EUROPEANA IS UP (AGAIN)

Europeana, the cultural archive of the European Union, is working again. (You may remember that it crashed due to very high demand at its first launch.)

However, I'm not too impressed with it so far. I know that it is new, but I can't see much that would be useful to OPLs--unless you're in an art or history library.

But look at it for yourself and decide.

URL: http://www.europeana.eu/portal/

FIND NEWS ARTICLES FOR EUROPE

The tag line for NewsExplorer from Europe Media Monitor (a service of the Joint Research Centre of the European Union) is “daily news analysis, across languages and over time.” You can use it on many levels: just as a search engine—in one of a dozen languages; to locate articles on a specific person; to read articles about the same news event in various languages; or to see a visual representation (news cluster) for a subject on one day. You get variant spellings, photos of a personality, lists of related articles, countries, and organizations. You can even map information on Google Earth and sign up for an RSS feed. It is a fascinating site.

URL: http://press.jrc.it/NewsExplorer/

EUROPE DIRECT--ANSWERS TO EU QUESTIONS

I just watched a fascinating video on Europe Direct, a free information service for question about EU matters in any of the official EU languages. For instance, you can ask questions on any European Union policy, find out practical information on dozens of subjects (“for example, how to get your qualifications recognised or how to complain about unsafe products”), get contact details of organizations you need to work with, and get advice “to help you overcome practical problems with exercising your rights in Europe.”

You can get help by phone (a free call in the EU), go to their website, visit one of their information centers, email, or chat online. For more information, see their website.

URLs:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG5tx9y47Lo
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/

UPDATED MEDICINES INFORMATION DATABASE

“A second version of the EudraPharm database of information on medicinal products approved within the European Union has been released today. The main new benefits of this update are: Inclusion of product information documents in all available EU languages, Inclusion of maximum-residue-limit information for veterinary products, Inclusion of an advanced search function to make information searches more accurate, Inclusion of a new site map to improve navigation. EudraPharm is a long-term project being funded by the European Commission and implemented by the EMEA [European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products], in close cooperation with the medicines agencies of each EU Member State, to provide information about all medicines for human or veterinary use authorised in the EU.”

URL: http://eudrapharm.eu/eudrapharm/welcome.do

QUICK LOOKS AT USEFUL WEB SITES

EU RSS Feeds Available
http://europa.eu/rapid/syndication/setLanguage.do?language=en
For now this list includes press releases and commissioners’ speeches, but more are to come.

The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_100_alternative_
search_engines.php
Worth taking a look at to augment your regular Google or Yahoo! searches.

A Blog Just for YA Librarians
http://www.yalibrarian.com/
Alternative Teen Services is a new blog from a group of librarians at the Kansas City, Missouri Public Library.

Strange Maps
http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/
Includes such wonders as “The World as Seen from New York’s 9th Avenue” (a New Yorker cover), Oz, and a diagram of the US Interstate system.

The Phrase Finder
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/index.html
Find the origins and meanings of phrases, sayings, and idioms in categories such as from the sea, Shakespeare, the Bible, proverbs, euphemisms, and the body.

The Law in Plain English
http://www.nolocast.com/
Podcasts from publisher Nolo.

Inventor’s Handbook
http://web.mit.edu/invent/h-main.html
Eleven chapters covering intellectual property, how to conduct a patent search, applying or a patent, licensing, and other practical matters. Also at the site: inventor of the week, games and trivia, and other links and resources. From Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Engineering.

Help for Teaching Statistics
http://exploringdata.cqu.edu.au/
Exploring Data has activities, worksheets, slides, datasets, articles, and resources “designed to enhance the statistics knowledge of the [secondary school] teacher.” From Central Queensland University, Melbourne, Australia.