Friday, July 17, 2009 5:20:00 AM
Rare Books, eBooks, Books, Public Libraries
We are not exactly a place for book lovers but as a blog which covers all sorts of electronic resources we are obliged to write about a post with the intriguing title of "
100 Places to Connect With Other Bibliophiles Online" that we found via
Librarians' Internet Index.
Thanks to online book clubs, book trading networks, social media sites just for librarians and book lovers, kids' networks and more, connecting with your fellow bibliophiles and gnashing about favorite books is easier than ever. Thanks to these sites, you don't have to wait for your friends to hurry up and finish the book you just read: chances are, there's someone out there who's dying to talk about it too.
I personally was not impressed with the librarians section, but the list is an attempt by the
Online Education Database (OEDb) site ( the creator of the list) to compile resources for bibliophiles under the categories of social media, book collectors, blogs, recommendations, organizing and sharing titles, novelists and writers, sites for children and teens, trading and selling and for those who love to read.
Read the list and let me know what you think and if more sites should be added.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 9:55:31 PM
eBooks
Resourceshelf
found an informative article about e-Books called "
E-books: Understanding the Basics" by Jane Lee from California Digital Library.
Today more and more customers turn to
e-Books ( short for electronic book) via the two main library vendors
Overdrive and
NetLibrary so understanding the basics of the e-Books concept is expected from every librarian.
e-Books can provide better support for things that people do while they’re reading and
for reading itself.
• The ability to resize text is one of the most often cited benefits of reading e-books. With a
printed book, the reader is locked into one font size.
• Another important feature is the ability to search the full text of e-books.
• Many e-book readers allow you to look up definitions easily.
• Annotation is supported, although ease of use varies.
Among many things, when one owns a book, he or she is able to do the following:
• Read the book as many times as he or she would like.
• Keep the book forever, unless he or she loses it or chooses to part with it.
• Lend, sell, or give the book to another person.
The article explains in details different e-Book standards (
EPUB / .epub ; Adobe /
pdf ;
eReader / .pdb ;
Mobipocket / .prc/.mobi ;
Microsoft Reader / .lit;
Kindle / .azw ;
Sony Reader / .lrx/.lrf ).
And if you want to see different scenarios for the future with or without print books make sure to finish reading the article.
Monday, March 9, 2009 8:43:37 PM
eBooks
It is hard for me to believe that we didn’t post anything about
Kindle 2. The
Los Angeles Times has an interesting summary about the new Kindle. Here is a
video of Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos briefly introducing Kindle 2.
The Kindle 2 is sleeker and faster, stores more books and keeps a charge longer. Plus, there's an extra twist: It talks
The
Authors Guild of America objected Kindle's innovative text-to-speech feature ( talking) claiming that Kindle doesn’t "have the right to read a book out loud. That's an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law."
Later Amazon decided not to fight The Authors Guild and
allowed authors and publishers to decide whether to enable Kindle's text-to-speech function on a per-title basis.
I personally think that Amazon has a better chance in court proving their point, but I guess the company didn’t want to settle the argument legally.
Monday, February 2, 2009 1:15:00 PM
eBooks, Public Libraries
Who said that library customers have to read eBooks only on eReaders like
Kindle or custom software programs from eBook vendors like
Overdrive and
NetLibray.
BooksInMyPhone formats and packages books on java enabled phones. All the eBooks offered on cell phones are out of copyright and users can download them with one click.
DailyLit has a slightly different approach. eBooks are pushed in 5 minute packages to readers on PCs and handheld devices via email or RSS feeds at time chosen by the consumer. The company has a catalog of over 1300 novels, many of which are free.
BookGlutton is ambitious not only to deliver eBooks but also to create an online book communities. Readers are invited to join online groups devoted to certain authors, books or create their own one.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008 10:57:35 PM
eBooks, Public Libraries
There is a high demand for textbooks in every public library and college bookstore, so anyone who is willing to lower the cost of buying or renting them is helping a lot.
The National Association of College Stores
announced recently that students in selected colleges will be able to buy electronic textbooks at the college bookstore using a special kiosks that will download the files to a CD or a flash drive.
Movies will be the first product offered...The plan is to add digital textbooks to the kiosks starting next summer, says Charles Schmidt, a spokesman for the association.
“As educational content and course materials evolve to include more multimedia, stores will be prepared to provide that content with lower-cost solutions,” said Mark Nelson, vice president for strategy and development at the new spinoff company.
NACS Media Solutions is the name of the company charged with implementing the project. To protect copyright holders, rented materials will self-destruct after a while, due to special coding. More details
are available at Resourceshelf blog.
PS
I just found out that the Kept-Up Academic Librarian blog also
has a post about the downloadable eTextbooks.
Saturday, August 23, 2008 5:27:24 AM
eBooks, Books, Public Libraries
Wondering how to get rid of old books, movies and music. Don’t throw them away. You can swap them for books, DVDs and CDs that you are interested in.
Wall Street Journal reviewed three sites Paperbackswap.com, Swaptree.com and Bookmooch.com and you can find out the details.
The way it works is you post all the books you're willing to swap with other site members. You get two free credits for posting your first 10 book titles. (One credit is redeemable for one book.) You earn an additional credit for each of your books requested by (and sent) to another member
When someone requests one of your books, the swap sites create an automatic mailing label (preprinted with the recipient's address) for you to print out wrap around the book and mail it. Price for shipping per book is around $2.00.
Paperbackswap.com, which is the oldest site also allows you to buy credits for $3.45 a credit.
Bookmooch.com has a similar model but with less choices and not so well refined service. In addition to books
Swaptree.com users are allowed to trade one-to-one swap of DVDs, CDs and movies too.
Via: Resourceshelf
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2008/08/08/online-swap-meets-for-books/
Friday, March 28, 2008 5:48:14 PM
eBooks, Public Libraries
Overdrive, one of the leading vendors for audio and ebooks, music and video for public libraries announced that they will offer around 3000 titles ( 15% of the entire collection) on MP3 format without DRM, so library customers can use them on their phones, MP3 players, iPods and PCs.
Up to know Overdrive was offering their collection in Windows Media Audio (WMA) format with digital rights management (DRM), which was incompatible with iPods, MP3 players and iPods.
"OverDrive CEO Steve Potash said the policy change emerged from demand in the library market, OverDrive’s track record, and “some recent moves in the audiobook retail market,” including an announcement by Random House that it would make its audiobook titles available without DRM in the MP3 format."
Overdrive negotiated permissions from Apple to offer MP3 for iPods without DRM. On library pages users will see availability of audio books in WMA and MP3 formats. Overdrive is also working on new coding to discourage library customers from unauthorized use of MP3 files.
Via: Library Journal
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6542329.html?rssid=191
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 6:21:39 PM
eBooks
I always follow very carefully all the changes that OCLC ( Online Computer Library Center) implements, because this is the organization that 41 000 libraries in 82 countries access to find catalog records for their books or get information for interlibrary loans.
“NetLibrary, OCLC's platform for eContent and the leading provider of eBooks for the institutional library market, has announced agreements with 21 leading publishers that will add thousands of new eBooks and eAudiobooks to NetLibrary's growing catalog of more than 160,000 titles.” A lot of libraries are subscribed to
NetLibrary and I am sure that they will take advantage of the new international titles offer.
In the beginning of this month OCLC
started another innovative feature called
World Map. “The OCLC WorldMap is an interactive visual application for comparing library information on a global level. WorldMap includes country-specific data for WorldCat holdings and data from other sources for publishing and publishers, libraries and library collections, and cultural institutions.”
To see how many holdings OCLC carries and the number of member libraries, just click on the map and find the country you are looking for. World Map can also compare two or more countries at a time.
Via the OCLC blog
http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/200693.htm
Monday, April 16, 2007 5:39:04 AM
eBooks
E-Content
announced last week that
NetLibrary has launched
eAudiobook Subject Sets in Biography, Business, Children's Fiction, Classics, Learning Guides, Mystery & Suspense, Popular Nonfiction, Self-Help, and Young Adult for libraries in the US. Some of the publishers represented in the new subject sets are : Books on Tape, Listening Library, Living Language and Blackstone Audio.
"Users may check out up to 10 e-Audiobooks at a time. e-Audiobooks can be downloaded or played on desktop, laptop or portable devices that support Windows Media Player version 9 and above."
Thomson Gale also
has launched a new reference website on controversial topics called WiseTo Social Issues. According to E-Content
WiseTo Social Issues provides "a balanced look at all sides of social issues and current events, including professionally written information on more than 100 subjects from abortion to capital punishment, euthanasia to the war in Iraq, and global warming to gun control."
Each topics contains definition; summary overview; fast facts; essays for each position (neutral or pro or con )and stats. Users also have the ability to purchase a premium passes for more information.
My Opera
