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NFAIS conferences for publishers and librarians - 11 Sep 2008
The National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS) Committee on Usage Statistics is organising a one-day conference - Usage Statistics: New Developments and Practical Applications - to be held October 21, 2008, at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The third in a successful series launched in 2004, the conference will look at some of the new developments that have emerged since 2006, as well as the current practical applications of usage statistics. The conference will open with an update on the progress made by the two key standards for the creation and harvesting of usage statistics - Project COUNTER and SUSHI. It will focus on the current relationship between COUNTER and SUSHI and how these standards will move together in the future. In addition, publishers and librarians will present case studies on how they currently gather, analyse and make informed decisions based upon the data that usage statistics provide. They will highlight the pitfalls that must be avoided throughout the process so that the statistics are not unintentionally misused. The implications of three new related projects will also be discussed. This includes NISO's development of identifiers that will allow for the precise recognition of an institution and its relationships with its various libraries, departments, offices, etc., and two initiatives that are attempting to provide usage-based metrics for the scholarly evaluation of articles and journals (Project MESUR and Usage Factor). The meeting will close with a visionary discussion on how usage statistics can be improved and used in the future to help institutions make informed decisions. In addition, the NFAIS is also organising a one-day programme - Building the Base for Authoritative Content: Digital Resources in the Humanities. Scheduled for October 20, 2008 at the state-of-the-art Graduate Center of the City University of New York in Manhattan, this meeting seeks to provide a better understanding of the digital initiatives and newly-emerging web-based resources in this field. While the meeting has a humanities information context, the programme content is applicable to all information providers and librarians. Founded in 1958, NFAIS is a premier membership organisation of more than 60 of the world's leading producers of databases, information services, and information technology in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, business, and the arts and humanities.
ProQuest, Google form partnership to digitise newspaper content - 11 Sep 2008
ProQuest, part of Cambridge Information Group, has announced a partnership with Internet search services provider Google, Inc., US, to bring millions of pages of newspaper content to the open web. The programme allows web access to archives of both large and small newspapers, which might never have been digitised without this initiative. The latest partnership does not impact ProQuest's other digital newspaper offerings such as ProQuest Historical Newspapers, which will continue to be developed for use by serious researchers. Users of such products require robust application and search tools provided by the ProQuest platform. The content delivered via Google's platform will be supported with a variety of advertising and e-commerce models that are standard in an open web context. ProQuest will contribute content to and also introduce newspaper publishers nationwide to the programme. Also, it will supply from its microfilm vault newspaper content that can be delivered effectively in the less formal framework of the open web. The company currently holds more than 10,000 newspaper titles, most of which are pristine master film copies. While ProQuest's film vault will be tapped, the open web model does not replace or diminish ProQuest's commitment to microfilm, according to the company. The work of the ProQuest/Google partnership commences immediately and is expected to be ongoing over multiple years. Providing more local, regional and national content is part of ProQuest's strategy to create a total news solution for libraries, serving all their needs through a single source. Earlier this year, the company announced the availability of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News through its online interface, ProQuest Newsstand.
University of Texas at Austin adopts CCC's Annual Copyright License - 11 Sep 2008
The University of Texas at Austin has signed an agreement with non-profit copyright licensing solutions provider Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), US, to become the largest institution to adopt CCC's Annual Copyright License for academic institutions. This agreement seeks to provide librarians, faculty, copy shop staff and others with pre-approved permission to use content in coursepacks, e-reserves, course management systems, research collaboration and more. The Annual Copyright License, introduced in 2007, comes with comprehensive training and implementation support services. In all, more than 1 million books, scholarly journals, newspapers, magazine and other sources are available for educational use under the license. Participating publishers include Elsevier, Dow Jones, Harvard Business School Publishing and the American Medical Association. Benefits of CCC's Annual Copyright License include institution-wide coverage under a single agreement; improved operational efficiencies, reduced time and administrative costs associated with searching for, obtaining and reconciling copyright permissions; and a uniform set of pre-approved usage rights for paper and electronic coursepacks, course management system postings, classroom handouts, electronic library reserves, research collaboration and administrative and faculty communication. The University of Texas at Austin is one of the leading research institutions in the US. It has more than 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 21,000 faculty and staff, 16 colleges and 17 libraries containing more than 9 million volumes. In March 2008, the American Psychological Association selected CCC's Rightslink application to streamline online content licensing. Rightslink is an online service from CCC that enables content users to purchase copyright permissions and reprints directly from content on the web or in database services.
Royal Society Publishing selects PublishingAtWork as its new production tracking system - 11 Sep 2008
Royal Society Publishing (RSP), the publishing division of the Royal Society, UK, and Clariti Systems Ltd, a UK based independent software and web solution provider, have announced a new partnership to track the production of the publications of Britain's national science academy from acceptance to publication. Under the deal, all content of RSP's eight periodicals will move to Clariti Systems' electronic tracking system - PublishingAtWork - from September 2008. PublishingAtWork uses the latest innovative technologies to deliver a fully featured web based management solution tailored for the publishing industry. The publishing at work platform delivers a comprehensive and complete system to manage publishing schedule; production tracking; supplier management; reporting; issue make up; and article bank. The system is built on the principle of bringing clarity to work. As the publishing division of the UK's foremost academy of science, Royal Society Publishing produces seven peer-reviewed journals and provides access to a rich digital journal archive dating back to 1665. The Royal Society digital journal archive comprises every paper published in a Royal Society journal - from the very first peer-reviewed paper in Philosophical Transactions in 1665 to the most recent interdisciplinary article in Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
Reed may offer vendor financing for sale of trade publications unit - 11 Sep 2008
Publisher Reed Elsevier, Netherlands, is offering $330 million from its own accounts in vendor financing for the sale of its trade publications unit, Reed Business Information (RBI), according to a Reuters report. Also, the company has reportedly put together a $1.26 billion staple financing package from a consortium of banks. The sale of RBI, whose titles include New Scientist and Flight International, began in July when information was sent to potential bidders. RBI is the largest B2B publisher in North America, with 2,500 employees and 80 magazines. The publisher's offer to provide a vendor loan from its balance sheet reflects a rising trend intended at reducing the amount of debt a bidder needs and to reduce leverage ratios in asset sales. Earlier last month, several bidders submitted first-round offers for the unit valuing the unit at £1-£1.25 billion. According to sources, private equity firms Apax Partners, Candover Investments, Cinven and Permira have opted out after bidding in the first round. Bidders were allowed to re-bid for the unit prior to an 'official' second round. However, the newer bids came in 'slightly lower' than those in the first round. The second round is due September 18. German publishing house Gruner + Jahr, part of media group Bertelsmann AG, has confirmed that it is also involved in the second round of bidding for the division. Head of private equity group ZelnickMedia, Strauss Zelnick, has also teamed up with Apollo Management to bid for the unit. US publishing group McGraw Hill is reported to have submitted a joint offer with private equity firms Advent and Quadrangle, but is only interested in RBI's aviation and health care titles. In addition to bids for the whole division, Reed is also believed to be considering offers for just part of the business.
Springer announces publishing partnership with the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology - 11 Sep 2008
STM publisher Springer, Germany, has announced a partnership with the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) to publish the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology (JNC), beginning January 2009 (Volume 16, Issue 1). The journal is the official publication of the ASNC and claims to be the only journal devoted to the dynamic and growing subspecialty of nuclear cardiology. The journal's back issues to Volume 1 (1994) will be available through the Springer Online Archives Collection on www.springerlink.com. As the official publication of the ASNC, JNC provides readers the latest information emerging form the Society's task forces and publishes guidelines and position papers as they are adopted. Physicians and technologists value the journal not only for its peer-reviewed articles, but also for its timely discussions on the current and future role of nuclear cardiology. Original articles address all aspects of nuclear cardiology, including interpretation, diagnosis, imaging equipment and use of radiopharmaceuticals. Editor-in-Chief, Dr. George A. Beller, former Chief of the Cardiovascular Division at the University of Virginia Health System, is supported by an international editorial board. Springer will publish the journal both in print and electronic formats to serve the needs of librarians and specialists around the world. Articles will be published in Online First in full text via SpringerLink. Cross Reference Linking and Alert services will be fully implemented for the journal. All authors, via the Springer Open Choice program, will have the option of publishing their articles using the open access publishing model.
SwetsWise eSource Manager now available to order - 11 Sep 2008
Subscription services provider Swets, Netherlands, has announced that SwetsWise eSource Manager, the latest addition to its portfolio of products and services, has successfully completed beta testing and is now available to order. SwetsWise eSource Manager is projected as a comprehensive electronic license and resource management solution. SwetsWise eSource Manager has been designed to meet the complex licensing and subscriptions management needs that today's modern librarians and information professionals have in the most efficient, easy-to-use and effective way possible. Building on the existing License Bank functionality in SwetsWise Subscriptions, SwetsWise eSource Manager delivers a pre-populated database of standard publisher license conditions that can be easily searched, viewed, and customised to reflect the customer's specific publisher license agreements. The full integration with SwetsWise Subscriptions means that SwetsWise eSource Manager will enable the customer to more effectively manage and track their licenses, along with their subscriptions information, e-resource access and activation details-all from one interface. This includes the ability to automatically view detailed information on licenses that have been signed, or are in the process of signing; customise information in all 45 standard publisher licensing fields; add custom fields to each license, as well as internal process steps; upload electronic copies of actual signed licenses; automatically track title moves and other changes affecting titles under a specific license; attach subscriptions to a specific licenses for both Swets and non-Swets managed titles; and add additional licenses for subscriptions not managed through Swets.
Dear Subscribers - 11 Sep 2008
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