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Weekly News Digest
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September 25, 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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Exact Editions Archives Historical Illustrated Newspapers
Exact Editions added four influential illustrated newspapers from the U.K. to its platform. The Illustrated London News (1842–2003), The Illustrated War News (1914–1918), The Graphic (1869–1932), and The Sphere (1900–1904) can now be accessed via subscription by libraries around the world.“Offering a unique window into Victorian and Edwardian society, as well as documenting the defining events of the 20th century, the new digital editions are fully searchable and can be seamlessly accessed across web, iOS and Android devices through digital platform Exact Editions,” the press release notes. For more information, read the press release.
Lived Places Publishing Introduces Its 2026 Collection
Lived Places Publishing Champions Underrepresented Voices and Identities with the Launch of Their 2026 CollectionNew York, New York, September 23, 2025—A Labor of Livingness: Oral Histories of Formerly Incarcerated Black Women; Refugee Students in Universities: Rethinking Challenges, Supports, and Policies; The Cowrie Shell in African Fashion: A Symbol of Everyday Resistance—these are just a few of the concise course readings newly announced by Lived Places Publishing (LPP) as a part of their forthcoming collection of 45 ebooks for 2026. These new titles will also be included in Intersections: Identity & Place, a collection of 150 cross-disciplinary titles. Covering topics such as Disability Studies, Black Studies, Queer and LGBT+ Studies, and Carceral Studies, these titles are written by, or about, real people who are experiencing the challenges and joy of their identity in the context of time and place. Each title includes suggested learning objectives and questions for discussion, making it easy for faculty to enhance their syllabi with material that keeps students engaged and thinking critically. According to LPP Publisher and Co-founder, David Parker, LPP’s mission is to partner with librarians, faculty, authors, scholars, practitioners, and others to promote a more knowledgeable, inclusive, and empathetic society. “In light of recent cuts to DEI funding and programming, targeted removal of DEI-related content, and misconceptions and confusion surrounding human identity, it is critical for us all to work together,” he explained. “As the Editor of the Disability Studies Collection and as someone with lived experience of disability, I am very proud to contribute to Lived Places Publishing. Together, we are creating valuable content covering timely topics that need to be addressed and represented …” said Damian Mellifont, a Lived Experience Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Sydney. LPP’s business models are flexible and library-friendly. The small, independent publisher offers perpetual and unrestricted access, no DRM, and whole ebook ILL, as well as subscription, evidence-based acquisition (EBA), and pick-and-choose packages. 5% of each LPP sale funds its growing collection of open access titles that are freely distributed. "We're very pleased with our LPP titles; they've been very well-used by our community and I recommend them to colleagues when I can,” said Carla Arbagey, Collection Strategist for Arts & Humanities, UC Riverside. “We really like that LPP is covering emerging topics and cross-disciplinary studies— and are committed to open access as well." For more information, visit www.livedplacespublishing.com or email Marty Mullarkey, LPP’s Account Manager, at marty@livedplacespublishing.com.
Growing Libraries and ReThinking Libraries Join Forces
Growing Libraries partnered with ReThinking Libraries to “supercharge strategic planning for libraries, enabling them to reach more community members and connect them with library services,” according to the press release.“Growing Libraries is providing a new level of tools to gain insight into communities that will help us and our library clients better target and craft their strategies to reach and serve their community. These tools create new ways to find and reach those community members, especially new residents and non-users who are so hard to engage,” says Rob Cullin, managing principal at ReThinking Libraries. “[P]revious clients … can reach out to us to take advantage of a special promotion we have available. The offer includes a small amount of analysis service from us paired with waived implementation fees from Growing Libraries, which will get libraries started with using these tools and provide a strategic basis for their implementation and an understanding of the results the library should expect from their use.” For more information, read the press release.
EBSCO Scholarly Graph Launches to Leverage Linked Data
EBSCO Information Services unveiled “the EBSCO Scholarly Graph (ESG), a linked data framework that connects scholarly entities, including people, publications and topics. By structuring relationships across hundreds of millions of records, ESG enables researchers to uncover connections, trace impact and navigate the scholarly information network more intuitively. As a knowledge graph focused on scholarly content, it provides the foundation for new discovery experiences and future enhancements across EBSCO platforms.”The press release continues, “The first set of new features powered by ESG, Citation Discovery, is now available in EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) and EBSCOhost. Citation Discovery helps researchers see how works are connected and understand their impact within the academic community.” For more information, read the press release.
Another AI Lawsuit: Penske Media Sues Google
Duncan Riley writes the following in “Penske Media Sues Google Over AI summaries, Claims Abuse of Search Monopoly” for SiliconANGLE:Penske Media Corp., the company behind media brands such as Rolling Stone and the Hollywood Reporter, has filed a lawsuit against Google LLC claiming that Google is abusing its monopoly in general search to coerce publishers into handing over their content for free in ways that bolster Google’s own artificial intelligence products. The case is specifically focused on Google’s AI summaries, a feature now appearing at the top of Google searches that summarizes answers. Penske claims the summaries repurpose its journalism without permission, divert readers away from original articles, and unlawfully exploit its content to train and power Google’s AI models while cutting into the company’s traffic and revenue. For more information, read the article.
Morningstar to Acquire University of Chicago's Center for Research in Security Prices
Independent investment insights provider Morningstar entered into an agreement to acquire CRSP (Center for Research in Security Prices), “a premier provider of historical stock market data and indexes, from the University of Chicago, for $375 million. Upon closing, this strategic move will redefine Morningstar’s position in the market, catapulting it to one of the largest index providers for public US equity index funds.”The transaction includes the acquisition of the CRSP Market Indexes, “which are the benchmarks for more than $3 trillion in US equities across market capitalizations, investment styles, and sectors,” according to the press release. For more information, read the press release.
IOP Publishing Studies Generative AI Use in Peer Review
Faye Holst writes the following in “Reviewers Increasingly Divided on the Use of Generative AI in Peer Review” for IOP Publishing: A new global reviewer survey from IOP Publishing (IOPP) reveals a growing divide in attitudes among reviewers in the physical sciences regarding the use of generative AI in peer review. … Currently, IOPP does not allow the use of AI in peer review as generative models cannot meet the ethical, legal, and scholarly standards required. However, there is growing recognition of AI’s potential to support, rather than replace, the peer review process. For more information, read the news item.
hoopla Digital Plans Expansion of Its Library Marketing Makeover Program
hoopla Digital teamed up with the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) and the Connecticut Library Consortium (CLC) to expand its Library Marketing Makeover program in 2026. Also helping “power the expansion” are marketing technology company Koios and The John Henry Eldred Jr. Foundation.“Inspired by television home makeover shows, the program connects libraries with volunteer marketing experts from both inside and outside the library world to refresh and improve their marketing and outreach strategies. Member libraries of ARSL and CLC will have the opportunity to apply for a free marketing makeover,” the press release shares. Application details are forthcoming. The makeover includes the following: - A new or updated social media strategy with graphics
- A refreshed style guide with flyer templates
- Help securing a Google Ad Grant (worth up to $10,000 per month)
- A marketing and outreach strategy tailored to the library’s service area
- A website assessment
For more information, read the press release.
Paratext Updates nest Report Functionality
Paratext made “a major enhancement to nest, the new holdings analysis and reporting service integrated into bird: Base Inventory of Research Databases.”The press release says, “Paratext launched nest in February 2025, giving bird & nest libraries the means to quickly create reports comparing their database holdings to other library collections.” Now, libraries can create unlimited, customizable groups in nest. “nest reports provide support for new budget requests; improve and expand curriculum support and boost public service awareness, via a single integrated application.” For more information, read the press release.
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Brandi Scardilli
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