ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Fast Facts

Ann Viles

Nationwide site licensing for online journals in Canada

Sixty-four Canadian universities participating in the National Site Licensing Project have negotiated a $30-million (U.S.) site licensing agreement for 650 scholarly journals and “numerous citation indexes.” Among the vendors participating in the agreement are Academic Press, American Chemical Society, American Mathematical Society, Institute for Scientific Information, Institute for Physics Publishing, Royal Society for Chemistry, and Springer-Verlag.

(Janice Paskey, "Canadian Universities Band Together in a Giant Journal-Licensing Deal," Chronicle of Higher Education, Sept. 14, 2001. http://chronicle.corn/free/2001/09/2001091401t.htm, Oct. 2, 2001)

.INFO domain now available

Registration for the .INFO Internet domain, the first new unrestricted TLD (top- level domain) on the Internet since .COM, opened to the general public on September 12 and already has more than 350,000 functional names on the Web. ("The .INFO Registry Has Opened for Real-Time Processing of Domain Names," Afilias. http://www.afilias.info/ , Oct. 1, 2001)

Wireless access campuswide at the University of Tennessee

As of fall semester, University of Tennessee students have wireless access to the Internet and university databases from anywhere on the Knoxville campus. One thousand radio transmitters inside and on the roofs of almost every building on campus transmit radio signals receivable on laptop computer Ethernet cards. (Duncan Mansfield, "University of Tennessee Students Go Wireless," The Associated Press State & Local Wire, Sept. 16, 2001. LEXIS NEXIS Academic Universe. Sept. 21, 2001)

E-government improving

The Taubman Center for Public Policy’s comparative study of 1,813 state and federal government Web sites in summer 2000 and 1,680 in summer 2001 finds some improvement in e-government, “the delivery of government information and services online through the Internet or other digital means.” Among the improvements are increased access to publications (93 percent in 2001 compared to 74 percent in 2000) and data bases (54 percent in 2001 and 42 percent in 2000), more sites with disability access (27 percent in 2001 and 15 percent in 2000), and more sites offering services executable online (25 percent in 2001 and 22 percent in 2000).

(Darrell M. West, "State and Federal E-Government in the United States, 2001," Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University, Sept. 2001. http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/polreports/ egovt01us.html, Oct. 1, 2001)

Profits slow down for book publishers

Profit margins increased for only seven of the fifteen book publishers tracked by Publishers Weekly last year. The biggest gains were reported by education publishers; four of which posted profit margins of more than 15 percent.

(Jim Milliot, "Publishers' Profits Lagged in 2000," Publishers Weekly, Sept. 10, 2001: 10.)

Tactile mouse provides desktop sense of touch

Logitech introduced the first “touch-feedback device for general-purpose computing” last year. The iFeel mouse uses up and down motion and vibrations to reproduce sensations, such as a “bump that occurs when the cursor crosses a hot link or menu choice.”

(Steve Ditla, "Touchy-Feely Computing: A New Mouse Picks Up Good Vibrations," Scientific American, August, 2001. http://www.sciam.com/2001/0801issue/0801technicality.html, Oct. 2, 2001)

Ann Viles is coordinator of reference and instruction atAppalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, e-mail: vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu