This year's ASA Conference was a great success. A range of thought-provoking, intelligent papers from 20 speakers plus an active (and record capacity) audience meant for a very lively, informative and engaging two days. The bar has been set pretty high but we are determined to rise to the challenge for 2012 so, even though its 11 months away, please let us know if you have any suggestions for speakers and/or topics for next year's programme.

Speakers' presentations are available from the ASA website.  To view and/or download one or more talks, go to: ASA 2011 Conference

Manchester University Press, Pier Professional, The British Institute for Radiology and the British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery have all recently joined the ASA's Library Choice initiative bringing the current total to 44. View the full list of participating publishers here. To find out more about Library Choice, click here.

Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is delighted to become an Associate Publisher Member of the ASA. A spokesperson for the Press said: "Whilst Cambridge has attended ASA events for many years, we feel that the time has come to formalise our support for the Association and its members. This largely reflects our confidence in the current work of the ASA, but is also driven by the economic climate which we feel has made cooperation between publishers, agents and librarians more important than ever". Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge, one of the world’s leading research institutions. It publishes over 250 journals and over 2,500 books annually for distribution in nearly every country in the world. For further information, visit the CUP website.

Informa Business Information
The ASA is also extremely pleased to announce that Informa Business Information has joined the ASA. Informa provides publications, events and online services for the scientific, professional and commercial business communities including pharmaceuticals, medicine, life sciences, law, IP, insurance, finance, maritime, trade, logistics, energy, construction, agribusiness and commodities. For full information and contacts, visit the Informa website.

Prints India
We are very pleased to welcome Prints India as a new ASA member from 2011. Since 1966, Prints India has delivered services in the supply chain and established itself as a reliable source of Indian literary and research materials for clients across the globe. Visit the Prints India website to find out more about their services for journals, serials, newspapers, magazines, periodicals – current & archived in India.  

Schweitzer Fachinformationen
We are very pleased to welcome Schweitzer Fachinformationen to the ASA in 2011. Schweitzer Fachinformationen is one of the leading booksellers and information service companies for professional literature in Germany. The company’s history goes back to the year 1868 when Johann Baptist Schweitzer founded the original book store in the heart of Munich. Today, Schweitzer Fachinformationen consists of 39 stores located in 29 cities throughout Germany.  To ensure efficient and reliable sourcing and delivery of North American literature, Schweitzer operates an import/export company in New York City. Schweitzer services clients in the areas of legal statutory, economic, corporate, health care and academic markets, providing tailored procurement solutions and a high level of customized service and logistics. For more information about Schweitzer, please contact Rebecca Kienast (+49 (0)89 55134 260) or visit the Schweitzer website.

WorldWide Information Services
WorldWide Information Services (WWIS) is a subscription agent based in Johannesburg, South Africa. WWIS offers the following services: Print and Electronic Journals, e-Database subscriptions, e-Books, fulfilment services for publishers, Academic Consortium Price Negotiations and Licensing. Services to academic, corporate, government and public libraries throughout Southern Africa. For full information and contacts, please visit the WWIS website: www.wwis.co.za

(Jan 2011) Five of the nation's leading university presses - Chicago, Minnesota, North Carolina, Princeton, and Yale - are at the forefront of a new effort to publish scholarly books online as part of the non-profit service JSTOR. Their books, representing ground-breaking scholarship across the humanistic, social, and scientific disciplines, are expected to be available in 2012. "Books at JSTOR" will make front and back list titles available to libraries around the world in flexible ways that encourage purchase, adoption, and use [more on this].

(Jan 2011) Swets has entered into a technology agreement with DataSalon, to implement advanced subscriptions analysis, and to develop new and value-added information services [full story].

(1/2/2011) Wiley has announced the launch of Wiley Open Access, a new publishing program of open access journals. The first journals will launch shortly, publishing primary peer-reviewed research in a range of broad-based subject disciplines in the life and biomedical sciences, including neuroscience, microbiology, ecology and evolution [more on this].

(Dec 2010) Long-term ASA member, Prenax has established an Australian operation. This expansion follows four acquisitions and gives the Prenax group its second office in the AsiaPacific region, joining the long-established Singapore company [more on this].

(December 2010) Swets has entered into a global technology relationship with Cognizant, a leading provider of consulting, technology and business process outsourcing services, to improve business effectiveness and drive innovation (more on this). 

EBSCO A-to-Z® and LinkSource® now support Shibboleth authentication. By using Shibboleth, a single sign-on (SSO) authentication method popular among a growing number of higher education institutions, librarians can offer the ease of SSO authentication to their users while continuing to respect the terms of their agreements with content providers. EBSCO’s implementation of Shibboleth provides seamless access into EBSCO’s online solutions for researchers from more than 1,000 institutions in eleven countries [more on this].

LM Information Delivery Group, a leading subscription agent in the Nordics and Baltics, has established an affiliate in the UK called LM Information Delivery UK. The company will service and support libraries and corporate customers locally and offer a new range of products for e-resources including enhanced tools for acquisition, access and management of e-resources [more on this].

(17/3/11) Winners of this year's UKSG John Merriman Awards have been announced: Mary Betts-Gray of Cranfield University has won the UKSG award (sponsored by Taylor & Francis); Elizabeth Siler of Florida International University has won the NASIG award. They will each be funded to attend the other organisation's conference (more on this).

(14/3/11) In an interview posted on Richard Poyder's 'Open & Shut?' blog, industry analyst Claudio Aspesi predicts a difficult future for Reed Elsevier, in particular for its scholarly journal business. He also points to funding cuts as the main reason why, in his view, the Big Deal has a limited lifespan (more on this).

(10/3/11) Two major university press e-book initiatives, Project MUSE Editions (PME) and the University Press e-book Consortium (UPeC), have joined forces. The result of this merger is the University Press Content Consortium (UPCC) which will launch January 1, 2012 [more on this].

(8/3/11) Emerald Group Publishing Limited has acquired Pier Professional Limited, a UK-based publisher of health and social care journals. The acquisition, which expands Emerald’s presence in the health and social care field by 23 journals, builds on Emerald’s growing footprint in the social sciences arena (full story).

(28/2/11) The British Library has launched its new strategy, setting out how it plans to develop its collections and services over the next four years. Growing Knowledge: The British Library’s Strategy 2011-2015 outlines the UK national library’s key objectives and strategic priorities to the middle of the decade, and emphasises the need to deliver more for less in a challenging economic climate [more on this].

The National Federation of Advanced Informtion Services (NFAIS) are hosting a webinar entitled eBooks and the Future of the University Press on March 23rd.  The webinar will present and discuss the findings from a 3-year study funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation investigating, amongst other topics, academic library budget developments, eBook adoption in libraries, patron driven selection, new and evolving standard, technology driven efficiencies in workflow and production, and new business models.  Registration is open to all and prices are $75 for NFAIS members, $95 for non-members [more on this].

(23/2/11) Portico has announced it has entered into an agreement with Oxford University Press (OUP) to preserve the publisher’s entire collection of e-books from its Oxford Scholarship Online resource and Handbooks Online resource. With this agreement, OUP expands its relationship with Portico, which began in 2006 with the publisher’s commitment to deposit its entire list of e-journals in the Portico archive [more on this].

(22/2/11) Following hard on the heels that the bookstore, Borders, has filed for bankruptcy protection amid declining sales, Barnes & Noble has reported a slump in profits and suspended its dividend payments as it continues to invest heavily in its e-book strategy. Net profits for the three months to the end of January came in at $60.6m (£37.6m), a drop of 25% on the $80.4m it made a year earlier. Shares in what is the largest US bookseller fell 11% after the results [more on this from the BBC].

Renew Training will be running a one-day project management course teaching non-project management staff how to manage highly effective projects. Courses will run in March and October 2011 (more on this).

(16/2/11) Google have unveiled Google One Pass, a service that lets publishers set their own prices and terms for their digital content. One Pass enables publishers to maintain direct relationships with their customers and give readers access to digital content across websites and mobile apps. According to the official Google blog, "Publishers can customize how and when they charge for content while experimenting with different models to see what works best for them—offering subscriptions, metered access, "freemium" content or even single articles for sale from their websites or mobile apps." [more on this].

(16/2/11) Amazon's Kindle ebook lending scheme has taken on a life of its own in the hands of canny book-lovers, with community loaning sites springing up in America to take advantage of free ereading. The latest site, Lendle, was launched this week. From the start of this year, Kindle users in the US have had the facility to lend their own ebooks, once, to another user for a limited period of two weeks, after which time the ebook is returned for their own use. (Not all books can be loaned, as permission for this has to be granted to Amazon by the publisher/rights-holder) [more on this story from The Guardian].

(15/2/11) Apple® has announced a new subscription service available to all publishers of content-based apps on the App Store℠, including magazines, newspapers, video, music, etc. Publishers set the price and length of subscription (weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, bi-yearly or yearly). Then with one-click, customers pick the length of subscription and are automatically charged based on their chosen length of commitment (weekly, monthly, etc.). Apple processes all payments, keeping the same 30 percent share that it does today for other In-App Purchases [more on this].

[Related article from The Guardian]

Readers may wish to read up on the gathering discontent surrounding the terms of business for Apple's subscription service. In Europe and the US, antitrust enforcers have begun looking at the terms Apple Inc. have set for media companies who want to sell their content via the iPad and other devices [Wall Street Journel article].

(10/2/11) SAGE today announced a global reviewer rewards program providing those who review papers for its journals with free electronic access to the entire list of SAGE journals. The program, trialed in 2010 with a small number of titles, is now being offered for all 630+ journals currently published by SAGE [more on this].  

(10/2/11) The European Commission is reportedly considering the idea of lowering value added tax (VAT) rates for online media to the level of printed media wherever they diverge. Probably not a great idea to hold your breath on this one but a modicum of cautious optimism may be appropriate [more on this].

(7/2/11) Deep Dyve announced that it closed the 2010 calendar year with strong growth marked by an increasing number of publisher partners, as well as a rapidly expanding subscriber base suggesting there is a sizable need for unaffiliated individual researchers and small-medium business users wishing to access peer-reviewed research information [more on this this].

Researchers from the Information School of the University of Washingtonan have published an interesting paper on the privacy implications of Google Books, specifically the policies of Google which undermine readers’ privacy rights. The Open Book Alliance website provides a link to the paper and a very interesting supporting opinion piece [more on this].

(8/2/11) The Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) has announced its findings and recommendations for the future of JISC. It recommends that due to the breadth and complexity of JISC’s activity its structure, processes, projects, programmes and governance need to be simplified and reshaped, ensuring that it continues to deliver world-class leadership in the innovative use of technology for education and research, for which it is renowned [more on this].
 

(4/2/11) The decision by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to slash more than 66 per cent from capital funding in science during the next academic year will act as a ticking time-bomb for the future, according to the chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry [more on this].

(3/2/11) Online publishing technology service provider Semantico have announced a strategic partnership with TEMIS, a leading provider of semantic content enrichment services. Working together, Semantico and TEMIS will dramatically improve the discoverability of content by search engines and end-users [More on this].

(27/1/11) The Science & Technology Committee of the UK House of Commons has launched an enuqiry into the operation and effectiveness of the peer review process used to examine and validate scientific results and papers prior to publication [more on this].

(January 2011) The IEEE, ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), and Engineers Without Borders USA have launched EngineeringforChange.org, an online platform that provides engineers, technologists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local community advocates the tools to collaboratively address humanitarian and global development challenges [more on this].

(31/12/10) Digital content and service provider ebrary announced that it had a very successful year in 2010. The company increased its overall revenue by more than 30 percent over the previous year and doubled its sales in the global corporate market. Additionally, usage of ebrary products grew by more than 33 percent. Key to the company’s growth was the launch of new technologies and models including DASH! (Data Sharing, Fast)™ a feature of many ebrary products that enables customers to upload and integrate their own digital materials from the convenience of their computers (full story).

(24/1/11) Nature Publishing Group (NPG) has unveiled the nature.com Reader for iPad. Users of the iPad application (app) can view all news content from Nature plus abstracts from the full range of Nature publications free of charge. The nature.com iPad app is free to download from the iTunes App Store.

(10/3/11) Thomson Reuters has announced the results of its annual roundup of the “hottest” researchers and research papers in its March/April issue of Science Watch, an open Web resource for science metrics and analysis (more on this).

This year's Tools of Change for Publishing conference, organised by O'Reilly Media Inc., took place on the15ht and 16th February in New York. Many of the keynote papers are available as You Tube videos and are worth watching when you have a few spare moments [ visit the Tools of Change website].

(8/2/2011) Universities and colleges in England stand to benefit from a new programme of services and investment to deliver efficiencies through shared services in cloud computing infrastructure and applications. This new programme, which will be managed by JISC, supports colleges and universities in the innovative use of digital technologies [more on this].

Way back in late 2010, Amazon launched Kindle for the Web, making it possible to read free first chapters of Kindle books through web browsers. Since then, Amazon has announced that Kindle for the Web would expand to enable anyone with access to a web browser to buy and read full Kindle books - no download or installation required. For the first time ever, bookstores, other retailers, authors, bloggers and other website owners will be able to offer Kindle books from their own sites (more on this).

Four months is a long time in cyber-space but this interesting interview from way back in November 2010 with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the Web 2.0 Summit offers up a number of sound bites about the state of the third-highest valued Internet company in the U.S. In addition to revealing that Facebook has 250 million daily active users, Zuckerberg touches on his company’s increasing competition with Google, its many recent product launches and ongoing privacy issues [link to interview].

(11/3/2011) The March edition of Research Information features an interesting interview with senior members of staff from Swets and EBSCO, who are asked about the changing role of the intermediary in the digital era. Patron driven access, article-level purchasing and the future of library-publisher negotiations are all covered.  Recommended. 

(9/3/11) The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has released “Publishing Support for Small Print-Based Publishers: Options for ARL Libraries.” This report investigates how research libraries might provide support to print-only publishers in order to ensure long-term digital access to their content. The final report was prepared for ARL by project consultants, October Ivins and Judy Luther (full story and report).

(7/3/11) An interesting and important report from the American Association of University Presses (AAUP) on the sustainability of university presses has been published. A useful overview of the report's concerns is provided in the press release [link]. The full report is available from the AAUP website [link ].  Readers may also want to take a look at a thoughtful analysis of the report in a post to the Scholarly Kitchen from Joe Esposito [link].
 

OCLC has released a report examining the feasibility of outsourcing management of low-use print books held in academic libraries to shared service providers, including large-scale print and digital repositories. Interesting reading for anyone concerned about the future role of books and book collections within academic libraries (more on this). Readers may also be interested in Rick Anderson's reflections on this report on the Scholarly Kitchen blog.
 

JISC have released a report on the cost of peer review, (The Value of UK HEIs' Contribution to the Publishing Process: Summary Report), intended to demonstrate the academy's financial contribution to the publishing process. Readers may also be interested in a discussion piece which appeared in the Times Higher Education (THE) following the release of the JISC study. Download the JISC report here and view the THE article here.

The Research Information Network (RIN), together with the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and other institutions, has announced a new portfolio of research projects related to e-publishing. The portfolio is focused on transitions to electronic-only publication, gaps in access, the dynamics of improving access to research papers, and the future of scholarly communication (details).

This month's Nothing-To-Do-With slot is dedicated to Jac Holzman, recently celebrating 60 years of Electra Records. Not impressed so far? Check out their A&R and think again. Running to just over the hour, this interview isn't for the faint-hearted but for those with a little time, you could do worse than spend some of it with this cultured, thoughtful man who has a few lessons to teach about how the creative content industries can be managed (go on then).

For those with less time, here's a shorter down-time treat. I would imagine a lot of folk have already seen this but I think it warrants a second outing. Its full of useful tips so be sure to have a scroll and quill handy so you can take notes.

4-6 April 2011, Harrogate, UK [link].

12th-15th June 2011, Philadelphia, USA [link].

1st-3rd June 2011, Boston, USA [link].

26th-28th April 2011, Washington DC, USA [link].

24th-27th June 2011, New Orleans, USA [link].

30th June-1st July 2011, London, UK [link].

13th-18th August, San Juan, Puerto Rico [link].

14th-16th September, Oxford, UK [link].

26th-28th September 2011, Berlin, Germany [link].

11th October, Frankfurt, Germany [link].

12th-16th October, Frankfurt, Germany [link].

2nd-5th November 2011, Charleston, SC, USA [link].

29th November-1st December 2011, London, UK [link].

2nd December 2011, London, UK [link].

The full schedule of ALPSP training and events can be found here.

Enter your description here.

Full course information available here.

A schedule of SSP meetings and CPD events is maintained here.

Keep up with STM courses and events here.

A full schedule of UKSG training and events can be found here.

A full schedule of UKSG training and events can be found here.

...I salute your stamina! This has been a particularly full issue as the ASA Conference took up a lot of my time in recent months. Rest assured normal service will resume and much leaner, meaner issues of ASA News will once again be posted each month.

As always, please get in touch if you have items you would like included in a future edition of ASA News.

Thanks and best wishes

Sarah Durrant
Secretary General, ASA