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Weekly News Digest
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October 12, 2017 — 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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DPLA Opens Ebook Marketplace
The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) started the DPLA Exchange, “a pilot program to test a new model for a library-owned and library-centered ebook marketplace for popular ebooks, together with free public domain and openly-licensed ebooks,” according to the blog post. The six pilot libraries—a mix of state, large public, rural, and other types—can log in and select ebooks from a list of both licensed and openly licensed titles. DPLA may expand the service to more institutions after a preliminary period.For more information, read the blog post.
SirsiDynix's Online Store Donates to Hurricane Relief Efforts
SirsiDynix is donating all of the proceeds from its Power of Libraries store to ALA’s Disaster Relief Fund to help libraries affected by the recent hurricanes. “These libraries serve as primary access points for people to access the internet to communicate with insurance providers and family and friends,” SirsiDynix notes. Use the code RELIEF when you check out.For more information, visit the Power of Libraries store.
Widen Plans Webinar on Digital Asset Management
Widen is hosting the webinar DAM Basics on Oct. 19, 2017. It will serve as an “introduction to digital asset management and what it can do for your business,” according to the website. Widen is a company that develops “products, services, solutions, teams, and relationships that drive connected experiences—ones that make work smarter, faster, and easier for marketing and creative teams.”To register, visit the website.
Ringgold Enhances Identify Online Platform
Ringgold introduced its new Identify Database, a re-engineered solution with updates such as faster and more intuitive search capabilities (including the ability to save searches for later use and share results with colleagues), a broader view of an institution’s metadata, easier downloads, and new features for power users. The solution is now better able to host customer data and “provide an easier mechanism to search, analyze, and derive knowledge from the intersection of [a customer’s] data with the scholarly communications ecosystem,” according to the press release.For more information, read the press release.
ALA Puts Out Request for Applications to New Policy Corps
ALA is asking for applications to join its new ALA Policy Corps, which was launched by current president Jim Neal. This group of 10–12 members will aim to “include developing policy experts available to ALA and the ALA Washington Office, creating longevity in expertise and engagement in early to mid-career library and information professionals, and positively impacting national public policy in areas key to ALA’s strategic goals,” according to the press release. Library advocates from all types of institutions who meet a list of qualifications—ALA members with at least 5 years of library experience and who are willing to commit to 5 years of participation, among other things—are encouraged to apply by Nov. 3, 2017.For more information, read the press release.
Pew Research Center Studies Reactions to Automation Technologies
Pew Research Center’s Internet & Tech division released a new report, “Automation in Everyday Life,” which finds that “Americans express more worry than enthusiasm about coming developments in automation—from driverless vehicles to a world in which machines perform many jobs currently done by humans,” according to the report’s summary. The survey had presented a series of scenarios, with some more futuristic than others: computer algorithms contributing to hiring decisions, autonomous vehicles and cars with semi-autonomous features, robot caregivers, etc. It showed that “many Americans anticipate significant impacts from various automation technologies in the course of their lifetimes” and that “76% of Americans expect that economic inequality will become much worse if robots and computers are able to perform many of the jobs that are currently done by humans.” For more information, read the report’s summary.
ProQuest Makes Improvements to Ebook Central
ProQuest updated Ebook Central with a streamlined login process, redesigned book detail pages (now showing improved availability as well as descriptive and bibliographic information), and new file-naming conventions to make ebook discovery easier. “For example, users can now connect to the exact content that is important to research or classwork—at both the chapter and subchapter level—allowing them to make better use of the ebooks available on the platform,” according to the press release.For more information, read the press release.
Publishers Clash With ResearchGate Over Copyrighted Articles
In the Nature article “Publishers Threaten to Remove Millions of Papers From ResearchGate,” Richard Van Noorden reports that “Millions of articles might soon disappear from ResearchGate, the world’s largest scholarly social network. Last week, five publishers said they had formed a coalition that would start ordering ResearchGate to remove research articles from its site because they breach publishers’ copyright. A spokesperson for the group said that up to 7 million papers could be affected, and that a first batch of take-down notices, for around 100,000 articles, would be sent out ‘imminently.’” Elsevier and the American Chemical Society (ACS), which are part of the coalition, “filed a lawsuit to try to prevent copyrighted material appearing on ResearchGate in [the] future.” For more information, read the article.
EDP Sciences Creates Journal for Young Scientists
EDP Sciences introduced Emergent Scientist, an OA, peer-reviewed journal for science students that is supported by the French Physics Society and the French Academy of Science. It gives “young scientists at the beginning of their careers … the opportunity to discover peer-reviewed publishing and the publication process. The journal will especially serve those junior scientists who may not pursue a career in research, but become engineers, analysts, consultants or the like—as they will rarely get the opportunity to experience the peer review process once they have left their academic studies,” according to the press release. Its current focus is on physics, but its scope will broaden to include other disciplines, including mathematics and the life sciences.“We believe that by writing, reading, and reviewing articles, students can understand better how scientific knowledge is actually produced in our societies,” says Daniel Suchet, Emergent Scientist’s editor-in-chief. To that end, the press release notes, the journal expects authors to show “exemplary scientific rigour and clarity in the way they tackle a problem and report their findings.” For more information, read the press release.
Springer Nature's Bookmetrix Gets Improvements
Bookmetrix now provides better insights into the reach and impact of Springer Nature’s ebook collections. For example, there are newly designed Collection discovery pages to show the impact of collections at a particular university and highlight a collection’s top titles there. A new metric from Springer Nature, the Collection Citation Performance (CCP), helps users assess the quality of their ebook collections. According to the press release, “With these new, innovative features, Bookmetrix is adding value by offering detailed information for authors and readers as well as librarians.”For more information, read the press release.
Credo Makes It Easier to Fight Fake News
Credo launched “a ‘Real-time Reference’ category within search results to help students easily identify reliable sources on current issues of importance,” according to the press release. It showcases up-to-date and accurate reference content on current events and controversial topics.Additionally, Credo partnered with ProCon.org to make the site’s Debate Topics available within Credo’s Core Collections. Credo notes that “ProCon.org’s carefully curated arguments and background context are compiled from multiple viewpoints, reliable sources, and key experts in a diverse array of topics influencing today’s society.” For more information, read the press release.
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Brandi Scardilli
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