James LaRue - myliblog

Thanks to Jeff Donlan, director of the Salida Regional Library District, for this link: "The Digital Death of Copyright's First Sale Doctrine" by AnneMarie Bridy. The issue is very clearly laid out in this blog post: the difference between copyright (the author's ownership of the rights to the work) and sale of a copy (the particular instance of that work) is what has allowed the flourishing of a rich marketplace of ideas. We buy a book at full price, and pass it along or resell it at a used book store. The author stills owns the copyright, but the copy moves through many hands. And so it finds many readers. In the Digital Age, triggered by the infamous software EULA (End User License Agreement) and the assertion of new rights (I'm only letting you access this, you don't own the copy), suddenly that open market place is shutting down. Authors -- or more usually, publishers -- are asserting that copyright and copy are the same. Nothing is for sale. It'...

Interesting conference. I've been tweeting at #nisoebook. Will come back later to add some of the big takeaways, but the main one is an obvious thing to get from a National Information Standards Organization conference: standards (file formats, accessibility guidelines) matter. Just listened to Steve Paxhia, who gave a great snapshot about ebook adoption by various markets. The big thing here is that ebook adoption is still on the upswing, about 25% of market, and that they are active library users eager for more content. They read more than others. And if I may opine here, I think they would like, very much, to be able to donate the books they've bought back to the library.

The amazing Sue Polanka spoke at our recent Colorado Association of Libraries conference about all things ebook. She has become a trusted business intelligence reporter, and has the most comprehensive -- and clear -- presentation on what's up than anyone I've run across. As she recently blogged at her No shelf required site, she and I talked about strategies to get library staff better informed about ebooks and ebook readers. Such training tends to be expensive and slippery. It costs a lot - in equipment, presenter time, or staff time - to give a solid introduction to all the issues, and unless a staff member USES that particular device, it all fades away fast. So my library did something different. We asked our Foundation board to offer a $50 rebate to any staff member who bought a Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iPad, Android tablet, or HP Touchpad (this last was my idea, and yeah, I know HP pulled the plug on it). The board thought it was brilliant. We gave our staff three months t...

For the past several years (since 2008), the Colorado State Library's Director of Library Development and Innovation, Sharon Morris, has given a talk at the annual Colorado Association of Libraries conference about library trends. She has a sharp eye, and I find that the things she picks are the things to watch. I'm pleased to report that she's put up a site, here , where she briefly summarizes her observations. She also, from time to time, posts her thoughts about various issues. Highly recommended.