Library resources provider EBSCO, US, and Data-Planet have reached an agreement that for the first time provides statistical DataSheets within a discovery service. A growing collection of more than 5,000 summary-level data records from Data-Planet will be available within EBSCO Discovery Service allowing mutual customers to link directly to Data-Planet DataSheets.
The Data-Planet repository of statistical content currently holds more than 5,000 datasets presented in more than two billion views of data (maps, trends, tables, rankings). The datasets are sourced from reputable public and private organizations and cover topics across 16 broad subject areas, including education, population and income, industry, commerce, and trade, housing and construction, and much more. All of the data have been standardised and structured, and are described with 37 fields of metadata including DOI, summary-level visualisations of the data, descriptions, titles, geographic entities, data-specific elements, and standardized citations. Users can access all the available views for each data series and download the data from each DataSheet.
In addition to being accessible via EBSCO Discovery Service, the Data-Planet repository is searchable via two complementary interfaces: Data-Planet Statistical Datasets and Data-Planet Statistical Ready Reference.
Data-Planet is part of a growing list of publishers and other content partners that are taking part in EDS to bring more visibility to their content. Partners include the world's largest scholarly journal & book publishers including Elsevier, Wiley Blackwell, Springer Science & Business Media, Taylor & Francis Informa, Sage Publications, Nature Publishing, IEEE, ACM and thousands of others. Partners also include content providers, such as LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters (Web of Science), JSTOR, ARTstor, Credo Reference, Encyclopedia Britannica, World Book, ABC-CLIO, The Hathi Trust and many others.
EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution's information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box.
ProQuest affiliate Bowker will be an industry sponsor at uPublishU at BookExpo America (BEA), the acclaimed conference for self-publishers. The company will host three sessions entitled 'Get To Know Your Key Audience & Where To Reach Them,' 'Making Your Metadata Rock,' and 'Understanding How to Distribute Your Book.' Each is led by a publishing expert and will provide practical advice that authors can apply immediately.
uPublishU at BEA 2013 will be held at the Javits Center in New York City on June 1. The one-day conference allows aspiring writers and authors to learn from industry experts about self-publishing their works, with presentations that cover technology and tools needed to publish in both print and digital. Bowker's presentation on identifying and reaching target audiences includes a rich demographic breakdown of the buyers of e- and print books by key subjects of particular interest to self-published authors. The metadata session shows authors how descriptive information about their books gets distributed, revised, and used on the Internet. The distribution session gives authors tips on how to navigate the book supply chain, starting with the basics in understanding the roles of wholesaler, distributor, online retailer and print on demand.
Other uPublishU at BEA presentations include bestselling authors, industry experts, and professionals who will share tips, tactics and best practices that enable authors to take charge of their publishing efforts. Sessions on all aspects of the publishing process will offer advice for new and experienced indie authors. Conferees will also be able to interact with more than 24 exhibitors, each with information on how their organisation supports authors.
Information services provider Wolters Kluwer Health, US, has announced that its clinical decision support resource, UpToDate has been named by IDG's Computerworld Honors Program as a 2013 Laureate for its Global Health Initiative.
A partnership between Wolters Kluwer Health and the Global Health Delivery (GHD) Project at Harvard University, the UpToDate Global Health Initiative provides clinicians practicing in resource-limited settings with donated subscriptions to UpToDate, a peer-reviewed, evidence-based clinical resource developed to aid in diagnosis and clinical management. It also provides ongoing development of clinical content specific to the needs of clinicians in these settings and a dedicated community on GHDonline.
Free access to UpToDate has benefited 175 institutions and 8,400 clinicians caring for more than 2 million patients in 45 countries. The program has also facilitated UpToDate access following natural disasters worldwide, including the earthquakes in Haiti, Japan and New Zealand.
The annual Computerworld Honors award programme recognises visionary applications of information technology to promote positive social, economic and educational change. The Computerworld Honors Program awards will be presented at the Gala Evening and Awards Ceremony on June 3, 2013, at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C.
A recently released major survey of UK Academics examines the attitudes of researchers and practitioners working within higher education. It sheds light on their behaviours, including their reliance on digital technologies, the Internet and open access.
The survey, funded and guided by Jisc and RLUK and conducted on their behalf by the not-for-profit research organisation Ithaka S+R, received 3,498 responses, (a response rate of 7.9%). The survey covers a range of areas from how academics discover and stay abreast of research, to their teaching of undergraduates; how they choose research topics and publication channels, to their views on learned societies and university libraries, and their collections.
Overarching themes are an increasing reliance on the Internet for their research and publishing activities and the strong role that openness is playing in their work. Findings of the survey reveal that while 86 percent of respondents report relying on their college or university library collections and subscriptions, 49 percent indicated that they would often like to use journal articles that are not in those collections.
Additionally, if researchers cannot find the resources or information they need through their university library, 90 percent of respondents often or occasionally look online for a freely available version. 40 percent of researchers surveyed said that when beginning a project they start by searching the Internet for relevant materials, with only 2 percent visiting the physical library as a first port of call.
The findings suggest that the majority of researchers track the work of colleagues and leading researchers as a way of keeping up to date with developments in their field.
Further, the findings show that e-journals have largely replaced physical usage for research, but that contrasting views exist on replacement of print by e-publications, where print still holds importance within the Humanities and Social Sciences and for in-depth reading in general.
Higher education leaders will gather at a workshop in London on May 20 to discuss the survey results and consider the ways in which their organisations can align their efforts more closely with what academics say they need.
Library information provider OCLC, US, has announced that Skip Prichard, an experienced senior executive in the information services market, has been named the next OCLC President and CEO. He will succeed Jay Jordan, who will retire June 30 after 15 years as OCLC President and CEO.
Prichard has led multi-national organisations that serve libraries across the full spectrum of library services and content needs. Most recently, he was President and CEO of Ingram Content Group Inc., which provides a broad range of physical and digital services to the book industry. Prior to his service at Ingram, he was President and CEO of ProQuest Information and Learning, a respected global publisher and information provider serving library, education, government and corporate markets with offices around the world.
Prichard will serve as OCLC President-elect, effective June 3, and will officially become President and CEO on July 1.
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is inviting applications and nominations for participation in the 2013–2015 class of the Research Library Leadership Fellows (RLLF) Program. The RLLF Program is an executive leadership program that offers an opportunity for development of future senior-level leaders in large research libraries and archives. This will be the fifth iteration of the RLLF since its inception in 2004. To date, the program has involved almost 30 research libraries sponsoring almost 90 key staff in their development as an emerging cadre of ARL senior leaders.
The 2013–2015 RLLF Program is jointly sponsored and designed by directors of the University of Guelph Library and University of Waterloo Library; North Carolina State University Libraries; Purdue University Libraries; University of Toronto Libraries; and Vanderbilt University Library.
These sponsor libraries will guide the design and be directly involved in offering the core experience of the program: strategic issues institutes, a series of site visit options to sponsor libraries, and other developmental opportunities. In addition, the fellows will be invited to participate in ARL Membership Meetings, CNI Membership Meetings, and a number of optional events over the 18-month duration of the program.
The sponsor libraries will provide a core group of fellows to participate in the program. To complete the cohort, staff from other ARL member libraries may apply for remaining slots. Applications will also be accepted from staff from non-ARL member institutions for two of the appointments to the program provided that applicants meet established criteria. The additional fellows will be selected by a committee of the RLLF sponsoring directors.
Complete application instructions and the online application form are available on the RLLF website http://www.arl.org/rllf. The application deadline is June 14, 2013. Fellows will be selected by early August 2013.
The Royal Society of Chemistry has announced that its Chemistry World publication has joined a glittering list of finalists for this year's Online Media Awards. The shortlist reads as a who's who of the journalism world, including Channel 4, Sky, the New York Times, USA Today, CNN, MSN, The Guardian, The Times, BBC, al-Jazeera and the Huffington Post.
The awards, now in their third year, are organised by The Drum, sponsored by iomart Group, IE School of Communications and supported by the National Union of Journalists, the Society of Editors and the British Journalism Review.
Chemistry World is the print and online magazine of the RSC, one of the largest organisations in Europe for advancing the chemical sciences. The publication features news, feature articles, opinion, podcasts and latest job advertisements.
Online submission system provider Aries Systems Corporation, US, and publisher Taylor & Francis entered into a global enterprise agreement to make the Editorial Manager peer review system available to Taylor & Francis journals.
Taylor & Francis has grown rapidly over the last two decades to become a leading international academic publisher of more than 1,750 scholarly journals. By adding Editorial Manager to its workflow options, its journals will benefit from the innovations and configuration capabilities that characterise the Aries solution.
Editorial Manager is a cloud-based SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solution used by thousands of scholarly journals to facilitate manuscript submission and peer review. The system delivers feature updates approximately three times per year and leverages APIs to integrate with third-party solutions such as ORCID and CrossCheck. Recent innovations include seamless cross-journal manuscript transfer, editor discussion forums and automated ingestion of external email.
More than 5,000 summary-level data records from Data-Planet now accessible via EBSCO Discovery Service
Survey of UK Academics examines attitudes of researchers and practitioners working within higher education