Next week's Frankfurt Book Fair has a reputation as one of the most not-to-be-missed events in publishing. Though its history goes back decades as a rights' fair where foreign rights to books were sold, the event has grown to place greater emphasis on digital publishing, enhanced ebooks, self-publishing, and other innovative aspects of the industry.At this year's event, … [Read more...] about Aquafadas to Unveil New Digital Publishing Platform at Frankfurt Book Fair
Digital Library News
Penguin eBooks Now Available via Overdrive and Axis 360
Penguin eBooks are now available to borrow from libraries in the US via Overdrive and Axis 360. This marks the first time in many years that titles from this publisher are available and has been a long time coming.Overdrive initially had a solid agreement with Penguin, but the publisher suspended digital eBooks a year and a half ago. They decided to go with 3M, who has a … [Read more...] about Penguin eBooks Now Available via Overdrive and Axis 360
American Library Association Announces Town Hall on eBooks
The American Library Association has been going full throttle on eBooks for the last few years. They managed to convince a number of major publishers that having their digital content in libraries is a good value proposition. The organization is hosting a virtual town hall meeting October 23 and it will explore emerging subjects in the eBook lending arena, including digital … [Read more...] about American Library Association Announces Town Hall on eBooks
Smartphone Reading May Help Dyslexic Readers
Digital reading has offered up a host of benefits to readers. Everything from price and portability of content, to the option to increase font size has led to a broad adoption of e-reading across a wide variety of devices. One of the surprises in e-reading was the growing adoption of smartphone reading, as many critics still insist they could never enjoy content on "that little … [Read more...] about Smartphone Reading May Help Dyslexic Readers
Setting Up an e-Library in Nepal
Nepal is the latest country to wake up to the significance of having in place an effective network of libraries for education. Thankfully, the country is pursuing the establishment of digital libraries, with the government already having outlined its intention of creating 1,053 e-libraries in the Himalayan kingdom. This is no doubt a timely move, as Nepal already holds the … [Read more...] about Setting Up an e-Library in Nepal
Second OverDrive “Big Library Read” Project Includes School Libraries
Earlier this year, digital content distributor OverDrive partnered with publisher Sourcebooks in an experiment aimed at establishing concrete data on how readers respond in terms of book borrows and book sales to digital titles they check out from their libraries. Sourcebooks made one of its titles available to OverDrive's member libraries for a predetermined period of time … [Read more...] about Second OverDrive “Big Library Read” Project Includes School Libraries
World Book Encyclopedia to Offer Subscription Plan to Schools, Libraries
As well-known and highly respected publishing entities like newspapers and reference books struggle to compete with free information available on the internet, publishers of these types of content are forced to find new ways to stay relevant and more importantly, to stay in business. With the announcement last year the the two-hundred-plus-year-old Encyclopaedia Britannica … [Read more...] about World Book Encyclopedia to Offer Subscription Plan to Schools, Libraries
OverDrive Announces New Deal to Bring Library eBook Lending into China
OverDrive is best known for their digital infrastructure that allows libraries to loan out eBooks to their patrons. The company has a massive footprint in Canada, Australia, US, Ireland, and the UK. Recently, OverDrive attended the IFLA annual conference, as well as the Beijing International Book Fair. The big news that broke out of these two events was a new contract that … [Read more...] about OverDrive Announces New Deal to Bring Library eBook Lending into China
BiblioTech Digital Library Opens this Week
The BiblioTech library in Bexar County is doing something that no library in the US has ever done. Since last year, the organizers had a grand vision of an all digital library. Six hundred e-readers and over ten thousand eBooks will be available to loan out when the new library opens this week.The library is based in a predominately Hispanic, low-income neighborhood, where … [Read more...] about BiblioTech Digital Library Opens this Week
Libraries Websites Key to Book Discovery
OverDrive recently held its annual Digipalooza conference where they polled close to 60,000 librarians on book discovery. The majority of readers, it seems, tend not to visit their local branch as much and instead are visiting the online website. However, many librarians in the US and Canada are finding the websites are woefully out of date. Making it more current is key to … [Read more...] about Libraries Websites Key to Book Discovery
British Library Partners with NLB Singapore to Digitize Rare Malay Manuscripts
The British Library has joined hands with the National Library Board in Singapore with the aim of digitizing an extensive collection of materials related to the island state. This includes Malay manuscripts considered to be extremely rare, which includes a Malay letter written in golden ink in 1857 by the ruler of Johor, Temenggung Ibrahim, to Emperor Napoleon III of France. … [Read more...] about British Library Partners with NLB Singapore to Digitize Rare Malay Manuscripts
National Library of Australia Digitizing Old Newspaper Articles
The National Library of Australia has embarked on an ambitious project of digitizing decades old newspapers to be added in a new database which they have named "Trove." It will be a treasure trove indeed, as it’s not only newspapers that are being provided with a digital makeover, but books and journals as well. Past photographs, too, are being included in ‘Trove," which means … [Read more...] about National Library of Australia Digitizing Old Newspaper Articles
Overdrive Unveils New eBook in Big Library Read Program
Overdrive Big Library Read program originally launched in May and had libraries all over North America to give away an eBook with no lending restrictions. The first title was Michael Malone’s ‘Four Corners of the Sky’ and was checked out more than 44,000 times in less than three weeks—quite impressive compared to its 200 total checkouts prior to the Big Library Read. The Read … [Read more...] about Overdrive Unveils New eBook in Big Library Read Program