As e-books emerge as more and more of a popular medium, politicians have to look at new ways of protecting citizens. When many laws were enacted, even decades ago, they were written without much consideration for future digital endeavors. Arizona is the most recent to state to look at e-books, and to move to protect those that read them. A bill is going through the state legislature to add e-books to the current library privacy law, according to the Associated Press. The current state law already prohibits the disclosure of library records without a court order. This bill would protect readers of...

From Torontoist comes this interesting little tidbit: The Toronto Public Library has partnered with Indigo (Canada's major book chain) as an affiliate in yet another effort to raise a bit of cash. I reported earlier about another out-of-the-box experiment they're running, involving advertising on the due date slips. In that story, a library official said they would be exploring multiple revenue ideas. It seems he meant it! As Torontoist illustrates, users who browse the TPL catalog will now see a box encouraging them to buy the book if they want to, as a way to support the library. They can click through to...

Netherlands: Government Report Says Dutch Libraries Can't Lend Ebooks (Info Docket) Avoiding Ebook Casualties: The Importance of Quality Assurance (Digital Book World) Bug in Kindle Update for iOS Deletes Users' Entire Library (TechCrunch) Why B&N Should Abandon Hardware (Tools of Change) The Trouble With Finding Books Online - And a Few Solutions (Forbes) Kindle Daily Deals: Guilt By Degrees by Marcia Clark (and 3 others)...

The story of Joanna Cabot's DRM-free year continues with the dispatch below, from FEB 2013. JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC It's been a busy month for me, work-wise, so I haven't had that much reading time—I logged just five books this month, which is pathetic. But this doesn't reflect my daily reading. I have a few longer-term books I'm reading (a book of daily essays, some reference books) which should bump my total when they're done, but that won't be for some time. I...

Six books compete for the prize of Oddest Book Title of the Year (Christian Science Monitor) Buying your way up the bestseller list (Good e-Reader) Sorry, the short story boom is bogus (Salon) I Bribed a Librarian to Pick Out Books (Book Riot) Amazon original series plans heat up (NY Post) Kindle Daily Deals: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (and 3 others)...

              Canada’s Futile Quest to Own Postal Codes (GigaOM) New Online Educational Library for Jewish Schools (Digital Book World) Ubuntu for Tablet PCs is Here (Good e-Reader) What’s Going on with Readers Today (Goodreads) Kindle Daily Deals: The 500 by Matthew Quirk (and 3 others)...

Is it just us, or does it seem as if there's an unusually large number of quirky library stories floating around lately? Thanks in no small part to the digital revolution, many municipal libraries today are watching their budgets shrink at the same time they find themselves having to defend against accusations of irrelevance. But there is an upside to the pressure so many libraries are experiencing these days: entrepreneurial creativity. After all, when it begins to look as if your very business model may be facing extinction, new and oftentimes unusual ideas tend to begin sprouting like so many weeds. Case in...

Good e-Reader ran an interesting post earlier today about Oklahoma’s Metropolitan Library System, which took the unprecedented step back in December 2012 of advertising its e-book lending services on broadcast television. According to the post, the 60-second spot was developed by the library system's own IT department. It ran for about two weeks on the area's Fox and CW affiliate stations, and for roughly a month on local cable channels. And as the library system's marketing director, Kim Terry, explained, "over 1,700 new customers began using our eMedia site since the commercial started running, which was a 22 percent increase over the previous month.” Perhaps not surprisingly,...

  Impelsys, a provider of electronic content delivery solutions, recently announced the commercial launch of a new acquisitions system for libraries that enables library staff to order e-books for their collections directly from participating publishers. Impelsys' new library eBook Ordering System, as it's called, was developed in partnership with Douglas County Libraries (DCL), a seven-branch public library system in Douglas County, Colo. The e-book acquisition dashboard was beta tested by DCL's professional staff and system modifications were made prior to commercial launch last week. "The Library E-Book Ordering System is an important addition to the 21st century librarian's toolchest," said James LaRue, director of Douglas...

Passion Rather Than Business Sense Fueling Book Publishing Start-up Funding? (DBW) It's not what a library stocks, it's what it shares (The Guardian) Bestselling author riles many, calling libraries 'no longer relevant' (Christian Science Monitor) Amazon shares climb on Kindle e-book optimism (Yahoo! News) Kindle Daily Deals: The Last Dance by Ed McBain (and 3 others)...

CHART: How Much Money Amazon Is Making From The Kindle (Business Insider) Barnes & Noble Warns of Lower Revenue (New York Times) Four Amazing Mini Libraries That Will Inspire You to Read (GOOD) Bowker & Vook Partner to Expand Self-Publishing Services (MediaBistro) Why eBook Retailers Are Embracing Self-Published Authors (Huffington Post)...

Warren Buffett was on CBS Sunday Morning. The interviewer, Rebecca Jarvis, asked if he owned an iPhone. No. iPad? No. “He prefers books,” she said in an admiring way, “and reads avidly.” As if electronic books don’t exist! As if millions of Americans are not downloading e-books to iPhones, iPads and other devices! As if a young Buffett today wouldn’t love to read scads of library e-books each year! No, I won’t beat up on either Buffett or Ms. Jarvis, given people’s varying tastes in reading formats. In fact, for retirement purposes, I’m a small shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett's company, and I trust his long-term judgment...