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Weekly News Digest
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November 14, 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.
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Wolters Kluwer Health Rolls Out Quizzing Tool for Students
Wolters Kluwer Health introduced a quizzing engine featuring personalized learning and on-the-go insights for medical students, who can use it to track progress, view results, and build customized quizzes for specific subjects, topics, or their areas of weakness. Available as part of the LWW Health Library, the quizzing engine “delivers value to medical and allied health educators and students alike by moving beyond the traditional static quizzing models that are less effective with next-generation medical students,” according to the press release.For more information, read the press release.
IFLA Gathers Data for Library Map of the World
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) announced that for its Library Map of the World project, there has been “an incredible result from the first phase of data collection which ended on 31 October.” The map now records more than 2 million libraries in 99 countries. “During this initial phase of the Library Map of the World project, we have learned about the state of libraries in these countries and moved closer to our shared goal of having reliable global library statistics.” IFLA is analyzing the results of the initial phase and will provide a summary report in the near future. For more information, read the press release.
The British Library Encourages Analysis of Historical Playbills
The British Library unveiled In the Spotlight, a crowdsourcing project for transcribing, enhancing, and discussing nearly 100,000 18th- and 19th-century playbills. When volunteers mark up, transcribe key details (titles, performance dates, etc.) of, and add information about the playbills, it improves the library’s catalog records and makes them more accessible to all. The data this project records will be automatically available for anyone to download and use for research. Additionally, the project has a discussion board on which people can ask questions, make observations, share images, and otherwise engage with fellow volunteers.“Crowdsourcing projects like this are an opportunity for people to enhance historical collections while getting a sense of everyday life in the past,” says Mia Ridge, digital curator at the British Library. “There are hundreds of stories to uncover in these collections, and we're excited to see what people find as they look through the playbills. Designers might be interested in the fonts or illustrations, while theatre fans might enjoy the descriptions of scenery. We also hope In the Spotlight will inspire new research questions and new uses of the data by academics, community historians and the public alike.” For more information, read the press release.
Cricket Media and IEEE Foster STEM Engagement in Schools
Cricket Media and IEEE joined forces to create TryEngineering Together, an “eMentorship” platform for companies looking to get employees involved in educating the next generation of engineers, scientists, and technical professionals that will launch in January 2018. Based on the CricketTogether eMentoring platform, it will leverage STEM knowledge from both organizations to give employees meaningful online volunteering opportunities with students and teachers in grades 3–5 (especially those in economically underserved communities). Students and volunteers will be matched one to one and communicate regularly online to foster STEM learning experiences informed by an interactive curriculum.“We need to start early if we want to ensure that there is a diverse talent pool of scientists, engineers and technologists to drive the future of innovation. But we can’t do this alone. We need corporate support to reach all of the students who can benefit,” says Nina Zolt, founder of Cricket Media. “By giving students the opportunity to make a personal connection with someone who may be using the same fundamental STEM skills in their everyday work, eMentoring helps reinforce the message that what students are learning in the classroom today will also be of value in the workplaces of tomorrow,” says S.K. Ramesh, VP of the IEEE Educational Activities Board. For more information, read the press release.
Kudos Takes On Illegal Sharing of Copyrighted Articles
Kudos introduced a “shareable PDF solution, which helps publishers prevent copyright infringement and reclaim lost usage from sharing of research articles on scholarly collaboration networks (SCNs).” Authors published by the American Thoracic Society, Emerald Publishing, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), and the IET can “create summary PDFs of their articles, for uploading to sites like ResearchGate and Academia.edu. The summary PDFs contain links to the full text on the publisher sites, enabling authors to create a record for their work in multiple places, while consolidating and measuring the usage of that work in a single place. Publishers benefit not only from the increased usage, but also from greater insight into which networks are most commonly used, and which have the most active users.”Any publisher interested in activating this feature can contact charlie.a.rapple@growkudos.com. For more information, read the blog post.
American Museum of Natural History Unveils Exhibition on the Senses
The American Museum of Natural History is launching Our Senses: An Immersive Experience, a new exhibition that explores how the human brain has adapted over time “to help our ancestors survive their environments, work with sensory organs to shape and reframe our perceptions of everyday encounters.” It features 11 interactive galleries for testing visitors’ perceptions. For example, “A room with changing lights will reveal a series of different images depending on which light—red, blue, or green—shines at any given moment. Another space—this time in black and white—will let visitors discover what happens when our senses disagree: the eyes will see walls and a floor that appear to curve and ripple but the feet will feel a flat surface beneath.”Our Senses will run from Nov. 20, 2017, to Jan. 6, 2019. For more information, read the press release.
JSTOR Launches Forum for Making Content More Discoverable
JSTOR Forum is the newest version of JSTOR’s Shared Shelf tool for helping libraries, museums, and individuals make their digital collections and projects more visible and usable. They can upload and manage images and text on the tool and publish the content—books, journals, primary sources, etc.—through various integrated delivery options.“For nearly two decades JSTOR and Artstor have delivered valuable content to researchers, teachers, and learners across the globe. JSTOR Forum becomes the mechanism for those users and their institutions to load, manage, and make discoverable their own material alongside some of the most highly used scholarly content in the world,” says Kevin Guthrie, president of ITHAKA, which operates JSTOR. For more information, read the press release.
Credo Adds Critical Thinking Resources to InfoLit Modules
Credo debuted the CT (Critical Thinking) Expansion Pack, which expands the instructional reach of its InfoLit Modules. With this additional content of 36 high-quality videos and quizzes, academic librarians can further contribute to student success—retention, GPA levels, employability, etc. The pack covers four foundational skills for students: critical thinking, communication/visual literacy, logic and reasoning, and culture and citizenship.“The role of academic libraries is changing,” says Ian Singer, Credo’s general manager, “and librarians are embracing the opportunity to share their deep knowledge about critical thinking with students who desperately need it for their research. The best part comes with knowing that these skills stay with students long after they hand in their final research paper. The ability to think critically will open up possibilities in their careers and personal lives.” For more information, read the press release.
VitalSource and Al Manhal Make Arabic Content Available Digitally
VitalSource partnered with Al Manhal “to expand the reach and delivery of Al Manhal’s unique content collection from over 450 Arabic language publishers.” Al Manhal’s collection is now deliverable through the VitalSource Bookshelf platform for higher education.“This strategic alliance between our two companies will enable publishers and students of Arabic textbooks to finally make the same shift from print to electronic that is happening in scientific, technical and medical education across the world,” says Mohamed Al-Baghdadi, president and CEO of Al Manhal. “We are now able to empower students in Arabic humanities and social science programs with the same digital textbook platform that millions of students around the world are benefitting from. The result will be a dramatic impact on the quality of learning and education (and publishing) across the Middle East.” For more information, read the press release.
Clarivate Analytics Determines Most Highly Cited Researchers
Clarivate Analytics released its annual Highly Cited Researchers list. “The citation analysis identifies the most frequently cited researchers as determined by the extent to which their papers have supported, influenced, inspired and challenged other researchers around the globe. It identifies authors who have consistently won peer approval from international researchers in the form of high citation counts.”This year’s list features more than 3,300 researchers from 21 fields. The U.S. had the most researchers, at 1,661, and the U.K. came in second at nearly 350 researchers. China, which had the highest increase of any country, is in third place at 237 researchers. For more information, read the press release.
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Brandi Scardilli
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