These week we feature nothing but research resources that are crammed to the rim with excellent and useful content. Mmm�savour that meaty content goodness. There�s something for everyone�s tastes! Featured are: 1) a new blog search engine, 2)free statistics, 3) new health resources, 4) new features in Safari Tech Books Online, and 5) a free newspaper archive going back to 1759.
1) New blog search engine: Sphere
Searching for blogs on a particular topic is like entering a crowded party and trying to listen for a certain word in the chatter�difficult, no? Especially when there are lovely little hors d�oeuvres to be eaten and wine to be drunk, and cocktails with those pretty umbrellas� but I digress. There are gobs of text in blogs and not all of it can pertain directly to your topic�which is why searching for your topic can be frustrating (and not nearly as fun as the crowded party.) Well, there�s a new engine called Sphere in town and it improves on the other blog search engines in several ways:
> do a search and each search result links to a “profile” of the blog, which offers additional information including stats like average posts per week, average length of posts, three recent inbound and outbound links. This saves you the time of going to the blog and hunting around for this type of info.
> click on the drop-down menu to search for posts within the last four months, last day, last 12 hours or hour. This is great if you are looking for blog discussions on a particular, timely topic.
> check out the custom range search! This search opens up a histogram that lets you plot activity of your search terms, with a slider that allow you to limit your search to posts in any period over the last four months. Wowsers!
> a nice touch is the Featured Blogs link. Enter a broad topic (like education) and see a list of blogs on the topic. Not perfect, but pretty good.
2) For the statistics buffs�
I know you are out there. You who like to pore over statistics about the median household income in rural Saskatchewan, the spending habits of the Canadian male, aged 30 � 39, farm crop reporting�.yes, I know you are salivating just thinking of the graphing possibilities, the spreadsheets, the tables! Well, do I have exciting news for you � Stats Canada Downloadable Publications is now free!
Statistics Canada Downloadable Publications used to be available only within the Library � now you can access it for free from any computer with the Internet! Check out such popular titles as The Daily, Canadian Social Trends, Historical Statistics of Canada, and Canada at a Glance all from the comfort of your own home computer!
3) For the health researchers�
The National Library of Medicine released two exciting new resources at the beginning of this month. �Users are now able to search the Household Products Database and the Bookshelf, a growing collection of full text biomedical books.” Check out the Household Products Database for information about common household products, their hazards and what exactly they are made of.
In addition, the excellent health source MedLinePlus added 14 interactive body maps this month! Click on a body location/system to see an image�then, click on a body part to retrieve a list of resources on that topic. Not only useful but fun!
4) For the techies�
Just a reminder that the Library�s online database Safari Tech Books Online is always developing new features just for you as part of their Safari Labs. As a refresher, Safari Tech Books Online is the name of the Library�s electronic book collection that has a huge array of books in the fields of e-commerce, business and technology. The Labs part is �where users can discover prototypes or betas of new features. These previews will focus on new developments designed to enhance the content, search, and product offerings of the Safari Books Online service.� Some examples of these new prototypes are: the Safari Guides, which briefly introduce a topic and include links to specific book chapters, Related Articles, which feature articles from O’Reilly Network and IBM developerWorks and links to additional reading. Wow�it’s not just ebooks anymore!
5) For the news junkie�
The NewspaperARCHIVE is not new but it�s a goody that we haven�t had a chance to mention yet on BRAIN_blog. It is what it says�an archive of newspaper articles that features scans of the actual newspaper pages�some of these going back to 1759! It is� the single largest historical newspaper database online, containing more newspaper pages from 1759 to present than any other service. � Check out the Free Archives for newspaper articles organized by subject and today in history. Some parts require a fee but the FreeArchives are free, free, free!
