Electronic Publications

David Rothman writes "Are you running a Katrinka-related site, or do you have a list of them? Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, has emailed a note to an Archive-related list--asking for people to point the archive to appropriate URLs. Brewster also needs volunteers to "help
orchestrate the crawl." Who better suited for this than Web-savvy librarians? Meanwhile it's good to see librarians helping other librarians recover from the disaster. Beyond losing friends and perhaps family members, imagine the loss of both your house and your library's collection, especially local history. While present needs must come first, however, let's also hope that there is an interest in preserving the news of today for future researchers.

gsandler writes "Here is a News.com
follow-up to the story
about Princeton's plans to offer e-books
with expiration dates as an alternative to traditional expensive textbooks.
"In the blogosphere, where freedom of information reigns, critics immediately seized on the e-book program as a classic example of why digital rights management is evil."

gsandler writes "Here
is a News.com story about how Princeton
University and nine other colleges are offering students bargain textbook downloads that expire after five months.
"Alongside the new and used versions of Dante's "Inferno" and "Essentials of Psychology" will be little cards offering 33 percent off if students decide to download a digital version of a text instead of buying a hard copy.
That's not a bad deal for a cash-strapped student facing book bills in the hundreds of dollars. But there are trade-offs. The new digital textbook program imposes strict guidelines on how the books can be used, including locking the downloaded books to a single computer and setting a five-month expiration date, after which the book can't be read."

Anonymous Patron writes "As a former Princeton student myself I cannot say that this is the right way to approach e-books... more
here."

International Herald Tribune says for every breathless proclamation of some exciting advance in the world of e-books, there seems to be a more sober announcement of some setback.
Some authors have concluded that the best way to make money through e-books is to give them away.

Pete writes "BBC News has this http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4739369.stm
story about ancient manuscripts and new technology.

"A manuscript containing the oldest known Biblical New Testament in the world is set to enter the digital age and become accessible online.

A team of experts from the UK, Europe, Egypt and Russia is currently digitising the parchment known as the Codex Sinaiticus, believed originally to have been one of 50 copies of the scriptures commissioned by Roman Emperor Constantine after he converted to Christianity.""

Anonymous Patron writes "The One From The Seattle Times: on the King County Library System's new audio-book feature, which allows patrons to download an audio book online, without even visiting the library. The system isn't compatible with Apple products. The audio-book files are stored in the Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, not compatible with a Mac or iPod. You'll need a PC with a newer version of the Windows operating system."

David Rothman writes "The thin, pale-skinned Vendor did what he could to comfort The Librarian and make a sale. But he mustn't betray his secret. He remembered the library in the other town, the one that had placed garlic over the door. Even if it had happened on Halloween, that was not a good sign.

Still, despite the dark clothes, funereal mien and soul to match, the Vendor was feeling exuberant today. A rival e-book outfit was was going out of business. Thousands of e-books in The Librarian's collection would be unreadable--"protected" by proprietary DRM and "preserved" in a proprietary format to begin with. Maybe The Vendor could altruistically replace them with books in his own proprietary format. "I promise you," The Vendor said. "We're here to stay."

"But how do I know?" asked The Librarian, feeling an odd ache in the back of her neck.

More at TeleRead."

David Rothman writes "I recently suggested that billionaire writer J.K. Rowling could make a little more money and help the cause of literacy if she authorized electronic versions of her works. Why let this omission create a demand for pirated Rowling? Guess what. As reported by MobileRead and TeleRead, the inevitable is now happening with Rowling's latest novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The pirates have been spreading around Potter--even in audio, as a sample shows--without a nickel reaching Rowling.

David Rothman writes "If you're looking for up-to-date news on "ebooks," you won't find it at Technorati. The company's tag operation seems to be in chaos, at least from an "ebooks" perspective. At 11:15 a.m today, I didn't see a single link to TeleRead's e-book-and-library blog from posts made in the past seven days--even though TeleRead has done a bunch of e-book items in that time.

I sympathize with Technorati CEO Dave Sifry over his spam problem. But it's still rather surrealistic to see Technorati's "ebooks" tag category linking right now to "Internet Profits Ezine" but not to a noncommercial e-book blog.

Just what does this say about the future of tagging based on content providers' descriptions? Gasp, perhaps Technorati needs a few human librarians to handle the "ebooks" tag. Meanwhile I'd be curious if other LISNews fans are finding similarly bizarre problems with Technorati's tags in other categories.

In fairness to Technorati, Feedster has its own share of filtering problems. But at least it isn't filtering out a whole week of TeleBlog posts. Needless to say, I really need to start thinking about paying more attention to other search, filtering and discovery services such as del.icio.us.

More at TeleRead,"

One from the International Herald Tribune covers the talkies.
Talking literature, with sales last year of $900 million, is of one of the bright spots in a book industry whose overall 2004 sales grew modestly last year. Revenue grew 2.8 percent, to $28.6 billion, in the largest market, the United States, according to Book Industry Trends, which tracks publishing sales.

Jamican libraries and agencies catering to the visually impaired are working together on a project that will, in the next three years, give blind and visually impaired persons digital access to print material from libraries in Jamaica and possibly the region.

More...

Jamican libraries and agencies catering to the visually impaired are working together on a project that will, in the next three years, give blind and visually impaired persons digital access to print material from libraries in Jamaica and possibly the region.

More...

David Rothman writes "I hate binary thinking--"e-books or p-books: it must be one or the other." And so I was delighted to read that the Net has actually helped small p-booksellers. Separately, via an e-mail list run by Friends of the Library USA, I learned of a "ghostly hamlet of 1" with 5,000 paper books in its public library. Farm folks from elsewhere drop by to read. E-books ideally will help them someday, with many more titles from which to choose; but paper books are the here and now. Whatever works!"

AP Says n its Web site, Amazon.com Inc. is asking publishers for audiobooks for a new download store it says it plans to open. But the Internet retailer is being coy about such key details as a launch date.

The Seattle-based company declined to say Friday when any such sales would start or how it would affect its partnership with Audible Inc., the industry-leader in sales of audio versions of books and other publications.

"We never say if or when we're going to be launching a store until we launch it," Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith said.

David Rothman writes "Here's a fun project for tech-inclinded librarians who'd like to introduce kids to e-books. Get a Mattel Juice Box--at times on sale for as little as $12--and an accessory. In less than half an hour or so, your colorful Juice Box could be displaying Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and other classics. Details here and here from TeleRead."

Slashdot has A Thread on Juicebox Hacking that's worth a read as well.

NLS/BPH: Press Release: The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announced today that the national standard for the Digital Talking Book (ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2002) has been approved. A Digital Talking Book (DTB) is a collection of electronic files arranged to present information to the blind and physically handicapped reader via alternative media. The most common medium will be human speech. However, a DTB produced in accordance with the new standard can include a file containing the contents of the document in text form, thereby permitting output via synthetic speech, refreshable braille display devices, or visual display in large print.

David Rothman writes "Foes of e-books have raised issues ranging from screen readability to battery power. But technical progress is happening to address such questions. And, besides, aren't e-books on a laptop better than no books at all? In the end might there be substantial new opportunities for Net-savvy libraries, schools, e-stores and publishers able to come up with appropriate business models and pricing and sensible DRM policies?

One of the most interesting examples of the potential here is the MIT Media Lab's $100 Third World laptop project. More details at TeleRead. Also see here and here.

Given all the promise of the Internet as a knowledge-spreader to fight poverty and improve life in other ways, I'm amazed why a certain "populist" politician is so relucant to speak out against Draconian copyright laws that will reduce the number of free books available for the users of those $100 machines. Is he hoping for more Hollywood money when he runs for President again?"

David Rothman writes "Homer Hickam, Jr., came out of nowhere--to be exact, Coalwood, West Virginia--to grow up to be both a NASA engineer and the author of the best-selling memoir Rocket Boys.

Just how did it happen, and might there be some lessons for librarians and teachers who want e-books to catch on in the classroom? And perhaps for a few governments as well?

More at TeleRead."

David Rothman writes "Is China the next E-Book Central or maybe even the present one? Check out this observation--slightly edited--from veteran computer journalist Nick Hampshire: "The Chinese government is committed to giving e-book access to every one of China’s 165 million students. That is more people than the entire populations of Germany, France and Britain put together. I have personally seen evidence of the Chinese government’s commitment to this goal." More at TeleRead."