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Weekly News Digest
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June 9, 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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University of North Carolina Begins a Study on Communities and Generative AI
The University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill announced “a statewide two-year collaborative planning and pilot study aimed at understanding how North Carolina communities are encountering generative artificial intelligence and how local libraries can support AI literacy in meaningful, locally relevant and sustainable ways.”The university shares, “The project, ‘Local Libraries and Generative AI,’ emphasizes listening, assessment and co-design as the foundation for equitable engagement with emerging technologies. … Researchers will work closely with participating libraries to better understand local needs, institutional capacity and community perspectives surrounding AI technologies. The project prioritizes collaboration with libraries to ensure future AI literacy efforts are grounded in the realities and strengths of local institutions.” For more information, read the post.
HISTORY Looks Back at the 1876 Centennial Celebrations
Lesley Kennedy writes the following in “How Americans Celebrated the Centennial in 1876” for HISTORY:In the summer of 1876, the United States was preparing for its 100th birthday with patriotic celebrations. In its first century, the country had grown from 13 states to 37, with Colorado poised to become the 38th state weeks after July 4. … The festivities included the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the first U.S. world’s fair, designed as a celebration of American triumph and progress. Yet, … it unfolded amid economic depression, political upheaval, racial violence and a war in the West. For more information, read the article.
EBSCO Information Services Adds the Kortext Ebook Catalog to GOBI Library Solutions
Kortext made its extensive perpetual access ebook catalog of more than 3.5 million titles available via GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO Information Services, “giving libraries greater flexibility in how they source and acquire digital content,” the press release shares. “Through the GOBI integration, libraries can now select Kortext content within a familiar ordering environment, helping to streamline workflows and support more efficient collection development.” “We recognize that libraries are navigating a complex and changing environment. Our focus is on providing choice, whether that’s enabling continuity through established systems like GOBI, or supporting new and evolving workflows through Kortext acquire. It’s about giving libraries the flexibility to work in the way that suits them best,” says James Gray, CEO of Kortext. For more information, read the press release.
Bibliotheca and ByWater Solutions Integrate RFID Workstations With Koha
Bibliotheca announced a new integration between its RFID workstations and the Koha ILS, made possible by a partnership with ByWater Solutions. The staffConnect link plugin enables the integration. “The integration allows Koha to communicate directly with Bibliotheca RFID pads, enabling staff to process multiple items at once without switching between systems. The result is faster check-in, checkout, and renewal workflows, with improved accuracy in high-volume environments,” the press release states. “This integration brings RFID and Koha closer together in a way that removes friction from everyday staff workflows,” says Mason Humphrey, commercial director at Bibliotheca. For more information, read the press release.
'Celebrating 10 Years of the DOAJ Ambassador Programme'
DOAJ published a blog post celebrating 10 years of its ambassador program. It states the following:[I]n 2016, we launched the DOAJ Ambassador Programme with 15 Ambassadors who were recruited to improve open access publishing in the Global South. Today, we have 14 Ambassadors, representing 9 regions and operating from 12 countries, some of whom are also DOAJ team members, and some who have been Ambassadors since the very beginning! … The Ambassador programme has been shaped and formed by Ambassadors and community needs since its very inception—it has grown organically but always stayed true to its mission: to improve open access publishing in the developing world. Much of the work of Ambassadors has taken the shape of training sessions, workshops and local outreach to teach local communities about good practice in open access publishing. It also helped journals understand DOAJ criteria, improve publishing quality and become more visible. For more information, read the blog post.
HeinOnline Unveils the LexBlog Library Database
HeinOnline rolled out LexBlog Library, “a new database that integrates practitioner-authored legal commentary directly into the HeinOnline research experience. … [T]his new collection delivers timely legal analysis from attorneys, law firms, legal organizations, and industry professionals across a broad range of practice areas.”For more information, read the press release.
Lucidea Explores Best Practices for AI Output Verification
Clare Bilobrk writes the following in “When AI Sounds Right but Isn’t: Simple Verification Habits Every Information Professional Needs” for Lucidea’s Think Clearly blog:[Generative AI] systems are capable of producing answers that sound polished, authoritative, and professionally credible. They can summarize complex material in seconds, draft coherent reports, and synthesize information across multiple sources faster than we can manually. That speed is useful. However, all results should come with a warning. … This post explores some of the tensions between traditional research practices and AI-generated outputs, why verification matters more than ever, and how information professionals can build practical habits that maintain confidence in the material they rely on. For more information, read the blog post.
OverDrive Integrates Libby Content Into EBSCO Tools
OverDrive and EBSCO Information Services connected OverDrive’s ebooks and audiobooks on Libby directly to the EBSCO Knowledge Base and EBSCO Discovery Service. “This collaboration delivers on-going synchronization of digital library holdings within institutions’ Integrated Library Systems (ILS), streamlining workflows for librarians, and enhancing discovery for students and faculty,” the press release notes. “Through this partnership, mutual customers can now discover Libby content directly within their existing EBSCO environments. The integration simplifies management of digital collections by allowing librarians to select OverDrive collections from the EBSCO Knowledge Base and automatically populate them into their catalogs. Students and faculty can discover ebooks and audiobooks alongside other library resources and seamlessly link to Libby to borrow content.” For more information, read the press release.
AccScience Publishing Adds Journals to ResearchGate
ResearchGate expanded its Journal Home partnership with AccScience Publishing, “an international academic publisher specializing in open access journals and books across science, technology, and medicine,” doubling “the number of AccScience journals on ResearchGate, speaking to the tangible impact Journal Home has had on the portfolio in just one year.”“Our Journal Home partnership with ResearchGate has already delivered strong engagement, visibility, and growing authorship for our journals,” says Li Zhaolin, managing director of AccScience Publishing. “Expanding Journal Home to these additional titles allows us to further support our authors, increasing discoverability, and strengthening the global impact of their research.” For more information, read the press release.
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Brandi Scardilli
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