Thursday, June 21, 2012
theatlantic:

Why Should Books Still Be Books When They’re on Tablets?

For all the disruption in the publishing industry wrought by the Internet, e-readers, and tablets, reading a book still feels like, well, reading a book: tabbing through pages, digesting information linearly. But maybe that will change. The company Semi-Linear is hoping so: Its recently unveiled Citia iPad apps reinvents long-form non-fiction for the tablet, turning books into something that resembles less a sequence of chapters and more a digital spread of sharable, customizable, collectible cards.
Read more. [Image: Semi-Linear]


Very interesting concept.

theatlantic:

Why Should Books Still Be Books When They’re on Tablets?

For all the disruption in the publishing industry wrought by the Internet, e-readers, and tablets, reading a book still feels like, well, reading a book: tabbing through pages, digesting information linearly. But maybe that will change. The company Semi-Linear is hoping so: Its recently unveiled Citia iPad apps reinvents long-form non-fiction for the tablet, turning books into something that resembles less a sequence of chapters and more a digital spread of sharable, customizable, collectible cards.

Read more. [Image: Semi-Linear]

Very interesting concept.

It’s clear we’re missing some tools. Many of the services handled by our traditional distributors—a comprehensive and straightforward acquisitions system, and the seamless delivery of both metadata and items—either don’t exist in the digital world or impose a host of onerous new restrictions. For instance, with OverDrive, libraries sacrifice ownership (and our ability to preserve content), discounts (because rental fees often exceed retail costs), and integration (requiring our patrons to work with entirely separate and markedly different interfaces). With Baker & Taylor, the file format is again proprietary and ignores NISO standards.

James LaRue, “Navigating the Ebook Revolution”, American Libraries (5/23/2012).

This article is a little old, but it does offer some ideas on what librarians can and maybe should do (scroll to the bottom, “The Librarian”) in regards to the ebook and publishers dilemma. I agree that we shouldn’t sit around and wait for the next best deal to come along, especially when so many publishers are restricting libraries’ access to e-reader content already. We need to start a dialogue with publishers and make our voices heard. Patrons and librarians both are consumers of books.

Sunday, May 13, 2012 Tuesday, February 21, 2012
And let’s be honest, any deal where libraries are giving publishers money for access to an ebook that is then loaned out to one library patron at a time as if it was a physical book is a bad deal. The arbitrary 26-loan cap just makes the deal worse. Annoyed Librarian on libraries and ebooks and patrons and ebooks and what are we going to do about this because I’m really hoping we gain some ground in the right direction very, very soon. (via thelifeguardlibrarian)
Monday, January 30, 2012
Fact: most American communities do not have the luxury of an indie bookstore and a library. More public libraries (9,225 according to ALA) exist than do independents in this country, so Random has done a wise thing by stepping up its library marketing and going deeper into the trenches to interact with patrons, likely part of the demographic who made “personal recommendations” (at 49.2 percent) the top ranking way that respondents in the Verso study found out about new books. Coming in at number two, not surprisingly, was bookstore staff recommendations (at 30.8 percent). Heather McCormack—Editor, LJ Book Review—takes on libraries’ role in helping connect readers (and consumers) to books in “A Most Optimistic Unconference: Publishers, Libraries, and Independent Bookstores at Digital Book World 2012.” (via libraryjournal)
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 Thursday, December 22, 2011
trendykidsbooks:

The Guggenheim releases its first e-books

Guggenheim Publications is not only releasing new e-book titles such as the Cattelan catalogue but also making available historic out-of-print titles for online browsing and publishing digital versions of reprinted titles, including I’d Like the Goo-Gen-Heim, a timeless introduction to modern art for young readers.

                            > Read the full Guggenheim Press Release.

trendykidsbooks:

The Guggenheim releases its first e-books

Guggenheim Publications is not only releasing new e-book titles such as the Cattelan catalogue but also making available historic out-of-print titles for online browsing and publishing digital versions of reprinted titles, including I’d Like the Goo-Gen-Heim, a timeless introduction to modern art for young readers.

                            > Read the full Guggenheim Press Release.

(Source: somethingoutofsomething)

Wednesday, December 21, 2011