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The future: how will e-books affect libraries and the culture of reading?

Peter G. Underwood — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:14:12 +0000

Val Skelton has an interesting set of comments on the future of e-books in the 8 December 2011 issue of Information today Europe, where she reviews the proceedings of Online Information 2011 . Several speakers noted that the book industry is becoming somewhat like the music industry, with more consumers downloading material than entering a music store or bookshop. Inevitably, this will change the way in which media are marketed and will also have a profound effect on the way in which we shop, especially when the new generation of e-books become available. These are likely to offer a different experience of reading and provide better search and index facilities. What does it mean for libraries? Probably that services need to be geared to the “socially-networked” reader; however, what the impact might be in an African context has still to be explored.

The future: how will e-books affect libraries and the culture of reading? is a post from: Knowledge Leadership Associates

How to make your own e-book

Peter G. Underwood — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 07:39:03 +0000

There are many e-books available in a variety of formats — but suppose the text you want is not available in an e-text format? What if you wanted to create your own e-book for personal use or to convert it from a common format such as Portable Document Format (PDF)? Two software applications may be useful. Sigil, is a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) open-source, XML-based, ePub editor that is free and available in versions that will run under Windows, the Mac OS and Linux. Sigil allows you to produce an e-book in the ePub format (which is an open standard) by either importing text in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) format or by copying-and-pasting text from a document in a .txt format (other format import options will also soon be available). With the exception of the Kindle, the ePub format is accepted by all of the major e-book reading devices. In the case of the Kindle, processing the Sigil-produced text using Calibre will convert it to the format used by Kindle: .mobi — which is an abbreviation for “Mobipocket” — try http://www.ehow.com/facts_5563134_file-extension-mobi.html for further information. If you wish to read more about these possibilities, an article by Mark Sample, “Create your own e-book with open-source Sigil” (Chronicle of higher education, 12 October 2011), is a good place to start.

How to make your own e-book is a post from: Knowledge Leadership Associates

Finding free e-books

Peter G. Underwood — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:56:22 +0000

If you have not encountered the “Pearltrees” application before, here is a good example of how useful this graphic display of information and linkages can be: http://www.pearltrees.com/team/pvvu5/FreeEbooks/. This Pearltree maps out free e-book resources – “mouse hover” over a pearl to see a preview of the site and click on the pearl to be transferred to the site.

Finding free e-books is a post from: Knowledge Leadership Associates

Published Guide to free e-books

chrisarmstrong — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:52:50 +0000

The UK eInformation Group (UKeiG) – a special interest group of CILIP – has just published The 2011 Guide to Free or Nearly-Free e-Books – a 177-page annotated guide by Chris Armstrong (a KLA trainer). The guide lists over 230 sites offering either single titles or collections of titles, search engines and gateways for e-books. Each site has been reviewed so that users can form a clear impression of what it offers, as well as its strengths and weaknesses before visiting the URL. The directory is indexed by subject and title.

A full description of the Guide and a link to purchase can be found at http://www.ukeig.org.uk/content/publications.

Published Guide to free e-books is a post from: Knowledge Leadership Associates

Knowlead Course – Managing the Integration of E-Resources into Library Collections (KL-MIER)

benfouche — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:17:46 +0000

Managing the Integration of E-Resources into Library Collections (KL-MIER)

Dates and Venues

Midrand, Gauteng

22– 26 November 2010

Download printable course brochure here in pdf : KL-MIER

Check out course page for more information (click here)

The transition to electronic sources of information has recently gathered momentum and is affecting all subject areas and services to all levels of user: scientific and technical sources, community information, reading materials for children. The acquisition, provision and management of these e-resources leave librarians in all library and information sectors with a new and wide-ranging set of challenges. How can one find this material, how should it be managed in a modern library service? Come and find out.

Knowlead Course – Managing the Integration of E-Resources into Library Collections (KL-MIER) is a post from: Knowledge Leadership Associates

The row about open-access journals continues

Peter G. Underwood — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:55:08 +0000

On the face of it, the idea of providing free access to scientific information seems eminently sensible, if we are committed to the idea of progress for all. The Public Library of Science (PLoS) was one of the first concerted attempts at providing such a service, launching in 2003 and providing free access to a range of peer-reviewed articles. The “open-access” approach has created controversy, though: in particular, some open-access journal publishers charge authors very high fees to publish their articles and there has been criticism over the quality of the peer-reviewing system. One contention is that the movement has encouraged the publication of more “junk science” or papers about trivial matters, almost devoid of novelty. Others argue that the effect of open-access publishing may eventually tip the balance against conventional publishers, as libraries and other subscribers discontinue subscriptions in favour of “free” sources.

The row about open-access journals continues is a post from: Knowledge Leadership Associates