C&RL News March 2021 102 N e w s f r o m t h e F i e l dDavid Free Library Accessibility Alliance adds new partners The Library Accessibility Alliance (LAA) recent- ly added the Greater Western Library Alliance and the Washington Research Library Consor- tium to the partnership. In January 2020, the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries and the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) joined forces to launch LAA, a program seek- ing to ensure all library users have equitable access to information. LAA has continued a process begun by BTAA in 2016 for evaluating electronic resource platforms and collections, publicly posting the evaluations for review by vendors, libraries, and users. To date, 65 differ- ent platforms have been evaluated. The group has also drafted and recommended accessibility licensing language, and provided a series of we- binars to increase awareness about accessibility issues for its member libraries. More informa- tion is available at https://bit.ly/3a4FoSr. Call for applications, nominations for ACRL Publications in Librarianship (PIL) editor ACRL is currently accepting applications and inviting nominations for the position of editor of Publications in Librarianship (PIL), an imprint of ACRL book publications. Ap- pointed for a three-year term—with the pos- sibility of one consecutive reappointment— beginning July 1, 2021, the PIL editor works closely with the ACRL content strategist and PIL editorial board to acquire and de- velop appropriate research-based mono- graphic publications, issuing two to five per year. Applications are due April 1, 2021. Complete details, including requirements and application information, are on ACRL Insider at https://acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider /archives/20930. Library, higher education groups debut effective data practices toolkit The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), California Digital Library (CDL), Associa- tion of American Universities (AAU), and Association of Public and Land-grant Uni- versities (APLU) have released a communi- cation toolkit for facilitating institutional communication and discussions around the broad adoption of persistent identifiers and machine-readable data management plans. The communication toolkit draws upon the outcomes of a 2019 conference, “Implementing Effective Data Practices: A Conference on Collaborative Research Sup- port,” convened by ARL, CDL, AAU, and APLU and sponsored by the National Sci- ence Foundation. L e a r n m o r e a t w w w . a r l . o r g / n e w s / l i b r a r y - a n d - h i g h e r - e d u c a t i o n -groups-release-communication-toolkit-for -implementing-effective-data-practices/. Le Monde archive available through ProQuest The historical archive of Le Monde, con- sidered one of the newspapers of record for France and one of the best-known and most influential publications in the world, will be available in full-page digital image format to academic and public libraries through Pro- Quest in March 2021. Le Monde was cre- ated at the request of General Charles de Gaulle as the German army was vacating Paris during World War II. At a time when other Parisian news- papers were accused of Nazi sympathies or other political alliances, Le Monde was established for its political independence, and has been ever since. The newspaper is also renowned for its balance in coverage, deep analysis of historical events, and focus on journalistic quality and high intellectual standards. With cover-to-cover full-page images, article-level indexing, and searchable text, users can retrieve all types of content from ProQuest’s Le Monde archive, including news articles, photos, advertisements, obituaries, cartoons, and more. https://bit.ly/3a4FoSr https://acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/archives/20930 https://acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/archives/20930 http://www.arl.org/news/library-and-higher-education-groups-release-communication-toolkit-for-implementing-effective-data-practices/ http://www.arl.org/news/library-and-higher-education-groups-release-communication-toolkit-for-implementing-effective-data-practices/ http://www.arl.org/news/library-and-higher-education-groups-release-communication-toolkit-for-implementing-effective-data-practices/ http://www.arl.org/news/library-and-higher-education-groups-release-communication-toolkit-for-implementing-effective-data-practices/ March 2021 C&RL News103 New ACRL books highlight OER, research consultants ACRL announces the publication of Open Educational Resources, compiled and authored by Mary Francis, and Training Research Consultants, edited by Jennifer Torreano and Mary O’Kelly. Open Educational Resources is book num- ber 45 in ACRL’s CLIPP series (formerly called “ C L I P N o t e s ” ) . This book f o c u s e s exclusively on the de- velopment a n d s u s - tainability of open ed- u c a t i o n a l r e s o u r c e (OER) ini- tiatives at colleges and small universities by collecting relevant survey data and process documents for the planning, funding, and management of OER initiatives at these institutions. In six sections—Introduction, Literature Review and Bibliography, Analysis and Discus- sion of Survey Results, Survey with Results, Re- sources from Survey Respondents, and Sample Documents—Open Educational Resources provides context for OER initiatives in college libraries along with insights and strategies for librarians who are new to the topic, part of an existing OER initiative, or looking to form a program at their institution. The survey, both analyzed and included in its entirety, gathers information on OER and other affordable course content initiatives that are oc- curring at college libraries, exploring questions such as funding, how libraries are supporting OER on their campuses, and what additional services might be possible in their libraries. Training Research Consultants is a collec- tion of practices, perspectives, and tools from library leaders who have created and maintained successful research consulting programs, plus thoughtful explorations of the theories and motivations that inform peer learning. Whether you’re creating a new peer research consulting program in your library or simply look- ing for fresh ideas for your established program, Training Research Consultants will give you an in-depth look at how fifteen different colleges and universi- ties approach this power- ful student- t o - s t u d e n t learning ex- perience. T h o u g h using differ- ent job titles and set in dif- ferent cam- pus contexts, all the pro- grams profiled have three core factors in common: empowerment of the student employee, robust training with ongoing support from experienced staff, and unwavering confidence in the strength of peer-to-peer mentoring in higher education. Research consultants become experts in modeling how to embrace fearless exploration as a key part of learning. Searching can be an adventure, and effective consultants are calm, empathetic, and nimble during consultations, eager to try creative new approaches. Many of the best practices in library consulting programs are shared by writing centers, speech labs, and library user experience departments, all three of which contribute their knowledge to this book in a way that highlights the rich col- laborative opportunities between core academic support services. Open Educational Resources and Training Research Consultants are available for purchase in print through the ALA Online Store and Ama- zon.com; by telephone order at (866) 746-7252 in the United States or (770) 442-8633 for interna- tional customers. Open Educational Resources is also available in an open access edition. C&RL News March 2021 104 ACRL 2021 registration now open ACRL announces the opening of registration for the ACRL 2021 Virtual Conference, “As- cending into an Open Future.” The conference will be held April 13–16, 2021. “Today’s higher education environment calls for continually innovative ways to advance student, faculty, and institution success,” said ACRL 2021 Conference Chair Beth McNeil of Purdue University. “The content of the ACRL 2021 Virtual Conference was selected with this emphasis i n m i n d , a n d w e a r e e x - c i t e d t o c o n n e c t w i t h o u r colleagues and continue working together for an open future.” ACRL 2021 features a mix of more than 300 live and on-demand programs, interactive discussion groups, eye-popping posters, a social wall, fun connections and prizes, and content on demand for 30 days. The conference also fea- tures author Tressie McMillan Cottom and jour- nalist Mona Chalabi as keynote speakers along with invited presentations from Kaetrena Davis Kendrick and We Here administrators Jennifer Brown, Jennifer Ferretti, and Charlotte Roh. “This event is for everyone in the aca- demic and research library community who values sustainable, open scholarship and education; embraces equity, diversity, and inclusion; and wants to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills they need to set stu- dents on the road to success and researchers on the road to results,” added ACRL Interim Executive Director Kara Malenfant. The conference’s high-end virtual event p l a t f o r m offers mul- tiple ways to connect w i t h c o l - l e a g u e s f r o m aro u n d t h e w o r l d , i n c l u d i n g 1 : 1 t e x t / video chat, chat rooms, sentiment features (applaud/like/heart) polling, Q&A with upvoting, gamification, and, of course, cat pics. The ACRL 2021 Virtual Exhibit Hall highlights the best services and tools in the profession, featuring live demos and prizes from exhibitors and sponsors. Complete details on ACRL 2021, includ- ing registration information, are available on the conference website at https://conference. acrl.org/. Project MUSE journal collection updates Project MUSE has announced that four ad- ditional titles will be joining its Premium Collection of journals for 2021. Acta Kore- ana, Labour History: A Journal of Labour and Social History, Urban History Review, and The Yale Review join two previously an- nounced titles,The French Review and T’ang Studies, bringing the total number of new additions to the Premium Collection to six journals. Two additional journals, Anthropo- logica and Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science, are transitioning to a fully open access model beginning in 2021. All previous issues of these titles currently available on MUSE will be made open ac- cess on the MUSE platform, freely available to anyone worldwide. For more details on Project MUSE Journal Collections and other MUSE products, please visit the For Librar- ians section of the MUSE website at https:// about.muse.jhu.edu/librarians/. Library Futures Institute launches The Library Futures Institute, a new 501(c) https://conference.acrl.org/ https://conference.acrl.org/ https://about.muse.jhu.edu/librarians/ https://about.muse.jhu.edu/librarians/ March 2021 C&RL News105 Tech Bits . . . Brought to you by the ACRL ULS Technology in University Libraries Committee GetLinkInfo.com, provided by data from Google Safe Browsing, helps preview short URLs and works with any URL shortening service. It is free to use and includes a Firefox add-on. I use the tool to inspect the title, description, and full path of the des- tination of a short URL to ascertain its safety before including it in an email. I find it especially helpful when working with mailing lists, which may have thousands of subscribers. It’s one of the tools I turn to that helps me proactively prevent mali- cious URLs from further distribution. — Minhao Jiang Wayne State University . . . GetLinkInfo.com https://www.getlinkinfo.com/ development resource that library profes- sionals can use to learn more about learn- ing analytics and how they intersect with academic libraries. In addition to provid- ing foundational knowledge about learning analytics, the toolkit provides users with up-to-date publications about privacy and ethics, student success, potential outcomes, sources of data, and examples of libraries’ contributions to learning analytics. The toolkit is a dynamic resource that will be updated as new publications and resources become available. The committee envisions this as a resource that will equip academic librarians to engage not only in learning analytics work but also contribute to professional discussions about this emerg- ing topic. The Learning Analytics Toolkit is freely available at https://acrl.libguides.com/ val/latoolkit. (3) that will empower libraries to take con- trol of their digital futures and fight for the right to equitable access to knowledge, recently launched with a social media cam- paign celebrating a technology-positive vi- sion for libraries. Focused on six core principles that cham- pion the rights of libraries to lend materials in a digital environment, Library Futures will enable libraries to fulfill their mission, providing nondiscriminatory open access to culture for the public good. Through advocacy, grant making, education, and community, the organization will respond to 21st-century needs, operate at the speed of change, and level the playing field between publishers and the public. For more details, visit the Library Futures website at https:// libraryfutures.net. LibAnswers adds new features Springshare has announced a new suite of LibAnswers features dedicated to gathering user feedback and harnessing metrics impor- tant to virtual reference, library assistance, and support services. Together they provide customers with the ability to reduce dissatis- fied tickets, improve patron satisfaction, and accurately capture staff output. LibAnswers, Springshare’s all-in-one online helpdesk and real-time chat plat- form, now includes the following Quality of Service (QoS) features: the option to automatically email a feedback survey to recently closed tickets; ticket metrics like time to first reply, time to close, and total staff interactions; chat ratings with wait time and duration metrics; and a QoS statistics area for data deep dives. Learn more at https://blog.springshare. c o m / 2 0 2 1 / 0 1 / 2 6 / a r e - y o u - m e a s u r i n g -user-satisfaction-with-your-virtual-service/. ACRL Learning Analytics Toolkit The ACRL Value of Academic Libraries Committee has launched a new Learning Analytics Toolkit. The Learning Analyt- ics Toolkit is a freely available professional https://www.getlinkinfo.com/ https://acrl.libguides.com/val/latoolkit https://acrl.libguides.com/val/latoolkit https://libraryfutures.net https://libraryfutures.net https://blog.springshare.com/2021/01/26/are-you-measuring-user-satisfaction-with-your-virtual-service/ https://blog.springshare.com/2021/01/26/are-you-measuring-user-satisfaction-with-your-virtual-service/ https://blog.springshare.com/2021/01/26/are-you-measuring-user-satisfaction-with-your-virtual-service/