Volume 4, Issue 4, December 2006

Season's Greetings! Welcome to the December 2006 issue of Reference Update, Xrefer's quarterly newsletter filled with information for the wired librarian.

Winter Tale, 1913, from The Bridgeman Art Library Archive

In this issue:

Xrefer News
New Faces at Xrefer
More Titles; More Publishers
The Latest Xreferplus Customers
Come See Us in Seattle and Sydney
Sign Up for the Weekly Brainteaser
Get a Free, 30-Day Trial

Xrefer News

New Web Site
We are delighted to announce a new look for our web site (http://www.xrefer.com). The home page is regularly updated with new content from Xreferplus. To see a sampling of images from the 'The Bridgeman Art Library Archive' and the 'CIA World Factbook', simply click the refresh button on your browser. Visit daily for the quote of the day and to learn the significance of each day to different cultures, as found in the 'Holidays, Festivals and Celebrations of the World Dictionary'. All of these titles are available through our Xreferplus collections.

Libraries and Google
The Stellenbosch University Library Information Service recently held their Ninth Annual Symposium in South Africa. This year's program focused on how academic libraries can proactively partner with learners and researchers. Jenny Walker, Vice President Marketing at Xrefer, spoke at the symposium and discussed the topic -- Where Google and Libraries Meet. See her presentation at http://www.lib.sun.ac.za/Sym2006/Presentations1.htm.

Try searching for the term "google" in Xreferplus. You'll learn that the Google name was derived from googol, a very large number (1 followed by 100 zeroes). Additionally, one of our Specialist Reference titles -- The Berkshire Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction -- discusses Google's use of popularity as a way to rank information and the drawbacks of that approach. Now try the same search on Google.

Xrefer Advisory Board Member Publishes New Almanac
Ben Schott, an Xrefer advisory board member, was recently featured in the Boston Globe daily newspaper. Schott visited Boston to promote his latest reference book -- "Schott's Almanac 2007". His first book, "Schott's Original Miscellany", became an international bestseller and featured such wide-ranging subjects as how to tie a sari to deciphering cattle brands.

Excerpt from "Metasearch: What does it do? Why does it matter?" by Jenny Walker

Federated Searching (or Metasearch)
The Joint Internet-Based Sources user group (JIBS) in the UK, held a one-day conference on federated searching on November 22, in Manchester. Jenny Walker, Vice President Marketing at Xrefer, and previously co-chair of the NISO Metasearch Initiative, provided an introduction to federated searching, also called metasearch, and spoke of recent standards work in this area. Learn more about the program at http://www.jibs.ac.uk/meetings/federated.htm.

Xreferplus is compatible with all the main federated search systems, including MuseGlobal's MuseSearch, Ex Libris' MetaLib, Serials Solutions' Central Search, Innovative Interfaces' MetaFind, WebFeat and the TalisPrism metasearch. For help with Xreferplus and federated searching, please contact us at support@xrefer.com.

New Faces at Xrefer

Xrefer has appointed Sara Borzcik as Director of Sales, US Western Region. Based in southern California, Sara previously served as Regional Sales Vice President for World Book, Inc. In her new assignment, Sara will be responsible for managing all aspects of Xrefer's promotion and sales in 15 western states and British Columbia, Canada.

Anne Kail joined Xrefer's London-based sales team on December 11th. Anne joins Xrefer from Oxford University Press (OUP) where she was Sales Manager for online reference products.

More Titles; More Publishers

New titles and publishers are continually being added to Xreferplus. Recently added titles include:

• Chambers Dictionary of World History, Chambers Harrap
• Computer Graphics Companion, John Wiley and Sons
• Dictionary of Accounting, A&C Black
• Dictionary of Diplomacy, Macmillan
• Dictionary of E-Business, John Wiley and Sons
• Dictionary of Languages, A&C Black
• Dictionary of Media Studies, A&C Black
• Encyclopedia of Computer Science, John Wiley and Sons
• The Hutchinson Chronology of World History, Helicon
• Mosby's Emergency Dictionary, Elsevier Health Sciences

We continue to update our titles to the most recently published editions. The following new editions are now available:

• Black's Medical Dictionary, 41st Edition, A&C Black
• CIA World Factbook 2006 -- In addition to statistics comparison tables, our improved Factbook adds the unique ability to compare, side by side, two or more countries across 140+ data elements. We've also included additional appendices and large-scale maps of geographic regions. Statistics can be easily charted and/or exported to Excel for further manipulation and study.

Help students find these titles by adding them to your online subject guides. Learn more about adding links in your Librarian Admin .

And coming soon:

• Chambers Classic Speeches
• Chambers Film Factfinder
• The Chronology of American Literature, Houghton Mifflin
• Guide to Stars and Planets, Philips
• McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
• ODI Image Library, Oxford Designers and Illustrators

Also, watch for updates to these titles:

• The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas, Helicon
• Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 20th edition, F.A. Davis
• Who's Who 2007 and Who Was Who 1897-2006

See a complete list of forthcoming titles .

Read about our Specialist Reference titles .

The Latest Xreferplus Customers

Xrefer Partners with Library Consortia

Two consortia -- Lois Hole Campus Alberta Digital Library (LHCADL) and the Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries (PASCAL) -- have recently signed agreements to make Xreferplus available to their students. In South Carolina, Xreferplus will be a main component of PASCAL's new virtual reference service. And, in Alberta, Canada, Xreferplus will be available at LHCADL's consortium of 35 post-secondary school libraries throughout the province.

Over the past few months, libraries of all types have selected Xreferplus as their online ready-reference solution. We're happy to welcome (North America unless otherwise stated):

• American Psychological Association
• Birkbeck College, UK
• Boca Raton Public Library
• Booz Allen Hamilton, UK
• Cantium Services Ltd, UK
• College of William and Mary
• Community College of Philadelphia
• DePaul University
• Edmonton Public Library
• Highbury College, UK
• London Business School, UK
• The London Library, UK
• Montgomery College (16 Specialist Reference titles)
• National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
• National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan
• Rex Putnam High School
• Southern Utah University
• Standing Council of the Baronetage, UK
• SUNY at Plattsburgh
• Symphony Hall, UK
• University of Delaware
• U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center

Come See Us in Seattle and Sydney

Xrefer will be at ALA Midwinter in Seattle, January 19-22, 2007. We'll be sending out a quiz to attendees, with an opportunity to win a generous gift certificate. To be eligible, just answer the quiz questions and drop it off at our booth #2910. If you'll be attending ALA and want to be sure to receive the quiz, just send us an email at marketing@xrefer.com letting us know.

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Have you tried Xreferplus? If not, sign up for a free, 30-day trial and find out why Xreferplus is the best online reference solution for libraries. Get your free trial here.