Scopus announced as citation provider for ERA

The Australian Research Council (ARC) announced this week that Scopus will provide citation information for the full 'Excellence in Research for Australia' (ERA) initiative.

“Citation analysis is one of the most widely used bibliometric tools for assessing the impact of scholarly research, and as such, it was crucial that an outstanding and appropriate citation provider be chosen for the full ERA initiative. Scopus is recognised as the largest abstract and citation database of research literature."

All JCU research outputs must be deposited in ResearchOnline@JCU by 15 March 2010 to be included in the ERA submission.

More information - ERA Initiative
More about ERA at JCU is available from the Library and Research Services website

Source: ARC Media Release

Watch Moving Images Online - Australia's National Archives

The National Film and Sound Archive’s australianscreen online is an interactive web-based resource that provides access to a wide variety of moving image material. It encompasses nearly 1400 Australian feature films, documentaries, advertisements and television programs from the last 110 years. The titles contained within australianscreen online are sourced from the National Film and Sound Archive and its collection partners – the National Archives, the ABC, SBS and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. A diverse selection of titles from the National Archives, dating from the late 1930s to the 1990s, can be viewed on australianscreen online.

Read more at: australianscreen online

Free online search for New Zealand legal citations

Legal Citations of Aotearoa New Zealand (LCANZ) is a service developed by the Davis Law Library team at the University of Auckland Library and is freely available at http://www.lcanz.auckland.ac.nz

LCANZ is the first online index to New Zealand legal citations and is likely to be a valuable tool for law academics and students as well as the legal profession. LCANZ provides guidance on the citation of all major New Zealand legal journals and law reporting series. More than 120 law journals and law reporting series are searchable by either title or abbreviation.

Click here to read more.

Google Scholar - US Legal Opinions and Journals Search

Google Scholar has announced this week that they are enabling a search to find full text legal opinions from U.S. federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts online. You can find these opinions by searching for cases (like Planned Parenthood v. Casey), or by topics (like desegregation).

For example, go to Google Scholar, click on the "Legal opinions and journals" button, and try the query separate but equal. Your search results will include links to well known cases in the U.S. such as Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, which explore the acceptablity of "separate but equal" facilities for citizens at two different points in the history of the U.S. Results will also include opinions from less well known cases, but which have played an important role.

Read more about this at: The Official Google Blog

Trove: explore Australian collections and worldwide online sources

Trove is a new discovery service focused on Australia, Australians, and items found in Australian collecting institutions. It will provide a single point of access to resources currently discoverable via the National Library of Australia's multiple discovery services, and to digitised material freely available online anywhere in the world.

The primary purpose of this first prototype version is to develop the technical framework to support this new discovery service, and as far as possible ensure that the technologies we are using will provide acceptable performance, especially for record updates. The design so far is based primarily on decisions made within the project team to allow rapid development of the prototype. What is there now will form the basis for feedback, ideas for improvement, and input into the design of new features from a wide range of people.

The system is a work in progress, and the National Library of Australia have made it available for you to follow their development. The prototype will be constantly updated as it evolves into a system planned for release into production in the third quarter of this year.

Try searching for Ethel Turner (author of 7 Little Australians) and see the range of material from newspapers, images, books, journal articles, sound, video, maps, diaries and much more.

What to find out more: http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/gateways/issues/101/story01.html

data.australia.gov.au - Australian Government Datasets

data.australia.gov.au is the home of Australian government public information datasets. You can make government information even more useful by mashing-up the data to create something new and exciting! Make sure you pay attention to the licence attached to the datasets you are interested in using. Each licence should make clear what you can and can’t do with the data. If you’re unsure, please contact the contributing agency.

AustLII Newsletter - Legal Information Update

AustLII (Australasian Legal Information Institute) currently produces a newsletter 3 times a year. The latest edition is now available and highlights include:

* Federal Discrimination Law Textbook on AustLII
* New structure - AustLII Foundation Limited
* Search tips
* Victoria - Toward the model jurisdiction for free access to the law online
* AustLII - #1 website in the legal industry

Click here to read the full newsletter.

Educating the Net Generation

This handbook is the main output from a project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council investigating the reality of the 'net generation's' experiences and preferences in the use of technology. It involved an investigation into students' and teachers' use of new technologies and the development of eight case studies in which emerging technologies were implemented in learning settings across the three participating universities (University of Melbourne, Charles Sturt University and University of Wollongong).

The case studies looked particularly interesting and include learning activities, objectives, assessment, curriculum design work, technologies reviewed and used, set up, staff and student support and evaluation findings:

Case 1: Blogging: Student reflective journals in teacher education
Case 2: Blogging: Student publishing in first-year journalism
Case 3: Teacher provocateur and collaborative writing through wikis in psychology
Case 4: Creating a shared image resource in first-year chemistry
Case 5: Creating a shared image resource in biology
Case 6: Creating an image collection in environmental education
Case 7: Student-generated podcasts in medical education
Case 8: Students sharing online resources through social bookmarking (1st year art students)

Educating the Net Generation website: http://www.netgen.unimelb.edu.au/
Link to full handbook: http://www.netgen.unimelb.edu.au/downloads/handbook/NetGenHandbookAll.pdf

Historical Statistics Online @ ABS

In response to increasing demand to access historical statistics on the Web, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has recently digitised an important compendium of Australian and New Zealand colonial data, A Statistical account of the seven colonies of Australasia.

The historical account (and its later title, Statistical account of Australia and New Zealand) was compiled between 1890 and 1904 by the New South Wales Statistician, Timothy A. Coghlan. The eleven volumes bring together statistics for each of the colonies of Australia and New Zealand and are complemented by analysis and commentary. The publication also includes chapters on political divisions, areas and boundaries, climate, parliaments and defence much like in the current Year Book Australia.

Other historical data available from ABS includes the Demography Bulletin which includes detailed population and vital statistics data for the period 1900 - 1971 and Labour reports, covering the period 1911 - 1997. See the full list of titles already available, as well as those which will be available later in the year.

Source: ABS

New X Search Feature - Peer reviewed articles identified easily

There is a new feature available via X Search. The 'Peer-reviewed' filter in X Search hides articles in your search results that are not from peer reviewed (or refereed) journals.

Quickly narrow your search results to articles which have gone through a peer-reviewing process before being published in a scholarly journal for a scholarly audience.

We've also made a filter available that limits the displayed items to those that indicate they have full text available. (Note that items that are available full text don't always indicate their availability.)

Tick the filter you want to apply and X Search updates your search results to only include items that correspond. Remove the tick to remove the filter and see the items that were hidden.

New United Nations Legal Research Tools

The UN Office of Legal Affairs, Codification Division has launched several new online resources in 2009:

+ Official Records of Diplomatic Conferences;

+ A new portal for all legal publications;

+ UN Legal Publications Global Search;

Source: UN Pulse

New books in BUSINESS at JCU's libraries - 3 September 2009

New books in Business at Townsville and/or Cairns JCU's library. Click on the title to access the complete record in Tropicat.

ACCOUNTING & FINANCE
Australian accounting standards
Ruth Picker ... [et al.]
John Wiley
2010
2^nd edition
657.021894 AUS

ECONOMICS
Trade barriers in Africa and the Middle East
Russell V. Blaine, editor
Nova Science Publishers
2007
382.73096 TRA
Microfinance : emerging trends and challenges
Edited by Suresh Sundaresan
Edward Elgar
2008
332.2 MIC
Entrepreneurship in emerging regions around the world : theory, evidence and implications
Edited by Phillip H. Phan, Sankaran Venkataraman and S. Ramakrishna Velamuri
Edward Elgar
2008
338.04 ENT
Entrepreneurship, industrial location and economic growth
Edited by Josep Maria Arauzo-Carod and Miguel C. Manjón-Antolín
Edward Elgar
2007
338.04094 ENT
MicroFranchising : creating wealth at the bottom of the pyramid
Edited by Jason S. Fairbourne, Stephen W. Gibson and W. Gibb Dyer, Jr.
Edward Elgar
2007
381.13 MIC

MANAGEMENT
How to write successful business and management essays
Patrick Tissington
SAGE
2009
808.06665 TIS
Creating futures : scenario planning as a strategic management tool
Michel Godet
Economica
2006
2^nd edition
658.4012 GOD

TOURISM
The direct impact of recreation on water quality in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park : report prepared for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
Daniel Gregg and Romy Greiner
River Consulting
363.739409943 GRE
Available online
The business of tourism
J. Christopher Holloway, with Claire Humphreys and Rob Davidson
Financial Times/Prentice Hall
2009
8^th edition
338.4791 HOL 2009
Sustainable tourism in Southern Africa : local communities and natural resources in transition
Edited by Jarkko J. Saarinen ... [et al.].
Channel View Publications
2009
338.479168 SUS

New Animations Help People Learn About Web 2.0

Busy lecturers, researchers and administrators need look no further for straightforward advice on using Web 2.0 technologies, as JISC Netskills previews the first in a series of short, snappy Web2Practice animations.

The first five of eight animations, covering social media, podcasting, RSS feeds, collaborative writing and microblogging are now available online.

These animations adopt a fast and easy approach to understanding how new technologies can enhance everyday working practice.

To read the full article click here. Source: JISC.

JCU Library Client Survey: Summary and Response

In May 2008, the JCU Library conducted its biennial client satisfaction survey. The survey was conducted online and the objectives of the survey are:

• To identify, prioritise and manage the key issues affecting clients
• To allow the James Cook University Library’s performance to be measured and monitored over time
• To provide clients with the opportunity to communicate openly and honestly with the management team of the Library
• To compare results with other university libraries in the database so that performance can be measured against external standards

The summary of the 2008 JCU Library Client Survey is now available.

It describes the major themes resulting from the survey analysis and how clients rate the performance of the Library in key areas, as well as identifying which are priority areas for clients.

The Library's actions in addressing the issues raised is included.

A comparison with the 2006 JCU Library Client Survey is included as is a link to the full report from InSync Surveys.

We thank all the participants who gave us an insight into how we can continue to improve our services.

Social media tools and competitve advantage in Business

Social media tools – such as Facebook, Twitter, wikis and blogs – are increasingly powerful and valuable for communicating, collaborating, retaining and harvesting knowledge.

However, despite the widespread use and popularity of social media, and its ability to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration in workplace training, privacy issues and fears of misuse continue to deter many organisations from adopting these tools.

Nick Hortovanyi, CEO of Toast Technology, says that the benefits of allowing staff to access social media in the workplace far outweigh the risks – and that resisting the adoption of social media will result in organisations losing their competitive advantage.

Advantages to businesses include: retention of knowledge of older workers before they retire; attracting younger workers who are used to a social media environment; facilitating online mentoring programs for workers; and cost savings. He also discusses the solutions to obstacles such as privacy and misuse, and inexperience.

To read the full article click here. Source: Australian Flexible Learning Framework.

Abortion law change protects medicos - Criminal Code to be amended

THE case of a Cairns couple alleged to have procured an illegal abortion has forced the Queensland Government to clarify the state's 100 year-old criminal code.

But leading Cairns medicos say the Government has not gone far enough and that decisions on abortion policy should be taken out of politician’s hands.

Premier Anna Bligh yesterday announced Cabinet would amend Section 282 of the criminal code to ensure any medical practitioner prescribing medication had the same protection they currently have in relation to performing surgery.

They have however stopped short of taking abortion out of the criminal code with the Premier ruling out a parliamentary conscience vote as she did not believe it would result in any changes.

Cairns obstetrician Dr Tom Wright welcomed the clarification to the code that will protect medicos prescribing abortion drugs such as RU486 – the drug for which the Mt Sheridan couple is facing jail for allegedly importing and using. The amendment would be introduced to parliament as soon as possible.

To read the full article click here. Source: The Cairns Post.

United Kingdom: New Supreme Court

The last judgments of the Law Lords of the United Kingdom took place on July 30, 2009. This will be a significant date in Britain's constitutional history, as it will mark the end of the judicial function of the House of Lords. The House of Lords will from here on have only a legislative function. The Law Lords, also known as the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, will in future be known as the Justices, and will conduct their affairs in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which will be situated away from Parliament and the Palace of Westminster, across Parliament Square in the old Middlesex Guildhall.

Full article available here. Source: Library of Congress, Law Library

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards

Recently, Mackay's Danie Mellor took out the major prize at the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, held in Darwin.

From Rite to Ritual, pictured right, uses wax crayon and glitter pen to depict a Freemason's lodge where Indigenous dancers gather alongside native animals and Masonic ceremonial motifs.

The work is meant to explore "the encounter and fragile co-existence between Indigenous and non-Indigenous, or settler cultures."

Judge Elizabeth Ann Macgregor says it was chosen for its style and its subject matter:

"What really attracted us was how highly innovative he is both in his technique and in his bringing together of, for example, the imagery of the temple - which is a very Western piece of iconography - with Aboriginal symbols and Aboriginal ways of life."

The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin shows Mellor's painting alongside other shortlisted works until October 25.

If you're interstate, a virtual exhibition is online (with Flash and HTML versions). The website also gives you the chance to vote for the online people's choice award.

Source: ABC Articulate

Art, law, and the Yolngu people of East Arnhem Land

Last year the High Court handed down the Blue Mud Bay decision, which gave exclusive fishing rights in the inter-tidal zone to Northern Territory Indigenous people.

This was the latest in a long line of political and legal battles where the Yolngu have used their art, which spells out their law, to articulate their connection to the land and to the sea.

Full report and podcast available here. Source: The Law Report, ABC Radio National

Search the Louvre Online - Freely Available Collections Database

The Musée du Louvre has announced the launch of an English version of its online collections database, Atlas, on July 30, 2009. This interactive research tool will allow visitors to access information on 22,000 artworks from the Louvre, view high-resolution images of masterpieces, and locate exhibited works and galleries throughout the Museum. Currently available only in French, Atlas is accessible free-of-charge via the Louvre’s website, www.louvre.fr, which receives more than 10 millions visitors a year.

Link to the Atlas Database (in English)

Source: Artdaily.org