LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

From Poynter.org, New York Times to spin off Book Review for e-readers:

The New York Times is planning to offer its Book Review as a separate digital e-reader product, disaggregated from the rest of the Times content on the mobile devices, according to James Dunn, director of marketing for The New York Times.

Dunn alluded to the plan during an afternoon session at the Digital Publishing Alliance (DPA) and E-Reader Symposium at the University of Missouri's Reynolds Journalism Institute. Following the session, Dunn spoke briefly with Poynter's Bill Mitchell and provided additional details.

Mitchell reports the Times will introduce a separate version of its Book Review for three e-reader platforms, beginning with the Sony e-reader in the next couple of weeks. Versions for Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook will follow. Dunn declined to say what the price will be for the Book Review on these platforms.

Excerpt from article by Ben Bova:

My novel “Cyberbooks” was science fiction when it was published in 1989. Today it’s coming true.

“Cyberbooks” was a satirical look at how the book-publishing industry will inevitably change from printing books on paper to putting them out electronically. My basic premise was simple: electrons are cheaper than paper.

The hero of my novel was an idealistic young Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineer who had invented a workable electronic book reader, a cyberbook.

Full article

Book: Cyberbooks

Ouch! Web designer and cartoonist Brad Colbow calls this strip Why DRM Doesn't Work--but the subtitle reads "How to Download an Audiobook from the Cleveland Public Library." Colbow's not taking a shot at Cleveland Public, but at the frustrating (for him--and, I admit, for me, too, as a patron) experience of trying to use Overdrive...one that ends with the strip's protagonist choosing to "give up on [the] stupid library" and head for BitTorrent.

A recent blog post by Craig Mod, a self-titled computer programmer, book designer and book publisher, offers a thoughtful and distinctive perspective on the move of books from paper to interactive devices like Apple’s iPad.

Mr. Mod summarizes his argument in the subtitle of his post: “Print is dying. Digital is surging. Everyone is confused. Good riddance.”

Mr. Mod divides content broadly into two categories: content where the form is important, such as poetry or text with graphics, and content where form is divorced from layout, which he says applies to most novels and non-fiction.

This kind of thinking makes a key point: instead of arguing about pixels versus paper, as many book lovers tend to do, it is more useful to focus on whether the technology is a good match for the content.

Full article at the NYT Bits Blog

"As the publishing industry wobbles and Kindle sales jump, book romanticists cry themselves to sleep. But really, what are we shedding tears over? We’re losing the throwaway paperback. The airport paperback.
The beachside paperback..."
Read the rest @craigmod

Books Outnumber Games in the App Store
For the first time in the Apple App Store history, books outnumber games, making books the biggest category in the store. The App Store has been ever-evolving since it’s conception. As both developers and iPhone owners discover new uses for apps for work, fun, and daily life we expect to see even more changes in the future.

BoingBoing Pointed the way to this funny because it's true comic: Audiobook DRM versus the patrons of the Cleveland Library. "This installment of the Brads webcomic shows the 22 steps a reader has to take in order to borrow a DRM-crippled audiobook from the public library. A compelling argument for libraries to boycott this stuff."

The Shaler Library is letting Phil Breidenbach, 54, of Glenshaw PA and a handful of other patrons experiment with an Amazon Kindle, a hand-held device for reading online books. Shaler will be the first local library to lend such gadgets to the general public when it introduces them during National Library Week in mid-April.

"If books move to a format that doesn't take up space, that will free up libraries to do other things," said Marilyn Jenkins, executive director of the Allegheny County Library Association, a group of suburban libraries, including Shaler. Story from Pittsburgh Live.

Math of Publishing Meets the E-Book
In the emerging world of e-books, many consumers assume it is only logical that publishers are saving vast amounts by not having to print or distribute paper books, leaving room to pass along those savings to their customers. But publishers also say consumers exaggerate the savings and have developed unrealistic expectations about how low the prices of e-books can go.

Have you read an e-book yet? Do you think it means the end of bookshops and libraries as we know them? Will book people have to turn into e-book people to meet the brave new world? It's all a bit early to say.

I [Philip Harvey, see below] haven't read an e-book and when asked by borrowers if I feel that my profession of librarian is under threat, I ask them if they themselves have used an e-book. No, is the consistent reply. But they know chapter and verse about the developments, usually from what they have seen on the internet. The new slimline gadgets can display everything a text maniac wants to get their hands on. Or so it seems.

More on ebooks, Google, digitisation, and the Information Revolution from Philip Harvey, President of the Australian and New Zealand Theological Library Association in Australia's Eureka Street.