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Weekly News Digest

February 11, 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.

Thomson Reuters' PeopleMap Integrates With WestlawNext

On PeopleMap, legal researchers analyze documents and public records from around the world to find relationships between people, assets, and businesses. To streamline searching, results from PeopleMap are now displayed in WestlawNext workflows. Other new features include enhanced navigation tools, web analytics, and graphical displays connecting people and businesses.

Westlaw PeopleMap is also integrated with Firm Central for law firms and Concourse for corporate and government legal departments, as well as with Google Maps for viewing current and previous addresses.

Source: Thomson Reuters

SpringerLink Articles Add Altmetrics

Springer’s goal is to add value to its online platform: “Whereas altmetrics were used in the past at Springer for annual journal reports and editorial board meetings, or to track a journal’s performance, now this information is being gathered and shared widely with authors, SpringerLink users and the general public as well,” says Martijn Roelandse, senior editor at Springer.

On the SpringerLink platform, researchers can view altmetrics on the abstract page of every article without having full-text access to SpringerLink. A “shares” link on the abstract page sends users to Altmetric’s website, where they can enter into discussions about each article.

Source: Springer Science+Business Media

Academic Research Available Free at U.K. Libraries

Libraries and publishers partnered with Access to Research to provide the free content, which now includes 8,400 journals. PLS, ALPSP (The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers), The Publishers Association (PA), ProQuest (providing the technical interface via the Summon service), and the Society of Chief Librarians are jointly supporting the initiative. PLS spearheaded the project with input from a government-sponsored report that suggested the expansion of access to publicly funded research.

“[I]t is hoped that Access to Research will encourage more customers to visit their local library,” according to the press release.

Source: Publishers Licensing Society

GPO Releases XML-Formatted Bill Summaries

The LC’s Congressional Research Service (CRS) writes the summaries, which include the most significant provisions of the bills and the effects the bills might have on current laws and federal programs. The XML format allows users to repurpose the summaries for mobile applications, data mashups, and other analytical tools.

“GPO and the LOC have been important partners in working towards House Leadership’s goal of increasing transparency by making more data available in bulk data formats,” says Karen L. Haas, the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives.  “The successful completion of the bill summaries project marks another positive step in that direction.”

Source: U.S. Government Printing Office

Aquafadas Updates Go Live

AVE file updates include three new games, HTML-enabled order forms for digital magazines, and enhancements to the read-aloud features and PDF publishing options.

EPUB files now have region magnification when readers zoom in, a new Guided Reading interface, and new Japanese-language specifications.

Aquafadas also added undo and redo buttons to the InDesign plug-in, as well as other organizational features. The Digital Publishing System mobile apps for iOS and Android devices now have a new PDF reader, gallery enrichment for the iOS app, and several new options and improvements for the Android app.

Source: Aquafadas

EBSCO Introduces eBook Religion Collection

The collection covers topics such as philosophy, ethics, history of religions, and religious texts; themes include faith, cultural systems, and worldviews. EBSCO added titles from Oxford University Press, Harvard University Press, the Society of Biblical Literature, and other publishers known for their publications on religion.

EBSCOhost enables searching for ebooks and databases on one platform, and EBSCOhost Collection Manager facilitates purchasing. Institutions can order eBook Religion Collection as an annual subscription with unlimited access to content and optional downloading. Titles are available for unlimited users and are regularly added to the collection at no extra cost.

Source: EBSCO Information Services

Vizibility Licenses Its Patents

Five of the seven ORM patents are available with flexible terms and prices: Selection and Sharing of Verified Search Results; System and Method for Quantifying Visibility Within Search Engines; System and Method for Searching, Formulating, Distributing and Monitoring Usage of Predefined Internet Search Queries (a Google Me button); Systems and Method of Identifying and Managing Abusive Requests; and Systems and Methods of Handling Internet Spiders.

Users can embed Vizibility’s Google Me button on websites to link to curated Google search results.

Source: Vizibility