New Product News – September/October 2013
Website Sparticl Makes STEM Research Easy
Sparticl is a website developed in conjunction with Twin Cities Public Television and 3M that filters articles related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) from all over the Internet into one place. In addition to the articles, there are games, images, videos, and other activities created by experts for users to interact with the site. Users of the site are encouraged to create an account in order to comment on articles and earn points through games. In order to create an account, users must be at least thirteen years old. However, all children are allowed to browse the content on the site. For more information on Sparticl, visit www.sparticl.org.
WorldCat Adds New Publishers and Collections to Its Database
Since January 2013, OCLC’s WorldCat has signed agreements with several new publishers to increase searchability for library users around the world. New publishers to work with OCLC include 3M Library Systems, e-Libro, Equinox Publishing, McGraw-Hill Education, Freading, Project Muse, SAGE Publications, and many others. Library patrons will now be able to search for these publishers’ offerings in WorldCat and be able to hold or retain a record of the item depending on their library’s system. OCLC has also added additional collections to its database including the African American Study Centre from Oxford University Press, Music Online Listening from Alexander Street Press, and World Scientific eBooks from World Scientific Publishing Co. For more information on these new offerings, visit www.oclc.org/en-US/worldcat.html.
Baker & Taylor Makes Spanish Language Content Available with e-Libro
Baker & Taylor has partnered with e-Libro to provide more than 16,000 titles in Spanish for users or Axis 360. One of the first virtual publishers for Spanish resources, e-Libro digitizes more than 800 titles a month. “Our partnership with e-Libro is the perfect complement to our collection development goals for Axis 360—to make the world of digital content, in a variety of languages, available to all libraries served by Baker & Taylor,” said George Coe, president of Baker & Taylor’s Library & Education division. Subjects in the e-Libro collection will include computer science, economics, engineering, fine arts, health sciences, law, politics, and psychology as well as European and American literature classics in Spanish. For more information on Baker & Taylor, visit www.btol.com. For more information on e-Libro, visit www.e-libro.com/in-english.
Softlink and Overdrive Partner in E-Content Integration
Overdrive has partnered with Softlink, a leading developer of library management solutions, to create deep API integration of its e-content to Softlink’s management systems. According to Softlink’s Chief Operating Officer Nathan Godfrey, “The innovations in lending and reporting will offer
streamlined user services and greater than before analysis across physical and digital content to assist future resource planning.” Libraries using Softlink will be able to provide their patrons with a more streamlined user experience, where patrons can check out and place holds on Overdrive’s e-content while they are performing a search or looking through the library catalog. Both Softlink and Overdrive are interested in providing greater access and simultaneous usage of digital resources for users and they hope that these technological innovations will be beneficial to the library and its patrons. For more information on Softlink, please visit www.softlinkint.com. For more information on Overdrive, please visit www
.overdrive.com.
EBSCO Information Services Launches E-Book Business Collection
EBSCO has launched a new business ebook collection with more than 9,400 titles on various business topics (such as marketing, finance, supply chain management, and entrepreneurship) and also focusing on career growth, personal development, communication, and networking. The new collection is intended to help students who are studying business or libraries looking to bulk up their business collection digitally. “We were able to leverage our expertise as one of the world’s leading aggregators of premium content to create a collection of business e-books that are relevant to the specific needs of students, enabling them to get the information they need faster,” said Ken Breen, senior director of e-book products. For more information, visit www.ebsco.com.
Credo Adds Nineteen New Subject Collections
Credo has added new subject collections to its already extensive repertoire of reference resources, including the Intelecom Intelligent Telecommunications Collection (an all video collection), the Anthropology Collection, and the Sociology Collection. Credo has also added updates to fifteen of its established Subject and Publisher Collections, including the Criminal Justice Collection, the Psychology Collection, the Nursing and Allied Health Collection, and the Gender and Women’s Studies Collection. According to Credo CEO Mike Sweet, “Credo focuses on developing solutions that are customized to fit each library’s evolving needs as well as the foundational need to provide access to scholarly reference content. By releasing new collections on a regular basis, we’re helping librarians innovate reference and users gain information skills while meeting their real-time research needs.” For more information on Credo, visit corp.credoreference.com.
DeGruyter Select Allows Users to Print Custom Books
DeGruyter, a German-based digital publisher, will now allow subscribers of its digital collection to print a book with the journal articles of their choosing through DeGruyter Select. Each article, whether long or short, will cost $42, and a total price will be calculated at the end. The book will be bound into a high-quality hardcover book. Every book will have the same cover, but you can choose the title and subtitle. For more information on De-Gruyter Select, visit www.degruyter.com.
Japanese Metadata Available on EBSCO Discovery Service
EBSCO Discovery Service will now include metadata from the JapanKnowledge collection from NetAdvance. The JapanKnowledge collections includes many Japanese-language resources such as Japanese-English dictionaries, Japanese encyclopedias, videos, and dissertations from Japanese universities. According to NetAdvance General Manager Masashi Tanaka, “JapanKnowledge is a frequently and widely used database at educational and research institutions both in Japan and overseas. Inclusion of JapanKnowledge metadata into EDS, I believe, will be quite significant, because the variety of valuable Japanese material aggregated in the growing JapanKnowledge collection will be of benefit to the global users.” For more information, visit www.ebsco com.
