The editor of a scholarly book-review Web site will not face criminal-libel charges in France this month. Earlier this year, Joseph H.H. Weiler, a professor of law at New York University and editor of the European Journal of International Law, was sued by Karin N. Calvo-Goller, a scholar based in Israel, over a review of one of her books that appeared on the Global Law Books Web site, which Mr. Weiler also edits. He told The Chronicle that the case, originally scheduled for a hearing in France on June 25, had been postponed until January 2011 because of court and lawyer availability. The case has had other journal editors and scholarly reviewers worried about the precedent it might set.

Nylink, a nonprofit library cooperative that serves most of New York State's colleges and universities as well as cultural institutions like the New York Public Library, will phase itself out over the next year, the group announced today, citing "steep declines" in revenue. "Unfortunately, the revenue just isn't there any longer, and we have no choice but to wind down operations," W. David Penniman, Nylink's executive director, said in a written statement.

Founded in 1973 as the SUNY/OCLC Network, Nylink serves most of the State University of New York's 64 campuses, all of the City University of New York's campuses, and many private institutions, "including all of New York's major research libraries and medical and law-school libraries." Its services include a statewide delivery service for libraries. The group said it is talking to other organizations about how to provide those service...

Kirkus Reviews will publish on. The venerable source of prepublication reviews of new books has been bought by Herb Simon, owner of the Indiana Pacers, of the National Basketball Association. The magazine's previous owner, Nielsen Business Media, announced in December 2009 that it would shut Kirkus down.

Although it may seem unlikely that someone who runs a pro basketball team would see book reviewing as a sound investment, consider that Mr. Simon also co-owns Tecolote Books, an independent bookstore in Montecito, Calif. "With the growth of e-books and e-reading devices, no one can really see the future of publishing," he said in a statement quoted in The New York Times. "But turmoil like this creates opportunities. At a time when even the definition of a book is changing, my love of books makes me want to be part of the solution for the book-publishing industry."

A panel of university administrators, librarians, and publishers has released a report urging federal agencies that pay for research to develop policies "expeditiously but carefully" that support free public access to the results of that research "as soon as possible after those results have been published in a peer-reviewed journal." The 14-member Scholarly Publishing Roundtable was convened last year by the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science and Technology and was led by John Vaughn, executive vice president of the Association of American Universities. Two members, Y.S. Chi of Elsevier and Mark Patterson of the nonprofit Public Library of Science, did not endorse the report's findings. In a statement, Mr. Patterson wrote that the panel's recommendations "will significantly improve the currently limited access to federally funded research" but said that they do not go...

No more will literary editors or librarians be able to consult Kirkus Reviews for prepublication assessments of forthcoming books. Begun in 1933, the magazine is being shut down by its current owners, Nielsen Business Media, along with another venerable publication, Editor & Publisher. For a sampling of reactions via Twitter, click here.

The University of Oxford has decided to reform the voting process for its prestigious professor of poetry after scandal rocked the most recent election, according to a report in The Guardian. This past spring, Derek Walcott withdrew from the race after an anonymous campaign against him. The eventual winner, Ruth Padel, resigned less than two weeks after the election because of allegations that she had passed on anti-Walcott information to journalists.

The federal judge overseeing the Google Book Search case has given preliminary approval to the revised settlement submitted late last Friday by the parties to the lawsuit. The new version is "within the range of possible approval," according to a court order issued yesterday. The order also set February 18, 2010, as the date for a final fairness hearing on the deal.

The parties to the Google Book Search lawsuit have asked a federal judge for more time to submit a revised settlement in the case, The New York Times reported today. Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers were scheduled to deliver a revamped settlement today but have asked that the deadline be extended to Friday, November 13.

As academic presses in Britain struggle because of the recession, Middlesex University plans to close its press, The Bookseller reported today. The news is not all gloomy, though. Kingston University plans to open a press on December 1, and plans are on track to create a pan-European association of university presses, including 12 in Britain.

Utah State University Press, whose future looked uncertain earlier this year, will merge with the university's library, Utah State announced on Monday. The move "will result in significant savings," said Richard Clement, dean of libraries, and move Utah State down the path toward digital publishing and open access already taken by the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor when it reorganized its press as a unit of the library.