Member News & Announcements, January IO 2024
Partnerships & Collaborations
EBSCO Information Services and EcoMap Partner to Help Libraries Support Entrepreneurship
EBSCO Information Services, Voting Member, Press Release, December 14, 2023
EBSCOlearning™, a division of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), and EcoMap Technologies (EcoMap) have partnered to offer public libraries a service to help patrons on their entrepreneurial journey. EcoMap is a hyperlocal search engine that curates and catalogs community resources to support entrepreneurship and empowers libraries to become stronger hubs for economic development.
EcoMap’s Director of Business Development Kevin Carter says their mission is to make it easy to access information about the professional ecosystem. “By working with EBSCO, we aim to help countless patrons simultaneously get matched to the resources most relevant to their unique situations and goals, while empowering them to realize their dream of owning a successful business.”
AIP Publishing and ResearchGate announce new Journal Home partnership for their open access journals
AIP Publishing, LLC, Voting Member, News Announcement, December 12, 2023
ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers, and AIP Publishing, the publishing division of the American Institute of Physics (AIP), today announced AIP Publishing’s core group of open access journals will benefit from an enhanced presence on ResearchGate through the network’s Journal Home offering. The agreement covers seven journals, including three new launches: APL Energy, APL Machine Learning, and APL Quantum (which will publish its first content in 2024).
AIP Publishing’s mission is to advance, promote, and serve the physical sciences for the benefit of humanity by empowering researchers and breaking down barriers to open, equitable research communication. The new agreement with ResearchGate widens the visibility and readership for their open access journals, with all version-of-record content from these titles available on ResearchGate immediately on publication, as well as backlist content amounting to approximately 17,500 articles.
2K/DENMARK Joins the Book IIndustry Study Group
Book Industry Study Group (BISG), Voting Member, Press Release, December 11, 2023
The Book Industry Study Group is pleased to welcome 2K/DENMARK to its membership. Their commitment to fostering a sustainable and environmentally responsible publishing community aligns seamlessly with BISG's vision for a more sustainable future for book publishing.
On joining BISG, Klaus E. Krogh, the CEO of 2K/DENMARK, noted: “The survival of the book is dependent on the constant development towards a better, more sustainable communication tool. This has always been our biggest challenge and highest aspiration as foundry, designers, and typesetters.” 2K/DENMARK's new initiative, Sustainable Typesetting®, reduces carbon emissions and production cost on average by 20%—all without compromising readability.
PLOS partners with the Global Young Academy to advance Open Science principles
Public Library of Science (PLOS), Voting Member, Press Release, December 7, 2023
The Public Library of Science (PLOS) and the Global Young Academy (GYA), an international academy based in Halle, Germany, have announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing cooperation between the two organizations.
The purpose of the MoU is to create a strategic partnership between the parties to increase the awareness of Open Science, its principles, and its implementation into research practices. As such, PLOS and the GYA will support each other in increasing awareness of Open Science principles and publishing, as well as the adoption of Open Science practices. The organizations will also coordinate their efforts and provide each other with the necessary mutual assistance required for achieving the objectives of this MoU.
Platforms & Infrastructure
Springer Nature developing new peer review platform to better meet needs of academic community and support growth in OA publishing
Springer Nature, Voting Member, Press Release, December 7, 2023
Springer Nature has embarked on a bold new project to build the next generation in peer review platforms. Being designed in-house and in stages, adapting to user feedback as part of its ongoing development, it puts editors, authors and reviewers firmly at the centre. Snapp (Springer Nature’s Article Processing Platform) aims to improve the publishing process and provide a more agile response to the growth in Open Access (OA). Its rollout marks a key investment from the company in the future of publishing.
Today marks a milestone of the platform’s rollout having now supported over 1 million submissions, 75% of which were OA. Since initial introduction in 2019, Snapp has supported over 5.6 million authors, 55,000 editors and over half a million reviewers. Over a third of Springer Nature owned journals and nearly half of its OA journals are now live on Snapp, with the rest of its portfolio to follow.
Industry Leadership
Announcing the Results of ORCID’s 2024 Board Election
ORCID, Inc., Voting Member, News Announcement, December 18, 2023
On behalf of the ORCID Board and staff, thank you to everyone who submitted nominations and participated in this year’s Board election process, especially the members of our Nominating Committee.
ORCID holds Board member elections for about a third of the board seats every year, following an open recommendation and nominations process. This year, the Nominating Committee was chaired with great dedication by ORCID Board Member Heath Marks. The Committee reviewed 21 well-qualified nominations for member Board seats.
Nick Ishmael-Perkins joins Chemical & Engineering News as its next editor in chief
American Chemical Society (ACS), Voting Member, Press Release, December 4, 2023
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Nick Ishmael-Perkins as editor in chief of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), an independent news outlet of ACS.
“I am honored to join and lead the team at C&EN in this pivotal moment for the magazine,” says Ishmael-Perkins. “I envision C&EN as a model for science journalism in the next century, with a dedication to maintaining our editorial independence, empowering our talented team, and pioneering excellent scientific journalism that reaches our audience globally and across the digital landscape.”
Grants, Funding, & Scholarships
UK School of Information Science researchers awarded nearly $700,000 in IMLS grants
University of Kentucky Libraries, L.S.A. Member, Press Release, December 18, 2023
University of Kentucky School of Information Science researchers Associate Professor Shannon M. Oltmann and Professor Maria Cahill were awarded nearly $700,000 in combined grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent agency of the United States federal government charged with supporting libraries and museums.
Oltmann and her team received the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant for $445,281. Oltmann plans to use the grant for a three-year research project that will examine how public libraries respond to attempts to ban books. Her team plans on creating a detailed database of public libraries that have faced calls to ban or restrict books in their collection and interview their library directors about their experiences and how they responded to these censorship attempts.
Libraries, Collections, & Archives
New OCLC research report: Building RDM capacity through strategic library collaboration
Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), Voting Member, News Announcement, December 11, 2023
OCLC Research has published the new report Building Research Data Management Capacity: Case Studies in Strategic Library Collaboration, which provides actionable recommendations based on real-world case studies that libraries can apply to make their own collaborations successful and sustainable.
Research data management is an increasingly vital strategic interest for academic libraries, and many collaborate with other libraries to scale resources and meet institutional RDM needs. Library collaboration is a strategic decision that can transform your institution’s RDM capabilities, but successful and sustainable collaboration is not guaranteed and requires careful consideration.
Open Access, Open Science
Big Science in the 21st Century – a new ebook published by IOP Publishing
IOP Publishing, Voting Member, News Announcement, December 18, 2023
IOP Publishing is proud to announce the release of ‘Big Science in the 21st Century’, a comprehensive exploration of the impact of Big Science on our society and the new perspectives it opens on evaluating its societal benefits.
Authored by a diverse group of contributors, the book offers a multifaceted view of the challenges, merits, and transformations of Big Science across different disciplines and geographical boundaries. It delves into the transformative role of Big Science in shaping the world we live in, from its historical roots in the aftermath of the Second World War to its contemporary interdisciplinary and international nature.