Thursday, 27 August 2009

What did you do in the ebook wars?

Amazon to launch Kindle in the UK next week? The Bookseller reports on a Stuff.TV story today that Amazon are going to launch Kindle in Europe next week, its not available for pre order on Amazon UK yet though. It looks as though Amazon are keen to pre-empt the launch of Sony's Daily Edition device. The Kindle apparently has room for a SIM card - allowing Amazon to cut a deal with a UK wireless carrier.

The Wi Fi Sony Daily Edition device will launch in the US in Dec though it will be sometime before it is available in the UK - allowing Amazon to get a foothold in the meantime. In the UK Sony have released a new version of its Sony Reader which allows for annotation. Also available in the UK is the Cool-ER. The really interesting development for libraries is mentioned by the wonderful Gizmodo here

"My favorite part of Sony's Reader announcement was probably Library Finder, powered by OverDrive, which lets you check out eBooks from your local library—and "thousands" have signed up—for free, direct to your reader. But there's a catch.

There aren't an unlimited number of ebooks—each library has an actual "stock" of ebooks (because the library had to pay for each copy). So, if they have a stock of 5 books, and they're all checked out, you have to wait in a queue for somebody else's book to expire when they hit the 21-day mark (when they automatically expire). When it's available, you get an email, and then you can check it out. You also need a valid library card, BTW, so you (theoretically) can't check out books from the New York Public Library—who's launching their stuff with the service today—if you live in Montana.

But overall, it's pretty great if it works as advertised—free books from your library for your ebook reader."

How long before we see this in the UK?

Tuesday, 18 August 2009

Revolution

Academic libraries are undergoing a quiet revolution - article in the Guardian today

"Being a librarian these days is all about technology and customer service; no time to stick your nose in a book"

Even the Guardian couldn't resist using 'quiet' in a Library story. It is or should be a far from 'quiet' revolution - it is about challenges, debate, being heard, learning, change, - about skills and culture, technology, service transformation, social movement, collaboration, conversation and passion