Less than six months after launching a dedicated iOS app, ebrary®, a ProQuest business, today announced a new Android™ app that will be freely available on Google Play this summer. With the increasing popularity of smart phones, tablets, and other devices, researchers will have a more optimized way to discover and use e-books, online and offline, on any Android device in addition to the iPad®, iPhone®, and iPod touch®.
“There are an estimated 300 million active Android smartphones and tablets worldwide, with 850,000 devices activated daily. Android has proven popular among the students, staff, and faculty who use ebrary for their research,” said Matt Barnes, ebrary’s Vice President of Marketing. “The launch of our Android app is a direct response to the many requests we’ve received from users who want a way to utilize scholarly e-books from trusted publishers on the device of their choice.”
ebrary’s Android and iOS apps work with e-books acquired under all of ebrary’s acquisition models including the 75,000 titles available through Academic Complete™, the industry’s first and only aggregated e-book subscription to be designated as a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title. The apps also provide optimized access to local content uploaded by libraries via DASH!™ (Data Sharing, Fast), a unique feature of Academic Complete and other ebrary products.
Key features and benefits of ebrary’s apps include:
Freely available with any ebrary library product
Online and offline reading
Seamless downloading of full titles
Simple and advanced search
Multiple navigation controls
Table of contents with relevancy rankings
Early check-in of ebrary’s e-books
Copy and paste with automatic citation for offline documents
User configurable download size warnings
Import and use documents from other sources
Supports English and Spanish (UI)
Optional sign-in with Facebook user name and password
ebrary Announces New Android App
Elsevier and the Society for Vascular Surgery launch new journal
Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, and the Society for Vascular Surgery® announce the launch of a new quarterly journal, Journal of Vascular Surgery: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders. The inaugural issue will appear in January, 2013. Elsevier currently publishes the Journal of Vascular Surgery® on behalf of the Society.
“We are extremely pleased to be working with Elsevier to publish a new peer-reviewed journal specifically designed to promote venous and lymphatic health,” commented Richard Cambria, MD, President of the Society for Vascular Surgery. “A collaborative effort between the Society for Vascular Surgery and the American Venous Forum, the Journal of Vascular Surgery: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders will provide a valuable channel for the dissemination of important research and clinical information in this rapidly evolving field.”
Journal of Vascular Surgery: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders will publish high quality clinical and basic scientific research, case reports, venous images, techniques, review articles, and practice management manuscripts related to all aspects of venous disease, lymphatic disease, and wound care with an emphasis on the practicing clinician. The journal will seek to provide novel and timely information to vascular surgeons, interventionalists, phlebologists, wound care specialists, and allied health professionals who treat patients presenting with venous and lymphatic disease.
The distinguished international editorial board will be led by Anton N. Sidawy, MD, and Bruce A. Perler, MD. “Venous disease is highly prevalent and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality,” stated Dr. Sidawy. “It is our goal to publish high-quality clinical studies, research, case reports, techniques, reviews, venous and lymphatic images, and practice management manuscripts related to all aspects of venous disease, lymphatic disease, and wound care.”
Chinese Academy of Sciences National Science Library to preserve Nature Publishing Group content
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSLC) and Nature Publishing Group (NPG) signed an agreement to provide long-term digital preservation of NPG’s content in Beijing on May 29, 2012.
The agreement was signed by Dr. Zhang Xiao Lin, Director of National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Science and Antoine Bocquet, Director, Asia-Pacific, Nature Publishing Group on behalf of their organizations.
“NPG publishes some of the most important scientific journals in the world and the long term accessibility under any conditions of these strategic information resources is critical to Chinese research and innovation”, said Dr. Xiaolin Zhang, “I am glad we could reach an agreement with NPG on the preservation of Nature-branded journals in China which also provides a best practice example for other resources. I am looking forward to cooperation between CAS and NPG in many new and interesting territories”.
Under the agreement, the NSLC will establish and maintain an archive of Nature, the Nature research and Nature Review journals, and all NPG-owned journal current content. An archive back to 1997 will be created, and new content will be added as it is published. The archive would be made accessible to CAS institutes with nature.com site license agreements in the event that emergency or force majeure make nature.com unavailable in China. Of the 100 CAS institutes, 70 have site licences to NPG journals that will be preserved under this agreement.
“Nature Publishing Group is pleased to co-operate with the National Science Library CAS in this way,” said Charlotte Liu, Managing Director, The Macmillan Group, Greater China. “This extends NPG’s long-term digital preservation efforts to our valued customers in China, providing researchers with access to a long-term preservation archive in the event that access to nature.com is unavailable in China. The National Science Library is an excellent partner with experience in digital preservation, and we are pleased that NPG-owned content will now form part of its archives.”
NPG also ensures long-term digital preservation of its content through PORTICO and the not for profit CLOCKSS.
BMJ Group appoints Tim Brooks as CEO
Tim Brooks, the former managing director of the Guardian News & Media, is to join the BMJ Group as CEO from October 1st. He succeeds Stella Dutton, who is retiring from the company after 16 years, 8 of them as CEO.
The BMJ Group publishes the world-renowned British Medical Journal and over 40 specialist medical journals. During Stella’s term as CEO revenues have doubled to £70m and operating profits trebled to over £10m. Nearly 60% of the BMJ Group’s revenues now come from overseas and BMJ Learning, its online continuous professional development resource for doctors, and decision support tools such as Best Practice are leaders in their field worldwide.
Tim is currently consulting to a number of major media organisations. He is Executive Fellow in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School and a member of the UK government’s Digital Advisory Board.
Tim Brooks comments: “I am really delighted to be joining the BMJ Group. The growth and diversification strategy led by Stella, developing international revenues and using the BMJ’s strength and heritage to grow electronic services and education, make her a hard act to follow. The calibre of the team, the company’s reputation and authority, and its strong sense of purpose, make this a very exciting opportunity.”
At Guardian News & Media, Tim was responsible for £220m of revenues and over 1,500 staff. He led the development of new revenue areas such as paid-for apps and the Guardian Professional Networks. Prior to the Guardian, Tim was a director of IPC Media, running major consumer brands from In Style to NME. He gained extensive business and professional publishing experience as a director of Emap Business Communications in the 1990s. He was managing director of Health Service Journal and Nursing Times; and he led the acquisition from the Institution of Civil Engineers of its professional journals, New Civil Engineer and Civil Engineer International.
Tim has dual reporting lines to the Chairman of the BMJ Group, Dr Michael Chamberlain, and to Tony Bourne, the Chief Executive/Secretary of the BMA, which owns the BMJ Group. Stella will remain as a consultant to the BMJ Group until February next year.
Michael Chamberlain comments: “Stella has done a superb job in growing BMJ Group’s product range and international footprint. We were eager to secure a new CEO who would build upon that success and maintain our growth, and in Tim we are confident we have just that person.”
Tony Bourne, Chief Executive/Secretary of the BMA says: “This is a very significant senior appointment. Under Stella’s direction, the BMJ Group has flourished to become a highly influential market leader and an important asset to the BMA. I look forward to working with Tim to develop the activities of both the BMA and the BMJ Group.”
Oxford University Press launches offsite mobile access support for mobile journals users
Oxford University Press (OUP) is pleased to announce that users of its mobile-optimized journals service can now authorize their mobile devices for offsite access to institutional subscriptions.
While connected to the institution’s network, by choosing ‘Authorize this Device’ on any journal’s mobile homepage, institutional users can connect their mobile device to their institution’s Oxford Journals subscription, thereby granting access to protected content even after stepping out of the institution’s network. Each mobile device must be authorized individually; the level of access granted will be exactly the same as the institution’s subscription; and, once activated, the voucher will provide access to journal content for six months.
Richard O’Beirne, Digital and Journals Strategy Manager, OUP, said: “Supporting offsite mobile access is our latest enhancement to deliver accessible, high-quality content to our customers, furthering OUP’s mission to disseminate scholarship worldwide. We’ve now made it even easier for busy and increasingly mobile academics to keep up with the latest research in their field, whenever and wherever they like.”
The new service builds on the 2011 launch of mobile-optimized across OUP’s journal websites, which can be accessed from any smartphone. OUP and HighWire Press, the electronic publishing platform powering OUP’s journal content, developed a clean, fast, and easy-to-navigate interface that can be accessed virtually anywhere.
For more information, visit the FAQ page:http://www.oxfordjournals.org/mobile_faqs.html.
EBSCO Awards Seven Scholarships for ALA Annual
In co-sponsorship with the American Library Association (ALA), EBSCO awarded seven librarians $1,000 scholarships to attend the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim June 21-26, 2012.
The scholarship recipients are Aimee Babcock-Ellis, librarian, University of Maryland, Bethesda, Md.; Yu-Hui Chen, bibliographer and outreach librarian for education, University at Albany, Albany, N.Y.; Susan K.S. Grigsby, library media specialist, Elkins Pointe Middle School, Roswell, Ga.; Danielle Whren Johnson, digital access librarian, Loyola/Notre Dame Library, Baltimore, Md.; Ann B. Perham, school librarian, Needham High School, Needham, Mass.; Susan Ridgeway, teacher librarian, Wooster City Schools, Wooster, Ohio.
As part of the application process, librarians were asked to explain how attending the ALA Annual Conference will contribute to their professional development. “School librarians are ‘Lone Rangers.’ We collaborate with every teacher, yet we have no one with whom to exchange and brainstorm ideas that will help us grow professionally,” said Perham. “State and national conferences offer superior professional development opportunities.”
Their essays also revealed another common theme: service. Our winners look forward to gaining skills that will help them better serve their users. “My first duty as a librarian is to teach my students how to become information literate,” said Johnson. “Attending sessions at Annual on tools and techniques of instruction will help me become a more effective teacher, because I can learn new methods of instruction from other librarians that will benefit my students.”
Furthermore, they are focused on serving their fellow librarians by taking on and advancing in leadership roles in ALA. “This conference is a prime venue for monitoring developments and best practices in academic librarianship, sharing research findings, and providing services to the library profession,” says Chen, who is a mentor of the 2011–2013 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Diversity Scholars. “I will attend events hosted by the ARL Diversity Program to offer guidance to potential future colleagues.”
The applications were judged by an ALA-appointed jury. This year’s jury was chaired by Julius C. Jefferson Jr., information research specialist, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; also on the jury were David A. Brackus, librarian, Jefferies & Company Inc., Houston; Elizabeth Nelson, knowledge analyst, UOP LLC, Des Plaines, Ill.; Tobi Oberman, head of circulation, Skokie Public Library, Skokie, Ill.; and Dawn J. Zeig, library media specialist, Malcolm S. Mackay School, Tenafly, N.J.
EBSCO and ALA representatives will host a breakfast honoring the scholarship recipients during the conference on Sunday, June 24, 2012.<
EBSCO has sponsored scholarships to ALA conferences for more than 16 years, awarding scholarship money to be used for conference registration, travel, and expenses. EBSCO will continue the tradition of awarding librarians again in 2013.
Veritas Capital completes acquisition of Healthcare Business of Thomson Reuters
The previously announced $1.25 billion sale of the Thomson Reuters Healthcare business to an affiliate of Veritas Capital was completed today. The company’s many well-known brands, established in more than 30 years of leadership in the healthcare industry, include Advantage Suite®, Action OI®, MarketScan®, 100 Top Hospitals®, CareDiscoveryTM and Micromedex®.
The newly independent company will be known as Truven Health Analytics, a name based on the words ‘truth’ and ‘proven’ that speaks to the strength of its offerings, expertise, and people.
“Truven Health Analytics is the industry’s leading provider of trusted and unbiased healthcare information, analytic tools and benchmarks,” said Robert McKeon, chairman of Veritas Capital. “Their solutions sit at the center of virtually every major healthcare challenge currently confronting hospitals, employers, federal and state governments, pharmaceutical companies and health plans. We look forward to working with the management team and employees to build upon the strong foundation in place to continue delivering value to our customers.”
Truven Health Analytics provides data, analytics and performance benchmarking solutions and services to hospitals, health systems, employers, health plans, government agencies and pharmaceutical companies. With leading assets and solutions coupled with expert services and analysis, Truven Health Analytics provides its customers with solutions to identify savings, improve outcomes, detect fraud, and more efficiently manage their healthcare operations.
Truven Health Analytics is uniquely positioned to address the industry’s convergent healthcare trends, including the increased use of benchmarks to assess quality care, implementation of health information exchanges and other electronic data initiatives spurred by healthcare reform, more rigorous investigations of healthcare waste and abuse, and the development of population health programs among hospitals, health plans, and large employers.
“The healthcare industry is constantly striving for higher quality and improved efficiency, and our new partnership with Veritas Capital will help us harness the power of our world class team to tackle some of the industry’s biggest challenges,” said Mike Boswood, president and CEO of Truven Health Analytics. “We’re eager to realize the potential that our future holds.”
Truven Health Analytics employs approximately 2,200 people worldwide and has its principal offices in Ann Arbor, Chicago and Denver.
John Hayes MP announces new accessibility tools
John Hayes MP, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning launched two new JISC TechDis tools this week as part of our work to improve access to education for all abilities.
The tools TechDis Voices and TechDis Toolbox will improve text to speech and provide a one-stop toolbox of resources, aimed primarily at helping people with disabilities or other difficulties to improve their work and learning.
TechDis voices will improve the computerised voice people hear when they choose to listen to a voice read out text from a device.
The new TechDis voices are two high quality, youthful and modern voices Jack and Jess that can be used with text-to-speech tools.
JISC TechDis have worked with hundreds of learners and the specialist synthetic voice company Cereproc to ensure that Jess and Jack meet high standards.
“Jack’s pronunciation is the best I have heard for a long time. Jess is even better than Jack – brilliant!” says Sid Cameron, assistant manager of Soundwell learning resource centre, City of Bristol College.
Sal Cooke, Director of JISC TechDis says, “We are hoping that Jess and Jack will help bring text-to-speech out of the shadows and into the light of mainstream education provision. There are so many benefits for so many different types of people.”
For instance, this software could help you multitask and listen to texts whilst travelling or exercising. TTS is especially useful for people with print impairments, such as dyslexia, and can also be very helpful to those who are more confident with spoken rather than written English.
The second tool is TechDis Toolbox, a collection of resources which give useful hints and tips on technologies that can help individuals work smarter, quicker and more efficiently.
While written primarily for those with disabilities or difficulties, it is useful for anyone who wants to gain or improve on the skills most valued by employers.
The toolbox explores many common workplace technologies such as Microsoft Office and Google and explains how to get the most out of them. It also suggests different tools for different needs. For example, people with a visual impairment may find screen magnifiers or text-to-speech tools useful; individuals with dyslexia or memory problems might like to use task lists, calendars and reminders.
JISC Techdis decided on the contents of the Toolbox by asking groups of former students “what should your tutor have told you but never did?” Their answers shaped the final resource, so the toolbox now contains bite-size videos, short guides, animations and brief audio files.
The two new tools were announced in Hayes’ plenary speech at the 7 National Digital Conference.
New ALPSP report on the potential effect of making journals free after a six month embargo
‘The potential effect of making journals free after a six month embargo, a report commissioned by The Publishers Association and the Association of Learned, Professional and Society Publishers [ALPSP], found that an across-the-board mandate might have a material effect on libraries’ subscriptions; and that the impact on publishers’ revenues would be considerable. Higher Education Institutions’ libraries may be impacted by the collapse or scaling down of academic publishing houses. The world’s most distinguished research institutions would, the report suggests, be impacted the most, since published outputs are essential for the work carried out by their researchers. The reports’ results indicate that STM publishers could expect to retain full subscriptions from 56% of libraries, compared with 35% for AHSS publishers.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Graham Taylor, Director of Educational, Academic and Professional Publishing at The Publishers Association, said: “We need a sustainable publishing model which is mutually attractive for both publishers and libraries. The findings of the report are testament to the fact that a six month embargo period is too short for the ‘green’ model of open access. The Publishers Association is in full support of a funded version of open access as we hope will be recommended by the report of the Finch Committee, which is expected to be published shortly”.
Audrey McCulloch, Chief Executive of The Association of Learned, Professional and Society Publishers, said: “ALPSP is very concerned about the effect this may have on non-profit publishers, many of whom may not survive. The responses in the report show that the ‘green’ model of open access will reduce the number of journals and thus choice available to academics. Learned societies rely on income from their publishing activities – how will this affect them and the services they provide? ALPSP will only support appropriately funded publishing models, such as the current subscription model or the ‘gold’ open access model”.
The report documents the results of a survey carried out to obtain a significant body of information on how the acquisitions policies of libraries might be affected by an across-the board mandate to make journals articles free of charge six months after publication. The report analyses the results of responses from 210 libraries across the world who were asked whether they would continue to subscribe to research journals were their content freely available within six months of publication. Libraries were asked to send separate responses for Scientific, Technical and Medical (STM) journals and Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences journals (AHSS).
Springer and the Scottish Higher Education Digital Library Consortium sign licensing agreement
Springer and the Scottish Higher Education Digital Library Consortium (SHEDL) recently signed a ground-breaking agreement for access to electronic journal subscriptions and eBooks on Springer’s platform SpringerLink. Every SHEDL member will now have access to an enormous database of content consisting of nearly 2,000 journals and over 40,000 eBooks. The license will run for a period of three years starting in 2012, and unlimited DRM free access will be given to all higher education institutions across Scotland.
Anne Donnelly, Library Sales Director UK and Ireland at Springer, said, “This agreement represents a collaborative milestone not just in Scotland but across the UK as a whole. SHEDL is a dynamic and forward-thinking organization that Springer has been lucky to work with for many years. By adding many thousands of scientific eBooks alongside the eJournals, they are opening up this key content to all researchers and students across Scotland.
Jill Evans, Service Development Manager, Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries (SCURL), said, “One of SCURL’s strategic objectives is supporting SHEDL to extend its access to a range of content formats for our users in Scottish Higher Education Institutions. Opening access to Springer eBooks and eJournals is a significant step to support the learning, teaching and research agenda. The availability of Springer’s content through SHEDL ensures equitable access for our users and contributes to creating the infrastructure for a digital library for Scotland. SHEDL acknowledges the significant contribution which our colleagues in JISC Collections have made to the successful negotiations to achieve this agreement.”
Ingram’s Vital Source® engages more institutions, students, and publishers with EPUB 3 readiness
Vital Source Technologies, Inc., an Ingram Content Group company, today announced that it has implemented support for the EPUB 3 standard in its flagship Bookshelf® platform, becoming the first e-textbook solution provider to deliver support for the latest version of the open industry standard.
The new EPUB 3 version, based on HTML5, supports rich media, interactivity, global languages, and enhanced accessibility features. As publishers develop e-books that include rich media and interactive applications for the education community, more are turning to Vital Source because of its comprehensive EPUB readiness to create, enhance, and distribute content to institutions, educators and students worldwide.
“Textbooks in higher-education are moving beyond the static dimension of the printed page and the book-under-glass e-books people are accustomed to,” said Kent Freeman, Chief Operating Officer, Vital Source Technologies, Inc. “As publishers create rich interactive learning experiences for institutions and students, they should be taking advantage of EPUB and the flexibility and benefits that the open industry standard affords. From our media services group working with publishers to create enhanced e-books, to our Bookshelf platform, Vital Source is EPUB ready, including support for the latest revision, EPUB 3.”
Vital Source can accept and deliver EPUB 2 and EPUB 3 content to institutional partners around the world through its Bookshelf platform. Fast becoming the de facto standard within the e-reading sector, the VitalSource platform supports EPUB across all six clients including browser, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android™ and Kindle Fire.
“EPUB 3, based on HTML5 and the latest Web Standards, marks a major leap forward in EPUB’s capabilities for delivering rich, interactive experiences that enable learning materials to engage learners and foster improved outcomes” said Bill McCoy, Executive Director, International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). “Vital Source has been a major supporter of the IDPF, and I’m especially pleased to welcome Vital Source as one of the first implementers of EPUB 3”.
VitalSource, with more than 2.2 million users, is the most used e-textbook platform in education today. With a presence on 6,000 campuses in 180 countries, educators and students have access to tens of thousands of titles from the world’s leading textbook publishers.
Thomson Reuters Quantifies Asia’s Rise in Global Submission Rates to Academic Publishers
The Intellectual Property & Science division of Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today released a new report affirming global submission rates for academic journals are at their highest level in six years.
The ScholarOne ManuscriptsTMreport, Global Publishing: Changes in submission trends and the impact on scholarly publishers, confirms what scholarly publishers have long suspected: submission rates are not only rising overall, but are increasing significantly from emerging nations, bringing a new influx of content from a diverse research base. Traditionally strong submitters like the United States, Japan and Europe are being outpaced by nations like China and India in the percentage change of their total world share of submissions (2005 – 2010). For instance, despite having the most submissions in 2010 overall (230,826), the U.S. portion of the world figure dropped by 3.3 percent. Conversely, China’s portion of the world’s overall holdings increased by 5.5 percent.
Along with a growing global research base, higher overall submission rates present both a challenge and an opportunity for publishers to keep pace with growing amounts of content. Thomson Reuters has identified two ways publishers across the industry have found success in meeting rising demands:
· Accommodate Cultural Diversity within Peer Review Systems: Utilizing systems that identify potential plagiarism and provide Author Services portals ensures “good science” is not overlooked due to cultural differences or language barriers.
· Leverage Tools to Build Programs: Leveraging tools within existing systems to identify “hot spots” where journals are receiving the most attention can help inform sales and marketing efforts and future business development.
“Using data on over three million manuscript submissions, the ScholarOne Manuscripts report reflects what publishers have seen, and will continue to see, in their own workflow,” said Keith MacGregor, executive vice president at Thomson Reuters. “Although overall submission rates are rising, our data shows that acceptance rates have remained relatively static over time. Publishers need to determine whether this is truly a reflection of quality or if they need to begin to implement processes like those highlighted in the report.”
Global Publishing: Changes in submission trends and the impact on scholarly publishers uses data from ScholarOne Manuscripts to look at submission and decision trends in 4,200 journals of all sizes and scopes, published by over 365 societies, publishers and university presses. ScholarOne Manuscripts is the premier journal and peer review tool for scholarly publishers and societies. For more information, please visit http://scholarone.com/products/manuscript/.