Digital Rights Management

ALA TechSource has just opened registration for the upcoming webinar series on e-books and e-readers.Â I hope you can join us.

Integrating E-Books and E-Readers into Your Library
with Sue Polanka

Two 90-minute sessions
Thursdays 8/4/11 and 8/11/11
2:30 â€“ 4:00 PM EDT | 1:30 â€“ 3:00 PM CDT
12:30 â€“ 2:00 PM MDT | 11:30 AM â€“ 1:00 PM PDT

With the exploding popularity of e-books and e-reading devices, librarians are grappling with how to effectively integrate them into their services and collections. Sue Polanka is back by popular demand to present this two-session ALA TechSource workshop on how to go about it. With her practical guidance you will learn how to begin purchasing and lending e-books for your library, and how to purchase e-reading devices for patron use. Continue reading ALA TechSource webinar series – Integrating E-Books and E-Readers into Your Library →

Academic Libraries, Advocacy/Activism, Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Public Libraries, Publishers, School Libraries, Surveys/Statistics/Reports

Report: State of eBooks and eReaders

June 8, 2011 spolanka

Picked this up on the LITA listserv today:

A joint Poudre River Public, Front Range Community College, and Colorado State University libraries committee has released a report on the state of eBooks and eReaders. The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of this rapidly-developing topic, and to make recommendations aimed at serving the customers of each library.

A summary report or the full version can be downloaded from our reports page.
An op-ed piece on the subject from our Poudre’s Executive Director and CSU’s Dean of libraries is here.

Recommendations from the summary report include the following:

education, advocacy, technology, and continued partnership and study

Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Publishers

Articles of Interest

May 13, 2011 spolanka

Mourning the Printed Book â€” The Aesthetic and Sensory Deprivation of E-books Â« The Scholarly Kitchen

10 Websites To Download Free eBooks – eBookNewser

The subscription model for ebooks hasnâ€™t emerged yet, but it will â€“ The Shatzkin Files

Best-selling authors criticize HarperCollins library ebook policy

Will Amazon make a tablet? ‘Stay tuned,’ says Jeff Bezos

Publishers should focus on customers, not formats

Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Public Libraries, Publishers, Textbooks

Articles of Interest

May 6, 2011 spolanka

Archiving the Web for Scholars – (Internet Archive) Inside Higher Ed

Barnes & Noble to launch next-generation Nook May 24th | TeleRead

News: Picking a Fight – (Amazon and College Book Stores) Inside Higher Ed

Petition against HarperCollins ebook/library policy garners 53,786 signatures | TeleRead

Ereaders fail at education

UK publishers and libraries in talks over e-book lending | TeleRead

Academic Libraries, Audiobooks, Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Public Libraries, Publishers, Surveys/Statistics/Reports, Tech Updates & Upgrades, Textbooks

Articles of Interest

April 29, 2011 spolanka

Apologies for the long list, I’ve been away for a week and lots has happened!

Ingram Announces New Library Ebook Access Model and Audiobook Shift

In the era of ebooks, what is a book worth (I)

Is signing with a mainstream publisher now a mistake?

Digital book subscriptions, by Jane Litte

Publishers Weekly: Librarians at the Gate

HathiTrust: A Research Library at Web Scale – from InfoDocket

Reflections on Google Book Search – The Scholarly Kitchen

AcademicPub Opens Custom Textbook-Building to Faculty …

California Bill Would Offer Clear Protection for Digital Reading Records

Six Reasons Google Books Failed by Robert Darnton | NYRBlog | The New York Review of Books

Nook Friends is a Shot Across the Bow of eBook Lending Sites – eBookNewser

Sixty Percent of iPad Owners Read eBooks on Their iPad – eBookNewser

Hands on With Sony’s S1, S2 Tablet PCs

News: No Room for Books – Inside Higher Ed

This Week in Libraries: Interview with Sarah Houghton-Jan about ebooks

OnCampus Research: â€œE-Books, E-Readers Begin to Catch on with College Crowdâ€

Advocacy/Activism, Digital Rights Management, Publishers, Surveys/Statistics/Reports

EQUACC issues interim report

April 14, 2011 spolanka

The Equitable Access to Electronic Content (EQUACC) Task Force met for the first time at a meeting held at ALA Midwinter and had a more substantive session at a one-and-a-half day retreat at the Washington Office, March 7-8, 2011.Â The retreat happened to coincide with the announcement that HarperCollins would limit loans for its e-books.Â Throughout the retreat, the significance of the HarperCollins decision factored into most of the discussions.Â In addition to addressing this timely issue, the Task Force made significant progress toward identifying challenges and solutions for improved electronic access, use, distribution, and preservation.Â The Task Force focused on long-term strategic issues given that there could easily be a situation similar to the HarperCollins decision in the future and ALA must be prepared to respond effectively.

The interim report is available here.

Academic Libraries, Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Public Libraries, Publishers, Textbooks

Articles of Interest

March 25, 2011 spolanka

For the week of March 21st

Inkling: Another Digital Textbook Approacheth, But this time, It has Friends: The Scholarly Kitchen

Research Triangle Libraries Get $41K Grant To Explore Consortial Ebook Models

The Vexed Problem of Libraries, Publishers, and E-books ” The …

HarperCollinsGate: Some Thoughts ” The Scholarly Kitchen

Innovation and Longevity in Digital Publishing: Surfing the S Curve – The Scholarly Kitchen

Amazon Appstore for Android is open

E-book pricing hinges on customer perception of value

Google Books Settlement statements of: AAP, Open Book Alliance, Nat. Fed. of the Blind

Judge Rules Against Google Books Settlement

Academic Libraries, Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Events/Conferences, Mobile Devices, Public Libraries, Tech Updates & Upgrades, Textbooks

CIL Conference – Empowering the Reader in a Digital World

March 22, 2011 spolanka

This CIL session was presented by Chad Mairn, Information Services Librarian at St. Petersberg College and Al Carlson, System Administrator for the Tampa Bay Library Consortium.

Al Carlson:

Library automation, the internet, and EPUB are the three big things he feels have hit the library industry during his career.
The book is the content and not the package, ebook is just another package.
Diagnosing the DVD Disappointment: Â A Life Cycle View by Judson Coplan – this article from 2006 is one that Al recommends to read as a comparison to how quickly ebooks may be adopted.
History suggests that ebooks will rapidly invade the codex space
Books aren’t dead, they are just changing Continue reading CIL Conference – Empowering the Reader in a Digital World →

Academic Libraries, Audiobooks, Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Events/Conferences, Mobile Devices, Print on Demand, Public Libraries, School Libraries

CIL Conference – Ebook Publishing: Practices & Challenges

March 22, 2011 spolanka 2 Comments

This panel discussion was moderated by Dick Kaser from Information Today. Â Speakers included Ken Breen, EBSCO Publishing, Leslie Lees, ebrary, Bob Nardini, Ingram, and Mike Shontz, OverDrive.

Each panelist had 5 minutes to discuss who they serve and business models they offer.

Ken Breen, EBSCO Publishing

Ken reflected back to 1997 – common themes from back then – user interface, compatibility, digital rights, unauthorized access and copying, business models.
EBSCO Publishing acquired NetLibrary one year ago, the preview of eBooks on EBSCOhost is available now. Continue reading CIL Conference – Ebook Publishing: Practices & Challenges →

Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Independent Publishing, Publishers, Surveys/Statistics/Reports, Textbooks

Articles of Interest

March 18, 2011 spolanka

For the week of March 14th:

Readers, authors and librarians against DRM

Two Colorado Libraries Break New E-book Ground | American Libraries Magazine

Read the Fine Print | American Libraries MagazineÂ (Terms of Service on ebook Readers)

Must We Abide? | American Libraries Magazine

25% of textbook annual revenue to be from digital by 2015

Clive on Learning: Adventures in self-publishing

Charting the global e-book market – FutureBook

E=Book Lending Takes Off – WSJ.com

Digital Rights Management, Publishers

Calibre Launches Open Books – DRM Free eBooks

March 10, 2011 spolanka

calibre recently introduced Open Books, a site for easy browsing of DRM-free e-books (e-books without DRM) that are not in the public domain.

From their website:Â calibre has a cornucopia of features including library management, e-book conversion, syncing with devices, news download, e-book viewing etc, but to make the most of these features with your e-books you need to ensure your e-books do not carry DRM.Â Open Books is a compilation non DRM e-books from various sources linked to enable readers to browse and download them.Â Open Books invites you to submit links to DRM free e-books that you would like added to the database. Open Books invites you to submit links to DRM free e-books that you would like added to the database. Contact us with details of your DRM-free e-books on the calibre facebook fanpage or #calibreforum page. Please do not include links to books on Smashwords or Baen as we are already aware of them.

Academic Libraries, Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Events/Conferences, Public Libraries, Publishers, Surveys/Statistics/Reports, Tech Updates & Upgrades, Textbooks

Articles of Interest

February 28, 2011 spolanka

McGraw-Hill’s iPad-enhanced ebooks by Inkling

Could the Kindle be free by the end of the year?

Barnes & Noble claims 25% of US e-book market share

David Rothman promotes the National Digital Library on the Chronicle of Higher Education

Go To Hellman: HarperCollins and the Suspension of eBook …

Podcast: The Future of the Textbook, as Seen by Publishers

How to turn the Nook Color into a fully-functional Android tablet

Can You Actually “Sell” an E-Book? – The Scholarly Kitchen

Shh! eBooks and the Quiet Conspiracy against Public Libraries

Exclusive: Kno Student Tablet Start-Up in Talks to Sell Off Tablet Part of Its Business

Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Events/Conferences, Publishers

TOC – Solving the Digital Loan Problem: Can Library Lending of eBooks be a Win-Win for Publishers and libraries?

February 16, 2011 spolanka 1 Comment

Solving the Digital Loan Problem: Can Library Lending of eBooks be a Win-Win for Publishers and libraries?

Ruth Liebmann, Random House, Micah Bowers, BlueFire Reader, Katie Dunneback, Librarian and Consultant

Katie set the stage with a broad introduction to libraries. Â The people inside give the libraries meaning. Libraries develop relationships with their customers and advise on books to read (readers advisory). Libraries are discovery centers through the readers advisory services. Â Libraries are where individuals experiment with new formats at low investment. Â Libraries can help save the reader time. Â Katie suggested ways that publishers can benefit from libraries, particularly by introducing slicker DRM and using the sills of MLS librarians who know cataloging and metadata. Â Katie then demonstrated a 21 step process to download a public library ebook and download it to an eReader device. Â Katie walked us through the readers advisory process, describing how she interviews patrons on their likes/dislikes of an author and recommend similar authors/series. Â She also discusses eReaders with patrons and provided us with a list of eReader topics that she discussed with 2 patrons the previous week. Â Topics included: Â price, lighting, territorial rights, covers, library access, etc. Continue reading TOC – Solving the Digital Loan Problem: Can Library Lending of eBooks be a Win-Win for Publishers and libraries? →

Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Events/Conferences, Publishers, Surveys/Statistics/Reports, Tech Updates & Upgrades

TOC – Publisher CTO Panel, the future of ebook technology, TeleRead

February 15, 2011 spolanka

Summary of Tools of Change session, reprinted in full from Teleread.com by Paul Biba

Bill Godfrey (Elsevier), Rich Rothstein (HarperCollins Publishers), Andrew Savikas (Oâ€™Reilly Media, Inc.)Moderated by: Abe Murray (Google, Inc. )

Savikas: first foray in 1987. Stared with cd books and online books in 2001, which was first substantial digital presence. Wish is that Amazon would adopt epub as their standard. Digital is now about a decade for Oâ€™Reilly, and one of the biggest changes is that there are many more markets for digital products. Canâ€™t imaging what it will be like in 10 years. Book will not go away â€“ neither the package nor the long form narrative type of content. There will be a whole new category of new media that probably canâ€™t be called books any more. Over the last 100 years more and more layers built up between publishers and consumers and web is bringing us back to a more direct relationship. In his experience the interest in enhanced ebooks seems to come from the publishers more than it does from the reader. Now that books can know that they are being read this can lead to enhanced opportunities. Databases are prime examples for turning into enhanced books. Not convinced that advertising will be as much of the future of newspapers and magazines it has been in the passed. Newspapers have lost the monopoly of being a source of local information. There is what value and need for what newspapers provide, but the package is obsolete. Publishers should be taking a stronger role in advocating with the retailers and device makers. Big piece of the epub 3 revision is to support dynamic delivery to different devices. Continue reading TOC – Publisher CTO Panel, the future of ebook technology, TeleRead →

Academic Libraries, Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Events/Conferences, Publishers, Surveys/Statistics/Reports, Textbooks

TOC – Digital Textbooks Panel Summary

February 15, 2011 spolanka

Panel discussion on eTextbooks in Higher Education: Â Practical Findings to Guide the Industry. Â Panelists included Jade Roth, Curtiss Barnes, Nick Francesco, David McCarthy, Jacob Robinson, and Susan Stites-Doe. Â Panelist names/titles are available on the conference website.

Notes are my own interpretation and my best attempts were made to ensure accuracy.

Some overview data: Â 15% of textbook content is avaiable in digital format, yet only 1 – 3% of higher education sales are digital, sales are across all disciplines, there is no clear winner in the format.

14% of students have purchased digital materials, primarily for cost savings, 18% purchase for features, and 10% for curiosity. Continue reading TOC – Digital Textbooks Panel Summary →

Academic Libraries, Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Public Libraries, School Libraries, Tech Updates & Upgrades

Opening the eBook Market

February 8, 2011 spolanka

Reprinted in full from One Librarian’s Perspective, by Tim Kambitsch, Director of the Dayton Metro Library.

It is fashionable to declared Digital Rights Management (DRM) dead. And maybe in the world of music it is. For eBooks in the library marketplace, however, DRM is alive and well. The book publishers who may be more conservative than the music industry in trying to protect their intellectual property are willing to stymie sales in electronic formats to maximize their sense of security.

In the ideal open-yet-market-driven eBook environment there won’t be DRM, but regardless of whether DRM lives on, the closed vertically integrated world of eBooks sales to libraries presents a bigger problem; it is that environment that needs to change. For libraries to both offer electronic collections and maintain their role of building collections for the long term we need a layered environment where the purchase of materials is separated from the where those purchased materials are hosted. Further, library patrons deserve distinct choices for the programs and devices they use for readings. Continue reading Opening the eBook Market →

Academic Libraries, Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Mobile Devices, Publishers

Articles of Interest

February 4, 2011 spolanka

Education World Â® Technology Center: E-readers Bring E-xcitement and E-ase to Reading

Technolog – Kindle books now outsell paperbacks

Q&A: Smashwords Founder Mark Coker Predicts Drop in eBook Prices – eBookNewser

Apple Rejects Sony App, Kindle & Nook Beware – eBookNewser

HarperCollins Acquires Book From Community Writing Site Inkpop.com – eBookNewser

New Ebook Platforms Target the Scholarly Monograph

Digital Rights Management, Ebook Readers, Public Libraries, School Libraries

Why Amazon will never work with libraries

January 29, 2011 spolanka

Very interesting blog post at ireaderreview.com on why Amazon will never work with libraries. Â The blog is not an official Kindle site, and the writer is portraying his views from a big business perspective, so keep this in mind before you shoot through the roof with anger, librarians. Â The comments are colorful as well, and worth a look. Â Let’s say this IS true, and Amazon will never work with libraries. Â Does this change your attitude toward loaning Kindles and buying content from Amazon to support the Kindles? Â If nook, SONY, Kobo, and others are better suited for library content, would you rather buy, loan and promote these devices in your library? I would.