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Weekly News Digest

January 12, 2009 — 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.

Ex Libris Group Releases New Digital Preservation System

Ex Libris Rosetta supports the acquisition, validation, ingest, storage, management, preservation, and dissemination of different types of digital objects while enforcing the relevant policies that can vary from one institution to another. Numerous people within and outside of the institution can contribute to the system. Objects are first loaded to a depository, in which the validity and origin of the assets are verified, enabling the institution to record when, how, and by whom the item was created. These assets are then enriched to ensure that the institution has all of the descriptive and technical metadata needed to preserve the assets for the long-term. Finally, digital resources are saved in a sustainable format and continually evaluated to guarantee their ongoing usability.

Based on the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) model and conforming to Trustworthy Repositories Audit and Certification (TRAC) criteria, this end-to-end solution offers full security, auditing, and integrity checks that maintain the safety of collections over time. A set of tools including application programming interfaces (APIs) and deep linking through persistent identifiers, enable institutions to make their collections even more easily accessible to users.

In parallel with Ex Libris Rosetta going live at the National Library of New Zealand in November 2008, Ex Libris has launched the Ex Libris Rosetta Charter Program, which will foster strategic collaboration between Ex Libris and its customers on the ongoing design of the company’s digital preservation system. Institutions interested in becoming charter members are welcome to contact Ex Libris at rosettachartergroup@exlibrisgroup.com.

Source: Ex Libris Group

New Version of LearningExpress Library Provides Career and Educational Resources

The LearningExpress Library online learning platform has helped millions of library patrons and students prepare for a wide range of career-oriented licensing and certification exams in healthcare, education, civil service, homeland security, and more, as well as improve job skills such as creating a great resume, honing interviewing techniques, and improving business communications. The platform also has interactive tutorials to help users improve basic skills in reading, writing, and math, as well as prepare for tests such as the GED, ACT, and SAT. The innovative platform includes self-paced interactive study, instant scoring, and diagnostic feedback, and it can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection.

Currently, the LearningExpress Library online learning platform can be accessed by patrons and students, free of charge, through more than 4,000 libraries and 15,000 colleges and schools across the country that subscribe to the service.

Source: LearningExpress

Swets to Preview New Selection Support Module at ALA Midwinter

Powered by ScholarlyStats for usage statistics and SwetsWise for extensive subscription data, reporting is available at account and consortium levels, as well as customized reporting. Holdings and price information will be automatically maintained and updated by SwetsWise, including any new subscriptions. Customer-specific fields may be added, along with free text and file uploads, offering a high level of flexibility.

Source: Swets

ebrary Announces On-Demand MARC Records

Available today, ebrary’s on-demand MARC features offer the following capabilities: 

• Instant MARC updates—Customers can download new MARC records for purchased titles and additions to subscription e-book collections at any time, as incremental or complete record sets. 
• MARC records separated by collection—Customers with multiple subscription collections and purchased titles can download complete or incremental sets of MARC records for specific collections. 
• Deleted MARC records—Customers can now obtain deleted records as MARC delete records or on an Excel spreadsheet. 
• Complete MARC record sets for large collections—To simplify loading, complete MARC loads are now available from ebrary’s extranet site as batches of 5,000 in a single ZIP file.

ebrary currently offers a growing selection of more than 170,000 e-books and other titles from more than 300 leading publishers and aggregators. Founded in 1999, ebrary is privately held and is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.

Source: ebrary

FT Launches Customized RSS Service for Corporate Customers

In April 2008, the Financial Times introduced a direct licensing model that gives rights to organizations to have unlimited access to Financial Times journalism both on FT.com and third-party channels (for details, see the NewsBreak at http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbReader.asp?ArticleId=41322). Now, organizations with an FT license will have the ability to create RSS feeds customized to their specific needs. This new functionality enables information managers to define their own relevance criteria using the FT.com search engine and to create the tailored feeds immediately.

The RSS service provides the flexibility to integrate links to the most relevant Financial Times articles within the organization’s portal or intranet. End users click through to read the full article on FT.com. As their organization has a direct license they have unlimited access. The information manager can update the search criteria at will as the needs of the organization change. There is no limit to the number of RSS links that can be created, so it is easy to generate one for every area of business interest.

Source: Financial Times

OCLC Still Reviewing Policy for Use of WorldCat Records

In November 2008, OCLC (www.oclc.org) announced that it was implementing the new policy (effective mid-February 2009) to update the existing Guidelines for Use and Transfer of OCLC-Derived Records. The goals of the new policy are to modernize record use and transfer practices for application on the web, foster new uses of WorldCat data that benefit members, and clarify data-sharing rights and restrictions. The policy is intended to foster innovative use of shared records while protecting the investment OCLC members have made in WorldCat and ensuring that use of WorldCat records provides benefit to the membership.

"We have listened to questions and concerns about the revised Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records and have concluded that the issues surrounding the Policy needed further review and discussion," says Larry Alford, chair, OCLC board of trustees, and dean of University Libraries, Temple University. [For a list of the commentary with questions and concerns, see the page titled OCLC Policy Change at http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/OCLC_Policy_Change. —Ed.]

The Review Board on Principles of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship will complete the following: 

• Consult with librarians and member representatives as appropriate 
• Review reports, letters, and comments including blog and listserv messages from the global library community regarding the revised policy 
• Recommend principles of shared data creation and changes in the Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records that will preserve the community around WorldCat infrastructure and services and strengthen libraries

Karen Calhoun, vice president, OCLC WorldCat and Metadata Services, will serve as liaison between the review board and OCLC. The review board will also take into consideration other sources of review, such as the recently formed ARL Study Group. The review board will provide findings to the president of members council, the chair of the board of trustees, and the OCLC president and CEO.

Source: OCLC