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Weekly News Digest

June 6, 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. CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.

OCLC Web-scale Management Services on Target for July 1 Release

In addition to the 32 committed libraries in the U.S., BIBSYS, the Norwegian library consortium signed an agreement with OCLC to base its new library management system on Web-scale Management Services, which will include management tools for more than 100 libraries in Norway.

Andrew Pace, OCLC executive director of networked library services, said this kind of acceptance and rapid implementation of the brand new services are possible through the extraordinary efforts of the original pilot libraries, the early adopter libraries, an active and engaged library advisory council, and the cloud-based architecture of the new services. “I’m really excited about the rate of adoption thus far,” said Pace. “Seeing 15 libraries live and in production before the summer is an amazing accomplishment for everyone involved.”

Libraries using Web-scale Management Services will lower the total cost of ownership for their library’s management and free staff time for higher-priority services. As more institutions migrate to Web-scale Management Services, libraries will be able to share data, applications, and workflow improvements with peer institutions, end users, and partners.

More information on OCLC Web-scale Management Services can be found on the OCLC website. See video and other presentations from early adopters here.

Source: OCLC

More Publishers to Participate in UPCC eBook Collections on Project MUSE

MUSE will unveil a beta version of its new search interface combining both journal and book content in late summer 2011. The beta interface will include new post-search filtering options and feature free sample book content for libraries and users to explore. The UPCC eBook Collections, available for access on Jan. 1, 2012, will be offered for purchase, with perpetual access rights and unlimited usage, downloading, and printing. Book content will be in PDF format, searchable and retrievable to the chapter level. Pricing and purchase details for the book collections will be available no later than Oct. 1.

The complete list of publishers now contracted to participate in UPCC eBook Collections on Project MUSE, along with additional details about the initiative, may be found at http://muse.jhu.edu/about/new/ebook_collections.html.

Source: Project MUSE

Thomson Reuters to Sell Its Healthcare Business

With assets and solutions such as MarketScan, Advantage Suite, Micromedex, CareDiscovery, and ActionOI, coupled with expert services and analysis, the Healthcare business provides its customers with solutions to identify savings, improve outcomes, fight fraud and abuse, and more efficiently manage their healthcare operations.

“Our Healthcare business is recognized for its innovative solutions and its expertise which are critically important to its customers,” said Thomas H. Glocer, chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters. “We are grateful for the hard work and dedication of our talented employees who have built the Healthcare business into a successful and profitable unit.”

“Thomson Reuters has strong positions in our chosen markets and we believe we will achieve better all-in returns for our shareholders by divesting the Healthcare business and re-deploying the proceeds in our core franchises. We have leading positions in global markets, including legal, tax and accounting, science and intellectual property, financial services and media, where we see significant opportunities for future growth and profitability. While a growing and profitable unit, our Healthcare business lacks the integration with and global scale of our other units, and our disciplined approach to capital allocation convinced us that the expected proceeds from a sale into a consolidating market could be better applied elsewhere in our portfolio,” said Glocer.

The Healthcare business in 2010 had revenues of approximately $450 million and an operating margin comparable to the company's consolidated margin of 19.3%. Following adjustment for this divestiture by removing Healthcare's results from ngoing businesses, no material impact is expected to the company's previously announced 2011 outlook. The company expects the divestiture to close before the end of the year.

This divestiture will result in a realignment of the company's existing Intellectual Property and Science businesses into a single operating unit of the Professional division. Both are global and support scientific research, discovery, and innovation.

Source: Thomson Reuters

Announcing the New PLoS Search API

The new Search API gives developers access to rich data that can be flexibly integrated into applications and websites. It allows PLoS content to be queried using any of the fields in the PLoS Search Engine.

There are a number of different ways developers could use the Search API. To get users’ creative juices flowing, here are some examples of widgets PLoS has built:

• Default Search
• Author Search
• Title Search
• Subject Search
• Abstract Search

To get started, developers need to obtain a key (and all comers will receive one). PLoS looks forward to seeing your new apps, and says to please watch out for an exciting competition announcement in the near future.

Source: Public Library of Science

Elsevier Enriches Online Articles with Google Maps

Elsevier is one of the first publishers to introduce Google Maps functionality permanently in a selection of its journals, enhancing the online article, and serving the information needs of the scientific community. The Google Maps application enriches an article with research data that is visualized on an interactive map. These maps, which will appear in the online article on SciVerse ScienceDirect, are based on KML (geographic annotation) files created by authors.

Professor M. Santosh, editor-in-chief of Gondwana Research, says, “Our authors are delighted with this new feature. It greatly expands the visibility and reach of their articles, and broadens the horizon of information dissemination and interactivity. At the same time, our readers benefit from the additional information the maps provide. By partnering with researchers in developing this innovative feature, Elsevier has introduced an innovation that is truly valued by our community.”

The Google Maps functionality is initially piloted with seven journals on SciVerse ScienceDirect, in earth sciences, life sciences, and social sciences. Scaling up to all applicable Elsevier journals on SciVerse ScienceDirect is expected to happen later this year.

Source: Elsevier

Credo Reference and Ex Libris Agree to Partnership

With this new agreement, Primo search results will include both Credo Reference content and Credo Topic Pages. Credo Topic Pages combine high-quality research, images, and library resources to provide an engaging, all-in-one starting point for users entering the research experience. As a further benefit of the agreement, libraries will be able to customize Credo Topic Pages to display Primo results, promoting their relevant and valuable resources at the point of need.

“We believe it’s important to work with services like Primo Central, not only to provide our content to as wide an audience as possible but to help users make sense of the increasingly complex research options available,” said Mike Sweet, Credo Reference CEO. “These resources can be a great help to libraries in improving the information literacy of their users, which is why we’re so pleased to enter this new partnership with Ex Libris.”

Source: Credo Reference