[Asis-l] Library Knowledge Bases

[Gerry Mckiernan]

                                   _Library Knowledge Bases_

For a new registry (and future presentations and articles), I am
greatly interested 
in identifying library-created or library-related Knowledge Bases.
 
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... ." 

Examples of other library-related Knowledge Bases include: 
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 

[  http://www.update-software.com/cochrane/ ]

"Cochrane Reviews are full text articles reviewing the effects of
healthcare. The reviews are highly structured and systematic, 
with evidence included or excluded on the basis of explicit quality
criteria, to minimise bias." 

Perhaps the most sophisticated Knowledge Base I've discovered are those
offered by Proteome, 
which provides "a variety of products and services to integrate the
accumulated knowledge from the research 
literature with genomic information and software tools to produce a
powerful resource for bioinformatic scientists 
and biologists of all disciplines." 

 [ http://www.proteome.com/ ]

[The Proteome knowledge bases are built upon the review, extraction,
and synthesis of information 
and data from peer-reviewed journals] 


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 will be 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 

"If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."
[ http://www.sric.org/voices/2003/v4n2/ ]