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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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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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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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