Oxford University Press launches offsite mobile access support for mobile journals users

June 7, 2012

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

June 7, 2012

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

June 7, 2012

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

June 6, 2012

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

June 6, 2012

‘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

June 6, 2012

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

June 6, 2012

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

June 6, 2012

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 Manuscripts^TMreport, 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/.

Fifteen more libraries join OCLC WorldShare Management Services community

May 31, 2012

Fifteen more libraries have announced that they have selected OCLC WorldShare Management Services, the first cooperative, Webscale library management services that streamline cataloging, acquisitions, circulation, license management and workflows, and offer a next-generation discovery tool for library users. This brings the number of libraries worldwide committed to using WorldShare Management Services to 210.

“UNCG believes that WorldShare Management Services are the next major advance in library cooperation,” said Tim Bucknall, Assistant Dean of University Libraries and Head of Electronic Resources and Information Technologies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. “The services significantly reduce redundant and duplicative effort across libraries, thereby allowing each library to focus on their unique content and strengths.”

Among the new subscribers:

Bay de Noc Community College, Escanaba, Michigan
Criswell College, Wallace Library, Dallas, Texas
Crown College, Watne Memorial Library, St. Bonifacius, Minnesota
Dordt College, John and Louise Hulst Library, Sioux Center, Iowa
Franklin Pierce University, Frank S. DiPietro Library, Rindge, New Hampshire
Fuller Theological Seminary, David Allan Hubbard Library, Pasadena, California
Huntingdon College, Houghton Memorial Library, Montgomery, Alabama
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
Pasadena City College, Shatford Library, Pasadena, California
Plymouth State University, Lamson Library, Plymouth, New Hampshire
Santa Barbara City College, Luria Library, Santa Barbara, California
Santa Clara County Law Library, San Jose, California
Southeastern University, Steelman Library, Lakeland, Florida
UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion, H.M. Fishbon Memorial Library, San Francisco, California
University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), Greensboro, North Carolina

ProQuest Enables Worldwide Access to Virtual Royal History

May 31, 2012

Executives from Ann Arbor-based ProQuest were present as Queen Elizabeth II officially launched a unique, online view into royal history: a digital retrospective of the complete personal journals of Queen Victoria, enabling the first-ever access to the private records of one of the world’s most influential public figures. Renowned for its expertise in making rare, fragile works accessible to broad audiences, ProQuest is a partner in the project along with University of Oxford’s renowned Bodleian Libraries and the Royal Archives.

“ProQuest is deeply proud to be associated with this historic project and honored that Her Majesty has personally launched Queen Victoria’s Journals in this Diamond Jubilee year,” said Rod Gauvin, ProQuest Senior Vice President. “We’re also absolutely delighted to enable this content to be accessed and used by scholars worldwide. These journals provide a singular and important view into the life and work of Queen Victoria and of British political and social history.”

ProQuest’s sophisticated digitization and search technologies have been combined with the content and subject expertise of the Bodleian Libraries and the Royal Archives. In just eight months, the organizations have enabled 43,000 pages of Queen Victoria’s thoughts and experiences to be explored in an image-rich and easy-to-use website –www.queenvictoriasjournals.org. The launch date marks the birthday of Queen Victoria and coincides with a 60-year reign of HM Queen Elizabeth II — a ‘”Diamond Jubilee” year milestone that is uniquely shared by both monarchs.

Queen Victoria’s journals have never been published in their entirety before and were only accessible by appointment at the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle. Global public access to the website is available through June 30. After which a specialized version for libraries will become available from ProQuest, enabling access for scholars, researchers and the general public around the world.

Queen Victoria was a prolific writer and recorded her thoughts and experiences almost daily, from age 13 and continuing until just weeks before her death in 1901. Her journals provide a fascinating insight into her life as Queen, often revealing the personal impact of world events. In addition to exposing previously unrecorded moments of significance, such as meetings with her Prime Ministers and other world leaders, the journals also show an unexpectedly intimate side to Queen Victoria. She writes of her early romance with Prince Albert: “He clasped me in his arms, and we kissed each other again and again!” (10 Feb 1840), and later in life, she describes the loneliness of widowhood: “Here I sit lonely and desolate, who so need love and tenderness” (10 March 1863).

Online access to Queen Victoria’s Journals includes features for easy browsing and reading. Pages from the journals can be searched by date or place of writing, and transcriptions of each page–searchable by keyword are currently provided for the period up to 1840, with further releases planned throughout the year. An interactive timeline and drawings by Queen Victoria, along with essays about aspects of Queen Victoria’s life, authored by Sir Roy Strong, Laurence Goldman and Peter Ward-Jones among others, add further perspective.

Queenvictoriasjournals.org is open worldwide through June 30th. To learn more about worldwide access after July 1, visit www.proquest.com.

Elsevier announces evidence-based skills database designed for respiratory care professionals

May 31, 2012

Elsevier, the leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the availability of a new skills product for respiratory care professionals Mosby’s Respiratory Care Skills.

Mosby’s Respiratory Care Skills gives respiratory therapists the first and only online skills database based on the latest evidence and clinical guidelines. This new collection follows the Mosby’s Skills model, providing evidence-based and standardized skills and procedures, with competency testing and documentation. Mosby’s Skills is an online skills reference and competency management resource designed to meet the respiratory therapy education and development needs of today’s healthcare organizations using an interdisciplinary approach to care.

Based on the most current evidence, each skill features a quick sheet, checklist, illustrations, multimedia demonstrations, and more to provide thorough explanations that help all types of learners master important skills. Mosby’s Respiratory Care Skills currently features 42 skills, with more launching later in 2012 and 2013. Current skills include:

Compliance and Resistance Measurement
End Tidal Carbon Dioxide Monitoring
Intrapulmonary Shunt Calculation
Mechanical Ventilation: Airway Pressure Release Ventilation
Oxygen Therapy for Patients with an Artificial Airway
Peak Expiratory Flow Measurement

“At Elsevier, we are committed to helping healthcare providers by creating evidence-based tools to use at the point-of-care and really improve clinical outcomes,” said Barbara Nelson Cullen, Vice President, Strategy and Content Development, Elsevier. “By expanding Mosby’s Skills to the respiratory care professional market, we broaden the resources available to the interdisciplinary care team.”

Research collaboration platform Mendeley expands with funding from Eurostar

May 31, 2012

Pan-European partnership and government funding helps change the way research is done

Support from European funding program helps startup become the transformational force in academic research

Financial and ideological backing from EUREKA Eurostars, an R&D initiative funded by the European Community and the UK’s Technology Strategy Board, has helped rapidly establish Mendeley as a serious player in the academic industry.

Mendeley is one of the world’s largest research collaboration platforms, helping millions of researchers and scientists organize their research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest papers in their subjects. Through the use of collaborative filtering technology seen on sites like Last.fm, Mendeley learns about users when they add documents to their personal libraries – it then recommends related articles that may have been missed, and helps connect them to people with similar interests.

The Eurostars project brought together Mendeley with the Estonian Technology Competence Centre in Electronics-, Info- and Communication Technologies (ELIKO) and Austria’s Competence Centre for Knowledge Management (Know-Center). Building on their complementary fields of expertise, the three organizations collaborated with one another to produce a number of Web 2.0 services for researchers that operate efficiently at large scale. The services leverage the wisdom gained from crowdsourcing in combination with exploiting modern semantic technologies (e.g. Latent Dirichlet Allocation) to produce novel tools that provide researchers with information on the impact of their research – in real time.

The resulting technological improvements and subsequent funding received from Eurostars and the UK Technology Strategy Board have allowed Mendeley to create a database of more than 225 million indexed documents, and signup over 1.6 million users from across academia and industry world-wide. It has now become the largest crowd-sourced academic research database in the world.

EUREKA Eurostars is the first European funding and support program specifically directed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) working in R&D. Since 2009, the UK funding body, the Technology Strategy Board has invested over £3 million into projects as part of the Eurostars program.

Eurostars stated that Mendeley is “…definitely one of the best projects that has ever come out of the program.”

Dr Paul Rübig MEP, said of the partnership: “The intergovernmental network EUREKA and the innovation project Eurostars are very successful ways to strengthen research and development within small and medium enterprises. The Eurostars project is an ideal model for the future financing of SME’s. Mendeley is a success story which highlights the excellent functioning of the program.”

Graham Mobbs, European Operations Manager from the Technology Strategy Board added: “The Technology Strategy Board is delighted to support Mendeley through the Eurostars program, which is directed at such innovative, research-oriented SMEs. The success of their MAKIN’IT project shows how pan-European co-operation and collaboration can create the environment for vital, growth-creating, technology innovation to flourish and help commercialize innovative new products and services.”