Recent developments in scholarly communication and research assessment show promising trends, such as the growth of preprints, open access, and more equitable publishing models. However, bibliographic databases like Web of Science and Scopus hinder innovation by excluding certain journals, like eLife, from their core indices. These databases prioritize traditional models, which limits the visibility of new approaches to research evaluation. To support innovation, databases should accommodate diverse scholarly platforms, recognize open peer review, and involve the research community in governance.

In continuation of UMM AL-Qura University’s pursuit of supporting the digital transformation journey for all its educational and operational processes to continue achieving its strategic goals in a way that aligns with Saudi Vision 2030, UQU has chosen Naseej for Technology, the region’s leading knowledge and eLearning solutions provider, to provide it with the latest Quality, Assessment and Evaluation, Academic Accreditation, Library Management, Library Portal, and Digital Assets Repository. MEDAD solution has also been chosen by United Arab Emirates future ISSN centre.

Since January 1, 2000, the German Serials Database aka Die Zeitschriftendatenbank (ZDB) has been processed online in the ILTIS system of the German National Library (DNB). This followed a project between DNB and the Berlin State Library (SBB) under tight deadlines. Since 2016, the German ISSN Centre has been assigning and cataloging ISSNs directly in ZDB. Since 2018, ZDB and the ISSN portal have included mutual links. Today, ZDB, now containing over 2.1 million titles and 5.5 million holdings, is the largest database for ongoing resources globally. It offers cooperative, freely accessible data. Over time, ZDB has expanded its services, including batch deliveries and metadata harvesting. In 2023, it became a “trusted partner” in WorldCat, further solidifying its role in bibliographic data.

The British Library faced challenges in cataloging over 4.7 million records lacking language information. To address this, a statistical model based on Bayesian methods was used to predict the language of resources from catalogue metadata, such as titles. The model analyzed patterns in word usage across known language records to generate probabilities for language identification. Results varied by language, with high precision but varying recall. The project successfully added language codes to over 2 million records, improving curatorial work and resource discovery. Ongoing efforts aim to code millions more records.

The British National Bibliography (BNB) has resumed publication, following a period of unavailability due to a cyber-attack in 2023. Having started in 1950, the BNB includes books and periodicals, covering both physical and electronic material. The BNB is the first national bibliography to be made available on the Share Family initiative‘s platform. It is published as linked data, and forms part of an international collaboration of libraries to link and enhance discovery across multiple catalogues and bibliographies.

We don’t need to know for sure what the future holds for libraries and the communities they serve in order to be able to play a role in shaping it. The 2024 Trend Report, launched at the Information Futures Summit and made possible by SIGL support, offers a key resource for librarians, libraries and library associations looking to integrate tomorrow into their planning today.

EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) has published the 2025 Serials Price Projection Report, offering valuable insights into the financial landscape for libraries and publishers as they prepare for the upcoming renewal season. This year’s report projects overall effective publisher price increases for libraries are four to five percent for individual e-journal titles, three and a half to four and a half percent for e-journal packages and five to six percent for print titles (before currency impact).

The National Diet Library provides the Japanese Periodicals Index as a search tool for Japanese periodical articles from 1949 onwards. As of 13 September, the number of records exceeded 15 million.

The Japanese Periodicals Index indexes about 11,000 periodicals. Its scope in the field of periodicals and the volume of its records make it one of the leading databases of periodical articles in Japan.

In addition to the services provided by the National Diet Library (e.g. NDL Search), this database is also widely used, for example, in CiNii Research of the National Institute of Informatics and in WorldCat of OCLC, Inc.

On 10 October 2024, the British Library announced the complete restoration of its services, one year after a cyber attack disrupted its operations. The reopening of the National Newspaper Building in Boston Spa now provides access to the entire print collections. Services such as remote ordering and access to digital resources have been reintroduced. Users can now order items online, and access to over 1,000 digitised manuscripts. The library is also working on new systems to improve services in the future.