The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), and EDUCAUSE released the second part of a report by Sarah Lippincott, Mapping the Current Landscape of Research Library Engagement with Emerging Technologies in Research and Learning, that will be published in its entirety by late spring 2020. This installment introduces the context and scope of the report, describes the study’s methodology, and explores opportunities that cut across multiple areas of research library services.

The Serials and Other Continuing Resources Section (SOCRS) invites colleagues to submit proposals for its two-hour open session at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress (WLIC), Dublin, Ireland, 15-22 August 2020.

Increasingly, the governments and private organizations which fund research are mandating that the research outputs they support are made available as Open Access content. This naturally has a very direct and relevant impact on serials and other continuing resources which are a crucial part of scholarly communication and are increasingly subject to these mandates. Exploring the various ways these mandates impact scholarly communication, especially with regard to serials and other continuing resources, is vital for understanding both the current scholarly communication environment and how it is developing.

Important Dates

15 March 2020:            Proposal submission deadline

1 April 2020:               Notification to submitters

1 June 2020:              Deadline for authors to submit completed papers

In 2018, OhioLINK engaged its membership to envision a constellation of platforms and applications that would take the next step beyond “next-generation” commercial integrated library systems (ILS). This paper is the result of that process.

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) has announced the publication of the second report in a series by its Open Repositories Working Group (ORWG) – this report focuses on preservation functionality in repositories. This report is published both in English and French.

Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, has completed its acquisition of Innovative, a leading provider of integrated library systems for public, academic, and specialist libraries. Innovative is now a business unit within Ex Libris. Ex Libris will continue to support and develop the solutions that Innovative’s customers have relied on for many years. At the same time, Ex Libris cloud technology will power the development of a cloud-based Polaris SaaS solution for public libraries.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) launched the new PubMed. The new, responsive design is mobile friendly and reflects NLM’s ongoing efforts to transform PubMed into a modern hub with a fast, reliable, and intuitive search that connects people to the world’s leading sources of biomedical information. The new PubMed will become the default in spring 2020 and will ultimately replace the legacy version.

Please watch the NLM Technical Bulletin for updates and announcements.

OCLC has been awarded a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop a shared “Entity Management Infrastructure” that will support linked data management initiatives underway in the library and scholarly communications community. When complete, this infrastructure will be jointly curated by the community and OCLC, and will ultimately make scholarly materials more connected and discoverable on the web. OCLC will publish URIs and metadata for the entities via the web, and will provide methods for library staff to edit, enrich and add to this set of entities.

Using tools for the statistical analysis of national data on Shared Conservation Plans for Periodicals, Abes, the French Bibliographic Agency of Higher Education, has carried out this quantitative and qualitative state of the art study for the main purpose of managers, but also for library professionals, whether or not involved in projects of this type. The study highlights 36 Shared Conservation Plans for Periodicals, either thematic or regional. The study focuses on the analysis of the quality of bibliographic and holdings, underlining the importance of having records from the ISSN Registry managed by ISSN International Centre, if possible enriched by the cataloguing work specific to the Sudoc, the French union catalogue produced by higher education and research libraries and documentation centres.

Article in French

IFLA has published the 2019 Update of its Trend Report. As the latest in a series looking at the key issues and developments that shape the world in which libraries operate, it offers a basis for reflection and long-term thinking in the field. The IFLA Trend Report is the result of the dialogue between the library field and experts from a range of disciplines. You can download the document.

The Trend Report website offers a range of data and  information for libraries to use, share and build on.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has opened 2020 registration for LibQUAL+®, a leading library customer satisfaction assessment tool. For the past 20 years, libraries have depended on LibQUAL+ survey data to evaluate the needs and satisfaction levels of their users. With LibQUAL+, libraries are able to access raw data and comments to identify priorities, successes, and concerns. Since 2000, LibQUAL+ has been utilized by 1,390 libraries in 35 countries. It has helped libraries gather over 2.8 million responses, with 37% of respondents providing additional comments.