STM publisher Elsevier, Netherlands, has announced the acquisition of the assets of Professional Development Software, Inc. (PDS), the provider of Softwarefornurses.com online learning education products. Under the deal, PDS will be integrated into Elsevier’s Evolve Testing and Remediation product suite (which includes the ‘HESI Test’), bringing additional content to Elsevier’s total curriculum solution for nursing.

For schools of nursing, PDS Software for Nurses modules are used for learning reinforcement, guidance in decision making, remediation, clinical make up and NCLEX review. For healthcare organisations, the modules are used for orientation, competency testing, cross training, remediation, and continuing education.

PDS customers can continue to visit www.softwarefornurses.com for product information and any updates related to joining the Evolve Testing and Remediation product suite. The suite comprises some of the best possible test preparation tools in the industry for both students and teachers, and is run by Elsevier. Terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

The American Heart Association has announced a partnership with Wiley-Blackwell, the STM and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., US, to publish a new series of medical references. The new series called the American Heart Association Clinical Series is designed to help physicians translate scientific and technological advances into better patient care.

Each hardcover volume focuses on one urgent topic, with leading clinicians writing on their areas of individual expertise under the editorial guidance of Series Editor Dr. Elliott Antman, FAHA, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. The first four titles have been well received by the medical community and the next four titles in this series are publishing throughout 2009.

Wiley-Blackwell publishes over 1,400 peer-reviewed journals as well as more than 1,500 new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International, US, has announced the launch of new compilations comprising the best SAE technical papers written each year, in partnership with HighWire Press, a division of Stanford University Libraries. The compilations, called SAE International Journals, are projected to give the authors and the content greater visibility within the academic community.

SAE International Journals pull together the best SAE technical papers and research in ground vehicle and aerospace engineering technology. The collections will be presented in seven topic-specific journal titles: aerospace, commercial vehicles, engines, fuels and lubricants, materials and manufacturing, passenger cars-mechanical systems, and passenger cars-electronic and electrical systems. The journals, which will use the universally accepted format for paper citation, will be available from April 10 in print and online formats. The online format will feature linking systems that facilitate academic research, discovery and citation of featured SAE International technical papers to increase authors’ eligibility for inclusion in the scientific community’s various indexes.

SAE International is a global association of more than 121,000 engineers and related technical experts in the automotive, aerospace and commercial-vehicle industries. Its core competencies are life-long learning and standards development.

STM and business publisher Inderscience, Switzerland, has announced the inaugural issues of four new titles. The new titles are: International Journal of Autonomic Computing; International Journal of Computational Intelligence in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology; International Journal of Information and Coding Theory; and International Journal of Materials Engineering Innovation.

International Journal of Autonomic Computing claims to be the first academic research journal on Autonomic Computing that serves as a forum for individuals in the field to publish their research results as well as for interested readers to acquire latest development information in the field. The journal publishes research on the ability of IT systems to be managed in an efficient and autonomous way by exploring the systems' capability for self-learning, self-healing, self-recovery, self-configuring, self-expanding, self-adapting, etc. A free download of the papers from this first issue is available at http://www.inderscience.com/sample.php?id=110.

International Journal of Computational Intelligence in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology aims to provide a lively forum for the communication of original research. Its main objective is the timely dissemination of original research work on innovative computational intelligence paradigms and their applications in bioinformatics. The journal deals with research in the application of artificial and computational intelligence to the field of bioinformatics and systems biology. A free download of the papers from this first issue is available at http://www.inderscience.com/sample.php?id=281.

International Journal of Information and Coding Theory publishes research that significantly advances the study of information and coding theory and their applications to cryptography, network security, network coding, computational complexity theory, communication networks, and related scientific fields that make use of information and coding theory methods. The journal aims to improve international research on topical areas by publishing high-quality articles, and to expose the readers to the recent advances in these areas. A free download of the papers from this first issue is available at http://www.inderscience.com/sample.php?id=253.

International Journal of Materials Engineering Innovation seeks to establish a channel of communication to disseminate knowledge between academics/researchers and industry practitioners. The journal publishes papers on recent advances in composites, ceramics, functionally graded materials, cellular materials, and ecomaterials. It deals with all aspects of modern materials engineering, such as materials preparation and processing, relationships between structure (nano and micro) and properties (physical, chemical, mechanical, thermal, electrical and magnetic), computational and optimisation techniques, as well as performance and technological applications for advanced industry. A free download of the papers from this first issue is available at http://www.inderscience.com/sample.php?id=253.

Professional Engineering Publishing (PE Publishing), the publishing arm of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), UK, has announced that the International Journal of Engine Research has been selected for inclusion in Thomson Reuters’ Science Citation Index Expanded, Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, and Current Contents/Engineering Computing and Technology databases. Coverage in the databases will begin with Issue 8, 2007.

The International Journal of Engine Research publishes original papers on experimental and analytical studies of engine technology. With global coverage of the latest research developments and technological advances affecting the automotive, railway and marine industries, and other areas of transportation, this Journal is projected as an essential reading for engineers in engine research and development both in academia and industry.

Published in association with the Society of Automotive Engineers International and the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, the International Journal of Engine Research serves as the premier source of long-term reference information on all aspects of engines used in various means of transportation.

Life sciences company Helicos BioSciences, US, has announced the release of transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) datasets on the HeliSphere Technology Center (http://open.helicosbio.com), the company's open access website for sharing Helicos datasets and bioinformatics software tools. Helicos' amplification and ligation-free approach is projected to virtually eliminate the creation of false-positive splicing and fusion events, frequently observed in other RNA-Seq datasets.

Helicos RNA-Seq is seen to represent a powerful application for the Helicos Genetic Analysis System. It is claimed to provide researchers with the ability to obtain deep sequence coverage of the transcriptome for the elucidation of novel transcripts, novel splice forms, and allele-specific expression patterns. It is also observed to eliminate the biases, artifacts and complexity introduced by amplification and ligation. RNA-Seq was performed using polyadenylated RNA from human brain and liver tissues, resulting in the generation of about 16 million aligned reads per channel for each sample.

With the high number of reads per channel and an extremely simple sample preparation process, the Helicos platform is expected to provide a comprehensive view of the transcriptome at a low cost. It is also seen to allow the analysis of many samples in a single 50-channel run of the HeliScope Single Molecule Sequencer.

The amplification/ligation-free Helicos RNA-Seq protocol has been released to a limited set of customers and is expected to be commercialised later this year.

Lab Manager Magazine, a publication for the scientific research market, has entered into a collaboration with ALMA, the Association of Laboratory Managers. Through this collaboration ALMA and Lab Manager Magazine will mutually support the missions of their organisation and readership - to deliver learning opportunities and the latest news and information important to laboratory management professionals.

This collaboration further reinforces and strengthens the Magazine’s mission of providing relevant, in-depth and timely management and technology information to those in the research community. ALMA will support the publication of timely articles of great interest and value to lab professionals authored by peers and educators in the lab management community.

ALMA (www.labmanagers.org) is a non-profit association of laboratory managers that provides a forum for improving laboratory management skills worldwide through conferences and workshops and by providing a network to interact with managers with similar problems to find solutions and ideas that have worked in their laboratories.

Lab Manager Magazine (www.labmanagers.org) is written for lab managers and has the distinct editorial mission of providing practical information on business, strategy, leadership and staffing as well as the industry and technology news needed to effectively manage today's lab.

While the number of times a scientific article is cited by other articles is currently the gold standard for ranking its impact, online publishing offers another measure: the number of unique downloads. A recent analysis in the online Journal of Vision (JOV) finds that downloads are a good predictor of citations - and they are available significantly faster.

The analysis was published in an editorial by JOV Editor-in-Chief Andrew Watson (http://journalofvision.org/9/4/i/). The journal recently began publishing download counts for every published article. It also ranks the top 20 articles by download. Watson reports an overall correlation of 0.74 between downloads and citations for individual articles in JOV.

JOV is the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology’s (ARVO) online, open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal devoted to all aspects of visual function in humans and other organisms. It is published exclusively in digital form. Full-text articles may be accessed for free via the Internet at www.journalofvision.org.

Media industry-focused research and advisory firm Outsell, Inc., US, has issued reduced growth projections for the information industry owing to the global recession. The new report, titled What is Good Performance in 2009?, presents revised projections for eight sectors.

According to the report, anticipated growth for the scientific/technical/medical information was reduced from 8.2 percent to 5.1 percent. Other sectors with reductions for projected growth include search/aggregation/syndication (from 16.8% to 7.5%); education and training (from 7.0% to 5.5%); and non-IT market research, reports and services (from 9.5% to 5.0%).

It is believed that the industry may further decline in 2010 because of lower renewal rates and contract values catching up in ratable revenue streams. Declines due to structural changes, such as a continued downfall of print advertising and the use of social media, is also predicted. Overall, Outsell is projecting aggregate industry growth, excluding news companies, of 4.7 percent. That translates to $391 billion in worldwide revenue versus earlier estimates of 8.3 percent growth for worldwide revenue of $400 billion.

In December 2008, the company had published its Information Industry Outlook 2009: No Guts No Glory, offering predictions, analyses and key themes for the information and publishing industry. Outsell projected steady growth of about 3 percent each year for the information industry. According to the report, growth was expected to reach $400 billion in 2008 and $412 billion in 2009.

STM publisher IOS Press, Netherlands, and the National Science and Technology Library (NSTL), China, have signed a 3 year contract for the access to all of IOS electronic publications. The deal follows an extensive review of actual usage by the Chinese library users, which showed that the IOS collection was frequently accessed and became increasingly popular over time. Subscription services provider Swets, Netherlands, was actively involved in bringing both parties together and supporting the process throughout.

All research institutes and universities in mainland China will now be able to access IOS Press’ e-journals. In addition, NSTL expects IOS to publish more, new, high-quality research content in the future.

IOS Press services a variety of scientific and medical communities in all parts of the world. IOS Press is a fast growing publishing company, which follows the developments in publishing closely. All journals are available online and a new online book platform is the final stages of release to market. Following it's founding, IOS Press established several co-publishing initiatives. It's most recent expansion was the acquisition of MillPress at the end of 2008. MillPress publishes science books, monographs and conference proceedings in the field of engineering, earth sciences and environmental sciences.

Informa Pharmaceutical Science, a division of Informa Business Information, has announced the inclusion of two of its titles in the US National Library of Medicine’s MEDLINE Index. Informa’s Journal of Medical Economics (JME) and Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents are joining the company’s related titles (including Current Medical Research and Opinion and eight other titles in the Expert Opinion series) on the prestigious bibliographic database that contains more than 16 million references to journal articles in life sciences and biomedicine.

JME is an international peer-reviewed journal that has a main editorial focus on pharmacoeconomics, outcomes research and quality of life studies. The journal publishes leading studies determining the cost-effectiveness of treatments and high-quality economic assessments of novel therapeutic and device interventions. JME’s inclusion in MEDLINE allows the citations from articles indexed, the indexing terms and the English-language transcripts to be included and searchable on PubMed which, in turn, is expected to raise the journal’s profile and create exciting opportunities for growth.

Informa’s Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patients is a peer-reviewed, international journal publishing articles on recent pharmaceutical patent claims and providing expert opinion in the scope for future development.

Maintained by the US National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online) is a premier bibliographic database containing about 13 million references to journal articles in life sciences.

Global library cooperative Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC), US, and electronic research databases provider EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO), recently signed an agreement. The new deal makes it possible for libraries that subscribe to both WorldCat Local and EBSCOhost services to provide their users with easy online access to the full text of a wide range of authoritative electronic content through the web.

As part of the WorldCat.org Partner Program, EBSCO’s authoritative content, which includes some of the most popular databases in libraries, will be more visible to library patrons through WorldCat Local. WorldCat Local is an OCLC service based on the WorldCat.org platform that connects library users to local, regional and global library resources through a single search box. Both OCLC and EBSCO will ensure that libraries that use both WorldCat Local and EBSCOhost services are able to provide their authenticated patrons seamless online access to the full-text information they want — whether it is discovered through WorldCat Local, or through the EBSCO Integrated Search platform.

EBSCO joins a large and rapidly growing list of OCLC eContent partners that includes R.R. Bowker; H.W. Wilson; American Economic Association; American Psychological Association; American Theological Library Association; Modern Language Association; the National Library of Medicine; Harvard University; J. Paul Getty Trust; and a variety of other leading academic and learned societies. These institutions are collaborating on a global scale to ensure that library users can find and access the valuable, authoritative content in their local library, in regional libraries and through the OCLC network of WorldCat libraries worldwide.

Scientific publisher CRC Press, US, a member of the Taylor & Francis Group, has formed its first Library Advisory Board.

The Board will spearhead discussion between librarians and CRC about the rapidly changing trends of the 21st century library. The outcome of these discussions will fuel the future development of digital products and specifically, the CRCnetBASE eBook Libraries. The first annual meeting with the Board will take place in May 2009 in Deerfield Beach, FL.

CRC Press provides academicians and researchers with immediate access to information through a myriad of electronic products. With CD-ROM versions of our most popular resources, users enjoy customized data and convenient and extensive search capabilities. CRCnetBASE, the company’s collection of online databases, provides a portal to an ever-growing supply of information.

The Fourth edition of blogspeak is now online. Featured are Colin Smith (Concern about accepted manuscripts and the possibility of open access publishing); Gavin Baker (NIH Open-Access Policy Turns 1 Year Old); Kent Anderson (Are e-Books Already Mainstream?); David Clover (Online Research Papers Database – ORO); and Roddy MacLeod (Top 100 journals in ticTOCs tables of contents service). A service of Knowledgespeak.com, Blogspeak includes blog posts relevant to the publishing industry, particularly STM publishing. Subscribers are invited to participate in the latest edition of blogspeak at http://www.knowledgespeak.com/
Blog/Blog_Index_More.asp?MID=1#41.

The Healthcare and Science business of Thomson Reuters has announced that Manuscript Central, the flagship application of its ScholarOne product line, is now available in Simplified Chinese globally. Manuscript Central is a peer review and online submission application chosen by leading publishers and societies worldwide.

The release of the leading global peer review system with full Chinese interface enhances usability and information sharing for Chinese-speaking users and completes the Thomson Reuters research workflow solution suite for the rapidly growing Chinese scientific community. This covers multidisciplinary literature research and paper authoring in addition to online submission and peer review.

According to Thomson Reuters National Science Indicators 1981-2007, the rate of growth in published Chinese papers has averaged 17 percent since 1981. In the last five years, the world growth has been 4 percent while China has increased to 18 percent, more than four times the world rate. It has been estimated that China has about 5,000 peer reviewed journals published in the Chinese language, many of which are in transition to online submission and peer review systems for reasons of publishing speed and enhanced quality.

Manuscript Central is integrated with ISI Web of Knowledge, the premier research platform by Thomson Reuters that offers users integrated access to high quality, multidisciplinary literature for discovery and research evaluation. ISI Web of Knowledge includes Web of Science, a multidisciplinary citation resource, which allows reviewers and editors to easily check manuscript references and search for new reviewers in the same specialty as the manuscript, and EndNote Web. Editorial practices are simplified as authors can submit manuscripts using EndNote Web and link into ISI Web of Knowledge. Hence, the integration of Manuscript Central with ISI Web of Knowledge offers researchers, authors, reviewers and editors one seamless application that is aligned to their workflow.

ProQuest, part of Cambridge Information Group, US, has announced that it is extending its freeze on Continuing Service Fees, ongoing product support and access fees for perpetual archive agreements, through 2011. In addition, ProQuest is offering discounts on Continuing Service Fees to libraries that make new purchases within a product family.

Libraries are facing tremendous challenges to meet the booming use of their services. To better support their budgeting process, the company has announced that there will be no increases to its Continuing Service Fees through 2011. This fee supports 24/7 access to the content, search and browse technology, storage and hosting costs, authentication and usage reporting, technical support, access to technology developments and interface developments as they happen, as well as new data for designated products.

To further support those who make new perpetual archive license purchases, ProQuest is offering a discount programme that rewards new purchases within a product family. This programme is available for libraries having a minimum of three perpetual archive licenses and that are adding one or more new titles, with discounts starting at 25 percent.

Medical information and clinical content solutions provider Lexi-Comp, Inc., US, has partnered with RPS Publishing to deliver the international pharmacology data found in Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference within Lexi-Comp ONLINE, Lexi-Comp's web-based application for hospitals and health-systems. RPS Publishing is the publishing arm of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.

At the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists Congress in March, the pharmacopoeia of drugs and medicines from around the world was officially made available as an additional database in Lexi-Comp ONLINE. The partnership provides medical professionals treating diverse patient populations with one robust resource that includes domestic and international drug information.

Martindale covers medications from over 40 countries and regions. The database contains over 6,500 drug monographs; 181,000 proprietary preparations; 48,000 references; and 19,000 manufacturers' details. Monographs include Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) and Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System (ATC) numbers to help readers refer to other information systems. Other fields of information include physical characteristics, cyrillic names, adverse effects, precautions, interactions, uses, and administration.

Offering Martindale within Lexi-Comp ONLINE combines two independent authorities in one resource, delivering unrivalled global drug information that can be accessed efficiently. Lexi-Comp has emulated the current drug monograph structure of Lexi-Comp ONLINE, applying the same ease of use, navigation features, and field structure to the Martindale content. Users that have added this database to their subscription can simply search for a medication within Lexi-Comp ONLINE, and Martindale will be displayed as a result within the list of available database choices. Clicking the appropriate medication name will provide the Martindale drug monograph.

Academic and professional literature publisher Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., UK, has announced that it is presenting its eBook series collections – the Business, Management and Economics collection and the Social Sciences Collection - at the forthcoming CONSAL XIV General Conference, Hanoi, Vietnam, April 20-24. Both these collections offer international content from a worldwide author base, with new content to be added each year. Emerald representatives Adam Sutcliffe and Amex Tan will be on hand at the Emerald stand throughout the event to discuss the eBook series.

The Business, Management and Economics collection includes 65 series titles. It offers access to a selection of 380 volumes covering subjects such as strategy, accounting and finance, organisational studies and economics. The Social Sciences Collection complements and extends the current Emerald portfolio, with titles in sociology, education and psychology. This will add over 180 volumes across 37 series titles.

In addition to the new collections, the Emerald Insight platform has a new feature allowing users to search and browse in different collections, including All Content, journals, books, bibliographical databases, and site pages. Users can browse both journal and book series content either alphabetically or by subject, and the type of content is clearly displayed. Coming soon to the book series content are COUNTER usage statistics, Rightslink, and Document Outline.

On show will also be the new Emerald Management Xtra Plus collection of online journals offering online access to up to 200 scholarly journals and a host of support resources for communities of librarians, deans, researchers, students and managers.

Emerald will be running several events during the conference. An author workshop will be delivered by Steve O’connor, Editor of ‘Library Management’ from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, on April 21. Additionally Emerald will be exhibiting at booth number 2 during the conference, where a ‘meet the editor’ session will take place on April 21.

Information services company Baker & Taylor, Inc., US, has announced a long-term agreement with LibreDigital to empower publishers to manage content distribution in multiple formats, to numerous digital devices and merchandising channels worldwide. LibreDigital is the leading provider of conversion, storage and secure distribution for digital content through digital stores and eBook devices.

This partnership creates a Baker & Taylor digital warehouse, from which the company will offer publisher services to include asset management, format transformation, marketing services, and customised channel distribution.

Baker & Taylor also launched its new Digital Media Services group, to better support the escalating demand from its publishers and clients for bundled physical and digital media distribution services.

Academic publisher SAGE has announced that commencing this month, Promotion & Education, the official journal of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), will change its name to Global Health Promotion.

Published quarterly, Global Health Promotion is a multilingual journal publishing authoritative peer-reviewed articles and practical information for health promotion and health education professionals worldwide. The journal is one of three high profile public health titles to move to SAGE last year. The journal now publishes original articles; commentaries showcasing health promotion practices; and a new section, Addresses, which are verbatim transcriptions of outstanding oral presentations at conferences.

The new name recognises the IUHPE’s global span, and that the term 'health promotion' identifies the journal's content precisely, encompassing education and healthy public policy, amongst other key concepts that define modern health promotion. The name change is one of a number of developments following the journal’s transition to SAGE in 2008.

To mark the publication of the first 2009 issue of the renamed Global Health Promotion, SAGE will be offering 30 days free online access to this issue as well as the March 2009 supplement.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published a white paper, ‘Strategic Directions for the Federal Depository Library Program’ (FDLP). The paper calls for a reframing of the FDLP to ensure a robust and effective program for the future.

The US Government Printing Office (GPO) is engaged in a strategic planning process regarding future directions for the FDLP. With GPO and the library community, the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer will be discussing the future needs and strategic vision of the FDLP at the upcoming Depository Library Council meeting in Tampa, Florida, beginning on April 20, 2009.

In support of the Depository Library Council’s request for community-wide input to the planning process, ARL has issued a white paper that notes that the current FDLP strategic planning process should lead to a flexible, sustainable, reconfigured programme that reflects the needs and interests of users of government information and participating libraries; embraces the digital networked environment; and importantly, encourages collaborative network-based services while ensuring a smooth and orderly transition to a new program framework. It further states that the underlying principles of the programme should continue, in particular the long-standing principle of no-fee access to government information.

The white paper, available online at http://www.arl.org/pp/access/fdlp, provides an environmental context for the FDLP. It discusses the current opportunity to reframe the programme, presents selected regional cooperative initiatives that demonstrate new directions, and suggests that reframing the FDLP presents a unique opportunity to explore cooperative print-management strategies.

Global library cooperative Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC), US, has been awarded a $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a public information campaign. The campaign will help public library leaders heighten awareness of the needs of local libraries and increase support for the services they provide during these challenging times. OCLC will pilot the campaign in select areas of Georgia and Iowa starting this summer as well as a limited number of other communities which will be selected later this spring. Later in the year, OCLC will make available community awareness campaign materials and other guides to assist library leaders throughout the country in their efforts to strengthen support for local libraries.

The current economic crisis has led to dramatic increases in library visitation, as people rely on libraries for free computer and Internet access to conduct job searches, access government services, learn new workforce skills, and use other resources they can no longer afford at home. The tightening economy has also put library funding - 80 percent of which comes from local sources - at risk. Many library systems predict deep state and local funding cuts in 2009, a growing burden for the roughly half of all libraries struggling against declining or flat budgets.

OCLC will work with Leo Burnett USA, a Chicago-based marketing communications agency, to design and test the community support campaigns in Georgia and Iowa with the help of field managers. They will use advertising, direct marketing, online engagement, public relations, and grassroots community initiatives to heighten awareness of the need for increased library support. Approaches will be informed by market research, conducted by OCLC and Leo Burnett in 2007, that identified factors which drive and limit support for public libraries.

This spring, OCLC will solicit proposals from libraries that wish to participate in the early pilot campaign and will award a limited number of small grants to support the campaign in select communities.

Books enquiry and ordering services provider PubEasy, UK, has announced that Oxford University Press in the US, which is affiliated with the largest scholarly press in the world, has joined the growing PubEasy community of booksellers and suppliers.

As a new PubEasy member, joining its affiliate OUP, which is an existing member, Oxford University Press, Inc.’s (OUP USA’s) catalogue of more than 25,000 titles will now be available to retail booksellers for purposes of checking price and availability on various book titles, placing online orders, receiving email acknowledgments of new orders, and tracking the status of book orders.

OUP USA joins a growing number of academic publishers who are making their catalogues available on PubEasy. These include McGraw-Hill, SAGE, Bedford, Freeman & Worth, and Chicago Distribution Services, which includes the University of Chicago Press among its 70 academic press distribution clients.

Online publishing solutions provider Semantico Ltd., UK, has announced a redesign of its service offering around the introduction of ‘rapid’ versions of its online publishing platform, Semantico Information Publishing Platform (SIPP), and its identity and access management system, Semantico Access Management System (SAMS). The new rapid offering is projected to enable dramatically shortened implementation times and lower cost without sacrifice of quality. The move is expected to better meet the needs of publishers struggling to fund the development of their online offerings in the current financial climate. The company is also introducing a number of ‘crunch-buster’ service additions alongside its core offering.

Semantico, a developer of high-end custom digital publishing solutions, is now additionally offering lower entry points for its richly-featured publishing solutions, and faster time-to-market.

The basis of the rapid offering is a streamlined, ‘Pareto principle’ implementation which is seen to provide the vast majority of the functionality publishers look for in an online publishing platform and a clear upgrade path. SIPP is now offered in three versions - SIPP Rapid, SIPP Rapid+, SIPP Classic. All three come bundled with the corresponding version of SAMS (SAMS Rapid, SAMS Rapid+ or SAMS Classic), providing a fully integrated access management solution.

Each version offers an upgrade path allowing additional functionality and enhancements to be added at a later date. SAMS is also offered in all three versions as a stand-alone solution, which can be easily integrated with an existing publishing platform using SAMS Gatekeeper.

Serials Solutions, the e-resource access and management services arm of ProQuest, US, has announced the release of enhanced Full-Text and Peer Review features for the Serials Solutions 360 Search federated search service. Using a combination of data supplied by the Serials Solutions KnowledgeWorks knowledgebase and Ulrich's Global Serials Intelligence knowledgebase, these search filters enable users to limit the results of queries to full-text or peer-reviewed sources reliably.

The new functionality is provided free to all 360 Search subscribers. Libraries not already using the Full-Text and Peer Review functionality should contact Serials Solutions for activation. Libraries that already use this feature can expect to see immediate improvements in filtered results.

Serials Solutions serves more than 2,000 libraries of all sizes and types. Its KnowledgeWorks is the foundation for Serials Solutions 360, an integrated e-resource access and management solution. Serials Solutions recently introduced the Summon unified discovery service, a discovery tool that provides instant access to the full breadth of the library's collection through a single search.

EMpact Sales (EMpact), the publisher representation group of EBSCO Information Services, US, has announced an agreement with East View Information Services (East View), a leading provider of information products and services in foreign languages and English translation. Under the deal, EMpact will boost East View’s print and electronic journal sales in select global regions. As sales and marketing representative and consultant, EMpact will represent East View in Northern Africa, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Eastern Europe, France, Spain, Switzerland and Austria.

East View Information Services is a leading provider of native and translated foreign language, information products and services, including Russian, Chinese and Arabic databases, print periodicals, books and microforms. The company serves all geographies and many market segments, including academic institutions, government organisations, corporations, public and federal libraries and law firms.

As part of the EBSCO group, EMpact brings to the sales process an expanded team of experienced sales and marketing personnel, many of whom have been working with publishers and libraries for many years. With the support of 32 fully staffed offices in 23 countries worldwide, EMpact’s global reach makes it possible for content providers to take advantage of opportunities they might otherwise miss.

Academic publisher SAGE recently announced a partnership with two industry-leading, online education applications - Blackboard and CourseSmart. The synergy created from this partnership provides both students and education professionals with an innovative new mode of education.

Blackboard/WebCT claims to be the most used course management system on college and university campuses. The system focuses on increasing the impact of education by transforming the experience of education – specifically through participation in online courses, as well as serving a variety of course-related material online.

CourseSmart is a venture founded and supported by major higher education textbook publishers, providing thousands of textbooks across hundreds of courses on a common eBook platform. For educators, CourseSmart provides instant access to review and compare course materials in their respective disciplines without the time, cost, and environmental impact of mailed print copies. For students, it provides a low-cost alternative to purchasing books with the additional benefit of intuitive web functionality.

In the context of these partnerships, SAGE will now provide students and educators with fully-integrated online course materials, as well as instant and cost-effective access to the e-Textbooks of their choice.

The National Academies has announced the completion of the first phase of a partnership with internet search services provider Google, US. The deal is to digitise the library's collection of reports from 1863 to 1997, making them available – free, searchable, and in full text – through Google Book Search. The Academies plan to have their entire collection of nearly 11,000 reports digitised by 2011.

Notable reports from the library's archives that are now available include Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 1 (1863–1894); Investigation of the Scientific and Economic Relations of the Sorghum Sugar Industry (1882); Proposed U.S. Program for the International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958; and The Polar Regions and Climatic Change (1984).

Prior to this project, the Academies digitised more than 4,000 books and made them available online through the National Academies Press; most of those can also be found in Google Book Search. However, researchers who needed to gain access to hard copies of older reports, part of a legacy collection in the library, could not always find what they wanted. These older reports have been digitised and are now accessible through Google. The Academies hope that wider availability of its reports will be of use to scientists in developing countries, who often rely on the Internet to gather information.

The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter. The Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

Aspen Publishers, part of the Wolters Kluwer Law & Business group, US, has announced the availability of the 2009 Medicare and Medicaid Reimbursement Update. Healthcare professionals can now have a one-stop resource to help them navigate through the complex legal arena surrounding Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.

2009 Medicare and Medicaid Reimbursement Update covers all of today’s most critical Medicare and Medicaid topics, explains how these topics have become as important as they are and offers tips on how to work through the uncertainties to protect reimbursement while remaining compliant. Among the important topics addressed are: medicare DSH adjustments; area wage adjustments; medicare payment methodologies and adjustments; clinical research reimbursement; Medicare’s new ambulatory surgical center payment system; Medicare prescription drug benefit; Medicare competitive bidding program for DMEPOS; Medicare Parts A & B claims appeals process; the hidden trap in Part B Diagnostic Tests; medicaid financing; and more.

In addition to crucial, time-saving insights into regulations, case law, policies and procedures, the 2009 Medicare and Medicaid Reimbursement Update also provides practical, everyday explanations and solutions that can be immediately applied within an organisation.

EMpact Sales (EMpact), the publisher representation group of EBSCO Information Services, US, and e-libro, an international partner of e-content services and technology provider ebrary, have entered into a three-year partnership agreement. Under the agreement, EMpact will promote all Spanish language content in the e-libro database - 30,000 titles comprising e-books, e-journals, articles and theses - in Mexico, Cuba, Central America, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.

e-libro delivers cost-effective solutions for providing libraries everywhere with Spanish language e-books, e-journals, articles and theses. The company offers subscription options to libraries at public, academic, private and government institutions, while providing 12 academic collections as well as US and European literature collections, supported by modern and versatile ebrary technology.

Through its affiliation with EBSCO Information Services, EMpact is projected as the ideal partner for publishers who wish to expand their sales efforts and promotion of their products to additional targeted territories across the globe. The EMpact team can develop an exclusive and strategic plan to dramatically broaden the exposure for publishers’ electronic products and content.

As part of the EBSCO group, EMpact brings to the sales process an expanded team of experienced sales and marketing personnel, many of whom have been working with publishers and libraries for many years. With the support of 32 fully staffed offices in 23 countries worldwide, EMpact’s global reach makes it possible for content providers to take advantage of opportunities they might otherwise miss.

Swets Gateway, the special publisher services division of Swets, Netherlands, has announced an agreement with UK-based MA Healthcare. Under the deal, Swets Gateway will act as the exclusive sales and marketing representative for MA Healthcare in the Asia/Pacific region. The agreement covers Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan and Brunei.

MA Healthcare publishes 19 healthcare journals, including the British Journal of Nursing, British Journal of Midwifery, British Journal of Hospital Medicine, British Journal of Community Nursing, British Journal of Health Care Management, International Journal of Therapy & Rehabilitation and Journal of Wound Care. The content of all of its journals are available online at internurse.com, providing a dedicated nursing archive for the content of 13 journals.

Launched at the 2008 Frankfurt Book Fair, Swets Gateway builds upon Swets’ many years of experience in selling publisher content in numerous parts of the world. With in-territory sales staff who have intimate knowledge of the industry and local market, Swets Gateway offers a unique opportunity to participating publishers.

ProQuest, part of Cambridge Information Group, US, is celebrating National Library Week by encouraging libraries to take advantage of the company's popular advocacy programme. The programme includes tools and services that help librarians connect with their user communities, free database access and scholarship support for library students, and awards to recognise outstanding library school educators and those who protect intellectual freedom.

While libraries are struggling with the economic downturn and budget crunches, they are also experiencing an intensified need for their services. ProQuest is helping its customers get more from their investments with marketing toolkits specifically tailored for academic, public, corporate, military academic and military base libraries, and K-12 schools and libraries. ProQuest topic experts collected best practices in marketing, crafted templates, and compiled them for leverage by busy librarians. The toolkits are available for free at http://www.proquest.com/en-US/utilities/toolkits/default.shtml.

ProQuest's Library School Programme is aimed at supporting library education, allowing students to learn essential search skills with the reference tools they are likely to encounter after graduation. The company’s acclaimed deep web resources are available to information science students at no charge during the school year. All ALA-accredited library schools in North America, and all other comparable schools in the rest of the world, are eligible for free access to these research staples.

In addition to the support provided through the marketing toolkits and Library School Program, ProQuest is also sponsoring the ALA/ProQuest Scholarship Bash, the Library Journal/ProQuest Teaching Award, and the ProQuest Intellectual Freedom Awards programme, among other regional and national library organisation sponsorships.

Enterprise software vendor Design Science, Inc., US, has announced the release of MathDaisy 1.0. MathDaisy enhances Microsoft's Save As DAISY add-in for Microsoft Word to convert Word documents containing math notation to DAISY Digital Talking Books, ready to be read by students, teachers, engineers, and scientists with vision and learning disabilities, including blindness, low vision, and dyslexia.

Save As DAISY is an open source software developed by Microsoft. Once installed, it adds a ‘Save As Daisy’ command to Microsoft Word XP, 2003, and 2007 that converts Word documents into DAISY's Digital Talking Book format.

DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) is a globally recognised XML standard for producing accessible and navigable multimedia documents, including Digital Talking Books (DTBook), digital textbooks, and synchronised audio/text books. DAISY is used by NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) for accessible K-12 textbooks and by ePub, a widely used standard for digital books. The latest version of the DAISY standard requires that mathematics be represented in MathML, the World Wide Web Consortium's standard for representing math notation in XML.

Design Science develops software used by educators, scientists and publishing professionals, including MathType, Equation Editor in Microsoft Office, WebEQ, MathFlow and MathPlayer, to communicate on the web and in print. As per company estimates, these products are used by millions of people worldwide, and most of the mathematics in content today is created using these products.