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Weekly News Digest
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February 3, 2022 — 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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DCL and Partners Roll Out a Digital Transformation Survey
Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL) joined forces with the Center for Information-Development Management (CIDM) and RWS to release a survey on the status of organizations’ digital transformation initiatives. The press release says that digital transformation is usually “defined as the process of using digital technologies to create or optimize business processes to improve company and customer experience and meet changing customer demand and market requirements. Beyond simply creating and using digital assets, digital transformation is a strategic initiative that spans across all departments and has become increasingly critical for business success.”The survey needs input from all markets, and results will eventually be analyzed and shared. For more information, read the press release.
APA Urges Congress to Help Strengthen the Mental Healthcare Workforce
The American Psychological Association (APA) shared remarks made by Mitch Prinstein, APA’s chief science officer, to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Prinstein discussed the importance of Congress creating a mental health system for the 21st century, saying that “we desperately need a diverse and robust mental health system. … Our country invests over $15 billion annually to ensure we have enough physical health care providers, with the appropriate specialties throughout the country. Yet we invest less than 1 percent of this amount to build our mental health care workforce.” He continued, “Today, we now know that bifurcating physical and mental health is based on antiquated notions.”For more information, read the press release.
Apple Celebrates Black History Month With Exclusive Content and Curated Collections
Apple announced that across its product line, it is spotlighting Black businesses and innovations—and amplifying Black voices—in honor of Black History Month. Here are some examples.Apple Music has a new campaign, Music Is Healing, in which radio station The Message will have special episodes comprising conversations between Ebro Darden (Apple Music’s head of Hip-Hop and R&B editorial) and guests who will discuss contemporary issues surrounding Black health and wellness as well as the contributions Black people have made to culture. Apple Fitness+ is rolling out new workouts that include playlists of music by Black artists and meditations focusing on gratitude and awareness. On Feb. 7, it will launch a new episode of Time to Walk, an audio experience on Apple Watch, from Ayo Tometi (one of the founders of Black Lives Matter). Apple Watch is also releasing a special edition Black Unity Braided Solo Loop for $99 and a matching Unity Lights watch face that are inspired by the Afrofuturism philosophy. Apple Podcasts has curated collections from seven history-makers: author Roxane Gay, Whetstone magazine founder Stephen Satterfield, sports TV personality Jay Williams, artist Morgan Harper Nichols, Well-Read Black Girl network founder Glory Edim, and Earn Your Leisure brand founders Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings. Apple Maps created curated Guides for Black-owned businesses, including Black-Owned Streetwear & Sneaker Stores and EatOkra. It also has Guides for Black history, including Famous Auburn Avenue Black History Sites in Atlanta, National Parks That Honor Black History, and Discover Philly’s Anti-Slavery Sites. Apple News has new curated collections and audio content—as well as new episodes of Apple News Today, a daily audio briefing published each weekday morning—that highlight Black stories. For more information, read the press release.
Two More States Attempt Library Ebook Bills
Andrew Albanese writes the following for Publishers Weekly:Illinois has become the latest state to introduce a library e-book bill, with state legislators last week introducing the Equitable Access to Electronic Literature Act. In addition, Rhode Island legislators have re-introduced their library e-book bill in the new legislative session after a previous effort stalled last year. The Illinois bill provides that publishers that offer ‘a contract or license for electronic literary product acquisition to the public shall offer to license the electronic literary product to libraries, if purchased with public funds, on reasonable terms and under reasonable technological protection measures that will permit libraries to provide their patrons with access to the electronic literary products.’ The bill in Rhode Island is similar, although it specifically expands the law to cover ‘elementary and secondary schools and educational institutions’ in the state. … [T]he Illinois bill specifically refers to licenses paid for with ‘public funds,’ which would seemingly not cover private universities, schools, and libraries. In addition, the Illinois bill says ‘reasonable’ terms ‘may include’ library prices ‘no more than 100% of the list retail price offered to consumers’ for metered access titles. For more information, read the article.
ALA Creates the Libraries Build Business Playbook to Support Entrepreneurship Programming
ALA introduced the Libraries Build Business Playbook, “which showcases emerging models for small business programming in public libraries. Created by library professionals, the Playbook aims to support libraries in starting or growing small business and entrepreneurship programs, especially focusing on those in underserved communities.” This practical guide is for “libraries seeking to start up or expand their own small business offerings” and it “covers promising practices and ideas for developing programs, from initial planning to reaching target audiences and sustaining services in the long term.”The playbook comes out of ALA’s Libraries Build Business initiative, which started in 2020 with 13 public libraries of varying sizes. They received grants from Google.org to start or improve their small business programming, and their experiences informed the playbook. For more information, read the press release.
ALA and ATALM Applaud FCC for Expanding E-rate to Tribal Libraries
ALA issued a press release praising the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for its unanimous decision to expand E-rate program eligibility to tribal libraries. This means they will be allowed to join the federal program that offers libraries and schools up to a 90% discount on telecommunication and internet access costs. ALA and the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums (ATALM) made a list of recommendations to the FCC to encourage tribal libraries’ full participation in E-rate.“By leveraging library and school access to E-rate funding, Tribal communities can dramatically increase their internet access speeds and decrease costs,” says ALA president Patty Wong. “Today’s vote is the first step to address a longstanding inequity within a federal program that has brought fast, affordable connectivity to libraries and schools in so many rural and underserved communities who, in some cases, would otherwise struggle to access the internet at all.” “Removing obstacles to E-rate eligibility is an obvious starting point for tribal residents’ access to digital collections, e-government services, legal information, distance learning, telemedicine and many other essential community services,” says Susan Feller, ATALM president. For more information, read the press release.
Kudos and Impact Science Launch the Coronavirus Knowledge Cooperative
Kudos and Impact Science are building on the model of their Climate Change Knowledge Cooperative and creating the Coronavirus Knowledge Cooperative. The launch partners are the American Chemical Society, de Gruyter, Hindawi, SAGE, the University of Toronto Press, and Wolters Kluwer.The cooperative is “a cross-publisher initiative to help broader audiences find, understand and act on research relating to COVID-19, coronaviruses and other infectious and respiratory diseases,” writes Charlie Rapple, Kudos’ chief customer officer. The publisher partners “will nominate key content to be explained in plain language, and promoted through a single ‘magazine-style’ website.” The Climate Change Knowledge Cooperative launched in September 2021 and “the scale of uptake—both by publishers and by audiences—has exceeded all [of Kudos’] expectations,” writes Rapple. It now has more than 20 sponsors from the scholarly publishing and communications sector. Rapple notes, “The [Coronavirus] Knowledge Cooperative will closely follow this proven model, which also includes a research element to provide sponsors with strategic insights about broader audiences’ information needs, behaviours and expectations.” For more information, read the blog post.
Clarivate Introduces a New Report on Managing Academic Publication Credit
Clarivate’s Institute for Scientific Information published a report, “Making It Count: Research Credit Management in a Collaborative World” (registration required), which puts forth “a new method for analyzing the credit authors of academic papers receive via citations.” The press release notes, “Credit for publishing academic research often affects employment, promotion and funding at the individual level, as well as funding and decision making for academic research institutions and nations. … [T]he need for informed, data-driven analysis on credit that works across research disciplines and regions is essential. However, existing methods for analyzing credit can become distorted by exceptionally high author counts.”The report suggests using a new indicator, called Collaborative CNCI (Collab-CNCI), which “complements the already existing Category Normalized Citation Impact indicator. … But [with Collab-CNCI,] the accumulated citation count for each paper is normalized against other papers of the same publication year, the same subject category, the same document type and—critically—the same collaboration type.” For more information, read the press release.
EBSCO and HealthStream Plan a Healthcare Insights and Innovations Council
EBSCO Information Services teamed up with HealthStream to develop the Healthcare Insights and Innovations Council, a group that will consist of “250 thought leaders, clinicians, academics, and experts, to capture and share insights on issues, opportunities and trends in the healthcare industry.” They will serve 10-month terms and take part in surveys, polls, interviews, and product reviews related to point-of-care services.“The Healthcare Insights and Innovations Council is intended to gather the best minds in the healthcare industry to provide helpful information and data to those working at the point of care. Together with HealthStream, we look to uncover key findings and disseminate them broadly,” says Betsy Jones, EBSCO’s EVP of clinical decisions. Nominate a potential council member here. For more information, read the press release.
Accessible Archives Caters to Fans of The Gilded Age
Obsessed with Julian Fellowes’ new show The Gilded Age? Accessible Archives can give you some insight into the show’s time period during the weekly wait between episodes. Check out this post and the related ones listed for a taste of the historical Gilded Age.For example, Jill O’Neill writes in the post, “In the first episode of the HBO series, The Gilded Age, it is made clear to Marion Brook that, being of an Old New York family and a member of the upper class, charity work is the most appropriate activity for her energies. However, her aunt’s secretary, Peggy, has received some degree of training in order to make her own way in the world. What kind of work might have been open to women of education during the Gilded Age? Accessible Archives’ collection of The Women’s Tribune documents the spectrum of work that (some) women were being permitted to do.”
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Brandi Scardilli
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