Building a World Class Personal Library with Free Web Resources
Resources of the Week
Two items this week.
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1) The Web Library: Building a World Class Personal Library with Free Web Resources
This impressive compilation is the web companion to Nick Tomaiuolo's new book. It's "must review" material. Although more than a few of the 350+ sites listed might already be favorites (you'll spot many that have been featured on ResourceShelf), you're VERY likely to discover many new gems. Of course, the book might also be of interest since it includes numerous interviews and other useful material not found on the web site. Btw, Tomaiuolo continues to add new material to the web site on a weekly basis.
The layout of the web site is simple and easy to use. Various subject-based compilations are listed (corresponding to different chapters in the book).
After just a few minutes of browsing, I was able to identify several resources that were new to me.
Including:
+ FreeFullText.Com
"Direct links to over 7000 scholarly periodicals which allow some or all of their online content to be viewed by ANYONE with Internet access for free (though some may require free registration)."
+ The Visual Dictionary of Fashion
"Covers the 18th through 20th century in womenswear, menswear, and childrenswear. Search or browse. Geographic search is available."
+ University of Michigan Instrument Encyclopedia
"Not an exhaustive site, the content of the encyclopedia is developed by graduate students. Browse or search for a musical tradition or a specific instrument."
Nick Tomaiuolo is an associate librarian in the reference department at Central Connecticut State University. The cover of his book (edited by Barbara Quint) includes positive comments from Tara Calishain, Lisa Guernsey, and Peter Jacso.
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2) Digital Collections University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections
"This site showcases some of the online multimedia collections built under auspices of the University of Washington Libraries' Digital Initiatives Program," and there is a wealth of material here -- mostly photographs, but also including newspapers, reports, pamphlets, posters, and maps. Although many of the collections have a local focus -- Washington State and the Pacific Northwest -- there a number of collections worth bookmarking by anyone located anywhere. The Cities & Buildings Database, for example, includes "7,500 recent images of architecture and city views from around the world." The Fashion Plates Collection contains more than 400 19th and 20th century fashion magazine illustrations of women's and men's clothing. The Freshwater and Marine Image Bank offers more than "10,000 historic images relating to freshwater and marine subjects including dams, fisheries, fish species, vessels and maps." Collections are grouped into nine main subject areas: Pacific Northwest, Seattle, Alaska & the Yukon, Art & Architecture, Expeditions & Adventures, International, Labor & Industry, Natural World, Politics. They're all searchable -- by keyword, across all collections, or via an advanced search form that allows you to pick and choose collections to search, and to search by subject, title, creator, date, etc.
A family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success. Read more »
Recently I have found myself cooing over visualisation maps (and heat maps) of health and well being resources. The content rich data is overlayed with mapping technologies, and some interesting themes and patterns are emerging.
A lot of the talk around social media in the last year has been around information overload. Social media has provided us with new and exciting ways to create content. But it has also meant learning new ways to manage and engage with social media tools. Are we teetering on the edge of an information overload precipice?
Information overload is a figment of your imagination. Or a failure of your filter. Or a symptom of your technological submissiveness. Depends on who you ask.
What if you had to sort through 3.5 million articles and social media posts a day and try to pull out the most relevant items for your organisation? What if you then had to cobble it all together into something readable for your top groups and executives in your organisation?
Alacra Compliance saves time by aggregating information from both free and fee-based sources and enabling users to conduct an accurate federated search across these sources (coined “simultaneous search” by Alacra).
FreePint Family
Quilting big data threads
The fallacy of information overload
Information overload: fact, fantasy or filter failure? 
