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Weekly News Digest
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January 22, 2026 — 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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ASERL Marks Its 70th Birthday
The Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2026. The association notes, “ASERL has grown into a vital consortium of leading research libraries committed to advancing professional development for people working in libraries, supporting innovations in scholarly communication, strengthening and sharing collections, and fostering cooperative solutions to the evolving challenges facing research institutions. ASERL plans to celebrate “with a series of activities highlighting its history, achievements, and ongoing initiatives to reflect on the organization’s legacy while also looking ahead to the continuing to strengthen the contributions of member libraries in supporting their universities’ missions.” For more information, read the news item.
Kudos Unveils Research Project to Examine AI Search Risks to the Research Ecosystem
Kudos announced “a fast-track research project to help publishers understand and respond to the threat of zero-click search (‘Google Zero’) and AI overview panels.” It “will explore the implications of zero click search, not only to publisher traffic and business models, but also to research integrity and trust in the scholarly record. It will incorporate a survey of user perceptions and behaviours; desk research and teleinterviews to deliver insights into how organizations within and beyond our sector are tackling the zero-click search threat; and actionable next steps for publishers and platforms, including practical guidance on implementing ‘Answer-Engine Optimization’ (AEO).”The project’s launch partners are De Gruyter Brill, Emerald Publishing, IOP Publishing, Silverchair, and Springer Nature. Kudos is seeking additional sponsors. For more information, read the blog post.
Law Library of Congress and GPO Reach U.S. Congressional Serial Set Milestone
The Law Library of Congress and the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) made the 10,000th volume of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set available via GovInfo. The volumes offer more than 185,000 individual House and Senate documents and reports, including executive reports and treaty documents, issued for each session of Congress. The Law Library and GPO are digitizing the Serial Set back to the first volume from 1817. This “marks a major milestone in our commitment to open government and historical preservation,” says Law Librarian of Congress Aslihan Bulut. “This achievement would not be possible without our partnership with [GPO], whose collaboration helps ensure that scholars, students and the public can explore the documentary record of Congress and better understand the decisions that have shaped our nation.” For more information, read the press release.
NEH Announces New Grants for Humanities Projects
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is providing $75.1 million in funding for 84 humanities projects in the U.S. “New awards include 10 NEH Preservation and Access Education and Training grants to train museum, archival, and conservation professionals in new methods of preserving important records and artifacts of national cultural heritage. These include a grant to the American Institute of Physics to establish a cohort of archivists and librarians to develop practices for collecting, preserving, and enabling access to born-digital collections documenting the history of 21st-century science, technology, and engineering. An award to the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation will provide training to the nonprofit’s network of National Heritage Responders, who deploy to assist cultural organizations with on-the-ground salvage and other needs after natural disasters,” NEH shares. For more information and the full list of grants, read the press release.
Book Riot Studies How Librarians Feel About Their Mental Health
Kelly Jensen writes the following in “‘Pizza Parties Don’t Fix Burnout’: The State of Librarian Mental Health” for Book Riot:I wanted to know how much of a toll the job takes on library workers when I sent out a lengthy survey last summer, from July to August 2025. The survey asked library workers of all backgrounds, experiences, and demographics to get honest about where and how library work intersected with their mental health. Respondents were asked to share their experiences in a free-form style, highlighting what they perceived as the most significant stressors in the field, where and how they’ve managed their mental health in relation to their job, and what kinds of solutions they think would be helpful. For more information, read the article.
IFLA Previews 2026 Activities in President's Message
IFLA president Leslie Weir issued a message to kick off 2026, stating in part:Even in the first days of the year, global events have shown that we cannot expect 2026 to be any less unpredictable or calm than what has come before. At such a time, we need to be bold—in our thinking, in our planning and service development, and in our advocacy. We cannot just ‘hope for the best’, but must rather mobilise to make the best happen. IFLA is there to support libraries in doing this. While of course the actions we take will look different from one context to the next, IFLA can and should be a source of insight, inspiration and impetus. … A particular highlight of [World Library and Information Congress 2026] will be the launch of our centennial year—IFLA100. Alongside my colleagues on the Governing Board, I see this as an opportunity really to ‘think big’ about our Federation, our wider field, and the world we want to see. For more information, read the news item.
Cengage School Rolls Out the Explore Digital Learning Platform
Cengage School, the K–12 education business of Cengage Group, introduced Explore, “a new digital learning platform designed to simplify teaching and learning while improving student engagement and outcomes.” It builds on existing tools for diverse learners, bringing together standards-aligned instructional content, resources, classroom tools, and real-time reporting in a single interface with personalized dashboards. Systems schools already use, such as Canvas and Google Classroom, can be integrated with Explore.“Explore was designed to make a real difference in classrooms, not to add complexity,” says Marty Lange, EVP and general manager of Cengage School. “By partnering closely with educators, we built a platform that saves teachers time, supports personalized instruction and helps prepare students for success beyond the classroom. Explore delivers meaningful outcomes by giving educators the tools and insights they need to empower college and career readiness for every learner, while staying grounded in what they told us matters most: simplicity, flexibility and insight.” For more information, read the press release.
Open Library of Humanities Implements an AI Policy
The Open Library of Humanities (OLH) introduced an AI policy “following more than a year-long consultation process with our journals’ editorial teams.” The organization states, “The policy details the OLH’s stance that responsible and transparent use of generative AI must be paramount in academic work to uphold research integrity. Authors will be expected to declare the use of substantial, known uses of generative AI that form a part of their submitted article’s research.”OLH continues, “While the OLH is keenly aware of the need for caution when using generative AI in academic research and publishing, it has also been sensitive to the use of generative AI to make academic publishing more equitable, such as for greater accessibility for those with disabilities.” OLH will monitor the policy so that it is a living document that evolves with the landscape of generative AI use. For more information, read the news item.
Clarivate Rolls Out the Alma Specto AI Digital Collection Platform
Clarivate launched Alma Specto, an “AI-powered digital collection platform [that] is designed to help libraries better manage, enrich and showcase their collections as digital resources continue to grow in scale and complexity. … Alma Specto harnesses AI to streamline the management of digital collections, helping to enrich metadata quality of image files and non-textual materials where there is minimal or no information available. It enhances discovery and accessibility of libraries’ digital collections, enabling libraries to better engage with their users and patrons, and reach new audiences.”Early adopters are expected to go live with the new product in Q1 2026, and digital content preservation is planned to be added in the first half of 2026. For more information, read the press release.
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Brandi Scardilli
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