Claire Davenport announces European-wide Mass Digitization Deal.
“Books that have been gathering dust on library bookshelves can now be transformed into eBooks, according to a pan European agreement signed by libraries, publishers and rightsholders yesterday (20 September). Industry federations and the European Commission heralded the agreement signed yesterday between publishers, libraries, collecting societies and authors as groundbreaking as it would unleash countless books for consumption online.”
From Claire Davenport’s Press Release, “Commission brokers agreement for mass digitisation”
Nancy K. Herther reports on a new suit surrounding eBook copyright issues.
“As with a difficult pregnancy, the birthing of a new publishing model for the 21st century has proven complex and painful for everyone involved. The focus of much of the debate and angst has centered on what the publishing industry and authors see as the nexus of the struggle: Google Books, and recent actions seem to be taking this struggle aggressively to new levels. On Sept. 12, eight authors—including James Shapiro and Fay Weldon—along with three key organizations representing authors in North America and Australia—filed suit to stop academic libraries from their participation in HathiTrust digitization projects (in cooperative agreements with Google Books).”
From Nancy K. Herther’s article on Information Today, Inc., “Authors Take Libraries to Court in Face Off on Copyright Issues “
David Weinberger talks with LibraryThing founder Tim Spalding about the intersections of the social internet and digital libraries.
“With the web, people are reading more than ever before you could say. But what are we reading? Likely it’s all short form: blog posts, tweets, status updates. They’re words, but it’s not exactly literature. But innovators attempting to bridge the gap between literacy and the social web have found that there’s not only a huge appetite for books, but that the web can actually make the experience of reading books more enjoyable.”
Listen at “Library Lab/The Podcast 007: The Velocity of Books”
Michael Kelly reports on Amazon’s Kindle library lending program.
“According to the Amazon posting, a library patron visits the website of a U.S. library that offers digital services from OverDrive; the patron then checks out a Kindle book (library card required); then clicks on “Get for Kindle.” The patron is then directed to Amazon.com to redeem the public library loan. They may be required to login to their Amazon.com account—or create a new account&mdsah;if they are not already logged in.”
From Michael Kelly’s article for Library Journal, “Amazon Lifts Edge of Curtain on Kindle Library Lending; Beta Testing Under Way”