From Information Today: Gary Price and Shirl Kennedy, the well-known and respected librarian bloggers who began ResourceShelf a decade ago and DocuTicker 2 years later, have announced that they are no longer affiliated with those sites. The two say it was time to move on and have more autonomy. So, they have started two new sites that will continue to scour the internet for interesting resources. INFOdocket is their new home for new or newly discovered web resources; reference material they find interesting (lists, rankings, infographics, and factbooks, and other materials); web search tips;...

Google eBooks is now available on the web at http://books.google.com/ebooks Press Review: + Official Blog Post and Video We designed Google eBooks to be open. Many devices are compatible with Google eBooks—everything from laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones to e-readers. With the new Google eBooks Web Reader, you can buy, store and read Google eBooks in the cloud. That means you can access your ebooks like you would messages in Gmail or photos in Picasa—using a free, password-protected Google account with unlimited ebooks storage. In addition to a full-featured web reader, free apps for Android and Apple devices will make it possible to shop...

1. Primary Research has just released the 2011 edition of their Library Use of eBooks report. The complete report is a fee-based document but the news release does include some findings. + The libraries sampled had a mean number of 3.51 contracts with individual publishers or aggregators. + For colleges, eBook aggregators represented more than 63% of their total eBook contracts. + Larger libraries were much more likely than smaller ones to make purchases of eBooks through traditional jobbers. + Consortia purchases accounted for only about 35% of ebook purchasing of all kinds + Only 5.56% of libraries sampled have ever developed a video to explain any facet of...

From an Article by David Sarno: "It's very common for people to say, 'Why do I need a library when I've got a computer?' " said Pam Sandlian-Smith, director of the seven-branch Rangeview, Colo., Library District. "We have to reframe what the library means to the community." In the struggle to stay relevant — and ultimately to stay open — libraries are reinventing themselves in ways unimaginable even a few years ago, preparing for a future in which most materials can be checked and read from a home computer, smart phone or electronic reading device. University and public libraries are rushing to push...

We love year-ends lists and rankings around here and its time to get started for 2010. A few minutes ago Amazon posted several lists: 1) Top 100 Books Selected By Editors at Amazon 2) Top 100 Books Selected By Customers If you want sample these two lists and review titles in close to 24 categories use this page. It provides direct links to all of the lists. And Don't Forget the Kindle: 3) Best Kindle E-Books of 2010 You'll find the links to all of the lists and additional material on this webpage Category Lists Include Selections from Both Editors and Customers (They're All Listed and Linked in the First Column): + Audiobooks +...

From the Announcement: This new OCLC Research prototype presents a page each for more than 1800 publishers from around the world. WorldCat Publisher Pages prototype is an outgrowth of the OCLC Publisher Name Authority File, as well as the OCLC WorldMap and the OCLC Audience Level activities. [Clip] The WorldCat Publisher Pages prototype allows users to select a major publisher, and then to explore its publication history as reflected in the WorldCat database. Users can select a publisher either from a cloud, or via search. The Pages represent more than 1800 publishing entities (including imprints), including the largest publishers in the U.S., U.K.,...

From Asia Pulse: A common e-book format will likely be available in Japan as early as April, making content viewable on any reader device. Sharp Corp. and e-book software developer Voyager Japan Inc. will submit the specifications of their formats free of charge to the Electronic Book Publishers Association of Japan. The trade organization, consisting of 41 major publishers, will then create a common format by the end of March. The government will provide 150 million yen (US$1.8 million) as a subsidy. Currently, publishers must pay fees when they convert their e-book content to fit various formats created by reader device manufacturers. This has...

 Yesterday, the Internet Archive and more specifically, the Open Library, posted a few photos of a new reading desk (aka Reading Desk 2.0) that includes the IA BookReader. Included in the set of photos is a pictire of IA Founder, Brewster Kahle, using the IA BookReader at Reading Desk 2.0. For those of you who want the tech specs of what you're seeing in the photos: Hardware: HP L2105tm multitouch monitor, connected to laptops running Windows 7 with the HP touchscreen drivers. Software: The Internet Archive BookReader (with mang’s new multitouch support code) running in Firefox 4 beta 6 for multitouch support. The BookReader...

From the Announcement (via Israel Antiquities): As part of the celebrations on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of its establishment, the Israel Antiquities Authority is launching a unique project – The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library – to document the entire collection of the Dead Sea Srolls. A major lead gift from the Leon Levy Foundation, with additional major funding from the Arcadia Foundation and the support of Yad Hanadiv Foundation, will enable the Israel Antiquities Authority [IAA] to use the most advanced and innovative technologies available to image the entire collection of 900 manuscripts comprising c. 30,000...

From a JISC (UK) Announcement: Visitors to OldWeather.org, which launches today, will be able to retrace the routes taken by any of 280 Royal Navy ships including historic vessels such as HMS Caroline, the last survivor of the 1916 Battle of Jutland still afloat. The naval logbooks contain a treasure trove of information but because the entries are handwritten they are incredibly difficult for a computer to read. By getting an army of online human volunteers to retrace these voyages and transcribe the information recorded by British sailors we can relive both the climate of the past and key moments in naval...

From a NARA Announcement: The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the grantmaking arm of the National Archives, is pleased to announce a cooperative agreement with The University of Virginia (UVA) Press to make freely available online the historical documents of the Founders of the United States of America. The NHPRC and UVA Press will create a new web site which provides access to the fully annotated published papers of key figures in the nation’s Founding era. The project is designed to include the papers of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin. The National...

From a Newspaper Article: ...LSU Libraries recently announced the availability of six historical Louisiana newspapers online through its Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project. The six newspapers – The Carrollton Sun, the Louisiana Democrat, the Ouachita Telegraph, The Morning Star and Catholic Messenger, the West Feliciana Sentinel and the Feliciana Sentinel – are available for searching online at the Chronicling America website. The newspapers are the first installment in a collection that, by September 2011, will include 100,000 pages from more than 50 Louisiana newspapers. Learn More About the Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project and Access a List of Papers Source: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) See Also:Chronicling America Homepage...