22 October 2026, 15.00-16.30 China Standard Time(7am-8.30am BST, 5pm-6.30pm AEST) Webinar hosted by Gold Leaf, sponsored by De Gruyter Brill The role of the librarian has changed immeasurably. Librarians today are providers and disseminators of very complex multi-medial resources – often supplied through equally complex contracts - large budget-holders, skilled negotiators and the fierce guardians of research ethics. Some are researchers themselves.

Gold Leaf opened its laptops on September 1st 2001. Today we are proud to announce our 25th birthday! We invite you to celebrate with us. Over the next 12 months, we shall contact you with details of free white papers and case studies, bespoke advice, special research offers and more. We are looking forward to working with you for the next twenty-five years!

24 September 2026, 15.00-16.30 CET(2pm-3.30pm BST, 9am-10.30am EST) Webinar hosted by Gold Leaf, sponsored by De Gruyter Brill The book is the keystone of recorded history. For centuries before the journal, it was the chief means of exploring and storing knowledge. Books arouse strong emotions: are revered, respected or repudiated. Today they can be delivered virtually, interactively or in segments.

25 June 2026, 13.00 India time / 15.30-17.00 China Time(8.30am-10am BST) Webinar hosted by Gold Leaf, sponsored by De Gruyter Brill Publisher-provided resources are now available in many options and consequently business models often complex.  Trust and partnership are essential characteristics of the librarian / publisher relationship, alongside negotiation and give-and-take.  Consortium deals, especially, can be many-faceted.  Our two speakers, Dr Jomkwam  Polparsi, Assistant President for Research and Innovation and Director of the Central Library at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok and Dr Kishor Chandra Satpathy, Chief Librarian and Head of the Library, Documentation & Information Science Division at the Indian Statistical Institute , Kolkata , describe their relationships with publishers, focusing especially on the consortial context.

Technological breakthroughs mean that content can now be delivered in multiple formats and through many channels. As a result, there have been radical changes to how primary and secondary education is delivered, with some fortunate consequences – teaching resources are more flexible and appealing than they have ever been – and some unintended ones: many students now say that they struggle to work through all the recommended reading on lecturer-supplied resources lists and many are not accustomed to reading full-length books.  

Last summer NIH issued a new consultation on open access – it may be found at - and then offered stakeholders the opportunity to give their views on the five main options they suggested, each of which is aimed at cutting down OA publishing costs. The views – which were very varied – may be found at Recently, NIH has stepped up activity and is likely to issue its directive soon (it has extended its decision-making period).

21 May 2026, 15.00-16.30 CET(2pm-3.30pm BST) Webinar hosted by Gold Leaf, sponsored by De Gruyter Brill Technological breakthroughs mean that content can now be delivered in multiple formats and through many channels. Consequently, there has been a radical change to how primary and secondary education is delivered. The student profile has also changed: today’s adult students can have reached any stage in their lives and may be working or have other responsibilities.

A tribute to World Book Day Today’s post, which celebrates World Book Day, is a translation of an article written by Mr Henian E, a prominent Chinese librarian, for a Chinese magazine. Mr E is the Library Director at the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, China, and has devoted himself to higher education for the past 40 years. His academic achievements have focused on delivering renowned distance education facilities and contributing to cutting-edge academic librarianship.  

Webinar held on 30 March 2023.

Open Access looks different across the globe. In our latest webinar for librarians, we explored how two Asian institutions have been finding their own paths toward Open Access implementation, and what lies ahead. The first De Gruyter Brill webinar of 2026 took place on Thursday March 5th. Entitled “Open Access in Asia: not a cookie cutter approach”, it set out to explore how Open Access (OA) is being received by Asian librarians and their institutions and how they are putting their own regional and institutional stamp on the OA models they have been offered by publishers.

Next week I will return to Springer Nature, joining the OA team. It isn’t goodbye to Gold Leaf though, I’m hopeful that there will be more opportunities for me to collaborate with Linda and Annika Bennett again. I’ve done so for the past 13 years, first as a client at Cambridge University Press working on the Library Advisory Boards and then as a colleague.

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Sometimes the world of academic librarianship produces thought leaders who dominate their profession for decades. We asked two outstanding women in this category to describe the most significant exper...

The London Book Fair 2025 took place between 11th and 13th March. The venue was Olympia, as it has been for the past few years – and although earlier fairs have been held at Earl’s Court, Excel and…

Variety is the spice of life: bibliodiversity, scholarly publishing and the inexact science of making ends meet

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