You're reading the November 2009 issue of Research Helpline! It features tips and commentary on research resources and news of interest. Your comments are always welcome.
If you're new to Research Helpline!, you will find previous editions from 2007 archived in the News section of this website.
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I've always enjoyed tabular data and mapping, and hope this interactive map application will be of interest to you:
Online database: Mapping Languages in the United States - from Modern Language Association comes an interactive US Census and ACS-based language and cultural map. It displays the locations and numbers of speakers of thirty languages and three groups of less commonly spoken languages in the United States.
Data points viewed on the map include:
* Per centage by county * Number by county * Number by zip code
http://www.mla.org/census_map
With the holidays approaching, food and beverages come to mind. (Well, to be honest, food and beverages are on my mind most of the time, but especially now...) . The Museum Directory contains an international list of more than 1200 museums and collections, both private and public, dedicated to food and beverages. This data base was compiled over several years by Shirley Cherkasky, founder of the Culinary Historians of Washington, DC and by Randy Schwartz of the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor. A team at the University of Wisconsin Libraries prepared the new database. Food History News based out of Islesboro, Maine is the one to contact for new museums or any changes or errors found in the information - http://www.foodhistorynews.com/directory.html. Sandy Oliver is the Publisher/Editor and she also teaches historic recipe research and responds to media requests on historic food. She can be found at editor@foodhistorynews.com.
Are news sources credible? Readers of news sites and blogs can provide feedback to say whether they think a particular report or story in a newspaper or blog is credible or not. Shafquat Islam, co-founder of Newscred, based in Toronto, thinks this new search engine, still in beta, is worth attention. (Try it out yourself and let them know.) Based on a CredRank rating, between 1-100, established by readers, you can also generate your own personalized "newspaper" in minutes, pulling from the 100 largest circulation newspapers, top 50 U.S. newspapers, and top 100 blogs ranked by Technorati. You can contribute to the subjects of interest while gaining access to millions of documents on demand. Part social media, part mainstream newsmedia, you can roll your own personalized digital newspaper. I still like http://www.aldaily.com myself, but newscred has it's place too in the growing media marketplace. Check it out: http://www.newscred.com.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!