The Source: news about digital libraries and library innovations from around the web

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Copyfights and literary rights

From the Australian Policy Online website

Presenter: Ramona Koval Presenter: Lynne Spender Presenter: Morris Gleitzman
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The biggest recent copyright case is Google's book digitisation project. Authors and publishers wanted a slice of the pie that they thought Google was getting for free. In the US, they were successful in their demands and Google is now paying out millions to these parties and has set up a Book Rights Registry to administer the process.But what are the broader implications for intellectual property and the cultural heritage of ideas?


2009 Digital Future Report - Summary (Note: PDF)
The full report - 191 pages of charts, narrative and great detail - is available for purchase.

From the Center for the Digital Future website

The Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School is pleased to present the results of the eighth year of our project, “Surveying the Digital Future.” The eight years of longitudinal research comprise an absolutely unique database that completely captures broadband at home, the wireless Internet, on-line media, user-generated content and social networking. As usual, the report continues to track off-line media use, purchasing both off-line and through e-commerce, social and political activity and a wealth of other data. After eight years, we have an unparalleled view of the non-users who do not go on-line. We carefully examine why they are not users and whether they are likely to ever go on-line.


Home Broadband Adoption 2009 (U.S) (Note: PDF)

From the Pew Internet website

An April 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows 63% of adult Americans now have broadband internet connections at home, a 15% increase from a year earlier. April’s level of high-speed adoption represents a significant jump from figures gathered by the Project since the end of 2007 (54%). The growth in home broadband adoption occurred even though survey respondents reported paying more for broadband compared to May 2008. Last year, the average monthly bill for broadband internet service at home was $34.50, a figure that stands at $39.00 in April 2009.


Libraries of the Future
See also What is the library of the future?

From the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) website

‘Libraries of the Future’ attempts to explore the issues around the enormous impact of ICT on the academic library and to look forward to ensure that libraries - however they may continue to evolve - remain at the heart of academic life. This public question and answer debate held on 2 April 2009 discussed what information and library provision mean in these changing times. Watch videos of the speakers, see blog posts and comments.


Digital Natives and Virtual Libraries: What Does the Future Hold for Libraries? (Note: PDF)

From the E-prints in Library and Information Science (E-LIS) website

Social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are among the most heavily visited web sites. They are used not only for social networking and entertainment but also for access to information, for learning and for carrying out professional work. Social networks commonly have Web 2.0 features, offer personalised services and allow users to incorporate their own content easily and describe, organise and share it with others, thereby enriching users’ experience. Some users tend to “live” on those social networks and expect information providing organisations to offer similar services. They want libraries to be as accessible, flexible, open to collaboration and sharing as that of social networks and heighten the expectations from such institutions. The future of libraries is closely associated with how successfully they meet the demands of digital users. Otherwise, the “net generation” or the “digital natives” grown up with the Web, Google and Facebook would see libraries as outdated institutions and “take their business elsewhere” to satisfy their information needs. In this paper, the impact of the technological convergence on information providing organisations are reviewed.