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Weekly News Digest
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September 12, 2013 — 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.
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Public Free to Comment on NISO Draft
A revised draft of “Knowledge Bases and Related Tools” (KBART) is open for public comment until Oct. 4, 2013. This metadata-themed recommended practice from the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and UKSG has new emphasis on consortia-specific, open access (OA), ebook, and conference proceedings metadata transfers.KBART was originally published in 2010 as a guide to metadata formatting for content providers and knowledgebase developers. “Since the first Recommended Practice was issued, over 50 publishers and content providers have endorsed KBART and demonstrated their commitment to good quality metadata provision,” says Magaly Bascones, co-chair of the KBART Working Group. After the initial round of feedback from librarians and consortia, NISO and UKSG edited KBART to address more complex issues that affect the metadata supply chain, according to Chad Hutchens, the KBART Working Group’s other co-chair. The KBART Working Group will revise and republish the recommended practice again once the public comment period closes. Source: National Information Standards Organization
RSI Content Solutions Debuts Three New CMS Models
RSI Content Solutions recently revamped RSuite CMS, its content management system (CMS) platform for publishers. Now, publishers have three cost-effective licensing models to choose from: Team, Standard, or Enterprise.RSuite CMS uses XML to manage publications during their entire lifecycle, from creation to publication. The redesigned platform now offers a CMS solution for digital or print content to meet the needs of any size publisher. The Team Edition is designed for small and mid-sized publishers who may be new to CMS solutions. RSI Content Solutions provides a support team and hosted CMS with a task-based workflow to get new users up and running with RSuite CMS functionality. This edition still offers the popular features of the RSuite CMS solution, which are streamlined for ease of use and cost-effectiveness. The Standard Edition offers mid-size publishers and media companies the full features of an enterprise-caliber CMS at a reasonable entry price tag. Among the standard features are content creation and packaging and distribution to selected licensing partners or other platforms. Building on the functions in the Team Edition, the Standard Edition is scalable to a user’s skill level and needs. It provides workflow automation, a choice of hosted or deployed solutions, plug-in options for customization, an XML editor similar to Microsoft Word, and an API integration with third-party tools. The Enterprise Edition is the easy-to-install, higher-end “industrial strength” solution that is capable of running a complete publishing operation: It can handle terabytes of data and can scale to thousands of users who need constant access to the CMS. Publishers with their own XML databases can use the deployed CMS and integrate with other systems using the API, as well as run single or multiple instances of the CMS. In all three editions, publishers can search, store, edit, and reuse content in any format (XML, PDF, images, audio, and video) and access their dashboard for status reports. RSI Content Solutions also redesigned its website to offer a 360-degree view of the new platform and its functionality. Source: RSI Content Solutions
Credo Enhances Its Subject and Publisher Collections
Librarians now have even more reference options from Credo with the launch of 19 new and updated Subject and Publisher Collections. These additions join Credo’s 80-plus collections that aggregate sources by subject or publisher, providing a one-stop platform for reference materials in its Literati solution.A key new Publisher Collection is INTELECOM Intelligent Telecommunications, Credo’s first all-video resource. Twelve video collections from INTELECOM offer a range of topics from the environmental and earth sciences to medicine and health. Among the New Subject Collections is the Anthropology Collection, which adds 40 titles in subject areas such as archaeology and ethnography; the new 39-title Sociology Collection explores more detailed references in social work, race and ethnicity, and social psychology. There are also 15 collections with updated material, including Criminal Justice, Nursing and Allied Health, and Gender and Women’s Studies. Credo plans to release new collections on a regular basis. Content from these collections is available in the subscription and perpetual access models. Source: Credo
EBSCO Introduces eBook Business Collection
EBSCO Information Services launched eBook Business Collection, a new assortment of ebooks for academic libraries from publishers such as Wiley and Cambridge University Press. The collection is designed to help business school students conduct their research and work on special projects by aggregating top business titles in one unlimited-access subscription collection.Topics in the more than 9,400-ebook grouping include marketing, finance, supply chain management, and entrepreneurship. Students can also find sources on career growth, personal development, communication, and networking. A flat fee will be charged for access to the collection, and libraries will be able to access new titles for free as they are added. Users can manage the collection in EBSCO’s eBooks Interface, where they can search ebooks and databases on one platform, from a dedicated landing page, and inside ebooks using the EBSCOhost web-based interface. Source: EBSCO Information Services
Knovel Updates Its Platform
Knovel redesigned its platform to include feature-enhanced search capabilities and a more functional user interface. Enhancements to this new platform were made in response to ongoing research about the way engineers conduct searches and use technical information.Knovel, part of the Elsevier product portfolio, is a technical information reference company for engineers that also offers a cloud-based application of resources from 100-plus engineering publishers and societies. In the application, users can view analytics and access the database for quick yet thorough searches. Teams can collaborate on projects and integrate third-party tools, enterprise applications, and customer knowledgebases into the platform. “The Knovel platform was completely rebuilt from the ground up to ensure that the trusted content that we bring together is discoverable, answers are actionable and the overall experience is seamless—easily integrating into the engineer’s workflow,” says Ella Balagula, senior vice president of engineering and technology markets at Elsevier. Specific updates to the platform include new search algorithms that allow users to search within results and filter them to a user’s preference, a user interface that puts the tools front and center and displays subscription availability, shared folders in My Knovel for team collaboration, and APIs for integration with outside tools. Existing customers don’t need to request a shift to the enhanced platform: Now that the platform has launched commercially, Knovel plans to upgrade corporate customers on Oct. 1 and all other customers by the end of the year. Source: Knovel
HathiTrust Records Go Live on the DPLA
The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) recently doubled its holdings from about 2 million to 4 million records. As part of HathiTrust’s agreement to be a content hub, 1.7 million titles went live on the DPLA search interface, effectively adding nearly twice the content records to the DPLA repository.HathiTrust titles are also available through the DPLA’s open API, so developers can create educational tools and apps using DPLA data. HathiTrust, which preserves freely available resources from universities and libraries, partnered with the DPLA in June and will continue to host the content now searchable through the DPLA. A total of 3.5 million records on HathiTrust are set to be included on the DPLA site, according to the terms of the agreement. Adding these 1.7 million titles makes HathiTrust the DPLA’s largest content hub; the DPLA also works with other institutions such as the Smithsonian, the National Archives, and the New York Public Library. Source: The Digital Public Library of America
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Brandi Scardilli
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