Latest Information Industry News and Resources
University of Virginia Announces #Crowdsourcing Project to Transcribe the Papers of Civil Rights Icon Julian Bond
From the University of Virginia: Civil rights icon Julian Bond fought for social justice and equality from the time he co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1960 until his death in 2015. In between those years he served in the Georgia legislature, co-founded the Southern … [Read More...]
ALA and Canadian Urban Library Council Respond to Tor Books Four-Month Embargo on Selling New Ebook Titles to Libraries
Multiple statements and resources follow. We will update this post with additional material if/when it becomes available. ALA Statement from the American Library Association: At the beginning of July, Tor, a division of Macmillan, announced without warning that it was immediately … [Read More...]
Rutherford County, Tennessee Library System Opens “Shelfless Digital Public Library” (aka Technology Engagement Center)
From Nashville Public Radio: For the first time in 26 years, a new library is opening in Rutherford County. But there’s something you won’t see there: books. Or, bookshelves. The Technology Engagement Center is designed as a trendsetting library that focuses on digital literacy, computing … [Read More...]
Censorship and Privacy: American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Releases a New Resource Guide: “Defending Intellectual Freedom: LGBTQ+ Materials in School Libraries”
From AASL/ALA: The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has released a new resource guide to support school librarians addressing challenges related to censorship and patron privacy issues, particularly with LGBTQ+ materials. “Defending Intellectual Freedom: LGBTQ+ Materials in … [Read More...]
New From ITHAKA S+R: “Library Acquisition Patterns: A Preliminary Report with Data From OCLC’s WorldShare Management Services”
The report from ITHAKA S+R linked below was written by Katherine Daniel, Joseph J. Esposito, Roger C. Schonfeld Title Library Acquisition Patterns: A Preliminary Report with Data From OCLC’s WorldShare Management Services Source ITHAKA S+R July 19, 2018 doi: 10.18665/sr.307940 From … [Read More...]
IFLA’s Environment, Sustainability and Libraries SIG Announces Winner and Runners-Up of the Green Library Award 2018
From the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA): Environment, Sustainability and Libraries (ENSULIB) is a special interest group under IFLA. With generous sponsorship from De Gruyter Publishing (Boston/Berlin), the group circulated a Call for Submissions for the IFLA Green … [Read More...]
News Roundup (June 19, 2018)
1. Recent Documents Digitized Through the DigiLab at Library and Archives Canada 2. De Gruyter Acquires Düsseldorf University Press 3. Emerald Launches a New Open Research Publishing Platform - Emerald Open Research - in Partnership With F1000 4. The Library of Congress Doesn’t Want … [Read More...]
Conference Paper: “Fake News As We Feel It: Perception and Conceptualization of the Term ‘Fake News’ in the Media”
The following paper (preprint) has been accepted at the 10th International Conference on Social Informatics (SocInfo 2018) that is scheduled to take place in Saint Petersburg, Russia on September 25–28. Title Fake News As We Feel It: Perception and Conceptualization of the Term 'Fake News' … [Read More...]
Universities in Germany and Sweden Lose Access to Elsevier Journals
From The Scientist: This month, approximately 300 academic institutions in Germany and Sweden lost access to new papers published in Elsevier’s journals due to a standstill in negotiations for nationwide subscription contracts. While Elsevier’s papers remain inaccessible, academics are turning … [Read More...]
The British Library Extends Grant For Project to Digitize Endangered Colonial Documents in Cuba
From the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA): The British Library Endangered Archives Programme has extended a UTA-led project to digitize colonial documents in Cuba by another six months as part of their global initiative to preserve endangered documents relating to pre-industrial … [Read More...]
Law Libraries: Law Library of Congress and the Peace Palace Library in the Hague, Netherlands Forming Information-Sharing Relationship, Sign Memorandum of Understanding Signed
From The Peace Palace Library: Two of the world’s most comprehensive international law libraries, the Law Library of Congress and the Peace Palace Library based in The Hague, Netherlands, have agreed to form an information-sharing relationship to exchange information and better serve library … [Read More...]
Utah: Weber County Library System Website Down Due to ‘Rogue Code,’ Officials Seek Fix”
From The Standard-Examiner (Ogden, UT): If you’re seeking information about activities at Weber County’s libraries, don’t go to the system’s website. The regular site, www.weberpl.lib.ut.us, has been down since June due to a “rogue code” that infected the library’s content … [Read More...]
Listen Up! A New Edition of “The Smart Audio Report” Released by NPR and Edison Research (Smart Speakers, Voice Assistants)
From Edison Research and NPR: With smart speaker ownership over 43M in the U.S. (18+), smartspeakers have quickly expanded beyond first adopters. New smart speaker owners are emerging as a distinct audience in terms of user profile and behavior according to new research from The Smart Audio Report, … [Read More...]
Digital Privacy: “PayPal’s Venmo App Exposes Most Transactions via its API”
From Bleeping Computer: The vast majority of Venmo transactions are being logged in a public API accessible to anyone, according to the recent investigation of a privacy advocate. The reason this happens is because the Venmo app's default settings are set to "Public" for all users. Unless … [Read More...]
U.S. Copyright Office Releases Upgrades to Virtual Card Catalog Proof of Concept
Note: The Virtual Card Catalog proof of concept was introduced on January 24, 2018. From the U.S. Copyright Office: Today, the U.S. Copyright Office implemented a series of technical upgrades to enhance searching and results tracking capabilities when using the proof of concept of the Virtual … [Read More...]
News Roundup
1. Arizona State University Professor Dr. Kyle Longley Appointed New Director of Johnson Presidential Library (via NARA) 2. Here's LCA's comments on the @CopyrightOffice NPRM on mandatory deposit of electronic-only books: https://t.co/fh8wc1Mgce — ARL Public Policy (@ARLpolicy) July 16, … [Read More...]
Now Available: Video Recording of the Legislative Data Transparency Conference 2018
From the Committee on House Administration: The Legislative Data and Transparency Conference 2018 (#LDTC18), hosted by the Committee on House Administration, took place on Thursday, July 12, 2018, in the Capitol Visitor Center's Congressional Auditorium. The #LDTC18 brings individuals from … [Read More...]
In Australia: “Preserving Records of Endangered Languages Through Digital Archives”
From the Australian Research Council: Associate Professor Nick Thieberger is a linguistics academic and an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow, based at The University of Melbourne, who is digitising and archiving the records of our most at-risk indigenous languages. Professor … [Read More...]
EFF: “Win for Public Right to Know: Court Vacates Injunction Against Publishing the Law”
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation: A federal appeals court today ruled that industry groups cannot control publication of binding laws and standards. This decision protects the work of Public.Resource.org (PRO), a nonprofit organization that works to improve access to government documents. … [Read More...]
New Research Article: “Scholarly Communication Librarians’ Relationship with Research Impact Indicators: An Analysis of a National Survey of Academic Librarians in the United States”
The following article was published on July 17, 2018 by the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication. Title Scholarly Communication Librarians' Relationship with Research Impact Indicators: An Analysis of a National Survey of Academic Librarians in the United … [Read More...]
