E-Book currents

Citation

Falk, H. (2003), "E-Book currents", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 20 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2003.23920dae.001

E-Book currents

Information delivery issues and challenges

Online library reference service in Seattle

Three Seattle library systems are working together to improve their online reference services. The Seattle Public Library had been hearing increasing complaints that patrons were having difficulty using and interpreting their own Internet searches to get the information they needed. The University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries found they were not equipped to handle many of the general questions about health they were being asked. Medical research centers are increasingly being called upon to provide consumer health information as the population at large faces more alternatives with its health, and medical-care options. The King County Law Library was having trouble filling its mandate to operate as a public law library, beyond its function of serving the legal profession. Now, with the help of a $30,000 grant under the Federal Library Services and Technology Act, all three library systems cooperate through the Live Help Service. Users who access the Live Help Web site (www.spl.org/quickinfo/questionform.html) can fill out an online question form to the Seattle Libraries. Or they can go to the Live Help site of the University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries where another online question form is available, or they can access the King County Law Library, where, after downloading some extra software, questions can be directed to that Library. The grant project is scheduled for trial operation through August 2003. Then, steps to involve other libraries and to extend Live Help operating hours will be taken.

Digital access under way at Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The new library, research and meeting complex in the city of Alexandria, Egypt is called Bibliotheca Alexandrina and is intended to echo the glory of the ancient Library of Alexandria. Unlike the ancient Library, this one is designed to provide virtual access to its collections. An Arabic version of the Bibliotheca Web site is available at www.bibalex.gov.eg and there is an English language version at www.bibalex.gov.eg/Start.asp?LangID=1.

Online collections at the Bibliotheca are a work in progress. To date, 100,000 pages of material, mostly medieval Arabic texts have been scanned. Over the next few years, digitizing of thousands of Arabic texts is planned, including a collection of crumbling medieval manuscripts at a monastery in Timbuktu, Mali. The Bibliotheca has ambitious online plans that begin with access to a million books now being scanned by Carnegie Mellon University, and to a collection of 1,000 digitized films donated by the Internet Archive in California. The hope is then to connect to digital collections at libraries and universities around the world by offering access to the Bibliotheca's own materials and its network of scholars in exchange. Bibliotheca software for online access can also provide virtual auditoriums, classrooms and offices where scholars can exchange information and teach classes. Online rooms and lecture halls can be customized for use by individual universities.

One of the Bibliotheca aims is to revolutionize learning in the developing countries, where libraries are often non-existent and access to materials is difficult. Cheick Diarra, director of the African Virtual University, said he plans to begin using the Alexandria software this year at the 34 online campuses in 17 African countries.

The Bibliotheca is supported by the Egyptian government and Unesco. Its US founder, Rhonda Roland Shearer, also raised seed money from several private philanthropists, including $800,000 from Paul Mellon. Its annual operating budget, currently about $500,000, is said to be sufficient to start the first phase of its online collection.

Resource for encouraging institutional repositories

The SPARC Institutional Repository Checklist and Resource Guide (www.arl.org/sparc/IR/IR_Guide.html) provides arguments and policy proposals designed to overcome objections about setting up digital repositories at colleges and universities. It is intended for use by librarians, faculty, administrators, information technology and support staff, and others interested in the practical implications of institutional repositories.

Many administrators and research managers agree that their institutions should play an important role in distributing their research results, but there are also real concerns about the effect of repositories on existing journal publishing arrangements, the costs of digital repositories, and the need to deal with copyright concerns. The Checklist and Resource Guide addresses these concerns in detail.

While researchers and faculty members tend to favor institutional repositories, academic authors publish for professional recognition and career advancement, as well as to contribute to scholarship in their discipline. The Checklist and Resource Guide discusses and outlines approaches that accommodate these faculty needs and perceptions while demonstrating the relevance of institutional repositories.

Funds for digital preservation are conditional

In March 2003, the US Congress approved $20 million to allow the Library of Congress to take initial steps to collect and preserve digital information, including images, CDs, Web pages and electronic journals. The money, part of $100 million set aside for this purpose in 2000, was released after the library spent an initial $5 million to come up with a digital preservation plan.

The library has digitized Civil War photographs, presidential papers, and some other items, but the task of preserving and providing access to scholarly journals, books and magazines; CD-ROMs; digital photographs, music and films; and Internet-based material still lies ahead.

Congress will not release the rest of the $100 million needed to carry out the preservation project unless the remaining $75 million is matched by the private sector. Private contributions can be in cash, hardware, software or consulting services. The deadline for these private contributions was set for March 31, 2003, but they have not yet been found. The library is asking for an extension to March 31, 2005. With the US economy in bad shape, stock prices down, company values and the personal worth of prospective donors diminished, the future of project remains unclear.

Universities adopt journal policies

Three North Carolina universities have drafted a journal publication policy that calls for faculty to publish their research results in journals that promote widespread, reasonable-cost access to the information. These are mainly journals supported by universities and scholarly associations. Where this is not possible, the policy recommends that faculty use an "authorization to publish" which requires that copyright remains with the author and gives permission for non-commercial reproduction of the article for educational or research purposes. For commercial reproduction, the author has to be contacted for permission. The model policy was drafted by a joint committee of faculty, librarians and university press editors from Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (www.lib.ncsu.edu/scc/copyright/trln.html).

The University of Kansas recommends that faculty reserve rights to have their published material used in teaching and research, and to make electronic copies of their works available on publicly accessible Web sites. The recommended language for use in publishing contracts is available at www.vpinfo.ku.edu/Copyright/manuscript_contract_lang.shtml

The university's policy on journal articles calls on authors to specify royalty-free rights to use their articles within the University in its teaching, research, and service programs, but not for external distribution. The policy also calls for making academic manuscripts publicly available on electronically-accessible databases approved by the Kansas Board of Regents. No such databases have as yet been approved, and the board wants to make sure that public availability "will not jeopardize the publication of articles or infringe on academic freedom" (www.ukans.edu/%7Eunigov/KUIP110900).

Open access journal directory

By the summer of 2003, a directory of open-access journals is scheduled to become available at www.doaj.org The directory will cover all open-access scientific journals that use an "appropriate" quality control system. Journals in all languages and subject areas will be included. A search capability for article content will be included. The directory is based at Lund University Libraries in Sweden. Lund is working with the Open Society Institute (www.osi.hu) and SPARC (The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (www.arl.org/sparc) on this project. To have an open-access journal included in the directory, contact sara.kjellberg@lub.lu.se

Teenager accused once again of piracy

Jon Johansen was recently acquitted of criminal charges when he was on trial in Norway for writing a program that defeats security safeguards on DVDs. Johansen was 15 years old when he wrote the program so he could use his Linux computer to play DVDs he had purchased. Now the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which represents the Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros, has filed a complaint against him at the Norway Economic Crime Unit. A date has not yet been set for the teenager's retrial but it will probably be scheduled for the fall of 2003. Johansen's lawyer, Halvor Manshaus, is confident that if the trial takes place his client will once again be acquitted.

Microsoft offers information lock-ups

Microsoft's new security technology, called Palladium, is capable of keeping private and personal information safe from hackers, and other intruders. However, the technology is also capable of enforcing arbitrary restrictions on use of digital journals, ebooks, software programs, and other electronic media. Palladium technology provides each computer program with its own security component that lies in a sealed-off area of computer memory where the component can operate in isolation to enforce security and copyright policies. This arrangement makes it possible to check any outside software or user that tries to gain access to a Palladium-protected program to make sure that the access is authorized. Palladium can also use cryptographic hardware circuits to lock up records and prevent unauthorized copying or alteration of information.

Palladium can open an entirely new market for computer equipment and software since existing computers cannot be retrofitted to use this technology. Equipment manufacturers and computer companies like Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM, are currently working to design personal computers that can work with the Palladium technology.

Palladium software will be part of the next major release of Microsoft Windows, scheduled for the end of 2004. Some Palladium hardware components, such as a security chip, are currently available in the IBM ThinkPad T30 notebook computer.

Colleges and universities would probably welcome the capability of Palladium to keep student records secure, but they are likely concerned that the technology could be used by publishers to prevent uses of digital materials that are now permitted by copyright law. For example, publishers could use Palladium to restrict professors to read-only views of articles, from which the text could not be reproduced for fair-use material.

Copyright restriction labeling

A bill, soon to be introduced by US Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat from Oregon, mandates use of labels that announce any restrictions built into products such as audio CDs, and consumer electronics devices. The idea is to inform consumers, as they shop for recordings and devices, that they may be purchasing restrictions on how they can use what they buy. Motion picture companies have been pressing for mandatory anti-copying devices in DVD players and personal computers. Consumer groups, library organizations and others have been attempting to eliminate restrictions on fair-use in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Congress has not yet been responsive to either of these efforts, but the labeling legislation brings a new dimension to current controversy about copyright restrictions on ebooks, DVDs, and CDs, one that promises to get individual consumers involved through their buying decisions.

Palm ebooks in German and French

European online bookstores now offer German and French language editions of Palm Reader eBooks. More than 200 titles, including those from popular German authors such as Peter Scholl-Latour, Richard von Weizsacker, and Felix Huby are now available at the Pdassi Web site (http://ebooks.pdassi.de). Translations into German of popular ebooks by US authors such as Nora Roberts, Sidney Sheldon and Minette Walters are also available at the Web site, as are German versions of classic works by authors such as Franz Kafka, Edgar Allen Poe, and Heinrich von Kleist.

At the PalmLivres site (www.palmlivres.com) Palm Reader ebooks are available from leading French publishers. Included are Gerald de Villiers' bestselling "SAS" collection of action/adventure thrillers, computer and management titles and collections of articles and editorials from Le Monde, France's largest daily newspaper.

High quality displays

Cholesteric liquid crystals, able to display images after power is turned off, are being used by Megamedia, a Taiwan-based company, to produce portable ebook displays. The Group's principal activity has been the manufacture and sale of floppy disks. The displays require much less battery power than conventional liquid crystal devices and display quality is said to be close to that of printed text. An ebook device with a 6in cholesteric screen is said to operate with two AA batteries for up to a week. The displays were designed with technical support from Display Research Inc. (www.displayresearchinc.com/BlackWhite.html), based in Wylie, Texas. Ebook devices with similar (surface stabilized cholesterol texture) displays are under development at other Taiwan-based companies, including Picvue Electronics, Chang Yih Info and United Radiant Technology.

Howard Falk(howf@hotmail.com) is a Free-lance Writer based in New Jersey.