Category Archives: Check this out:

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Assorted Updates About eBooks

Image by melentia2012. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by melentia2012. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

If you are looking for e-book updates, these snippets have been supplied through my membership in the American Libraries Association.  

The Big Six and library lending: An update 
Rob Maier writes: “In May 2013, when I started to track the Big Six and their library lending terms, there were many changes taking place in the publishing world. I assumed that I’d be issuing updates at least monthly. Instead, we entered a time of limited change until September 25, when Penguin resumed licensing its ebooks through OverDrive. Since OverDrive is the leading provider of ebooks to public libraries, the lack of access to Penguin titles has been frustrating to say the least.”…
AL: E-Content, Sept. 27; OverDrive Digital Library Blog, Sept. 25
Penguin drops side-loading requirement 
Matt Enis writes: “In a quick reversal of its position on Kindle lending, Penguin on September 26 loosened the terms of its renewed agreement with OverDrive. The publisher has agreed to allow library patrons to download ebook titles wirelessly via OverDrive’s ‘Get for Kindle’ function instead of, as initially announced, first downloading titles to a computer, and then side-loading those titles to their Kindle classic or Paperwhite using a USB cord.”…
Library Journal: The Digital Shift, Sept. 27
Scribd offers ebook subscription service 
Scribd announced October 2 it is offering its own subscription service for ebooks. The service will cost $8.99 a month for an unlimited amount of books and will have many HarperCollins titles. Scribd is a six-year-old document-sharing company. Laura Hazard Owen writes: “Overall, the service is a strong contender in this emerging space, and if you’re trying to choose between Scribd and Oyster, you’ll have to consider selection, design, and platform.” Nate Hoffelder notes a potential problem with content availability….
TeleRead, Oct. 1; GigaOM, Oct. 1; The Digital Reader, Oct. 1
OverDrive releases library circulation APIs 
Adam Sockel writes: “Last year we introduced the initial set of OverDrive APIs that enable approved vendors to deeply integrate OverDrive-hosted catalogs and nearly one million digital titles with their apps and platforms. These included the ability to access catalog metadata, see the availability of a title, and search the library’s collection. The all-new Circulation APIs are now available on the OverDrive Developer Portal.”…
OverDrive Digital Library Blog, Oct. 1
Source: American Libraries Direct, 10/2/2013
Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Lessons Learned with iPad Deployment

Image by LJR.MIKE. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Common's license.
Image by LJR.MIKE. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ license.

Are your school administrators all geeked up about rolling out a 1:1 initiative in your school in a hurry? As an information professional, it may prove helpful for you to be familiar with  what works and when to take pause…..

Joyce Valenza was the keynote speaker at the October 5th  Saturday morning portion of the  MEMO Conference. Within her presentation, she alluded to the problems encountered in Los Angeles’ failed iPad roll-out. A murmur of an undefined sort rippled  through the room, which made me wonder if I was the only person who had not read or heard about this news item. Armed with my trusty iPad, I immediately Googled it, and sure enough, the news had only hit the social media circuit on October 2nd, which made me feel slightly better, as I had joined the MEMO Conference on October 3rd.

According to Mind/Shift, “There’s an incredible litany of problems here that reads like a primer on what NOT to do with a major deployment of technology in a school district, “ and I couldn’t agree more. Although the story is about the nation’s second largest public school district, the lessons apply well in most settings.

Read from an insider’s viewpoint what went wrong with a $1 billion plan to give one iPad to every single student ($500 million for devices, plus an additional $500 million for internet infrastructure upgrades, raised through construction bonds).  Some of the comments to this blog post are as valuable as the story itself, which is so often the case! Feel free to exercise your right to comment here too….

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Teen Read Week

Image by goXunuReviews. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by goXunuReviews. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

How is your library engaging teen readers?

For the past 15 years, Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has sponsored Teen Read Week (TRW). It is a national adolescent literary initiative to sponsor continued readership. This year TRW will be held on October 13th-19th. The theme strives to encourage teens to discover the unknown and continue to explores mysteries, “Seek the Unknown @ Your Library.”

Click here for additional information about Teen Read Week from ALA. 
Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Struggling With Multitasking?

Image by UrbaneWomenMag. Retrieved from FlickR. Used under Creative Common's licensing.
Image by UrbaneWomenMag. Retrieved from FlickR. Used under Creative Common’s licensing.

Regardless of what type of library you work in, fall can be an extremely busy time of the year both professionally and personally. Also, as work environments become more collaborative, it introduces the possibility of additional interruptions. Ultimately, this has implications faculty/staff’s ability to focus on a singular task from start to finish.

If you are one of those can-do multitaskers, consider reading the following posts by Edudemic.

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Virtual Town Hall on Ebooks

Are you interested in the possibility of eBook lending?

Image by melentia2012. Retrieved from FlickR. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by melentia2012. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

On October 23rd, American Library Association (ALA) President Barbara Stripling will be hosting an interactive, online session from 11:00-12:00 pm (CT) to enter an eBook library lending discussion.

Panelists include:

  • Barbara Stripling, ALA president;
  • Maureen Sullivan, ALA immediate past president;
  • Keith Michael Fiels, ALA executive director;
  • Sari Feldman, executive director of the Cuyahoga County Public Library and DCWG co-chair;
  • Robert Wolven, associate university librarian of Columbia University and DCWG co-chair;
  • Alan S. Inouye, director of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy.

To learn more about this discussion and for registration materials click here.