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This article focuses on the controversy concerning publisher Elsevier that emerged from a publishing venture in Australia. A civil suit was filed by consumer Graeme Peterson against Merck and its Australian subsidiary Merck, Sharp & Dohme Australia for the negative health effects while taking painkiller Vioxx from Merck. There are now questions on Merck's marketing strategy for the drug through a publication owned by Elsevier. An article on the Internet revealed that money was paid to Elsevier to publish papers favoring Vioxx.

Information about several papers discussed at THETA (The Higher Education Technology Agenda) 2017 conference held on May 7–10, 2017, in Auckland, New Zealand, are presented. The topics included Information Technology, Library and Knowledge Management in tertiary education and research with subthemes including Digital Transformation and The Research Ecosystem. The conference features several speakers including beekeeper Nick Wallingford.

The article presents an international update on the information technology industry as of March 2004. IGroup, a distributor of databases, e-journals, and library automation systems, has contracted CAVAL Collaborative Solutions, a consortium of Australian universities to prepare a report on the feasibility of developing a new international certificate and diploma course for Asian librarians and information professionals. The feasibility study will seek to establish which skills employers are looking for and how knowledge management techniques and new library technologies and standards can be incorporated into a new curriculum. The National Library of Malaysia has launched a new Web site to help improve knowledge of Islam and Muslim communities. The International Islamic Digital Library is a Web-based collection of digital books, manuscripts, theses, journal articles and working papers. Also, in Australia, a new search engine has been launched that claims to offer more precise and personalized searching. Meanwhile, in Taiwan, Creative Commons, a non-profit organization dedicated to building a body of creative works that are free to be copied and reused, has announced that it's information discussions to expand its International Commons project to China and Taiwan.