Archive for the ‘Virtual Libraries’ Category

IGNOU library system goes electronic

New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has introduced a suite of e-library services by converting the existing services into e-services and exploring many other ways to support its distance education system such as increasing the scope of e-resources accessed, better methods of seeking information, saving time in the information search and delivery, […]

In the 21st-Century University, Let’s Ban Books

Recent news that South Korea plans to digitize its entire elementary- and secondary-school curriculum by 2015, combined with the declining cost of e-readers and Amazon’s announcement earlier this year that it is selling more e-books than print books, prompts an interesting question: Which traditional campus will be the first to go entirely bookless? Not, of […]

Fair Use and Felony

WASHINGTON — A bill under consideration in Congress could make it easier for federal prosecutors to bring criminal charges against academic libraries for unduly making copyrighted materials available to students, according to a letter sent to lawmakers on Tuesday by a group of influential library associations.SOURCE: Inside Higher EdRead the Full Article

E-Book, In-House

The American Public University System wants to get more bang for its buck with e-textbooks, so the for-profit college system is enlisting its professors to write and edit digital course materials. SOURCE: Inside Higher EdRead the Full Article

A New Chapter for E-Books

Lavish electronic-book projects point toward the pinnacle of the medium.SOURCE: MIT Technology Review Read the Full Article

Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

SEATTLE — Amazon.com has taught readers that they do not need bookstores. Now it is encouraging writers to cast aside their publishers. SOURCE: The New York TimesRead the Full Article

Online Platforms Begin to Test the Market for University-Press E-Books

Librarians have been saying they want and need to buy more scholarly monographs in electronic format. That perceived demand is about to be tested, as several long-planned e-book platforms for university-press books go live over the next few months.SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher EducationRead the Full Article

Academic Publishing and Zombies

Just ask Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. His mash-up of the 19th-century Jane Austen classic with the 20th-century pulp-horror trope became an unlikely bestseller in 2009.SOURCE: Inside Higher EducationRead the Full Article

Library School at U. of North Carolina Offers Students Lifelong Digital Archive

Incoming students at the University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science this year are getting a new kind of welcome-to-campus perk: Free data storage, for keeps.SOURCE: The Chronicle of Higher Education Read the Full Article

Authors’ Guild sues universities over book digitization project

(Ars Technica) — With the planned settlement between Google and book publishers still on indefinite hold, a legal battle by proxy has started. Google partnered with many libraries at US universities in order to gain access to the works it wants to digitize. Now, several groups that represent book authors have filed suit against those […]