DCWG Big Six Matrix for Ebook License Comparisons
By Rob Maier The Digital Content and Libraries Working Group continues to explore issues related to the Big Six publishers and library purchasing, licensing, and lending of their ebooks. Even for...
View ArticleRandom House Library Sampler
This summer, Random House is reaching out to libraries with an ebook preview sampler that offers chapters from nine books by new authors. This is wonderful recognition of the vital role that libraries...
View ArticleSteve Jobs, in the E-Library, with the Dollar Sign?
By Christopher Harris A recently released email from Steve Jobs to James Murdoch of News Corporation, which owns HarperCollins, shows just how involved the late Apple executive was in developing the...
View ArticleDCL May Ebook Price Report: The Devil Is in the Details
The May ebook price report from Douglas County (Colo) Libraries draws upon the USA Today 25 bestsellers list, which includes a nice mix of fiction, nonfiction, and children’s titles. Overall, 12 of the...
View ArticleHachette Book Group: Good Deal or Not?
After a two-year pilot phase, Hachette Book Group is expanding its ebook offerings to include it full catalog and a variety of ebook services including OverDrive, 3M, and Baker & Taylor.read more
View ArticleSimon & Schuster Launches Library Ebook Pilot
The last holdout from the major trade publishers, Simon & Schuster, this morning announced the start of an ebook pilot (PDF file) with New York City public libraries.read more
View ArticleApple Didn’t Censor Comic After All
The kerfuffle spread quite fast across tech and library blogs; Apple was censoring a comic because of some minor sexual content.read more
View ArticleSeattle’s Jim Loter Reveals His Library’s ReadersFirst Strategy
On Day Two of the “Imagine. Create. Innovate.” conference, Jim Loter, director of information technology at Seattle Public Library, discussed his library’s digital content strategy and the ReadersFirst...
View ArticleJames LaRue speaks at “Imagine. Create. Innovate.” conference
By Christopher Harris I’m writing this from the Monroe County (N.Y.) Library System’s Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County, which is hosting “Imagine. Create. Innovate.” The technology...
View ArticleApril Ebook Report from DCL
For April, the Douglas County (Colo.) Libraries ebook price report turns back to the top 25 bestselling ebooks from Digital Book World. Overall, libraries fare better in this comparison, with 11 of the...
View ArticleDoes Piracy Impact Sales? Not How You Might Think!
Those dirty thieves pirating digital music are killing the whole music industry—or at least that is the reality that the music industry would have you believe. But can the music industry actually back...
View ArticleRealizing the Scope of Digital Change
Sometimes you just have to stop and marvel at the incredible pace of technological change. It helps if you are sitting down, because when the scope of the change finally hits you, things might go all...
View ArticleMarch DCL Ebook Price Report: The Rise of the Independents?
For the March 2013 edition of the ebook price report, Douglas County (Colo.) Libraries went back to look at the New York Times bestseller list.read more
View ArticleA Simple Digital License
One of the key characteristics of digital content is that it is licensed under contract law as opposed to being purchased with first sale rights from copyright law. While being the cause of great pain...
View ArticlePiggyback Technology
Confusing as it may sound, this is what is playing out in the larger publishing world right now. Publishers are upset because Amazon is becoming a successful publisher. So Hachette, Penguin, and Simon...
View ArticleIndependent Bookstores vs. Amazon and the Big Six
In a lawsuit filed in New York last week, three independent bookstores are seeking relief from what they refer to as monopolistic practices by Amazon and the Big Six publishers regarding ebooks. At...
View ArticleOuya: A Game-Changing Game System
Book publishing has the big six; console gaming has the big three. As the only major survivors from the more robust console ecosystem of the ’90s, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have dominated the...
View ArticleOne Ebook to Prove Them All
By Eric Hellman There’s a lot of data suggesting that exposure to books in libraries increases sales for those books.read more
View ArticleThe Disappearing Library Discount
What would it mean for libraries if one of the ideals that we commonly hold to be fundamental to our existence suddenly ceased to be true?read more
View ArticlePew’s Latest Library Report Looks at Services
The latest report on public library services from the Pew Internet and American Life Project takes a hard look at the future of library services. Most importantly, the survey explores roles for the...
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