Digital Library Digest: January 20, 2012
Christian Davenport of the Washington Post reports on eBook lending.
“Checking out e-books without having to leave home — just as you would buy a title online: click and boom, there it is — might be the fastest-growing segment in the library business these days. But the experience is often far from the on-demand satisfaction people have come to expect from their laptops, tablets and smartphones.
Want to take out the new John Grisham? Get in line. As of Friday morning, 288 people were ahead of you in the Fairfax County Public Library system, waiting for one of 43 copies. You’d be the 268th person waiting for “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” with 47 copies. And the Steve Jobs biography? Forget it. The publisher, Simon & Schuster, doesn’t make any of its digital titles available to libraries.”
From the article, “As demand for e-books soars, libraries struggle to stock their virtual shelves”
HathiTrust hits collection milestone.
On January 5, the HathiTrust Digital Library exceeded 10 million volumes in its collection, according to the organization’s blog. More than 2.7 million of these volumes are in the public domain, with viewing and downloading options available online.
From Michael Kelly’s post on The Digital Shift, “HathiTrust Collection Surpasses 10 Million Volumes”
Jennifer Howard reports on the SOPA/PIPA blackout, in which the DPLA took part.
“A number of higher-ed sites joined the protest with blacked-out screens and links to more information about SOPA and PIPA. The School of Information Studies at Syracuse University made its Web site and blog dark for the day. “The iSchool is taking a strong stance on this issue because a free and open Internet is critical for growth and innovation in the areas of study that we focus on,” it said. MediaCommons, an online scholarly network, announced it was offline for 24 hours “in protest against legislation that threatens our ability to explore new forms of scholarly communication.” The Association for Computers and the Humanities blacked out its home page with a “Stop SOPA!” notice, which also turned up on the digital-humanities DH Answers site and elsewhere. The CUNY Academic Commons posted a notice telling readers that “these bills, intended to curb online piracy but excessively overbroad, threaten the existence of sites like the CUNY Academic Commons that allow people to share information on the Internet.” The home page for Baruch College’s blog network greeted visitors with an information page about the controversial bills, and the MIT admissions site also went dark for the day.”
From the post, “Internet Sites Go Dark to Protest Anti-Piracy Bills”
Jonathan Blaney comments on a talk by Robert Darnton.
“….The Digital Public Library of America will be free to all. This goes beyond national boundaries. Darnton mentioned that Harvard’s Ukrainian collection is the best in the world, including the Ukraine; the Digital Public Library of America could make it available everywhere, including the Ukraine. Darnton’s own research interests include the ‘Republic of Letters’, Diderot and the great French Encyclopédie project. The library that Darnton is working towards is surely an Enlightenment project itself. Darnton began his talk by quoting Thomas Jefferson, pictured above, on the transmission of knowledge, and concluded by saying that this project – “nothing like it has ever existed” – is one that Jefferson would surely approve.”
From the post, “Nothing Like It Has Ever Existed”
Ellen O’Donnell muses on the future of Digital History.
“Scholars aren’t tied any longer to manually searching materials one siloed archive at a time. They can, for example, go into data online, design new interfaces, and curate and set up new collections. Often working in teams, they can apply computational tools such as software, algorithms, and scatter plotting to large data sets, helping to identify historical patterns, trends, and anomalies. One project using the Old Bailey data, for example, identified the favored method of poisoning in the 19th century (coffee, for its bitter taste).”
From the Library of Congress blog post, “Digging into a Slice of Digital History”
Michael Kelly examines Penguin’s digital content restrictions.
“Penguin Group has suspended the availability of download audiobook titles for library purchase across all vendors, according to a message that OverDrive sent to its library partners today[...]
The growing inaccessibility of downloadable audio titles and other digital media is a serious issue for public libraries. According to a Patron Profiles report released this month by Library Journal, there are key patron subgroups who are more likely to own a mobile device, such as the 21-40 age group, and who also demand expansion of the full range of library services, from movies to games to ebook collections so they can better use their devices.”
From the Digital Shift post, “Penguin Further Narrows Library Access, Suspending Availability of Audiobook Titles”
Paul Biba of TeleRead mines OverDrive press release for library eBook lending data.
“Key statistics for library eBooks, audiobooks and digital media from OverDrive-powered ‘Virtual Branch’ websites in 2011 include:
- 1.6 billion book and title catalog pages viewed, up 130% from 2010
- 99.5 million visitor sessions, up 107%
- Mobile device use increased to 22% of all checkouts
- 35 million digital titles checked out in 2011, with 17 million holds
- The OverDrive catalog for libraries now includes 700,000 copyrighted eBook, audiobook, music, and video titles in 52 languages, including 300,000 titles added in 2011
- In 2011 OverDrive Media Console (free eBook and audiobook apps) was installed by 5 million users (up 84%) bringing the total install base to 11 million
- Readers used OverDrive eBooks on all desktop and major smartphone and e-reading platforms including Android, iPhone®, iPod touch®, iPad®, Windows® Phone and BlackBerry®, as well as Kindle®, NOOK™, Sony® Reader and others.”
From the post, “Some statistics from OverDrive on public libraries”
