[Ed. note: Another one that slipped through the cracks during the holidays]
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 11:54:15 -0500 (EST)
From: Gerry Mckiernan (Iowa State U.) <gerrymck_at_iastate.edu >
Subject: Acquisitions Knowledge Bases
_Acquisition Knowledge Bases_
For a new registry (and future presentations and articles), I am greatly
interested in identifying library-created or library-related Knowledge
Bases that have been applied to Cataloging, Acquisitions, Collection
Development, or Library Systems venues. A Knowledge Base /
Knowledgebase may be defined as a database with a focus on empirical
or practical knowledge. In recent years, Knowledge bases have become
common components for many businesses and services. The RealNetworks
"Customer Support" Knowledge Base. [ http://service.real.com/kb/ ] is an
excellent example of a technical support knowledge base. I am interested
in library-created OR library-related Knowledge Bases Perhaps the most
sophisticated Library Knowledge Base was the one planned as part of the
OPAL Project. " The OPAL (Online Personal Academic Librarian)
[ http://library.open.ac.uk/aboutus/opal/intro.html ] started as an
eighteen
month research project based at the Open University Library which is
exploring the development of a fully automated online 24/7 reference
service for distance students. The project began in November 2000 and
was a partnership between the OU Library, the OU Knowledge Media
Institute, and the libraries of the University of Leicester and the
University
of London's Birkbeck College." SEE ALSO: "The OPAL Project:
Developing An Automated Online Reference System For Distance Learners"
in the June 2001 issue of D-Lib Magazine.
[http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june01/06inbrief.html] Another innovative
library-based Knowledge Base is EARS (Electronic Access to Reference
Services), a service available from the Learning Resources division of the
University of Northumbria at Newcastle. [ http://library.unn.ac.uk/ears/ ]
The *Most* impressive general knowledge base that I've discovered in a
recent Quick-and-Dirty search is START,
[ http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/infolab/index.html ] "the world's first
Web-based question answering system, has been on-line and continuously
operating since December, 1993. It has been developed by Boris Katz and
his associates of the InfoLab Group at the MIT Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory. Unlike information retrieval systems (e.g., search engines),
START aims to supply users with "just the right information," instead of
merely providing a list of hits. Currently, the system can answer
millions of
English questions about places (e.g., cities, countries, lakes,
coordinates,
weather, maps, demographics, political and economic systems), movies
(e.g., titles, actors, directors), people (e.g., birth dates, biographies),
dictionary definitions, and much, much more... ." As Always, I Welcome
Any and All contributions, queries, comments, nominations, Cosmic Insights,
Etc. Etc. Etc. [I am NOT, however, interested in corporate Knowledge
Bases per se] Articles, reports, studies, school papers or projects
regarding
Library Knowledge Bases are also of major interest for a planned General
Bibliography. [I am NOT, however, interested in literature about Knowledge
Bases per se] The registry is titled: KBL(sm): A Registry of Library
Knowledge
Bases and will be located at:
[ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/KBL.htm ]
Regards,
Gerry Gerry McKiernan,
KnowledgeBased Librarian
Iowa State University,
Ames IA 50011
gerrymck_at_iastate.edu
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Received on Sat Feb 07 2004 - 15:48:15 EST