Back Index Forward
Weekly News Digest
March 24, 2011 — 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.

Cornell U Library Issues Statement on Journal Vendor Nondisclosures

Occasionally in licenses governing electronic resources, publishers will request that the Cornell University Library (CUL) treat the subscription price as confidential information and not disclose it to third parties. In the past, some libraries have tolerated these clauses in the belief that they might result in a lower cost. This, however, is a position that CUL can no longer accept.

It has become apparent to the library community that the anticompetitive conduct engaged in by some publishing firms is in part a result of the inclusion of nondisclosure agreements in contracts. The more that libraries are able to communicate with one another about vendor offers, the better they are able to weigh the costs and benefits of any individual offer. An open market will result in better licensing terms.

Additionally, nondisclosure agreements conflict with the needs of CUL librarians and staff to work openly, collaboratively, and transparently. This conflict increases the likelihood that the terms of a nondisclosure agreement would be inadvertently violated, posing a threat to the university.

CUL endorses, therefore, the position of the Association of Research Libraries that its member libraries should not sign (or accept new or revised) agreements that include confidentiality or nondisclosure clauses. CUL will share upon request information contained in these agreements (save for trade secrets or proprietary technical details).

Source: Cornell University Library

New National Portal to Historic Collections

Begun in 2007, the National Portal is a massive, multiyear project to provide information on 4,000 historical sites, including easily searchable online access to digital images and descriptions of millions of artifacts housed in the collections of American museums, historical societies, National Parks, and other institutions across the country.

The objects being added to this national “clearinghouse” include documents, photographs, paintings and artifacts, and run the gamut from military artifacts to artworks to the tools and mementos of everyday life.

The Portal has been called a “transformative event” for the history community. At present, an extraordinarily large percentage of America’s preserved memory is hidden. In fact, 98% of history museums provide no internet access whatsoever to their collections, and the few that do often include only a small percent of their holdings and use systems whose content cannot be read by search engines.

The site is expected to be used by researchers, students, curators, reenacters, and heritage travelers. They will be able to view thousands of never-before-seen treasures, including John Brown’s Bible, Abraham Lincoln’s chair, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s briefcase, as well as letters, military artifacts, paintings, and more. Photographs in the National Portal may be used for personal use, but permission must be obtained from individual institutions for use in publications, commercial use, etc.

American Heritage Publishing produces American Heritage magazine, which was originally founded by AASLH and is touted by many as the oldest and finest magazine of American history. The magazine’s 13,000-article archive is being integrated into the site, along with its database of 3,000 historic institutions, many of whom are members of AASLH.

Source: American Heritage Publishing

Preview of eBooks on EBSCOhost Now Available—Goodbye NetLibrary

EBSCOhost libraries will be able to access the preview site through the Try New Features link on EBSCOhost. NetLibrary users will see a banner with the link on the NetLibrary interface. A link to a survey will be included on the preview, and results will be monitored during the preview period which will end with the migration from NetLibrary to EBSCOhost in July.

EBSCO offers a robust and authoritative collection of eBooks on EBSCOhost—a growing collection of more than 250,000 titles. Thousands of ebook titles are loaded each month from hundreds of leading publisher partners in more than 30 languages. eBooks on EBSCOhost provides extensive subject coverage and MARC records are provided for all ebooks at no additional cost. eBooks on EBSCOhost will provide direct links to full-text ebooks plus note-taking capabilities, copy & paste function, printing, email, citation exports, bookmarking and a web-based interface (with no reader or hardware required).

eBooks on EBSCOhost allows libraries to provide one single platform for the user interface, reporting, authentication, setup, and maintenance as well as the ability to brand and customize the interface. Users will be able to search across any combination of EBSCOhost databases and ebook collections using the same familiar EBSCOhost basic search screen as well as advanced search options and browsing features.

Source: EBSCO Publishing

New Wolters Kluwer Law & Business WikiWatch Blog

The headline-generating, independent organization, WikiLeaks, continues to challenge businesses, entire industries, and government agencies by disclosing secret internal documents. When new information becomes public through WikiLeaks, WikiWatch offers credible perspectives from experienced professionals providing insights to implications these releases may have on businesses and future legislative developments. WikiWatch and WikiLeaks are separate, unrelated entities.

WikiWatch will be an interactive forum for analysis and commentary that promotes discussions of information technology, computer law, data privacy, intellectual property, e-commerce and litigation issues relating to information law. It will especially add value for internet protocol, antitrust, securities, banking, and compliance professionals. The blog monitors the latest disclosures from WikiLeaks with an RSS feed right on the home page, distributes blog posts from internationally recognized legal, business, and academic professionals and encourages interactive feedback by inviting readers to post comments and opinions of blog posts.

Source: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business

MLA International Bibliography Coming to WilsonWeb

With more than 2.3 million records, The MLA International Bibliography is the most comprehensive subject index of publications on modern languages, literatures, folklore, film, and linguistics. Compiled by MLA’s Bibliographic Information Services staff with the cooperation of more than 100 contributing scholar-bibliographers in the U.S. and abroad, the MLA International Bibliography indexes more than 70,000 books and ebooks, book chapters, dissertation abstracts, Web sites and print and ejournal articles annually. Retrospective indexing reaches back as far as 1926.

Links to full-text articles available through several publishers including JSTOR, Project Muse, and ACLS Humanities E-Book, add convenience for subscribers. Since 2004, the MLA International Bibliography has also provided DOIs (digital object identifiers) to publications registered with CrossRef. DOIs help users and libraries with subscriptions to access full text from a large number of publishers. On WilsonWeb, the MLA International Bibliography will also include links to full-text content available on WilsonWeb full-text databases, for dual subscribers.

Source: H.W. Wilson

The New York Times to Launch Paid Digital Subscriptions

Readers who come to Times articles through links from search engines, blogs, and social media like Facebook and Twitter will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit. For some search engines, users will have a daily limit of free links to Times articles. On the Times’ smartphone and tablet apps, the Top News section will remain free of charge. For access to all other sections within the apps, you will be asked to become a digital subscriber.

The Times is offering three digital subscription packages that allow you to choose from a variety of devices (computer, smartphone, or tablet). More information about these plans is available at nytimes.com/access.

For more information, go to http://www.nytimes.com/digitalfaq.

Source: The New York Times