In two weeks, the entire ShipIndex.org team will be in Sunny San Diego, at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference, to tell institutions (primarily libraries) about our product, and to see if they’d be interested in giving it a try. We’ll be exhibiting on the convention show floor, at Table 722. The Tables are the small products area; in most cases, these are products or services that are just starting out. It’s always a good place to see what kinds of new products are appearing in the marketplace. Serials Solutions started in the table 10-1/2 years ago; they’ll have a 30′ by 30′ booth at this conference.

What we don’t have in size, we make up for in originality. At this show, we’re running a promotion that we’re calling “We Sing Sea Shanties On The Show Floor”. When you sign up your library for a free trial of ShipIndex.org, we (well, specifically, I) will sing you a sea shanty, right there, among the other exhibitors. It won’t be amplified; we won’t have a singing Elvis or anything like that, but it will be different. So bring your library’s IP addresses, so we can get your trial set up then and there. Then choose your shanty! Or, let me choose a shanty for you.

We’re looking to a very fun — and very different — ALA Midwinter conference! We hope to see you there!

Peter

Know someone who’d love to have access to ShipIndex.org but won’t get it for themselves? Now, you can do it for them. We now offer fixed-time access to ShipIndex.org, and you can give this access as a gift. For example, you can give a genealogist-friend access to the database for three months, for $25; give a historian cousin access to the database for six months, for $45; or give a maritime researcher friend access to the database for a full year for $85. It’s a one-time payment, via PayPal (you don’t need to have a PayPal account, and can pay with a credit card this way, as well).

To make it happen, send us a note at gifts@shipindex.org. We’ll need to know the email address of the recipient, and when you’d like the access to begin. We’ll create a pdf Certificate that you can print out and give, or email to your friend, which will tell them how to access the database, when access will expire, and who is giving it to them. You can then give the certificate whenever you see fit.

This can be a great gift, for any occasion, from a holiday or birthday gift to a retirement or ‘Thank You’ recognition.

On the MARHST-L discussion list, Josh Smith pointed out an interesting piece from GlobalSecurity.org on the naming of US Naval ships.

I agree with the author about the need to stop naming ships after living people, and about the value and importance of using specific terms for specific types of vessels. The author points out how SSN 23, named after Jimmy Carter, has two strikes against it: first, it’s named after a living person, and second, it’s named after a distinguished American, rather than a city or state, as is the case with other submarines. But it’s easy to see why the Navy chose to do that, given Carter’s distinguished history as a submariner. And I imagine the Navy uses the naming of vessels after living people as a way of garnering support from those whose support they need.

There is a value, however, in waiting for several years after a person’s death before naming something after them, and also in maintaining some taxonomic control over the types of names in use.

The site has several other interesting entries related to the naming of USN ships, including this summary overview, and another about USS The Sullivans, which was the first Navy vessel to be named after multiple people. I attended the commissioning of another, the USS John S. McCain, in 1994. (This vessel, DDG-56, was named after the current senator’s father and grandfather, both of whom were four-star Admirals; an earlier John S. McCain was named just for the senator’s grandfather.)

I was doing a bit of data cleanup today, and found some moderately interesting items. I was looking at the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, and correcting the way we represented some ship names – specifically those that were used multiple times by the US Navy. In looking over the information we have about US Naval vessel names, I found that there were about 1451 names that were used at least twice; 470 used at least three times; 182 used at least four times; 83 used at least five times; and 30 used at least six times.

Boston, Shark, and all those that follow have each been used seven times; Enterprise, Hornet, Morris, Niagara, and Washington each top out at eight uses. Wasp has been used nine times, and Ranger has been used ten times.

These numbers don’t include ships that already entered with numbers in their name, such as Lexington II; Lexington II entered the Navy with that name and kept it, while each of the five various naval vessels named Lexington all kept the same name, Lexington.

These numbers are most likely pretty close to accurate, though if you spot an anomaly among them, please let me (and other readers) know. I analyzed the names of the vessels listed in DANFS to come up with the numbers, so it’s limited to the vessels included in the current DANFS online at the navy.mil site.

Hoo-boy. Big Day here at ShipIndex.org’s Eastern US World Headquarters.

We’ve decided that it’s time to find the right person to help us with institutional sales. To that end, we are putting out this job announcement and are looking for someone to join our team. If you’re that person, or know someone who might be, please let them and us know.  Please help us by sharing this information widely.

In a nutshell, this is a position for a person who knows libraries, and knows library sales. This is a work-from-home position, and we don’t necessarily expect a full-time commitment, though because of the graduated commission structure, it might be worth it. (We can talk about salaries and commission further down the line, maybe not right here on the blog.) The job doesn’t require a lot of travel, except for the usual big library conferences.

The posting is below; please let us know if you have questions, or would like to be considered for the position. We hope to make a decision, and get moving on this, as quickly as we can.

Manager, Institutional Sales, ShipIndex.org

ShipIndex.org seeks a part-time or full-time person to lead and manage all aspects of the company’s institutional sales. The successful applicant will have a documented history of successful institutional sales management; a demonstrated ability to work independently as a self-starter; and an understanding of libraries and how they use and manage electronic resources.

ShipIndex.org helps people do research on specific ships, boats, and vessels. We have a database of over 1.3 million citations – and growing – that tells people what books, journals, websites, and databases mention the vessel they’re researching. We offer our service directly to consumers and also to institutions. ShipIndex.org is a valuable tool for public, academic, and special libraries, primarily in supporting genealogy and history, but with additional application in many other fields. The successful applicant’s responsibility will be all institutional sales, in the US and abroad, with support as needed from the rest of the company. Physical location is not an issue, though the individual must be able to work in the US legally.

Compensation is primarily commission-based, with a part-time salary component. While we expect a minimum of 20 hours per week invested in the work, most of the compensation is in a sliding-scale commission structure, so there is a clear benefit to a greater time investment. This is a telephone sales position, so minimal travel is expected, with the exception of occasional conferences, such as ALA Annual, ALA Midwinter, PLA, ACRL, and others, as appropriate. The successful candidate will participate in decisions regarding which conferences s/he attends.

Responsibilities include following up on leads generated online and at conferences, generating new leads, explaining the product and its benefits to potential customers, managing consortial sales and promotion, advising the company on marketing and sales strategies and tools, helping customers through the invoicing and licensing process, providing limited support as needed and with significant assistance from the rest of the company, and other duties as necessary in guiding institutional sales.

At present, ShipIndex.org consists of two owners, who live on opposite sides of the country. The successful candidate will be the company’s first employee; applicants must be certain they’re comfortable working in this size of a company.

If you’re interested in applying, please submit a work history and a cover letter explaining your interest in the position and the library industry. An interest in maritime history is also helpful, but not required. Please include the names of at least three references. All applications will be held in strictest confidence.

We welcome questions about the position. Questions and applications may be submitted to careers [at] shipindex [dot] org.

Mike has built a nice new piece of the website that tells you how many citations you’ll find for each entry, and what type of resource you’ll find them in.

If you’re accessing the freely-accessible content, and don’t have a subscription, you’ll see how many citations are in the free database, and how many are in the complete database (ie, both the free and the premium databases). Each listing also shows what types of resources are listed, too. For example, if you’re using the free content, and you search for “Columbus“, you’ll see a message that reads:

The free database contains 112 citations from 40 resources, including 37 books, 2 journals, and 1 online resource, with 1 illustration.

The complete database contains 574 citations from 71 resources, including 51 books, 8 journals, and 12 online resources, with 3 illustrations and 24 passenger or crew lists.

Note that we also indicate how many illustrations and passenger or crew lists you’ll find in each part of the database, as well. This gives you a better feel for what to expect, if you’re trying to decide whether or not you should subscribe.

If you’re searching the premium database, you’ll see an entry like the following:

This ship has 574 citations from 71 resources, including 51 books, 8 journals, and 12 online resources, with 3 illustrations and 24 passenger or crew lists.

Of course, these numbers will change as we add more content.

We hope this will be especially useful for folks who are trying to decide if they should subscribe or not, but they’ll also be quite valuable for subscribers to ensure they’re seeing everything there is to see about their vessel.

Enjoy.

Yesterday,  I added content from ten years of indexes to Mariners’ Mirror, the core journal in maritime history. I’ve added the indexes to Volumes 76 to 80, and Volumes 86 to 90.

The index to volumes 86 to 90 include photos, plates, and some illustrations, which I’ve noted here.

I’ll better clarify the years of coverage, and fill in more gaps, in the next few weeks. Many more years of Mariners’ Mirror are on the way, however.

I’ve been to several conferences in the past few weeks. One question that I’m often asked, and one that I imagine people looking at the site are asking, is, “how far back do the ships in the collection go?” The short answer is that the range of vessels currently being added to the database is “any named vessel in a resource in English.” So, an English-language book or website that focuses on German, Italian, Chinese, or Norwegian vessels is definitely of interest, and would be added.

While in Salt Lake City for the National Genealogical Society conference, I was working on one ten-year portion of the index to Mariner’s Mirror, and it included a reference to the wreck of a named Roman ship from the 3rd century BC.

The other night, I was out having a beer with a neighbor, and we were talking about the range of content in ShipIndex.org. I told him that I had recently found a book on the Athenian navy, which I intend to add, and that I was a bit surprised that vessels had names, even back then. Since he’s a Classics professor and expert in ancient Greek and Roman history, he immediately replied, “Oh, yeah – there are many named vessels from that time. One example is the Salaminia, which was the sacred ship of Athens, and no business could be done when it was away from Athens. Socrates was sentenced to death while the Salaminia was out of the port, so his jailers were forced to wait until the Salaminia returned before they could carry out his death sentence.”

Much more information followed, including other references to actions by or related to the Salaminia, from the 5th century BC. That was very interesting to hear, and I’ll soon add the resource on the Athenian navy. I think from now on I’ll see if I can find anything older than the Salaminia. It does give a specific guideline as to how far back content in ShipIndex.org goes, though – pretty far back.

Do you know of earlier named ships? Are they in the database? Let me know, and we can check.

The problem with the “Contact Us” page has been fixed, I’m happy to report. Please do keep contacting us!

Peter

OK, maybe not “catastrophe,” but it looks like we haven’t received any comments that folks submitted via our ‘contact us’ form, since the end of March. If you emailed us directly, which you can always do, at comments (at) shipindex (dot) org, then we did get it. But if you submitted it via the form, we didn’t. Many apologies.

We’ll get the form fixed asap, and I’ll update this post, and add a new post, when we know it’s working again. Our tech team has a bug running through it (the kind that affects humans, not the kind that affects computers), so we’re a bit understaffed today. As a result, it might take us a day or so to troubleshoot and fix the problem. Until then, and after if you prefer, feel free to email us at comments (at) shipindex (dot) org, or email me directly at peter (at) shipindex (dot) org.

Oh, we also added three Navy Records Society volumes yesterday, and got another one complete and ready to be loaded very soon. Also, we’ve been working on an absolutely enormous file for weeks and weeks and weeks, and I hope it’ll be done very soon. Man, I’ll be glad to be done with that file. Sheesh.

Peter