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Weekly News Digest

April 1, 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. CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.

DOAJ Transitions to the DOAJ Foundation

For more information, read the blog post.

CCC Plans April 8 Town Hall on Ethical LLMs

• Roanie Levy, former CEO and president of Access Copyright
• Ed Newton-Rex, founder of Fairly Trained and former VP of audio at Stability AI
• Jillian Bommarito, co-founder and chief risk officer of 273 Ventures and head of governance for the Institute for the Advancement of Legal and Ethical AI

The town hall has the following goals for participants:

• Understand why responsible AI is achievable today—not a distant aspiration.
• Learn how ethical AI mitigates legal and reputational risks.
• Gain insight into why businesses should prioritize licensing content for AI systems.

Continuing Comments on IMLS and Condemnations of the Executive Order Targeting the Smithsonian

On March 31, Book Riot’s Kelly Jensen published “The Institute for Museum and Library Services Was Just Gutted,” explaining the latest developments in the administration’s enacting of the executive order, including: “all staff members have been placed on administrative leave ... Email addresses for all IMLS staff were being disabled. ... Those with questions or concerns over IMLS funding will no longer be able to reach the individual or individuals with whom they’d been working.”

On March 24, SLA issued a statement from its board, which reads in part, “Eliminating IMLS will negatively impact literacy, education, and equal access to knowledge. Seeking to dismantle this vital agency is counterproductive to communities that rely on these institutions for education, job training, and access to information.” (Two days later, SLA announced its dissolution, saying that it “will continue to operate in a limited capacity over the coming months to fulfill outstanding commitments and assist members in this transition.” Although not explicitly related to the IMLS news, this decision was made “[a]fter careful evaluation of the organization’s financial sustainability and the evolving needs of the profession,” SLA notes.)

In a March 26 press release, ALA shared some hopeful news:

[ALA] applauded a letter sent by a bipartisan group of Senators that defends federal funding for libraries and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). … The letter was sent by a bipartisan group of library and museum champions: Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

The Senators’ letter states: ‘As the lead authors of the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA) of 2018 (PL 115-40), which was signed into law by President Trump, we write to remind the Administration of its obligation to faithfully execute the provisions of the law as authorized.’ The letter continues that the Senators expect IMLS to carry out the programs that Congress has funded in appropriations laws.

The New York Times weighed in with “Library Advocates Rally as Trump Targets Federal Funding” by Jennifer Schuessler, who writes that IMLS’s “19-member advisory board sent a letter to [appointed IMLS acting director Keith E.] Sonderling, stating that a number of its programs, including its grants to state library agencies and its support for Native American library services, had been established by statute so cannot be ended without the approval of Congress.” Schuessler continues, “The extent of any cuts at the agency, and potential legal challenges to them, remain unclear. But Paula Krebs, executive director of the Modern Language Association, the largest association of teachers and researchers in the humanities, said the move was part of the administration’s ‘larger attack on education,’ including an executive order aimed at shuttering the Department of Education.”

Leo S. Lo wrote an opinion piece for The Guardian, “Trump’s Attack on Libraries Was Predictable. Its Consequences Could Be Devastating.” He states, “Given escalating book bans, rising censorship and growing hostility toward educational and cultural institutions, this crisis has been building for years. Yet the predictability doesn’t make it less troubling; it signals clearly that the stakes are higher than ever.”

The Trump administration published another troubling executive order on March 27, this time accusing museums such as the Smithsonian Institution of rewriting history and promising to rewrite it again to prioritize the history the administration finds acceptable. Library Journal’s INFOdocket blog has a roundup of statements decrying it.

New JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services Will Streamline Preservation and Discovery

For thirty years, JSTOR has partnered with libraries and the broader academic community to leverage technology in service of a shared mission: preserving knowledge, expanding access, and supporting the essential work of research, teaching, and learning. …

[Now] I’m excited to share the next step in that work: the launch of JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services.

This new offering is the result of deep collaboration with our global community of librarians, archivists, and others entrusted with the care of unique and culturally significant collections. It … introduces a set of tools designed to meet one of today’s most pressing challenges: how to process and make discoverable the vast and growing collections that remain hidden from view. …

[T]his new service integrates digital asset management, long-term preservation (powered by Portico), and a first-of-its-kind, AI-assisted collections processing tool—all within a seamless, cloud-hosted platform.

At its core, Digital Stewardship Services is about helping institutions scale the work they’re already doing to meet the ends that matter. By making some of the most time-intensive tasks faster and more efficient, we aim to free up capacity for the deeper, more meaningful aspects of stewardship—those that require human expertise, judgment, and context.

For more information, read the blog post.

EBSCOlearning Unveils a Demographic Data Research Tool

For more information, read the press release.

Oxford University Press Publishes First Two Topics in Its Series of Interdisciplinary Research

Oxford Intersections provides a new route for researchers, connecting original research across discipline boundaries and underlining its real-world relevance for users of all kinds, from students and scholars to policy- and decision-makers.

Overseen by a General Editor, each Intersection is curated by leading academic and global experts across the humanities and social sciences, and the first topics have now been published. AI in Society and Racism by Context represent global issues that present the world with multi-faceted challenges and demand a corresponding breadth of response.

For more information, read the news item.

hoopla Adds a Puzzmo BingePass for Online Word Games, Puzzles, and More

For more information, read the press release.

Cadmore Media and HighWire Team Up for Integrated Video Accessibility

The press release continues, “These videos will be accessible and aligned with scholarly best practices, ensuring a smooth viewing experience for all users. Cadmore’s player supports essential features like closed captions, transcripts and audio descriptions, meeting accessibility standards and enhancing inclusivity for diverse audiences.”

For more information, read the press release.

New Gale Online Course Teaches Text and Data Mining With Humanities Primary Sources

1. Using Digital Archives—introduces students to the fundamentals of working with digital primary source collections.
2. Mining Text and Data—explores techniques for extracting valuable insights from large volumes of textual information.
3. Building Content Sets—teaches students how to curate and organize relevant primary source materials for their research projects.
4. Cleaning Data—a crucial step to remove irrelevant text and characters to prepare for analysis.
5. Analyzing Data—delves into various methods and tools for interpreting processed information.
6. Creating and Publishing Projects—guides students through the process of presenting their findings to their classmates or a wider audience.

For more information, read the blog post and the press release.

ISSN International Centre Clarifies Rules for ISSN Assignment

PRESS RELEASE

The ISSN International Centre, in cooperation with the National ISSN Centres worldwide, reaffirms its commitment to the transparent and consistent assignment of ISSNs based on geographical criteria and in accordance with the requirements of ISO 3297. This ensures the accurate description and accessibility of serial publications across global information networks.

ISSN assignment follows a geographical rule: the country of publication is determined by the first or most typographically prominent place mentioned on a given resource. In cases where this information is missing, external sources such as a publisher's website or a publication database may be consulted. For online resources without a clear country of publication, the location of the publisher’s principal place of business is used, excluding the location of the web host, distributor or server. Under normal circumstances, a National ISSN Centre has sole responsibility for assigning ISSNs to continuing resources published within its jurisdiction, in accordance with international law and agreements with the International Centre.

However, in cases where there is no national ISSN centre, in occupied or disputed territories and in countries not officially recognised by the United Nations, or where there is no ISO country code, the International ISSN Centre assumes responsibility for assigning ISSNs for as long as necessary. In occupied and/or disputed territories and other conflict zones, the International Centre applies special measures to ensure fairness and consistency in the administration of ISSN assignments. These measures include:

• Assign ISSNs using the ISO 3166 three-letter country code of the internationally recognised country and the centre code 0 for the International Centre.
• Adding detailed publication history records, including earliest and current places of publication, publisher names and ISSNs of related titles, along with a public note in the ISSN portal (portal.issn.org) explaining the exceptional circumstances.
• Manage split publications resulting from territorial disputes by closing original ISSN records and assigning new ISSNs to affected titles.
• Ensure proper linking of related titles through bibliographic fields and public annotations.

In territories without an ISO country code, the International Centre may assign ISSNs at the request of publishers, using ‘INT’ as the country code and centre code 0, in consultation with the relevant national centres as appropriate.

By maintaining these strict assignment protocols, the ISSN International Centre fulfils its mission to provide stable and internationally recognised identifiers for serial publications, thereby promoting clarity and accessibility in the global publishing landscape. However, the assignment of an ISSN does not constitute proof of the intellectual property rights associated with the identified resources.

The ISSN International Centre is the global authority responsible for the assignment and management of International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSNs), working with a network of National Centres to support the bibliographic control and dissemination of serial publications worldwide.

CONTACT

Gaëlle Béquet, Director, ISSN International Centre, ISSN

gaelle.bequet@issn.org