(April 8, 2020). In response to the shutdown of in-person services, including libraries, due to COVID-19, we have been hard at work putting together a solution that will help libraries continue to fulfill their mission of providing information and services to the public by establishing their own online support platform. We have tested a range of communication and online management tools and put together a suite of products that is affordable, scalable, and integrated to allow libraries to function in a virtual environment with staff distributed in locations outside of the physical library.

(April 6, 2020). The statewide Library Services Platform project successfully transitioned an unprecedented single-year cohort of 110 participating California community college libraries to the shared platform in January 2020. This rapid and timely adoption positioned college libraries to immediately adapt to remote work and learning practices following a statewide shelter-in-place order in March due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

We’re thrilled to announce that Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures is moving forward, thanks to our members.

The three existing divisions’ members all voted to approve the bylaws change that will unite ALCTS, LITA, and LLAMA to form Core:

• ALCTS: 91% yes
• LITA: 96% yes
• LLAMA: 96% yes

The presidents of the three divisions, Jennifer Bowen, ALCTS, Emily Morton-Owens, LITA, and Anne Cooper Moore, LLAMA, shared the following statement: “We first want to thank our members for supporting Core. Their belief in this vision, that we can accomplish more together than we can separately, has inspired us, and we look forward to working with all members to build this new and sustainable ALA division. We also want to thank the Core Steering Committee, and all the members who were part of project teams, town halls and focus groups. We would not have reached this moment without their incredible work.”

ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall said, “Congratulations to the leaders and members of ALCTS, LITA and LLAMA for making the bold move to merge their strengths. This new division offers opportunities to expand our impact and will help cultivate and amplify the collective expertise of library workers in core functions. I heartily welcome Core to the ALA division family and look forward to supporting its future success.”

This vote does not end the process. Our divisions will now work with the ALA Committee on Organization and the ALA Council to officially establish Core as a new division on September 1, and to discontinue ALCTS, LITA, and LLAMA. Because the 2020 ALA Annual Conference has been cancelled, we’ll be working with ALA leadership to ensure this process moves forward virtually.

On behalf of the Boards of Directors, thank you for voting, for asking important questions, and for galvanizing your colleagues toward defining our future together. 

Emily Morton-Owens, President, Library Information Technology Association (LITA)

Jennifer Bowen, President, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS)

Anne Cooper Moore, President, Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA)

(April 7, 2020). UNSILO, a brand of the global scientific communications company Cactus Communications, announced the integration of its Technical Checks and Reviewer Finder APIs by Manuscript Manager, the Copenhagen-based software company that provides submission workflow tools for publishers and scholarly societies, managing over 230 academic journals. The Technical Checks API, part of the UNSILO Evaluate suite, uses machine-learning tools to provide information in real time from scientific research manuscripts, such as identifying evidence of funding statements and potential conflicts of interest. The software assists human editors and authors by providing links and checks.

(April 6, 2020). We continue to monitor the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and its global impact. Innovative is committed to providing awareness and transparency to our customers, employees, and partners about our status and actions that we are taking. Our business continues to be fully operational, with no disruption to our services and systems.

(April 6, 2020). Patron Point today announced the launch of an online registration solution for public libraries. The new functionality offers Patron Point libraries a complete workflow around signing up new cardholders. Starting with customized, branded sign up forms which sit on the library website, the solution creates the new customer record in the ILS which in turn triggers the fully automated welcome email sequences from Patron Point's marketing automation platform.

(April 6, 2020). Yewno, a leading provider of artificial intelligence solutions, announces that global research leader Frost and Sullivan has awarded it with the 2020 Global Technology Innovation Award for predictive analytics in the financial services industry.

(April 6, 2020). A new report published by Springer Nature indicates that a better understanding of the sources of funding for article processing charges could accelerate the transition to open access (OA) publishing. “APCs in the wild” refer to those APCs that are funded from sources that cannot easily be identified or tracked, in other words, those funding streams that fall outside of centrally managed library or institution budgets. The whitepaper draws on data from a survey of over 1000 Springer Nature authors, as well as 16 interviews with representatives from institutions. The goal of the research was to explore the scale of “wild” funding streams and their impact on the transition to OA publishing.

(April 2, 2020). Softlink Information Centres, a leading supplier of library and research management systems is pleased to announce the release of Liberty v5 Build 8.035 and Liberty Link 1.5.

(April 2, 2020). With the Coronavirus outbreak having an unprecedented impact on education, Springer Nature is launching a global program to support learning and teaching at higher education institutions worldwide. This will see institutions able to access for free more than 500 key textbooks across Springer Nature's eBook subject collections. These books will be available via SpringerLink until at least the end of July.

(April 1, 2020). ByWater Solutions announced that Wasatch County Library of Heber City, Utah is now live on Koha! They are joining the Uintah Basin Library System which is made up of libraries from Vernal, Roosevelt and Duchesne Utah. ByWater completed the transition of the libraries' 95,000 plus holdings from Horizon ILS and is providing ongoing support services to the library. Wasatch's Koha system will be working in concert with Aspen Discovery to provide patrons seamless access to all of the library's print, electronic, and enhanced content resources.

A Crash Course in Protecting Library Data While Working From Home

Presenter: Becky Yoose, Founder / Library Data Privacy Consultant, LDH Consulting Services

Thursday, April 9, 2020

1:00 – 2:00 pm Central Time

There’s a seat waiting for you… Register for this free LITA webinar today!

Libraries across the U.S. rapidly closed their doors to both public and staff in the last two weeks, leaving many staff to work from home. Several library workers might be working from home for the first time in their current positions, while many others were not fully prepared to switch over to remote work in a matter of days, or even hours, before the library closed. In the rush to migrate library workers to remote work and to migrate physical library programs and services to online, data privacy and security sometimes gets lost in the mix. Unfamiliar settings, new routines, and increased reliance on vendor technology all puts library data privacy at risk.

This 60-minute interactive webinar will guide library workers in protecting patron data as they adjust to the new normal of working from home. Participants will also have the chance to ask questions of their fellow attendees or share how they are addressing library data privacy at their library in the webinar.

Learning objectives for this program include:

•  Identify and understand key risks to library data privacy and security from a rapid shift to working from home
•  Learn and implement strategies and tools in mitigating common privacy and security risks to library data when working from home
•  Assess and plan how to protect library data while working remotely for the long term

Who Should Attend:

•  Library workers working from home for the first time in their current positions or careers
•  Library technology workers responsible in guiding library workers in securing their home offices while working remotely
•  Library administrators who are concerned about how library user data privacy and security can be affected by shifting to remote work, and what their staff can do to mitigate additional risks

Register online: bit.ly/39uEzik​​​​​​​

Special thanks to LDH Consulting Services for sponsoring this free webinar.

(April 1, 2020). The Koha Community, one of the world's largest and most active Open Source communities, has come together to fast track a feature to allow libraries to bulk update due dates within the system. Previous to this, libraries and vendors would need to complete this action within the database which was more difficult and required vendor intervention if not self-hosted/supported.

(March 31, 2020). OCLC's COVID-19 page brings together timely information, valuable resources, and opportunities for online discussion and instruction to help library professionals continue to serve their communities during the pandemic. The COVID-19 resource page offers options to provide remote access to library collections, optimize OCLC products and services, and connect and collaborate with other libraries.

(March 31, 2020). A team of healthcare professionals and evidence-based medical experts at EBSCO Information Services has launched a COVID-19 portal which aggregates real-time information updates from authoritative sources to provide information on all aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(March 31, 2020). In response to the rapidly growing need for authoritative content related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), ProQuest is launching a new Coronavirus Research Database, giving all ProQuest users no-cost access to full-text content covering all facets of COVID-19 and related infectious diseases. The Coronavirus Research Database saves time and improves outcomes for researchers by aggregating authoritative content from ProQuest with content made available at no cost by members of the International Association of STM Publishers – including Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis and The BMJ. Journals, preprints, conference proceedings and dissertations provide comprehensive coverage of COVID-19 and other past coronavirus outbreaks, such as MERS and SARS, for context around the current global pandemic. Full-text content in the database is available either directly from ProQuest or via links to publisher sites.

(March 30, 2020). ByWater Solutions announced that Jackson Memorial Library of Tenants Harbor, Maine is now live on Koha! ByWater completed the transition of the libraries' 15,000 plus holdings from the LibLime and is providing ongoing support services to the library.

The site is currently under renovation as we transfer themes. Please bear with us, as things may move or look different during this transition.

(March 27, 2020). As many libraries are facing temporary closure, and staff is adapting to a new work/life balance, SirsiDynix announced today that their entire catalog of self-paced training and select live instructor-led training is now available to all customers, free of charge.

(March 26, 2020). Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, is offering free access to all Research Professional news coverage related to COVID-19 and relevant funding opportunities related to the pandemic through its Research Professional and Pivot funding databases.