From the press release: The Financial Times has today launched a new, faster and automatically updating app available directly through a web browser atapp.ft.com. The FT is the first major news publisher to launch an app of this type, which will allow readers to access its award-winning journalism easily and quickly across a broad range of tablet and smartphone devices. As part of the launch, the new FT Web App will provide free access to FT content during launch week. The FT Web App, built using HTML5 technology, features continual and automatic content downloads and improvements. It ensures that FT customers can...

From a Lengthy iTnews Article When flood waters threatened to breach the banks of the Brisbane River last Wednesday, the State Library of Queensland looked to be one of its first casualties. Fortunately for the library and Queensland's bookworms, management had a well-developed disaster recovery plan that went beyond simple data backup and that included all the minutiae of surviving catastrophe so that librarians didn't have to make it up as they went along. As the water started flowing into the basement levels, the library's client services director Rory McLeod and staff swung into action. [Clip] McLeod, who was also evacuated...

Martin Fenner on the always interesting Gobbledygook blog (part of the Public Library of Science Blogs Network) provides a look at the "Beyond the PDF...is ePub" workshop that took place last week in San Diego. Fenner's post also includes a link to his presentation at the workshop, "Blogging Beyond the PDF or Copy by Reference." From the Blog Post: The limitations of the PDF format were just one topic, the main themes were annotation, data, provenance, new models, writing and reviewing and impac ePub should become the standard document format for authoring, distributing and reading scholarly content. [Clip] The ePub...

+ "Taiwan Libraries to Offer 11,000 Titles for E-readers" (via PC World) + Google Books: "Hachette Google agreement to last five years" (via The Bookseller) + "Amazon.com Formally Releases App For Windows Phone 7" (via Amazon.com) + "FBReader Has Encyclopedic Knowledge of E-Book Formats" (via TechNewsWorld) + "Ebooks top print books in USA Today list" (via TeleRead) + UK: Print: "Book sales in 2010 fall by more than 3% (via The Bookseller) Via Resource Shelf...

A Commentary by Steve Haber, President of Sony’s Digital Reading Business (via The Huffington Post): Regardless of its exact nature, technology will play an increasing role in shaping our future libraries. For centuries, the book publishing industry has worked closely with and supported libraries, and they have done so without influencing the freedom of the institution. It is now time for the technology industry to step up and play a similar role. [Clip] At Sony, we believe there is a place for public/private partnerships. That's why we're so excited to be working closely with libraries and librarians across the country as part of...

From a NY Times Article (by Julie Bosman via Austin American-Statesman) E-books now make up 9 to 10 percent of trade-book sales, a rate that grew hugely this year after accounting for less than half that percentage by the end of last year. Publishers are predicting that digital sales will be 50 percent higher or even double in 2011 what they were in 2010. January could be the biggest month ever for e-book sales, as possibly hundreds of thousands of people download books on the e-readers that they receive as Christmas gifts. [Clip] But publishers have not yet figured out how to market e-books...

+ Exclusive: Google ebookstore rep hints at timetable for Australia (Teleread) + Indie Bookstores Opt-In to Google eBooks (Chicagoist) + Google Books: Solid But Not Worth Switching For (tapscape) + Five-Million-Book Google Database Gets a Workout, and a Debate, in Its First Days (Arts Beat, New York Times) Via Resource Shelf...

From the Encyclopædia Britannica Blog Top 10 Most-Read Articles on Britannica for 2010 Here are The Top 3 From the List: 1. French Revolution 2. Romanticism 3. Civil Rights Movement Plus, a Few Bonus Nuggets: + Barack Obama ranked at #258, while Ronald Reagan, the most-read U.S. presidential article, was 19th + India was the 2nd-most-viewed country article; China was 29th + Sir Isaac Newton (#42) bested Shakespeare (#43) and JFK (#44) Top 10 Most-Viewed Images on Britannica.com for 2010 Here are The Top 3 From the List: 1. Bones of the hand and wrist 2. Posterior view of the muscles of the human leg 3. Bernese mountain dog Via Resource Shelf...

Direct to Uncovering New Chicago Archives Web Site/Online Searchable Database From a Chicago Sun-Times Article: The unpublished sketches of famed African-American editorial cartoonist Chester Commodore as he struggled to get President Richard Nixon’s nose and President George W. Bush’s ears just right. A letter from President Harry S. Truman thanking Chicago Defender Publisher John Sengstacke for his advice about desegregating the United States Army. These and thousands of other fascinating scraps of Chicago black history from the mid-20th Century had lingered in boxes in attics, basements and storage lockers for years. Now, thanks to a just-completed University of Chicago-led project, many of these cultural treasures...

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...