Research Efforts
Clarivate announces changes to the 2023 Journal Citation Reports
Clarivate Analytics, Voting Member, Press Release, July 26, 2022
Clarivate Plc (NYSE:CLVT), a global leader in providing trusted information and insights to accelerate the pace of innovation, today announced that in the 2023 release of the Journal Citation Reports™, all Web of Science Core Collection™ journals will receive a Journal Impact Factor (JIF)™. This means expanding the JIF from Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)™ and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)™ to include journals from the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI)™ and the multidisciplinary Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)™.
The annual JCR release enables the research community, publishers and librarians to evaluate and compare the scholarly impact of the world’s high-quality journals using a range of indicators, descriptive data and visualizations.
Silverchair’s Strength-Based Reviews Unlock Passion and Potential
Silverchair, Voting Member, News Announcement, July 12, 2022
The research supports what all great leaders innately understand: there is no leverage in weakness. This is why in the Fall of 2021, Silverchair adopted a strengths-based approach to performance management.
Most performance reviews look something like this: an overview of successes for the year, followed by areas for improvement going forward. In other words, a team member and their leader celebrate accomplishments, but they also take a deficit-based approach, focusing time and attention on determining what needs to be fixed and how to fix it and making weaknesses the focus of developmental plans.
Libraries, Collections & Archives
University Libraries join the Academic Preservation Trust
University of Colorado, Boulder, L.S.A. Member, News Announcement, July 19, 2022
The APTrust is a digital preservation consortium managed and operated by the University of Virginia that provides digital storage as well as collaboratively-developed services for managing content.
As Michael Dulock, associate professor in charge of digital asset management and production services explains, there are several factors that make APTrust a good service for the University Libraries to utilize.
ARL Statistics 2020 Publications Describe Resources, Services of Member Libraries
Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Voting Member, News Announcement, July 14, 2022
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published the ARL Statistics 2020, ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2020, and ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics 2020.
These three publications present information describing the collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities of the Association’s 124 member libraries in 2020. Of these 124 members, 116 are university libraries (16 in Canada and 100 in the US); the remaining 8 are public, governmental, and nonprofit research libraries in the US. The law and health sciences publications focus on the 73 law libraries and 58 medical libraries among the Association’s membership that completed the law and health sciences surveys.
New Scholarly Communication Investments by CDL 2022
California Digital Library (CDL), Voting Member, Blog Post, July 11, 2022
CDL’s Shared Collections team, in consultation and collaboration with the UC-wide Shared Collections Leadership Group (SCLG), is pleased to have been able to invest in several important open resources and tools in Fiscal Year 2021-22, reflecting our commitment to ’invest in open’ by allocating a portion of our collections funding to the development of open content and infrastructure in support of UC scholarship and teaching.
Libraries Complete Digitization of a 106-Year-Old Film
Washington University in St. Louis, L.S.A. Member, News Announcement, July 8, 2022
The Washington University Libraries’ Julian Edison Department of Special Collection has successfully completed the preservation and digitization of the silent short film The Maid of McMillan (1916), which is one of the earliest known student productions still extant. This preservation project was completed with the financial support of a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF). Colorlab conducted the digitization and photochemical processing of the film.
The Maid of McMillan was written and produced by two Washington University students, Dan Bartlett and Donald Stewart, and directed by budding filmmaker J.D. Wooster Lambert. It premiered in May 1916 at that year’s Univee Surkuss, an annual student celebration now known as the Thurtene Carnival
Partnerships & Collaborations
Elsevier partners with the Society for Mucosal Immunology to publish Mucosal Immunology
Elsevier, Voting Member, Press Release, July 18, 2022
The Society for Mucosal Immunology (SMI), the preeminent international community of researchers working together to advance the field of mucosal immunology and improve health worldwide, and Elsevier, a global leader in research publishing and information analytics, are delighted to announce a new partnership to publish SMI’s official journal, Mucosal Immunology. The journal will transition to gold open access, making articles immediately and permanently available for everyone to read, download, copy and distribute. It will be hosted on Elsevier’s leading online platform, ScienceDirect, beginning January 2023.
SMI’s decision to partner with Elsevier furthers its ongoing mission to directly support research and education and foster communication and collaboration in the field of mucosal immunology. Transitioning its journal from its current subscription model to gold open access clearly reflects its commitment to make its content more easily accessible and drive innovation in the field.
Christiansburg Institute, University Libraries collaborate to preserve Appalachian African American storytelling, history
Virginia Tech University, L.S.A. Member, Featured Article, July 7, 2022
The Christiansburg Institute now has the power to tell its rich, century-long story through its self-managed Christiansburg Institute Digital Archive thanks to a $251,052 Digitizing Hidden Collections: Amplifying Unheard Voices grant from the Council on Library Information Resources. University Libraries at Virginia Tech is collaborating with the institute on its grant-funded project, “Changing the Narrative: Modeling Equitable Stewardship of African American Storytelling and History,” to digitize stories, photos, and documents of Christiansburg Industrial Institute — the first high school in Southwest Virginia to educate the formerly enslaved (1866-1966).
The grant funds will support digitization of 38.65 linear feet of Christiansburg Institute Museum and Archives’ collections, including technology and two new institute staff positions to digitize and process materials on site at the Christiansburg Institute.
Industry Leadership
Emily McElroy named Associate Dean for Research and Health Sciences for George A. Smathers Libraries
University of Florida, Voting Member, News Announcement, July 14, 2022
On October 3, Emily McElroy will assume the responsibilities as Associate Dean for Research and Health Sciences for the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida. In this position, she will provide vision and leadership for the Libraries’ research initiatives and our services to the research enterprise, as well as strategic support of the multi-faceted mission of UF’s Health Science Center.
The Smathers Libraries are key partners in advancing the research enterprise, leading, and supporting initiatives to grow infrastructure and services that enhance UF’s diverse research portfolio, which includes over $1 billion in funded research annually. In strategic collaboration with campus partners, the Smathers Libraries contribute to identifying and advancing research support systems, tools, and services that meet campus needs and priorities through deep engagement in education, research, equity, and outreach, including a new emphasis on supporting artificial intelligence. The Associate Dean partners with UF’s research community, representing the Smathers Libraries capabilities, priorities, and values.
Product Innovation
Data Harmony Suite Recommender Released to Improve Article and Content Searches by Leveraging Semantic Fingerprinting
Access Innovations, Voting Member, Press Release, July 19, 2022
Access Innovations, Inc., provider of Data Harmony software solutions, is proud to announce the release of their new Recommender as part of the Data Harmony Suite. Recommender is now available to all Data Harmony clients using versions 3.16 or higher.
Recommender uses the semantic fingerprint of an article, its subject metadata tagging, matching to other articles and content within the database. When the searcher finds an article they like, the Recommender automatically displays other items with the same semantic fingerprint nearby on the search interface. This allows immediate display of highly relevant content to the search without scrolling and frustration in trying to find similar items. It also allows for display of other relevant content such as conference papers, ads, books, meetings, expert profiles, and so forth.
Springer Nature launches new AI-led service to support research decision makers
Springer Nature, Voting Member, Press Release, July 13, 2022
Springer Nature today launches a new AI-led service to help research decision makers from academic, government and corporate organizations make informed data driven funding and strategy decisions, enabling them to deliver greater socio-economic impact from their investments in research.
Nature Research Intelligence is powered by Nature’s 150 years of editorial and research expertise and builds on the existing success of Nature Index. By putting real time information and data into the hands of those making research decisions, research teams will be able to find, sort, curate and make sense of the best and latest insights. Nature Research Intelligence will help them set data-driven strategies, identify where research and collaboration opportunities lie, and better understand insights on the latest research trends to guide strategic decision making, attract funding and deliver cutting edge research for the benefit of society.
Open Access, Open Science
Open access model embraced by more next generation faculty in U.S. higher education, triennial survey says
Taylor & Francis Group, and ITHAKA/JStor/Portico, Voting Members, News Announcement, July 14, 2022
Interest in open access is on the rise for American higher education faculty aged 22 to 44, while the journal’s Impact Factor continues to diminish in importance for most faculty, according to results announced today from Ithaka S+R’s U.S. Faculty Survey 2021, aided by sponsorship from academic publisher Taylor & Francis.
“Taylor & Francis is very excited to collaborate with Ithaka S+R as a corporate sponsor for its premier triennial U.S. Faculty Survey,” said Todd Hummel, Global Publishing Director, Earth, Life, and Medical Science, Taylor & Francis. “As a trusted partner to knowledge makers throughout their career, supporting this comprehensive, leading-edge analysis aligns with our mission and provides further insights about attitudes, behaviors, preferences, and practices in the scholarly community to help us continually serve the needs of our customers.”
Grants and Awards
Sloan Foundation Funds New Office to Support Open Source Activities
Carnegie Mellon University, L.S.A. Consortia Member, News Announcement, July 27, 2022
Helen and Henry Posner, Jr. Dean of the University Libraries Keith Webster has received a grant of $650,000 from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to establish the Carnegie Mellon University Open Source Program Office (OSPO). In addition to establishing a central resource for open source activity across campus, the OSPO will explore the ecosystem of software around a new core facility and government R&D.
The newly created office will be led by G. Sayeed Choudhury, currently the Associate Dean for Digital Infrastructure, Applications, and Services and Hodson Director of the Digital Research and Curation Center at the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University, home to the first university-based OSPO in the United States.