Last week while roaming the exhibit hall at the ALAMW conference in Dallas, Texas, I discovered Mediasurfer.  Mediasurfer offers self-checkout machines for iPads (and other tablet devices in the near future).  Users swipe a library card to borrow the iPad.  Upon return, the devices are returned to original settings. If you’d like to know more about Mediasurfer, listen to the interview with Gary Kirk, President of Mediasurfer, and Jim Nelson, COO of Mediasurfer.  They provide many more details on the software, hardware, and services offered. [Via No Shelf Required] ...

From the press release: NetGalley today announced the official launch of a new member benefit program for librarians, in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA). ALA members who sign up to request digital galleys from NetGalley can now add their ALA member number to their profile, to speed request approval and access to upcoming titles. NetGalley’s catalog currently includes new titles from over 140 publishers, and galleys can be read securely on all major reading devices and tablets. NetGalley also announced the launch of a new online, email and social media program, NetGalley at...

Yesterday ALA announced a new blog on E-content, to be administered by Christopher Harris.  Here is more information from the press release: Keeping up with the many varieties of digital content—and how libraries can offer them to their patrons—just got easier. American Libraries has launched an “E-Content” blog (http://americanlibraries.org/e-content) that provides information on e-books, e-readers, e-journals, databases, digital libraries, digital repositories, and other e-content issues. The blog complements the new section on e-content that appears in the weekly e-newsletter American Libraries Direct and focuses on similar issues. E-Content is administered by Christopher Harris, director of the School Library System for the Genesee Valley...

During the just concluded ALA 2011 Conference in New Orleans the ALA OITP (Office of Information Technology Policy) eBook Task Force talked with senior HarperCollins staff*** about a number of important issues. The discussion came about after the HarperCollins team suggested that both groups get together during the OITP eBook Task Force Business Meeting. What follows is a report about what was discussed during the meeting. It was written by Peter Brantley and shared with INFOdocket. Brantley is a member of the OITP task force. He’s also the Director of the Bookserver Project for the Internet Archive and a former executive director of the Digital...

You can find the original here. Restrictions on library e-book lending threaten access to information Tight library budgets restrict e-book buying power Chicago – As libraries cope with stagnant or decreased budgets, the recent decision by publisher HarperCollins to restrict the lending of e-books to a limited number of circulations per copy threatens libraries’ ability to provide their users with access to information. “Libraries have a long history of providing access to knowledge, information and the creative written works of authors,” said American Library Association (ALA) President Roberta Stevens. “We are committed to equal and free access for the...

From the ALA District Dispatch (blockquotes omitted): Recent action from the publishing world in the e-book marketplace has re-ignited interest and sparked many questions from librarians, publishers, vendors, and readers. Two ALA member task forces – the presidential task force on Equitable Access to Electronic Content (EQUACC) and the E-book Task Force – were recently created to address these complex and evolving issues.  EQUACC met this week in Washington, D.C., to provide ALA with guidance and recommendations for a coordinated ALA response to the challenging issues. In light of recent publisher changes affecting libraries’ ability...

Publishers Weekly has an interesting piece on an American Library Association panel on e-books and libraries January 8th. The panel featured a number of librarians and e-book experts, including Sue Polanka of the “No Shelf Required” blog and Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive. The panel focused on the opportunities and challenges e-books offered libraries. Kahle in particular was outspoken about the need to prevent an oligarchy of a few powerful corporations from taking control of digital media for the future. [Kahle] expressed his longstanding concern over Google’s efforts to scan collections “and sell it...

OK, gang. Parse this exchange between USA Today reporter Edward C. Baig and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, amid the ballyhoo for the third-generation Kindle: Q: Why doesn't Amazon support the popular "e-pub" standard used by your competitors and many libraries? A: We are innovating so rapidly that having our own standard allows us to incorporate new things at a very rapid rate. For example: Whispersync (which uses wireless connections to sync your place in a book across devices) and changing font sizes. Other standards over time may incorporate some of these things. But we're...

The complete panel has been released in four separate videos. The panels include Corey Williams, ALA Washington Office; Jonathan Band, author of many articles about the settlement; Professor James Grimmelmann, Marybeth Peters, Registrar of Copyright; Johanna Shelton, Senior Counsel Google; Mark Sandler, CIC. For links to all the videos see this Resource Shelf article....