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Weekly News Digest
January 11, 2010 — 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.

Thomson Reuters Announces Global Institutional Profiles Project

Thomson Reuters announced that it has begun working with thousands of institutions and research facilities to produce a one-of-a-kind resource. This initiative, the Global Institutional Profiles Project, will create data-driven portraits of globally significant research institutions-combining peer review, scholarly outputs, citation patterns, funding levels, and faculty characteristics in one comprehensive database.

"There is a need for robust, dynamic, and above all transparent and verifiable data on scholarly performance to reshape how administrators approach institutional comparisons," said Keith MacGregor, executive vice president at Thomson Reuters. "Thomson Reuters has the proven history of bibliometric expertise and analysis to provide the foundational data and consultative elements needed to create this tool."

The data set can be packaged and analyzed to different specifications, allowing organizations to receive custom information for their specific needs. The Times Higher Education, a London-based weekly newspaper that covers higher education issues, is the first to request a customized data set to produce an improved version of its annual World University Rankings. The publication will work closely with Thomson Reuters to create a balanced, transparent methodology to support its rankings.

The Global Institutional Profiles Project has already begun with a worldwide survey of opinion leaders at key research institutions. The advice they provide will inform the project in terms of both data collected and methodologies used. Thomson Reuters' goal is to be fully transparent in approach and verifiable in outcomes, so the results of the opinion survey will be published in 1Q 2010.

For more information about the Global Institutional Profiles Project, visit http://science.thomsonreuters.com/globalprofilesproject.

Source: Thomson Reuters

New Interface for LexisNexis Academic and New LexisNexis Statistical Insight

LexisNexis (www.lexisnexis.com) revealed a significant update to the LexisNexis Academic service. The enhanced interface now provides simpler and faster access to content. Updates include transformation of the Easy Search form to a widget-based interface, simplified navigation, and the addition of several new forms for specific subject areas including news, business, and legal. Following favorable reaction to beta testing by a large number of subscribing institutions during the fall academic semester, the enhanced LexisNexis Academic is now available to all users.

The completely redesigned Easy Search form is organized into six widgets that provide quick access to the most commonly used content; they help students understand at a glance the resources that are included in the database. The site navigation has been simplified so that all options are presented in a single menu on the left of the screen. Most search forms have been transformed to make them easier to use. New search forms were also added including specialized "News" search forms, simple search/browse forms for federal and state statutory law, and a "Landmark Cases" form that provides direct links to 100 topically arranged Supreme Court cases selected by LexisNexis editorial staff for their importance.

The company also unveiled LexisNexis Statistical Insight with enhanced search performance and overall user experience. LexisNexis Statistical Insight, which is designed to help researchers find the statistical information they need quickly and easily, provides access to statistics produced by federal agencies, states, business organizations, research institutions, and international organizations. The redesigned service was previously known as LexisNexis Statistical.

For more information, go to http://wiki.lexisnexis.com/academic. Both services will be shown at the ALA Midwinter conference in Boston this week.

Source: LexisNexis

Serials Solutions Partners With Springshare LibGuides

Serials Solutions (www.serialssolutions.com) announced its partnership with Springshare (http://springshare.com), the maker of LibGuides. Together, they will provide the first ERAMS-based LibGuides integration, enabling common subscribers to create LibGuides A-Z lists powered by the e-resource data of Serials Solutions KnowledgeWorks knowledgebase. Serials Solutions and Springshare worked with beta partners at the State University of New York-Westchester Community College, Grand Valley State University, Palm Beach Atlantic University, and Mississippi State University to test the integration of KnowledgeWorks data into LibGuides.

"Serials Solutions and Springshare are passionate about delivering compelling end user experiences," says Marc Bertone, head of development at Springshare. "We've partnered with Serials Solutions through KnowledgeWorks to incorporate the most accurate and complete knowledgebase of electronic resources into the LibGuides experience." Springshare now uses the KnowledgeWorks XML API to incorporate authoritative e-resource information into LibGuides so that librarians can share their resource data through a robust, Web 2.0 user interface. View a video demonstration of the new KnowledgeWorks powered LibGuides (www.serialssolutions.com/assets/publications/KnowledgeWorks-Powers-LibGuides.mp4; QuickTime, 4.5MB).

The minimum requirement to enable this feature is a subscription to LibGuides and Serials Solutions 360 services or the Summon service, which include the KnowledgeWorks knowledgebase. There is no additional charge for integrating KnowledgeWorks data with LibGuides. Existing customers of both Serials Solutions services and Springshare LibGuides can enable this free service by contacting Springshare.

Source: Serials Solutions

DMC Worldwide Introduces New Content Platform and E-Readers

DMC Worldwide (DMCWW; www.dmcww.com) introduced COPIA (www.thecopia.com), an open platform that combines content, social networking, and ecommerce with an array of wireless e-readers. The COPIA platform is a hybrid solution for consumers to experience a completely new way to discover, enjoy, share, and purchase books, newspapers, magazines, and a wide variety of digital content. At the same time, it integrates a software application engine for OEM brands looking to deliver content across their digital devices including e-readers, notebooks, netbooks, tablets, and smartphones.

The lineup of e-reader devices will include both monochrome e-paper-based touchscreens and advanced color devices designed for rich color content. The devices are designed to extend the collaborative COPIA experience to readers across all genres of content and meet the needs of channel partners including mass market, entertainment, K-12 education, as well as higher education.

COPIA will begin its private, limited-invitation beta in January 2010. The public beta will launch in March 2010 and will offer more than 1 million titles. The e-readers will be available for purchase online in April 2010 and at retail stores by June 2010.

Source: DMCWW

Ex Libris Announces the Beta Release of Rosetta Version 2.0

Ex Libris Group (www.exlibrisgroup.com) announced the beta release of version 2.0 of the Ex Libris Rosetta digital preservation system. Currently undergoing beta testing at the National Library of New Zealand, version 2.0 will be rolled out to all Rosetta customers in spring 2010.

The Ex Libris Rosetta digital preservation system enables institutions to manage, preserve, and provide access to documents for perpetuity-institutional documents, research output in digital formats, digital images, websites, and other digitally born and digitized materials. Rosetta supports the acquisition, validation, ingest, storage, preservation, and dissemination of digital objects from many sources and formats and keeps this information secure while allowing institutions to implement multiple digital preservation policies and strategies.

The company says that version 2.0 introduces a first of its kind preservation planning module. Complying with the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) standard, the module enables institutions to manage and mitigate risks related to digital formats and to perform a variety of preservation actions. The preservation planning module consists of risk mitigation and a format library. Rosetta manages the preservation planning process from risk to action-allowing the evaluation and comparison of different preservation options. In addition, Rosetta offers a library of digital formats based on the PRONOM global format archive, which enables libraries to add and manage additional formats as they become relevant and to register different risks for new formats.

With version 2.0, Rosetta institutions can share information about risks and formats on a network level. Other highlights of the new product version include the following:

• Object deletion: In accordance with distinct digital preservation conventions, the deletion process in version 2.0 requires further approval before an item can be deleted. The reason given for the deletion is stored permanently.
• Restoring objects from permanent storage: To prevent objects from being lost or destroyed, Rosetta stores information on disk as part of the permanent repository. Version 2.0 enables objects from the permanent repository to be restored at any time.
• Access rights exceptions: Rosetta enables a library to define access rights based on the institution's unique policies. With version 2.0, libraries will be able to create exemptions and temporary changes to the access policy, such as short-term access for a specialist researcher.

Source: Ex Libris Group

TDNet Announces TERMS—Core E-Resource Management System

TDNet, Inc. (www.tdnet.com) a provider of e-resource access and management services for libraries and information centers, announced the upcoming availability of a reasonably priced, core e-resource management system, TERMS, which integrates with the full suite of TDNet e-resource offerings. The first phase of TERMS (TDNet E-Resource Management System) is built on a knowledgebase of more than 390,000 e-resource titles and will include modules for recording bibliographic data, batch and individual updates, access and authorization information, acquisitions and subscription details, license terms and links, usage statistics, organization and contact data, and also support for evaluation, trials, and troubleshooting documentation. TERMS will also be offered as a stand-alone service from TDNet.

TDNet offers a full suite of customized e-resource management and access services to maximize the growing investment in electronic and other information resources while containing staff and administrative costs. These include the following:

• Integrated "discovery-to-delivery" platform
• Federated Search-TDNet's Searcher Analyzer
• OpenURL Resolver-TDNet's TOUResolver
• e-Resource portal
• Table of Contents service-Access to a rolling 5-year archive
• Document delivery
• Administrative functionality
• Copyright services-In partnership with the Copyright Clearance Center
• Authentication and access management service-In partnership with the Eduserv Athens Access Management System

TDNet's outsourcing solutions are designed to be affordable and require little maintenance on the part of library staff. Many libraries and information centers benefit from being able to manage and present their electronic and print collections on a customized portal without the purchase of an expensive ILS. TERMS will be shown at the ALA Midwinter conference in Boston.

The company also recently announced the availability of TooLIP (Tool for Information Professionals), a Web 2.0 search portal designed especially for librarians and information professionals. Powered by TDNet's Searcher Analyzer federated search software, TooLIP allows the user to locate material in relevant Open Access blogs, discussion lists, ejournals, and search engines with a single search. Access to TooLIP is free of charge at http://toolip.tdnet.com.

Source: TDNet, Inc.