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Weekly News Digest
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March 20, 2025 — 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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Lived Places Publishing Content Joins the Fulcrum Platform to Enhance Access
Lived Places Publishing launched on the Fulcrum platform, which enables the discoverability and preservation of digital scholarship. “This milestone marks a significant advancement in the accessibility and discoverability of scholarly content focused on the lived experience of place,” the press release shares. The company’s “publishing model includes full eBook Interlibrary Loan (ILL), DRM-free, unlimited user access, within a one-time perpetual rights acquisition model.” It “sets aside 5% of all revenues to underwrite certain titles as Open Access, at the author’s request.”For more information, read the press release.
Library Community Rallies to Save IMLS
We knew it was coming, but what does it actually mean? What can you and your community do to help?On March 14, the Trump administration issued an executive order (EO) stating that “the non-statutory components and functions of [seven listed] governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law”; one of the entities is the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The head of each entity “shall submit a report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget [OMB] confirming full compliance with this order and explaining which components or functions of the governmental entity, if any, are statutorily required and to what extent.” RESOURCES FROM EVERYLIBRARY EveryLibrary has the resources you need to make sense of this order. “We are extremely concerned that the wording of this E.O. could result in cuts to the core functions of IMLS. The Administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have used similar E.O.s to dismantle the other federal agencies,” the organization states. EveryLibrary created a portal, saveimls.org, with calls to action for the public, and a petition that already has more than 17,000 signatures. EveryLibrary’s explainer, Understanding IMLS’s “Shall” and “May” Language, breaks down “which programs fall under which ‘functions and obligations’ sections” of the EO so info pros can understand what’s at stake. “IMLS’s statutory obligations are vitally important to state libraries, Native and Hawaiian libraries, and so many grant recipients. Congress must help the library, archives, and museum sector weather this by ensuring OMB does not exceed the EO’s authority,” John Chrastka, EveryLibrary’s executive director, tells NewsBreaks. ALA’S INITIATIVES “Americans have loved and relied on public, school and academic libraries for generations. By eliminating the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services, the Trump administration’s executive order is cutting off at the knees the most beloved and trusted of American institutions and the staff and services they offer,” ALA’s statement reads, in part. “We encourage U.S. Congressmembers, Senators and decision makers at every level of government to visit the libraries that serve their constituents and urge the White House to spare the modest federal funding for America’s libraries. And we call on all Americans who value reading, learning, and enrichment to reach out to their elected leaders and Show Up For Our Libraries at library and school meetings, town halls, and everywhere decisions are made about libraries.” ALA’s I Love Libraries initiative published a post with calls to action for the public, including, “Our elected officials need to hear why we value our libraries. Share a story of how your library [has] helped you, and let them know that federal funding is essential for your library to continue providing the essential services that support our communities.” MORE CALLS TO ACTION The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) offers its own resources and call to action page, saying, “The sooner you are able to share this message, the greater the chances that we can flood elected officials’ phone lines and inboxes when it counts the most.” On Bluesky, Alt Library of Congress posted a script anyone can use to contact their reps about the importance of IMLS. It’s designed for written communication, but you can tailor it to a phone call script. IN THE NEWS POLITICO and The Hill are both spreading the news about the harm the new EO could do. “Trump is already facing pushback for [attempting to eliminate] the agencies. Many of the agencies targeted in recent weeks have been created by and received appropriations from Congress, setting up Trump’s administration to push the bounds of executive power,” Politico shares. The Hill highlights the “challenges in the courts—federal judges in both Maryland and Northern California district courts issued orders … halting the mass dismissals” from federal agencies that could help protect the EO-affected agencies. On March 14, Book Riot posted “Librarian Criminalization Bills Are Growing, But They’re Not New,” as part of Kelly Jensen’s book censorship news roundup. It’s not directly related to the EO, but it’s still a damaging part of the Project 2025 playbook that needs attention, and, in fact, as Jensen writes, “with the kind of reception and blasting that librarian criminalization bills are seeing on social media and in the broader media, it’s worth noting that none of these bills are new.” On March 11, Katina issued “A Call for Harm Reduction Strategies” that is more relevant than ever after this new EO, saying, “The new US presidential administration has launched an unprecedented assault on research and higher education. This isn’t just collateral damage from wide-ranging realignment of budgets, which would be bad enough, but an orchestrated attack on academic freedom, research funding, and the institutional autonomy that underpins intellectual progress. Each of these will have immediate and downstream impacts on academic libraries.” SAVING DATA The Data Rescue Project posted on Bluesky, “We thought maybe the IMLS would be overlooked but because it’s so critical for libraries we went ahead and archived all of the data we could find with the help of @everylibrary.bsky.social But of course IMLS and now #libraries are now under attack.” Scroll down to see what the organization has logged in its Rescue Tracker.
The Latest 2025 People News
Emily Chapuis became the acting general counsel and associate register of copyrights at the U.S. Copyright Office on March 13. She was previously deputy general counsel; she joined the office in 2023. Before that, Chapuis was a commercial litigator and partner at a national law firm.Cadmore Media assembled its first advisory board: Stephen Rhind-Tutt (former head of Alexander Street), Jennifer Schivas (CEO of 67 Bricks), Michael Cassata (an advisor at Rockland Trust), Marty Kahn (former CEO of ProQuest), and Earl B. Beutler (co-founder of LabArchives). The members will provide strategic insights and guidance to the company as it expands and creates new digital offerings for its customers. Eric Miller, most recently chief strategist for EBSCO Information Services, was appointed OverDrive’s first director of data and information science. In this role, he will lead the team introducing supplemental search and visual knowledge maps to the company’s platforms, apps, and catalogs. Miller will also be in charge of OverDrive’s data repositories and help develop new discovery tools for exploring library collections across Libby, Sora, Kanopy, and TeachingBooks. eLife added five new people to its board of directors: Dinesh Natesan (a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California–Santa Barbara), Kamran Naim (the head of open science at CERN in Switzerland), Fiona Watt (director of EMBO in Germany), Huda Zoghbi (a distinguished service professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas), and Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan (DAE- Homi Bhabha Chair Professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in India). They will work with existing board members to determine the organization’s strategic priorities and develop policies while maintaining organizational integrity.
More Reactions to the Executive Order Targeting IMLS
The following are additional reactions to the Trump administration’s March 14 executive order threatening to defund IMLS that NewsBreaks began tracking in Library Community Rallies to Save IMLS.OverDrive’s Libby Life blog posted “What You Can Do to Support Libraries Right Now.” It’s geared toward giving the public action items to support their libraries. “Cutting funding to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) jeopardizes [the] essential services that millions rely on every day. Ensuring sustainable library funding isn’t a political issue—it’s an investment in education, economic opportunity, and civic engagement for all.” Kelly Jensen at Book Riot issued an explainer and guide, “Library Funding Targeted in New Trump Executive Order: What It Means & What to Do Now,” saying, “While Congress is required to at least send federal funding to state libraries through the Grants to States program, the way that Executive Orders have been interpreted by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) opens up plenty of spaces where cuts could do deep damage to publicly-funded libraries nationwide. We’ve already seen this play out in other government departments since the president took office in January.” The Freedom to Read Foundation published a statement about the executive order, “Freedom to Read Foundation’s Response to the Removal of Funding for IMLS.” It notes, in part, “Libraries are our tangible expression of the First Amendment and the promise that all people enjoy the freedom to read and believe as they choose. The Freedom to Read Foundation believes that well-funded and well-supported libraries are the foundation for a functioning, inclusive democracy, and are necessary for the flourishing of individuals and our nation as a whole.”
The JSTOR Access in Prison Program Reaches 1 Million-User Milestone
JSTOR announced the following:In just over a year, the JSTOR Access in Prison program has doubled its reach in US state and federal prison facilities. … Today, more than one million incarcerated learners can now research, download, and read academic journal articles, books, and other scholarly materials via the JSTOR platform. ‘People in prisons use JSTOR the same way as people on the outside,’ [senior manager Stacy] Burnett said. Many use JSTOR to pursue structured educational goals such as degrees and certificates, others for more self-directed learning. … More than 95% of US state and federal prison facilities now provide access to JSTOR, and the program is now active in 24 countries. … Burnett notes that while one million is a remarkable number, it represents just half of people incarcerated in the US and only 10% of people incarcerated worldwide. For more information, read the news item.
The Presearch Search Engine Raises Funds for a Decentralized Web Index
Business Insider posted the following:Presearch, the ultra private, non-profiling, Web3 meta-search engine that does not track users or sell data to advertisers, today announced the official launch of its WeFunder campaign to raise $1,200,000. The funding will go towards accelerating the rollout of the world’s first decentralized Web index, supercharging ad sales, user acquisition and marketing efforts, as well as the development of UI tools, advertiser tools and gamification techniques to make search fun, rewarding, and engaging. … Skepticism around ‘Big Search’ continues to grow among an increasingly tech-savvy and data-conscious population, and Presearch has emerged as a timely alternative—a platform that is redefining search for the Web3 era, underpinned by the principles of privacy and transparency. For more information, read the press release.
AIAA Teams With Kudos to Provide Promotional Packages to Authors
Kudos partnered with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) to give AIAA authors “a cutting-edge promotional package aimed at maximizing and accelerating readership and impact for research publications.” The package “leverages plain language summaries and search marketing to build audiences.” It’s part of Kudos’ b2c profit-sharing model, which “helps societies and publishers quickly scale up new skills, services and revenue streams.”“As the research landscape becomes increasingly competitive, providing our members with innovative tools to enhance their professional profiles is more important than ever,” says Michele Dominiak, SVP of publishing and education at AIAA. “This partnership allows us to explore a new approach to delivering valuable services that benefit both our authors and the industry.” For more information, read the blog post.
Psychoanalysis Journal Leads the Way in Upcoming Additions to the Open Library of Humanities
The European Journal of Psychoanalysis (EJP) is joining the Open Library of Humanities (OLH) in 2025. “EJP has been respected as a leading journal in psychoanalytic theory for almost three decades; moving to OLH ensures it can continue this distinguished record and secures the journal’s publishing future,” says Caroline Edwards, executive director of OLH. “Positioned at the intersection of psychoanalysis and critical theory, EJP offers its readers a compelling set of theoretical tools for our present crisis-ridden era. The journal is a brilliant addition to OLH’s portfolio of cutting-edge humanities and social sciences titles.”OLH notes that EJP “is the first of several new journals joining the OLH in 2025, with more announcements coming soon. Thanks to the support of our international network of library members, the OLH has been able to undertake the complex, skilled technical work of migrating these journals and committing to fund the cost of their publication in perpetuity.” For more information, read the announcement.
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Brandi Scardilli
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