The American Chemical Society (ACS) has announced that five Nobel laureates have research that will be presented this week during the ACS' 244th National Meeting & Exposition. Research from the laureates' teams will be among 8,600 presentations during the event, expected to attract more than 14,000 scientists and others.
The Nobel laureates are Dr. Robert H. Grubbs, Dr. Richard R. Schrock, Dr. Stanley B. Prusiner, Dr. George A. Olah, Dr. Alan J. Heeger and Dr. Mario J. Molina. Grubbs, who is with the California Institute of Technology, and Schrock, who is with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Yves Chauvin for the development of the "metathesis method." Prusiner, who is with the University of California, San Francisco, won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of prions. Olah, who is with the University of Southern California, won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on ‘carbocations,’ charged molecules that were considered too unstable to study.
Heeger, who is with the University of California, Santa Barbara, shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Dr. Alan G. MacDiarmid and Dr. Hideki Shirakawa for the revolutionary discovery that plastics, after certain modifications, can conduct electricity. Molina, who is with the University of California, San Diego, shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Dr. F. Sherwood Rowland and Dr. Paul J. Crutzen for discovering that substances called CFCs in aerosol spray cans and other products were destroying the ozone layer.
A survey conducted by OCLC earlier this year among librarians from the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands shows that practitioners expect library usage to change considerably. About three quarters expected a rise in online visits within the next year, and two-thirds of those who responded anticipate a change in the primary reason to visit the library in the next five years.
'Libraries: A Snapshot of Priorities and Perspectives' is currently available on the OCLC website, where reports for the UK, Germany and the Netherlands can be downloaded.
The increase in online visits that is expected by 71-85 percent of librarians (percentages vary by country) contrasts dramatically with their expectations of low growth in physical visits in the next 12 months. This means that users will continue to rely on libraries for getting their information, but not necessarily by coming through the library doors.
The primary reason for library use will also change in the next five years, according to 59-71 percent of responding librarians. With access to online databases and journals increasing in popularity as a primary reason in 2017 for 'visits,' the survey confirms the view that the borrowing of physical items is still the primary reason for visiting libraries today.
As a library cooperative, OCLC initiates in-depth studies and topical surveys regularly to help libraries better understand issues and trends that affect librarianship and help plan for the future. According to the survey, among the top priorities for libraries to focus their activities are delivering eContent, forming community partnerships, the library’s role in the future of higher education, visibility of the library's collection and demonstration of the library value to its funders.
There were 279 librarians from the UK, 143 librarians from Germany and 152 librarians from the Netherlands who participated in the survey held among public and academic library staff and management. OCLC conducted a similar study among librarians in the US in 2011.
Snapshot reports from all these surveys can be found on the OCLC website at www.oclc.org/reports.
In his new role, Simons will lead product strategy and development for the scientific and scholarly research product portfolio at Thomson Reuters, focused on the publishing and association markets, and driving new product and technology innovations that will support ongoing business growth and market expansion.
Simons has held senior publishing and project management roles at companies such as Elsevier, the American Anthropological Association, CIG Media Group and SAGE Publications.
UBM Electronics, a US-based provider of media and marketing solutions for the design engineering and the electronics industry, and the Electronics Components Industry Association (ECIA) have called for entries for the 2012 Electronics Choice Industry Awards (ECIA's). The awards celebrate excellence in marketing by honoring ECIA members who have displayed exceptional branding and marketing programmes in the past year.
The ECIA's feature an entry field of 12 award categories, including Best Brand/Image Advertising; Best Co-Op Advertising; Best Corporate Promotional Publication; Best Corporate Newsletter; Best Media Innovation – Product; Best Media Innovation — Special Promotion Video (non-product); Best Social Media Outreach; Best Special Web Promotion; Best Customer Engagement/Training Event; Best Online Campaign; Best Integrated Marketing; and Best Industry Testimony. In addition, judges will award a ‘Best of Show’ designation to the single entry with the highest score.
Entries will be reviewed by a panel of business-to-business marketing experts and award winners will be announced during a special session at the 2012 Executive Conference on October 29, 2012. The ECIA 2012 Executive Conference, which will take place October 28-30, 2012 at the InterContinental Chicago O'Hare Hotel, is the premier networking and educational event for the electronics distribution industry.
The deadline for entry submission is Friday, August 31, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. PDT. Interested parties may visit www.eciawards.com to submit entries for the competition.
ebrary, a ProQuest business, has added hundreds of relevant e-books across acquisition models, which provide libraries with the best value when combined. The initiative is projected to help K-12 libraries acquire e-books more strategically. Diversifying acquisition models is a key component of ebrary's three-step approach: Transition, Diversify, and Streamline.
ebrary has renamed the Schools and Educators Complete subscription database, which has been updated with thousands of new e-books from renowned publishers such as ALA Editions, ASCD, Classroom Complete, and National Science Teacher Association. The highly affordable database now includes a growing selection of more than 8,500 titles with unlimited, multi-user access and a wealth of information in professional development and training resources. Moreover, almost 4,500 titles in the database have relevance to state, national or provincial curriculum standards – with coverage of all common core subjects – including English Language. Arts, Science, Mathematics, Social Studies, Health and Physical Education, and Information Literacy/Technology.
Additionally, ebrary has added over 3,000 new titles that can be purchased outright or through its patron driven acquisition programme where titles are only purchased if used. Many of these titles are also eligible for short-term loan and ebrary consistently grows the consideration pool for these titles.
To further align with Common Core Standards and make it easier for librarians to purchase those essential titles, ProQuest's K-12 editorial experts have created a new off-the-shelf pack in Common Core Math Standards using a proprietary software application that aligns content to curriculum. ebrary's new Math pack has over 45 e-books and covers advice, teaching resources, and ready-to-go activity ideas for K-8 teaching, as well as pre-Algebra, pre-Calculus, Algebra, Geometry, Statistics, and AP preparation for higher grades. The perpetual pack includes publishers such as Math Solutions Publications, MIT Press, Nomad Press, SAGE Publications Inc. (US), and World Scientific Publishing Co.
Academic publisher De Gruyter, Germany, has signed a partnership agreement with the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) in Tokyo.
The first joint project is the publication of the Japanese Language and Linguistics handbook series, which will comprise 12 volumes. The handbooks are written and edited by renowned linguists in Japan and across the world, including Masayoshi Shibatani, professor of linguistics at Rice University in Houston, and Taro Kageyama, the director of the NINJAL. In addition to Japanese, the volumes in the series will cover the Ryukyuan languages, Ainu, and Japanese sign language. The handbooks will be offered in print and online versions.
With this partnership, De Gruyter seeks to further strengthen its publishing engagement in the Asian-Pacific region.
Science Exchange, in partnership with open access publisher PLOS and open data repository figshare, has announced the launch of the Reproducibility Initiative. The new programme aims to encourage independent replication of valuable research and thereby help scientists, institutions and funding agencies validate their critical research findings.
The Reproducibility Initiative seeks to provide both a mechanism for scientists to independently replicate their findings and a reward for doing so. Scientists who apply to have their studies replicated are matched with experimental service providers based on the expertise required. The initiative seeks to leverage Science Exchange’s existing marketplace for scientific services, which contains a network of over 1000 expert providers at core facilities and contract research organisations (CROs).
Scientists will receive the results of their validation studies and have the opportunity to publish them in the journal PLOS ONE as part of a Special Collection highlighting the importance of reproducibility in scientific research. They can also upload their primary data to figshare. Replications published in PLOS ONE will link back to the original publications upon which they are based. Publishers including Nature Publishing Group and Rockefeller University Press have expressed their support for this acknowledgement of reproducibility.
The Reproducibility Initiative is initially accepting 40-50 studies for validation. Studies will be selected on the basis of potential clinical impact and the scope of the experiments required and, in aggregate, may eventually serve as a proof-of-concept for this mechanism of validation to funding agencies and patient groups.
The latest edition of Blogspeak is now online. Featured are: Kent Anderson (The Reproducibility Initiative — Solving a Problem, or Just Another Attempt to Draw on Research Funds?); Teresa Penfield (If impact is essential to REF, how can we find a common definition across research fields?); Heather Morrison (CC-BY and - or versus? - open access); and Mike Shatzkin (Perhaps the revolution has reached an evolutionary stage). Blogspeak includes blog posts relevant to the publishing industry, particularly STM publishing. Subscribers are invited to participate in the latest edition of Blogspeak Here.
Nobel laureates to give research presentations at American Chemical Society meeting
De Gruyter and NINJAL in deal to jointly launch Japanese Language and Linguistics handbook series 
Latest edition of Blogspeak now online