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Weekly News Digest
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November 12, 2015 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.
CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.
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FCC Allows Internet Companies to Keep Tracking User Activities
According to The Washington Post, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will not impose a requirement on Google, Facebook, and other internet companies that could make it more difficult to track user activities. Privacy advocates are calling for stronger internet privacy rules, but many internet companies must monetize users’ personal data in order to make a profit.The FCC’s Net Neutrality rules state that it can regulate ISPs, not individual websites. “Although the agency appears to be stopping short of establishing privacy rules for Web site operators, it is studying how net neutrality could allow it to set new privacy expectations for Internet providers,” the article states. For more information, read the article.
OCLC Research Shares Patron Behavior Study Findings
OCLC Research released “The Library in the Life of the User: Engaging With People Where They Live and Learn,” a new compilation of more than 10 years of work studying the information-seeking behaviors of library patrons. It offers a sequential overview of user-behavior findings for librarians, information scientists, and library and information science students and researchers so they can plan for future user-centered library services.According to the press release, key findings include the following: - People associate the library with books and do not consider the library in relation to online resources or reference services.
- People may not think of using libraries to get their information because they do not know that the services exist, and some of the existing services are not familiar or do not fit into their workflows.
- The context and situation of the information need often dictate how people behave and engage with technology.
- Engagement and relationship building in both the online and physical environments is important for the development of successful and effective services.
For more information, read the press release.
ByWater Solutions Facilitates ILS Training for Library School Students
ByWater Solutions introduced Koha Klassmates, a program that provides free hosted Koha installations to U.S. library schools so they can teach their students about ILS and open source issues. Students will have hands-on classroom experience with using an ILS before entering the library field. Through the beginning of 2016, ByWater Solutions plans to roll out more initiatives for helping students learn.For more information, read the press release.
DCL and Bowker Release Survey Results on Digital Publishing
Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL) and Bowker teamed up for a survey about digital publishing trends. The “2015 Digital Publishing Survey” shows that about 73% of respondents have published digitally (up from about 64% in 2014) and that about 45% have self-published. About 13% of respondents feel that ebooks are held to a lower standard than print books, but about 53% believe that the quality of digitally published content is improving.Publishers are including quality assurance (QA) measures in their workflows: About 36% are performing self-checks, 36% are hiring editors, and 23% are performing QA before conversion. For more information, read the press release.
Senate Approves Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act
The U.S. Senate passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), bringing it one step closer to becoming law. The House of Representatives is currently considering it. “Critics claim that the law will be a free pass to mass surveillance, and internet users are scrambling to find alternative ways to protect their privacy,” the press release notes.CISA is intended to protect companies from data breaches by allowing them to share cybersecurity and customer information with the Department of Homeland Security without a warrant. Government agencies will analyze the data and share it with companies to help prevent security breaches. For more information, read the press release.
Thomson Reuters Provides Enhanced Password Management for ProView
Thomson Reuters integrated its ProView e-reading platform with Priory Solutions’ ResearchMonitor online resource management software to give information professionals more efficient and secure password management for their ProView eLibrary. They have a single login to access their eLibrary content as well as other online research materials.The integration “facilitates legal research by reducing barriers to information access through smart account and password management. And it enhances library management and security by streamlining access to custom firm-branded library content alongside ProView eLibrary content,” says Devin GawneMark, client services director at Priory Solutions. For more information, read the press release.
Google Scholar Indexes OAPEN-Hosted Monographs
Google Scholar is now indexing open access (OA) monographs hosted by the OAPEN Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes the publication of academic OA books and provides a platform for the full-text dissemination of OA titles. Anurag Acharya, Google Scholar’s co-founder, and Frances Pinter, executive director of Knowledge Unlatched, spearheaded the efforts to index the OAPEN collection—about 2,500 books from 104 publishers in 18 countries.For more information, read the press release.
Gale Integrates Google Apps for Education Into More Products
Gale expanded its integration of Google Apps for Education into multiple product lines, including In Context, InfoTrac, Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL), and Contemporary Authors Online. Users can log in to these Gale resources with their Google account information to save, share, and download content using Gmail, Drive, and Docs. In December, the company will integrate the new Google Classroom share button into the resources so educators can link Gale content to classroom assignments.For more information, read the press release.
National Science Foundation Establishes Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the creation of four Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs, which cover all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and have commitments from 250-plus organizations, such as universities, cities, foundations, and Fortune 500 companies. These hubs will serve as “brain trusts” that will conceive, plan, and support regional and national Big Data partnerships and activities.The South Hub, coordinated by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of North Carolina, plans to take on healthcare in the region, as well as coastal hazards and habitat planning. The Northeast Hub, coordinated by Columbia University, will prioritize areas such as energy, finance, data science for education, and the environment. The Midwest Hub, coordinated by the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, will work on agriculture, smart cities, and the food, energy, and water nexus. The West Hub, coordinated by the University of California–San Diego, the University of California–Berkeley, and the University of Washington, will cover areas such as Big Data technologies and data-intensive discovery, as well as hazards and precision medicine. For more information, read the press release.
ProQuest Plans New Ebook Acquisition Model
ProQuest will pilot a new ebook acquisition model, Access-to-Own, which applies budget money spent on title rentals to perpetual purchases. It uses demand-driven acquisition (DDA) and addresses short-term loan (STL) pricing concerns libraries may have, such as access to frontlist titles, allowing libraries to own more content. The pilot will begin in mid-2016 with 14 publishers.“ProQuest developed DDA to enable librarians to expand access to a large selection of ebooks while only paying for those that are used,” says Kevin Sayar, SVP and general manager of ProQuest Books. “This complementary new model addresses concerns around STL pricing—both for libraries and publishers—by exchanging a higher price point for rentals in return for expenditure toward ownership of books.” For more information, read the press release.
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Brandi Scardilli
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