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Weekly News Digest
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October 7, 2021 — 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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Clarivate Is on the Hispanic Latino Professionals Association's 2021 Best Places to Work List
Clarivate announced that it has made the Hispanic Latino Professionals Association’s 2021 list of America’s Best Places to Work for Hispanics and Latinos, which features “organizations actively supporting the Hispanic and Latino community … [including] companies, government agencies, hospitals, schools, associations and other organizations that serve to educate and inform the Hispanic and Latino community.”Clarivate’s Diversity Council is leading the company in “signing up to initiatives such as the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, and the UN Global Compact.” In addition, “Clarivate launched Vibrant, a colleague resource group focused on racial & ethnic diversity, inclusion and equity. Vibrant unites a diverse workforce through cultural awareness, representation and community engagement. Also in 2020, two Clarivate colleagues joined the CEO Action for Racial Equality fellowship to promote sustainable public policies and corporate engagement strategies that address systemic racism, social injustice and improve societal well-being.” For more information, read the press release.
'Internet Archive Predicts a Grim Future With Its Wayforward Machine' by Liam Tung
Liam Tung writes the following for ZDNet:The Internet Archive, the non-profit responsible for the online archive called the Wayback Machine, has a grim message about the potential future of the internet at it celebrates its own 25th anniversary. The Wayback Machine is an invaluable resource for anyone looking for a snapshot of web pages that may have been edited over time for various reasons. The project has archived some 588 billion web pages over a quarter of a century—as well as ancient computer games—and it now wants people to imagine what the internet will look like in 25 years time with what it is calling the Wayforward Machine. The Internet Archive set out a dark future timeline that sees end-to-end encryption banned, big tech firms merging to become even more powerful and information is increasingly hidden behind corporate defences. Using the Wayforward Machine overlays the site you search for with some ideas about what that future might look like. ‘Try out our Wayforward Machine to experience a world where access to knowledge is under siege,’ it says. In practice that means overlaying the sites you visit with warnings about restricted information and firewalls in a future where data is tightly controlled by the few and privacy is just a memory. For more information, read the article.
'Libraries Can Play a Crucial Role in Public Health, According to EveryLibrary'
EveryLibrary shared the following press release via email on Oct. 5:Libraries Can Play a Crucial Role in Public Health, According to EveryLibrary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October, 2021 Libraries have always played an important role in their communities, but now libraries have an opportunity that can literally save lives. “By facilitating telehealth appointments and routine screening for members of under-served communities, libraries can deliver healthcare to those in need,” said John Chrastka, Executive Director of EveryLibrary and the EveryLibrary Institute. “Many libraries have never considered this approach to helping their patrons, but it’s possible. Some libraries are already doing it.” In collaboration with telehealth expert Craig Settles, the EveryLibrary Institute is proud to announce a new whitepaper: “Telehealth Services and Public Libraries: Life-changing and life-saving opportunities for libraries to power telehealth solutions in their communities.” Saved from a stroke by telehealth, Craig Settles pays it forward by uniting community broadband teams and healthcare stakeholders through telehealth projects that transform healthcare delivery. In the report, Settles explores the models in use around the [country] that are positively impacting individual and community health while building new relationships for public libraries. In addition to the report, the EveryLibrary Institute is hosting an on-demand webinar: “Libraries & Telehealth: Tackling the Healthcare Gap!” from Mr. Settles as a companion piece to the report. Everyone who registered for the webinar or downloads the report receives access to both. Telehealth Is An Important Health Service, But Not Everyone Has Access Telehealth services help doctors observe, diagnose, initiate or otherwise medically intervene, administer, monitor, record, and/or report on the continuum of care people receive when ill, injured, or wanting to stay well. Federally qualified healthcare centers provide telehealth services to Medicare, and generally, they provide service regardless of an individual’s health status or ability to pay. To access telehealth services, patients need Internet service and a computer. Many people in rural and in under-served communities have limited access to the Internet, and often are shut out of telehealth services from their local clinics. What Libraries Can Do Libraries can help. By facilitating patrons’ access to high-quality, affordable healthcare, libraries can help patrons get routine screenings, check in with doctors about illnesses and follow up with doctors in a low or no cost telehealth appointment. Partnerships are key to the success of these initiatives. “Healthcare partnerships could include public organizations such [as] departments of health, federally qualified health centers [FQHCs], and nonprofits that deliver health to those that are uninsured,” said Dr. William Payne of Franciscan St. James Health/Specialty Physicians in the report. “Of course the individual medical doctors and independent medical groups will be interested, as well as hospitals and their providers and health systems.” Grant Money and Federal Funds Are Available The FCC’s $7-billion broadband grant program enables libraries to significantly increase their laptop and Wi-Fi hotspot lending programs to patrons. The FCC is also giving libraries the option to build and own broadband networks if there is no provider in the area. In a related effort, the Biden Administration raised money to transform 1,000 barbershops and hair salons into mini-medical centers giving customers vaccines. This project’s success is motivating owners to do more for community health. Libraries are ideal partners that can provide broadband access, digital content, and digital and health literacy customers. Libraries can give shops laptops, telehealth software, and portable hotspots to provide hypertension screening and other healthcare services suited to customers’ needs. Shops and customers often don’t have computers or Internet access. Telehealth devices such as portable digital blood pressure monitors and digital scales have to be provided separately, possibly through funds from another government agency such as Health & Human Services. For hypertension screening, shops can take customers’ blood pressures digitally and deliver the data to healthcare telehealth. Partners can recommend treatment when necessary or advisable. Shops can decide on additional telehealth services they or partners want to provide. Making It Happen Libraries hoping to help patrons access telehealth can start by seeking IT vendors who want to be the library’s partner to support the library’s mission. Strict and robust Service Level Agreements (SLM) will help facilitate the relationship, and the library administration must commit to holding partners accountable. Libraries can get help with these efforts from partners like EveryLibrary Institute, a national 501c3 non-profit with a mission to support libraries and librarians in the United States and abroad. EveryLibrary provides training and support to libraries to help them navigate challenges they face, whether those challenges are funding related or simply in serving their communities. “Organizations like EveryLibrary can help libraries harness the power of the vote and the power of grants to help serve their communities and connect their patrons to healthcare services,” said Mr. Chrastka. “EveryLibrary believes in the power of libraries, and we’re here to help them become more powerful and useful within their communities.” “Telehealth Services and Public Libraries: Life-changing and life-saving opportunities for libraries to power telehealth solutions In their communities” and “Libraries & Telehealth: Tackling the Healthcare Gap!” are available for download and viewing now: https://www.everylibraryinstitute.org/teleheath_and_libraries_report and https://www.everylibraryinstitute.org/telehealth_2021 ### About EveryLibrary EveryLibrary is a 501c4 political action committee dedicated to building voter support for libraries. Since 2012, EveryLibrary has provided donor-supported pro-bono advising and consulting to 63 library campaigns helping to win over $220 million in stable tax funding. Beginning in 2016, EveryLibrary has provided strategic and tactical support to school library communities on education and tax policy, along with supporting dozens of challenges to school library budgets and school librarian positions in schools and districts across the country. About EveryLibrary Institute The EveryLibrary Institute is a national 501c3 non-profit with a mission to support libraries and librarians in the United States and abroad. We partner with allied organizations including foundations, philanthropic organizations, associations, non-profits, and academic institutions to enhance the perception of libraries and librarianship through direct engagement with the public. About Craig Settles Saved from a stroke by telehealth, Craig Settles pays it forward by uniting community broadband teams and healthcare stakeholders through telehealth projects that transform healthcare delivery. Mr. Settles views telehealth as the “Killer App” that can close the digital divide because everyone experiences illness or cares for someone who is ill. Telehealth technology and broadband in the home provide avenues for other home-based technology services that can improve quality of life, such as companion distance-learning apps, a home business app, and home entertainment apps.
'UK's 10 Year Plan to Become Global AI Superpower' by Adam Collins
Adam Collins writes the following for Access Partnership:The UK recently published its National AI Strategy, detailing its plan to become a leading global AI superpower within the next decade. The paper discusses the country’s aims to position itself as an international leader in the governance of AI technologies, including plans for a white paper on AI regulation. It also lays the foundations for a new National AI Research and Innovation Programme alongside a review of the UK’s future computing capacity to ensure the country discovers and develops the latest innovations. … The strategy aims to educate and equip people with the tools necessary to develop the next generation of AI talent through continued support for postgraduate learning, retraining and making sure children from a wider group of backgrounds can access specialist courses. This will stabilise the UK’s position in raising standards around the use of the technology while building the case for deeper investor confidence. … This report undoubtedly lays the foundations for an ambitious ten years of growth of unleashing the potential of AI within the UK as well as establishing the country as a key player in the shaping of how the world governs this technology. For more information, read the article.
SAGE Celebrates 50 Years of the Journal of Black Studies
SAGE is endowing a $100,000 Africology and African American Studies graduate research scholarship—the SAGE Asante Award—to Temple University’s College of Liberal Arts in Philadelphia to honor the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Black Studies (JBS). Molefi Kete Asante created JBS in 1968 when he approached SAGE founder Sara Miller McCune with the idea for scholarship responding to the Black studies movement. The first full volume was published in 1971. Asante joined the faculty of Temple’s College of Liberal Arts in 1984, and he started the country’s first doctoral program in African American Studies there in 1988. A SAGE blog post shares the journal’s accomplishments.“For SAGE, this is representative of continuing support in the field of Black studies, but also as a way to commemorate and celebrate Molefi Asante’s amazing commitment to the field,” says Blaise Simqu, SAGE’s CEO. “The SAGE Asante Award will become a standard by which we evaluate graduate student scholarship in the discipline of Africology,” says Asante. For more information, read the press release.
Kudos and Impact Science Add Publisher Partners to the Climate Change Knowledge Cooperative
More publishers have signed up to be part of Kudos and Impact Science’s Climate Change Knowledge Cooperative: the American Meteorological Society, Brill, De Gruyter, Delta Think, Frontiers, IOP Publishing, IOS Press, and Wiley. Kudos co-founder Charlie Rapple is encouraging other interested organizations to contact her if they’d like to participate.Rapple writes, “Together the campaign sponsors are providing the global public with a one-stop source of trustworthy climate research that has been made easy to explore and understand. Each is selecting a range of articles, books or other climate content to be summarized in simple language by the expert writers at Impact Science; the summaries will be hosted by Kudos Select, an attractive magazine-style platform for showcasing research to broader audiences.” For more information, read the blog post.
NISO and PALCI Extend Partnership for 3-Year Consortium Agreement
The Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration & Innovation (PALCI) and NISO (National Information Standards Organization) entered into a consortium agreement giving NISO Library Standards Alliance (LSA) membership to all PALCI members for 3 years starting in January 2022. According to the press release, “The agreement will provide library staff at 73 PALCI member libraries with full LSA membership benefits, including: free access to NISO’s educational webinar program; unlimited participation in NISO Working Groups/Standing Committees; and discounted registration for all non-webinar events, including the annual NISO Plus conference.”“Several PALCI libraries, as well as PALCI itself, have been involved in our work over the years, and this new agreement will broaden and deepen that engagement,” says Todd A. Carpenter, NISO’s executive director. “It will also increase the diversity of LSA member voices, enabling us to better ensure that our standards and other efforts reflect and meet the needs of a wider range of libraries.” “PALCI libraries are thrilled to extend our engagement with NISO through this agreement. NISO is a natural partner for us as we implement and advocate for standards-based library infrastructure and approaches that will enhance library collaboration and innovation,” says Jill Morris, PALCI’s executive director. For more information, read the press release.
CyberRisk Alliance Shares Plans for Cybersecurity Awareness Month
CyberRisk Alliance is offering a series of interactive educational programs during October’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which aims to help individuals and organizations be safer and more secure when online. This year’s theme is Security by Design—Spotlighting Innovation and Leadership in Digital Security. Programs include the following:- An SC Media video series exploring how leading organizations use innovation in security as a competitive advantage, and featuring executive security leaders from Walmart, Johns Hopkins, and CISA.
- Also on SC Media, a complementary series of editorial features exploring tactics used by security leaders within specific market verticals—technology, retail, finance and health care—to drive awareness and harness cybersecurity as a platform for growth.
- An October 19 SC eSummit centered on Cybersecurity Training and Awareness. This one-day virtual event will explore tactics and technologies to help organizations drive cybersecurity buy-in and implement effective awareness and training programs.
- A freely available ‘DevSecOps Best Practices’ guidance document from the Cybersecurity Collaborative CISO membership community, developed through the leadership of Rockwell Automation CISO Dawn Cappelli, in partnership with CISOs at over a dozen Fortune 1000 organizations.
For more information, read the press release.
Primary Research Group Studies COVID Vaccinations on College Campuses
Primary Research Group rolled out the “Survey of College Health Services: COVID Vaccination Practices & Plans” (purchase required) in both PDF and print, and site licenses are available. It is based on data collected in September 2021 from 30 institutions in the U.S. and Canada and explores “how colleges and universities are tackling vaccination delivery, tracking and mandates. The report gives detailed and separate data on the percentage of students and faculty and staff vaccinated. The study also presents data for use of Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines. The study also looks at how many students that administrators feel will never take a vaccine and gives data on the percentage of colleges that offer incentives to take the vaccine and the nature of these incentives. In addition, it also looks at the role campus health services expect to play in potential booster shot delivery on campus.”For more information, read the news item.
ALA Announces American Rescue Plan Library Funding Opportunities
ALA announced that libraries may apply for funding through American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries, “a grantmaking program to deliver relief to libraries recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.” Applications will be accepted until Dec. 2, 2021; apply here. Up to 200 libraries of all types and in all types of communities are eligible to receive $10,000 in funding, a print copy of Going Virtual: Programs and Insights from a Time of Crisis by Sarah Ostman for the ALA Public Programs Office, and online resources and support.“The general goals of this [American Rescue Plan] opportunity include to help create or preserve jobs; support or maintain general operations; create or sustain humanities programs, and implement new humanities activities or sustain existing activities,” the press release notes. “Eligible expenses include salary and benefit support for library workers engaged in humanities activities; costs related to in-person or virtual humanities programming, such as book clubs and guest lectures; and marketing and advertising to support library humanities efforts.” For more information, read the press release.
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Brandi Scardilli
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