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Weekly News Digest
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June 13, 2019 — 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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The EveryLibrary Institute Backs the Work of the Awesome Libraries Chapter
The EveryLibrary Institute teamed up with the Awesome Libraries Chapter to support fundraising and philanthropy through awesomelibraries.org. According to the news release, “The EveryLibrary Institute is providing fiscal sponsorship and digital infrastructure support to help Awesome Libraries further its philanthropic mission. … Awesome Libraries is a voluntary organization of library professionals who contribute on a monthly or yearly basis to a common donor pool and select ‘truly awesome’ library projects from around the world to fund. Since 2017, Awesome Libraries trustees have donated $11,000 to eleven library and literacy projects in the United States and abroad.”For more information, read the news.
Survey Results on Targeted Advertising
Signs.com released the results of its survey on personalized ads, writing: “Targeted advertising may be more effective than flyers or commercials, but that’s if they aren’t creepy and annoying. With varying degrees of transparency across social media platforms, targeted ads may even breed distrust among users. To learn more, we surveyed over 1,000 people on their knowledge of ad personalization, which platforms they see it most, and when they think those ads cross the privacy line.”The results are mostly displayed as infographics here.
Digital Science Studies the State of OA Monographs
Digital Science released a report on the state of OA monographs. It explores “how we integrate and value monographs in the increasingly open digital scholarly network.” Key findings include the following:- Open access is still a relatively small part of the monograph landscape. As of mid-2019, the Directory of Open Access Books lists fewer than 20,000 OA books of all dates. … This is compared to an estimated 86,000 monographs published internationally every year.
- The challenges scholarly publishers face in adding open access monographs to their publishing programmes include issues with general discoverability and inclusion in library catalogues. They also face the challenge of how to measure the value and distribution of open access materials, in the absence of sales data and difficulties gaining usage data.
- Monographs famously collect citations at a slower rate than journal-based research articles. Data in this report from Altmetric shows that monographs also accrue impact over a longer life cycle in a broader context, and show higher rates of impact in policy documents and [W]ikipedia, than equivalent journal-based articles.
For more information, read the blog post.
Organizations Band Together for medRxiv Preprint Service
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Yale University, and BMJ joined forces to create medRxiv, a free, nonprofit archive providing preprints for the medical and health sciences clinical research community. Researchers from around the world can submit manuscripts, regardless of their organizational affiliation, and an international advisory board will oversee the service.Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory had previously developed bioRxiv, which launched in 2013. For more information, read the press release.
Penguin Random House Acquires the Book Publishing Assets of F+W Media
Jim Milliot and John Maher write for Publishers Weekly, “Penguin Random House has posted the winning bid to acquire the book publishing assets of F+W Media. … All F+W titles will be published within Penguin Random House’s Penguin Publishing Group division. … The publishing assets of F+W Books, which publishes 120 new titles annually and holds a backlist of more than 2,000 titles, include such imprints and publications as Family Tree, IMPACT, Interweave, Krause Publications, North Light Books, Popular Woodworking, The Quilting Company, and Writer’s Digest.”For more information, read the article.
'How Much Does Your ISP Spend on Lobbying?' by Paul Bischoff
Paul Bischoff writes for Comparitech, “Comparitech researchers compiled and analyzed 51 ISPs’ lobbying expenses from the US Senate’s Lobbying Disclosure Act database, which dates back to 1998.” Key findings include the following:- 2018 was the biggest year yet for ISP lobbying at $80 million.
- Top spenders include AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast, which have amassed lobbying expenses of $341 million, $265 million, and $200 million, respectively since 1998.
- Since 2011, yearly spending on lobbying across all ISPs hasn’t strayed below $72 million.
For more information, read the article.
The National Museum of African American Music Looks at the State of Black Music in 2019
The National Museum of African American Music is celebrating Black Music Month in June by rolling out its second annual State of Black Music compilation. Key findings include the following:- After overtaking rock as the most-played music last year, hip hop’s dominance has only gotten larger. Eight of the 10 most-streamed artists last year were rappers.
- Black artists were leaders in mixing genres and defying category. Lil Nas X became the most-streamed artist in a single week after a collaboration with Billy Ray Cyrus, and Cardi B’s “I Like It” topped the charts and was nominated for Record of the Year.
For more information, read the press release and view the YouTube video.
IMLS Releases 2016 Public Library Survey Data
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) unveiled the data from its 2016 Public Library Survey, which looks at key indicators of public library use, financial health, staffing, and resources. The data comes from about 9,000 public library systems in the 50 U.S. states; Washington, D.C.; and U.S. territories.The survey has been in use since 1988. For more information, read the press release.
bibliotheca Adds Enhancements to cloudLibrary
bibliotheca updated its cloudLibrary app to allow users to manage their borrowing history, keep track of their virtual library card, borrow ebooks and audiobooks, and check out physical items. Interactive receipts helps users sort, favorite, and renew physical and digital items, and the home screen now displays library events and due date notifications.For more information, read the press release.
SAGE Video Launches One New Collection and Updates Two Others
SAGE Video rolled out its 12th video collection, Social Work, and added 20 hours of content to existing collections. According to the press release, “The new SAGE Video Social Work collection will feature original and licensed video showcasing social work skills, practices, populations, challenges, and research. The SAGE Video Business & Management and Media, Communication, & Cultural Studies collections will each receive 10 hours of new content on new topics requested by faculty around the world.”Social Work has more than 325 videos, with 70% of the content exclusive to SAGE Video. The collection has tutorials, case studies, interviews, documentaries, and more. For more information, read the press release.
Exact Editions Provides Digital Archive of Theater Newspaper
Exact Editions premiered a fully searchable 2-year archive of The Stage, a weekly theater newspaper, for individuals and institutions to use on the web or on iOS or Android devices. The newspaper debuted in 1880 and provides resources for performers, backstage workers, creative teams, and others in the performing arts field, including breaking news, cast announcements, interviews, and reviews.For more information, read the press release.
CRL Makes Historical Latin American Newspapers Openly Available
The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) “released more than 1.2 million pages of Latin American newspapers as Open Access content via CRL’s Digital Delivery System (DDS). These new resources add to CRL’s growing body of newspapers digitized in response to interest from area specialists and researchers at member libraries,” according to the press release. They feature more than 50 titles dating from 1805 to 1922 across 11 Latin American and Caribbean countries.“The content, available as image-only files browseable by date and issue, are openly accessible allowing researchers worldwide to consult the material.” For more information, read the press release.
CNN Films Come to Infobase Streaming Video Resources
Infobase introduced more than 415 CNN films to its streaming video collections for schools and libraries. They will be added in two parts to Films on Demand, which is for academic institutions, and Access Video On Demand, which is for public libraries. The press release says, “More than 100 titles appropriate for a school audience have been added to Classroom Video On Demand (for high schools), and Learn360 (for K–12 schools and districts). New films will be added on an ongoing basis.”For more information, read the press release.
EBSCO Faculty Select Helps Provide OERs and DRM-Free Ebooks
EBSCO Information Services launched EBSCO Faculty Select, “a single interface for library staff and institutional faculty. Faculty Select makes it easy for faculty to explore Open Educational Resources (OER) and purchasable DRM-free e-books to support their courses. The interface provides the highest quality, affordable course options that drive textbook affordability, access and usability for faculty and students alike.” Faculty members can search and request access to 150,000-plus DRM-free ebooks from EBSCO eBooks, as well as DRM-free ebooks from academic publishers from the publisher platform.For more information, read the press release.
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Brandi Scardilli
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