Credo Reference Blog

This week: One to Ten

Our brainteasers always have ten questions, but this quiz is about the numbers from one to ten. Each question or answer includes one of those numbers – but they are not in numerical order in the questions.

1. What number in Downing Street is the residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?

2. What is a “one-horse town”?

3. A horizontal figure of which number is the symbol for infinity in mathematics?

4. A tetrahedron is a solid figure with how many triangular faces?

5. The ancient city of Rome was built on or about how many hills?

6. A dyad is a social relationship involving how many participants?

7. In cricket, how many runs are scored by a hit which makes the ball clear the boundary without touching the ground?

8. The Three Kingdoms is a period from 220 to 581 in the history of which country?

9. In the song about the twelve days of Christmas, how many drummers were drumming?

10. “The Five” was a group of Russian composers who joined together in about 1875 to create a Russian national music. Name three of these composers.

Find the answers here.

Credo Reference, the award winning online reference library, has signed an agreement to include National Gallery images and information in the Credo General Reference Collection.

Credo has licensed high resolution images of the paintings of the National Gallery, London. Students and library patrons will now be able to find the beautiful images of these national treasures whenever they search their library’s online resources.  In addition to the images, Credo will include the National Gallery Companion Guide, If the Paintings Could Talk… and the National Gallery Visitor’s Guide to complement the images and provide descriptive information about the artists and their works.  Credo has also licensed two Pocket Guides to enable researchers to further understand artistic themes:  Myths & Legends and Narrative.

The National Gallery images will be featured in all relevant searches in Credo.  Users will be able to follow their research into Credo’s other valuable reference content or visit the National Gallery website which feature a wealth of resources, from a virtual tour to explanation of artistic movements and a full glossary.

John Dove, President of Credo said “We are proud to be able to incorporate such an esteemed collection of images into Credo.  We hope that by making these paintings more visible to library users, they will be encouraged to not only visit the National Gallery’s own web resources, but to visit these national treasures in person at the Gallery in London.”

“Incorporating our paintings into Credo Reference enables the National Gallery collection to become much more widely accessible”, said Louise Rice of the National Gallery. “There are many people who are unfamiliar with these works and taking them into the library environment will mean that many more people will be able to see and understand such important paintings as works by Leonardo, Rembrandt, Constable and Cézanne – the list goes on. We hope that this sparks new interest in art amongst people who had perhaps not thought about it before. ”

About The National Gallery, London
The National Gallery, London houses the national collection of Western European painting from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The Collection is on show 361 days a year, free of charge. The Gallery aims to study and care for the Collection, while encouraging the widest possible access to the pictures. It provides lectures, courses and workshops as well as research into the paintings and their preservation.  For further information visit: www.nationalgallery.org.uk.

The 2010 ALA Midwinter Meeting was in Credo’s hometown of Boston earlier this month, and we were thrilled to have this gathering of librarians, vendors and ideas in our own backyard. Having the conference here meant that many Credo staff could attend and we all took away some great ideas, interactions and memories.

Product Manager Nancy King attended LITA’s semi-annual Top Technology Trends discussion Sunday morning. The five forward-looking librarians on the panel started with a discussion of trends like mobile technologies, augmented reality, user experience and discovery systems. The second half of the session focused on the reinvention of the book. To get the discussion started, Gregg Silvis, the moderator, held up a Rocket eBook reader from 1998 and a Kindle. (The two devices look surprisingly similar – see a photo of the Rocket eBook here.) For more on the discussion, see Library Journal’s write-up at http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6715484.html?industryid=49157.

CEO Mike Sweet enjoyed the presentation by Carrie Page of EDUCAUSE. Her work centers on the Net Gen Learner, and she focused on what the library community needs to do to make sure we stay in touch with this demographic. EDUCAUSE is clearly thinking about the challenges we face in the right way and we would do well to pay close attention to the implications of their research.

President John Dove and others from Credo attended the Independent Reference Publishers Group Meeting, hosted by CHOICE, on Friday afternoon. The meeting brought together a panel of librarians who provided the group with detailed accounts of where they turn when evaluating or sourcing reference works. Among the questions the panel answered was which types of reference works still work better in print than they do in electronic form? Credo Reference handles a broad array of reference content types, but it is always helpful to know that there is still work ahead of us to continue our work of re-inventing reference online.

Many of us spent time in the Credo booth and enjoyed hearing from our enthusiastic subscribers as well as meeting and talking with potential customers.

Our exhibit allowed us the opportunity to introduce our newest initiatives – Topic Pages and Publisher Collections. Topic Pages are our new approach to organizing information resources and are designed to provide contextualized, orderly access to authoritative content from the library as well as the open web. Publisher Collections are available now – read about our Sage, IGI-Global and CABI collections — and Topic Pages and will be available later this spring.

A highlight of the weekend was our event Sunday night to celebrate the launch of Credo Topic Pages and Publisher Collections. Joining us were many customers, publishers, partners and friends. Mike Sweet took a few minutes to welcome everyone and introduce our newest initiatives . It was an evening of great conversation with friends new and old and an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful views from the SkyWalk at the Prudential Tower.

Credo’s final ALAMW event was our presentation at the Technology Showcase Monday afternoon. Al Stevens, Credo CTO, spoke about our approach to the presentation of related content, focusing on our use of semantic information in the development of our Topic Pages.

It was a full and rewarding weekend and we look forward to meeting and talking with you all again at ALA Annual in June in Washington D.C.

This week: Winter

Britain and parts of the United States have been suffering a severe winter. Try to answer these questions, each of which is about winter or has an answer that includes the word “winter”.

1. What is the title of Shakespeare’s play about Leontes, who is married to Hermione and becomes consumed by an insane jealousy?

2. In the Northern Hemisphere, is the winter solstice in November, December or January?

3. Name one of the two US brothers surnamed “Winter”: one a rock musician born in 1946; the other a rhythm and blues guitarist born in 1944.

4. Were the first separate, self-contained Winter Olympic Games held in 1904, 1914 or 1924?

5. Which poet wrote the line “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind”? Was it Keats, Shelley or Wordsworth?

6. Name one of the two countries which fought the “Winter War” during the 1939-40 winter.

7. Is “Winter’ the first or last of the four violin concertos by Vivaldi called “The Four Seasons”?

8. What was the first name of the man whose first marriage was to Rebecca de Winter, the eponymous character in Daphne Du Maurier’s 1938 novel “Rebecca”?

9. In which Russian city was the Winter Palace, the former Russian imperial residence which was stormed by the Bolsheviks in November 1917?

10. Which composer wrote a song cycle called “Winter Words” based on poems by Thomas Hardy?

Find the answers here.

Image “Winter”, by Jacob Grimmer. Find it on Credo Reference: http://www.credoreference.com/entry/bridgeart/winter/7

Credo Reference, the award winning online reference library, recently signed an agreement to integrate a key glossary of computing from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT into the Credo General Reference collection.

The BCS Glossary of Computing and ICT is an international bestselling guide to computer terms. Now in its 12th edition, and containing over 3,000 terms arranged by theme and defined in context, the Glossary is fully indexed and cross-referenced throughout.

“We’re very pleased to integrate this bestselling guide into Credo Reference”, said Elaine Boyes, Head of Publishing at BCS. “Credo’s unique technology is particularly well suited to this sort of title, where look-up capabilities and cross referencing are so valuable. It is a testament to the wide range of interests and substantial expertise of our members who are at the forefront of enabling the information society and the IT profession that the Institute has been able to contribute in this way. We are delighted that this resource will be included in a dynamic and intuitive online resource.”

John Dove, President of Credo Reference said, “We are delighted that BCS has chosen to add this great computing glossary to Credo’s platform. This title will add depth and clarity to our computing coverage, and breadth to Credo’s content in general, which currently contains over three million cross-searchable entries from over 70 publishers.”

About BCS
BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, promotes wider social and economic progress through the advancement of information technology science and practice. It brings together industry, academics, practitioners and government to share knowledge, promote new thinking, inform the design of new curricula, shape public policy and inform the public. It serves over 70,000 members including practitioners, businesses, academics and students, in the UK and internationally, and publishes a range of books and journals for practitioners and employees. See: www.bcs.org

Credo Reference, the award-winning online reference library, has signed an agreement with Hodder Education to incorporate three major subject references into the Credo collection. These will be the first Hodder Education titles licensed to Credo.

Hodder Education publishes for the educational market at all levels. It is the second largest publisher for secondary and further education in the UK and is also a major publisher of higher education and health sciences textbooks and reference works. The three titles that will be added to Credo Reference’s collection of over 440 titles are:

• The Essentials of Global Politics
• The Essentials of Philosophy and Ethics
• Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Psychology

Philip Shaw, Director Tertiary and Health Sciences, Hodder Education said, “We are really pleased to incorporate these resources into the Credo Reference platform. Credo has some truly innovative technology that will enhance the use of these reference works for students and researchers internationally.”

“We’re thrilled to be adding another prestigious UK publisher to our collection. These resources will enhance our offering in the political, philosophy and psychology areas a great deal,” added John Dove, President of Credo Reference. “Credo is very careful about the titles we choose to incorporate into our resource to ensure quality and balance. These Hodder titles are a perfect fit and bring us ever closer to creating the ultimate fully functional subject encyclopaedias in these disciplines.”

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About Hodder
The Hodder Education Group is part of Hachette Livre UK the largest and one of the most diversified book publishers in the UK. Formerly known as Hodder Arnold, the Group was formed after the merger of Hodder & Stoughton Educational with Arnold Publishers in 2001, and the subsequent acquisitions of the John Murray educational lists and Robert Gibson in 2002, Philip Allan Updates in 2005 and Chambers Harrap in 2006. See www.hoddereducation.co.uk

This week: Where?

This brainteaser asks where particular places or things can be found. But beware! You may find some of the questions are not as

straightforward as you might think.

1. Where is Ayers Rock or Uluru?

2. Where are the Urals?

3. Where is Guantanamo Bay?

4. Where is the Auteuil viaduct?

5. Where would you find a Plimsoll line?

6. Where would you find Gozo and Comino?

7. Where would you find Virginia Plain?

8. Where is the metatarsus?

9. Where is the Mare Orientale?

10. Where are the Islets (or Islands) of Langerhans?

Find the answers here.

John Cox joins Credo’s team of advisors

Credo Reference, the award winning online reference library, is pleased to announce it has added another prestigious leader in the publishing and library worlds to its corporate Advisory Board – John Cox of John Cox Associates Ltd. He joins a diverse international team of library, reference, academic and technology experts.

John has spent forty years in publishing, working with such influential companies as The Open University, Butterworths, Scholastic, Blackwell and Carfax, now part of Taylor & Francis. In 1998, he started his own consultancy practice which specializes in scholarly and research publishing. His clients include trade associations, academic libraries and commercial and non-profit publishers, ranging from the largest commercial publishers to small learned societies.

“John’s contribution to our Advisory Board will be invaluable,” commented John Dove, Credo Reference President. “Not only does he have extensive experience in academic publishing, but he also read law at Oxford University, qualified as a barrister, and has been active in public life, all of which will provide him with a unique perspective when sharing his input with us.”

“Each of our Advisory Board members helps us understand where the world of online reference ought to be headed,” added Dove. “We appreciate the distinctive viewpoints each of them brings to Credo Reference and look forward to hearing John’s perspective as well.”

Biographies of all members of the Credo Advisory Board are available at: http://corp.credoreference.com/advisory-board.

Renowned agricultural subject encyclopedias to be available through Credo’s platform

Credo Reference, the award-winning online reference library, has signed an agreement to launch a new Publisher Collection from CABI. A whole set of CABI’s reference resources, never before available in electronic form, will be added soon to the completely customizable, full-text Credo Reference platform.

CABI is a non-profit international organization that seeks to improve people’s lives by providing information to solve problems in agriculture and the environment. CABI has been a leader in providing applied life science information and resources in material and electronic formats for over 100 years, but recognized that their subject encyclopedias and dictionaries needed a service like Credo’s to meet their full online potential.

This CABI Agricultural Collection on Credo will include all of CABI’s key subject encyclopedias and dictionaries devoted to the applied life sciences.  They will be available by subscription or purchase on the Credo Reference platform.

Planned titles for the collection include:

• The Encyclopedia of Farm Animal Nutrition
• The Encyclopedia of Fruit & Nuts
• The Encyclopedia of Seeds: Science, Technology and Uses
• A Dictionary of Entomology
• Dictionary of the Fungi, 10th Edition
• Fungal Families of the World
• The Encyclopedia of Applied Animal Behavior and Welfare

“We’re pleased to add our CABI reference works to Credo Reference’s innovative service,” commented Andrea Powell, CABI Executive Director, Publishing. “Since we continuously work to meet the needs of researchers, professors, students and practitioners in the scientific areas where information is most needed, it was a logical step for us to add these titles to Credo Reference’s intuitive, user-friendly platform. Integrating our content with Credo will provide new context and connections for researchers worldwide.”

“CABI has a mission which is important to the whole world. My father devoted his career to public health including running an agricultural experiment station at the University of Maine in the 1920s and 30s,” added John Dove, Credo President. “So I’m both personally and professionally pleased that we can now have a role in making these excellent encyclopedias from CABI broadly and effectively available worldwide.”

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About CABI
CABI is a not-for-profit science-based development and information organization. Its mission and direction are influenced by member countries that help guide the activities undertaken. These include publishing; development projects and research; and microbial services. CABI produces key scientific information, including CAB Abstracts – the world-renowned bibliographic database covering agriculture and the environment. CABI also publishes multimedia compendia, books, e-books and full text internet resources aiming to further science and its application to real life. Our expertise includes animal and veterinary sciences, entomology, plant sciences, environmental sciences, human health, parasitology, mycology, crop protection, rural economics, rural development and leisure and tourism. For more information go to www.cabi.org

The Technology Showcase highlights the latest trends in library technology, and Credo is excited to be speaking again this year!

Join us for Solving Common Problems in Uncommon Ways: Clearing hurdles of vocabulary, context and selection in student research. Come see Al Stevens, Credo’s Chief Technology Officer, discuss our unique approach to the presentation of related content, focusing on our use of semantic information to select content that is meaningfully related to the content the user appears to be searching for, or is currently viewing.

Highlights of the presentation will include:

• The use of semantic information in ways to organize content in a meaningful way
• The depth and breadth of sources delivered to users in this new environment
• The use of semantic information derived from one domain to organize another

When: 12:40pm, Monday 18 January
Where: “One if by Land” theatre at the end of the 2000 aisle in the Boston Convention Center Exhibit hall.

Attend the session – or just stop by our booth # 2523 — for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift certificate!