LINKS OF THE WEEK: the weekly update:
Another fairly slow week, catching up after the busy month of projects, beat up and worn out, and trying to get over the cold going around the newsroom. Time for some time off. The blog will continue the 2nd week of October.

This week some interesting new things, and some changes in major vendors' offerings. Nexis continues to add new Gannett newspapers, some that have never been online before (like my hometown paper, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle), and Dialog is removing some important papers. What's up with that? One of Dialog's pluses has been that their archives of some papers go back much further than Nexis', including two papers we use all the time, the Orlando Sentinel and the Sun-Sentinel. Losing those 4-5 years of back archives will force us to use the papers' website archives, a less convenient solution.

Interesting stories/Weblogs:

The Internet goes to college Pew report on students and technology.

The Spanish papers sometimes outdo everyone on graphics presentations, and here are two very nice examples: Objetivo Sadam beautiful graphic project from El Mundo, España, on coming war with Iraq. And, in the same paper, Zona Zero, Año 1.

The Witness, by Nick Spangler: Nick, an intern at the Herald this summer, was reporting at the school near the WTC on 9/11. His story ran in CJR last fall. If you haven't read it yet, it's worth a read.

Blogbib an annotated bibliography of literature about weblogs.

And the useful links:
Reference

ClassicOL.com classical music directory online.

Nations online nice guide to websites about countries around the world, including government websites, local news, etc.

Seashells.org guide to shells and shelling has an identification guide.

World Almanac September Almanac dates in September history, etc.

Driving regulation fact sheets from Highway Loss Data Institute, has factsheets on state laws, other driving issues (like teen driving, alcohol, daytime running lights).

Palmbooks.org free (public domain) books to read on your Palm.

News

CNN World Report archive searchable back to 1987, from Texas Tech University.

FACSNET Annotated AP News Digest Check this one out: links and tips on today's top news stories. (If this link doesn't work for today's news, go to main FACSNET page.)

Google News groups stories related to major issues on one page, has search for more. According to Tara Calashain, the news search is getting better, and several bloggers have remarked on a new more graphic version which only some users see when they go to the URL....

New on Nexis: Another Florida paper, never archived before: The Fort Myers News-Press, from April 2002. And, my hometown newspaper: The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, from April 2002. Also: The Times Herald, Huron MI, April 2002; The Journal News (Westchester Co, NY), January 1999; The Greenville News (SC), Jan 1999; Fort Collins Coloradoan, April 2002; Des Moines Register, April 2002; Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Jan 1999; Battle Creek Enquirer, April 2002. Also: Faston Company, Farm Industry News, Novelles tele-radio, several more. Another from Florida: Barry Law Review, from Summer 2000. Illinois Boat Registrations.

Files removed from Dialog: The Washington Post, no longer available. Also, the Chicago Tribune. Still there but removal announced: The Sun-Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel. Also: Books in Print.

Statistics

Child Trends Databank get data on over 70 indicators of child health, education, income, demographics, etc. Includes news alerts on latest reports available.

Religious congregations and membership, 2000 Glenmary organization releases its regular survey, last done 1990. A wonderful resource for religion statistics. This links to the release: the database is at The American Religious Data Archive.

Historical Census stats on race and Hispanic origin, 1790- new release from Census. (down to state level only.)

TranStats a new transportation stats database from BTS, pulls together lots of databases previously available at different sites. Includes everything from Airport congestion to boating accidents to highway fatalities.

The world in statistics downloadable stats on 28 indicators (like GDP, health, transport, geographic data) for all countries. From Statistics Finland.

Governments/Politics

"E-government" survey (at insidepolitics.org); press release from Brown University (Florida comes in 12th). The survey also finds that states are increasingly charging for data online (including a charge to see a legislative bill in Kansas).

Our Documents from National Archives, nice site for students highlighting historic documents from the collection.

Public Records

Georgia voter registration database (poll locator)

Florida

FBI Miami the local unit has its own website...including history.

People

Forbes 400 newest list of richest Americans.

Tools

AlltheWeb advanced search this search engine giving Google a run; new advanced search allows for lots of flexibility.

Journalism, Business: no links this week.