Manually indexing documents for subject-based access is a labour-intensive process. This paper describes Annif, an open source tool and microservice for automated subject indexing developed by the National Library of Finland. After training it with a subject vocabulary and existing metadata gathered from bibliographic databases, Annif can be used to assign subject headings for new documents. The current version is based on a combination of existing natural language processing and machine learning tools.

The recording from the IFLA ARL Webinar, Academic Libraries Engaging in Publishing: a Burgeoning Service Model in the Open Access Sphere, presented by Jody Bailey, Head of Scholarly Communications Office, Emory University Libraries, and Ted Polley, Social Sciences & Digital Publishing, IUPUI University Library, is now available from here:

Recording

Slides

If you could not attend LIBER Annual Conference 2019 held in Dublin, 26-28 June 2019, there are two places to watch the live stream: on this website, or on YouTube. You can find the presentations on Zenodo and on LIBER Conference website.

CollEx-Persée is a research infrastructure set up in France in 2017. It brings together 19 research libraries, 4 national operators and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It aims to facilitate access to and use of library hybrid collections by researchers.  This communication presents the strategy for creating CollEx-Persée and the breakthroughs introduced by this new system, then its organization, networking activities and first achievements. Calls for projects have made a very concrete contribution to bringing librarians and researchers closer together. Finally, the emerging challenges are presented, in particular the management of change within libraries and training for new professions.

The breadth of the profession was embraced by keynote speakers and breakout sessions at CILIP Conference 2019. CILIP is the UK’s library and information association. Topics covered on day one ranged from artificial intelligence to public libraries. This report highlights the best sessions.

This report is based on a Europe-wide survey run by LIBER’s Digital Humanities & Digital Cultural Heritage Working Group. The survey focused on digital collections and the activities libraries undertake around them. The themes covered were based on input from participants at the Digital Humanities and Digital Cultural Heritage workshop at LIBER’s 2018 Annual Conference (Lille, France; 4-6 July).  The final survey consisted of 83 questions and was open for responses between 1 February and 15 March 2019.

If you could not attend LIBER 2019 annual conference at Trinity College Dublin, the main talks were recorded on Trinity Library YouTube channel. The presentations are also available on Zenodo. Two papers are particularly interesting. University Journals: Consolidating Institutional Repositories in a Free Open Access Publication Platform, a new publication platform that complies with Plan S principles and enables publication and dissemination of all research outcomes. The Open Library of Humanities: a Sustainable Scholar-led Model for OA without Publication Fees, demonstrate how scholar-led initiatives such as the OLH have proven for years that there are alternatives to the standard APC model (pay-to-publish) and that it is possible to sustain them in the long-term.

Each year, IFLA Headquarters compiles its Annual Report. It gives IFLA Members and other interested parties full and transparent details on IFLA activities, achievements and financial performance.

Using Wikidata as a hub for institutional identifiers is one of the many potential uses of Wikidata for libraries. Many organizations maintain unique identifiers for people, subjects, works, etc. If these IDs are all added to Wikidata then the user could seamlessly access data from dozens of sources through the Wikidata ID.

The Library of Congress (LoC) maintains many authority files that are widely used. The Network Development and MARC Standard Office maintains the Linked Open Data version of the Name Authority File (NAF) and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) at the site id.loc.gov. With id.loc.gov, the LoC maintains links to many other institutions authority files including the French and German national libraries, other government services (Department of Agriculture) and other cultural institutions like the Getty Museum. Wikidata ids have been included in the id.loc.gov system.

For the first time in 16 years, the Library of Congress is rolling out an all-new CIP (Cataloging in Publication) database. PrePub Book Link (PPBL) overhauls the outdated 2003 system. It took more than one and a half years, involves more than 3,000 major scholarly and trade publishers and more than 50,000 books each year. “It’s a very significant milestone,” says Karl Debus-López, chief of the U.S. Programs, Law, and Literature Division and former Chair of the ISSN International Centre Governing Board, which oversees the program. “It’s a success story of collaborative work.” The new system is faster, allows publishers to log-in by multiple accounts and attach a PDF file for the book, and provides auto-filled data boxes to streamline the process.