Ever hear of the Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine?  Sounds official, as well as medically specific.  Did you know it was published by Elsevier?  That is is Peer Reviewed?  And that it published an article on the effectiveness of Fosamax?

How about that it was cooked up by Merck as a promotional tool, and that they paid Elsevier to publish it?

I worked in a pharmacy for eight years; I have seen first-hand the differences between the drug manufacturer’s publicity and the actual usefulness of medicines.  I am not too surprised that someone at Merck did this (though not as surprised as I will be if the FDA doesn’t lift a finger to make it clear that this level of deception is unacceptable), but am a little surprised that Elsevier went along (though maybe not too surprised (here, too)).

This is a horrible situation, and library organizations should be demanding that Elsevier establish the bona fides of the journals we pay for, and that our patrons use for their research.  Sure, we can probably trust that the big-name journals are what they say they are, but there are hundreds of obscure journals, with titles sounding just as official as the fake one, that we cannot know for sure who they represent, and how they conduct their research, without a great deal of research.  Elsevier needs to salvage their credibility, and soon.

found via Bibliographic Wilderness

About 2 million images from the LIFE Photo Archive have been digitized and are available via Google Image Search.  What is even better is that, over the next few months, the remaining 8 million images from the collection will be added.  Many of these have never been published, so there ought to be some historically interesting and significant gems in this collection.

You can search the collection by using the above link, or add “source:life” (without the quotes) to your image search query.

via the Official Google Blog

Google has packaged many of its tools into an offering for non-profit organizations.  If your group has a 501(c)(3) tax status, and is not political or religious in nature, then you most likely qualify.

This is fairly neat.  I worked with a library conference for several years, and much of what I set up for the collaborative and supportive workings for this group are included in the Google offering:  an online workspace, communication tools (e-mail and group discussion), online checkout, and analytics to offer feedback on the website are all analogous to tools I set up for the group one at a time.

In addition, they offers Google Docs, Calendar, and Google Grants (which is basically free advertising on Google search results pages).   For an organization like a Friends of the Library or a library-focused conference, these are tools that can take the work of a few people and turn out very professional, well-organized results.

If your group has a basic footprint on the web, but can see the benefits from increased collaboration and outreach, this is a fantastic offer that should be seriously reviewed and considered.

found via Official Google Blog

This is a few days old, but it is still an important bit of news : Google has opened it’s Application Programming Interface (API) to developers. What this means for libraries is that they now have the potential to link their catalogs, via ISBN, OCLC, or LCCN numbers, to items available through the Google Book Search.

As with many of Google’s offerings, there are caveats : there doesn’t seem to be a way to generate any information to indicate full-text availability (the information from Google loads after your OPAC entry), which makes it harder to know just how much it adds to your collection.

As time goes by, however, this could become a powerful tool to leverage our library presence… this is another step in making as much information available to the user as possible, and making it easy to find as well. Libraries should look into making this work for them… everyone stands to benefit.

from Open Access News, LISNews, Official Google Blog

Google Apps Team Edition is a new permutation of Google Apps (something I have been using a fair amount during the past couple of months) designed for collaborative projects.

You need to register using a work or school e-mail address (I am not sure how broadly they define groups for this – could a non-profit, volunteer organization use this service?) and then you get to use Google Docs, Calendar, Talk and Start Page as a group, customized to your needs.

from Official Google Blog

Added later:  ars technica has an interesting take on how this service is enabling end users to bypass their IT departments

Interested in quick and straightforward tutorials for making dynamic websites and such?  Check out Google Code for Educators to get a few ideas and examples that you can use to enhance your projects.

found on the Official Google Blog

It is only set up for Arabic, Chinese, and Russian, but Google Translate has developed a nice, social web solution to the problem of awkward translations.

from the Official Google Blog

Yes, another Google beta: Google Patents lets you conduct full-text searches of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. What you get is not only the text of the patent, but the patent filing itself.

The Advanced Patent Search page lets you search by Patent Number, Inventor, Assignee, and more.

Well done!

from Official Google Blog

Google has updated their interface for reading the books found using Google Book Search.

Here is a sample. And another.

from Official Google Blog

With Halloween just around the corner, the best way to set the mood is with a classic scary story.  Check out the Google Scary Stories page (a result of the Google Books project) and see the public domain spookiness that awaits you!

from Official Google Blog

I know, I know… two posts in a row about Google…

But you see, they released this new thingamajig called Google Co-op Custom Search Engine that is essentially a do-it-yourself federated search engine creator.  One configures it, then copies the generated code to a web page, and there it is.
Gonna have to play with this one…

from Official Google Blog

It seems to be a Google day:  Google has put some of their offerings together as an educational platform for K-12 teachers to use for their classes.  Google for Educators has nothing that isn’t being offered elsewhere, but it presents it in a way that shows the potential of their software and services when used as a teaching aid.

For those teachers who really want to spice up their resume, there is the Google Teacher Academy, a “one-day experience” which is free to those who are accepted, but you must live in Northern California for now – they do plan to expand the program in the future.

from the Official Google Blog

Google Book Search has put up a page dedicated to highlighting some of the books that have been challenged over the years, encouraging people to become aware of the controversies and the qualities of these reads. They have several links to key ALA sites dealing with challenges, as well.

from the Official Google Blog, and Monkey Bites

Google Scholar has added a feature which, well, makes their service more Google-esque.

Do a search, then click on “Related Articles” on a result that is closest to what you are looking for.

from the Official Google Blog