ebooks

Califa Launches Enki, a Lending Platform for Direct Ebook Distribution

By Matt Enis on May 20, 2013

The Califa Library Group and Contra Costa County Library (CCCL) today officially announced the beta launch of Enki Library, a new ebook platform designed to host and lend library-managed ebooks using the Douglas County model. Named after the Sumerian god of mischief, creativity, and intelligence, Enki went live at CCCL and the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) on May 6, and will soon serve multiple libraries in California, beginning with members of the Bay Area Library and Information System (BALIS) consortium.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ebooks, LJ, publishing, TDS

BiblioBoard Library Grows With New Modules, Subscription Service

By Matt Enis on May 20, 2013

This spring, BiblioLabs, the Charleston, SC–based developer of the free multimedia anthology production platform BiblioBoard Creator, began offering a subscription service that will allow users to download and view anthologies created by libraries and other third parties.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ebooks, iPad, LJ, publishing, TDS

Baker & Taylor Releases axisReader for Axis360

By Matt Enis on May 7, 2013

Baker & Taylor (B&T) has announced the release of axisReader, a new ereader app developed specifically to work with the company’s Axis 360 digital media platform. The axisReader app is now available for library patrons to install on both Android and Apple iOS tablets and phones via the Google Play store and iTunes.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ebooks, LJ, TDS

Hachette to Sell Frontlist Ebook Titles to Libraries

By Matt Enis on May 1, 2013

Hachette Book Group today announced that it will once again sell its frontlist ebook titles to libraries, beginning on May 8. Hachette’s entire catalog of 5,000 ebooks will now be available through OverDrive, Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 platform, and the 3M Cloud Library, under a pricing and licensing model similar to the one employed by Random House.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ebooks, Hachette, LJ, New York Public Library, nypl, overdrive, publishing, slj, TDS

OCLC WorldCat Knowledge Base Supports Demand Driven Acquisition

By Matt Enis on April 30, 2013

OCLC has begun supporting demand-driven acquisition (DDA) through the WorldCat Knowledge Base. DDA pioneer and ProQuest subsidiary EBL will be the first ebook service to provide data, with sister company ebrary to follow soon. Interest in DDA is well established, but there are still challenges facing adopters of these programs.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ebooks, ebrary, LJ, OCLC, Patron-driven acquisition, PDA, ProQuest, TDS

Separated At Birth: Library and Publisher Metadata

By The Digital Shift on April 29, 2013

The Douglas County Libraries’ (DCL) pioneering project to own, rather than license, much of its e-content has not only forged a new business model but also exposed a new frontier in metadata. As of March, about 22,000 of the library’s nearly 58,000 e-content titles had been purchased directly from publishers and stored on an Adobe Content Server (ACS), and it became quickly apparent to library staff that we were going to have to get creative with the metadata associated with this material.

Filed Under: Featured, LJ in Print, Publishing, Technology Tagged With: discovery, ebooks, LJ, metadata, publishing, TDS

OverDrive’s Upcoming APIs to Allow Ebook Checkouts from OPAC

By Matt Enis on April 26, 2013

OverDrive’s most recent agreement touts plans for “deep API integration” with Innovative Interfaces Inc. (III) products, including Sierra and the Encore Discovery Services Platform, including new API updates that “will include the ability to check out and place a hold on ebooks from a library’s online catalog,” according to a company announcement. The integration will also enable a “seamless experience,” within OverDrive’s Content Reserve collection portal, offering the option of viewing a library’s physical and digital holdings side-by-side

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ebooks, ILS, LJ, overdrive, TDS, user experience

Polaris ILS, Axis 360 to Integrate Ebook Access

By Matt Enis on April 24, 2013

Polaris Library Systems and Baker & Taylor (B&T) have announced that they are working together to integrate B&T’s Axis 360 digital media platform into the Polaris integrated library system (ILS). The integration will allow patrons to browse, place holds, and check out ebooks digital materials sourced from Axis 360 without navigating away from a library’s catalog.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: discovery, ebooks, ILS, LJ, Polaris, TDS

Accessibility Upgrade: EPUB, Libraries, and Ebook Accessibility

By Matt Enis on April 16, 2013 5 Comments

During a visit to Egypt two years ago, George Kerscher, Secretary General of the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) Consortium, found that the country’s major libraries had only a very small collection of books available for print-disabled patrons. And while staff and volunteers were working to make more books accessible, output was limited to only a handful of titles each year.

Discerning this as an outsider, Kerscher (who is blind himself) realized that it was very much a microcosm of how the process of producing accessible books has traditionally functioned in the United States.

Filed Under: Featured, Library Services, LJ in Print, Publishing, Technology Tagged With: accessibility, ebooks, epub, TDS-LJ

NYPL, Queens Libraries Comment on Simon & Schuster Ebook Lending Deal

By Matt Enis on April 16, 2013

Simon & Schuster (S&S) on Monday announced a one-year pilot program in which the publisher’s complete catalog of ebooks will be available for sale and lending at the New York Public Library (NYPL), the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL, and the Queens Library beginning April 30.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Brooklyn Public Library, ebooks, LJ, New York Public Library, publishing, Queens Library, Simon & Schuster, TDS