Ebooks on Fire

Controversies Surrounding Ebooks in Libraries

 by Charles Hamaker
Associate University Librarian for Collections and Technical Services
Atkins Library, University of North Carolina–Charlotte 

Who owns the book? Ebooks are a challenging area for libraries. Licensing is a critical issue because ebooks are being marketed as if they were analogous to print purchases. They most definitely are not. They can be available one day and gone the next. IN: InformationToday , February 22, 2012

….

Stewardship is easy and inexpensive to claim; it is expensive and difficult to honor, and perhaps it will prove to be all too easy to later abdicate.

– Clifford Lynch, 2003 [www.arl.org/newsltr/226/ir.html]

What we need is a revolution, not a continuation of tighter controls. We must find another way to “do” ebooks. What can consumers, customers, creators, distributors, and custodians of ebooks do to enhance the experience, preservation, and continuing innovation of etexts for both education and public use?

Concerned readers, libraries, school systems, institutions of higher education, aggregators, publishers, and their associations should come together to create criteria for acceptable and desired features of the new landscape. Such groups would have as their concerns at least three key issues: a competitive marketplace of etexts; innovation in development, design, content, and utility; and preservation. Anything less than substantive dialogue and outcomes in these areas runs the major risk of destruction of the record, the potential of the new medium, and of the core values of a significant portion of our cultural heritage with myopic implementations.

READ MORE

Libraries Succeed by Constantly Evolving

Da: HuffPost Social News, Susan H. Hildreth, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Posted: 1/13/12 10:25 AM ET

Trad. in italiano di:

Oggi più che mai le persone dipendono dalle biblioteche. Continuano ad aumentare il numero di visite, la circolazione, e anche  il ruolo delle biblioteche pubbliche come fornitori di risorse di Internet per il pubblico. Le biblioteche pubbliche hanno aumentato la loro offerta di programmi per soddisfare una domanda crescente e per poter fornire servizi più mirati.

Nel mondo degli affari, la richiesta di servizi significherebbe grossi profitti per il settore. Ma nonostante la comprovata capacità delle biblioteche di adeguarsi per soddisfare le esigenze crescenti del pubblico, nel paese molte biblioteche affrontano pesanti tagli di bilancio. LEGGI TUTTO (art. in lingua inglese)

“People depend on libraries now more than ever. Not only do visits and circulation continue to rise, the role of public libraries in providing Internet resources to the public continues to increase as well. Public libraries have also increased their program offerings to meet greater demand and provide more targeted services.

In the business world, such demand for an industry’s services would mean big profits for that sector. But despite the demonstrated ability of libraries to adjust to meet the growing needs of the public, many libraries across the country face severe budget cuts.” READ MORE

ELAG 2012: 15-18 May – Conference

Elag 2012 will be hosted by the Universitat de les Illes Balears (www.uib.es) in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
‘Libraries everywhere’

Libraries are moving outside the walls of their buildings and the firewalls of their networks in order to provide information to users wherever they happen to be. They are applying mobile technology so that users can find information, whether they are in the street or the classroom or travelling to work or study. Libraries are participating in social networks in order to be present in the virtual places that users visit everyday. They are opening up and sharing library data so it can be discovered via external systems and they are expanding beyond traditional roles, curating raw research data from the laboratories to ensure that results are verifiable and data can be re-used. As well, while computing resources shift to the cloud or connect to grid networks, libraries are moving beyond local systems and information silos to discover, access and re-use information resources located anywhere in the world.

ELAG 2012 – Sub-themes

1. Libraries in the cloud

Libraries are discussing next-generation library management environments that will be cloud-based and the first commercial systems based on this structure are now appearing. To retrieve a wide range of journal articles as well as traditional catalogue items, many libraries have selected cloud-based resource discovery platforms. Even traditional local library collections themselves are moving to the cloud in the form of e-books.
What strategies are libraries developing to deal with this exciting new development? What is involved in migration? What are the risks of cloud computing and what do we hope to gain?
2. Mobile libraries

No longer are users using library services just from traditional desktop computers. They are truly on the move and are using a range of mobile devices including laptops, tablets, iPods and smart phones. How can ‘traditional’ library services be presented to users in such an environment? What factors are important in developing truly usable mobile interfaces and how does this reflect back on the design of traditional library sites? Does mobile technology create opportunities for new location-based library services?
3. Open and linked data

The Web enables us to link data as well as documents and Linked Open Data provides a set of best practices for publishing and consuming structured data on the Web. Libraries– and indeed anyone– can reuse bibliographic and authority data to build innovative services for researchers, teachers, students and other librarians. How can we provide useful data (including links to other non-library data sources) for others to use? How can we make use of linked open data to enrich the information we provide to our users? What are the legal and practical issues to be considered and what are the potential costs and benefits?
4. Augmented reality

Augmented reality (the overlay of computer- or cloud-generated information, graphics and so on onto real-world scenes) is a new development that could very well be applied to libraries. While we have seen implementations for easier library shelving like the augmented reality Android app, this use of other information to enhance real world views has not yet had much impact. How could these enhanced views be used? What other kinds of applications exist and who has created them? What are the potentials for using library information in this way?
5. Research data

Over the last few years, research libraries have been busy building repositories in which to collect and organize their institution’s research publications. Making research publications more accessible is one thing, but providing access to all the underlying data sets adds even more value, making research more transparent and verifiable. It allows research data to be applied in other research and makes follow-up studies more efficient. In addition, it offers unprecedented possibilities for linking and analyzing data sets. Libraries are starting to build these data repositories and take on the role of curating this research data. Are libraries ready to take on this new role? What new tools or new skills do we need to be able to curate research data? What can we learn from the organizations with experience in this area?
Perhaps you have another library technology topic that you would love to tell us about, but it doesn’t fall neatly into one of the sub-themes. Don’t be shy– tell us anyway!

Library Podcasts you Might Find Useful

Bobbi Newman at Librarian By Day just introduced me to two new librarian-focused podcasts. Thanks, Bobbi – I’ll have to take a listen!

I thought it might be useful to make a list of librarian-related podcasts, because there are a goodly handful of them at the moment, and they are all pretty useful.

These aren’t podcasts done by local libraries, for their local customers. Instead, these podcasts are all focused on us librarians.

And I’m using “podcast” loosely in my list – it includes audio-only podcasts, call-in live shows (that then turn into downloadable audio podcasts after the fact), and video shows.

List of Librarian Podcasts (the first two swiped from Bobbi’s post):

• Whatever Mathers: Creative conversations with host Amy Mather and a revolving cast of surprise guests.
• Circulating Ideas: the Librarian Interview Podcast: Interviews with librarians.
• NCompass Live, from the Nebraska Library Commission: focus on library trends.
• This Week in Libraries: Eric and Jaap from the Netherlands host a weekly video show with a bunch of interesting guests, usually talking about the future of libraries. Definitely international in scope.
• T is for Training: call-in live show/podcast focused on training
• Games in Libraries: A podcast about Games, Gaming, and Gamers in Libraries (sporadic at the moment)
• Adventures in Library Instruction: A monthly podcast by and for library information literacy instructors and teaching librarians. The show includes features, interviews and discussion about teaching in libraries.
• LibPunk: Live call-in show/podcast focused on hot topics in libraryland

So – what am I missing in this list? Know of any other podcasts focused on the library/information professional industry? Let’s list them here. And make sure to listen/watch/call-in – give them a try, and see if you get something out of them!

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Il futuro delle biblioteche pubbliche

Giulio Blasi scrive:

Trovo straordinario questo intervento di Nate Hill perché formula in modo lucido un progetto nel quale la biblioteca come spazio fisico e una biblioteca digitale avanzatissima interagiscono positivamente.

The future of public libraries lies in supporting creative endeavors in their local community and empowering the patrons to contribute their creative work back to the community or to the whole world via the internet. The traditional library is a read-only space, meant for the consumption of knowledge: by providing access to media, we enable patrons to read books, watch movies, or listen to music. The library in the age of the internet is quite different: texts or books are now just as easy to write or edit as they are to read, movies are just as easy to mash up and edit as they are to watch, and music is just as easy to remix as it is to listen to it. Of course its ‘just as easy’ if you have access to the tools and skills to do these things. Herein lies the new role for public libraries: we need to be centers for knowledge production, not just knowledge consumption. There is no other institution doing this work, and public libraries are best situated to fill the gap

IN: Public Library Association Blog

Futuro del libro e futuro delle biblioteche?

 Future of libraries ‘confronted’ in new ALA Office for Information Technology Policy report

For Immediate Release

Mon, 06/20/2011 – 09:33

Contact: Jennifer Terry
Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP), Washington Office (wo)

WASHINGTON, D.C.– The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Information Technology Policy’s (OITP) latest policy brief breaks down the formidable challenges in store for libraries during the next few decades. The brief,“Confronting the Future: Strategic Visions for the 21st Century Public Library”(PDF) was written by OITP Fellow Roger E. Levien, president of Strategy and Innovation Consulting.

The report explores how emerging technologies combined with challenges, such as financial constraints as well as shifts in the nature and needs of library users, require libraries to evolve rapidly and make strategic decisions today that will influence their future for decades to come.

ALA President Roberta Stevens said OITP’s brief clearly lays out why public libraries are in the midst of a true revolution.

MORE

UC Libraries Statement on E-Book Access in Libraries

March 28, 2011 |  Category: Collection Development,Licensed Resources,Newsletter |  Author: Ellen Meltzer

By Ivy Anderson, Director, Collection Development & Management

As the UC Libraries explore options for the increased acquisition of e-books, we reaffirm the importance of fair use and equitable access to information, the principles on which all libraries stand. As we work to define suitable e-book licensing terms and models which reflect these principles, we have been struck by the highly restrictive terms under which HarperCollins is making its e-books available to libraries. We’ve also been dismayed by the policies of other publishers that do not allow libraries to make their content widely available to readers in digital formats.  The UC Libraries join with the American Library Association and our public library colleagues in deploring such restrictive policies.  In this complex digital arena now taking shape, we are in critical need of business practices that support the role of libraries as core democratic and educational institutions. We urge all publishers to develop e-book licensing policies that recognize and actively support the essential role that all libraries play in advancing knowledge, promoting civil discourse and fostering an informed citizenry.

For more information, see: http://www.cdlib.org/cdlinfo/2011/03/28/uc-libraries-statement-on-e-book-access-in-libraries/

Poiché le Biblioteche della University of California  prendono in considerazione tutte le opzioni per l’incremento dell’acquisto di e-books, riaffermiamo l’importanza del fair use e l’accesso equo alle informazioni,  principi su cui si basano tutte le  biblioteche. Mentre lavoriamo per definire licenze con condizioni adeguate  e modelli che riflettano questi principi, siamo stati colpiti dai termini molto restrittivi che HarperCollins pone alle biblioteche. Inoltre siamo costernati dalla politiche di altri editori che non consentono alle biblioteche di rendere i contenuti in formato digitale sufficientemente disponibili ai lettori. Le biblioteche della University of California (UC) si  uniscono alla  American Library Association , ai nostri colleghi della public library nel deplorare tali politiche restrittive. In questa complessa arena digitale che sta prendendo forma, ci troviamo nella necessità critica di pratiche commerciali che sostengano il ruolo delle biblioteche come nucleo centrale delle istituzioni democratiche ed educative. Invitiamo tutti gli editori a sviluppare politiche per licenze degli  e-book in grado di riconoscere e sostenere attivamente il ruolo essenziale che tutte le biblioteche svolgono nella promozione della conoscenza, nella promozione del discorso civile e di una cittadinanza informata.

Library eBook Survey Results

February 9th, 2011 · by spolanka

Answers  to these questions:

Does your library offer ebooks?

Do you circulate ereader devices?

Academic Libraries – For which disciplines are you most likely to offer ebooks? What is the preferred purchase term?

School Libraries – What categories of ebooks do you offer?  How do you license content?

Public Libraries – What categories of ebooks do you offer? How to you license the content?

 

 

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PA statement regarding our position on library e-lending

22 OCTOBER 2010
POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS

Stephen Page’s speech at the CILIP PLA conference outlined the close and supportive partnership between publishers and libraries, and the particular importance of this during tougher economic times.  He also set out The Publishers Association position on ebook lending, which has attracted some negative comment from Bookseller readers.  It is disappointing that this proposal of a constructive settlement can be interpreted as a “declaration of war”, so it  may be useful to restate the case being made and hopefully clarify the underlying position. More

“Stephen Page nel suo discorso alla conferenza CILIP ha delineato una collaborazione solidale tra editori e biblioteche, e la particolare importanza di questa collaborazione in tempi di congiuntura. Page ha esepresso anche la posizione dellaPublishers Association in merito al prestito di ebook, che ha attirato qualche commento negativo da parte dei lettori di Bookseller...”