InfoTech

As far as digitized special collections are concerned, the more exposure the better. With that in mind, ebook provider ebrary is opening up a portion of its platform to subscribers of its Academic Complete product. DASH!—short for “Data Sharing,” and a nod to the speed with which materials are processed—is a self-service tool to help libraries upload locally digitized materials to ebrary's ebook platform. Once uploaded, items function the same way as any other ebrary PDF, searchable and browser-ready using the company's QuickView reader.

“It's a simple progression of what we do naturally,” Kevin Sayar, ebrary president, told LJ: ingest PDFs and enable additionally valuable features, all in a cost-effective manner. “It allows [subscribers] to make content accessible to themselves and the public,” he added. Libraries can choose to make local content available only to students and faculty or the users of a select group of institutions or leave it unrestricted.

Collections to come

Libraries will be responsible for their own digitization process, the company said, including conversion to the PDF format. In addition, libraries must input all metadata at the point of upload. Still, “there are quite a few libraries sitting on PDFs,” Sayar said, “[so] here's an opportunity to make [those] available and accessible for free.”

The platform will be available for free to interested subscribers (currently between 750 and 1000 libraries in North America, according to the company) as of the 2010 American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Boston.

DASH! is still in its nascent stages, and company reps will be soliciting input from academic librarians at Midwinter about where to take the service and how it might best serve subscribers. A number of features are in the works, including a batch-upload process and the ability to organize materials into subgroups and collections. Bruce Barrett, technical product manager, also indicated that support for OpenURL may eventually be included as well.

While the service is not designed to be the primary outlet for any school's digital collections, it may prove attractive as yet another means of exposing an institution's digitized contents and leveraging the benefit of PDF enhancements afforded by ebrary's existing platform.

Are QR codes—two-dimensional hyperlinking barcodes—the next wave in connecting mobile-savvy patrons to library services? Contra Costa County Library (CCCL), CA, is betting yes, as it embarks on a yearlong Bay Area Library and Information System (BALIS)–funded QR code project.

The library will reach out to the community by attaching these increasingly popular symbols to library-related materials, as well as placing them in high-traffic areas, perhaps in partnership with local community centers and businesses. The labels themselves contain embedded information that can be decoded by a QR code reader on a mobile device. This software then links users directly from the black-and-white images to a web site via a decoded URL, or reveals some other embedded information like a call number or small snippets of text.

QR code generators and the software necessary to decode the labels are by no means ubiquitous in the United States, though they've been popular in gadget-saturated countries like Japan for some time. As a result, an educational campaign will be required to inform patrons about these crossword puzzle-looking images. Still, “the public is becoming more savvy about these things,” Cathy Sanford, Contra Costa deputy county librarian, told LJ. She also pointed to the recent rollout by Google to place QR codes in nearly 200,000 local businesses across the country, as well as pioneering library QR code service pilot projects such as the one from the Sacramento Public Library, CA, that sends users to text message chat info when they scan a code on the library's blog.

Once the CCCL project is in full swing, QR codes will be embedded across the range of services the library offers. Sanford said that popular collections will have barcodes that link directly to readers' advisory materials online, including read-alikes patrons are encouraged to check out. The library will also embed QR barcodes in its promotional and marketing materials, linking patrons directly to pages with location information, schedules, and related events.

Finally, QR codes will be attached to all materials served up by another of CCCL's partially BALIS-funded technology innovations: its Library-a-Go-Go automated materials vending system (see LJ 8/09, p. 16). QR codes at these unstaffed locations will link patrons to the library's text message (SMS) and chat reference services, as well as any other services available remotely. “It's all designed for people on the go,” Sanford said, adding that the library's goal is to make its services relevant to the community when and where they're needed, not just within the confines of local branches.

After a decade dedicated to a trade ebook “proof of concept,” the trade ebook may have finally come of age. That was the news from a recent two-day eBook Summit, held in New York City on December 15-16 by marketing-savvy media company MediaBistro, partnering with LJ's sister publication Publishers Weekly.

Today, with the proliferation of new dedicated ebook devices (Kindle, Sony Reader, B&N's Nook, etc.), an explosion in smartphones and apps, and the abundance of new platforms, libraries must be ready for the next stage in which they may have to play a more curatorial role as content burgeons.

The summit involved more than 35 industry speakers, including authors, journalists, agents, scholars, consultants, geeks, publishers, and librarians, with hundreds more in the audience. (Review the conversation using the hashtag #ebooksummit on Twitter.)

Print on demand (POD) will become more vital to backlist, long tail, and independent publishing of print books, speakers said, whether at the warehouse or via the Espresso Book Machine. And in a world where anyone can author and distribute content, libraries and authoritative, library-focused content reviews likely will continue to play a role, though how this might work remains unclear.

Academic library industry heavies like ebrary and Gale Cengage seem to have a firm grip on how to aggregate and deliver scholarly ebook content in the academic library market. But the road to effective public library distribution of e-originals may be a bit rockier.

How will the ebook marketplace look a year from now? And just how will this all work in the future? Kneerim and Williams literary agent and industry wag Steve Wasserman said it best: “I suppose we could sum up this entire two-day conference under the headline 'too early to tell.'” But public libraries need to be ready.—Barbara A. Genco

IGI Global has released a new platform and XML-powered engine for its electronic resources. IGI Global e-resources subscribers (Book E-Access, Journal E-Access, InfoSci-Books, and InfoSci-Journals) and new institutions will be able to take advantage of the enhanced features, including COUNTER-compliant statistics, full-text searching and a ranking system, enhanced search, scaffolding to display search patterns, and several options to refine your search with filtering.

Current persistent URLs and MARC records will resolve to the new platform automatically, and new and current subscribers will be able to employ standard linking features using DOIs through a librarian administration corner. See igi-global.com/gateway for more.—Michael Rogers

Stephen Abram—the well-known library pundit and occasional lightning rod for debate—has left his position as VP of innovation for the integrated library system (ILS) vendor SirsiDynix. On January 1, he took up a new position at Gale, part of Cengage Learning, as VP of strategic partnerships and markets. Describing himself as a “change agent,” Abram told LJ that part of the task in his new role would be to help Gale transform itself from being known as publisher of directories and databases to a company known for facilitating community experiences. “That's the next stage: product engagement,” Abram said.

For years, Abram has vocally advocated for innovation and library engagement with their communities. In the course of Abram's speaking gigs and writings, he has also been known to spark controversy and discussion. Most recently, Abram authored a document harshly critical of the growing domain of open source software, which competes with many parts of SirsiDynix's product line, generating negative remarks, dismay, and even some support from those involved in the debate.

Abram said the controversy had nothing to do with the job change, adding that he stands behind what he wrote. “You tend to make people uncomfortable” with unconventional opinions, Abram said.

As he moves on, Abram will take with him the contents of his blog, Stephen's Lighthouse (currently hosted by SirsiDynix), including its entire archive. Once a new domain is established, he told LJ, the blog will continue.

Gale has debuted its AccessMyLibrary (AML) mobile app for the iPhone. This follows shortly after the announcement of custom mobile interfaces for EBSCOhost resources and the Summon discovery platform from Serials Solutions (see InfoTech, LJ 12/09, p. 24). AML, however, differs from the others in that it is a dedicated app for a single platform rather than a mobile-optimized web interface. By default, it shows a map view of subscribing libraries through which a patron can access Gale content. Also of note, AML authenticates users via geolocation, meaning users don't necessarily need to be cardholders as long as they're within a ten-mile radius of a subscribing institution.

On the mobile audio front, OverDrive has released an app for the Android mobile platform that mirrors the functionality of its recent Windows Mobile OverDrive Media Console, allowing users to access and download audiobooks wirelessly. Hoping for further mobile adoption of digital materials via its platform, OverDrive director of marketing David Burleigh said, “We are committed to providing a complete download experience on mobile devices, with audiobook apps for the iPhone and BlackBerry expected in 2010.”

Finally, LibraryThing has worked up one of libraryland's first augmented reality applications. The result is actually a mash-up of LibraryThing Local map data and a visualization app for the iPhone and Android platforms called Layar, which projects added information onto real-time camera displays. Tap the application, call up the LibraryThing map data layer, and watch local libraries, bookstores, and more show up on top of the camera view, complete with distance and directional indicators (compass-equipped phone required). Touch the location icons, and you'll be connected to LibraryThing Local listings for more info, including address, phone number, Wi-Fi availability, and upcoming events.