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Building a Knowledge Society in the Arab World Arab societies need nurturing institutions and supportive policies to achieve a significant boost in knowledge production and creation, according to the new Arab Knowledge Report 2009. The report, launched by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), maintains that reforms in areas like the media and information technologies…     Click here

OCLC Ingests OAIster: Pearls to Follow At the beginning of this year, OCLC agreed to take over the running of the venerable open access service OAIster (www.oaister.org) from the University of Michigan, which had run it since it began in 2002. At the end of October, OCLC announced that it had completed the transition. The WorldCat.org service now includes all the OAIster records. Users of the old OAIster.org site will now be automatically shifted over…     Click here

European University Presses Fold, Consolidate in Economic Downturn The economic downturn has taken its toll on scientists and educators. Now, university presses in Europe are facing funding cuts. One press is closing. Others are cutting back on the number of titles they're publishing. And a new European university press association is being planned as the presses circle their wagons.     Click here

FDA Grapples With Regulating Social Media Ads Hundreds of pharmaceutical experts, advertising specialists and social media gurus will be descending Thursday on Washington to tell the U.S. Food and Drug Administration how it should regulate ads on everything from Google to Facebook. The two-day meeting is a widely sought after event by FDA standards. Drug advertising is almost always a sensitive topic, with consumer groups and doctors saying drug marketing …….     Click here

Africa facing climate data shortage Africa must increase its collection and analysis of data about climate change's impact on water supplies, a meeting has heard. The continent needs information about water resources at local, national, regional and transboundary levels, said scientists at the 2nd Africa Water Week this week (9-13 November), organised by the African Ministerial Council on Water in Johannesburg, South Africa…     Click here