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Weekly News Digest
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January 14, 2014 — 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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GPO Plans for the Future
The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) released its Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2014–2018. It discusses the organization’s intended evolution from print-centric to content-centric.A key goal of the plan is the addition of official, digital, secure publishing services for Congress, federal agencies, and the public. In 2014, the GPO aims to conduct a federal customer satisfaction survey, update its Federal Digital System, make its equipment and information technology infrastructure more efficient, prepare for the “next generation” passport, and release the results of the Federal Depository Library Program Forecast Study. Source: U.S. Government Printing Office
Elsevier Updates SciVal
Elsevier launched a new generation of its SciVal research solution featuring enhanced analytics and a new tool for helping research institutions support their evidence-based decision making.Elsevier integrated the analytical capabilities of SciVal Spotlight, a research performance assessment and strategy execution tool, and the SciVal Strata benchmarking tool with the new SciVal, making its service more comprehensive and intuitive. Users can now configure, visualize, and export information to analyze their position relative to peers and global and domestic standards. “The new generation of SciVal has been developed following years of close co-operation with leading research institutions globally,” according to Nick Fowler, managing director of academic and government institutions at Elsevier. “We hope that research leaders will view the result as a significant step forward in helping them to monitor and manage their institution’s research strategies.” Source: Elsevier
Gale Brings High School Diploma Program to Public Libraries
Gale, part of Cengage Learning, teamed up with Career Online High School to create an accredited high school diploma program that is now available to Gale’s public library partners across the country.Adult library patrons who participate in the program can earn an accredited high school diploma and a credentialed career certificate. Patrons may put existing high school credits toward a diploma. Libraries have the option to award scholarships for the program to qualified learners. Career Online High School’s online learning platform offers courses in academic subjects as well as eight career fields such as education and certified transportation. According to Cengage Learning’s press release, more than 1 million Americans drop out of high school each year. Almost 40 million Americans do not have a high school diploma. “As one of our nation’s most trusted educational institutions, the public library is the perfect venue for Career Online High School,” says Nader Qaimari, Cengage Learning’s SVP of sales and marketing. Source: Cengage Learning
ACM Publishes New Series
ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) introduced ACM Books, a series of ebooks and print titles on computer science. The series is composed of graduate-level textbooks, research monographs exploring established and emerging fields, practitioner-level professional books, and books on the history and social impact of computing. Topics include software engineering, cloud computing, data management, and web engineering.This series joins ACM’s journals and conference publications in providing content for researchers, practitioners, educators, and students on the ACM Digital Library content delivery platform. The series is published in collaboration with Morgan & Claypool Publishers, LLC. “ACM Books will feature research surveys and graduate-level textbooks that reflect high-quality, innovative research in a wide area of computing and information technology,” says Scott Delman, ACM’s director of group publishing. “Authors will find a range of high quality services, including fast publication, affordable pricing, wide distribution, and easy accessibility via the ACM Digital Library as well as the prestige of publishing with ACM.” An editorial board, led by editor-in-chief M. Tamer Özsu, acquires books for the series. “ACM Books will fill a unique space in the publishing domain,” according to Özsu. “Rather than focus on narrow topics, these books will target topics more broadly and address areas not covered elsewhere. Our books will also expose the rich history of computing and the substantial global impact this field commands.” Source: ACM
ProQuest Enhances Multimedia Discovery
ProQuest’s new Video Preservation and Discovery Service (VPDS) is designed to make it easier for university library patrons to find and access an institution’s multimedia collections.VPDS combines rich indexing with metadata, preservation, and dissemination services. It integrates multimedia content with the rest of a library’s collections, making the content visible in the catalog and in the discovery layer. “This service addresses a genuine frustration for libraries,” says Jane Burke, ProQuest’s VP of strategic initiatives. “There’s growing demand by users for multimedia research content and libraries have it. However, it’s highly siloed and scattered. … Libraries can now put more of their collections to work for their users.” Academic institutions can sign up for VPDS to increase audio and video collection discoverability through conversion or transcription and to gain support with storage or hosting/streaming initiatives. VPDS works with a range of institutional media and file formats, including tapes and hard drives. Source: ProQuest
New Portal Offers Technology News
Yahoo rolled out Yahoo Tech, a portal composed of technology news, reviews, and best practices represented by photos and GIF (graphics interchange format) images. It is designed to accommodate smartphone and tablet users with stories that expand in the current window and collapse when a reader is finished.Users click on images to access articles in the forms of “bite-sized stories, engaging videos, and stunning photos,” according to Mike Kerns, Yahoo’s SVP of homepages and verticals. Content is produced by a team of columnists, journalists, authors, TV and radio personalities, and technology experts. The portal offers advertising as sponsored stories that are marked as such. “There are plenty of technology sites for self-described geeks and corporate techies, but so far, the Web leaves normal folks in the technological dark. Yahoo Tech is the answer,” says Kerns. Yahoo also recently debuted a Yahoo Food portal featuring topics such as restaurants, healthful food, chefs, and comfort food. Source: Yahoo
Online Information Conference Closes
The Online Information conference, hosted by Incisive Media, announced on its website that the conference has closed.Previous Online Information conferences addressed topics such as social media, Big Data, mobile devices, ebooks, and open access. Website visitors can still view highlights from the 2013 conference, which focused on “Adapting to disruptive technologies and creating value with people, platforms and information.” Source: Incisive Media
Portico Partners With Knowledge Unlatched
Portico announced an agreement with the open access (OA) initiative Knowledge Unlatched that will preserve Knowledge Unlatched’s Pilot Collection of OA ebooks in Portico’s E-Book Preservation Service.There are 28 ebooks from 13 scholarly publishers in the Pilot Collection. “We want to [assure] libraries that this content will be available to researchers and students for the long term,” says Frances Pinter, Knowledge Unlatched’s executive director. Portico debuted its E-Book Preservation Service in 2008, and libraries began participating in 2011. Publishers and libraries help pay for the archive’s operating costs. Source: Portico
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Brandi Scardilli
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