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Weekly News Digest
November 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. For other up-to-the-minute news, check out ITI’s Twitter account: @ITINewsBreaks. CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.

EBSCOhost Now Offers Mobile Access

EBSCO Publishing (www.ebscohost.com) has released EBSCOhost Mobile, allowing researchers to access their EBSCOhost databases via smartphones and other handheld devices. All databases and services currently available on the EBSCOhost platform will be available via EBSCOhost Mobile.

EBSCOhost Mobile provides a convenient way for customers using mobile devices to find quality content. The main EBSCOhost Mobile screen offers a number of options including choosing which EBSCOhost database(s) to search plus setting search options, accessing field codes, and specifying preferences.

Many of the existing EBSCOhost features such as search modes, limiting to full text, date ranges, peer-reviewed content, or by publication are available. Users will also be able to search images from their mobile devices. The result list is scrollable, and available data includes citations, Image Quick View, and access to full-text articles. The results list also features a relevancy indicator, and users are able to email results.

Clicking into a result replicates the EBSCOhost user experience, providing researchers with information including author information/affiliation, links to the source, document type, subject terms, NAICS/Industry codes along with the abstract, ISSN, accession number, persistent links, images, and links to full text.

The interface has been designed with a lower resolution, simplifying the interface by removing folders and some other more advanced features for increased speed and user convenience. In addition to providing access to smartphone users, EBSCOhost Mobile will also work on desktops, thus helping libraries with low bandwidths since it uses only a fraction of the bytes compared to a traditional EBSCOhost search. EBSCOhost Mobile will also open up access to research databases for researchers in remote locations who are only able to access via satellite links.

Source: EBSCO Publishing

Summon Service to Include MLA International Bibliography

The Modern Language Association (MLA; www.mla.org) has signed an agreement with Serials Solutions (www.serialssolutions.com), a business unit of ProQuest, to include its MLA International Bibliography in the Summon web-scale discovery service. The agreement enables the bibliography to be discoverable through the Summon service, a pioneering technology that provides instant searching of library collections-from books and videos to e-resources at the article level, integrated and accessible from a single search box.

The MLA International Bibliography provides a subject index to print and electronic books, articles and websites published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. Coverage includes literature from all over the world. Other topics include literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theater), history of printing and publishing, rhetoric and composition, and teaching. Compiled by the staff of the MLA office of bibliographic information services with the cooperation of more than 100 contributing bibliographers in the U.S. and abroad, it presently includes more than 2.2 million records with 72,000 books and articles added annually.

MLA is the latest information provider that is choosing to make its content more discoverable to researchers, students, and faculty via this service. Each new participant adds to the service's ability to fully represent the library collection.

The Summon service launched worldwide beta testing in January with key content providers ProQuest and Gale, plus key contributors such as Springer, Taylor& Francis, and SAGE. Since then, the program has added Ingram Digital, LexisNexis, Publishing Technology-the provider of the scholarly research platform IngentaConnect-ThomsonReuters ISI Web of Science, ABC-CLIO, IEEE, Emerald, Scitation publishers, the Royal Society, scores of scholarly publishers and university presses, and more. The service is now available commercially and has been adopted by dozens of universities on three continents. The company recently launched a mobile application that enables instant searching of the breadth of a library's collection from a smartphone.

Source: Serials Solutions

Knovel Adds Engineering Cases to Showcase Real Problem Solving

Knovel (www.knovel.com), an online resource that helps engineers find reliable technical information faster, announced it has launched Engineering Cases, a regular content feature that aims to bridge the knowledge gap for engineers by sharing examples of best practices, rules of thumb, and new uses of applications or technologies. The articles, which are written by engineers and reviewed by experienced editors, highlight specific examples of how engineers have applied innovative and fresh approaches to both common and uncommon challenges.

Written in a case study format and released on a rolling basis, the articles will focus on four engineering practice areas: mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, product life-cycle management, and sustainable development.

"I've worked in the publishing industry for over 40 years, and my passion is to provide engineers with information and reference material that is a catalyst for innovation as well as a foundation for professional development," says Myer Kutz, editor of Knovel's Mechanical Engineering Cases. "I was eager to work with Knovel to capture examples of the decisions, pressures and actions engineers regularly face. I've recognized a need to document real world engineering experience for years-in fact, I had a similar idea prior to the internet era. I'm pleased that Knovel has created a venue for engineers to share and learn from each other."

Articles will initially appear free of charge at http://engineeringcases.knovelblogs.com. Thereafter, articles will be made available through Knovel's web-based application to ensure the collection is accessible to thousands of engineers, engineering managers, and students who search Knovel each day.

Source: Knovel

ebrary Launches Complimentary Ebook Database for Knowledge Managers

ebrary announced it has expanded its Library Center to include complimentary ebooks for knowledge managers. The new Library & KM Center now features a growing selection of more than 140 titles along with tools that make it easy to find, use, and manage information online. Register for access at www.ebrary.com/corp/inforequest/librarykmcenter.jsp.

"ebrary has long provided librarians with complimentary access to resources relevant to their community," says Kevin Sayar, president of ebrary. "Now that we have developed products and services for the corporate and government markets, we wanted to include information that can be useful to knowledge managers as well."

New titles added to ebrary's Library & KM Center include the following:

• Knowledge Management: An Evolutionary View, by Irma Becerra-Fernandez and Dorothy Leidner (M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2008)
• Engaged Knowledge Management: Engagement With New Realities,
  by Kevin C. Desouza and Yukika Awazu (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)
• Practical Guide to Knowledge Management, by Sue Brelade and Christopher Harman
  (Thorogood, 2003)
• Sharing Expertise: Beyond Knowledge Management, by Mark S. Ackerman, Volkmar Pipek, and Volke Wulf (MIT Press, 2003)
• Knowledge Management Systems for Business, by Robert J. Thierauf (Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., 1999)

ebrary offers corporations and government organizations a number of integrated products and services including full-text ebooks, handbooks, manuals, and other trusted content in key business and engineering subject areas. The company also offers content hosting services, which turn corporate PDFs of any type into searchable and highly interactive databases. All ebrary products and services feature powerful research capabilities including InfoTools, which turns every word into a portal to additional knowledge within the organization and on the web. For more information, visit www.ebrary.com/corp/corporations.jsp.

Source: ebrary

New Release of Dow Jones Companies & Executives Now Available

Dow Jones & Co. (www.dowjones.com) launched its newest release of Dow Jones Companies & Executives, a tool designed to help B2B sales and marketing teams take advantage of social selling opportunities to drive sales activity. The company says its release signals an end to cold calling with tools that automatically identify reasons to call companies and easily connect to prospects with a real need.

Using unique technology, it keeps sales pipelines filled by seeking out triggers, or events that signal opportunity within a specific industry. These triggers deliver sales and marketing people a steady stream of fresh leads for companies that might be ready to buy. Triggers such as management moves, product launches, and other significant events are sent via email, helping sales people quickly prioritize their best opportunities.

Once a sales professional receives a lead, Dow Jones Companies & Executives Sales uses patented connection technologies to tap into his or her social networks to identify warm introductions to target organizations, helping to shorten the sales cycle. Utilizing the power of "who you know," Dow Jones has created a comprehensive mapping of key executives based on their work histories. When coupled with contacts listed in an organization's in-house email such as Microsoft Outlook or opt-in social networks including LinkedIn, this mapping can provide a rich path of connections to influential decision makers. The relationship maps highlight connections of varying degrees of separation, from a mutual contact to a third-degree relationship.

The product will be available both as a web application and as a series of widgets for integration into the workflow of Salesforce.com and other CRM systems and of sales portals to drive lead flow, call preparation, territory management, and sales management tasks. For more information about Dow Jones' solutions for empowering the sales force, visit www.dowjones.com/sales.

Source: Dow Jones & Co.

OverDrive Brings Audiobook Access to Schools

OverDrive, Inc. (www.overdrive.com), a provider of ebooks and audiobooks to libraries and schools, announced the launch of its AudioBook Classroom service (www.audiobookclassroom.com), which allows K-12 schools to provide cost-effective access to a sizable catalog of audiobooks of many different genres and varieties. AudioBook Classroom gives schools the ability to offer 1,001 assigned and recreational reading titles in 29 subjects on any computer that is connected to a school's network. Each title is always available for simultaneous use by all students and can be played on the computer or transferred to an iPod and other MP3 players.

AudioBook Classroom's user-friendly interface on network-connected computers lets students easily browse the collection and begin listening to an audiobook in seconds. AudioBook Classroom currently supports computers featuring Windows XP or greater, with a Mac version coming soon.

OverDrive also offers School Download Library (www.schooldownloadlibrary.com), a 24/7 internet-based service offering ebooks and digital audiobooks. The software works with students' personal computers at home or anywhere. Like OverDrive's download service, which is used by more than 9,000 libraries worldwide, School Download Library allows a school to build a custom collection of digital book titles with support for PCs, Mac, Sony Reader, and iPod.

To see if your public library is a member of the OverDrive network, visit http://search.overdrive.com. OverDrive also operates the Digital Bookmobile (www.digitalbookmobile.com), a high-tech 18-wheeler traveling North America on behalf of public libraries to raise awareness about free library downloads.

Source: OverDrive, Inc.