Library News, Reviews, and Views
Ask anyone who loves books about the most challenging aspect of being a reader, and the answer you’ll inevitably hear is: There’s never enough time to read. Fortunately for book enthusiasts everywhere, this January Penguin Random House will be teaming up with the National Book Foundation, GoodReads, and Mashable to encourage readers across the country to take four dedicated hours to read—for a good cause.
Seattle, regularly a contender for the title of most literate city in the United States by Central Connecticut State University’s annual ranking, is doubling down on its reputation as a book-loving burg. This March, the city submitted its application for designation as a UNESCO City of Literature, a bid that would make Seattle the second city in the United States and the eighth city in the world to receive the title.
Grappling with the literacy gap has long been at the heart of library work, and several conversations I had at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia got me thinking that we need to be more creative about how we address this persistent problem. Then, the Turn the Page initiative rolling out in New Orleans hit my email inbox, and it struck me as a fresh and much bolder strategy.
A colleague’s perspective helps guest columnist Char Booth see the difficulties librarians face in building their ebook collections. If digital literacy is exploding, the visually disabled are taking the shrapnel. I would wager that most librarians consider ourselves committed to accessibility and make individual and organizational efforts to comply with (and often exceed) the Americans […]
Affidavit says 12 million books digitized, $2.5 million a year spent on metadata An affidavit (below) from Google Book Search Engineering Director Dan Clancy accompanying various motions from Google in support of the pending Google Book Search Settlement—due for a fairness hearing in federal court on February 18—includes several statistics of interest to the library […]
By Barbara Fister, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN Barbara Fister mulls the latest changes, and has some worries. When I first wrote about the Google’s effort to digitize major libraries back in 2005, I found my initial awe modified by both the inevitable legal challenges that would follow and by a number of practical […]
By Norman Oder No library representatives are on witness list Reps from Google, Amazon to testify Register of Copyrights on witness list ALA, OBA submit testimony On what appears to be short notice, the House Judiciary Committee will hold (and webcast) a hearing on Competition and Commerce in Digital Books Thursday beginning at 10 a.m. The […]
By Norman Oder Deadline for comment extended until September 8; could GBS replace ILL? Colleges say institutional subscription database would help Academic authors may want pricing to be low Antitrust battles—is GBS a "new good"? In a flurry of comments filed with the federal court New York overseeing the proposed Google Book Search settlement, library […]
By Norman Oder Groups express concerns about pricing, composition of Book Rights Registry Go back to the Academic Newswire for more stories Letter follows up on May meeting DoJ should treat settlement as consent decree OCA asks Google to request delay in hearing The American Library Association (ALA), the Association of College and Research Libraries […]
By Norman Oder ALA 2009: Panelists agree deal has huge potential, but wary about pricing, privacy, and control Go back to the Academic Newswire for more stories Proponents: project lets libraries focus on strengths Critics: can Google be trusted? Hearing coming in October (For a set of links, go to LibraryJournal.com/GoogleBookSearchSettlement.) Fissures in the library […]
INFOdocket by Gary Price
