Law Libraries and Librarians Social Network

In case you haven't heard (but it looks like an awful lot of you have), Jim Milles is at it again. He has set up a new social network site for Law Libraries and Librarians on Ning. If you don't yet have a Web presence, now's your chance. You can post questions, comments, or even photos. It's a chance to network with people who do what you do...across the globe.

You don't need a picture, a Web site, or a blog. You don't need to Tweet. You just sign up and play around. Before long, you will probably have a picture, or a Web site... Well, you get the idea. Go play!

Law Library Stuff?

He's been hinting for a while now, but in Steven Cohen's latest post, he more than hinted that there is a big change afoot for his Library Stuff blog. He wrote:

"I’m in a similar boat for my blog. I need to move on too. Starting tomorrow, the main content for LS will be different. I’m going to concentrate on what I know best: Law libraries, marketing the law library, and related issues. I hope you like it."

Of course we'll like it! Bring it on Steven. And welcome to the blawgosphere.

Feed of the Week: Editor & Publisher Breaking News

Do you want to keep track of what's happening in the North American newspaper industry? If you do, you should check out Editor & Publisher.

They've been around since 1884 (when John and Mary were most popular), but they've done a good job keeping up with the times. They currently offer 7 feeds, but the Breaking News feed is my favorite. Here it is:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/EditorAndPublisher-BreakingNews

Check Out How Popular Your Name is in the U.S.

The Social Security Administration just released its Top 10 Popular Baby Names for 2007. Emily and Jacob are in 1st place. Sadly, Abigail is still in the top 10. My full name isn't Abigail, but since all of those Abigails are called Abby (or Abbie or Abbi or Abbey or...well, you get the point), it might as well be.

Ten years ago, Abigail hit the top 20 and now you can't go anywhere without moms yelling, "Abby!" This is new to me and I can't help but respond.

Now it's time for me to get off that tangent and turn to what I was actually going to write about. The Social Security Popular Names page is pretty fun. You can:

• Check popular baby names back to 1880 (That might be helpful for that novel you're writing.).
• Check to see how popular a specific name was (where it ranked in the top 1000) for each year since 1880.
• Get the entire list of 1000 most popular names for any given decade. For example, did you know that Admiral and Anner were the 1000th most popular name in the 1890s? They were actually beaten out by Egbert and Mabell.
• Check back one week from today to get access to the "Top 5 Names by State."

Now back to the tangent.... Even though Abigail has become extremely popular, my full name has not. In fact, my name is more unique than Eura, Anner, Mabell, Paralee, Ebba, Astrid, Huldah, and oh so many more charming names. Interestingly (to me anyway), my full name has never appeared in the top 1000 for the past 128 years. I'll bet it's never made the top 1000...ever.

In case you're wondering - no, it's not Rumpelstiltskin.

2008 Top Doctors

For years I, like many people in the DC area, have relied on Washingtonian Magazine's "Top Docs" issue to find doctors in the Washington, DC area. I always used outdated versions that were available for free on the Web. The top doctors don't really change all that much from year-to-year.

Recently, I went looking for that old online version and came up with the current version instead. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was only $4.95 to obtain unlimited access to the database for a year. I love free, but $4.95 sounded like a mighty good deal. So, I tried it.

I am a little disappointed with it. You can search the database by area, but you can't choose multiple areas (unless you choose all areas or an entire state). So, if you live in Silver Spring, MD near Wheaton and Kensington and work in N.E. DC, but can easily get to N.W. DC, you have to conduct 5 separate searches to hit all of those areas. Honestly? I think I'd rather flip through the hard copy edition.

I was happy to see that the 2008 edition includes a list of insurance plans accepted by each doctor. That's great since more and more doctors are dropping all or many kinds of insurance. However, you can't narrow your search by looking for doctors who accept a specific kind of insurance. Again, I'd rather mark-up a hard copy than browse through all of these superfluous hits.

Since so many physicians aren't accepting new patients or are dropping insurance, and since employee's plans change when they switch jobs or when an employer is looking for a better deal, the "Top Docs" issues is a pretty valuable resource. I just wish I'd paid for the print.

So, hurray for print! Online isn't always best. I think it would be pretty easy for Washingtonian Magazine to make the online version better, but they definitely aren't there yet.

By the way, I have just updated the links in my Give Physicians a Check Up post from 2005.