djiva Kamal
• E-metrics for library and information professionals: How to use data for managing and evaluating electronic resource collections. By Andrew White and Eric ... Acquisitions and Technical Services] ~ N. McDowell

Federated Search - What's in a name?

Amazon.com Widgets

'Federated search' is also known as, meta-search, cross-search, combined-search, integrated search and aggregated-search. First, it is about simultaneously searching, with one-click, in several electronic sources. Second, it is about getting all the search results displayed in a single browser.

But then, some tend to use the term, Federated search, for searching OPAC / Union Catalogs / serial holdings, see: 360 Search service and R-search; and some extend to searching Websites (not just the surface web, they attempt to reach the deep web), see: here and here -- the latter refers to an example of Dogpile, as an aggregator (see much more on meta-search in relation to Search Engines, yahoo, google, bing, etc.).

On the same shelf:

Federated Search - Reading now

Why user reviews are worthless: Customer Reviews!!!

PS. This is not a review from my desktop.

By Christopher Null

Why user reviews are worthless - Computers - Yahoo! Canada Tech

Say you are in the market for a new frying pan. How do you go about figuring out which one to buy?

If you're like many shoppers, you probably log on to Amazon.com or another shopping site, poke around to find the size you want and something that's in your price range, but still find yourself faced with a choice of maybe a dozen potential options. How do you pick from that point? If you don't go with the cheapest of the lot, chances are you'll buy one based on which has the best rating as provided by prior purchasers of the item."...



"Bottom line: Merchants may try to temper this stuff, but as a consumer, you need to keep your expectations in check, too.

For more on this topic, I invite you to check out my book on film criticism, which has several pages devoted to grade inflation. I'm happy to report it has a perfect five-star rating on Amazon.com, so you know it's good. continue reading

On the same shelf:

Citation links @ Amazon by Dr. Mohamed Taher

Google Alerts' mybookface! And, the true colors of Internet Explorer and Firefox Web Browsers in dealing with Web forgery

Google Alerts

to me : http://mediahyderabad.blogspot.com/

Deccan Chronicle ( ) Mediahyderabad in Online now Times, Indian following sells Jaundice Feb has Kerala a http://mediahyderabad.blogspot.com. Click Deccan - DECCAN In local ! ...

Clicked @ Deccan Chronicle ( ) and Firefox Web Browser shows ALERT, 'Reported Web Forgery':









Typed the actual website address, http://mybookface.net (@ Deccan Chronicle ( )) and Firefox Browser, still shows a WARNING:









Clicke and typed the actual website address, http://mybookface.net: in IE; and saw ' NO WARNING', 'NO ALERT' and 'NO FORGERY':









The bottomline:
1. Google Alert is mechanically generated, right. It may bring you spam messages / irrelevant site links, too. Possible. Period.
2. IE / Firefox Web browsers have different reception for the above scenario, as seen above.
3. While the website is using a similar url (probably to get Facebook-like traffic), it didn't harm the computer--then, is this type of site, that uses a popular and confusing-like url, is not tested by the robots @ Windows Live's IE and Mozilla's Firefox. The end-result: wasting the time, resources and patience of end-users!

Note: The term 'Web forgery,' is dealt as follows:

• Firefox Phishing and Malware Protection

• Why does Firefox fire a web forgery alert on my site even though ...

• How to Report Web Forgery or Spam/Scam Site to Google

• Web Forgery - Windows Live Help

PUNCH LINE:

"Security researchers Emil Ljungdahl and Lars-Olof Moilanen demonstrated that, in cases where the entire contents of a page are enclosed in a

with absolute positioning, a web forgery warning dialog won't be displayed unless the user switches tabs away-from then back-to the forgery page." Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory.

Partitions (Tr. of 'Kitne Pakistan') by Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena

PS. This is not a review from my desktop.

This book is translated by Ameena Kazi Ansari as 'Partitions'

"Kamleshwar’s Kitne Pakistan enjoys cult status as a novel that dared to ask crucial questions about the making and writing of history.

With India’s partition in 1947 as its reference point, the novel presents a limitless canvas against which the most extraordinary trial in the history of mankind runs its course. Present in a court that transcends space and time are Mughal Emperors Babar and Aurangzeb, Spanish adventurer Hernando Cortez, Lord Mountbatten, Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein. Along with political leaders, religious zealots and scheming gods of mythology, they stand accused of creating countless fractured nations, leaving a never-ending trail of hatred and distrust..."
continue reading the book description

Extract from another article by Asghar Ali Engineer: "My friend and noted Hindi writer Kamleshwar wrote an excellent novel Kitne Pakistan (How Many Pakistan?) and in that novel he counts Maulana Shibli No’mani as one of narrow minded Muslim. I told Kamleshwar he has done great injustice to Shibli. He was highly critical of Muslim League and its politics and great supporter of Indian national Congress and nationalist. Kamleshwar told me he will make the necessary change in the English version of the Novel which was being published by Penguin. However, soon after that he died and I do not know whether he could get time to make that correction." continue reading, Shibli Nomani and national politics

See also reviews by

• Amitava Kumar :: Kamleshwar, Alvida :: January :: 2007
• The Hindu : Literary Review / Book Review : In a new light
• The collector of tears
• Press Release; Jamia Millia Islamia
• kamaleshwar - Palash Speaks