“The future-focused digital supplement examines how libraries are evolving in response to the digital revolution, including exploiting opportunities in self-publishing, while confronting challenges in licensing constraints.”

Read the full article and access the supplemental report, Digital Access: What’s Next? from ALA.

Both Jamie LaRue and Rochelle Logan have articles published in this supplement.

Douglas County Libraries has published its first eBook!

Oral history interview with Attilio F. Caporiccio
by Caporiccio, Attilio F., 1916-2007,
http://catalog.douglascountylibraries.org/EcontentRecord/944288/Home

Why is this significant?

• This is an example of library as publisher, taking local content and making it freely available to the world.
• It showcases the ability of the library to be a player in the digital world, highlighting unique information.
• It shows a new opportunity for short form writing – something one might read during a commute, on a smartphone or tablet.
• You don’t need a library card to check it out. Just search for either the name “Caporiccio” or “Veterans History Project” then scroll down to find the cover. Click on that, then scroll down to Access eContent. It begins to download. If you have an epub reader, now you’ve got it, and can read it.

“The Califa Library Group and Contra Costa County Library (CCCL) today officially announced the beta launch of Enki Library, a new ebook platform designed to host and lend library-managed ebooks using the Douglas County model.”

Read more about how the Califa Library Group worked with both Douglas County Libraries and the Marmot Library Network.

“The state House of Representatives voted Tuesday 143-0 to pass a bill requiring the commissioner of consumer protection to report to the General Assembly on the issue by Feb 1.”

More information about this bill is available from the Library Journal InfoDocket including links to the bill and testimony given.

“Early this week, Tor Books, a subsidiary of Tom Doherty Associates and the world’s leading publisher of science fiction, gave an update on how its decision to do away with Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes has impacted the company. Long story short: it hasn’t, really.”

Read the full article and access the full report from Tor Books.

“The Douglas County Libraries’ (DCL) pioneering project to own, rather than license, much of its e-content has not only forged a new business model but also exposed a new frontier in metadata.”

Read the full article from The Digital Shift.

“Hachette Book Group, one of the largest and most successful publishers in the world, will make its entire digital catalog of more than 5,000 eBooks available to libraries and schools via OverDrive.”

However, OverDrive’s Advantage Program still limits consortia purchasing and resources sharing between libraries.

Read the full press release.

“OverDrive’s most recent agreement touts plans for “deep API integration” with Innovative Interfaces Inc.”

Read more about the API and Marmot’s experiences from The Digital Shift.

Despite the fact that now all of the Big Six publishers sell to libraries, the latest Douglas County Pricing Comparison shows that we still cannot purchase many of the titles our user’s want and we pay too much for those we can buy.

“The eBooks on Demand (EOD) project of the EOD Network is one of three projects selected to receive the 2013 American Library Association (ALA) Presidential Citation for Innovative International Library Projects.”

Read the full article.

Learn more about the EOD Project.