March 2010

Almost half of poor Americans go to the library for Internet
There’s more data coming in on the extent to which low income Americans depend on public institutions for broadband. A new report released by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation says that 44 percent of those living below the poverty level access e-mail and the Web via their local public library. And nearly a third of Americans over 14 used library Internet services in 2009. That’s about 77 million people.

After delivering a speech on health-care Thursday at the University of Iowa, President Obama made a surprise stop a small bookstore in Iowa City, where he bought books for his daughters and his press secretary — and lamented that he can no longer browse for reading material as he once did when he was a little-known candidate.

“Well, this used to be my favorite place,” Obama told the owner of Prairie Lights, an independent downtown bookstore, as she showed him around. He had mentioned the shop in his speech, noting that it has been offering health-insurance benefits to full-time employees for the last 20 years, only to see premiums shoot up 35 percent last year, making it harder to afford the same coverage.

Full story in the Washington Post and…here’s the raw video via youTube:

When it comes to buying and selling books on the iPad, we’re about to witness a strange dance between those who make or sell electronic books and those who read them.

On April 3, when customers pick up their fancy new Apple iPads and want to purchase an e-book, they will have to decide which online bookstore they want to give their money to.

From the start, no one bookstore will come with an advantage: No matter which bookstore application iPad owners choose, they will have to download it first. Even the iBookstore, as Apple writes on its Web site, won’t come preloaded on the device. I Pad owners will be asked to “Download the iBooks app free from the App Store.”

There will also be a swarm of other booksellers to choose from.

Full article

In two blog posts it is discussed how Amazon is protecting Australian publishers by restricting what ebooks are sold in Australia.

There’s No Legal Reason For Geo Restrictions On eBooks

Industry source says ebook geo-restrictions not legal – suggests we rort at will

Overdrive to Offer Honor System eBook Lending for Libraries
The purchase and usage model for DRM-free ebooks, at least to start, will be almost the same as for DRM ebooks. The library will be able to purchase one or more licenses for use by a single user of the book at a time. In other words, the patron will be able to borrow the ebook for a set borrowing period, during which time other patrons will not be able to read the ebook. At the end of the borrowing period, the patron will be reminded to delete the book from their computer or reading device. With DRM, the ebook “self-destructs” on its own, which might be viewed as a convenience if not for the headaches DRM can impose on users. Without DRM, the patron is on the honor system.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand (Random House page for book)

The ebook market is growing faster as it grows larger.

The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), in an email to members Friday, reported U.S. wholesale ebook sales for the month of January, 2010 rose 261 percent to $31.9 million from the same period a year ago.

To put this in perspective, I created the chart below, which pulls annual wholesale ebook sales data from the Association of American Publishers(AAP). For 2010, I annualized IDPF’s January data.

Full story here

Young Learners Need Librarians, Not Just Google
In the libraries of old, the Dewey Decimal System got you started on research. But there is no card catalog 2.0. To use the Internet as a library you need new research skills: the ability to pick out reliable sources from an overwhelming heap of misinformation, to find relevant material amid an infinite array of options, to navigate the shifting ethics of creative commons and intellectual property rights and to present conclusions in a manner that engages modern audiences.

Teen accused of stealing CDs, Bible from library
A 17-year-old boy ran away from a librarian Saturday afternoon at the Bethlehem Public Library after she stopped him for allegedly stealing some CDs — but, police said, he left behind a backpack, a diary and photo identification.

As part of an IMLS funded Early Career Research Grant, Dr. Vandana Singh (Assistant Professor, School of Information Sciences at University of Tennessee-Knoxville) is working on a 3 year research project that will compare the technical support for Open Source Integrated Library Systems with proprietary Integrated Library Systems.
In this active phase 1 of this research project, we are collecting data regarding the expectations of librarians for technical support and the available channels of technical support. We will identify the expectations of librarians about technical support for ILS (both open source software and proprietary software).
At this stage, we are looking for participants interested in contributing to this study. If you would be willing to participate in the study that would be greatly appreciated. You can take the survey and find more information at: http://oss-research.cci.utk.edu/. You can also direct any queries or suggestions to [email protected] with “ILS Survey” in the subject line.