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Weekly News Digest
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October 29, 2012 — 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.
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Ten More University Presses Join Project MUSE UPCC Book Collections
Project MUSE announced that 10 additional university presses will make their scholarly books available in the UPCC Book Collections on Project MUSE beginning in 2013. Adding 10 more to the seven announced in June, the complete list of new publishers participating in 2013 is the following:- African Books Collective
- Catholic University of America Press
- Central European University Press
- Cornell University East Asia Program
- Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
- Liberty Fund
- Louisiana State University Press
- Medieval Institute Publications
- The MIT Press
- National Bureau of Asian Research
- Les Presses de l‘Université du Quebec
- Red Hen Press
- RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press
- University of Illinois Press
- University of North Carolina Press
- University Press of Florida
- W.E. Upjohn Institute
New and backlist titles from all publishers will be available on the MUSE platform where students and researchers will have access to more than 23,000 titles from more than 80 UPCC publishers. Details on purchase and subscription options for 2013, including pricing and title lists, will be forthcoming soon. More than 130 institutions in 15 countries have purchased UPCC books on MUSE for their user communities. Launched on Jan. 1, 2012, the collections have generated nearly half a million book unit sales for the participating not-for-profit scholarly publishers. The University Press Content Consortium (UPCC) grew from the partnership of Project MUSE and the University Press e-book Consortium (UPeC), formed in 2009 to explore the feasibility of a university press-based ebook initiative. With planning and development supported by grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, UPeC surveyed the needs of the library community and developed and tested a business model. In spring 2011, Project MUSE was selected to implement UPeC’s plan for a transformative and sustainable product offering digital versions of book-length scholarship from many distinguished scholarly presses. UPCC Book Collections on Project MUSE launched in January 2012. Source: Project MUSE
Report Issued on Open Access Repository Interoperability
The Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) published "The Current State of Open Access Repository Interoperability (2012)." Interoperability is the technical “glue” that makes possible the emerging open science infrastructure—an infrastructure that connects a global, decentralized network of repositories and other tools. While technology exists to make possible this integration, the landscape around interoperability at first sight may appear chaotic, confusing, and complex. This report is designed to make sense of the interoperability landscape. It focuses on services that are possible because of interoperability and presents specific interoperability initiatives in connection to these services.Section 1 of the report provides an overview of repository services where progress has been made in recent years because of developments in interoperability. Areas covered include the following: - Metadata harvesting
- Repository networks
- Usage statistics
- Cross-system content transfer
- Author identification
- Persistent identifiers
- Managing compound objects
Additional areas currently under development are briefly addressed and include services to support linked data. Section 2 of the report provides further details on specific initiatives designed to support these services or address common challenges. Initiatives addressed include: AuthorClaim, Current Research Information Systems and Open Access Repositories (CRIS-OAR), DataCite, DINI Certificate for Document and Publication Services, Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for European Research (DRIVER), The Handle System, KE Usage Statistics Guidelines (KE-USG), Open Archives Initiative Object Reuse and Exchange (OAI-ORE), Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), Open Access Statistik (OA-Statistik), Open Access Repository Junction (OA-RJ), Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe (OpenAIRE), Open Researcher & Contributor ID (ORCID), PersID, Publishers and Institutional Repository Usage Statistics 2 (PIRUS2), Statistics on the Usage of Repositories (SURE), Simple Web-Service Offering Repository Deposit (SWORD), and UK Repository Net+. The intended audience includes institutions and repository managers operating at different points in terms of infrastructure, resources, and institutional support. For institutions new to open access and repositories, the report aims to provide guidance for getting started and indicates which interoperability initiatives are necessary to implement in order to achieve specific services. The full report is available for download from the COAR website. Source: COAR
EBSCO Offers Library & Information Science Source
Library & Information Science Source, considered the definitive resource in the field of library and information science, is now available from EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO). Library & Information Science Source is a full-text resource designed to help librarians and researchers easily find the latest information in a rapidly evolving field of library and information science.Developed by librarians for librarians, Library & Information Science Source covers librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management, and many other library and information science-related areas. Specific coverage includes subjects such as automation, care, and restoration of books, circulation procedures, government aid, internet software, library equipment and supplies, and rare books. The full text includes more than 460 high-quality journals, nearly 30 full-text monographs and thesauri, plus indexing for hundreds of journals as well as books, research reports, and proceedings. The database also provides access to author profiles, including information on 5,000 of the most-frequently indexed authors, such as which subject terms are most commonly applied to their articles and in which publications the author has been published H.W. Wilson records form the foundation of Library & Information Science Source. For the first time, the entire H.W. Wilson indexing collection of literature in library and information science studies and librarianship is available within a single database. Library & Information Science Source is a combination of all the A&I and full-text records in H.W. Wilson’s Library & Information Science Retrospective: 1905-1983 and Library & Information Science Full Text. EBSCO and H.W. Wilson merged in 2011. The acquisition led directly to heightening the value and quality of EBSCO and Wilson resources as well as the creation of a line of source products. EBSCO plans to release additional source products focusing on specific subject matter over the next few months. Source: EBSCO
SYWARE Launches Android Application Builder
SYWARE Inc., a developer of mobile software, launched Version 2.0 of DroidDB, its application building toolset for Android phones and tablets. Like the original DroidDB, the new version enables users to create mobile applications to collect, organize, synchronize, and share information, with relational databases and a full range of forms. No programming expertise is needed.New features include allowing any number of Android devices to be wirelessly synchronized over the internet with Microsoft Access or SQL Server or any other ODBC-enabled relational database. Tables can be synchronized with multiple databases. Applications built with DroidDB 2.0 can capture signatures, screen scribbles and barcodes, record GPS locations, integrate pictures and drawings, and inscribe them on button faces. Data can be filtered in numerous ways to make using the application most efficient and useful. With DroidDB 2.0, applications can take advantage of fully relational databases with multitable, multiform capabilities. Unique SYWARE technologies and extensive libraries of feature and function modules are also integrated into the toolset to make applications simple and easy to create. Unlike other mobile database software tools, DroidDB provides direct control over form design and allows the creation of an unlimited number of mobile forms for each device. Using simple drag-and-drop controls, forms are created on the PC desktop and downloaded to the Android devices. DroidDB 2.0 controls include labels, text, notes, check boxes, radio buttons, and drop-down lists. Grid choices include sizable columns, column headers, and sorting criteria. Other options include font selection, timestamps, calculations, and searches, and devices' cameras can be fully integrated into applications. Supported data types include text, memos, date/time, numbers, money, pictures and yes/no. The software also contains an array of commands, functions, and calculations for collecting and analyzing data, and comes with pre-built interfaces for numeric and date/time data entry. DroidDB 2.0 is available in two configurations. The $125 Business Edition is capable of building apps to run on Android handsets and tablets and wirelessly synchronizing the mobile data with desktop or server relational databases. The $29 Standard Edition does not include the synchronization capabilities. With either Edition, each handheld requires a $5 run-time license. Source: SYWARE, Inc.
Credo’s Literati Links to Librarians
Credo Reference added “Librarian Connect” to its Literati solution. Powered by Mosio, Inc., the new service offers texting capabilities along with chat and email. Literati’s new Librarian Connect service includes the following functionalities:- Integrated within the Literati platform for a seamless end-user experience
- Pre-loaded with the library’s customized educational videos and tutorials created by the Literati team for easy, on-demand distribution
- Web-Based Live Cha—Enables librarians to offer real-time assistance
- “Text a Librarian” via SMS—Allows librarians to be accessible to end-users everywhere
- Schedule Text (SMS) Alerts—Increases mobile engagement through scheduled alerts and updates
- Email Response Management—Provides the ability to coordinate replies to ensure patrons receive consistent answers
“The Literati solution is taking off to the tune of over 500 libraries signed within a nine month timeframe,” says Noel Chandler, CEO of Mosio. Literati delivers a blend of technology, content and services that enable research effectiveness and digital and information literacy. The Literati solution includes embedded tools that guide the user; integration of the library’s existing resources and discovery services; tools that measure what works and what doesn’t; and a growing collection of nearly 10,000 Topic Pages. Literati can be packaged with a growing reference database of more than 3.6 million XML-enriched entries with more than 500,000 images, videos, and audio clips that enhance learning. Mosio is a mobile software and solutions company providing text messaging and web solutions to help businesses connect with customers and their workforces on the go. Source: Credo Reference
Encyclopaedia Britannica Launches App for Windows 8
The Encyclopaedia Britannica App, now available in the Windows Store, provides access to the entire encyclopedia with a sleek and engaging interface, rich illustrations, and special features such as Link Map, a graphical browser that connects interrelated articles in a fun and interactive way. This new digital version of the encyclopedia, the latest in a long line the publisher has created over the past two decades, exemplifies the direction the company is taking today,” says Britannica senior vice president Gregory Barlow. “We’re mobile, we’re digital and we’re making knowledge available to people whenever and wherever they need it.”The Britannica app is free to download from the Windows Store. Free content includes 100 top articles and engaging special features such as This Day in History. Access to the full contents of the encyclopedia is available for $14.99 (U.S.) annually. Britannica created the first digital encyclopedia in 1981, the first multimedia encyclopedia in 1989, and the first encyclopedia on the internet in 1994. Today’s Britannica, which is available in a variety of digital forms, is updated continuously, every day. More about the Encyclopaedia Britannica App is available here. Britannica subsidiary Merriam-Webster, Inc. also released its dictionary app for Windows 8. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
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Brandi Scardilli
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