Library advocacy is a deliberate, planned, and sustained effort to develop understanding and support for libraries and the communities they serve. Advocacy is not optional—it is a vital responsibility to protect the integrity and impact of libraries in society. Legislative Advocacy and Public Policy Work for Academic and Research Library Workers is a comprehensive resource addressing our specific roles in influencing the various legislative and public policies that directly impact academic libraries, our academic communities, and the library community at large. It explores the ways academic and research library workers are engaging in advocacy, from testifying at governmental levels to collaborating with diverse constituents and legislators to bringing our academic advocacy efforts to discussions within state and regional library associations.

As educators and researchers, library workers bring invaluable expertise to the legislative table. We can help ensure that decisions affecting academic and research libraries and their communities are informed, equitable, and aligned with the values of intellectual freedom and lifelong learning. Legislative Advocacy and Public Policy Work for Academic and Research Library Workers offers ways to make meaningful legislative and policy impacts.

Legislative Advocacy and Public Policy Work for Academic and Research Library Workers: Perspectives and Strategies is available for purchase in print and as an ebook through the ALA Online Store; in print through Amazon.com; and by telephone order at (866) 746-7252 in the US or (770) 442-8633 for international customers.

Gale Launches Online Digital Humanities Course for Undergraduate Students, Digital Scholar Lab Enhancements

To teach undergraduate students critical digital and data literacy skills through engagement with primary source archives and text and data mining (TDM) tools, Gale, part of Cengage Group, has launched Introduction to Digital Humanities. This new online course allows instructors to integrate complete or individual modules into their teaching or select specific activities for use in their curriculum. This free course is currently in beta and available in the Gale Digital Scholar Lab Learning Center at no additional cost to Gale Primary Sources and Lab customers. Additional information is available at https://review.gale.com/2025/04/01/introduction-to-digital-humanities/.

Gale is also enhancing Gale Digital Scholar Lab with seven major tool updates that expand TDM research possibilities for students, faculty, and librarians. Developed based on feedback from Lab users, these updates give researchers the ability to personalize their approach to TDM with more customization, expanding the possibilities of research and creating new ways of exploring primary sources. Gale Digital Scholar Lab is a cloud-based research environment designed to transform how scholars and students access and analyze Gale primary source materials—and their local collections—by offering solutions to some of the most common challenges facing researchers in the humanities and social sciences. Learn more about the Lab and the new enhancements at https://www.gale.com/primary-sources/digital-scholar-lab.

Research Gate, AccScience Launch Journal Home

ResearchGate and AccScience Publishing (ASP) have announced a new Journal Home partnership to broaden the international reach, readership, and authorship of ASP journals. The Journal Home partnership will initially cover 5 fully open access journals covering engineering and medicine disciplines. The partnership will enable ASP to increase brand reach and visibility for its journals with ResearchGate’s community of more than 5 million researcher members, in particular across Europe and North America. The journals will benefit from the seamless integration of all version-of-record into the ResearchGate platform, increasing discoverability for all ASP’s content and growing readership worldwide; an increased journal brand profile, with dedicated profile pages that showcase key information and content, along with prominent journal branding on all associated article pages; continuous engagement with authors throughout their researcher cycle and with unique audience insights; and advanced experience for authors, with automatic upload of new content to author profiles, metrics showing who is engaging with their work, and a new way to directly engage with readers. Complete details are available at https://www.researchgate.net/journal-home.

ACRL Releases The Open Science Cookbook

ACRL recently released The Open Science Cookbook, edited by Emily Bongiovanni, Melanie Gainey, Chasz Griego, and Lencia McKee, a collection of lesson plans and learning activities for supporting collaborative, openly accessible, reproducible research.

Open science promotes more transparent, accessible, and reproducible research and extends beyond the sciences, fostering this inclusivity across all disciplines. There are many benefits to practicing open science, including opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, increased visibility and impact, and enhanced reusability of research.

The Open Science Cookbook provides a wide variety of lesson plans and learning activities for supporting collaborative, transparent, openly accessible, and reproducible research. In five sections, it has something for beginners to more advanced practitioners and for different audience sizes:

• Program Development
• Instruction
• Outreach
• Events
• Collaborations and Partnerships

Just as freely sharing data and workflows enables key breakthroughs in major fields, sharing open science practices and resources creates an even stronger foundation for this necessary growth at institutions around the world. The Open Science Cookbook offers innovative ways for academic libraries to promote open science through advocacy and education.

The Open Science Cookbook is available for purchase in print through the ALA Online Store and Amazon.com; by telephone order at (800) 621-2736 or (773) 702-7010; and as an open access edition.

JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services

JSTOR recently announced a new digital collection stewardship solution designed to help libraries and archives describe, preserve, manage, and share their unique collections at scale—reducing backlogs and increasing discovery. JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services integrates digital asset management, long-term preservation (powered by Portico), increased discovery through JSTOR, and a first-of-its-kind, AI-assisted metadata generation tool that accelerates collection processing while maintaining expert oversight. Libraries can join the JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services Charter Program—a two-year, fee-based initiative that invites institutions to join JSTOR in shaping the future of AI-assisted digital stewardship. Charter participants will gain early access to the platform, contribute feedback, and play a leading role in ensuring that AI serves the values and needs of the profession. Learn more at https://about.jstor.org/blog/preserving-the-past-building-the-future-together-introducing-jstor-digital-stewardship-services/.

Clarivate Expands Academic AI Platform

Clarivate recently announced the expansion of its Academic AI Platform, helping institutions harness agentic AI to accelerate productivity; save time for researchers, students, and staff; and engage users in the digital environments they already use. Beginning in April 2025, Clarivate introduced AI Agents to support key academic workflows. Part of this expansion initiates the development of an Agent Builder and community-driven AI tools, supported by a Development Partner Program set to launch in 2025. As the Academic AI Platform evolves, it continues to focus on academic needs and be guided by the Clarivate AI principles, keeping integrity and human oversight at the center of decision-making. Learn more at https://clarivate.com/news/clarivate-expands-its-academic-ai-platform-introducing-agentic-ai-for-research-and-learning/.