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Weekly News Digest
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February 3, 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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OverDrive Launches Webinars on Literacy Instruction and Publishes Results From Its Higher Education Survey
OverDrive announced that Sora joined forces with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to launch Text and Tech: Reading Together, “a new professional learning webinar series designed to help educators navigate the evolving landscape of literacy instruction.” This virtual book club, focused on NCTE’s title Text and Tech: Reading All Ways in K–8, will have five parts running February through June 2026. Registration is required. OverDrive also shared the results of the 2025 Higher Education Survey from Libby and Kanopy. “The findings reveal a significant shift in student expectations, with nearly three-quarters of undergraduates identifying as visual or kinesthetic learners and 90% demanding course materials that reflect a diverse range of voices and experiences,” OverDrive states. “While 87% of students agree that films and documentaries are critical for mastering course content, only 44% report that their institutions provide adequate digital tools for accessing movies, documentaries, or foreign films.”
ALA Applauds the Introduction of the Prison Libraries Act
ALA issued its approval of the Prison Libraries Act, which was introduced by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Miss.), along with co-leads Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio), and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.). “The bill would establish a grant program within the Department of Justice to provide library services to incarcerated individuals to advance reintegration efforts, reduce recidivism and increase educational opportunities,” ALA states. “The Prison Libraries Act would provide grants to prisons to update materials, hire qualified librarians and support digital literacy and career readiness training. The legislation would be authorized at $10 million per year through 2031, focusing on creating libraries in prisons without libraries and in prisons that otherwise would not have the means to scale library services.” For more information, read the press release.
Open the Books and Citizen Portal AI Announce Partnership to Promote Transparency and Citizen Engagement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: christopher.neefus@openthebooks.com (WASHINGTON, D.C.)—Open the Books and Citizen Portal AI today announced that they have entered a partnership agreement to help citizens access and use Open the Books’ vast database of government spending, which includes federal, state and local spending. For the first time a repository of what public officials say and do—at meetings and in statements—will be married with what they spend. The partnership will offer citizens the most exhaustive picture yet of how public officials work on their behalf. Both organizations are led by CEOs who are accomplished leaders in the technology and transparency space. Citizen Portal AI CEO Paul Allen was one the co-founders of Ancestry.com while Open the Books CEO John Hart helped craft and pass landmark transparency legislation, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (Coburn/Obama), that put all federal spending online. “With Ancestry.com, Paul Allen helped Americans discover their stories. With Citizen Portal AI, he’s going to help citizens write their stories. Our organizations share a conviction that advances in technology should serve the citizenry. We believe the best way to thwart a surveillance state is to create a surveillance citizenry. We’re committed to giving citizens the tools they need to hold government accountable,” Hart said. “John Hart helped create the modern transparency movement and ecosystem of which Open the Books and Citizen Portal AI are a part. His work across the aisle with Senators Coburn and Obama demonstrates that reform can happen when people of good faith put First Principles over partisanship,” Allen said. Open the Book’s tagline is its mission: Every dime. Online. In real time. Co-founded by the late Adam Andrzejewski, Open the Books has built the largest repository of government spending data in history and conducts regular audits and oversight of government spending at all levels. Co-founder Craig Mijares leads Open the Book’s innovative data capture operation which includes nearly 60,000 unique units of government in all 50 states. Citizen Portal AI’s mission is to “Revolutionize Civic Engagement with AI.” Citizen Portal AI describes itself as the ultimate tool for staying informed and holding leaders accountable. The site allows users to access what elected officials say and do—no spin, just facts—and empowers users with clear, reliable information straight from source material to help citizens make smarter decisions with confidence. “We intend to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary by putting transparency and citizen engagement at the center of our public life. Like Abraham Lincoln, we believe each generation has a responsibility to bring about ‘a new birth of freedom’ and ensure ‘that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.’ We look forward to creating new tools and initiatives that will defend and support our great experiment in freedom,” Hart and Allen said. ###
Morningstar Completes Its Acquisition of CRSP
Morningstar announced that it completed the acquisition of the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP), “a premier provider of historical stock market data and indexes, from the University of Chicago, for $365 million, subject to customary adjustments.” The CRSP Market Indexes, “benchmarks for over $3 trillion in U.S. equities spanning market capitalizations, investment styles, and sectors,” join Morningstar Indexes rebranded under the Morningstar name, “making Morningstar the leading provider of broad US-equity benchmarks that cover the entire market and are the mainstay of retirement plans in the US.”Morningstar adds that “the CRSP Research Data Products, known for their research quality, academic rigor, historical depth and accuracy, further strengthen Morningstar’s research and data capabilities for a wider set of clients and markets.” For more information, read the press release.
OCLC-CONUL Partnership Will Increase the Discoverability of Irish Collections
OCLC shares that Ireland’s Consortium of National and University Libraries (CONUL) will use the company “to deliver a unified view of the holdings of participating CONUL libraries. … This new shared catalogue, to be built on the WorldShare platform with WorldCat as its foundation, will increase the visibility and discoverability of collections held in CONUL institutions, nationally and internationally.” The agreement will also give the participating institutions “a better understanding of their collections, in terms of what is scarce or common, helping them to determine how they might reduce their print stock where needed.” For more information, read the press release.
Public Library Association Issues a Statement on Its Minneapolis Conference
The leadership team of the Public Library Association (PLA) posted about public safety for PLA’s conference, to be held April 1–3, 2026, in Minneapolis. It states, in part:PLA is heartbroken by recent events and has been coordinating closely with city and venue partners to support them and to foster a safe and welcoming conference environment. We are committed to moving forward with PLA 2026 … and look forward to gathering in strength and solidarity with Minnesota colleagues and with all of you around the country—in person or virtually. … We hear and understand the concerns that have been voiced, and we recognize each library, exhibitor, and attendee may evaluate circumstances differently. PLA’s highest priority is the safety and wellness of our attendees, partners, and staff. For more information, read the post.
ByWater Solutions Enhances Its API Integration With Hoopla Digital
ByWater Solutions teamed up with Hoopla Digital “to enhance its existing API integration with Aspen Discovery. This integration brings support for consortia using new Hoopla API endpoints,” ByWater Solutions shares. “Libraries in a consortium-managed discovery interface now have full control over how their Hoopla content is displayed in Aspen Discovery. Each member library can maintain its own Hoopla collection, both Instant (always available) and Flex (one copy/one user) titles, and circulation within a single Aspen instance.” For more information, read the news item.
Bibliotheca Adds a Mobile App and AI Insights to libraryConnectLINK
Bibliotheca introduced the dedicated LINK mobile app for its libraryConnect LINK platform, which supports the management of library technology across devices, branches, and services. The app “provides access to dashboards, alerts, and device status on iOS and Android devices. It also includes Fix-It, a troubleshooting feature that offers step-by-step, text-based instructions for addressing common device issues.” In addition, “AI-based insights are available via both the libraryConnect LINK browser and the libraryConnect LINK app. The capability enables staff to submit questions using natural language and view dashboards generated from LINK operational and device data. Patron and integrated library system data are not used,” Bibliotheca shares. For more information, read the press release.
EFF Launches Campaign to Encourage Tech Companies to Protect User Privacy
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) rolled out its Encrypt It Already campaign designed to push tech companies—Meta, Apple, Google, Bluesky, Telegram, and Ring—“to better protect their users’ privacy through end-to-end encryption” by implementing “long-requested encryption features to secure their users’ data and conversations.”EFF explains, “EFF is asking these companies to deliver previously announced end-to-end encryption features, enable existing end-to-end encryption features by default, and launch new end-to-end encryption features they don’t have but should. With end-to-end encryption, Meta, Apple, Google, Bluesky, Telegram, and Ring can better protect our private messages, data backups, and camera footage.” For more information, read the press release.
The Libby Book Awards Reveals Its Finalists
Libby “announced the finalists for the third annual Libby Book Awards, recognizing the best books of 2025 according to expert librarians. The awards celebrate literary excellence across 20 categories, representing a diverse range of genres. The finalists were nominated by a panel of librarians, and they will now select the winners from across North America,” OverDrive shares.“The 2025 finalists highlight the outstanding books that have resonated with readers and libraries over the past year,” says Jen Leitman, OverDrive’s CMO. “This year’s finalists feature a range of voices, each demonstrating exceptional storytelling and thought-provoking content that has captured the attention of readers across North America.” For more information, read the blog post/press release.
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Brandi Scardilli
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