Category Archives: libraries + schools + tech

Damn it, Obama, when are you gonna get this e-book thing? Check out Donalyn Miller’s literacy efforts and connect the dots!

Barack Obama drew a $500,000 advance for a children’s book, a mere five days before swearing a presidential oath. I’m happy for him. Literacy has served The First Reader well. So has technology—as shown by his fondness for BlackBerry-style devices and using the Net to raise campaign money.
Why, then, isn’t the First Reader more [...] Continue reading

Posted in E-books and all that, Education, Libraries, One Laptop Per Child, Uncategorized, e-book, e-book economics, e-book ergonomics, e-book pricing, e-book technology, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, ebook, ebook pricing, ebook publishing, ebooks, librarian, librarians, libraries + schools + tech, library | Leave a comment

100,000 MacBooks to be leased for four years as Maine laptop program grows

"Maine started its first-in-the-nation program by distributing more than 30,000 computers to each seventh- and eighth-grader in all of the state’s public schools in 2002 and 2003. Now the goal is to provide a laptop to every public school student in grades 7-12 by the fall." – E-School News.
The TeleRead take: I’d be curious [...] Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized, e-book, e-book technology, e-books, ebook, ebooks, libraries + schools + tech | Leave a comment

Delia Locke diaries digitized

I love this type of stuff and am a great reader of diaries and autobiographies.  From the  Holt-Atherton Special Collections website:  Delia (Hammond) Locke was the matriarch of the family. Born in 1832, she married Dr. Dean Jewitt Locke and moved to California in 1855. That same year Delia began keeping a daily diary, a [...] Continue reading

Posted in Libraries, Uncategorized, digital libraries, libraries + schools + tech | Leave a comment

Welsh national repository launched – digitization program progressing

The Welsh Repository Network (WRN), a network of twelve institutional repositories within each of the higher education institutions within Wales, was launched at the National Library of Wales on Thursday 19th February, 2009.
The project is on target for the creation of 10 new open access digital institutional repositories by March 2009, and has placed an [...] Continue reading

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ePub coming to 8,500+ libraries: Cleveland’s just a start

“More than 8,500 libraries powered by OverDrive will soon be able to offer eBooks in the EPUB format, along with more than 150,000 titles in audiobook, eBook, music, and video formats, many of which are compatible with both Mac and iPod.” – News release.
The TeleRead take: Now what about ePub being readable from libraries [...] Continue reading

Posted in E-books and all that, Libraries, Uncategorized, e-book, e-book ergonomics, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, ebook, ebooks, librarian, librarians, libraries + schools + tech, library | 61 Comments

OverDrive: ‘Much more content without DRM’ promised for libraries in ‘09

Again and again I’ve asked the IDPF to please consider a logo for DRMless ePub books. OverDrive founder Steve Potash is also president of the IDPF, and recently he told Library Journal:
“OverDrive is the leader in bringing downloadable MP3 audiobooks to libraries. [It] is leading the library market in bringing all formats of digital [...] Continue reading

Posted in DRM, E-books and all that, Libraries, Uncategorized, e-book, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, ebook, ebooks, librarian, librarians, libraries + schools + tech, library | 54 Comments

Adobe’s Bill McCoy: Publishers so far not wild about ads in e-books

In the U.S., some mass paperbacks carried ads—partly because of distribution via magazine rack-jobbers. This channel was much better paced for time-dependent ad-supported publications than bookstores and libraries. But will ads work in e-books?
Adobe has experimented with enabling dynamic contextual ads including in offline-readable publications, most recently with an “Ads for Adobe PDF” [...] Continue reading

Posted in Adobe, E-books and all that, Uncategorized, e-book, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, ebook, ebooks, libraries + schools + tech | Leave a comment

Why recreational reading counts, too—not just the kind for school or work

Just how to get people to develop their reading skills? Work or school reading isn’t enough. How about the recreational variety? It can sharpen reading skills used on the job or in the classroom.
Now comes a USA Today headline, Literacy study: 1  in 7 U.S. adults are unable to read this story.
Might pleasure reading—of [...] Continue reading

Posted in E-books and all that, Uncategorized, e-book, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, ebook, ebooks, libraries + schools + tech | Leave a comment

Libraries are a barrier to reading

So says a fascinating blog post by Donald Clark. Here are a few excerpts, and I suggest you read the whole thing. He makes a lot of sense, especially when he talks about publishers confusing the medium with the content. I must also admit that I’ve had some of the same thoughts about [...] Continue reading

Posted in Libraries, Paul Biba, Richard Herley, Uncategorized, e-book, e-books, ebook, ebooks, librarian, librarians, libraries + schools + tech, library | Leave a comment

Overdrive Media lists statistics and most downloaded titles for 2008

By way of background, Overdrive Media is a company that provides publishers, enterprises, libraries, schools and retailers with a “back end” that allows them to manage, protect, lend or sell digital audiobooks, e-books, music and videos. According to their website HarperCollins, Random House and McGraw-Hill are among their commercial customers, along with many large and [...] Continue reading

Posted in Paul Biba, Uncategorized, audio books, audiobooks, books, e-book, e-books, ebook, ebooks, libraries + schools + tech, library | Leave a comment