Other than being in your favorite library and exploring all it has to offer, of course, another way to love libraries—and find more ways to support all libraries—is by joining fellow library lovers at I Love Libraries on Facebook—well over 46,800 strong!
This is my first time attending South by Southwest. Knowing how action-packed this conference is, I’ve settled on a philosophy for the trip: to be a voyager of happenstance, intent on enjoying the ride, whatever it may yield. Sure, I’ve selected all kinds of sessions in the SXSW app, but flexibility and an open mind are essential to geography, crowds, and shiny objects.
Sometimes you just have to stop and marvel at the incredible pace of technological change. It helps if you are sitting down, because when the scope of the change finally hits you, things might go all wobbly for a second or two. Luckily I was sitting when I had that experience this weekend.
One of the key characteristics of digital content is that it is licensed under contract law as opposed to being purchased with first sale rights from copyright law. While being the cause of great pain for libraries and ebooks so far, this double-edged sword can swing the other way and cut through annoying license restrictions to create a fresh, simple approach.
Confusing as it may sound, this is what is playing out in the larger publishing world right now. Publishers are upset because Amazon is becoming a successful publisher. So Hachette, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster thought they would try becoming booksellers, like Amazon.
A multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed in June 2012 by Edwin Mellen Press against McMaster University’s Associate Librarian Dale Askey came to light in mid-February.
In a lawsuit filed in New York last week, three independent bookstores are seeking relief from what they refer to as monopolistic practices by Amazon and the Big Six publishers regarding ebooks. At issue is the digital rights management (DRM) that locks ebooks purchased through Amazon to the Kindle platform.
The ALA Scholarship deadline is approaching fast so do not delay, apply now! Scholarship money is available for future librarians! ALA has more than $300,000 for students who are studying library science or school library media at the master's degree level. Scholarships typically range from $2,500 to $7,000 per student per year. The application and instructions are available on-line at http://www.ala.org/educationcareers/scholarships. The application deadline is March 1, 2013.
And so the focus of the fact sheet now is on how libraries assist with the ever-growing Internet access needs of their library patrons, especially those whose only Internet access is using the computers that public libraries provide.
