Sharpe Reference now indexed in Reference Universe

From a Paratext press release:

Paratext is pleased to announce that links to the reference works from the Sharpe Online Reference collection have been added to the nearly 50,000 scholarly subject encyclopedias and other reference titles accessible via Reference Universe.    Sharpe Online Reference (SOLR) includes the titles that make up the U.S. and Global History and Culture collections. SOLR brings together award-wining subject coverage, the convenience and flexibility of online research and a fresh new approach to digital content ownership.

You can find the full press release here.  Additional information about Paratext resources can be found at  www.paratext.com.

Articles of Interest

3M announces Cloud Library e-book lending service for ’21st century’ libraries — Engadget

Mobile Reading REALLY Comes of Age — An Information-packed Slide Deck Worth Viewing « The Scholarly Kitchen

How To Download eBooks From Your Local Library – eBookNewser

8,000 authors choose Open Access and see direct evidence of the positive impact

Jailbreak Your Kindle for Dead Simple Screensaver Customization – How-To Geek

Cheap isn’t Always the Best Price – eBookNewser

eBooks: Smithsonian Libraries Converts Digital Publications for eReaders; Material is Free To Download « INFOdocket

News: A Hole Lot of Books – Inside Higher Ed

iPad, Tablet Users Prefer Digital Texts — Campus Technology

6 Companies Aiming to Digitize the Textbook Industry

ALA annual programs on e-Reference preservation and the impact of wikipedia

As you prepare your ALA Annual schedule, please consider the following two programs sponsored by the RUSA Reference Publishing Advisory Committee and the Reference Books Bulletin Advisory Board.
RUSA Reference Publishing Advisory Committee Program:
Reference Publishing: Preservation Trends & Issues – June 25 Sat 1:30-3:30
As electronic reference products transform to electronic formats, often with continuously updated content instead of one time publications, new challenges for archiving and preservation arise. Building on recent developments for archiving electronic books and journal content, this program will highlight the issues and challenges of preserving free and licensed e-reference content as well as foster discussion on possible solutions.
Panelists:
  • Heather Ruland Staines, Sr. Manager eOperations at Springer Science + Business Media
  • Ken DiFiore, Associate Director, Outreach & Participation Services,Portico
  • Marie McCaffrey, Executive Director, HistoryLink.org
  • Jacob Nadal, Preservation Officer, UCLA Library

Reference Books Bulletin Advisory Board Program:
The Wikipedia Effect: How Wikipedia Has Changed the Way the World Finds and Evaluates Information – Monday June 27 10:30-12 Convention Center 345

How have eBooks improved library service?

It seems like most of the blog posts, articles, and presentations on eBooks focus on the challenges and other negative impacts of eBooks.  I don’t deny these exist, but would like to turn some attention to how eBooks improve library service.  When people ask me why they should invest in eBooks, I always respond with a couple of standard responses – 24/7 access to content anywhere for your patrons and no shelf required.   Today I can add to that list – patrons are asking for them.  I’m in the process of writing an article for the Special Libraries Association about improving service through ebooks.  I’d like to include some specific examples of how libraries have improved service with ebooks.  If you have an idea or example you can share with me for the article, please let me know.

Some topics I hope to explore are:

  • eReference and virtual reference services
  • patron driven acquisition and short-term loans for just-in-time collections
  • 24/7 access anywhere including mobile
  • downloadable content for personal devices
  • embedding eBooks in content management systems
  • lending eReaders

OverDrive accelerates eBook distribution for K-12 and higher education markets

From an OverDrive press release:

Educational and academic publishers can now reach schools around the world with hundreds of K-12 and higher education libraries now in OverDrive’s global network. New eBook publishers supplying to OverDrive-powered school, college, and university libraries include Houghton Mifflin, Evan-Moor Educational Publishers, Kaeden Publishing, Barnes Report, and ALA Editions. They join Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., Disney Digital Books, Elsevier Science, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Scholastic, Taylor & Francis, and many others in providing digital books to libraries via OverDrive. Continue reading

Bowker study shows print is NOT dead

Received this via email today:  Bowker released its annual report on U.S. print book publishing, compiled from its Books In Print® database.  Based on preliminary figures from U.S. publishers, Bowker is projecting that despite the popularity of e-books, traditional U.S. print title output in 2010 increased 5%.  Output of new titles and editions increased from 302,410 in 2009 to a projected 316,480 in 2010. The 5% increase comes on the heels of a 4% increase the previous year based on the final 2008-2009 figures.

The non-traditional sector continues its explosive growth, increasing 169% from 1,033,065 in 2009 to an amazing 2,776,260 in 2010.   These books, marketed almost exclusively on the web, are largely on-demand titles produced by reprint houses specializing in public domain works and by presses catering to self-publishers and ”micro-niche” publications. Continue reading

2011 Salem Press Library Blog Awards – Vote Now

Salem Press has once again surveyed the library blog landscape in search of exceptional thinking, writing and information. After sifting through hundreds of nominations, our blog judges have spoken and their votes have been tallied. Forty outstanding blogs, five in each category, came out on top. We now need your help to narrow down the list of finalists.

To vote for your favorite blogs, click Blog Awards. And thanks for participating. Continue reading

Articles of Interest

Mourning the Printed Book — The Aesthetic and Sensory Deprivation of E-books « The Scholarly Kitchen

10 Websites To Download Free eBooks – eBookNewser

The subscription model for ebooks hasn’t emerged yet, but it will – 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

EBSCO Publishing launches mobile applications

I received an email today from Kathleen McEvoy at EBSCO Publishing.  They are beginning to release mobile applications, the first for the iOS.  eBook reading applications will follow (see last line below). More information is also available in the press release.

From the email: The new iPhone app is available free from the iTunes App Store and provides easy authentication for users via a library’s EBSCOhost profile.

The iPhone app introduces new features including the ability to view content in visual landscape mode and the option to save articles and PDF full-text content on the device for offline viewing. The app also includes existing EBSCOhost features such as limiting to full text, date ranges, peer-reviewed content or by publication. Continue reading

Open Access eBooks, part 4, by Eric Hellman

From Eric Hellman’s blog, Go To Hellman – The fourth section my book chapter on Open Access eBooks looks at theier relationship with libraries.  I previously posted the IntroductionWhat does Open Access mean for eBooks and Business Models for Creation of Open Access E-Books. I’ll be posting one more section, a conclusion.

Thank you for all of your comments; the completed chapter (and OA eBook) will be better for them.

Libraries and Open Access E-Books
One of the missions of libraries is to provide access to all sorts of information, including e-books. If an e-book is already open access, what role is left for libraries play?

Here’s a thought-experiment for libraries: imagine that the library’s entire collection is digital. Should it include Shakespeare? Should it include Moby Dick? These are available as public domain works from Project Gutenberg; providing these editions in a library collection might seem to be superfluous. Many librarians have been trying to convince their patrons that “free stuff on the Internet” is often inferior to the quality information available through libraries. There are certainly e-book editions of these works available for purchase with better illustrations, better editing, annotations, etc. Should libraries try to steer patrons to these resources instead of using the free stuff? Continue reading
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