Archive for May, 2006
Hey, MLC has its first president of Members Council! At the May OCLC Members Council, Sandy Yee was elected Vice-president/President-elect. She’ll serve one year as vice-president on the Executive Committee, then starting in May 2007, one year as president. This is a cool thing. It’s not often a small Network has one of its delegates elected as president. Often, Members Council officers come from larger regions such as SOLINET, AMIGOS, or BCR. Sandy’s election is a testament to the esteem in which she is held by her fellow delegates and her ability to work effectively within Members Council. Congratulations, Sandy.
May 31st, 2006
Yesterday I attended the IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum) conference “Connected & Mobile 2006″ in New York City. It is a day long discussion of the latest news in the digital books publishing industry. Attendees included publishers, technologists, distributors, librarians, book stores and a packed house of folks who are interested in the future of the digital book.
Much of the discussion this year was directed towards publishers, with an emphasis on mobility and interoperability – setting standards that will make digital books more accessible for users. There is movement towards a DRM “container” that will wrap digital book content so that it is accessible over many various formats.
What will be the viewing devise of the future? Phones! All the buzz was about the fusion of phones and pdas to serve all our needs including accessing our eBooks! The new technology of eInk allows for high contrast, high resolution and no flicker.
When the talk wasn’t about phones, it was about “The Long Tail” and how that concept is affecting the business.
Amazon has a cool new program called Amazon Upgrade. It allows customers to “upgrade” the purchase of a physical book on Amazon.com to include complete digital online access for an additional fee. You will be able to view and search every page of the book, as well as add bookmarks, highlights, and notes to digital pages. You will also be able to copy text from the book and print pages.
Windows is introducing Windows Live Search and in conjunction with the Windows Live Books Publishers program, you will be able to find and search digital books.
New York was great as always – I even got to Brooklyn to see my son’s new apartment!
Sue
May 25th, 2006
Pictures from MLC’s Web Makeover workshop are now posted. To view, visit www.flickr.com/photos/michiganlibraryconsortium/.
May 24th, 2006
Yahoo has an eBooks discussion group that was founded in 1996. It is described as the oldest, largest, over 2,000 members and most respected general forum for discussion of ebooks.
May 24th, 2006
The Library of Michigan needs your MeL success stories!
Do you have something amazing, astounding or even just an ordinary little victory that MeL helped you or one of your patrons attain? They’d like to collect those so they can make the case for supporting MeL. Your story may be used in the MeL promotional materials they’re creating.
They are especially interested in finding the patron whose son used his Michigan Driver’s License to access MeL from Iraq to finish a college course and get his degree. (Somebody overheard this at a booth during MLA * come on you reference librarians, it’s Michigan Stumpers!).
But even if yours isn’t about a soldier they want to hear it! The patron who used LearnATest to get his or her GED, start a business, rule the world …
Please send your success stories to Sue Davidsen at davidsens at michigan.gov.
May 24th, 2006
The annual retreat for MLC’s Board of Directors was held last week at Brook Lodge in Augusta, Michigan. Check them out at www.flickr.com/photos/michiganlibraryconsortium/.
May 22nd, 2006
Today was a disaster. But that’s a good thing! To see the photos from the workshop, visit www.flickr.com/photos/michiganlibraryconsortium/ and click on our newest photo set.
May 17th, 2006
Our new Board members were learning the ropes during their orientation day Monday. Pictures may be found at MLC’s flickr account www.flickr.com/photos/michiganlibraryconsortium/.
May 17th, 2006
There is an interesting article in the 5/14/06 New York Times Sunday Magazine titled Scan This Book! about the Google digitization project.
May 15th, 2006
MLC now has its very own space on www.flickr.com, the hugely popular photo-sharing service. Our first entries are from yesterday’s Books Without Covers digital books program. To view this set, see www.flickr.com/photos/michiganlibraryconsortium/. Anticipate new photos from other MLC events to be added on a regular basis. Here’s a sample:
May 12th, 2006
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