New Emerald publication explores future of higher education

February 27, 2012

Emerald Group Publishing Limited publishes Going Global: The Landscape for Policy Makers and Practitioners in Tertiary Education in collaboration with The British Council and in support of its Going Global Conference, held on 13-15 March 2012 at the QEII Centre in London, UK. The book brings together a selection of edited papers from previous events, offering an insight into the Going Global Conference and providing a study of the current international higher education landscape.

Touching on the important trends in international higher education and how it can meet the challenges arising from today’s economic and political climate, “Going Global” is edited by Mary Stiasny of the Institute of Education and Tim Gore OBE of the University of London. Primarily focusing on the importance of developing global citizens and the role of education in addressing this agenda, the book discusses the different models and drivers for global partnerships, the changing nature of international student mobility, and issues surrounding policy and leadership.

Pat Killingley, Director of Higher Education at the British Council adds, “I am delighted to introduce ‘Going Global: Reflections on the landscape for policy makers and practitioners in tertiary education’. The publication brings together a number of experts in the field of tertiary education, each with their own unique perspectives and experiences of international education… a publication of genuine value and interest to the international education community.”

The book is available to purchase for delegates who register to attend Going Global 2012 and also from the online Emerald Bookstore, http://books.emeraldinsight.com
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ISBN: 9780857247834; ISBN: 9780857247834; Format: Paperback, 230 pp; Publication date: 23 Feb 2012; Price: £29.95

For more information about the “Going Global: The landscape for policy makers and practitioners in tertiary higher education” visithttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/tk/going-global or contact Chris Hart, Commissioning Editor, email chart@emeraldinsight.com

Wiley-Blackwell to Expand Publishing Relationship with the British Educational Research Association

February 27, 2012

Wiley-Blackwell, the scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., today expanded its partnership with the British Educational Research Association by announcing the publication of two further journals together. In 2013 the British Journal of Educational Technology will be joined at Wiley-Blackwell by the British Educational Research Journal and the new Review of Education: An International Journal of Major Studies in Education.

The British Educational Research Association (BERA) is the largest and leading educational research organisation outside of the United States. Formed in 1974 the association brings together psychologists, sociologists, historians, philosophers and other professionals to explore perspectives in education.

The prestigious British Educational Research Journal (BERJ), an international publication containing world-class articles of interest to researchers in education, will be published by Wiley-Blackwell from 2013. The journal currently holds an Impact Factor of 1.14 and a Ranking of 47/177 (Education & Educational Research), and is edited by Professor Vivienne Baumfield (University of Glasgow), Professor Ian Menter (University of Glasgow/Oxford University), Professor Peter Gronn (University of Cambridge), Dr. Hilary Cremin (University of Cambridge), Professor Joanne Hughes (Queen’s University Belfast) and Professor Ruth Leitch (Queen’s University Belfast).

The Review of Education, launching in 2013, will be the only journal outlet for publication of both major studies and substantial reviews in education, with a genuinely international reach and orientation. It will also, uniquely, publish comprehensive Research Syntheses.

The journal, which will be online only, will integrate supplementary materials, such as video abstracts, interviews and teaching resources, published alongside articles, allowing authors to maximise the impact of their work. The new journal will be edited by Professor Vivienne Baumfield (University of Glasgow), Professor Ian Menter (University of Glasgow/ Oxford University) and Dr. Alis Oancea (Oxford University).

The two journals will join the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET), which has been published by Wiley-Blackwell since 1997 and joined BERA’s publication programme in 2011. The journal holds an Impact Factor of 2.139 and a Ranking of 11/177 (Education & Educational Research).

“BERA is committed to ensuring that high quality educational research is disseminated as widely as possible so that it can inspire other researchers, inform policy makers and practitioners and stimulate public debate. The partnership with Wiley-Blackwell in the production and publication of two highly esteemed peer-reviewed journals, and the launch of a third, will help us realise these goals,” said Mary James, President of BERA. “The new journal, Review of Education, provides a really exciting opportunity for BERA to publish extended scholarly works of major national and international significance. We believe it will become a landmark publication in the field.”

Philip Carpenter, Vice President and Managing Director, Social Sciences and Humanities at Wiley-Blackwell said: “We are delighted that BERA has decided to deepen its existing partnership with Wiley-Blackwell through a new publishing arrangement for the British Educational Research Journal. Both BERJ and BJET represent some of the world’s leading educational research and the journals will sit at the forefront of our diverse and growing education publishing programme. We are also extremely pleased to be launching with BERA an exciting new reviews journal, which we believe has the potential to be the most significant new journal in its field for many years.”

Elsevier Integrates its Clinical Decision Support Solutions into PatientKeeper CPOE

February 22, 2012

Elsevier and PatientKeeper, the leading provider of physician healthcare information systems, today announced a collaboration in which Elsevier will integrate its clinical decision support (CDS) and analytics resources into PatientKeeper’s CPOE software product. The collaboration brings world-class, evidence-based clinical content into the physician’s workflow through PatientKeeper’s uniquely physician-friendly computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system.

For PatientKeeper’s physician users, this collaboration provides value-added content that enables physicians to make better and faster patient care decisions that lead to improved outcomes. The collaboration delivers deeper integration with “context specific” CDS information from many of Elsevier’s solutions, including Gold Standard’s Clinical Pharmacology and integrated Drug Database, the Pinpoint clinical analytics suite from MEDai, and Elsevier’s Order Sets solution, which will launch later in 2012. In addition, Elsevier will provide PatientKeeper access to Elsevier’s CPM interdisciplinary, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, and Elsevier’s ClinicalKey, a new clinical insight engine which rapidly helps physicians find the most relevant information to answer complex clinical questions.

PatientKeeper’s CPOE product combined with Elsevier’s clinical content and analytics offers a powerful combination for physicians who increasingly seek more robust clinical decision support tools to fit seamlessly into their existing workflow,” said Jay Katzen, Managing Director of CDS at Elsevier. “This is another example of how Elsevier is integrating its content and other resources with industry leading vendors like PatientKeeper to make healthcare more efficient and to improve outcomes overall.”

PatientKeeper CPOE and all of the PatientKeeper applications were designed to fit seamlessly into a physician’s existing workflow, so it is quickly and easily adopted by physicians. Physicians are able to accomplish all of the things they normally do throughout the day – pre-rounding, ordering, documenting, signing-out, charging, etc. – using a single, fully integrated system. PatientKeeper sits on top of the existing information systems in a healthcare community to provide physicians with a comprehensive view of all the clinical data on all their patients. Currently, more than 70 hospitals and health systems across the United States and Canada have purchased PatientKeeper CPOE to streamline the ordering process for physicians and drive meaningful physician use of a critical healthcare information technology.

“We specialize in making sure that our software enables physicians to deliver better care, by providing them with technology that matches the way they practice and most importantly, software that saves them time and helps them practice more effectively,” said Paul Brient, President and CEO of PatientKeeper. “Our physician users count on us to give them the fastest and easiest way to pull actionable content into their workflow through PatientKeeper CPOE. The historical approach to CPOE and Clinical Decision Support often inundates physicians with a high percentage of irrelevant or non-actionable alerts. We’re delighted to collaborate with Elsevier, whose content is unmatched and who shares our goal of creating a streamlined, physician friendly environment.”

Under ARRA and the HITECH Act, hospitals and physicians are required to achieve high levels of physician adoption of technology including CPOE. PatientKeeper and Elsevier believe that collaborating to provide additional content and tools within PatientKeeper’s physician-friendly CPOE application will lead to high levels of sustained adoption and, most importantly, a happy, more effective physician community.

To learn more about Elsevier’s complete suite of CDS solutions, visit www.clinicaldecisionsupport.com. For more information on PatientKeeper CPOE and their physician workflow solutions, visit www.patientkeeper.com.

EBSCO Publishing’s Patient Education Reference Center Continues to Expand into Electronic Medical Records

February 22, 2012

Hospitals and healthcare systems using Epic as their electronic medical record (EMR) system are now able to easily integrate patient information content from Patient Education Reference Center™ (PERC) fromEBSCO Publishing (EBSCO). The integration will allow mutual customers to access PERC within the Patient Discharge Module enabling healthcare providers to meet criteria outlined in the U.S. government’s Meaningful Use objectives, which require eligible healthcare professionals and hospitals to provide patients with electronic care information, including discharge instructions.

Mutual customers benefit since integrating content into EMR systems improves clinical workflow efficiency and patient education standardization. Allowing staff to access the evidence-based patient education information PERC provides from within an EMR allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to quickly deliver important clinical discharge instructions to patients — information about all aspects of their care and health.

Patient Education Reference Center allows sites to customize PERC content to further promote the hospital’s branding. PERC content is also easy to print, store and archive or retrieve electronic copies on-demand. Having access to patient education information from PERC within an EMR system saves times and further maintains clinical consistency as patients and staff members move through the clinical workflow.

Integrating Patient Education Reference Center into the Epic EMR system can be set up at no additional cost and without any additional software. Mutual customers need only request a PERC data file from EBSCO which can then be easily imported into their EMR system.

EBSCO Publishing makes it easy to integrate the evidence-based content from its point-of-care resources into any EMR system including PERC and the valuable clinical content available from DynaMed™, Nursing Reference Center ™ and Rehabilitation Reference Center™.

Serials Solutions® Appoints Pam Cory to Lead Global Market Expansion

February 22, 2012

Serials Solutions®, a ProQuest® business, announced today that Pam Cory has joined the company as Vice President of Marketing and Global Market Development. As a member of the senior leadership team, Cory will be driving the growth strategy for the business, as well as increasing brand awareness of the company’s industry leading solutions which are sold in more than 77 countries.

“Pam brings to our organization a wealth of experience in business operations, international marketing and cross-functional expertise that will drive development of our global expansion, and positioning of our innovative solutions,” said Michael Gersch, senior vice president and general manager of Serials Solutions. “Her fresh perspective is invigorating. She is helping us shape our leadership position in the market and connect with our customers in a more meaningful way.”

Serials Solutions continues to excel in the areas of product innovation and is currently recruiting for a number of key positions critical to growth and product development for delivering compelling industry-first solutions.

“The strong heritage of the company in the SaaS world, combined with steady year-over-year growth and innovative data intensive technologies caught my attention,” said Cory. “Serials Solutions garners highly respected awards and values strategic marketing. The culture of the company embraces creative thinking that enables all employees to impact our success by building strong customer relationships.”

As a savvy global marketing veteran, Cory is well versed in software, with extensive experience in product strategy and business development, finance, research, digital marketing, public relations, and market planning.

Prior to joining Serials Solutions, Cory served as vice president of marketing for NetMotion Wireless, a mobility software provider, where she led global marketing. Under her leadership, she implemented industry marketing and marketing automation with highly successful sales lead generation programs.

During her tenure at Intermec Corporation, she was vice president of global marketing and product development for the company’s wireless, software, printing, portable computing, RFID and scanning technologies. She was also vice president of its data capture business, with full P&L responsibility for a $60M+ business unit with operations and sales teams located in France, Holland, Sweden, Singapore and the U.S.

Pam Cory holds a B.A. from the University of Washington and an M.B.A. from Seattle University.

American Heart Association launches free-access online journal

February 22, 2012

The American Heart Association has launched the online-only open-access Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease (JAHA) — packed with free peer-reviewed research on heart disease and stroke.

“We envision JAHA as a forum for high quality original articles that cover the full range of cardiovascular science, including basic science, translational science, clinical trials and epidemiological and outcomes research,” said Joseph A. Vita, M.D., JAHA editor in chief.

As with the association’s 11 print journals, articles will undergo rigorous peer review prior to publication. The online format won’t have limits on the length of articles, the number of photos and illustrations, or the use of color or video. Thus, “authors will be able to present all aspects of their work,” Vita said. Also, open-access means content will be rapidly and widely accessible, accelerating the translation of science into practice.

Highlights of the first science published in the new journal include:

Severity of stroke predicts death risk

People with strokes caused by the most severe blockages were more than 12 times likely to die within 30 days of their stroke than people with the least severe strokes as categorized by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS).

The NIHSS ranks stroke severity on a 0-42 scale, with 0-7 being the least severe and 22-42 the most severe.

Thirty-day death rates were:

4.2 percent for mild stroke (0-7)
13.9 percent for moderate stroke (8-13)
31.6 percent for severe stroke (14-21)
53.5 percent for extremely severe stroke (22-42)

Researchers collected data from 33,102 fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries treated at 404 Get With The Guidelines-Stroke hospitals between April 2003 and December 2006. Average age was 79, and 58 percent were women. Get With The Guidelines-Stroke is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that helps healthcare providers to consistently treat stroke patients according to the most up-to-date evidence-based guidelines. In addition, a device like that portable oxygen concentrator can offer stroke patients in hospitals the freedom to move around while receiving crucial oxygen therapy, promoting mobility and reducing feelings of confinement during recovery. Its lightweight and compact design also ensures easy transport, allowing healthcare providers to swiftly respond to patients’ changing needs without compromising on treatment efficacy.

No matter what other clinical information is available, stroke severity is a very strong predictor of death risk after stroke, the researchers said. Categorizing patients by risk levels can better target treatments and resources.

The data could help evaluate the performance of centers that treat stroke patients, researchers wrote in an accompanying editorial.

Aspirin therapy pairs well with walking rehab in patients with blocked leg arteries

Despite previous concerns, aspirin works as well as clopidogrel in conjunction with walking rehabilitation for people with blocked leg arteries, or peripheral artery disease (PAD), according to new research.

People with PAD often have a condition called intermittent claudication, which causes pain while walking due to decreased blood supply to the legs.

During rehabilitation, patients are put on a walking program to help increase blood flow to their legs and spur the growth of tiny collateral blood vessels that help supply leg tissues with blood and oxygen. Improved blood flow should increase pain-free walking time. Previously, experts believed aspirin was a poor choice for these patients because its anti-inflammatory properties might block the development of collateral blood vessels that form to get around the blockage.

In the study, researchers for the first time examined whether the type of antiplatelet drug prescribed impacted PAD patients’ ability to increase walking distance during exercise training.

Patients from 21 centers in Germany and Switzerland were randomly chosen to take low-dose aspirin (116) or clopidogrel (113) during a one hour/day walking program. Average age was 66, and 24.5 percent were women.

After 12 weeks, patients on low-dose aspirin could walk pain-free 33.9 percent farther and 35.3 percent longer before it was too painful to continue. Similarly, patients on clopidogrel could walk 33.3 percent farther before pain began and 34.9 percent longer before being unable to continue.

The researchers concluded that low-dose aspirin doesn’t diminish the improvement of pain-free walking gained during a three-month exercise program.

More evidence-based treatments mean better heart failure survival

Chance of survival for heart failure patients with weakened pumping ability improves if they use at least four or five of the treatments suggested in American Heart Association guidelines, according to new research.

The combination of several key guideline-recommended therapies for heart failure provided up to an 81 to 90 percent improvement in the odds of survival over two years.

In an analysis of data from the large prospective study IMPROVE HF, researchers evaluated how much each treatment contributes to two-year survival ― individually and in addition to other treatments.

Individually, the greatest improvement in survival was gained by treatment with beta-blockers and cardiac resynchronization therapy (a specialized pacemaker that helps coordinate the pumping of the right and left chambers of the heart). Significant gains were also achieved with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers, drugs to reduce blood clotting, implantable cardioverter/defibrillators and heart failure education.

The use of aldosterone antagonists didn’t increase two-year survival, a finding which requires further study according to the authors.

In combination, every added treatment boosted survival until patients were taking four to five treatments, with benefits potentially leveling off (but not diminishing) with additional treatments.

Kidney problems create highest risk of death for patients with diabetes

Kidney impairment is the strongest predictor of death for diabetic patients, according to a study of heart and stroke risk factors in diabetic patients participating in clinical trials.

Having type 2 diabetes adds to the danger posed by other cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and impaired kidney function.

By examining data from clinical trials, researchers assessed the death risk posed by individual factors in people with diabetes. The researchers compared age, gender, body mass index, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), duration of diabetes, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, serum creatinine, smoking status, rate of retinopathy, hypertension , history of cardiovascular disease and the presence of proteinuria (defined by any abnormal excretion of protein in the urine).

The researchers evaluated data on 91,842 patients and 6,837 deaths occurring in 22 clinical trials. They concluded that mortality rates varied substantially across these trials.

They also found that decline in kidney function, with or without presence of protein in the urine, was associated with a higher risk of death.

Europeana launches Linked Open Data Pilot and Animation

February 21, 2012

What is Linked Open Data? Europeana launches Linked Open Data Pilot and Animation

Linked Open Data is gaining traction in the information world right now. Europeana has just launched an animation to explain what it is and why it’s a good thing, both for users and for data providers.

Europeana is facilitating developments in Linked Open Data by publishing data for 2.4 million objects for the first timeunder an open metadata licence – CC0, the Creative Commons’ Public Domain Dedication.

Europeana is making data openly available to the public and private sectors alike so they can use it to develop of innovative applications for smartphones and tablets and to create new web services and portals. This support for commercial enterprise in the digital sector is central to Europeana’s business strategy.

Metadata that is openly available is re-usable by anyone. Linked to external data sources, such as GeoNames, it’s enriched and can also be re-used by its providers as the basis of improved services to users.

The concept of Linked Open Data is attracting Europe’s major national libraries: the Bibliothèque nationale de France recently launched its rich linked data resource, while the national libraries of the UK, Germany and Spain, among many other cultural institutions, have been publishing their metadata under an open licence.

The World Wide Web Consortium has also put cultural Linked Data high on its agenda, notably via the reports of theLibrary Linked Data Incubator Group, co-chaired by Europeana’s Antoine Isaac.

Support for Open Data innovation is at the root of Europeana’s new Data Exchange Agreement, the contract that libraries, museums, and archives agree to when their metadata goes into Europeana.

The Data Exchange Agreement has been signed by all the national libraries, by leading national museums such as the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and by many of the content providers for entire countries, such as Sweden’s National Heritage Board. The new Data Exchange Agreement dedicates the metadata to the Public Domain and comes into effect on 1 July 2012, after which all metadata in Europeana will be available as Open Data.

Social Media for Research: Not Quite There

February 21, 2012

Ebrary today announced that the social media data of its 2011 Global Student E-book Survey is now publicly available at http://site.ebrary.com/lib/surveys along with the full report.

Among other key findings, the addendum revealed the following:

 While 41% of students are currently using social media for research or study, 59% are not. many people decide to buy youtube comments for various reasons. Reasons for not using social media include that existing sites are not a reliable source of information. An exemplary website, like this linkedin real estate website, will guarantee to bring in good amount of traffic.

 When asked if they would use social media to share research with peers, 58% of students indicated “likely” to “very likely,” while 43% stated “unlikely.”

 35% students indicated they would “likely” to “very likely” pose a question to a librarian using social media, compared to 45% who would “likely” to “very likely” use social media to pose a question to faculty.

 When asked if they would use social media to connect with students with similar academic interests, 69% stated “likely” to “very likely,” while 31% stated “unlikely.”

“Using traditional social media platforms for research could be problematic for students on a number of fronts: Most are not designed for serious research, and students may not wish to share personal information with faculty and librarians,” said Kevin Sayar, ebrary’s President and General Manager. “This survey indicates that we need to develop better and more intuitive ways for students to collaborate with authoritative sources in a trusted, research oriented environment. ebrary, along with the wider ProQuest organization, aims to address this gap in the research process and provide the tools and technologies students need to reach their full potential.”

More than 6,500 students worldwide participated in ebrary’s 2011 Global Student E-book Survey, which was very similar to a 2008 survey created by librarians. As part of the latest survey, ebrary added questions pertaining to social media, which has grown and changed significantly over the past three years. ebrary welcomes discussion and papers around any of its e-book surveys. If you are interested in contributing, please email marketing@ebrary.com.

Open access to electronic theses soon to be commonplace

February 21, 2012

Doctoral theses can attract significant attention when made openly accessible in electronic form according to the respondents of a sector-wide survey of information professionals.

The JISC-funded survey gives a clearer picture of progress toward electronic thesis deposit in the UK, and how universities are achieving it.

The respondents to the survey were library and repository staff from 144 higher education institutions – and their responses suggested that 81% of their organisations will be providing open access to doctoral theses in five years time.

Neil Jacobs, programme director at JISC, said: “Doctoral theses are important records of research. Many of them are already openly accessible via repositories and the UK EThOS Service, which most UK universities have joined. The resulting high visibility benefits both researchers and universities, and suggests that electronic theses will have a significant role to play in accelerating sharing our knowledge in the future.”

This publication was a joint venture between UKCGE, and UCL Library Services, based on a JISC project by UCL Library Services

Tina Barnes, senior research fellow at the University of Warwick, is one of the authors of the report. She said: “The move to electronic theses is a very positive development that wholly supports the academic principle of sharing knowledge for the common good and for the advancement of science and human development.”

Paul Ayris, director of UCL library services and co-chair of the DART-Europe partnership, said: “DART-Europe provides access to the full-text of over 280,000 Open Access research theses from 403 European universities in 20 countries. Open Access to such a critical mass of blue skies research is good for research and good for the researcher .”

The report shows there are a number of reasons why researchers may not make their theses available electronically, but the principal reason may be the inclusion of sensitive material.

Concerns regarding third-party copyright, plagiarism and restrictions on future publications are having little impact on access so far.

The report also suggests that theses need to be preserved over the long term – something that the British Library service, EThOS, originally a JISC project, aims to do.

Watch the presentation for more on the key findings of the report

Electronic theses in the uk conf presentation (1)

Source: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2012/02/theses.aspx

SPARC Innovation Fair to showcase creative advancements in Open Access

February 20, 2012

Measuring the once-hidden impact of Open Access on clinical practice and public awareness, embedding digital repositories into the research cycle, encouraging student publishing, and engaging elusive faculty are just some of the top innovations to be showcased at the SPARC Innovation Fair next month. The Innovation Fair is a favored highlight of the biennial SPARC Open Access Meeting, set for the Kansas City Intercontinental Hotel, March 12 & 13.

In rapid-fire presentations that breathe energy and personality into scholarly communications issues, Innovation Fair participants share their creative approaches to a diverse set of challenges. This year, a suite of librarians, technologists, research producers, and publishers will take on the task of presenting, in no more than two minutes, innovative or creative approaches to: the use of open content, content discovery, value-added services, impact assessment, commercial innovation, and Open Access advocacy. Presenters at this year’s event include:

• Marianne Buehler, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Leslie Carr, University of Southampton

• Stephanie Davis-Kahl, Illinois Wesleyan University

• Mel DeSart, University of Washington

• Ann Devenish, Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole

• Lori Ellingford, Arizona State University

• Isaac Gilman, Pacific University

• Marlee Givens, Georgia Tech University

• William Gunn, Mendeley

• Robert Hilliker, Columbia University

• Kristi Holmes, Washington University

• Rhonda Marker, Rutgers University

• Stacey Meeker, University of California-Los Angeles

• Jenny Oleen, Kansas State University

• Jennifer Phillips, National Center for Atmospheric Research

• Jason Priem, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Trish Rose-Sandler, Missouri Botanical Garden

• Elizabeth Smart, Brigham Young University

• Greg Tananbaum, Microsoft Research

• Donald Taylor, Simon Fraser University

• Graham Triggs, Symplectic

The SPARC Open Access meeting expands on the popular SPARC Digital Repositories meetings, hosted biennially since 2004, and will provide a North American-based complement to the “Innovations in Scholarly Communication (OAI)” workshop held in Geneva, Switzerland in alternating years. The SPARC meeting will be a regular forum for a full discussion of Open Access as an emerging norm in research and scholarship and will emphasize collaborative strategies for advancing scholarship for all stakeholders to help effect positive change.

Downloadable Version of FAST Now Available

February 20, 2012

OCLC Research has made FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) available for bulk download, along with some minor improvements based on user feedback and routine updates. As with other FAST data, the bulk downloadable versions are available at no charge.

FAST is an enumerative, faceted subject heading schema derived from the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). OCLC made FAST available as Linked Open Data in December 2011.

The bulk downloadable versions of FAST are offered at no charge. Like FAST content available through the FAST Experimental Linked Data Service, the downloadable versions of FAST are made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution (ODC-By) license.

FAST may be downloaded in either SKOS/RDF format or MARC XML (Authorities format). Users may download the entire FAST file including all eight facets (Personal Names, Corporate Names, Event, Uniform Titles, Chronological, Topical, Geographic, Form/Genre) or choose to download individual facets (see the download information page for more details).

OCLC has enhanced the VoID (“Vocabulary of Interlinked Datasets”) dataset description for improved ease of processing of the license references. Several additions and changes to FAST headings have been made in the normal course of processing new and changed headings in LCSH. OCLC will continue to periodically update FAST based on new and changed headings in LCSH.

Wiley Acquires Inscape, a Leading Provider of DiSC®-Based Learning Solutions

February 20, 2012

Wiley Acquires Inscape, a Leading Provider of DiSC®-Based Learning Solutions: Acquisition extends Wiley’s global reach and accelerates Wiley’s digital strategy in workplace learning

John Wiley & Sons, announced today that it has acquired Inscape Holdings Inc., a leading provider of DiSC^®-based assessments and training products that develop critical interpersonal business skills. Wiley paid $85 million to purchase all of the stock of Inscape, the majority of which are held by investment funds controlled by New York City-based Sentinel Capital Partners. The acquisition will enable Wiley to capitalize on both companies’ content, assets, and relationships, enhance its global reach, and move more aggressively into digital delivery to the growing workplace learning and assessment market.

“This acquisition offers a rare opportunity to bring together two respected, market-leading brands — Pfeiffer, Wiley’s global workplace learning brand, and Inscape — to create a powerful force in the growing workplace learning industry. It will combine Wiley’s extensive reservoir of valuable content and global reach with Inscape’s technology, distribution network, and talent expertise, including the innovative EPIC online assessment-delivery platform and an elite network of nearly 1,700 independent consultants, trainers, and coaches that make up their global authorized distributors network,” said Mark Allin, Wiley’s senior vice president, Professional/Trade.

“Inscape’s solutions-focused DiSC^® offerings are a perfect complement to Wiley’s highly respected products published under its Pfeiffer brand, such as Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Practices Inventory^®. Together we will serve a broad swath of talent professionals who in turn support managers, leaders, and teams in, corporations, government agencies, and organizations of all sizes around the world,” said Jeffrey Sugerman, Inscape’s chief executive officer, who is joining Wiley along with Inscape’s more than 50 colleagues, as a result of the acquisition.

As Inscape’s central product, the DiSC^® offerings are available in both digital and print versions. More than one million people use DiSC^® assessments in 30 languages each year. The majority of customers choose DiSC delivered through Inscape’s EPIC platform, which is optimized for efficient and customized product/feature creation and includes a proprietary process enabling rapid translations. Inscape’s DiSC assessment offers enhanced value with its online assessment-delivery system, its high-quality customer experience, its superior discoverability and market-leading position, and its ability to customize, personalize, and adapt the DiSC^® model so that customers continue to choose Inscape’s version over others.

Wiley’s global workplace learning brand, Pfeiffer, has a 40-year history of serving the professional development and hands-on resource needs of learning professionals. Pfeiffer’s best-selling authors include James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner, Patrick Lencioni, Edgar Schein, Peter Block, Ruth Clark, and Elaine Biech. Pfeiffer’s world-class publishing partners include the Great Place to Work^® Institute, the Center for Creative Leadership, The American Society for Training & Development, the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology, and the International Society for Performance Improvement.

About Inscape Publishing
Inscape Publishing, Inc. is a leading developer of DiSC^®-based corporate training and assessment solutions. Inscape recently launched Everything DiSC^®, its third-generation applications that combine online assessment, classroom facilitation, and post-training follow-up reports to create powerful, personalized workplace development experiences. With a global network of nearly 1,700 independent distributors, Inscape’s solution-focused products are used in thousands of organizations, including major government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. Every year, more than a million people worldwide participate in programs that use an Inscape assessment. Inscape products have been translated into 30 different languages and are used in 70 countries. For more information about Inscape Publishing and Everything DiSC products, visit www.everythingdisc.com.