Categories
en Uncategorized

Zendy signs global licensing agreement with Bristol University Press

[Dubai, 14 August 2023] – Zendy has signed a global licensing agreement with Bristol University Press, an academic publisher known for its commitment to advancing research and knowledge dissemination. The agreement will allow Zendy users to access academic resources from Bristol University Press across social sciences and aligned disciplines. 

Bristol University Press has built a reputation for publishing world-class research that addresses pressing global challenges and contributes to the advancement of social sciences. Their dedication to inclusive knowledge aligns seamlessly with Zendy’s mission to make quality academic content accessible to individuals, researchers, and students regardless of geographical boundaries.

“We are excited to partner with Bristol University Press to offer our users a more diverse selection of research on our platform,” said Zendy Co-founder Kamran Kardan. “This collaboration underlines our commitment to connecting researchers, students, and knowledge enthusiasts with top-tier academic content, fostering collaboration and learning on a global scale.”

This announcement comes as Zendy continues to forge partnerships with prominent academic publishers to expand its content library and cater to diverse user interests. Zendy recently announced a series of new partnerships with IntechOpen, IEEE, IT Governance Publishing, and IGI Global

The partnership with Bristol University Press reinforces Zendy’s dedication to nurturing a global academic community and making scholarly resources accessible to all. 

About Zendy: Zendy is a product of Knowledge E. Since its inception in 2019, Zendy has connected over 200,000 users to academic journals, proceedings, articles, e-books, and more. Zendy is on a mission to make academic literature more affordable and accessible for students, researchers, and professionals worldwide. Zendy was awarded Best Startup – Education at the Middle East Technology Excellence Awards 2022. To learn more, visit www.zendy.io.

About Bristol University Press: Bristol University Press is an academic publisher committed to publishing high-quality research that addresses global challenges and contributes to various disciplines. The press is known for its commitment to open access and the dissemination of knowledge for the betterment of society. To learn more visit, bristoluniversitypress.co.uk.

Categories
en

See the Top Reads of July 2023

As we embark on a journey through the pages of knowledge, we are thrilled to present the themes in academic research that have ignited the minds of readers in the past month. From the realms of science to sustainable proposals, our curated selection brings you the most-read, thought-provoking, and insightful research articles that have graced our digital shelves. Join us as we unveil the top-read research that has captured the attention and curiosity of scholars and enthusiasts alike.

 

  1. Racial Differences in the Impact of Elevated Systolic Blood Pressure on Stroke Risk

This study dissects the assumption that between the ages of 45 and 65, incident strokes are more common in black people than in white people; traditional symptoms or risk factors cannot prove this. The experiment assessed over 27,000 black and white participants between 2003 and 2007; with a follow-up in 2011. The main focus of the research was to navigate geographical limitations and how these link to racial differences in terms of healthcare. 

Read more: Racial Differences in the Impact of Elevated Systolic Blood Pressure on Stroke Risk

 

  1. Power Laws and Statistics

This insightful article discusses appropriate data portrayal methods in Physics. Establishing that not all data can be considered conclusive, the piece takes examples from the laws of physics and how they have been proven through the appropriate presentation of hard data. 

Read more: Laws, Power Laws and Statistics

 

  1. Skin Cancer Knowledge & Self-examinations

This research paper studies the rate of melanoma within the Hispanic population of North Carolina. It proposes that Melanoma presents itself at a more advanced rate in Hispanics than in other ethnic groups while highlighting the benefits of comprehensive self-examinations due to skin cancer showing lesser symptoms in the Hispanic population. The study determined the percentage of Hispanic patients that undergo skin examinations conducted by a physician or resort to regular self-examinations. 

Read more: Skin Cancer Knowledge and Skin Self-examinations in the Hispanic Population of North Carolina: The Patient’s Perspective

 

  1. Sustainable Transportation in Practice

This research paper is a quantitative review of case studies within transportation. The paper urges researchers to navigate sustainable alternatives and practices to improve transportation. As this will benefit the general public and government. It will result in reduced traffic accidents, increased usage of renewable energy, higher quality of transport infrastructure, responsible consumption and production and a significant decrease in the usage of fossil fuels. 

Read more: Sustainable Transportation in Practice: A Systematic Quantitative Review of Case Studies

 

  1. Ant Colonies and Their Density

This research study manipulated the density within the carpenter ant colonies by significantly multiplying nest space and manually tracking over 6.9 million ant locations. The researchers assessed over 3,200 interactions to understand the relation between density, spatial organisation and interaction rates. The results highlight the organisational resilience in ant colonies to change density and allow them to sustain basic colony functions. 

Read more: Ant colonies maintain social homeostasis in the face of decreased density

Discover millions of e-books, journal articles, proceedings and more on Zendy now.

Categories
en

9 Best Alternatives to Z Library: Consume Research Seamlessly on These Platforms

Z-library is an e-book and journal database that has sparked controversy, conversation, and reform since its launch in 2009. After countless lawsuits and domain seizures, the rise and fall of Z-library have allowed many non-pirated alternative digital libraries to emerge and provide students and researchers with legal content gateways. The steady increase of these non-restricted alternatives has elevated the dissemination of quality research globally for students, researchers and lifelong learners to benefit from.

In this blog, we uncover legal and safe academic platforms that are great alternatives to Z library. These platforms do not violate copyright or privacy laws and offer a far better navigation experience with advanced features to aid research consumption and comprehension. 

Websites like Z-Library

  1. Project Gutenberg

This project initially started as a volunteer-driven effort to organise and digitise the literary content, it features more historic books for which US copyright laws have expired. Since its establishment, it has grown to offer over 60,000 literature and academic resources from an array of subjects and areas of study. The platform is completely free of cost and offers the available material in different formats to ease research consumption and dissemination. 

  1. The Open Library

Established in 2008, this library is a partnership between California State Library and Kahle-Austin Foundation and is an initiative overseen by Internet Archive. The Open Library specialises in e-books and offers over 20 million academic and literary sources to browse through and download without any restrictions or paywalls. The main goal of this library is to “create one web page for every book ever published” in an effort to make all library material accessible by anybody, anywhere. 

  1. Libby – Overdrive

Overdrive is one of the leading digital reading platforms globally, the organisation disseminates reading material within 88,000 libraries and schools in 109 countries. It is a very secure method of downloading and utilising ebooks and requires a student ID or public library pass to access. The platform houses everything from academic essays, university press books and freshly released novels. Overdrive also operates Libby, which is a new app under their umbrella that allows readers to borrow ebooks, audiobooks and magazines from local libraries, it stands to be accessible for all ages and offers a very wide range of reading material to encourage reading from a young age.

  1. Zendy

Launched in 2019, Zendy offers unrestricted academic research across all mediums like ebooks, journals, articles, case studies and much more. The platform was launched with the intention to bring diversity and global collaboration across various fields of scientific research; to ease research discoverability and consumption Zendy also hosts AI-powered features, advanced search and filtering options, personalized lists, and automatic citations. 

  1. LibreTexts

This is an organisation that is run by the University of California, Davis. The platform hosts free courses and textbooks in an effort to make academia accessible worldwide, LibreTexts is centred around the value of providing open education resources in an ethical and legal way. Arguably, the best offering of this platform is the interactive visuals that can be enabled when reading a piece of research; this feature was launched to ease comprehension and aid visual learners. 

  1. Standard Ebooks

This digital library offers free ebooks that have been thoroughly and professionally typeset and designed. It features a user-friendly browsing and reading experience and offers a wide range of content; everything from novels to academic research. Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-based project that formats, typesets, proofreads and corrects reading material and creates new editions that are compatible with e-reader technology. The website is not only widely accessible but also easy to use. 

  1. Open Textbook Library

Run by the University of Minnesota and supported by Open Education Network, this platform covers public domain and open access textbooks. It allows users to download, edit and disseminate textbooks at no cost. With a current offering of over 1,200 textbooks across several areas of study, Open Textbook Library has been gathering academic content for over 10 years in the industry and is a well-reputed resource. 

  1. HathiTrust

Founded in 2008, HathiTrust is an esteemed collaboration between research libraries and academics worldwide. The platform offers over 17 million digitised academic materials and access to some of the most prestigious libraries globally, like the Bodleian Library in Oxford and original digitised collections from the Harvard University Library. It is a valuable academic platform that houses research content across an array of disciplines without paywalls and restrictions.

  1. SciHub

Launched in 2011, SciHub is a resource that provides free access to scientific and academic research papers. It was established with the goal to eliminate all barriers in science to foster global collaboration, promote open access practices and provide academic research to individuals regardless of their institutional affiliations, financial situations and geographic location. The website hosts over 80 million academic research papers across an array of disciplines.

Categories
Uncategorized

Understanding the Growth of Digital Libraries: Benefits, Challenges & Trajectory

growth of digital libraries

In the age of boundless information and technological advancement, the landscape of academia has seen a significant emergence of digital libraries. As the digital frontier expands, so does the potential of these databases to cater to the evolving requirements of scholars, researchers, and students worldwide. In this blog post, we explore the remarkable growth and purpose behind digital research libraries, unearthing how they are reshaping the way we access, curate, and interact with information in our pursuit of wisdom and understanding.

By definition, digital libraries provide readers with online access to a wide range of resources; these platforms are often utilised by researchers and students to track the latest breakthroughs, discoveries and developments within their respective disciplines. The true appeal of digitised libraries is their ever-evolving nature, from multimedia content to data visualisation tools; digitised information and research have significantly advanced content consumption in the sphere of academia. 

Benefits of Digital Libraries

  1. Accessibility  

Digital research libraries can provide access to rare and out-of-print materials paired with features that are designed for user convenience such as advanced search filters, AI-powered tools and generated citations. Furthermore, the range of resources is not only limited to books but expands to journal articles, magazine & newspaper articles, case studies, reports and much more. Digital libraries expand the reach of academic research because accessibility is not limited to specific locations, unlike traditional libraries. 

  1. Preservation of Materials

Digitising older academic research ensures the preservation of fragile and rare materials. Traditional libraries hold materials that are vulnerable to physical deterioration and digitised libraries allow these materials to be protected from handling and environmental damage over time. 

  1. Personalisation

Digital libraries are engineered with intelligent algorithms that recommend and filter content tailored to your research consumption patterns, search history and discipline. This allows for easier navigation across vast databases to find academic research relevant to your study area.

  1. Collaborative Learning

Some digital library databases are designed with social media-like features that allow researchers to review research papers and join communities. The integration of these features allows for collaboration between researchers which demonstrates their information literacy, and digital skills while also expanding researcher network and impact. 

  1. Single Sign In

Digital libraries provide access to a wide range of scholarly literature through a single pair of credentials rather than searching and accessing them separately within traditional libraries.

Impact of Digital Research Libraries on Research & Education

Digital research libraries have had a significant impact on advancing research culture in higher education as these databases aid in understanding intellectual growth, research productivity, planning and identification of research that could be in demand; allowing students and researchers to bridge the gaps quickly. Furthermore, The fast access to resources accompanied by powerful research tools will enable researchers to be efficient and thorough with their secondary research. 

The digitisation of educational materials has also increased technological literacy through immersive and interactive learning modules. Through this digitisation, students and researchers have been at the forefront of these platforms’ development; the aspect of increased accessibility comes from not only worldwide access but also student and institutional discounts. Digital research libraries have had an imperative impact on the open-access movement in the academic realm due to the way in which they have escalated accessibility, inclusivity and affordability.

Challenges of Digital Research Libraries

  1. Copyright agreements – this is a long and expensive process that requires technological libraries to navigate complex legal issues and it can result in the library not obtaining all the required resources. 
  2. Resource management – a digitised library has to ensure that the content available on its website has adequate discoverability and organisational structure that is both intuitive and user-friendly. 
  3. Technological infrastructure – these technological libraries have to invest significantly to establish accurate and standardised metadata which requires skilled staff
  4. Quality Control – to digitise and disseminate academic research, the library would have to also invest in a team of experts to ensure the accuracy of digitally translated research. 

Future of Digital Research Libraries

In 2013, Emerald Insights predicted digital research libraries will offer access to large databases. As of 2023, there has been significant growth in the number of digital libraries and their evolving offerings. Moving forward, academia and digitised libraries are expected to technologically evolve by integrating AI automation to ease the consumption of information. Moreover, there may be a rise in the integration of AR & VR methods to enable immersive learning and provide interactive content to better aid visual learners and researchers. 

Furthermore, with the current growth of online learning platforms, the realm of research may witness an increase in partnerships between digital libraries and online learning tools to provide an array of resources seamlessly. Additionally, open access resources will play an essential role, because libraries that offer open access alternatives usually generate more traffic and disseminate content on a larger scale. 

The most crucial role digitised libraries may arguably play in the future is enhancing global collaboration and interoperability, allowing research communities to share resources and insights on a global scale, potentially bringing institutions together. 

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What are the advantages of Digital Libraries for students?

The main advantage of digital libraries from a student’s perspective is not being tied down to one specific library or location. Students can access academic research from anywhere in the world through a few clicks, this also eases the process of researching by developing content discoverability; students can find resources much quicker. Furthermore, digital libraries aid students’ technological literacy. 

  1. What is the primary purpose of Digital Libraries? 

The primary purpose of digital libraries is to disseminate content faster and easier, while also providing global access to rare and out-of-print materials. The digitisation of academic research has allowed the general global population and research communities to collaborate and share scientific research easily. 

Discover an array of academic resources now on Zendy where you can research worry-free.