“The NNDB Mapper is a visual tool for exploring the connections between people in the  Notable Names Database, linking them together through family relations, corporate boards, movies and TV, political alliances, and shadowy conspiracy groups. Maps can be saved and shared for others to explore.”

The tool is not comprehensive, is very American focused, and timeliness is suspect, but it is free and kind of fun to fool around with.

LL.B. giving way to J.D..

“Two factors are spurring the desire for a name change: perception and reality. The former reflects impressions left by the word “bachelor.” “LL.B. means first degree. We became concerned that that designation actually understated the level of education our students had,” said Mayo Moran, dean of law at the University of Toronto, which, in 2001, became the first law school in Canada to switch from the bachelor of laws to the juris doctor.”

From the website

Elf is a web-based and email tool for library users to keep track of their library borrowings. Elf is like a personal assistant, whose task is to help with keeping track of what one has on loan from the library.

Designed with the busy or avid library user in mind, Elf is ideal for families with multiple library cards or for individuals (writers, researchers, students, readers, etc.) who have cards from different libraries

• Email and/or RSS alerts before items are due
• Email and/or RSS alerts on overdues and holds

• Bloglines
• NewsGator Online
• FeedShow
  
• See others at Add to Any

Free desktop reader

• Sage
• Tiny Tiny RSS

Fee-based Desktop

• NewzCrawler

For more RSS aggregators in multiple platforms see: News on Feeds

Session Description:
Together we will explore RSS feeds, blogs, social networking sites, wikis, second life, and other Web 2.0 services in various forms.

We will discusses what they are, and in some cases how advancement departments can use them to discover, research and reach out to potential donors.

Initially I found that knowledge of html was helpful, so I was busy coding my tables, etc. Then I discovered I was in the “classic mode” (duhp!) and had I been using the point & click mode, my entry would have been much easier and quicker – but then I still use Dialog command search as well.

General impressions: useful tool for collaboration, little tedious, I definitely like blogging better.

In addition, remember a couple of the specialty sites that can a) search for specific words in selected RSS feeds and b) force a page to send RSS info.

• Feedshake
  Free service for customizing, filtering, converting and merging newsfeeds and podcasts. Requires registration. Also takes forever to load.
• Page2RSS
  This service helps you monitor web sites that do not publish feeds. It will check any web page for updates and deliver them to your favourite RSS aggregator.
• Feedity
  Thanks to Penelope for pointing out this awesome RSS generator, much better than the one I had been using.

• Factiva
  A multi-disciplinary research tool that provides a single point of access to current and archived news and business information. The database has over 9,000 sources in 22 languages including local, national and international sources. This includes current day coverage of the Globe and Mail, Hamilton Spectator and Wall Street Journal.
• LexisNexis Academic
  LexisNexis provides access to over 5,000 sources covering a wide range of subject areas. The product is divided into five sections: News, Business, Legal, Medical and Reference.
• ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry
  Indexes more than 1,200 business periodicals and newsletters with a trade or industry focus. Provides the latest industry news, product and competitive information, marketing trends, and a wide variety of other topics. Contains publications on every major industry, including finance, insurance, transportation, construction, and many more. Includes some full-text.

Public Company Information

• FPInfomart
  Contains corporate and financial data for Canadian companies. Includes investor reports, historical reports, industry reports, information on dividends, and an archive of new issues. Also included is a special Analyzer tool to help you interpret historical financial data.
• Mergent
  Mergent Online is an Internet-based suite of information resources that enables in-depth business and financial research. Provides access to corporate information and reports on over 10,000 U.S. companies and 15,000 international companies (including over 2,000 Canadian establishments).

Who’s Who Directories

• Financial Post Directory of Directors
  Provides information on over 17,000 Canadian directors and executives of Canadian companies who reside in Canada.
• Canadian Who’s Who (Hard copy and CD-ROM available in the research pod)
  The largest and most authoritative Who’s Who published in Canada, featuring nearly fourteen thousand biographical sketches.