Johnny de Falbe of John Sandoe bookshop said: “The British Library says it is ‘providing users with the choice of an alternative method of obtaining a title if, for some reason, it is not available in the Library’s Reading Rooms’. But users have always had an alternative method: it is called going to a bookshop. Are the British Library’s directors unaware that Britain has a great many very good bookshops? If so, they should discover them and learn what booksellers do besides simply taking money for products. If not, do they think everyone else attaches so little value to a diversity of bookshops and booksellers?”

De Falbe points out that the British Library is supported by public funds, and finds it odd that a public organization is throwing its support behind a private, “aggressively competitive retailer.”

I wonder if the British Library had any idea what kind of a Pandora’s Box it was opening with the Amazon links? You would think that it would have been hard for any book-related institution to miss the furor Amazon’s recent moves (such as buying The Book Depository) had been causing in the British bookselling world.

The library said the Amazon pilot was set up "with the aim of providing users with the choice of an alternative method of obtaining a title if, for some reason, it is not available in the Library’s Reading Rooms. It also offered users a rich source of additional information for many titles (book jacket images, contents pages etc) that supplemented the data the Library itself was able to provide." The library added the link was "simple and inexpensive to implement".

Nowhere to be found in the article is any mention at all of whether these links count as “affiliate” links, meaning the library would get a kickback every time someone bought an Amazon title after being directed there from its catalog. The library simply refers to it as a “pre-built generic link that comes out of the box” with the software used to build the catalog.

Personally, I hope they get the affiliate kickback. If they’re going to link to Amazon’s site anyway, they might as well—especially given how drastically the UK government has been slashing budgetary support for libraries lately. And what, exactly, have the complaining booksellers done for libraries lately?

BiblioLabs, LLC and the British Library have launched their British Library 19th Century Historical Collection App for iPad – now available on the App Store. The App was announced in June with an initial offering of a thousand 19th century books – it now makes some 45,000 titles available to subscribers, expanding to over 60,000 titles by the end of the year.

For just £1.99 a month in the UK [$2.99 a month, US and rest of the world] users will be able to explore historical and antiquarian books that range from classic novels to original accounts by Victorian travellers, and from science and exploration to poetry, memoir and military history.

The app makes use of the intimate and tactile interface of the iPad to recreate the experience of flipping through volumes taken from the shelves of one of the world’s great libraries. The collection can be navigated by theme and keyword search and the high resolution digital images render in colour the look and feel of the original pages, their bindings, and any plates, engravings or other illustrations.

Remarkable hidden gems include a contemporary account of the exhumation of Napoleon’s body, the memoir of a battlefield nurse during the American Civil War and an ethnographic study from 1884 of the gypsies of the Scottish Borders.

“This app makes 45,000 books from the Library’s unrivalled collections available to users around the world, at a price that over 12 months is equivalent to just one hardback book,” said Mitchell Davis, a founder of BiblioLabs. “Those who prefer to dip in can do so for a month and have at their disposal, for barely the price of a magazine, a bibliophile’s dream.”

“The online appetite for original historical content is huge and the Library is delighted to be working with BiblioLabs to transform the accessibility and visibility of this remarkable collection of 19th century books,” said Caroline Brazier, the British Library’s Director of Scholarship and Collections. “Our vision is to make more of our vast collections available to all, and the iPad App is a spectacular example of how this can work.”

Along with the many titles in English, the App also features classics in Spanish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese and Dutch. One featured collection is the range of some 425 Italian imprints, which reflects a broad spectrum of 19th century Italian interests including emigration to the Americas, the colonial experience in Eritrea and Somalia, and in-depth studies of the history and customs of the different peoples that finally came together to form a single nation at the time of Italian Unification in 1861.

As the subscription collection grows from 45,000 to 60,000 by the end of this year, more curated subject areas will be developed, giving users a variety of different routes into this huge and endlessly diverse collection. Other notable features include options to create lists of favourite titles, download books for offline reading and share interesting books with friends via email at no cost to either user.

Via No Shelf Required

The idea is that reading prose aloud tends to be more natural and conversational than simply reading lists of words, and also Mr. Tickle includes some words that have interesting variant pronunciations, like “mischievous” or “extraordinary”.

Readers can take part in the project at the British Library website, or by using an Audioboo mobile app. The website includes a downloadable or printable copy of the book, and instructions on how to tag the recording.

(Found via ReadWriteWeb.)

Earlier this week we posted about a “just announced” 10 year project from the British Library to digitize 40+ million newspaper pages.

From the Official Announcement:

Digitised material will include extensive coverage of local, regional and national press across three and a half centuries. It will focus on specific geographic areas, along with periods such as the census years between 1841 and 1911.

Regarding copyright issues it goes on to say:

Along with out-of-copyright material from the newspaper archive – defined in this context as pre-1900 newspaper material – the partnership will also seek to digitise a range of in-copyright material, with the agreement of the relevant rightsholders. This copyright material will, with the express permission of the publishers, be made available via the online resource – providing fuller coverage for users and amuch-needed revenue stream for the rightsholders.

Now, James Murdoch (Rupert’s son) and CEO of News. Corp said that he is not very pleased or as The Guardian puts it, he’s “upset” with the idea.

Why?

From The Guardian

James Murdoch has attacked plans by the British Library to digitise the national newspaper collection, warning that public bodies should not decide how copyrighted material is exploited for commercial gain. Subsidies to make up for the damage it has inflicted.”

[Clip]

In front of an audience that included his father Rupert, the chief executive of News International Rebekah Brooks and Sun editor Dominic Mohan, Murdoch added: “The case of the British Library goes even further. Just yesterday, the library announced the digitisation of their newspaper archive – originally given to them by publishers as a matter of legal obligation.

“This is not simply being done for posterity, nor to make free access for library users easier, but also for commercial gain via a paid for website. The move is strongly opposed by major publishers. If it goes ahead, free content would not only be a justification for more funding, but actually become a source of funds for a public body.”

Well, perhaps Mr. Murdoch should have read the complete news release. As we have noted above, the British Library is only going to digitise out-of-copyright materials pre-1900 unless, let’s repeat the following sentences from just a paragraph or two ago:

…This copyright material will, with the express permissionof the publishers, be made available via the online resource – providing fuller coverage for users and a much-needed revenue stream for the rightsholders.

That seems very clear to us. We really don’t no what else the British Library could have said unless they were NOT even going to ATTEMPT to digitise the post-1900 material.

Also, the database would be available for free to, “users on-site at the British Library.”

Finally, if Mr. Murdoch is also upset about the pre-1900 out-of-copyright material and newspaper digitisation then why hasn’t he said anything until now?

He had several years to object to the already available British Newspapers Online 1800-1900. This project is a partnership between the British Library and Gale, a part of Cengage Learning and provides online access to more than 2 million digitized pages in the public version of the database for a fee, (6.99 pounds for 24 hours is one price plan). Even more content is available to academic institutions. Btw, the public version of the site has been available since June, 2009.

Perhaps Mr. Murdoch needs (or have “his people” do a bit more research. Perhaps by obtaining primary document(s), summaries, or even reaching out and making a phone call or sending an email to those in the know.

See Also: Why James Murdoch was wrong to attack the British Library by Robert Greenslade (The Guardian)

What has the British Library done to upset James Murdoch? The answer: its job.

In a speech last night, the News International chief took the library to task for providing access to digital material. He began:

Take the current controversy over the library’s intention to provide unrestricted access to digital material.

What controversy? There is no controversy as far as the library, the public, thousands of academics and hundreds of working journalists – the seekers after knowledge – are concerned.

Digitized material will include extensive coverage of local, regional and national press across three and a half centuries. It will focus on specific geographic areas, along with periods such as the census years between 1841 and 1911. Additional categories will be developed looking at key events and themes such as the Crimean War, the Boer War and the suffragette movement. The aim will be to build a ‘critical mass’ of material for researchers – particularly in the fields of family history and genealogy.

long with out-of-copyright material from the newspaper archive – defined in this context as pre-1900 newspaper material – the partnership will also seek to digitize a range of in-copyright material, with the agreement of the relevant rightsholders. This copyright material will, with the express permission of the publishers, be made available via the online resource – providing fuller coverage for users and a much-needed revenue stream for the rightsholders.

For more info check Resource Shelf.

Currently home to roughly 8 million sites, the UK web domain is a rapidly expanding and constantly changing record of social and cultural issues in 21st century Britain. Despite common misperceptions, material that is freely available on the web is still subject to copyright and cannot be archived without permission – a time consuming, expensive, and often impossible task. Worryingly, recent research estimates the average life expectancy of a website is just 44 – 75 days, and suggests that at least 10% of all UK websites are either lost or replaced by new material every six months!

Since 2004, the British Library has been working closely with a number of organisations including JISC, the National Library of Wales, and the Wellcome Library to record Britain’s online presence for the benefit of future research. Material available through the web archive also covers records from other archival bodies including the National Library of Scotland and The National Archives.

Underpinning the infrastructure for the UK Web Archive, the British Library has recently been working with a number of technology partners including IBM to develop the ability to capture content and make it available. Using IBM’s BigSheets software the Library aims to not just archive online content but also to improve appropriate methods of access. This collaboration with IBM will enable the Web Archiving team to extract, transform and annotate, as well as statistically and algorithmically analyse web pages, vastly speeding up the archival process.

“A new technology prototype, BigSheets will essentially do for big data what spreadsheets did for personal computing,” says Rod Smith, Vice President, Emerging Internet Technologies, IBM. “We are delighted to be working with the British Library to develop the advanced software that will enable users to explore the mass of unstructured web data, and extract useful information for research.”

British Library Chief Executive, Dame Lynne Brindley said:

“Since 2004 the British Library has led the UK Web Archive in its mission to archive a record of the major cultural and social issues being discussed online. Throughout the project the Library has worked directly with copyright holders to capture and preserve over 6,000 carefully selected websites, helping to avoid the creation of a ‘digital black hole’ in the nation’s memory.

“Limited by the existing legal position, at the current rate it will be feasible to collect just 1% of all free UK websites by 2011. We hope the current DCMS consultation will enact the 2003 Legal Deposit Libraries Act and extend theprovision of legal deposit through regulationto cover freely available UK websites, providingregular snapshots ofthe free UK web domainforthebenefit of future research.”

As well as classic titles by famous 19th Century authors, many of the downmarket books known as “penny dreadfuls” will also be made available to the public, including Black Bess by Edward Viles and The Dark Woman by J M Rymer.

In addition, paperback copies of the first editions will be available from Amazon for about £15. Unfortunately the article does not give any technical details, or any links.

A further article in Times Online says:

Books to be made available will include Victorian classics such as A Strange Story by Edward Bulwer-Lytton and The Story of a Modern Woman by Ella Hepworth Dixon.

Altogether, 35%-40% of the library’s 19th-century printed books — now all digitised — are inaccessible in other public libraries and are difficult to find in second-hand or internet bookshops.

Thanks to Richard Herley for the heads up.

Gale, part of Cengage Learning, along with The British Library and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), have made nineteenth-century British newspapers available on the internet. The database, known as “British Newspapers, 1800-1900″ and available at http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/, gives users access to over two million newspaper pages from 49 different national and regional newspapers from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Chosen by leading experts and academics, the newspapers represent a cross-section of nineteenth-century society and contain illustrated materials on a variety of topics, including business, sports, politics and entertainment.