No abstract

The acquisition of bepress by Elsevier in August 2017, while unpopular among many librarians, provides both companies opportunities for expansion and growth. This Balance Point column outlines some of the benefits to both companies and the reaction by the library community. Also addressed is the announcement by the Penn Libraries that they are searching for a new open source repository potentially to replace bepress's Digital Commons. The column concludes with some discussion of Elsevier's relationship with open access content and the impact of the acquisition on the scholarly communications infrastructure. On August 2, 2017, Elsevier announced its acquisition of bepress, the provider of the Digital Commons institutional repository platform. Digital Commons "allows institutions to collect, organize, preserve and disseminate their intellectual output, including preprints, working papers, journals or specific articles, dissertations, theses, conference proceedings and a wide variety of other data" (Elsevier, August 2, 2017). bepress's other major service, the Experts Gallery Suite, focuses on showcasing the expertise and scholarship of faculty. At the time Elsevier acquired the company, bepress had more than 500 customers using Digital Commons, and over 100 institutions using the Experts Gallery Suite. More than 1400 journals were published via the Digital Commons (DC) platform, and the DC network held over 2 million articles and had 100 million annual downloads (Elsevier, August 2, 2017). Well known in the library world as a publisher of scholarly journals and books, Elsevier's

The growth in academic programs devoted to the development of video games and the increased use of video gaming in education have led some academic libraries to build their own video game collections, as well as provide video game related services, space, and equipment. This column outlines several examples of academic library video game collections and services, provides information on building and maintaining video game related collections, and addresses a few of the challenges of providing services for this rapidly evolving industry.

No abstract

It has been predicted that by 2016, 9 out of 10 college students will own a smartphone. In order to connect with students where they are most likely beginning their information searches, it is increasingly important for libraries to make their collections discoverable via a mobile platform and to create an effective mobile search environment for library resources. This program highlighted some of the mobile applications available for and in use by libraries, focusing on Murray State University's implementations of two particular applications, BrowZine and Boopsie. The presentation addressed the institutional needs that led Murray State to the acquisition of these services, the ins and outs of the implementation, challenges involved in the set-up, marketing, and user education, and how the applications were received and used once they were set up.