Links - April 2011

A great idea from the Librarian in Black: a day against DRM!

Here are some cogent thoughts from one of my favorite library bloggers and library writers, Karen Schneider, they were written in reaction to the presentation at Penn State by Jeff Trzeciak of Macmaster University in Canada.

The digital divide continues. Here is a link to Jessamyn West's presentation at SXSW on a topic on which we share concern. My original concerns originated in my urban roots. How many inner city homes even have land-lines these days. My exposure to the rural situation has been broadened by my Wisconsin and now Louisiana experiences.

Jessamyn also links to a nice article about SXSW.

Links (or not) and the Harper Collins Fiasco

I have not posted much lately. Life has been busy.

My feed aggregator is full of saved links, mostly to the HarperCollins fiasco. For a while I was going to post them all as links, but then the number of links and comments which I saw got completely out of hand.

Part of my reason for posting links here is to have a place for me to be able to find links which I may want to use/see again. Does it work? Well, for the most part. I know I get traffic, even if the commenting is pretty sparse.

So....I'm going to clean out most of the links in my feed aggregator, and post only the most important ones here.

Eric Hellman does some nifty analysis of book use (which he calls "physics of book use"). I have to admit that my calculus and advanced math is rusty enough to not quite get all the implications...And then there is the response from a statistician which he also posted. (Eric is good at clever naming, not the least of which is the name of his blog!)

E-books in libraries

I have posted on some of my concerns about libraries, e-books, digital rights management (and its associated software), and the fact that libraries are now purchasing "access" or licenses, and not items protected by the copyright law and doctrine of "first sale rights." Some of those concerns were framed by the way some libraries are using Netflix.

Tom Peters did a great historical survey on ALA Techsource in a post called E-Book Lending Clubs. (It is very much an irony that it hit the web just a day or two before the HarperCollins thing blew up!)

Infodocket was first on my radar screen to pick up the latest. [It is a new blog from folks with good blogging/library pedigrees.] Their post (It's Always Something) makes some good points.

Eric Hellman gives a good overview of the e-book industry and some of the issues from the publishing perspective. He ends his post with an interesting observation:

Even if the lending models of today turn out to be transitional, they help everyone involved become comfortable with library ebooks. Once the library ebook experience becomes embedded in our everyday lives, readers, publishers, authors and librarians will be able to recognize the novel digital distribution models that benefit everyone.

Maybe the transition is already beginning. But let's hope that the publishers listen to the backlash and do something for libraries rather than to which is what it seems that they are starting to do.

It seems that this issue has now become a huge concern. Here is the story as reported in Library Journal: HarperCollins Puts 26 Loan Cap on Ebook Circulations. You should read the comments.

Joe Atzberger has a succinct post and summary.

Stephen Abram posted about an article on "The Subscription Economy" where he notes some of the positive aspects and draws the analogy to what libraries are doing with serials (which also worries me, even as I weed the collections here at work). What he does not mention are the negative aspects/problems with the subscription model. What do you do when the organization which sold you the subscription goes bankrupt, or in Internet tradition, just disappears leaving only a "404 Page not found" message?

Some of my concerns are also related to what Lorcan Dempsey talks about as the university's curatorial role. In some ways you can substitute "library" for "university." What is our curatorial role, and how can we fill that role when all we have paid for is a license, and not the property rights? I don't know the answer, but I do know that it is an important question to resolve.

David Lee King is asking for input/ideas on the topic. He summarizes things nicely in Let’s Play Rent-A-Book!

Finally, one of my Louisiana colleagues has posted her thoughts about the HarperCollins plan. (Nice post, Emilie!)

Well, it was finally, except that Sarah Houghton-Jan posted more extensively her thoughts. She is quoted in the LJ article cited above. She issues a call to action. For me the most quotable paragraph is this one:

I cannot over-emphasize that we are in trouble my friends. The lack of legislative leadership and advocacy in the last decade has created a situation where libraries have lost the rights to lending and preserving content that we have had for centuries. We have lost the right to buy a piece of content, lend it to as many people as we want consecutively, and then donate or sell that item when it has outlived its usefulness (if, indeed, that ever happens at all).

E-Books and librararies (several takes)

I decided to put this separately from my usual link articles. There are a number of articles/posts which recently hit my desk about e-books, Kindles, and libraries.

First one I saw was Stephen Abram's on Kindles and libraries. He cites a post from the Kindle Review, a blog about Kindles. Here is what that blog says is the answer: "The quick answer would be – No, not really. Not unless Amazon loses its head. Not unless another company starts beating it on the basis of library book support. Not unless there’s a gun put to its head." He notes that it is simply not in Amazon's business plan. Stephen then goes on to suggest that libraries need to not purchase Kindles and encourage patrons to purchase one of the other devices out there. [As a side note, today I had a phone call from a library user who wanted to know how to download library books on her Kindle. I was gentle, told her this story, and sent her on to her local parish library's web site for info on the kinds of e-books she could easily borrow.]

AL Online picked up on Meredith Farkas' and her post about e-books and libraries and her concerns. Meredith notes that she was surprised at how much she liked the Kindle (after using NetBooks and ebrary). It is the lack of a back-lit screen. [I am reading that as more of an endorsement for the technology than for the DRM which comes with the device.] Below are two important points she makes:

And the options that libraries now have for ebooks (in terms of content, interface, interoperability, etc.) are, by and large, piss-poor. ... But the negatives, the uncertainties of where the ebook market is headed, and the current restrictions most ebook vendors have placed on their products often outweigh the benefits.

Here are the bullet points for the other issues she raises in this fairly long piece:

• There are differences between eBooks for individuals and eBooks for libraries to lend
• What about ILL?
• Too many platforms, too little interoperability
• And how do you browse a shelf of eBooks?
• DRM and crazy rules for “lending”
• What do we own and what does that mean?
• Patron driven acquisitions is not a magic bullet

Read the whole thing. It is worth it.

There were two "Christmas present" posts. Sarah Houghton-Jan talks about her love for her Kindle (with reservations) as does Chad Haefele and his new-found love for his Kindle, since he got one for Christmas.

Sarah clearly states that she loves the Kindle as a consumer, but detests it as a librarian. You can also watch her unpack her Kindle. Chad talks more about why he likes it, and defers to Sarah on some points.

Finally, Eric Hellman reviews some of the issues related to book and e-book identification. He attended a recent book industry presentation which shared a study of the use, issues and practice surrounding assignment of ISBNs in the US book industry. He noted that while there is a theoretical policy for assigning numbers to e-books,

Implementation of that policy is all over the map, with little coherence between one company and another in ISBN assignment practice. What's more, he found that the industry is almost unable to communicate with itself due the wide variations in the practical definitions of terms such as "format," "product," "version[,]" and "work."

Eric gives an excellent example of this in the way Barnes & Noble assigned numbers including to some "enhanced" e-books which originally only they were selling. There is much more, and Eric lays out some of the issues for libraries in very clear language. It is an aspect of e-books which I had not previously considered.

Copyright (yes, more), outsourcing, and other links

Here are two more posts on the copyright/licensing/Netflix issue as covered by librarians on the web. First up is Kent Anderson who blogs at The Scholarly Kitchen which covers scholarly publishing. He notes that

While the purpose of the use may be nonprofit and educational, if the materials are entertaining movies, if they are watched or delivered in their entirety, and if the users no longer feel the need to rent or buy the movies, 3/4 of the criteria of fair use are unfulfilled. This creates huge exposure for universities, both from Netflix and from film companies.

Read the whole post which includes numerous links back to librarians on the issue.

Andy Woodworth, at Agnostic Maybe (a great title, I think), put his finger on the issue when he says "I believe that the actions of these libraries and librarians are a symptom of a larger issue for the profession: the coping (or non-coping) with the expansion of licensed content as part of the collection." He has a lot more to say, and there are some great comments.

The second topic burning up electrons among librarians is the issue of outsourcing. In this case the outsourcing of the management of public libraries. It is an issue which was hot in the late 1990s (pre-blogging), so I guess it is not a surprise to see it come up again.

On one of the discussion lists, Pat Schmann (ALA Past President and the Schuman in Neal-Scumann Publishing), sent a link to her article called: The selling of the public library: It's not just ‘outsourcing,’ it's privatization. The article appeared in Library Journal back in 1998. It is worth re-reading. (It is an eight[8] page PDF file.]

I picked up this post on the issue which is a long, and thoughtful post on the issue. There is much more in the PUBLIB archives.

I also ran across this post in another non-library blog.

Miscellaneous other links:

• I found this great blog post about how to check out a web page.
• Roy Tenant offers some thoughts on managing change. There are some insightful comments as well.
  

Copyright, copy-wrong and Netflix

First, from a month ago, some thoughts on copyright based on a composer's experience. I am not sure where I picked up this article which talks in general terms about the attitudes towards intellectual property and the rights of the creator. I was very much interested in hearing directly about a creator's experience. In this case a composer who had an online interaction (discussion is not just the right description) with someone who was giving away his creation.

As I reflect on this, I remember the whole issue with Napster and Kazaa. It is that experience that I am sure is reflected in some of the digital rights management software which is used with commercial audio and video.

Which then gets us to today and licensing and Netflix. (And may be related to libraries lending e-readers such as Kindles and Nooks, but that includes actually loaning a physical device which includes the electronic media.)

So the "Netflix "buzz'" is really more about terms of service than copyright, but it sort of is about copyright since in this case, Netflix is acting like libraries do with books, except that all the rules are much more complicated!

I picked up on this with Iris Jastram's post on terms of service. Michael Stevens had a guest post on his blog about the basic service as it is being done in one academic library. (Is this the original source?) Meredith Farkas had some insightful comments (as usual), which were picked up in several places. On the Library Law blog (a great resource for librarians who need to know about the law and libraries), Mary Minow talked about the legal issues involved.

Jessamyn includes links to many of the above, but one thing she said hit home with me: "The big issue is that Netflix is responsible to their main customers, the studios..." Hmmm, are the studios the main customers, or are we (the general public not just librarians or our libraries)?

Somehow, I wound up at The Consumerist, who adds this thoughtful bit:

Is this a violation of Netflix's terms of use? Yes. But the librarians don't particularly care, and Netflix doesn't seem to, either. Yet. As a Netflix spokesman said, "We just don't want to be pursuing libraries."

I am not totally sure what to think, other than to opine, that this is all part of the huge intellectual property/digital rights management/first sale controversy that will ensue as we move away from physical media to downloadable media.

Links - Mid February

Here is the scariest news story I have seen lately: FBI wants records kept of Web sites visited

Almost as scary is this one about copyright of photographs in Britain. It is a long article, and I admit to not having either completely read it, or to understanding all the implications.

A friend of mine in Boston sent this link to an article praising librarians as "pioneers" in the digital age. (It even mentions Henriette Harriet Avram!) [Thanks to Sue Kamm for the first name correction! 2/26]

I found this brief article on assessment in academic libraries interesting.

This post from a doctoral student in language and literacy at the University of Georgia talks about the current rage for testing in schools and for tying the results of testing to teacher performance judgments. His/her name does not appear on the blog (even though there is a list of publications).

And now a series of "clipped" notes from my blog reader....

Michael Stephens noted in ALA TechSource that he has found a new "tribe" at Educause. I think it is important to have several different circles of friends. Talking only to the same people all the time creates the opportunity for groupthink, which will not lead to real progress.

The indomintable Dorothea Salvo has written a long-ish post about "pre-prints" and open access. (When I need to learn more about open access, it is to Dorothy to whom I turn.)

Current ALA Executive Board (EB) member Courtney Young posted some EB documents about the potential new ways of communicating within ALA.

Chad Haefele (Hidden Peanuts) has an interesting post about e-books, digital rights managment, and electronic publishing.

Sarah Houghton-Jan has a great post on using technology in your library to save money on technology.

A few years ago, I picked up on a blog dealing with technology and innovation for associations Principled Innovation. There is a great post on their blog with five important thoughts/trends for 2010.

There is a new blog in the library world, Quid est veritas? [I know who the author is, but have temporarily forgotten. However, it is in my blog reader now.] There is a great post on "Inputs and Outputs." The concepts of inputs and outputs, which is what we have traditionally measured, is very important as many organizations (like the Institute of Museum of Library Services [IMLS]) start to request outcomes as the measurement for grant services.

Amanda McNeil is a library school student in Boston. She writes a blog called Opinions of a Wolf which is a mix of thoughts on library school and the profession and book reviews. She wrote an interesting post "What public libraries should be."

Kim Leeder, of In the Library with a Lead Pipe, posted a year starting discussion of Learning Commons activities and rumination about the role of the library (in general). It is long but worth reading.

My final set of links is from Stephen Abram. With his recent change in employment, his blog Stephen's Lighthouse has moved. However there are seven posts to which I wish to point:

1. Social Media for Employees -- Rules? which indirectly follows up on some posts of mine. It consolidates some additional suggestions.
2. How many ways are there to visualize data? Visualization of data is something that Stephen pays attention to. I often get some great ideas thanks to his consolidation and re-posting.
3. Web searching skills recommendation is a longer article with comments from Stephen.
4. Florida Libraries Rock talks about the update to the Florida State Library's update of its ROI (Return on Investment) study. The new study shows that investment in libraries (i.e. tax support) returns $8.32 for every dollar invested.
5. 10 Fool-Proof Predictions for the Internet in 2020 reminds us some of the obvious trends.
6. Social Technology and Libraries includes a great chart showing the technologies, Sescription, stage of development, and impact.
7. 8 Things You Need to Know about Collaboration recaps a post on collaboration.
   

Links from around the web

• Here is a thoughtful post from Helene Blowers about books and print, it has a catchy title, too: Future of the book is not a "container question"

• An interesting article from PW about the Google Book Search Settlement and a panel discussion at New York Public Library

• When you "buy" a download, can you keep it forever? Some think not. Here is an article from boingboing on the topic.

Stephen Abram is always thoughtful. I had saved two posts from him:

1. Streaming video is displacing DVDs
   But I wonder where does that leave the majority in Louisiana who do not have Internet at home?
2. He also has some cogent thoughts on Bing and Yahoo (As he suggests, I have started using Bing.)

More posts

• I picked this up off PUBLIB, where the poster noted that this conservative paper generally is against any taxes and increases in public spending, but does support public libraries. It is an interesting article.

• Archiving the transition of power in Alaska This shows the important role we libraries have in conserving today's information for tomorrow's researchers

• I am a little disappointed that I did not make the Top 100 list, and I have some quibbles, like librarian.net not being in the top 5! But there are some other obviously good choices. There were even a few I had not followed/found.

That's it for now!

Nicholson Baker, on my side?

A longtime library gad-fly, Nicholson Baker has an article in the August 3, 2009 issue of The New Yorker. It is about his experiences with the Kindle.

I guess, this is sort of a continuation of the attitude which earned him my personal disdain from back in the mid-1990s. He started with his blasting libraries for getting rid of card catalogs [abstract only...go to your paper copy (grin) of The New Yorker for April 4, 1994 - page 64 - or register on the site.] He followed it up with an "exposé" of the then new San Francisco Public Library. In the latter he found that [no, I was not shocked] that there were more books listed in the card catalog than in the online catalog. Apparently, he never thought about those books which never return, and when most libraries automated, they barcoded/entered items from the shelf rather than from the usually inaccurate shelf list.

Well, back to the present....He gives the Kindle a fair shot. He notes a number of shortcomings, some are technological (grayness of the screen, only one typeface available) and other are part of a bigger issue for libraries (and consumers) like the digital rights management issues. (Kindle books can be read only on the Kindle you used to purchase the book.) He even tested the reader function (I guess he got an early one), and the new Kindle DX. In spite of my prior issues with Mr. Baker, I think he has provided an interesting perspective here.

My friend and fellow netizen Michael Sauers has a much more succinct comment today also.