Google Public Data

Thanks to my colleague George Clark for the heads up about this new Google feature, Google Public Data. Google recently “launched a new search feature that makes it easy to find and compare public data” – and it really is incredibly easy, as well as powerful.

For example, if you go into Google and do a search for: unemployment rate Massachusetts -- the system goes into Google Public Data and delivers a graph showing the latest reported unemployment figures for Massachusetts. If you then click on one or more of the boxes in the list of states at screen left, the system overlays the comparative graphs of unemployment for each state selected (the data source for these graphs is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, BTW). Pretty useful. And that’s just one application for it….

At your service,
Cheryl

Scan and Deliver: The New Electronic Document Delivery Service

Scan and Deliver is a free new library service that will deliver scanned articles or chapters from materials at HD and participating libraries to researchers’ desktops. How does it work? On the availability screen in HOLLIS Beta and HOLLIS Classic, a Request PDF button will show next to the item if it is eligible for Scan and Deliver service. Researchers can make a Scan and Deliver request from within HOLLIS Beta and HOLLIS Classic – you’ll be authenticated through the Harvard PIN server, and then guided through the request process by succeeding screens. When an item is scanned it will be uploaded to a server and the researcher will receive an e-mail with a link to the document in PDF format.

There’s a page limit of 30 pages for an article or book chapter, complying with the Copyright Act Section 108(d)&(e). [Do note: limits are imposed manually by staff.] A researcher may make 2 requests per day. The target turnaround time for filling requests is 4 business days; some libraries may be able to provide faster service, as time allows.

The service went live yesterday, April 22, 2009 -- so it’s there at your service, now.
Enjoy!
Cheryl

Non-Roman Character Searching in the New Discovery Tool

About the new Discovery Tool (HOLLIS Beta): as you may have "discovered" already, it does not currently support searching in non-roman characters. The vendor is supposed to have completed this development for the system by December 2010 (although we hope that it might be available prior to that time). Meanwhile, HOLLIS classic will continue to support this kind of searching, so you can still perform non-roman character searches in it.

At your service,
Cheryl

Lilac Sunday at the Arnold Arboretum

Sunday, May 10, 2009 is Lilac Sunday at the Arnold Arboretum. That day lilac-lovers from all across New England flock to the Arboretum to picnic, watch Morris dancing, and enjoy the remarkably beautiful lilac collection.

The event takes place rain or shine, and the Arboretum is open (as usual) from dawn to dusk. Refreshments are available for purchase from 10 AM to 4 PM.

At your service,

Cheryl

The New HOLLIS Discovery System

The new HOLLIS discovery system is now available for your use, at:

http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:hollisds

All 11+ million records from HOLLIS are available for searching. The new system also provides relevance-ranked search results; options to refine your search by topic, format, language; persistent library location selection; spelling suggestions; and exports to Refworks and to Endnote. And… you can help make the system even better as we actively work to make the system more useful to the Harvard Community. Tell us what you think via the Feedback and suggestions link off the new front page of the discovery system.

At your service,

Cheryl

Working with Video? Try Embedr

If you incorporate video in any of your online work, you might want to take a look at Embedr. It's "a free service that lets anyone create a custom playlist of videos from the top video sites on the web." That is, you can take up to 100 videos from all over the web and make them into a single standard playlist.

Here is the list of video services compatible with Embedr. And did I mention it's a free service? You'll be asked to set up an account, but it is free. And BTW, you can embed your Embedr playlist on your Facebook and MySpace pages, too.

At your service,
Cheryl