Latest Information Industry News and Resources
Report: “Wikipedia Has a Diversity Problem, But These Librarians Want to Help” (Interview with USC’s Elizabeth Galoozis)
From PC Magazine: Wikipedia, which turns 18 this week, is now viewed 6,000 times every second and more than 200,000 editors contribute every month. Before Wikipedia came along, information cataloging and dissemination used to be a matter of rigorous scholarship. Encyclopedia editors were … [Read More...]
16 Consumer Organizations Announce New Framework for US Privacy Protection, Propose Privacy Agency
From EPIC: EPIC joined 16 organizations in support of a “A Framework for Privacy Protection in the United States." The consumer groups outlined a new approach to privacy protection: (1) enact baseline federal legislation; (2) enforce fair information practices; (3) establish a data protection … [Read More...]
Ithaka S+R Releases Report on the Research Practices of Civil and Environmental Engineering Scholars
From an Introductory Blog Post by Rebecca Springer: The latest installment in Ithaka S+R’s series of Research Support Services projects investigates the research practices and support needs of civil and environmental engineering scholars. Today we are excited to publish the project’s capstone … [Read More...]
Israel: “New Legislation Allows Israeli Cultural Institutions Greater Freedom to Digitize Their Archives – Without Fear of Lawsuits”
From The Jerusalem Post: Now, following an amendment to the Copyright Law passed in the Knesset on January 1, the library and other cultural institutions in Israel will have much greater freedom to digitize and share their vast holdings without the fear of lawsuits. Those who lobbied for the … [Read More...]
Roundup (January 17, 2019)
1. Hack Brief: An Astonishing 773 Million Records Exposed in Monster Breach (via Wired) 2. New Market Research Shows Amazon Exceeds 100 Million US Prime Members (via CIRP) 3. In the UK: Jisc Helps The Higher Education Sector Save Almost Half a Million, Thanks to Affordable Digital Archive … [Read More...]
Harvard Library and MIT Libraries Provide Recommendations for Plan S Implementation
From MIT Libraries: Harvard Library and the MIT Libraries are committed to fostering a scholarly communications environment which advances the values of openness, equitable access, transparency, responsible stewardship, and flexible reuse. Aligned with these commitments, we are in broad support of … [Read More...]
New Zealand: Digital Portal Allows Worldwide Access to Sarjeant Gallery (Whanganui)
From The New Zealand Herald: While the Sarjeant Gallery resides in its temporary home at Sarjeant on the Quay, public access to the collection has actually never been better. The Explore the Collection digital portal allows anyone with access to the internet to search the entire Sarjeant … [Read More...]
New Data on Enrollment and Staffing in U.S. Public Schools and School Districts (2016-2017) Released by NCES
From the National Center for Education Statistics: In the 2016-17 school year, the number of students for every full-time equivalent teacher in public schools was 16.0, unchanged from the previous school year. . The National Center for Education Statistics released a new set of data today, … [Read More...]
Video Recording: “Public Domain – Celebrating the Lifecycle of Copyright” Event Held at the Library of Congress
"Public Domain - Celebrating the Lifecycle of Copyright" was organized by the U.S. Copyright Office andrecorded on January 16, 2018 at the Library of Congress. About the Event The Copyright Office hosted Copyright Matters event “Public Domain – Celebrating the Lifecycle of Copyright” on … [Read More...]
Pew Research Finds 74% of Facebook Users Did Not Know That the Social Platform Maintains a List of Their Interests, Traits
From Pew Research: Most commercial sites, from social media platforms to news outlets to online retailers, collect a wide variety of data about their users’ behaviors. Platforms use this data to deliver content and recommendations based on users’ interests and traits, and to allow advertisers … [Read More...]
Preprints: arXiv Releases Annual Update (2018 Year-in-Review/Highlights & What to Expect in 2019)
From the Introduction to an arXiv Blog Post: arXiv provides open access to 1.5 million e-prints in Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance, Statistics, Electrical Engineering and Systems Science, and Economics, with 228 million downloads from all over the … [Read More...]
Urban Libraries Council Launches Initiative to Empower Public Libraries For the “Equitable and Inclusive” Use of Artificial Intelligence
From ULC: The Urban Libraries Council has launched a new initiative to empower North American public libraries to stand at the forefront of the movement for an equitable and inclusive future for the storage, privacy and application of data as AI technology becomes more ubiquitous. This initiative … [Read More...]
NPD Group Reports Print Book Sales in U.S. Grew 1.3% in 2018 (vs. 2017)
Fron NPD Group: 2018 marked another year of modest growth for the print books industry in the United States. Print books sales volume grew 1.3 percent compared to last year with 696 million units sold, according to global information company The NPD Group. The dominant trend in the books … [Read More...]
ITHAKA S+R Announces New Research Project on Teaching with Primary Sources
From an Ithaka S+R Blog Post by Danielle Cooper and Rebecca Springer: We are excited to announce a new research project designed to support effective teaching with primary sources. Teaching undergraduates with primary sources promotes student engagement and critical thinking skills and is a key … [Read More...]
Standards: NISO Announces Three New Projects (Content Migrations, Badging Scheme, Onology Standard)
Below, announcements from the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) about three new projects. Project 1: Recommended Practices Around Content Platform Migrations Recommended Practices Around Content Platform Migrations, to provide a standard process and recommendations to all … [Read More...]
Association For Research Libraries (ARL) Publishes “Advocacy and Public Policy Update, January 2019″
From ARL: The latest Advocacy and Public Policy Update (PDF), by Prudence S. Adler and Krista L. Cox of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), covers key issues of interest to the research library community in Canada and in the US from September 14, 2018, through January 15, 2019. This … [Read More...]
Roundup (January 16, 2018)
1. Canadian Federation of Library Associations Sends Letter of Support to Vancouver Public Library re: Community Use of Library Space Issues (2 pages; PDF) |||| Statement From VPL ||| Press Report From Last Week: "Trans Advocates Rally Against Controversial Feminist Speaker Meghan Murphy" (via CTV; … [Read More...]
“Change Ahead: How Do Smaller Publishers Perceive Open Access?
From the LSE (London School of Economics) Impact Blog: Reporting results from a comprehensive survey of publishers in the German-speaking world, Christian Kaier and Karin Lackner explore the attitudes of smaller publishers towards open access, finding both rising levels of interest, but also … [Read More...]
Center for Open Science (COS) and EcoEvoRxiv Launch Branded Preprint Server
From COS: EcoEvoRxiv (EcoEvo“archive”) is a not-for-profit research repository for works related to ecology, evolution and conservation. The EcoEvoRxiv server can be used for freely and legally sharing preprints (manuscripts before submissions to journals), postprints, reports, and … [Read More...]
The Only Known Surviving Muslim American Slave Autobiography is Now Available Online From Library of Congress
From LC: The Library of Congress has acquired and made available online the Omar Ibn Said Collection, which includes the only known surviving slave narrative written in Arabic in the United States. In 1831, Omar Ibn Said, a wealthy and highly educated man who was captured in West Africa and brought … [Read More...]
