ATG News You Need to Start the Week 4/29/19

Stanford Moves to Stop Supporting Its University Press

Inside Higher ED reports that “… many academics were stunned and angry to learn that Stanford University has announced that it will no longer provide any financial support for its press. Professors at Stanford are pushing back, but there are no signs that the university will reconsider. Without support from the university, dozens of books released by the press each year would no longer be published…”

Ex Libris to Upgrade Its Primo and Summon Indexes, Consolidating Them into a Unified Central Discovery Index

According to this press release, Ex Libris^®, a ProQuest company, has announced the creation of the Central Discovery Index (CDI), a robust, comprehensive content index that will expand the capabilities of the Ex Libris Summon^® and Primo^® discovery services. The CDI will enrich users’ discovery experience across both flagship discovery services, enabling libraries to better support researchers’ needs through smart discovery services driven by artificial intelligence…”

Critical Thinking Toolkit Available

SAGE Publishing and ALA have recently put out a new toolkit to help facilitate critical thinking skills in students and support faculty in similar efforts. It includes messaging to raise awareness of the importance of thinking critically, the library’s value in fostering the skill, and graphics such as posters, bookmarks, and social media to get a conversation going.

An associated website provides further free resources from SAGE: http://bit.ly/2VDzka0

New Digital Collection Now Online From Library of Congress: Classic Works of Children’s Books Published More Than 100 Years Ago

According to infoDOCKET “in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Children’s Book Week (April 29 to May 5), today the Library of Congress launched a unique online collection of 67 historically significant children’s books published more than 100 years ago. Drawn from the Library’s collection, Children’s Book Selections are digital versions both of classic works still read by children today and of lesser-known treasures…”

UC Santa Barbara Signs on to OA2020 Initiative

infoDOCKET also notes that “affirming its belief that research generated at a public institution should indeed be available to the public at no cost — and its commitment to achieving that goal — UC Santa Barbara has now signed the OA2020 Expression of Interest. OA2020 is an international initiative that is exploring ways of advancing open access in partnership with scholars, libraries, publishers and funding agencies…”

A First: APA Research Sees 50 Percent of Americans Listening to an Audiobook

Publishing Perspectives reports that “in a newly released round of data created for the Audio Publishers Association by Edison Research and Triton Digital, responses indicate that 50 percent of Americans 12 years and older say they’ve listened to an audiobook.

Publishers welcome 2019 USTR Special 301 Report addressing continuing copyright protection and enforcement concerns

According to KnowledgeSpeak “The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has welcomed the release of the 2019 Special 301 Report by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The Special 301 Report continues to be a critical tool for policymakers to identify and highlight barriers that impede the ability of U.S. copyright owners to compete in foreign markets, including markets of importance to the publishing industry…”