Celia's

Does the durability of ebooks pose a digital danger to libraries?

... the uncertainty about ownership of ebook content. What is ownership, after all? Perpetual access under certain conditions defined in the contract? True ownership, where the library can sell or discard its digital copy?

[More]

CARRIE RUSSELL is the director of the Program on Public Access to Information of the Office for Information Policy at ALA’s Washington Office.

From American Libraries magazine...

Searching in ebooks: A unique use case that requires a unique approach

by Peter Meyers  19 August 2011

Ereader search tools need to limit disruption and incorporate web search best practices.

This is part of an ongoing series related to Peter Meyers' project "Breaking the Page, Saving the Reader: A Buyer & Builder's Guide to Digital Books." We'll be featuring additional material in the weeks ahead. (Note: This post originally appeared on A New Kind of Book. It's republished with permission.)

 

Not all ebook search monocles are equal. Options range from non-existent (Hey, Kobo! If there's room in the programming budget for virtual reading awards like the Inverted Comma and the BookLover, then it's time to spring for a search tool, too!), to roughly implemented (Nook), and from nicely polished (Kindle, iBooks) to fully instrumented (Inkling)...[more]

From   

 

The World eBook Fair runs from July 4 through August 4, 2011. Their goal is to provide Free public access for a month to 6.5 Million eBooks.  Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive are both contributing organizations and will be presenting a number of items in other media this year, including music, movies and artwork, even dance choreography.  The collections include light and heavy reading materials, more reference books, scientific items, etc., and about 50,000 music entries in addition to the 12,000 that debuted last year. http://worldebookfair.org/

All are welcome to join the World Public Library as well for an annual membership of $8.95 per year.  Members can download a selection of about 2,000,000 PDF eBooks.

From : http://www.libraries.wright.edu/noshelfrequired/?p=3985

This is a listing of 391 sites that legally offer free books (eBooks) for download or for online viewing.

Some time ago I went looking for some free eBooks and was surprised to find that there are many resources for this.  I decided to put together this list of sites that offer free eBooks as a reference.

I have tried to make certain that all of the eBooks at these sites are legally available for viewing/downloading.  However, it is possible that I have made a mistake.  If you suspect any of these sites of illegally offering copyrighted materials, then please let me know through the comments below.

Putting this together was exhausting, but the list is not exhaustive, so I encourage you to post any sites that you know of that are not listed here.

The listing here is in alphabetical order.  Given the size of this list now, it may be easier to search by genre.  I have set up 16 pages here of different genres.  If you do not see one that covers your interests, let me know and I may be able to put one together.

I have also put together a listing of sites that offer free and legal audio books at 

• Free Audio Books Online

These listings may be searched in the following methods:

• Alphabetical Listing      - A listing of the site names in alphabetical order 

• Listing by Genre           -  Links to pages here for different book genres (16)

• Online Local Libraries  -These sites have links to local libraries which have much content for members

From Gizmo's Freeware

http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/63455

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE  AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Inc. is making the leap from digital librarian to merchant in a challenge to Amazon.com Inc. and its Kindle electronic reader.

The long-awaited Internet book store, which opened Monday in the U.S., draws upon a portion of the 15 million printed books that Google has scanned into its computers during the past six years.

About 4,000 publishers, including CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster Inc., Random House Inc. and Pearson PLC's Penguin Group, are also allowing Google to carry many of their recently released books in the new store.

Those publishing deals will ensure that most of the current best sellers are among the 3 million e-books initially available in Google's store, said Amanda Edmonds, who oversaw the company's partnerships. Millions more out-of-print titles will appear in Google's store, called eBooks, if the company can gain federal court approval of a proposed class-action settlement with U.S. publishers and authors... [More]

 

Google ebook store: http://books.google.com/ebooks

About Google ebooks store

Please note:

From a Computerworld Report by Daniel Grotta and Sally Wiener Grotta

Before we begin, the introduction is worthy of a special mention since it offers a very useful overview of the e-book reader scene.

From the Comparison Section of the Intro:

Including privately branded devices and Asian knockoffs, there are probably more than a score of e-readers currently on the American market. For this roundup, we focused on currently shipping, readily available models, most by mainstream vendors. These include the Alex, jetBook Lite, iPad, Kindle, Kobo, Libre eBook Reader Pro, Nook and Pandigital Novel.

Sony has recently introduced new versions of its three e-readers: the Reader Pocket Edition, Reader Touch Edition and Reader Daily Edition. While the upcoming models weren't available in time for this article, Computerworld did get a first look at the devices -- check out the article: Sony introduces three light, bright touch-screen e-readers

Because of deadline pressures, we could not include a number of e-readers scheduled or rumored for imminent third- or fourth-quarter release, including devices from Velocity Micro, Asus, Acer, Sharp, Sony and Copia.

Each Review Contains the Following Sections:

+ What's Interesting:

+ What's Good

+ What's Not

+ Bottom Line

+ At a Glance (Basic Specs)

Access the Complete Report

Source: Computerworld via Resourceshelf

Will Apple's iPad kill the textbook?

Many educators are pointing to Apple Computer's recently announced iPad as the prototype for an e-reader that will be able to hold all the textbooks a student needs. Its color touch-screen, interactive-video capability and virtual keyboard, they say, give it greater potential for textbook users than monochrome readers like Amazon's Kindle. 

While some students may be using notebooks or their more portable cousins, netbooks, to read textbooks, some experts predict that within the next 10 years, most U.S. college students -- and many high-school and elementary-school students as well -- will probably be reading course materials on an electronic device instead of in a paper book. And that will have a broad impact on students and teachers, not to mention the $9.9 billion textbook-publishing business...

Digital textbooks will need to have features students take for granted in paper books, such as the ability to highlight key passages and take notes that can be attached to pages. Digital versions also need consistent pagination so that teachers can give assignments. Even with a search function, digital books will still need tables of contents, indexes and glossaries.

Even with these limitations, digital presentation opens up a number of new possibilities for textbooks. With interactive graphs in an economics book, for example, students could try different costs to see the impact on demand or different supply levels to gauge the change in price. ScrollMotion promises publishers that its technology will let them embed video that students can watch, record lectures linked to chapters and offer self-assessment tests...

For full text of this article as pdf:

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/templates/images/tools_lg_pdfarticle.gif

Lifehacker has posted a guide to how to Turn Your Netbook into a Feature-Rich E-Book Reader. Check out this post to find helpful tips and tricks to set yourself up with a portable e-book reader including:

• Rotate The Screen
• Adjust The Screen Brightness
• Use a Special Power Saving Mode
• Setting Up E-Book Software

From iLibrarian blog

This site forms part of the Internet Archive. It provides free access to over 60,000 full text electronic books which were scanned from the holdings of the libraries of the Library of Congress. They cover all subject areas from the humanities, social sciences and physical sciences and include many historical out of print items. Strengths include historic American government publications, books on the economic, social and political and legal history of the United States and the American civil war. It is possible to search the website or browse. Copyright and technical information is displayed. It is possible to set up an RSS feed of new items added to the online collection.From Intute.ac.uk

http://www.archive.org/details/library_of_congress

This site forms part of the Internet Archive. It provides free access to over 70,000 full text electronic books which were scanned from the holdings of the libraries of Cornell University by Microsoft Corporation. They cover all subject areas from the humanities, social sciences and physical sciences and include many historical out of print items. Other strengths include historic American government publications, books on the economic, social and political and legal history of the United States. It is possible to search the website or browse. Copyright and technical information is displayed.

http://www.archive.org/details.php?identifier=cornell

 From Intute.ac.uk

 

 

Inter-Disciplinary Press is a non commercial venture which publishes inter-disciplinary works that seek to encourage dialogue on a range of critical issues. This section of the website provides free access to a growing collection of its free eBooks. Topics covered by these are wide-ranging including: diasporas; culture and politics; war; social identity in the 21st Century and interculturalism. Technical and copyright information is displayed on the website. From Intute.ac.uk

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/publishing/id-press/ebooks/

Writing and reading — from newspapers to novels, academic reports to gossip magazines — are migrating ever faster to digital screens, like laptops, Kindles and cellphones. Traditional book publishers are putting out “vooks,” which place videos in electronic text that can be read online or on an iPhone. Others are republishing old books in electronic form. And libraries, responding to demand, are offering more e-books for download.

Is there a difference in the way the brain takes in or absorbs information when it is presented electronically versus on paper? Does the reading experience change, from retention to comprehension, depending on the medium?

• Alan Liu, English professor: A New Metaphor for Reading

• Sandra Aamodt, author, “Welcome to Your Brain”: A Test of Character

• Maryanne Wolf, professor of child development: Beyond Decoding Words

• David Gelernter, computer scientist: The Book Made Better

• Gloria Mark, professor of informatics: The Effects of Perpetual Distraction

From The New York Times

 

Word from Michael Hart, the Founder of Project Gutenberg, that once again this year the World e-Book Fair will take place from July 4th-August 4th. This is the 4th year of the annual book fair. It starts on July 4th to celebrate the 38th anniversary of Project Gutenberg which began on July 4th, 1971.

Once the event begins you’ll find FREE access to over 2.5 million full text eBooks that you can download to your computer. Some titles can also be downloaded and read on certain types mobile phones.

Book Sources include:

+ Project Gutenberg

+ Digital Pulp Publishing

+ Internet Archive

+ The World Public Library (normally a fee-based site)

+ E-Books About Everything

++ Direct to World eBook Fair Web Site and Database

 

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the pond…

From the Announcement

JISC has funded an ‘e-books for Further Education (FE) project to make over 3000 e-books freely available to every college and sixth form in the UK.

Over the next five years, the project, which also received funding from the Learning Skills Council (LSC), will enable all students in FE in the UK to access online course texts to support their studies.

E-books will be made available from the start of the next academic year via the ebrary e-books platform E-books will be made available from the start of the next academic year via the ebrary e-books platform. Subjects will range from Fashion Design to Software Engineering, Health and Social Care to Automobile Electronics, and Beauty Therapy to Practical Lambing. Access will be available whether students are studying in the college, at home or in an internet café.

See Also: UK National e-Book Survey (May 2008) (14 pages; PDF)

—–

Want to learn a little bit more about eBooks?

A new primer by Jane Lee from the California Digital Library.

The article includes the following sections:

+ Content vs. Delivery

+ Reading as an Experience

+ Why e-books now?

+ Control of Content, Control of Distribution

+ Standards and Protocols

+ Will e-books make printed books obsolete?

+ Issues to Consider

Direct to Complete Article (7 pages; PDF)

 

 

Do you use Google Book Search?

Seven new and updated features and tools from Google Books today. You can read about them here. Here are a few highlights:

Embeds and links - This new toolbar option allows you to embed a preview of a full view or partner book in any of your websites or blogs–all with a simple html snippet. It’s a lot like the embed tag that makes it so easy to share YouTube videos.

Better search within each book - You’ve always been able to search inside books you find on Google Book Search. Now, for public domain and partner books, we’ve made it easier to see exactly where your search term appears within the book by showing you more context around the term, including an image from the part of the page on which it appears.

Thumbnail view - Click on the thumbnail view button in the toolbar to see an overview of all the pages in a public domain book or in a magazine

Contents drop-down menu - Above the book itself, you’ll find a Contents drop-down that allows you to jump to chapters within the book–or articles within a magazine.

Page Turn Button and Animation - In addition to scrolling through the book, you can now also click the page turn button at the bottom of the screen, even if you haven’t yet finished the page.

Improved Book Overview Page On the Overview page you’ll find an assortment of useful data about the book, including reviews, ratings, summaries, related books, key words and phrases, references from the web, places mentioned in the book, publisher information, etc.

Source: Inside Google Book Search
Hat Tip: Barry S.

 

And what about the hardware?

From the Blog Post:

The interest in e-readers, or e-books as they are called now, has reached a fever pitch. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos fields nothing but Kindle questions at the company’s shareholder meeting. Prime View picks up E Ink, the company that supplies the screen to Amazon’s Kindle, for $215 million. And companies ranging from Google to Interead are aiming to upset Amazon’s early advantage.

The complete post contains a chart from a new report from Forrester Research laying out how they believe the market will develop.

Source: ZDNet

 

Do you use a Kindle? Are you thinking about buying one? Check out The Kindle Warehouse blog, which offers Kindle- and Kindle product-related news, tips, and reviews. Be sure not to miss the post about — Free Kindle eBooks. User comments contain links to even more resources. Who knew there was so much free stuff available for this popular — though proprietary — device?

More worthwhile Kindle stuff:
+KindleBoards
+ Kindle Tips
+ Kindle Wiki
+ KindleTips - Ultimate Kindle 2 Shortcuts and Tricks (GeekTonic)
+ KindleMag (e-bookvine)

By Shirl Kennedy and Gary Price, From The Resourceshelf