Category Archives: Library of the Future

Is Google being evil again?

Some people seem to think so. On the one hand, we have Rupert Murdoch railing against Google and Yahoo for “stealing news.” On the other, a number of groups are getting ready to file briefs objecting to various aspects of the Google Books/Authors Guild settlement.
Rupert Murdoch
Murdoch, whom we have mentioned within only the last [...] Continue reading

Posted in Chris Meadows, Google, Library of the Future, Newspapers, Uncategorized, book publishing | Leave a comment

Taiwan Brings E-Books and Audio Books to Nation’s Libraries

Taiwan has teamed up with Ingram Digital to digitize the nation’s libraries. From the press release:
The Taiwan Library Consortium, in conjunction with the government of Taiwan, has selected Ingram Digital, an Ingram content company focused on solutions for digital content management, hosting and distribution, to provide e-books and audio books to a majority of [...] Continue reading

Posted in Libraries, Library of the Future, Paul Biba, Uncategorized, library | 79 Comments

Shocker! Up to $2,500 a year said to be saved by a family of four borrowing 10 public library items a month

Novelists, Inc. wants used bookstores to pay fees to publishers. The group frets that novelists are missing out on royalties.
And now the shocker of the day! A study cited in Parade Magazine says a family of four can save up to $2,500 a year by borrowing just 10 items a month from the [...] Continue reading

Posted in E-books and all that, Libraries, Library links, Library of the Future, Uncategorized, e-book, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, ebook, ebooks, librarian, librarians, libraries + schools + tech, library | Leave a comment

New initiative to provide e-texts to students with disabilities

Thanks to Robert Martinengo for providing me with the link to this important press release.
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today announced its agreement with the Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC), an initiative of the Georgia Board of Regents and the University of Georgia, to develop and launch the AccessText Network, a comprehensive, national online [...] Continue reading

Posted in Libraries, Library of the Future, Paul Biba, Uncategorized, digital libraries, e-book, e-book ergonomics, e-books, ebook, ebooks, libraries + schools + tech, library | Leave a comment

Europeana crashes due to its popularity

In a project that I am sure is close to David’s heart, Europeana opened on November 20. The object of the site, as stated on their website linked above:
Europeana – the European digital library, museum and archive – is a 2-year project that began in July 2007. It will produce a prototype website giving [...] Continue reading

Posted in David Rothman, Libraries, Library of the Future, Paul Biba, Uncategorized, digital libraries, library | Leave a comment

Google/Authors Guild Settlement reached; possible sea change for online books?

As reported on Slashdot, Google and the Authors Guild have settled their litigation over Google Books nee Print’s unauthorized scanning of copyrighted books.
This appears to be a classic case of a compromise that benefits all sides. If it is approved by the courts, Google will pay $125 million in legal fees, settlement of claims [...] Continue reading

Posted in Chris Meadows, Google, Library of the Future, Uncategorized, librarians | Leave a comment

Review: Fictionwise, Overdrive e-book lending libraries

One idea that libraries have been experimenting with for a while is lending a collection of e-books under the same kind of restrictions as paper books—no more than one patron using a given “copy” at one time, each copy being “returned” after a set checkout period. (For a while, eReader was owned by a [...] Continue reading

Posted in Chris Meadows, DRM, Fictionwise, Libraries, Library of the Future, Mobipocket, Nokia 770, Uncategorized, books, e-book, e-book ergonomics, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, ebooks, iPhone and Touch iPod, iPod Touch, library | Leave a comment

A POD of coffee: the Espresso print-on-demand kiosk

While TeleRead largely focuses on the experience of reading an ebook on an ereader, there is a whole other potential use for a digitally-stored text that is often overlooked: the ability to turn it into a professional-quality printed book at the exact location it is needed, as opposed to the traditional publishing method of printing [...] Continue reading

Posted in Chris Meadows, Espresso, Internet Archive, Libraries, Library of the Future, Lightning Print, Lightning Source, On Demand Books, P-books, POD, Print on demand, Uncategorized, amazon, book publishing, digital libraries, libraries + schools + tech, library, public domain, vanity | Leave a comment

Academic publishers less keen on standalone e-books than trade houses: Libraries love aggregated e-content

"Three miles of books"—that’s the caption on a Flickr photo of an underground reading room at Oxford University.
Someday could the books all be online? Imagine working on your thesis at the beach. Just how much progress are academic publishers and university libraries making?  Here in the States, at least, many trade publishers are buzzing [...] Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, E-books and all that, Libraries, Library links, Library of the Future, Liza Daly, Uncategorized, book publishing, books, e-book, e-book ergonomics, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, ebook, ebooks, kindle, librarian, librarians, libraries + schools + tech, library | Leave a comment

Sir Simon’s e-critical column: An unwitting alarum for Pan Macmillan’s E side and the rest of the industry

I love Luddites. The e-book industry has a long way to go before society can take digital books seriously as a durable medium, and the Luds are ever so helpful in reminding e-boosters of the work ahead—in such areas as e-book standards, genuine ownership of e-books and related archiving strategies. We need wake-up calls.
The [...] Continue reading

Posted in E-books and all that, Libraries, Library links, Library of the Future, Uncategorized, e-book, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, ebook, ebooks, librarian, librarians, libraries + schools + tech, library | Leave a comment