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Weekly News Digest
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May 13, 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.
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Kudos Partners With Oxford PharmaGenesis to Improve Omnichannel Medcomms
Kudos has entered into “a new collaboration with Oxford PharmaGenesis, a global leader in HealthScience communications. The partnership will help pharmaceutical, biotech, and healthcare research organizations take a more strategic approach to omnichannel communications by combining expertise in medical content and strategy from Oxford PharmaGenesis with the Kudos platform and audience.”Kudos continues, “Clients will benefit from more rapid delivery of microsites that bring evidence-led storytelling—through plain language summaries, clinical trial data, infographics, videos, prescribing information and more—to target audiences such as healthcare practitioners, researchers and patients. Kudos also includes sophisticated tools for planning, managing and measuring omnichannel communications. The Oxford PharmaGenesis ‘serviced edition’ of Kudos provides companies with an end-to-end package for creating, disseminating, and measuring the impact of medical content.” For more information, read the blog post/press release.
Statements on the Firing of Library of Congress Leaders
Following the Trump administration’s abrupt and unwarranted firing of Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden on May 8, EveryLibrary executive director John Chrastka and ALA president Cindy Hohl issued the following statements. “President Trump has crossed another dangerous line. … The White House delivered her sudden dismissal without cause or justification. It follows the unjustified firing of the Archivist of the United States in February. This pattern of political interference in our most trusted, nonpartisan institutions is outrageous and profoundly damaging.” Read more from EveryLibrary. “Dr. Hayden’s abrupt and unjust dismissal is an insult to the scope and breadth of work Dr. Hayden has undertaken in her role leading the Library of Congress. … Dr. Hayden, a past president and lifetime member of the American Library Association, embodies leadership that puts the public at the heart of public service. Our nation needs leadership like Dr. Hayden’s now more than ever.” Read more from ALA. On May 10, the administration fired Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter. The Hill reports, “Perlmutter and Hayden both faced scrutiny from a conservative nonprofit, American Accountability Foundation (AAF), which called for their firings late last month.” AAF is a conservative opposition research group that is a member of the advisory board of Project 2025. On a related note, as the administration’s purge of anything it doesn’t agree with continues, Katina’s Lauren Collister conducts an interview with Lynda Kellam, a volunteer organizer of the Data Rescue Project.
Cassyni and Springer Nature Extend Their Partnership
Cassyni Empowers Springer Nature Journals, Deepening Researcher Engagement Through Research Seminarsby Barbie Keiser The impact of technological advancements and shifting audience preferences for news production and consumption is evident in the transition from traditional print and broadcast media to digital platforms and new methods to disseminate and personalize news experiences. Similarly, the nature and process of environmental scanning for research articles and then identifying the appropriate academic community to begin a conversation about the research are evolving. Springer Nature’s Research Communities, powered in partnership with Zapnito, is “a free online platform for researchers and peers to connect, generate discussions and explore research findings that matter to them.” An extended partnership with Cassyni, a platform for research seminars, integrates Cassyni’s offerings into Research Communities. This collaboration allows any journal to “set up seminars to promote new journal issues, key research articles and calls for papers.” Embedding the Cassyni-hosted seminars into a journal’s website can attract and engage researchers from around the world. As Cassyni co-founder Andrew Preston notes, “Thanks to the ‘Cassyni Effect,’ a significant portion of this audience will subsequently cite and publish the journal hosting the seminars, contributing to the journal’s growth and success.” The platform’s communities include Agricultural & Food Science, Astronomy, Cancer, Chemistry, Computational Sciences, Earth & Environment, Genetics & Genomics, Mathematics, and Neuroscience. For more information, consult the press release and explore the seminars.
Growing Libraries Rolls Out Service for Encouraging More Library Cardholders
Growing Libraries, a new platform for helping libraries increase brand awareness, introduced a SaaS service that is “designed to help U.S. public libraries analyze their communities demographically and precisely target non-cardholding households via email and direct mail.”“Our solution gives libraries the insights and tools they need to connect with non-cardholding households and bring more people through their doors,” says Ian Downie, Growing Libraries’ CEO. Growing Libraries will officially launch at the 2025 ALA Annual Conference; visit Booth 2208 to learn more. For more information, read the press release.
OpenAthens Gives Its Library Product a New Identity With OpenAthens Compass
The authentication leader celebrates 30 years with a new name and a new look 12 May 2025, Bristol, United Kingdom—A compass is a guiding tool that helps you find the right path, so does OpenAthens’ authentication, guiding users to secure and seamless access. For 30 years, OpenAthens has been the trusted compass for libraries, ensuring students and researchers access the knowledge they need, securely and without barriers. As it celebrates this milestone, its continuous growth means it is time to give its library product, used by millions of users all around the world, a clear new identity. OpenAthens Compass is the same renowned industry product, providing seamless access, delivered securely and trusted worldwide. The new name comes along with a full new product look, including new color, logo and simplified messaging. The move aims to create differentiation, giving OpenAthens Compass a clear space in the market as the leader it has been for the past 30 years.About the New Branding OpenAthens is proud to announce the new identity of its flagship product for libraries, now known as OpenAthens Compass. This strategic change reflects the commitment to staying at the forefront of the industry while addressing the evolving needs of customers. By giving the key product for libraries a unique identity, OpenAthens Compass aims to better showcase the exceptional value it offers. This fresh identity aspires to create a distinctive and memorable presence that resonates with libraries across the globe. What’s New OpenAthens Compass is the new identity for the OpenAthens premium product for libraries, keeping all the trusted features customers already know and value. It continues to offer secure and seamless access to digital resources, supported by a team of industry experts who provide personalized guidance. This ensures a simplified authentication process, delivering a smooth and efficient experience for customers. OpenAthens Compass goes beyond by offering constant guidance, helping customers explore new alternatives and follow the right path without dealing with technological complexities. This new identity reflects OpenAthens’ commitment to removing barriers to knowledge and connecting people to information by providing a premium and secure product. - ENDS - For more information please contact: Candela Valle Silva, senior product marketing manager candela.silva@openathens.net +44 (0)20 3006 6063 About OpenAthens Founded in the University of Bath 30 years ago, OpenAthens started in 1995 as the “Athena project” aimed at simplifying access to digital content as the Internet started to become more present in our daily life. Today, OpenAthens is trusted by over 3,200 libraries in nearly every country in the world, ensuring their students and researchers have secure remote access to digital resources both on and off site. OpenAthens is part of Jisc. openathens.net For more information, read the blog post.
Archive360 Unveils Platform for Providing Governed Data for AI and Analytics
Archive360 “released the first modern archive platform that provides governed data for AI and analytics. The Archive360 Platform enables enterprises and government agencies to unlock the full potential of their archival assets with extensive data governance, security and compliance capabilities, and primed for intelligent insights.”This secure, scalable platform “ingests data from all enterprise applications, modern communications, and legacy ERP into a data agnostic, compliant active archive that feeds AI and analytics. With this new platform, enterprises can accelerate the deployment of critical AI-powered use cases across sectors, from insider trading and fraud detection agents to workforce resource planners and clinical trials while adhering to strict data governance and regulatory requirements.” For more information, read the press release.
Three Digital Science Tools Come to FEDLINK Libraries
Digital Science “will offer U.S. government libraries access to some of its most powerful research data and analytics tools under a new partnership with the Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK).” The company becomes an approved FEDLINK vendor, meaning that three of its solutions will be available to FEDLINK libraries: Dimensions, Altmetric, and ReadCube.Digital Science shares each tool’s benefits: - Dimensions helps researchers discover deeper insights from more sources in less time, guide collection decisions with data, and strengthen library planning and reporting with actionable intelligence.
- Altmetric’s powerful technology searches thousands of online sources, revealing where research is being shared and discussed. See who’s talking about your institution’s research, show real-world impact, and highlight popular research for promotion or outreach.
- ReadCube makes it easier to access and manage articles, supports researchers with smart tools, and speeds up literature reviews.
For more information, read the news item.
National Urban League Shares Data About the Homework Gap
The National Urban League reports, “As schools across the country prepare for a blend of online and in-person learning in the fall, a new analysis shows that 1 in 3 Black, Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native students do not have high-speed home internet access and are more likely than their White peers to be disconnected from online learning, known as the homework gap. The analysis includes an interactive map with state-by-state disparity data.” The National Urban League partnered on the analysis with the Alliance for Excellent Education (All4Ed), the National Indian Education Association, and UnidosUS. It reveals “that nearly 17 million students nationally do not have the high-speed internet access needed to fully participate in online learning from home. This figure is millions more than what was previously reported for the homework gap because those analyses include students who may have access to just a mobile device, which research shows is largely ineffective for completing digital assignments and participating in online classes. What’s more, the new figure for the homework gap is likely an undercount, given that millions of Americans are out of work or experiencing pay cuts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic this year.” For more information, read the news item.
The Latest AI Products for Research
Springer Nature announced, “Following the successful rollout across its journals and books of its AI tool that detects cases of AI-generated nonsense text in research manuscripts, Springer Nature is now donating the tool to STM. It will be integrated into the STM Integrity Hub, an industry-wide initiative that supports publishers in ensuring the integrity of their published content, as part of its mission to develop and trial tools that publishers large and small can use to screen submissions for indicators of compromised content.”Wiley and Perplexity teamed up to “integrate Wiley’s authoritative content into Perplexity’s generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) search capabilities for educators and students. … This new collaboration will allow Perplexity users … to access purchased Wiley educational collections and resources in areas such as nursing, business, and engineering.” Learn more from Perplexity. 67 Bricks created a “new agentic AI research assistant for proprietary content [that] can be seamlessly integrated into all existing bespoke or third-party platforms. … [It] answers users’ queries with responses grounded in paywalled and proprietary content. The tool also guides users as to what else they should be reading, as well as prompting the user to make its suggestions more useful.” It was developed as “an alternative to the public tools released by Anthropic, OpenAI, et al, which require content to be publicly available in order to take advantage of the functionality.” Silverchair announced, “Dynamic Discovery is the latest output of Silverchair’s AI Lab. … Building on the success of [its] recently launched Oxford Academic AI Discovery Assistant, Dynamic Discovery leverages advanced RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) frameworks to direct users to the most pertinent articles, books, and conference papers using natural language queries instead of relying on simple keywords. The functionality presents the most relevant sources along with contextual information about why each was selected as well as clear relevance and access indicators. Users may refine their queries through follow-up questions or be seamlessly redirected to the full-text content on the platform.”
EveryLibrary and the eBook Study Group Lead the Protest of Library of Congress Firings
EveryLibrary’s executive director, John Chrastka, tells NewsBreaks, “The eBook Study Group has put together a coalition of copyright, academic, and library groups to write a joint letter to the Chair of the Congressional Committee on the Library protesting President Trump’s dismissal of Shira Perlmutter as Register. EveryLibrary Institute, Authors Alliance, Boston Public Library, and Creative Commons are among the signers.” Read the letter, authored by the eBook Study Group’s Kyle Courtney, at ebookstudygroup.org/joint_letter_dismissal_register_of_copyrights.EveryLibrary issued a separate statement on the firing of Carla Hayden and its reasoning and implications, saying, “Most likely, Donald Trump’s administration is attempting a hostile takeover of the Library of Congress to gain access to a trove of data that could be used to manipulate Congress.”
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Brandi Scardilli
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