Friday, October 26, 2012

New Bibliographic Framework: Update with Eric Miller

On July 16, 2012, Eric Miller of Zepheira made a presentation at the Library of Congress entitled "Bibliographic Framework Initiative Update: MARC Linked Data Model." Miller is co-founder and president of Zepheira,  which "provides solutions to effectively integrate, navigate and manage information across boundaries of person, group and enterprise."  Miller urges his audience to be active participants in the shaping of the new bibliographic framework by learning everything we can about linked data, and sharing it with others so that they too can get involved. We should look outside the library community for answers to some of the questions that arise as we work to develop the new framework. You can access the video of Miller's presentation at http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=5605. The slides that accompanied the presentation are available at http://de.slideshare.net/zepheiraorg/bibliographic-14207718.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

E-Books in Libraries


O'Brien, David R., Urs Gasser, and John Palfrey. E-Books in Libraries: A Briefing document developed in preparation for a Workshop on E-Lending in Libraries. Cambridge, MA: The Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 1 July 2012. At: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2111396

A good overview of the current state of e-book industry and the licensing of e-bboks in libraries.

From the Abstract:
"This briefing document was developed with helpful inputs from industry stakeholders and other practitioners in preparation for the “E-Books in Libraries” workshop, hosted on February 24, 2012, by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society with the generous support of the Charles H. Revson Foundation....Beginning with a brief overview of the history and the current state of the e-book publishing market, the document traces the structure of the licensing practices and business models used by distributors to make e-books available in libraries, and identifies select challenges facing libraries and publishers. Where possible, we have made an effort to incorporate stakeholder perspectives and real-world examples to connect analysis to the actual questions, issues, and challenges that arise in practice. The document concludes with a number of informative resources – including news articles, whitepapers, stakeholder and trade association reports, and other online sources – that might inform future conversations, investigations, pilot projects, and best practices in this space."