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BEA 2012: Libraries Still Draw the Short Stick
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by Dan Tonkery
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BEA, or Book Expo as it is better known, was at the Javits Center June 5-7, 2012 and the 30,000 attendees filled the exhibit hall with more excitement than in past years. Many of the exhibitors were pleased with the foot traffic. With more than 1,300 exhibitors and more than 600 authors available for autographs, the hall was filled to near capacity. In the midst of the positive atmosphere, there was still some controversy among publishers concerning the DOJ action against Apple and the fear that Amazon is getting much too powerful. Amazon, already the largest supplier of print and electronic books, became the largest publisher of self-published books in 2011. The company just announced its latest acquisition of Avalon, another print publisher as it continues to build up its imprints.
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OCLC Names New CEO: Jack Blount
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Jack B. Blount, an executive with experience leading several technology organizations in a career spanning 35 years, has been named OCLC president and CEO. Blount was most recently president and CEO of Alpha Bay Corp., a global technologies and services provider. From 2002 to 2005, he was president and CEO of Dynix Corp., a technology-based library services organization acquired by Sirsi in 2005 to form SirsiDynix.
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ebrary Announces New Android App
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Less than 6 months after launching a dedicated iOS app, ebrary, a ProQuest business, announced a new Android app that will be freely available on Google Play this summer. With the increasing popularity of smart phones, tablets, and other devices, researchers will have a more optimized way to discover and use ebooks, online and offline, on any Android device in addition to the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
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Multicultural Books and Videos Becomes SkyRiver Vendor Partner
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SkyRiver announced an expansion of the SkyRiver database through a new partnership with Multicultural Books and Videos, Inc., a major library supplier of foreign language materials--particularly titles in non-Roman languages. One of Multicultural's services is the provision of MARC records with its shipments and, as part of the partnership agreement, Multicultural will directly input MARC metadata into the database using the SkyRiver cataloging client.
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Worldreader Aims for ‘Books for All’
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by Paula J. Hane
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Worldreader is a U.S. and European nonprofit whose mission is to make digital books available to children in the developing world, so millions of people can improve their lives. Reports indicate that 50% of schools in sub-Saharan Africa have few or no books (SACMEQ II), slowing learning and societal advancement. As of May 2012, Worldreader had put more than 100,000 ebooks—and the life-changing, power-creating ideas contained within them—into the hands of 1,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa.
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If you regularly read blogs, add these to your reader:
ITI Books Blog – booksblog.infotoday.com – news, observations, and commentary from the authors, editors, and publishers of Information Today, Inc.'s many book offerings.
ITI Conference Blog – libconf.com – covering ITI's library conferences worldwide.
Library Stuff – librarystuff.net – the library blog dedicated to resources for keeping current and professional development, written by Steven M. Cohen.
InfoToday Europe Blog – infotodayeurope.com – The latest news, analysis and opinion on the information industry in Europe and the UK.
Business of Video blog – blog.streamingmedia.com – Daily posts about the online video industry, business trends and analysis, market data, and research as well as the online video business models in the media and entertainment, broadcast, publishing, advertising and enterprise industries.
destinationCRM Blog – destinationcrmblog.com – a blog from the editors of CRM magazine, dedicated to providing Customer Relationship Management information in a timely manner to connect decision makers and providers.
SpeechTech Blog – speechtechblog.com – updates on speech technology and its applications in daily life. Covers everything from ASR to VUI, with lots of links, threads, and even a few pictures thrown in for good measure.
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Paula Hane's New Chapter
Effective June 1, Paula J. Hane is giving up her assignment as News Bureau Chief at Information Today, Inc. (ITI), where she was engaged to provide editorial direction to the ITI NewsBreaks service hosted on infotoday.com. She also wrote for Information Today and the Cyberskeptic’s Guide to Internet Research. She has been associated with the company for 16½ years and was previously the Editor of Database magazine for Online, Inc. She will continue to accept freelance editorial and writing assignments.
The responsibility for producing news commentaries and in-depth analyses for the infotoday.com website will be integrated into the workflow of the Information Today newspaper, with Barbara Brynko as Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Director. Assisting Barbara will be Brandi Scardilli as Managing Editor.
Vendors should continue to send information industry and product news items to Information Today: Barbara Brynko (Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Director) at bbrynko@infotoday.com. Library technology news should continue to be sent to Computers in Libraries magazine at cilnews@infotoday.com. As always, freelance writers are encouraged to submit story ideas directly to the editors.
We wish Paula success in her new ventures and thank her for her many years of great work as News Bureau Chief at ITI. Paula can be reached at paulajeanhane@gmail.com.
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