KASL

EasyBib

You are all familiar with the Citation Generators on the web. Personally, I think they are one of the very best things about the web! EasyBib is one of the best and I thought some of you might be interested in the information they have posted at their Teacher and Librarian Center. 

Remembering the Vertical File

I woke up at 3 am the other morning thinking about the vertical file, something that has not crossed my mind in years. The unpleasant jolt of memory and subsequent relief of knowing that I never again would have to worry about the vertical file reminded me of how radically my job has changed in the last twenty-five years. 

Council Grove High School Library used to have a small but mighty (and frequently consulted, I might add) collection of file folders on current topics that just were not covered adequately by the material we had on hand. My library aides and I used to skim the newspapers, picking out feature articles on social issues and unique, local interest pieces, clip them, and file them neatly away in a file cabinet. Even then, there was some debate in the professional literature about whether a vertical file was necessary and worth all the effort and time it took to keep a current and relevant collection of articles. I cannot speak for larger libraries, but for CGHS library, the vertical file was absolutely essential.

Those were the days before we had access to Inter-library loan and before speedy and commonly available internet access. Both neatly filled in the blanks we were trying to fill with the vertical file, and though both create problems of their own, I do not question that the quantity and quality of material I am able to offer my students is better than it was.

Search 'em All At Once

Hello all....

ATLAS, the Associated Topeka Libraries Automated System online catalog, has added the Encore interface on its main page giving seekers an intuitive tool in finding resources held at/through Washburn University, the Kansas State Historical Society, the Kansas Supreme Court Law Library and the State Library of Kansas.  Take a look and try out a search at:

http://topekalibraries.info/

The original advanced search page is still available at:

http://topekalibraries.info/search/X 

Bill Sowers

Bill Sowers
Kansas Publications & Cataloging
State Library of Kansas
300 SW 10th, Room 343-N
Topeka, KS  66612
ksdocs@kslib.info
785-296-3296

U. S. Government Publications

The Government Printing Office has introduced a new web system for managing government information in digital form.  "As a state-of-the-art digital content management system, FDsys (Federal Digital System) contains information gathered through three methods:

• Files submitted by Congress and Federal agencies;
• Information gathered from Federal agencies’ web sites (often referred to as “harvesting” information);
• Digital files created by scanning previously printed publications."  

As a test, I searched "lung cancer" and was actually pretty pleased with the ease of the search and with what I found.  That was not always the case with the old GPO site. -mh

Kansas Government Information Blog

The State Library of Kansas has a new blog up and running, "Kansas Government Information."  Take a look, bookmark it and sign up to be notified of future issues:

http://ksdocs.blogspot.com/

"Kansas Government Information" provides resources on current topics from federal, state, local and private/organizational sources.  The current blog offers some online information on recycling.  Previous topics have included:  How to Contact Your Congressperson, Home Heating and Energy Conservation, State and Personal Finances, Wind Energy and Trucking Industry Information.

"Kansas Government Information" is a service of staff in the State Library's Reference Division and the State Data Center.  Comments and suggestions are always appreciated and can be made to Bill Sowers (ksdocs@kslib.info).

Bill Sowers
Kansas Publications & Cataloging
State Library of Kansas

Permanent Links for US Legislation Documents

"With prompting from the Sunlight Foundation's Open House Project, the US
Library of Congress announced today that its online database THOMAS will
now generate persistent URLs, known as legislative handles, for
legislation documents. As Free Government Info says, 'it is certainly nice
to be able to link to legislation with a persistent link! But it would be
much better if one could click to create a link rather than following a
600-word description of how to link on another page.' Still, this is a
definite step forward for the Library of Congress and for government
transparency. From THOMAS: 'Legislative Handles are a new persistent URL
service for creating links to legislative documents from the THOMAS web
site (http://thomas.loc.gov). With a simple syntax, Legislative Handles
make it easy to type in legislative links to bibliographies, reference
guides, emails, blogs, or web pages. Legislative Handles, for instance,
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.uscongress/legislation.110hconres196, are a
convenient way to cite legislation.'

    http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/09/2342215

Brig C. McCoy

Resources for Looking up Medication Information

Daily Med 
http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/about.cfm 
DailyMed provides high quality information about marketed drugs. This information includes FDA approved labels (package inserts). This Web site provides health information providers and the public with a standard, comprehensive, up-to-date, look-up and download resource of medication content and labeling as found in medication package inserts.

MedlinePlus Drugs and Supplements http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html
Prescription and over-the-counter medication information, as well as information on herbs and supplements

Medicinas, hierbas y suplementos (Spanish portal)
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/druginformation.html

AIDSinfo 
http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/ 
Drug Database of factsheets on HIV/AIDS-realted drugs

infoSIDA (Spanish Portal)
http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/infoSIDA/

Drug Information Portal 
http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov/drugportal/drugportal.jsp
The National Library of Medicine Drug Information Portal gives users a gateway to selected drug information from the National Library of Medicine and other key government agencies.  More than 12,000 drugs can be searched using this facility. The portal covers drugs from the time they are entered into clinical trials (Clinicaltrials.gov) through their entry in the market place (Drugs@FDA). http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov/drugportal/jsp/drugportal/about.jsp

 

Rebecca Brown, MLS
Kansas Outreach & Technology Liaison 
National Network of Libraries of Medicine, MidContinental Region
University of Kansas Medical Center

 

Kansas Health Online

Kansas Health Online is a new website which aims to empower Kansans to make more informed health and health care decisions by providing information in an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand format.  You will find tools, links, and information to:

-compare hospitals

-find doctors

-compare health plans

-analyze symptoms

-get the latest information on medical conditions

-make healthy lifestyle choices

-learn more about health policy

In late January, 2009, the site will launch GoLocalKansas which will allow you to find health care resources in your neighborhood with the click of a button.

 

What's It All Mean?

I love and adore Merriam-Webster's online dictionary because it not only defines words but says them correctly for you!

Good dictionaries pretty much rock my world, so imagine my excitement when I discovered Merriam-Webster's VISUAL dictionary online.  Say, for example that the verbal description of a Turbofan Engine leaves you cold.  I mean, what exactly does "Jet engine with a fan and two airflows; one airflow passes through the combustion chamber and the other bypasses it" MEAN.  Well, according to the Visual Dictionary Online, it means this.

Census Data

Enter your ZIP code to see U.S. Census data and comparisons with neighboring ZIPs.