The Internet was buzzing this morning with the news of UK Prime Minister David Cameron's intense reshuffling of people and positions in his cabinet, swapping roles for some of them and ousting others altogether. Of course, the headline grabber in the reordering is the loss of Michael Gove as the head of education, a change that has more than a few teachers, parents, students, … [Read more...] about Sweeping Changes in UK Govt Could Have Impact on Digital Publishing
open access
Copyright Clearance Center Launches RightsLink for Open Access
One of the chief issues that creates underlying buzz in the book industry involves copyright, specifically open access. It's the issue that no one wants to talk about until there's an intellectual property theft, or until research paid for with public tax dollars isn't available to teams of researchers elsewhere. The Copyright Clearance Center, one of the leading … [Read more...] about Copyright Clearance Center Launches RightsLink for Open Access
Groups Advocate for Fair-Use Access to Orphaned Works
Two organizations, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and non-profit policy advocates Public Knowledge, have submitted their recommendations to the US Copyright Office to establish fair use guidelines for so-called orphan works, or any work whose rights holders cannot be identified through extensive means. Orphan works are those whose rights holders cannot be located, … [Read more...] about Groups Advocate for Fair-Use Access to Orphaned Works
Authors Guild, Authors Alliance Battle Over Speaking for Writers
A new dramatic battle is brewing in the publishing industry, this time over competing organizations that both claim to advocate and speak for authors but who have vastly different goals and ideals. The long-standing Authors Guild, often scoffed as a proud member of the gatekeepers club and a rather irrelevant entity that has yet to embrace the current publishing climate, … [Read more...] about Authors Guild, Authors Alliance Battle Over Speaking for Writers
Access to Research Initiative Makes Journal Research Free to Public
A new move towards broader open access has made over one and a half million journal articles free for public use through UK libraries. In a pilot program called Access to Research that is partly being powered free of cost by ProQuest's search capabilities, the public can now access these articles and conference presentations through their libraries. According to a press … [Read more...] about Access to Research Initiative Makes Journal Research Free to Public
Copyright and Open Access: The Future of Publishing
Frankfurt Book Fair has grown into an event that encompasses so much about the publishing industry, with special events focused on self-publishing and six different exhibit halls dedicated to various aspects of digital publishing. But what once was known to be simply a rights fair still serves as a hub of copyright issue, as evidenced by the Copyright Clearance Center’s panel, … [Read more...] about Copyright and Open Access: The Future of Publishing
New Business Model for Flooved Includes Open Access, Crowdsourcing
One of the frustrating hurdles of the publishing industry has been the inability to make a subscription-based model for reading work in a large-scale way. While companies like 24Symbols are still moving forward, the "Netflix of books" concept is still pretty elusive. While some of that rests on the shoulders of consumers who were not sure they were going to get the value of … [Read more...] about New Business Model for Flooved Includes Open Access, Crowdsourcing