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Weekly News Digest

November 16, 2023 — 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.

IFLA Plans to Start Up Its President's Meeting Again in 2024

“With no World Library and Information Congress next year, it is important to have opportunities to come together, share, listen, and learn. I know that many of our units are already planning activities, and our Headquarters team is looking forward to continuing with our series of regional workshops,” she says. “I believe that a President’s Meeting will both complement all of this work, and offer an opportunity for as many of you as possible, I hope, to explore issues, trends and possibilities around my presidential theme—Stronger Together.”

IFLA is also asking member nation associations that would be willing to host a World Library and Information Congress in 2025 to submit expressions of interest.

For more information, read the message.

EveryLibrary Does a Wrap-Up of the November Election's Impacts on Libraries

For more information, read the wrap-up.

Preservica Enterprise Customers Get Access to the Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform

“Large financial institutions, central and local government organizations and major brands are already utilizing Preservica’s Enterprise edition on Microsoft Azure to protect high-value long-term records,” the press release states.

For more information, read the press release.

Clarivate Rolls Out Its List of Highly Cited Researchers for 2023

The 6,849 researchers on the list come from 1,300-plus institutions in 67 nations and regions. “The evaluation and selection process draws on data from the Web of Science citation index, together with analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the ISI at Clarivate,” the press release notes.

Key statistics of the list include the following:

• This year 2,669 Highly Cited Researcher designations were given to researchers at institutions in the United States, which amounts to 37.5% of the group, down from 43.3% in 2018. …
• Mainland China is second this year, as it has been for several years, with 1,275 Highly Cited Researcher designations, or 17.9%, up from 7.9% in 2018. …
• Among all institutions, including governmental and other types of research organizations, the Chinese Academy of Sciences heads the list with 270 Highly Cited Researcher recognitions, up from 228 last year. Other top-ranked governmental or non-university institutions include the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) (105), Max Planck Society (59), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (49) and the Broad Institute (27).

For more information, read the press release.

Springshare and RemoteLock Will Simplify Room Reservation Practices for Patrons

“RemoteLock customers using LibCal Spaces for room reservations can contact Springshare to enable this integration in their LibCal site now,” the press release shares. “This new functionality will launch for all paid LibCal sites by the end of the year, with further integrations with additional smart lock brand devices and platforms coming soon.”

For more information, read the press release.

Oyster Unveils New Solutions and Integrations to Help With Global Employment

“With Oyster Embedded, industry partners can now easily offer global hiring, payroll, and rewards solutions in one click, right from their own software. Partners can leverage no-code, customizable webflows to create a seamless, end-to-end experience that reflects the look and feel of their platforms, complete with pre-populated data. This flexibility is key for software companies and partners as they look to expand market share, and opens up the ability to work with great talent regardless of location,” the press release notes.

The Oyster API helps partners and customers embed Oyster into their product and, according to the press release, “makes it possible for customers to tailor Oyster to work for their needs. Customers can quickly develop workflows and apps—like moving data from Oyster to an HRIS tool; sending payroll data to a centralized system; or automating workflows across expenses and time off.”

The Zapier integration is built on the Oyster API. “Customers can use the Zapier integration to connect easily with 5,000+ apps and move data like time off and new hire information from Oyster to apps like MS Teams, Google Sheets, and Asana,” the press release states. “New integrations with Personio helps companies sync records and time off data to work efficiently. The Slack integration will send managers and teams real-time notifications to quickly take action across the employment lifecycle—whether it’s tracking a new hire’s onboarding progress, approving time off, receiving reminders on expenses and invoices, or tracking terminations, all without leaving Slack.”

For more information, read the press release.

Thomson Reuters Lays Out a Strategy for Using Artificial Intelligence Throughout Its Business

For example, “Thomson Reuters is committed to integrating Casetext with its proprietary solutions. … [It] will leverage Casetext to accelerate time to market, blend content with workflows, and expand beyond legal research to provide meaningful benefits to customers across its segments.”

The press release also notes that “Practical Law customers will be able to benefit from generative AI in a new chat-type interface. Using the new Practical Law Answers, users will be able to submit queries in conversational language and quickly receive answers validated by trusted content created by more than 650 legal experts.” This is slated for release in January 2024.

For more information, read the press release.

Digital Science Unveils the 2023 State of Open Data Report

Nearly “three quarters of surveyed researchers overwhelmingly said they are still not getting the support they need to share their data openly. Such data highlights the increased need for greater community collaboration and tools to support researchers in the move to sustainable open science practices,” the press release states.

Other findings include the following:

• 60% of respondents believe that they receive too little credit for sharing their data. …
• [T]here was a general consensus in favor of a national mandate for open research data (64%), with respondents from India and Germany displaying higher levels of support (both 71%) compared to other countries.
• [W]hile almost half of respondents were aware of generative AI tools for data collection, processing, and metadata creation, most are not yet using them.

For more information, read the press release.

Exact Editions Captures Source Photography Magazine for Posterity

“There is such a wealth of images and engaging articles within the Source archive that can now be accessed on digital devices. The complete archive will be popular with libraries offering art and photography courses worldwide,” says Daryl Rayner, managing director of Exact Editions.

For more information, read the press release.

ChatGPT Now Includes More Recent Data

ChatGPT users frustrated with the chatbot’s ignorance about recent events will now find it more informative and accommodating. At its first Dev Day conference for developers on [Nov. 6], ChatGPT creator OpenAI revealed that the knowledge cutoff dates for both GPT-3.5 and GPT-4.0 have been extended.

For GPT-3.5, the cutoff date has been increased to January 2022 from September 2021. And the cutoff date for the new version of GPT-4 dubbed GPT-4 Turbo is April 2023. These new timeframes mean you won’t bump into as many unanswered questions and apologies when asking the chatbot about the recent past. ChatGPT’s responses about relatively recent events should also be more accurate and precise.

For more information, read the article.