Roundup: New AI-Related Research and News Reports

Most of the items listed below were published/posted in the past day or two. Chatbots Poetry Can Trick AI Chatbots Into Ignoring Safety Rules, New Research ShowsSource: Euronews Copyright Creative Grey Zones: Copyright in the Age of HybriditySource: The Alan Turing Institute Cultural Heritage Publishing Cultural Heritage Data in the Age of AISource: Europeana/Open Future […]

Colorado: “Former Middle School Dean Who Objected to Book Removals Sues Elizabeth School District”

From Chalkbeat Colorado: A former middle school administrator in the Elizabeth School District filed a lawsuit Sunday against the rural Colorado district, alleging that she was fired after she objected to the removal of 19 titles from school libraries last year. LeEllen Condry, who served as dean of students at Elizabeth Middle School, said she […]

Journal Article: “Book Club Programs in United States Academic Libraries: A Survey”

The article linked below was published today by The Journal of Academic Librarianship. Title  Book Club Programs In United States Academic Libraries: A Survey Author Mary Kamela University of Buffalo Source The Journal of Academic Librarianship Volume 52, Issue 1, January 2026, 103162 DOI: 10.1016/j.acalib.2025.103162 Abstract In the United States, book clubs are typically associated with the […]

Guest Post — What Do College Students Lose When Libraries Are Ignored?

Today's guest post argues that academic libraries are an investment in the very foundation of quality scholarship and responsible publishing.

The post Guest Post — What Do College Students Lose When Libraries Are Ignored? appeared first on The Scholarly Kitchen.

Day in Review (December 1–4)

Last Updated on December 2, 2025, 3:04 pm ET Day in Review highlights news and other stories of interest to the research library community in the US and Canada. Released Monday...

The post Day in Review (December 1–4) appeared first on Association of Research Libraries.

Updating the Generative AI Product Tracker

In March 2024, Ithaka S+R released a tracker of generative AI products for higher education, along with an issue brief detailing our observations on the generative AI product landscape for postsecondary research, teaching, and learning activities. Since then, the list of products on the tracker has more than doubled in length and become more cumbersome for its many users. Today, we are launching a new version of our tracker that we believe will ensure its future value.

The post Updating the Generative AI Product Tracker appeared first on Ithaka S+R.

2026 Public Domain Film Remix Contest: The Internet Archive is Looking For Creative Short Films Made By You!

We invite filmmakers, artists, and creatives of all skill levels and backgrounds to celebrate Public Domain Day, by creating and uploading a 2-3 minute short film to the Internet Archive. […]

A Landmark History of the AIDS Crisis Is Now Free for All To Read

In the early days of the HIV-AIDS crisis, journalist John-Manuel Andriote was struck by how the gay and lesbian community mobilized, and how many in the general public responded with […]

Guest Post — From Cloud to Carbon: Exploring the Digital Carbon Footprint of Knowledge

Today's guest post summarizes the discussion in the recent EASE / STM / webinar, exploring the digital carbon footprint of scholarly publishing.

The post Guest Post — From Cloud to Carbon: Exploring the Digital Carbon Footprint of Knowledge appeared first on The Scholarly Kitchen.

A High Wind in Jamaica, by Richard Hughes

After their parents’ plantation in Jamaica is destroyed by a hurricane, a group of children returning to England are kidnapped by pirates.

Rage Bait is the Oxford Word of the Year For 2025

From Oxford University Press (OUP): After three days of voting in which more than 30,000 people had their say, we have chosen rage bait as our official Oxford Word of the Year for 2025. With 2025’s news cycle dominated by social unrest, debates about the regulation of online content, and concerns over digital wellbeing, our experts noticed […]

The Mystery of 31, New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman

A detective investigates a potentially spurious will and a man’s mysterious death.

Listen Online: New PALABRA Archive Recordings Released for Digital Streaming

From LC: In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which was celebrated from September 15 to October 15, the Latin American, Caribbean, and European Division (LACE) has released a new batch of unpublished recordings from the PALABRA Archive for online streaming. The PALABRA Archive is a collection of audio recordings of 20th and 21st century poets and writers […]

New Report: Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) Publishes “Strategic Analysis of the Scholarly Communications Environment”

From a COAR Announcement: This report presents a brief overview of the socio-political landscape for scholarly communications and describes some of the major forces that could significantly impact the repository ecosystem in the coming years. The aim is to provide COAR members with a synopsis of current trends that may affect repositories as well as […]

Listen Online: New PALABRA Archive Recordings Released for Digital Streaming

From LC: In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which was celebrated from September 15 to October 15, the Latin American, Caribbean, and European Division (LACE) has released a new batch of unpublished recordings from the PALABRA Archive for online streaming. The PALABRA Archive is a collection of audio recordings of 20th and 21st century poets and writers […]

Media Roundup: “Supreme Court Leaves Copyright Official Targeted by Trump in Place For Now”

From Reuters: The U.S. Supreme Court postponed on Wednesday a decision on whether to let Donald Trump remove the government’s top copyright official, leaving her in place for now in the latest battle over the Republican president’s targeting of federal officials. The justices declined to immediately resolve the Justice Department’s request to lift a lower court’s ruling that had […]

Open Science between Promises and Paradoxes, democratization or new dependency?

Open science promises to democratize knowledge but faces deep paradoxes. Open data do not guarantee equity when the capacity to process them remains concentrated. We must rethink openness in light of global power asymmetries so that it does not become a new form of dependency. …Read More →

The post Open Science between Promises and Paradoxes, democratization or new dependency? first appeared on SciELO in Perspective.

Reasons To Be Thankful: 50 Years of Patti Smith’s Horses

We're off for the Thanksgiving holiday. In what seems like a difficult year in which to be thankful, there's still joy to be had.

The post Reasons To Be Thankful: 50 Years of Patti Smith’s Horses appeared first on The Scholarly Kitchen.

Crossref members over the years: a journey through space and time

Crossref was created back in 2000 by 12 forward-thinking scholarly publishers from North America and Europe, and by 2002, these members had registered 4 million DOI records. At the time of writing, we have over 23,600 members in 164 different countries. Half of our members are based in Asia, and 35% are universities or scholar-led. These members have registered over 176 million open metadata records with DOIs (as of today). What a difference 25 years makes!

In our 25th anniversary year, I thought it would be time to take a look at how we got here. And so—hold tight—we’re going to go on an adventure through space and time1, stopping every 5 years through Crossref history to check in on our members. And we’re going to see some really interesting changes over the years.

2005

Let’s go back twenty years to 2005. Crossref has been running for five years, and at this point, we have just 318 members from 31 countries, with 18 million DOI records already registered. These members and the Crossref infrastructure are supported by five Crossref employees based in just two countries—the US and the UK.

In 2005, the majority of our members are based in North America, Northern Europe and Western Europe, and they are mostly publishers or societies. Our sponsor program doesn’t yet exist, so all members pay a membership fee directly to Crossref. Our membership fee structure is the same as it is today—we have tiered membership fees so our members can contribute to our infrastructure based on their capacity to pay. At this point, half of our members are eligible for our lowest fee tier.

2005 at a glance

• 318 members from 31 countries.
• 18 million DOI records registered.
• Supported by five Crossref employees based in two countries - the US and the UK.
• The majority (89%) are based in North America or Northern & Western Europe.
• Half are eligible for our lowest fee tier.
• Mostly societies (40%) and publishers (33%).

2010

Let’s move on by five years to 2010. By this stage, Crossref membership had grown to 1101 members from 69 countries, and these members have now registered 44 million DOI records. They are now supported by 14 Crossref employees, still all located in either the US or the UK.

We’re starting to see some changes in where our members are based. You’ll remember that back in 2005, 89% of Crossref members were based in North America, Northern Europe or Western Europe. By 2010, that percentage has dropped to 63%, and we’re seeing the number of members based in Asia starting to grow. In 2005, only 4% of our members were based in Asia, but by 2010, 18% of our members are based there, with 93 members in the Republic of Korea alone.

By 2010, the percentage of members who are eligible for our lowest fee tier has grown to 78%, so we are seeing smaller and less well-funded organisations starting to join. The types of organisations joining hasn’t changed significantly—members are still mostly societies and publishers. However, we are starting to see universities and scholar-led organisations beginning to join.

2010 at a glance

• 1,101 members from 69 countries.
• 44 million DOI records registered.
• Supported by 14 Crossref employees based in two countries - the US and the UK.
• Growth of members based in Asia (18%).
• Smaller, less well-funded organisations starting to join - 78% eligible for our lowest fee tier.
• Still mostly societies (37%) and publishers (28%), but universities and scholar-led members starting to emerge (23%).

2015

Jumping ahead another five years to 2015, we see Crossref membership has grown to over 3,000 members from 93 countries, with registered DOI records exceeding 77 million. These members and the Crossref infrastructure are supported by 28 employees, still all based in the US and UK.

Membership in Asia has now really taken off, and Asian organisations now account for 38% of all Crossref members. We also see membership in Latin America emerging, representing 12% of our membership. We have members from 12 different countries in Latin America in 2015, but the most significant number are from Brazil, with 274 members.

Our formal Sponsor program started to emerge from 2012 onwards. Our Sponsor program supports members who are otherwise eligible for our lowest fee tier and provides financial, technical and language support to organisations that would otherwise face barriers to membership. By 2015, we have 26 sponsors in 14 countries, and 20% of all members are working with us through a Sponsor. This is one of the drivers behind smaller, less well-funded members joining Crossref. We really see a leap here in 2015 with over 90% of members now eligible for our lowest fee tier.

Around 2015, we also begin to see an interesting shift in the types of organisations that are becoming members. Increasingly, our new members are university-based, and that type of member organisation has overtaken the publisher group in number for the first time. However, societies still make up the largest number of members.

2015 at a glance

• 3,134 members from 93 countries.
• 77 million DOI records.
• Supported by 28 Crossref employees based in two countries - US and UK.
• Growth in Asia (38%) and members in Latin America (12%) starting to emerge.
• Leap in smaller, less well-funded members - 92% eligible for the lowest fee tier.
• Sponsor program emerges - 26 sponsors in 14 countries.
• Rise of university and scholar-led members (29%) - overtaking publishers (21%). Societies (31%) are still the largest group.

2020

Can you believe we’re already in 2020? Crossref now has almost 12,000 members in 133 countries, with registered DOI records totalling over 120 million! These members and the Crossref infrastructure are now supported by 43 employees across five countries, with Ireland, Germany, and France added to our staff locations.

Almost half of our members are based in Asia at this time, driven by growth from Indonesia, where we have 1681 members in 2020. Our sponsor program now contains 77 sponsors across 32 countries, including our first sponsor in North Africa.

We can now really see how membership is weighted towards smaller, less well-funded organisations: 97% of members are eligible for the lowest fee tier, and 57% choose to work with a sponsor.

By 2020, we also see a fundamental change in the types of organisations that are Crossref members. Societies no longer account for the largest share of our members, with both universities and publishers overtaking them. In 2016, we updated our schema to enable members to register records for preprints (and connect them to an article where relevant). By 2020, 65 members are registering preprints, and many preprint repositories have already become members.

2020 at a glance

• 11,976 members from 133 countries.
• 120 million DOI records.
• Supported by 43 Crossref employees in five countries - France, Germany, Ireland, the UK, and the US.
• 46% of members based in Asia.
• 77 sponsors in 32 countries, first sponsor in N Africa.
• Membership heavily weighted to smaller, less well-funded organisations - 97% eligible for the lowest fee tier and 57% working through a sponsor.
• Universities and scholar-led are now the largest group (37%), followed by publishers (29%) and societies (24%).

2025

And so we find ourselves back in the present day.

With such steady growth, it’s pretty easy to predict almost exactly how many members we will have by 31st December 2025. By year-end, we would expect to have 23,800 members in 164 countries, with registered DOI records totalling around 177 million. With recent hiring, these members and our infrastructure will be supported by 52 Crossref employees in 14 different countries.

Member organisations are now a real mix, with museums, hospitals, botanic gardens, banks, and many more joining. The largest proportion remains those at a university or scholar-led (35%), but interestingly, we see the percentage who consider themselves to be societies starting to fall (19%) and publishers starting to grow again (29%).

And we see the arrival of a new type of member - since the launch of the Grant Linking System in 2019, we now see Research Funders joining Crossref in order to register identifiers for individual grants. These grant identifiers can then be included in the metadata for published content to uniquely identify the funding source, providing context and trust signals for the content, and fleshing out the Research Nexus. We currently have 45 funders who have registered over 175,000 grant records.

By 2025 we have 129 sponsors in 51 countries - including our first sponsors in East and West Africa who joined in 2024 and 2025 respectively. Half of all members are now based in Asia. 98% of members are now eligible for our lowest fee tier and 57% are working with us through a sponsor.

In 2023, we launched our Global Equitable Membership (GEM) program, which offers relief from any membership and content registration fees for organisations in the least economically advantaged countries in the world. We use the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) list as our data source for countries to include in the program. When we launched the program, 187 existing members moved under the program. Since the program’s focus is to enable participation for those who would otherwise find Crossref unaffordable, we are happy that we now have 583 organisational members in the GEM Program, showing the growth in participation from lower-income nations. Most members in the GEM Program are based in Southern Asia (48%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (33%).

November 2025 at a glance

• 23,622 members in 164 countries.
• 175 million DOI records.
• Supported by 52 Crossref employees from 14 countries - Armenia, Austria, Canada, Ecuador, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Spain, the UK, and the US.
• 51% of members are based in Asia.
• 129 sponsors in 51 countries - first sponsors in East and West Africa.
• 98% of members are eligible for the lowest fee tier, and 57% working through a sponsor.
• Real mix of organisation types - universities and scholar-led (35%), publishers (29%), societies (19%), but also research funders, museums, pharmaceutical companies, news agencies, and more!

Changes over the years

Here are some of that data over time, depicted in charts.

2026 and beyond

As you can see from our adventure through space and time, the types of organisations that work with Crossref have changed significantly over the years as the scholarly communications world has evolved. Our members now tend to be university-based research-performing organisations or scholar-led journals, based in Asia, and with low or zero publishing revenues (and volumes).

To meet our mission of a truly global and connected research ecosystem, it is essential to ensure that participation in Crossref and all our services and metadata is accessible to everyone involved in documenting scholarly progress.

We want to ensure that access to the Crossref infrastructure is equitable, so we are making two key changes in 2026: we’re extending eligibility for the GEM Program (more to follow), and we are introducing a new, lower-fee tier as an outcome of the RCFS projects more here.

We’re excited to see how our members will change as we head into our next 25 years—we hope you’ll continue with us on our journey and welcome all kinds of new members to the expansive and vibrant Crossref community.

1. Footnote Technically, only an adventure through time. At the time of writing, we have no members based in space. Unless you count the European Space Agency, NASA, et al. ↩︎

Boston Library Consortium Joins Statement Supporting Digital Rights for Memory Institutions

The movement for Our Future Memory is getting bigger, with yet another library leader endorsing memory institutions’ digital rights. The Boston Library Consortium (BLC), comprised of twenty-six research libraries in […]

Our Mutual Friend, by Charles Dickens

When the body of an unknown man is dragged from the river Thames, a series of complications involving the will of a wealthy man entangle the lives of several Londoners.

Putting the American Revolution in Context Through Transcription

What do patriotic songs, society women’s diaries, and nautical maps have in common? All give context to life in America before, during, and after the Revolutionary War - and you’re invited to transcribe them all with the By the People volunteer transcription program in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of American independence!

Repositories: arXiv Receives $7 Million in Gifts and Grants From Schmidt Sciences and NASA

From an arXiv Announcement: We are pleased to announce that Schmidt Sciences and NASA have generously awarded arXiv $7 million in gifts and grants, respectively, to allow arXiv to complete its technology migration project and to explore ways to improve the arXiv experience through personalized and fair discovery of new preprints. arXiv began its cloud […]

Science as Story, Memory as Infrastructure: A Conversation with Trevor Owens, Part 2

In today’s guest post, Wendy Queen (JHUP) continues her conversation with Trevor Owens (AIP) about how the tools and sensibilities of the humanities are helping to preserve the record of the physical sciences.

The post Science as Story, Memory as Infrastructure: A Conversation with Trevor Owens, Part 2 appeared first on The Scholarly Kitchen.

Day in Review (November 24–25)

Last Updated on November 25, 2025, 10:24 am ET Day in Review highlights news and other stories of interest to the research library community in the US and Canada. Released Monday...

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The Black Moth, by Georgette Heyer

An earl turned highwayman repeatedly foils a rake in his attempted pursuit of a young woman.

Mental Health Awareness Mondays — Balancing Work and Caregiving: Flexibility That Works for Everyone

Today, nearly one in four adults serves as a caregiver. Because of this, work-life flexibility isn’t just a nicety it’s a game-changer, for individuals and organizations alike.

The post Mental Health Awareness Mondays — Balancing Work and Caregiving: Flexibility That Works for Everyone appeared first on The Scholarly Kitchen.

Digital Resources: Charles Darwin’s Personal Address Book Available Online For the First Time

From the National University of Singapore: The Darwin Online project at the National University of Singapore (NUS) publishes for the first time today: Charles Darwin’s personal Address Book. It offers an astonishingly personal glimpse into the life and work of the great scientist. In addition to scans of the entire notebook, Darwin’s hard-to-decipher handwriting has been expertly transcribed and […]

Research Paper: Toward Integrating AI Chat and Search: A User-Centered Perspective Across Age Groups

The article linked below was recently made available (full text) by the ACM Digital Library. Title Toward Integrating AI Chat and Search: A User-Centered Perspective Across Age Groups Authors Chen He University of Helsinki Michiel Spape University of Macau Khadijatul Kobra University of Helsinki Robin Welsch University of Helsinki Giulio Jacucci University of Helsinki Source […]

Report: “Oxford University Library Launches Its Own Gin For Sale”

From the Oxford Mail: Sky Wave Distillery at Bicester Motion has produced a premium London Dry gin for the world-famous Oxford University library. Distillers say the gin has been inspired by the intricate ceiling carvings of the majestic Divinity School, and the rich woody aromas of the shelves and leather aromas in Duke Humfrey’s Library. […]

ARL Libraries Celebrate Native American Heritage Month 2025

Last Updated on November 25, 2025, 3:48 pm ET November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the culture and history of Native American communities and individuals. ARL...

The post ARL Libraries Celebrate Native American Heritage Month 2025 appeared first on Association of Research Libraries.

Guest Post — Five Years of GetFTR: A discussion with Librarians on Access, Integrity, and Collaboration

After five years of GetFTR, four librarians discuss how it is working in practice, its value to libraries and researchers, and what opportunities lie ahead.

The post Guest Post — Five Years of GetFTR: A discussion with Librarians on Access, Integrity, and Collaboration appeared first on The Scholarly Kitchen.

Report: OpenAI Sued For Infringing OverDrive’s ‘Sora’ Trademark

From Reuters: Digital library app maker OverDrive has sued OpenAI in Ohio federal court, alleging that the artificial intelligence startup’s Sora video-generation app violates its trademark rights in the “Sora” name. OverDrive said in a lawsuit,  filed on Wednesday that OpenAI’s app will cause consumer confusion with its own Sora app, which provides e-books and […]

Voices Celebrating 1 Trillion Web Pages: Erin Malone on Designing Kodak’s First Web Site in 1994

Erin Malone, the user experience designer behind Kodak’s first website, looks back on the early web with the story of how she and a colleague built the company’s inaugural homepage […]

Jack Keefe Stories, by Ring Lardner

A boastful, nearly illiterate major league pitcher writes a series of letters home detailing the goings-on in his life and career.

How Institutions Can Offer Students a Liberal Arts and Sciences Education

Our research shows that pursuing liberal educational experiences pays off. On average, students with greater exposure to liberal arts features achieve better academic outcomes without experiencing negative labor market returns. Since our findings are based on students enrolled in large public institutions, in this post we provide more targeted guidance on how to allocate their limited resources. To do so, we conducted additional analyses to examine whether the benefits of a liberal arts education vary across different groups of students.

The post How Institutions Can Offer Students a Liberal Arts and Sciences Education appeared first on Ithaka S+R.

Authors Alliance: An Interview with Kate McCready (BTAA) and Charles Watkinson (UM) About the Big Ten Open Books Program

Dave Hansen, Executive Director of the Authors Alliance, interviews Kate McCready (BTAA) and Charles Watkinson (University of Michigan Press) about the Big Ten Open Books Program that launched in  2023 and released a their second collection in August. From the Interview: Authors Alliance has had a longstanding interest in helping authors see their older books […]

Harvard Law School Library Releases First Complete Set of Digitized Nuremberg Trials Records

From Harvard Law School Beginning today, the Harvard Law School Library is making available online the first complete, fully searchable, digitized collection of official evidentiary documents and trial transcripts in English from all 13 Nuremberg Trials, at https://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/. On the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the first trial on November 20, 1945, researchers, scholars, […]

Reimagining Scholarly Publishing Workflow: A High-Level Map of What Changes Next

Rather than just bolting on AI to existing publication workflows,there is a real opportunity to rethink and redesign them for human–AI collaboration. Some thoughts on what that looks like in practice.

The post Reimagining Scholarly Publishing Workflow: A High-Level Map of What Changes Next appeared first on The Scholarly Kitchen.

Honouring Indigenous Data Sovereignty in Ceremony and Practice: A Collaborative Pathway at the University of Alberta

Last Updated on November 21, 2025, 11:04 am ET Over the past few years, a number of Canadian postsecondary institutions have begun initiating Indigenous data sovereignty initiatives. However, very few...

The post Honouring Indigenous Data Sovereignty in Ceremony and Practice: A Collaborative Pathway at the University of Alberta appeared first on Association of Research Libraries.

Plan S – quo vadis?

By late 2025, Open Access has become mainstream in rhetoric but fragmented in practice. The path forward likely lies not just in enforcing compliance but in diversifying infrastructures—combining global principles with networked regional, scholar-driven implementation. …Read More →

The post Plan S – quo vadis? first appeared on SciELO in Perspective.

Guest Post — Science as Story, Memory as Infrastructure: A Conversation with Trevor Owens, Part 1

In today's guest post, Wendy Queen (JHUP) speaks with Trevor Owens (AIP) about how the tools and sensibilities of the humanities are helping to preserve the record of the physical sciences.

The post Guest Post — Science as Story, Memory as Infrastructure: A Conversation with Trevor Owens, Part 1 appeared first on The Scholarly Kitchen.

Crossref at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2025

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest book fair in the world, and therefore a key event on our calendar. Held annually in Frankfurt, Germany, the 77th Frankfurt Book Fair (October 15–19, 2025) saw 118,000 trade visitors and 120,000 private visitors from 131 countries. The Crossref booth was located, as usual, in Hall 4.0 where all the stands with information about academic publishing can be found. Four Crossref colleagues attended the Book Fair this year, and in this blog post, you can read more about their meetings, experiences, and plans.

First timer fun at the Frankfurt Fair - Helena

Even though I’ve been working in scholarly comms for over 10 years, I’d never had a chance to visit the Frankfurt Book Fair. I was therefore really excited to have an opportunity to attend this year, and it didn’t disappoint! I arrived on Monday, October 13, in time for the STM dinner, which proved a great opportunity to meet with Crossref members and collaborators. On Tuesday, I attended the STM conference with the exciting theme of ‘The role of publishers in science diplomacy’. I think my favorite part of the day was the last panel, where the panelists realised that even though they represent different groups, in the end, they all have the same goals and are all working towards better science and dissemination.

On Wednesday, it was time to head over to our booth, where we prepared for the interesting conversations ahead. My meetings were mainly focused on collaborations in the area of research integrity, as Crossref plans to run pilots with potential partners next year. In-person meetings at the fair were a good opportunity to discuss in more detail which kinds of integrity checks could be useful to our members. I also had several meetings with organizations functioning as Service Providers –– depositing content on behalf of members –– who are eagerly awaiting the launch of our renewed Service Providers program next year. In these conversations, we shared our thinking about requirements for Crossref Service Providers and got input from organizations with experience serving our member community. Overall, it was a great opportunity to see members and collaborators in person, and I’ve already put the 2026 Frankfurt Book Fair in my calendar!

An exciting comeback - Maryna

If last year, I was a debutante at the Frankfurt Book Fair, 2025 marked an exciting comeback. It’s always a pleasure to spend time chatting with people you usually only meet through email or Zoom. Working remotely as part of a global team is something I truly value about Crossref, but it also makes those in-person moments even more special. You get to solve issues that have been sitting on your to-do list over lunch, brainstorm ideas while walking to the venue, get immediate advice in a meeting—and, of course, talk about dogs over dinner.

Frankfurt was busy but well organised. Our booth was lively with a mix of planned and spontaneous meetings. It was nice to reconnect with members and sponsors I’ve worked with over the years. We even gave an early look at the new Participation Reports before the official release (what a thrill!). There were good conversations about deprecating co-access, the importance of title transfers, and how we can keep improving the member experience. One highlight: I spoke with a prospective member about our membership model and fee structure, and they joined the following week! Their account is already active, with a prefix assigned, which was great to see.

Another key topic was the importance of ROR IDs. I talked with several publishers about how they could be implemented across other systems. At one point, I spotted an issue with unregistered DOIs and was able to fix it on the spot by finalising a title transfer—we’d had permission but never received the formal request—so it was satisfying to close that loop in real time.

Being a relatively small team serving a global membership of more than 23,000 and growing, it’s not possible to meet with every member face-to-face to respond to every question. Our team works hard to respond to all queries by email, but it’s undeniably faster and more productive in person. That’s why we keep returning to the Frankfurt Book Fair year after year—you can definitely count on seeing us again next year!

Third time at bat - Luis

The Frankfurt Book Fair is always an incredible opportunity to connect with our community. We come prepared with highlights of the year, plans for developments and upcoming releases, and remind the members we meet to participate and vote in the annual elections. But most of what we learn happens during the informal moments––meetings, drop-ins, and chats over coffee and tea––where people discuss what they’re working on, trends, and interests of the scholarly and publishing community.

This year, some of those conversations included meeting someone working with groups from Egypt and the UAE who are developing tools around our metadata. They wanted to talk through REST API use, recent Crossref updates, and how retraction metadata could fit into their systems. Another person opened their participation report with us and were surprised to see their metadata showing 0% despite the team believing they were sending complete metadata, which led to a discussion about getting their internal workflows running again.

Booth days always fly by, but they’re deeply informative and insightful for teams that participate in person, as we can “cross-check” (pun intended) how our different support mechanisms help the community and how well we’re delivering our communications. There is a good mix of problem-solving and catching-up; often, we see members who prepare a list of questions because they find it easier to sit and navigate through them with our support or membership colleagues. Sometimes it’s about refreshing their understanding of what Crossref is and what we do, especially during team changes. We also spoke with a publisher preparing to adopt Crossmark. They wanted to check they were handling updates and relationships correctly, and mentioned that increasing transparency is becoming a priority for them. Someone else, working closely with a repository, asked about using the REST API or Metadata Plus to enrich their records.

A few visitors simply needed clarity––one was pleased to learn they could register reports and datasets after being told otherwise. Another visitor who registers a small number of book DOIs each year asked whether the Web Deposit Form was still the best fit. We walked through the Record Registration Form together, and its new editing features helped them plan for upcoming changes.

Personally, I enjoy seeing the cultural and organisational diversity of existing and potential Crossref members, ambassadors, sponsors, allies and colleagues from all over the world at our booth. If you have the opportunity to attend the Book Fair next year, please visit our booth and say hello!

This year’s Frankfurt Veteran - Paul

I think this is my 5th (?) Frankfurt book fair,  and each year I come away thinking how much I appreciate the opportunity to speak with our members face to face, and I get to see and hear the impact that Crossref has, which is always such a pleasure.

This year, there were only four of us in attendance, and it felt busier than ever. We had a lot of pre-booked meetings at our wonderfully designed booth again (thanks to the amazing work of our colleague Rosa) but we also had lots of ad-hoc meetings, where members came up to say “hello”, “thank you” or ask about that really knotty, niche problem that they have, which they are not sure how to explain over email. From a technical support perspective, this is great, as we can go through these issues and get a resolution––or a solid background––without the delay and confusion of long email threads. I also worked with a member who got their IT department to send over a file there and then for us to work through and try to navigate a difficult question regarding reference matching and whether the simple text query form worked using an API, which others could use. These were just two examples of many in which it was much easier to sit down and work through issues directly at the fair.

So I would always say that if you are at the Frankfurt book fair, and you have one of these issues then it is a great opportunity to come by, say hello and work through it with us. We will send out a reminder before the fair in 2026 to get any meetings booked, or just come find us at the fair.

A highlight for me this year was also showing some of our members our new Participation Report. It’s had a visual update as well as some new functionality: you can download a gap report that lists DOI numbers of records that are missing the metadata element you choose, making it easier to identify and update missing metadata. I always like attending the Frankfurt Book Fair and so might be there next year. It’s an important opportunity for all Crossref colleagues to engage and meet our members––many for the first time.

Next year

Feeling inspired after all the great meetings and conversations we had this year, we immediately started planning for next year! We’ll definitely be in Frankfurt in 2026, where you can find our team at the Crossref booth. We’re also planning to organize another roundtable on the Monday before the fair, so put October 5-9, 2026, in your calendars and stay tuned for more details.

John Brown’s Body, by Stephen Vincent Benét

The sweeping tragedy of the American Civil War is chronicled through the interwoven experiences of soldiers and civilians from both the North and the South.

AI + Google Scholar: Say Hello to Scholar Labs

UPADTE: Aaron Tay takes Scholar Labs for a spin in this Substack post. —–End Update—– If you’ve been wondering if or when Google would begin offering AI technology with Google Scholar, so have we. As of this hour (1pm EST) you don’t have to wonder any longer. A new experimental feature (as of today available […]

From CNN: Inside the old church where one trillion webpages are being saved

From CNN: The Internet Archive has been saving web history for nearly 30 years. CNN’s Hadas Gold goes inside its headquarters to see how the archive is innovating for the […]

Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Ai2) Releases DR-Tulu: “An Open, End-To-End Training Recipe For Long-Form Deep Research”

From an Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) Announcement: Deep research is about building agentic systems that can plan, search, and synthesize information from diverse sources to produce in-depth, well-attributed answers to complex questions. Done well, these capabilities could accelerate scientific discovery and allow students and professionals to explore unfamiliar domains with expert-level rigor, backed […]

Report From UK: “Libraries Coordinate on Book Disposal to Safeguard Rare Texts”

From Times Higher Education (THE): Plans to ensure that at least seven copies of every scholarly book are kept across UK libraries will help enrich research resources and safeguard rare texts rather than push institutions to downsize their collections, librarians have insisted. [Clip] To address these worries over space and the disposal of potentially valuable […]

Meet Merrilee Proffitt, Director of Democracy’s Library US

Democracies depend on an informed and engaged citizenry — and in the digital age, that means equitable, reliable access to public information online. To help make this vision a reality, […]

In Defense of Pluralism and Diversity: A Modest Manifesto for the Future of Scholarly Communication (Part 2 of 2)

Since every possible method and model of scholarly communication is imperfect, a healthy scholarly ecosystem must be pluralistic, providing space for experimentation and for a diversity of methods, models, and philosophies to coexist.

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Center for Open Science (COS) Awarded Grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Preserve and Safeguard Publicly Funded Scientific Data

Here’s the Full Text of the COS Announcement: The Center for Open Science (COS) has been awarded a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to develop a community-driven strategic plan for ensuring the long-term preservation, accessibility, and usability of federally-funded scientific data. COS has long championed policies and practices that increase the openness, […]

The Wonderful Public Domain of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the American fairy tale. Like other fairy tales that resonate across time and cultures, this story has seen retellings time and again that morph, […]

There Is Confusion, by Jessie Redmon Fauset

A group of young African-Americans grow up in New York City and enter into a series of romantic entanglements.

Voices Celebrating 1 Trillion Web Pages: Jean Armour Polly, Net-Mom

Jean Armour Polly—better known as the Net-mom, and the person who helped popularize the phrase “surfing the internet” in 1994—adds her voice to the celebration of the Internet Archive’s 1 […]

Day in Review (November 17–20)

Last Updated on November 20, 2025, 2:26 pm ET Day in Review highlights news and other stories of interest to the research library community in the US and Canada. Released Monday...

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Grant Award Will Support Digitization of Diverse Local History Collections

Internet Archive’s Community Webs program has received a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and their Digitizing Hidden Collections program to digitize and provide open access […]

EveryLibrary Institute Signs Declaration to Protect Academic Research from U.S. Government Censorship

Here’s the Full Text of the EveryLibrary Institute Statement The EveryLibrary Institute, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to research, training, and programmatic support for libraries, has joined the #DefendResearch coalition in signing the Declaration to Defend Research Against U.S. Government Censorship, a shared call for institutions, publishers, and policymakers to protect academic freedom and resist […]

The Global Transition Has Already Happened – It’s Just Not the One You Expected (Part 1 of 2)

The global scholarly publishing ecosystem has already transitioned -- not to open access, but to a diverse hybrid system. So much the better.

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New Journal Article: “Archive Workers’ Information Needs and How Their Expert Knowledge Influences Information Searching and Collection Curation: An Interview Study”

The article (full text) linked below was recently published by Information Research. Title Archive Workers’ Information Needs and How Their Expert Knowledge Influences Information Searching and Collection Curation: An Interview Study Authors Nils Pharo Oslo Metropolitan University Pia BorlundOslo Oslo Metropolitan University Ying-Hsang Liu Uppsala University, Sweden Source Information Research an International Electronic Journal 30(3), […]

Manalive, by G. K. Chesterton

An eccentric man brings chaos and happiness to a house of litigious lodgers.

The Red Thumbmark, by R. Austin Freeman

A detective struggles to prove the innocence of a man accused of stealing jewels, in the face of overwhelming evidence.

New Preprint: Rethinking Science in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

The preprint linked below was recently posted on arXiv. Title Rethinking Science in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Authors Maksim E. Eren Los Alamos National Laboratory Dorianis M. Perez Los Alamos National Laboratory Source via ArXiv DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2511.1052 Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how research is conceived, conducted, and communicated across fields from chemistry […]

Center for Research Libraries (CRL) Goes Live on TIND ILS for Print Archives Preservation Registry (PAPR)

From a TIND Release: The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) has launched its new Print Archives Preservation Registry (PAPR) on the TIND ILS platform, completing the second of three TIND systems now in production at CRL. The new PAPR serves as a modern, hosted data lake, replacing CRL’s locally built infrastructure with a scalable environment for […]

Voices Celebrating 1 Trillion Pages: Katherine Maher, President and CEO of NPR

Katherine Maher, President and CEO of NPR, honors the Internet Archive’s milestone of 1 trillion web pages preserved as “1 trillion artifacts and snapshots of our interconnected world.” In her […]

Preserving Human Ingenuity for a Future Planet Ruled By Octopuses

An engineer and musician teaches an octopus to play the piano.

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Google’s NotebookLM Begins Rolling Out “Deep Research” Feature and Support For More File Formats Including Google Sheets and MS Word

From a Google Blog Post: Here’s what makes NotebookLM’s Deep Research different: the report is just the beginning. You can add the report and its sources directly into your notebook. You can continue to add other sources while Deep Research runs in the background, helping you assemble a rich knowledge base on any topic without leaving […]

New Report Explores Online Enrollment Trends in the Era of State Authorization Reciprocity

Prior work by Ithaka S+R found that the introduction of SARA expanded online enrollment, especially among institutions that were early adopters. However, less is known about how SARA has influenced the composition of enrollment, particularly for students enrolled in out-of-state, exclusively online programs, the type of program most likely influenced by SARA’s implementation. Using nationally representative survey data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, this report documents who is enrolling in different program modalities, and how those enrollment patterns shifted both before and after SARA.

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Ask the Chefs: What’s Your Favorite AI Hack?

We talk a lot about AI in scholarly communications and publishing, but today, we ask the Chefs: What’s your favorite AI hack?

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Washington Post: How People Really Use ChatGPT, According to 47,000 Conversations Shared Online

From The Washington Post: A collection of 47,000 publicly shared ChatGPT conversations compiled by The Washington Post sheds light on the reasons people turn to the chatbot and the deeply intimate role it plays in many lives. The conversations were made public by ChatGPT users who created shareable links to their chats that were later […]

Voices Celebrating 1 Trillion Pages: Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer

Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, recognizes the Internet Archive’s achievement of preserving 1 trillion web pages as an essential act of cultural memory. In his […]

The Next Open Revolution: Equity, Impact, and the Architecture of Knowledge

Today, Alison Mudditt reflects on a Charleston Conference session that asked: what would it take to make the scholarly communication system truly equitable, impactful, and future-ready?

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In Darkest London, by Ada Elizabeth Chesterton

A social campaigner describes her experiences living on the streets of 1920s London.

Looking Back on Our Shared Digital History: “The Web We’ve Built” Mini-Doc

To help people connect with the Internet Archive’s celebration of 1 trillion web pages preserved, we created “The Web We’ve Built,” a cinematic reflection on how humanity came together to […]

Impact Metrics on Publisher Platforms: Who Shows What Where?

A review of 12 major publishers finds that they display an average of 6 journal-level impact metrics on their platforms. The Journal Impact Factor is the only metric displayed on all 12.

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