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Weekly News Digest

November 14, 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.

IGI Global Announces New Journals

The new journals are now available for subscription and will be included in IGI Global databases such as InfoSci-Journals, which features more than 12,000 peer-reviewed, full-text articles from 200-plus disciplines.

The nine journals are as follows:

• International Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Technology focuses on drug discovery techniques, biopharmaceuticals, and related fields.
• International Journal of Business Analytics is designed for practitioners and academics of business analytics who research topics such as data mining and quantitative methods.
• International Journal of Corporate Finance and Accounting uses research in quantitative methods to provide an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to finance, accounting, and related fields.
• International Journal of Applied Management Sciences and Engineering is a refereed, multidisciplinary journal that emphasizes human resources management and production engineering.
• International Journal of Materials Forming and Machining Processes is also refereed and focuses on research, development, and techniques in the formability and machinability of all materials.
• International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age examines the international impact of public administration and information technology on improving public service delivery.
• International Journal of Rough Sets and Data Analysis explores rough sets (a type of mathematical analysis), granular computing, and data mining techniques.
• International Journal of Systems and Society promotes the ways systems ideas are used and developed in society.
• International Journal of Civic Engagement and Social Change explores how social change through civic engagement can aid public welfare activities.

Source: IGI Global

Springer Partners With Qatar National Library

QNL, a member of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, “managed to open a library digitally first, while other national libraries have been doing it the other way round,” according to Claudia Lux, project director at QNL. “We consider that access of knowledge is very important for the business in the region and for the entire community,” she says.

Anyone with a valid Qatari ID or residence permit may register to join the library for free, where they can access SpringerLink. The library offers training sessions to familiarize users with Springer’s platform.

Lux hopes the agreement will help Qatar’s researchers “unlock their scientific potential and develop the skills that will support their participation in the global knowledge economy.”

Source: Springer Science+Business Media

Google Apps Backup Made Easy

Spanning, a provider of SaaS data protection solutions, helps business customers and users back up and restore their business-critical data. It also offers constant backup monitoring so administrators can catch any issues early on. Spanning Backup protects customers’ Gmail, Drive, Sites, Calendar, and Contacts apps on the Google interface as a security measure to ensure against data loss.

“Protecting SaaS applications from potential data loss is an absolute necessity as more organizations put their business critical data in the cloud. Participation in the EMC Select Partner Program allows us to extend our market reach with a stronger focus on enterprise customers,” according to Jeff Erramouspe, chief revenue officer at Spanning.

Spanning partnered with EMC in March 2013 to jointly promote Spanning products and EMC’s Mozy backup and recovery technology. Entry into EMC’s partner program is the next step in their collaboration.

Source: Spanning

SirsiDynix Acquires EOS International

“SirsiDynix will be able to take the EOS customers to the next level, in terms of product innovation, financial stability, and long-term security,” says Scot Cheatham, founder, owner, president, and CEO of EOS. “This acquisition shows SirsiDynix’s commitment to the smaller library market that we serve.”

EOS’ products and services will be developed and maintained as usual for its special library customers. The companies do not plan to consolidate their products or change product strategies.

Source: SirsiDynix

ProQuest and OCLC Automate WorldCat Updates

When librarians opt in to the automation process, ebrary and EBL provide OCLC with holdings data for their purchased collections and demand-driven acquisition (DDA) repositories. OCLC loads the data into WorldCat’s knowledgebase of worldwide econtent so libraries can access the data along with linking features. Holdings are automatically updated as needed; librarians do not need to do any manual maintenance.

“OCLC is working with partners like ProQuest to automate as many steps as possible in the supply chain to help reduce the burden on librarians to keep e-resource information current,” according to Chip Nilges, OCLC’s VP of business development. “This automated process is designed to remove the difficult and time-consuming task of cataloging and maintaining holdings information to keep records of e-book collections and links up to date.”

OCLC and ProQuest previously partnered to support a DDA model for ebrary and EBL ebooks so libraries can make ebooks discoverable to their patrons before purchasing them.

Source: OCLC

More OA Journals Arrive From Frontiers

The new journals are part of the Frontiers in … journal series. Manuscripts submitted to the series are reviewed by specialty associate and review editors, and specialty chief editors are assigned to each subject area.

Frontiers in Earth Science’s introductory specialty sections include Atmospheric Science, Interdisciplinary Climate Studies, and Paleontology.

Frontiers in Environmental Science’s initial sections also include Atmospheric Science, as well as Environmental Toxicology and Groundwater Resources and Management.

“Frontiers expands the notion of publishing by adding network possibilities and impact metrics to evaluate individual articles,” according to Luis Gimeno, specialty chief editor for Atmospheric Science.

All of Frontiers’ articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY) that allows researchers to share, copy, and distribute content as long as they credit the authors.

Source: Frontiers

ProQuest Enters Automation Beta Phase

The automation process means that librarians no longer need to manually load records and set holdings, and it includes automatic updates to data supporting demand-driven acquisition models. This process simplifies access to ebooks in Summon, which works directly with publishers to provide a unified index of search results.

“We are consistently looking for ways to simplify librarians’ tasks by integrating within ProQuest and with other organizations,” says Kevin Sayar, SVP and general manager of ProQuest’s Workflow Solutions. “This initiative has a dual benefit: it relieves the burden for librarians to maintain holdings and also enables more efficient marketing of collections by shortening the time between title availability and its discoverability.”

Source: ProQuest