Great job, Fozia! 👏

Searching grey literature or looking at research impact? Try Overton - our new resource trial until May 17th. Access via the database A-Z. libguides.aston.ac.uk/az.php?a=o

"Libraries aren't in the real world, after all. They're places apart, sanctuaries of pure thought. In this way I can go on living on the moon for the rest of my life." ⚫️ RIP Paul Auster

Have your say and feed into the Libraries strategy! Let us know your thoughts and give us your feedback by taking this short survey: aston.libwizard.com/f/LIS-Strategy

Japan’s push to make all research open access is taking shape nature.com/articles/d4158…

BBC Question Time: analysis of guests over nine years suggests an overuse of rightwing voices theconversation.com/bbc-question-t… via The Conversation

Prospect of widespread university closures alarms public timeshighereducation.com/news/prospect-… via Times Higher Education

My cartoon for this week’s Guardian Books.

Job Vacancy at Aston University: Open Research Manager jobs.aston.ac.uk/0313-24

If AI really is the key to fixing Britain’s productivity, we need clear and transparent processes on where the tools have come from & their working limits. Politicians & commissioners need to ask the right questions to ensure tools are fit for purpose and working as expected.

I've seen this piece promoted several times this week, and it's always great to see the academic voice speaking up strongly about the costs and wrong-headedness involved in academic publishing [1/12] theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

New Edition James Boyle & Jennifer Jenkins, Intellectual Property: Law & the Information Society - Cases & Materials; An Open Casebook (6th Edition 2024) web.law.duke.edu/cspd/openip/

Has your paper been used to train an AI model? Almost certainly nature.com/articles/d4158…

As of today, Wednesday 21 August, Jisc and all sub-brands will cease activity on X. We will continue to operate Jisc Major Incidents as a broadcast outlet for any outage issues and technical updates. Read our full statement here: ji.sc/LeavingX

Shameful statistics

“It’s a soft target, isn’t it? If you close libraries, nobody dies – that’s what they think. But what’s happening is it’s society who suffers and people who suffer.” Says Michael Rosen theguardian.com/books/article/…

As Bham City Council plans to slash library services in a city where 45% of children grow up in poverty, we say it’s time to roar. Here’s a new poem, ‘The Roar’ by Birmingham’s Poet Laureate Jasmine Gardosi ❤️‍🔥 Join the fightback at Birmingham Loves Libraries

58% of children in Aston live in poverty. Soon their only access to everything a library has to offer is to walk 2 1/2 miles to the Library of Bham or ask their families to pay for public transport." Our children deserve better Bham City Council! Campaign action in thread ⬇️

Just catching-up with this Universities UK report on the significant return-on-investment in both research and teaching and learning provided by universities. And can’t help noting that none of this benefit can arise without outstanding libraries

Come along this Thursday for a showcase of key resources to boost your study skills and academic performance!