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The 10-campus University of California (UC) system has announced that it struck a four-year agreement with Elsevier, the largest academic publisher in the world, after a highly publicized split and more than two years of negotiations. The deal, which allows for open access publishing of UC research in nearly 2,300 Elsevier journals, has been dubbed “a landmark victory for the university and for open access publishing” by Paul Alivisatos, UC Berkeley’s executive vice chancellor and provost. “The outcome aligns with the university’s goals of making UC research freely available for all,” he says.
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Carli Spina writes: “The tech company Cisco predicts that by 2022, video will account for 82% of all internet traffic. In recent years, large libraries have jumped on this trend, producing recorded author events, tutorials, and promotional videos; since the pandemic began, the popularity of online videos has exploded even further. Ubiquitous as it is, much video content remains inaccessible to viewers with disabilities, particularly those who have lost vision or hearing. Only a small fraction of online videos have basic accessibility features, such as captions, and even those are rarely fully accessible to all viewers.”
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Margherita Cole writes: “Painter, inventor, and scientist Leonardo da Vinci paved the way in many fields during his lifetime. One of the reasons why historians know so much about the Renaissance man is because of the numerous notebooks he kept from the 1480s until his death in 1519. During his lifetime, da Vinci accumulated more than 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. While not all of these have been translated or digitized yet, a select few have, and they can be viewed online for free.”
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Analytics company Clarivate has announced that it will acquire library technology company ProQuest from Cambridge Information Group and its partners for $5.3 billion. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2021. “Clarivate and ProQuest are highly complementary businesses,” said Clarivate Executive Chairman and CEO Jerre Stead in a May 17 statement. “We share the goal to accelerate innovation through research and knowledge-sharing and together we will enable our customers to solve the world’s most complex challenges.”
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Alexander Library/Te Rerenga mai o te Kāuru in Whanganui, New Zealand, has partnered with community arts group Awa Puoro ki te Ao to offer what is believed to be the first collection of traditional Māori musical instruments available for patrons to borrow. The kete puoro (kit of instruments) will contain six instruments along with playing instructions. The kit will be presented to the library on May 26, as part of a Puanga (Māori New Year) celebration.
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Lily Hay Newman writes: “Ransomware groups have always taken a more-is-more approach. If a victim pays a ransom and then goes back to business as usual—hit them again. Or don’t just encrypt a target’s systems; steal their data first, so you can threaten to leak it if they don’t pay up. The latest escalation? Ransomware hackers who encrypt a victim’s data twice at the same time.”
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May 1 marked Law Day in the US. Episode 62 of Call Number with American Libraries features conversations about two differing areas of law librarianship. American Libraries Senior Editor and Call Number host Phil Morehart speaks with Emily Florio, senior research services manager at international law firm Hogan Lovells and president of the American Association of Law Libraries, and Anne Lucke, librarian at the National Indian Law Library in Boulder, Colorado.
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The American Association of School Librarians released its final survey in a series of snapshot surveys measuring the state of school libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses to the latest survey indicate that a majority of school librarians have seen an increase in responsibilities during the 2020–2021 school year, with 75% of respondents reporting they are doing more technology troubleshooting and nearly 86% reporting they are doing more ebook promotion in their districts. See the full results at Knowledge Quest.
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What is the CASE (Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement) Act, and what does it have to do with copyright? What aspects of copyright law can help libraries in preserving community archives? As libraries make plans to reopen or increase capacity, what are the laws surrounding patron codes of conduct? Lawyer and librarian Tomas A. Lipinski answers these questions in American Libraries’ latest Letters of the Law column.
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The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has signed an agreement with Amazon Publishing to make 10,000 ebooks and audiobooks available to US libraries and their patrons, DPLA announced May 18. This marks the first time Amazon Publishing content will be made available to libraries. Titles can be licensed this summer through the DPLA Exchange via four lending models. Patrons can access the books through SimplyE, the open source e-reader app developed by New York Public Library.
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Zoe Robertson writes: “After the PlayStation controller has been put away or the PC has been turned off, settle down the kids with some terrific books for young gamers, that are packed with all the excitement and enjoyment of their favorite videogames.” Robertson includes recommendations for fans of Pokémon, Minecraft, Animal Crossing, and other videogame series.
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Denver Public Library’s Plaza program has existed for more than a decade. Its initial aim was to help Spanish speakers find the resources they needed. Over the years, the program has expanded, now representing more than 15 languages spoken in Denver. Before COVID-19, the 11 branches supporting Plaza provided 48 total hours of programming each week: English conversation tables, naturalization support, immigration legal help, job search assistance, and computer help, as well as activities for kids that allowed families to work and play in the same space. Then, the entire program shut down overnight because of the pandemic.
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