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Weekly News Digest

July 19, 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. CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.

EBSCO Publishing Acquires Two Databases from SAGE—Establishes Exclusive Access

EBSCO Publishing has acquired two databases from SAGE. Criminal Justice Abstracts and Communications Abstracts are now available on EBSCOhost. Users will also be able to cross-search these resources with resources such as SocINDEX with Full Text, Social Work Abstracts, and Communications and Mass Media Complete. Both databases will also feature a Publications Authority of key titles.

Customers will notice an immediate increase in the number of records in these EBSCOhost versions of the databases. Criminal Justice Abstracts has more than 235,000 records as opposed to the current 103,600 records on other platforms. Communications Abstracts has more than 200,000 records as opposed to the current 63,061 records on other platforms. The additional records come from the most relevant, core journals in these areas of study.

As of July 15, 2010, subscriptions will only be available via EBSCOhost. Customers using Criminal Justice Abstracts and/or Communications Abstracts on another platform will continue with that platform through the end of their current subscription. EBSCOhost access will become concurrently available (at no extra cost) for the remainder of the institution's current subscription period. SAGE will continue to support existing subscriptions to the print indexes for Criminal Justice Abstracts and Communications Abstracts through the end of the current subscription period. EBSCO will be contacting print subscribers to discuss a transition to the online version.

In August 2007, EBSCO acquired ten print indexes from SAGE and created online versions, including backfiles plus other benefits, such as unlimited use, remote accessibility, multi-database searching, and links to full text.

Source: EBSCO Publishing

Alexander Street Press Launches Mobile Access to Streaming Music Collections

Electronic publisher Alexander Street Press has launched mobile access to its complete line of streaming music collections-including Classical Music Library, Jazz Music Library, and Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries-making it possible for patrons at subscribing libraries to listen using internet-enabled smart phones and other mobile devices.

The publisher's mobile access options include QR codes, or two-dimensional barcodes. QR readers are readily available as free or inexpensive add-on applications, and many mobile phones come with QR readers pre-installed. QR codes can be auto-generated for every recording, album, and playlist in Alexander Street's streaming music collections-patrons simply scan the image with their mobile device and start streaming immediately.

Users can also send Alexander Street recordings and playlists to their mobile device using automatic email or SMS text options, or by navigating directly to a mobile-friendly URL.

At present, Alexander Street supports mobile access for all Android and iPhone devices, including the iPod Touch and iPad. Later in 2010, the publisher plans to release streaming access to its nine video collections, including American History in Video, Dance in Video, and Ethnographic Video Online.

Source: Alexander Street Press

Zinio, NACS Media Solutions Partner to Create Collegiate Digital Newsstand

Zinio, a provider of digital publishing services, and NACS Media Solutions (NMS), a subsidiary of the National Association of College Stores (NACS), announced a partnership to develop the first all-digital online newsstand directed specifically at the college market. It will feature 3,000+ magazines and books suitable for reading through Zinio's UNITY platform, which enables online or offline access on any PC, iPhone, iPad, and upcoming supported devices.

The new collegiate digital newsstand, which will carry "Powered by Zinio" branding, will include a revenue-sharing arrangement for NACS members who wish to promote the site to their local college students. At a future point, Zinio and NMS anticipate developing private-label versions for NACS members who decide to deploy and promote their own digital newsstands.

The Zinio-powered NACS digital newsstand will debut in August 2010 at http://nacs.zinio.com. At the newsstand, users will be able to subscribe to periodicals and purchase books in hundreds of categories covering all interests. Students will have the ability to preview the newsstand's digital content before purchasing. Any purchase made on this newsstand will be available for reading on any device where a Zinio app is installed.

NACS is a nonprofit trade association representing the $10 billion collegiate retailing industry. More than 3,000 stores serving colleges and universities, as well as K-12 schools, in the U.S., Canada, and around the world, are members of NACS, along with more than 1,000 companies supplying goods and services to campus stores.

Source: Zinio

Cengage Etextbooks to be Available Through Entourage eDGe Dualbook

enTourage Systems, Inc., creator of the dualbook-the enTourage eDGe-announced that Cengage Learning will provide its catalog of digital books to students and educators through the enTourage eDGe platform for the coming fall semester.

The enTourage eDGe ($539) is a hybrid ereader, tablet netbook, notepad, and audio/video recorder and player in one-offering users in learning environments a multi-purpose platform that combines all needed education technologies in one. The enTourage eDGe is built with hinged E-Ink and LCD screens allowing for unique engagement of content, such as attaching relevant web pages or video searched for on the WiFi-enabled LCD screen to relevant etextbook passages on the E-Ink screen, annotating in ebook margins and bookmarking sections to later review and study, or audio record professors' lectures to store for playback later.

With Cengage Learning's selection of content and services, this partnership unites new-age technology and rich content, providing students and educators an opportunity to improve the learning experience. With the enTourage eDGe, students can interact with Cengage Learning material in a way never done before. Cengage Learning's brands include Heinle, Gale, Wadsworth, Delmar, Brooks/Cole and South-Western, among others.

The enTourage eDGe is made up of a 9.7" diagonal epaper screen to read ebooks, take notes, and draw diagrams and a 10.1" LCD screen for surfing the web, editing Microsoft Office documents, and watching videos. It is equipped with a built-in camera, microphones, and speaker for audio and video recording and playback. The enTourage eDGe runs on the Google Android operating system and backs up all content on enTourage Systems' servers. The device folds a full 360 degrees and orients its displays horizontally or vertically, to view as a book, single screen, or prop up laptop style.

Source: enTourage Systems, Inc.

LYRASIS Partners with Creekside Digital to Offer Expanded Microfilm Scanning Services

LYRASIS announced it has partnered with Creekside Digital, specialists in document digitization, to address its members' needs for expanded microfilm scanning services. LYRASIS' Mass Digitization Collaborative enables members to digitize books, serials, and newspapers for a low fee. Initially, the focus of the Collaborative was providing book scanning options. Now, in response to increased requests for scanning newspapers and books on microfilm, LYRASIS is broadening its focus and digital partnerships to afford members extended microfilm scanning services, in addition to optional encoding services.

"While we will continue to leverage the expertise of The Internet Archive for book scanning, our partnership with Creekside Digital enables us to provide affordable, high-quality microfilm scanning and related text encoding services that follow relevant standards, such as the National Digital Newspaper Program guidelines," commented Robin Dale, director of digital and preservation services.

LYRASIS member, Indiana University--Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) participated in a pilot project to ensure member satisfaction with Creekside Digital's conversion services. "We are working with Creekside Digital to digitize a collection of microfilmed Indianapolis newspapers. The project is not yet complete, but thus far their services have far exceeded our expectations, when it comes to communication and quality of work. We have received samples of the microfilm and we are satisfied with the results. Creekside Digital has gone above and beyond to address our questions about microfilming and the digitization process," said Jenny Johnson, Digital Initiatives Project Coordinator, IUPUI University Library.

Created in April 2009 by the merger of PALINET and SOLINET and joined shortly thereafter by NELINET, LYRASIS is the nation's largest regional membership organization serving libraries and information professionals.

Source: LYRASIS

New Informahealthcare.com Combines Journals and Books

Informa Healthcare has launched a new site that combines its full journal archive with recently published book content onto the informahealthcare.com web platform. The new service delivers approximately 170 journals and 600 online books. The combination of books and journals allows users to search across both products to find key data on one platform-saving researchers time and helping site administrators track usage more effectively.

The redesigned site offers improved navigation and optimizes functionality. Enhancements include the following:

• Deeper content in special therapeutic areas including cardiology, dermatology, neurology, pharmaceutical science, respiratory medicine, toxicology, and urology
• Option to save searches to help manage advanced research results
• Improved navigation options to highlight most popular articles and chapters, share journal or book developments, and connect related content or authors to improve and expand research
• More links to key resources such as audio or video content, social networking pages, users guides, and the Informa Healthcare blog

The new platform also allows librarians, information officers, or department heads to evaluate usage and traffic on the site to ensure their patrons or staff are regularly accessing the data and help quantify subscription investments. As administrators, customers can access COUNTER-compliant usage reports, manage IP ranges, and view general account details. Users can also receive new data published online through free alerts services-including eTOC alerts, early online article alerts, or RSS feeds to share any research or developments with peers.

Informahealthcare.com covers all aspects of healthcare-including drug discovery and development, medical technology, bioscience, clinical medicine and toxicology-offering access to specialized research and insight from an international body of experts. The site now offers more than 3 million pages of research and approximately 16,000 new book chapters. Content will continue to increase as new issues and books are added.

Source: Informa Healthcare