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Weekly News Digest
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December 9, 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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HeinOnline Introduces Case Law Premium, Powered by CourtListener
HeinOnline announced the following to its email list:HeinOnline, a product of William S. Hein & Co., Inc., is pleased to announce Case Law Premium (Powered by CourtListener), a fully integrated case law experience that brings one of the most extensive collections of American case law directly into the HeinOnline platform. Developed by the Free Law Project, CourtListener provides access to over nine million legal decisions from more than 2,000 courts, representing over 99% of all precedential U.S. case law. Continuously updated to reflect the latest rulings, this robust collection is now available to HeinOnline users through an upgraded, premium case law experience. For more background on this new integration, visit our blog: https://home.heinonline.org/blog/2025/12/meet-courtlistener-your-new-case-law-power-tool/
ALA Applauds the Return of IMLS Grants
ALA shared its approval of the “announcement by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) that it had reinstated all the agency’s grants, including those to libraries and library organizations across the country. The grant reinstatements come as a direct result of a November 21 federal court decision in a lawsuit brought against President Trump by 21 states.”ALA president Sam Helmick cautions, “We are breathing a sigh of relief, but the fight is not finished. The administration can appeal court decisions. Congress can choose to not fund IMLS in future years. ALA calls on everyone who values libraries to remind their Congressmembers and elected officials at every level why America’s libraries deserve more, not fewer resources." For more information, read the press release.
Exact Editions Provides the Keys to Organist Magazine
Exact Editions added the entire archive of The American Organist, the flagship publication of the American Guild of Organists (AGO). It dates to 1967, with more than 675 issues that individuals and institutions can access via subscription. AGO members can access it using their login information on the guild’s website.The American Organist “is the most widely read journal devoted to organ and choral music in the world. Each issue includes feature articles on organs old and new, composers beloved and unfamiliar, in-depth musical analysis, performance practice and historical curiosities. Additional features include interviews with leading musicians and organbuilders; reviews of recordings, scores, and books; several monthly columns; news of appointments, competitions, premieres, and new organ projects; reports on the activities of AGO chapters throughout the United States and beyond; new choral and organ scores; and the occasional short story.” For more information, read the press release.
OCLC Improves Cataloging Efficiency With AI Features
OCLC introduced new AI features to its WorldShare Record Manager and Connexion cataloging applications. “These updates help catalogers by automatically suggesting classification numbers and subject headings, saving time and improving accuracy,” OCLC notes. “Catalogers can now see AI-generated suggestions for Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) numbers, Library of Congress Classification (LCC) numbers, and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) as they create or edit records. The system draws on WorldCat data—built from hundreds of millions of library records—to make these intelligent recommendations.”For more information, read the press release.
Bibliotheca Enhances Its libraryConnect LINK Central Management Platform
Bibliotheca announced the following to its email list: We’ve rebuilt libraryConnect LINK with new speed, insight, and simplicity. The newest version turns everyday system data into clear, actionable insights your team can use. It’s faster, more secure, and easier to navigate, with real-time alerts and streamlined device monitoring that help staff stay ahead of issues. With libraryConnect LINK handling the operational details, your team has more time for the work that matters.
ZDNET Explores a Recent Study of AI Agent Use
Sabrina Ortiz writes the following in “Why AI Agents Failed to Take Over in 2025—It’s ‘a Story as Old as Time,’ Says Deloitte” for ZDNET:This past year was deemed the year of AI agents by experts and industry leaders alike, with a promise to revolutionize how people work and increase productivity. However, consultancy Deloitte's new Tech Trends report found that these autonomous AI assistants actually failed to take off, identifying both the obstacles preventing widespread adoption and ways to overcome them. … Deloitte's 2025 Emerging Technology Trends study, which surveys 500 US Tech Leaders, found that 30% of the surveyed organizations are exploring agentic options, with 38% piloting solutions and only 14% having solutions ready to deploy. The number of organizations actively using the systems in production is even lower, at 11%. For more information, read the article.
Clarivate and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Publish the 2025 Research Fronts
Clarivate and the Chinese Academy of Sciences rolled out the 2025 Research Fronts (registration required), their 12th annual report identifying key areas of research to watch. “The report identifies a total of 128 Research Fronts, which include 110 ‘hot’ Fronts and 18 ‘emerging’ Fronts. A hot Research Front represents an active area of study, while an emerging Research Front indicates a rapidly developing field in scientific research,” the press release states.Clarivate provides examples of AI-related fronts: - In clinical medicine, one emerging front is the applications of the AI language model ChatGPT in the medical and health fields.
- In the biological sciences, a highlighted emerging front is the breakthrough in AI-driven structural prediction and design of biomolecular complexes.
- In economics, psychology, and other social sciences, there is an emerging front on the practical applications and risk management of generative AI in the business domain.
For more information, read the press release.
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Joins JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services
JSTOR shared that the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) has joined the Tier 3 charter program of JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services, “a values-led initiative focused on collaboratively developing sustainable, scalable tools for digital collections stewardship.”RMIT University is the first Australian institution to join the charter program. It “plans to use JSTOR Seeklight, [the] AI-assisted processing tool, to test and validate AI-supported workflows. Their initial focus will be an architecture slide collection in which more than 2,000 images currently lack metadata, with an eye toward potentially expanding to multidisciplinary student capstone projects in the future,” JSTOR notes. For more information, read the news item.
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Brandi Scardilli
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