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Tuesday, 25th December 2001

8188694

Reference
"The Convenience Catastrophe"
Source: Library Journal
Here are two passages from Roy Tennant's insightful, must read, column. Roy writes, "Anyone who has worked a reference desk has seen users pleased with a quick and mediocre answer when, with a bit more time and effort, they could get a better one. It's called 'satisficing.' It's human nature to seek that which is 'good enough' rather than the best. For many, it's a simple equation of effort vs. payback. At a 'good enough' point that can only be determined by a specific individual, it becomes too much trouble to reach the optimum for the perceived gain." He continues, "So how do we fight this tendency?" "We must provide more information online about what our print collections hold, so that potential users of our holdings can more easily discover the treasures they contain. Converting our card catalogs into digital form was merely the beginning. A title, an author, and a few subject headings are often inadequate to determine if a particular book will be useful or not. We need to work cooperatively to provide much more information about our books, particularly nonfiction works."

Monitoring the News--BBC Monitoring
Learn About: BBC Monitoring
A bit of background about the folks in Caversham. This short article appears in a recent Factiva publication.
See Also: BBC Monitoring Home Page
See Also: BBC Monitoring Country Profiles (Free)
See Also: BBC Monitoring Week Ahead Calendar (Free)

New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources & Tools (2 Items)
--
Year in Review-2001
Source: InfoPlease.Com
InfoPlease.Com's Year In Review 2001 Now Online
� Fast Fact, one-stop shop features several lists including:
� Major News Stories, Month By Month
� Major Supreme Court Decisions
� Deaths in 2001
� Disasters in 2001
� Earthquakes 2001
� Arts & Entertainment, Month By Month
� Major Sports Stories, Month By Month
� Much More
--
Grammar--English Language
Several Resources from AskOxford.Com
Better Writing, Classic Errors and Helpful Hints
Jargon Buster (Basic Grammar Terms Defined, Examples)
--
Farm Subsidies--Databases--United States
Environmental Working Group Farm Subsidy Database, 1996-2000
From the site, " 1996, a federal judge agreed with a lawsuit brought by The Washington Post to allow public access to USDA subsidy payment records. That lawsuit made it possible for EWG to build the Farm Subsidy database by assembling computerized records of tens of millions of farm program checks written by the U.S. Department of Agriculture during calendar years 1996 through 2000. The Environmental Working Group obtained these records through a Freedom of Information Act request."
See Also: More Background About the Database

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