NEW RESOURCES

Coming soon: more Maine newspapers to digital archives. “The Maine State Library in Augusta has received a $275,000 federal grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitize over 100,000 pages of historical Maine newspapers.”

Digital NC has added issues from two newspapers in Sylva, a town in the North Carolina mountains. “We’re pleased to welcome a new partner, Jackson County Public Library, from Sylva, N.C.! Thanks to the library, DigitalNC has recently made available issues of two area newspapers: the Jackson County Journal (Sylva, N.C.) and The Sylva Herald and Ruralite.” The Jackson County Journal spans 1923-1942 and The Sylva Herald and Ruralite spans 1943-1950.

In development: a global registry of women exposed to the Zika virus. “Swiss doctors have asked thousands of colleagues worldwide to provide data for the first global registry of women exposed to Zika, the team’s lead researcher said Tuesday. Such a database is urgently needed to better understand the deadly virus and how it is transmitted, said David Baud, a physician in the obstetrics research unit of the University Hospital in Lausanne.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The National Library of Wales is taking another step forward in digitizing its collections. “We’re now beginning to move to a new stage, starting the work that will lead to the digitisation of Welsh books or books published about Wales. This will be a huge endeavour, but also an exciting one which will create a fantastic searchable resource of Welsh and Welsh interest books for the Library’s users, making thousands of long out of print books available to the public again.”

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) has added a lot of records to WorldCat. “Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) has contributed 2.4 million records to WorldCat, the world’s most comprehensive network of data about library collections. The contribution, which includes 800,000 new records, will make BAnQ’s valuable collections more visible and accessible to researchers around the world.”

Google is providing more information on how to vote in the US. “As the U.S. prepares to head to the polls, we’re making it easier than ever for everyone to participate in the political process. Last month, we made it simpler for people to register to vote. Now, we’re taking this a step further and introducing a brand new, state-by-state guide for people looking for information on how to vote in November. We’re also sharing some search trends to track the engagement and interest of American voters around the party conventions.”

Google+ Hangouts on Air are shutting down and the functionality is moving to YouTube. “The web giant said Monday its Hangouts group video chat feature will be discontinued on September 12 in favor of its YouTube Live feature. Google said that video events scheduled to occur after that date should be moved to YouTube’s live-streaming feature.” Sensible, but worried about moving something to YouTube since it’s turned into kind of a search morass.

USEFUL STUFF

It’s election season, and I hope you don’t need this, but in case you do: How to Mute Social Media Friends Without Unfollowing Them. Covers Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Wow. It looks like Google’s ban on payday loan advertising has made the loans themselves more expensive – at least in Australia. “Google’s recent ban on payday loan ads has seen a shift in the way Australian short-term lenders are structuring their terms, making the loans more expensive. Announced in May, the ban pertained to ads for payday loans and some related products where repayment is due within 60 days of the date of issue.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Google and Russia have not reached a settlement over Android. “Russia’s state anti-monopoly watchdog FAS said on Tuesday it and Alphabet Inc’s Google had failed to reach an out-of-court settlement in a case over Google’s Android operating system, Interfax news agency reported.”

RESEARCH AND OPINION

Fortune: How a Diverse Twitter Network Will Help You Get Ahead at Work. “Interesting research shows that all the time you’re spending on Twitter may not be a complete waste – but only if you’ve cultivated a truly diverse network of people to follow.”

Pew Research (pew pew pew pew pew!): Blacks more likely than whites to see – and post – race-related content on social media. “Social networking sites are often used to discuss social and cultural issues, and a substantial majority of social media users – white, black and Hispanic – report they encounter content on these platforms about race or race relations. But the amount of race-related content users report seeing on social media varies considerably across racial and ethnic groups, with blacks being especially likely to see content that pertains to race on these platforms.” Good morning, Internet…

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