E-Book Currents
Howard Falk
Few e-books in UK libraries
Compared with the USA, development of e-book use in UK libraries is still in a very early stage. There have been studies of publishing scholarly monographs and textbooks at the University of Wales. The University of Strathclyde has an e-book project on guidelines for designing e-textbooks. A pilot project is underway at Loughborough University to introduce e-book readers into a local public library. There have been seminars and conferences, but development of e-book services at UK libraries remains piecemeal.
A study of the 208 public library authorities in the UK found that just 13 percent of the responding libraries were currently providing e-books to their patrons. About half of them were considering introducing e-book collections in the future. Over 30 percent were uninterested because of financial constraints and some felt e-books were a "flash in the pan".
Internet access, which had a slow start at UK libraries in the early 1990s,is now offered at almost every library, and it is possible that e-book collections may follow the same pattern. In April 2002, netLibrary (www.netLibrary.com) announced it will open an office in Birmingham.
Oxford scholarship online
Oxford University Press announced in April 2002 they are considering launching a series of Web sites, each would be dedicated to a specific discipline, such as economics, politics, business and philosophy. Each site would provide access to 100-250 fully-searchable books and to book and chapter abstracts and keywords. Searching would be integrated with access to appropriate electronic journals.
Portable personal e-book libraries
According to Clifford Lynch, Director of the Coalition for Networked Information (www.cni.org), e-books make it possible for individuals to each carry around their own library. He notes that MP3 players can hold complete music collections, and asks then why not personal libraries? Lynch feels that it may no longer be necessary to teach and test people on their memories because they can now carry their sources with them.
Library networks distribute e-brary
Six regional library networks have agreed to distribute e-brary services in the US. Included are The Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR) which serves 3,000 libraries throughout the Western USA, the Michigan Library Consortium(MLC) which has 700 member libraries throughout Michigan, the PALINET network of 600 libraries throughout the Mid-Atlantic area; the NELINET network of about 700 libraries in the six New England states, Wisconsin Library Services (WiLS) which serves 500 member libraries in Wisconsin, and OHIONET which serves more than 500 libraries in Ohio.
E-brary users unaffiliated with libraries can currently view and read about 6,000 titles without charge by accessing the www.ebrary.comsite. For printing or copying a displayed e-brary page, the charge is 30 cents.
Libraries that distribute e-brary services are provided with their own e-brary Web sites through which their patrons can access the e-brary collection. MARC records for the e-brary titles are also provided to these libraries. The libraries can choose to absorb e-brary page printing and copying fees for their patrons. They pay an annual licensing fee to e-brary for implementation,technology license, and maintenance. The fees vary by type and size of library.
Sales of e-brary services to libraries are handled in the UK, Europe, North America and the Middle East by Coutts Library Services (http://www. couttsinfo.com/). In Asia,Australia and New Zealand, iGroup (http://www. igroupnet.com/) handles the service. In Latin America and for Spanish language libraries in the USA, E-libro.net (www. alojo.com) handles the e-brary services.
UK archive search Web site
With the latest additions, the A2A database now contains around 3.7 million catalogue entries from 184 archive repositories in the UK. Included in the database is information about archives that date from the 900s to the present. These archives are cared for in local record offices and libraries,universities, museums and national and specialist institutions across the UK. The huge database is available for searching at http://catalogue.pro.gov.uk by all users, without charge. Guided search procedures are available for some subject areas, including Government, Military History, Foreign Affairs, Medieval History, Genealogy (family history), and the Titanic. However, obtaining copies of the records referenced in the database is a more costly and time-consuming process that begins with payment of a ten pound search fee to estimate the cost of up to five desired "pieces." This fee is a minimum charge which will be applied to the actual copying costs (microfiche, microfilm, monochrome and color prints, digital and paper copies are available). There are separate charges for authentication documents.
New displays in development
Displays made of thin, flexible films are being designed at Ntera, (www.ntera.com), a company formed by University College, Dublin. Tiny electrodes inside the films cause colored molecules to form displays that are close to the quality seen on printed pages. The technology is said to be ideal for use in e-book readers.
EInk (www.eink.com) has scheduled demonstrations of a thin, high-resolution display fabricated on a durable,flexible steel base.
The Japanese company, Samsung, (www.samsung.com)expects to offer a flat-screen display based on nanotube cylinders that would operate the display picture elements. The technique is said to cost less and use less power than current LCD displays.
A flat display, about the size of a paperback book, has been developed by a South Korean inventor. This unit folds like a book. Plans are to start production in the second half of 2002. The display is scheduled to be incorporated into a Samsung e-book reading device.
Asian e-book readers
A book-size reading device for e-books has been announced by Shaanxi Chuanxin Culture Co. The reader storage capacity is about ten thousand pages, and its batteries are designed to power the device for up to two months. In China,information technology, education and publishing institutes are said to be in fierce competition for the e-book marketplace.
An e-book reading device with audio capabilities, produced by the I-Bhd company, is scheduled to be sold through home appliance outlets in Malaysia starting in mid-2002. The device, developed for education applications, is designed to store up to 40 textbooks. It measures about 18 14 2 cm, weighs 340gm, and comes with an 8 MB flash memory which can be upgraded to 64 MB. The reader can download e-book files from the Internet at speeds up to 115 thousand bits/sec.
Burn-your-own audio CDs
Spoken audio content can now be downloaded from the www.audible.com Web site and recorded on the user's own CDs. When we looked at the site, the current offer was ten blank CDs plus a downloaded audio copy of John Grisham's The Summons for a$12.95/month subscription that allowed one download per month and could be cancelled at any time by the purchaser.
Popular e-book formats
J. Knight (www.atombrain.com) sampled the offerings of four e-book Web sites and found the format they used most often for Travel e-books was Adobe Reader. For Science Fiction and Business, the most-used format was Palm Reader. For Romance, Religion/Christian,Self-Improvement/Self-Help/Health, Mystery/Thriller/Horror, and Poetry, Gemstar was the leading format. MS Reader did not come in first in any of the categories.
These results do not certify any format as the most popular among e-book users. Nor do they indicate the viability of any of the formats.
For example, consider the news about Gemstar. The US producer of Gemstar e-book reading devices, RCA, has been disappointed with sales and no longer carries any Gemstar reader units in its warehouses. Gemstar apparently has bought back thousands of the readers from RCA. Future US production of the readers is said to be under discussion at Gemstar. Meanwhile, Gemstar units produced by Thompson Multimedia in the UK are reported to have disappeared from stores. Because of low sales, Thompson does not have any plans to produce more readers, and Gemstar's own plans in the UK seem to be uncertain.
XML provides flexible e-book production
Using the XML language, e-books and other digital content can be authored in a media-neutral form. Then, design rules can be applied to determine any desired user format to be produced from the XML file. Authoring software that gives users the ability to create content in XML includes a new version (7.0) of Adobe Framemaker, XMetaL now available from Corel, and Epic Editor from Arbortext,Inc.
XML is currently in wide use among manufacturers who publish maintenance manuals, and in state and local government organizations that produce maps and legal documents. Benefits of XML include the ability to produce updated files that can be immediately released in e-book or printed formats, Without XML, the files for each format would have to be individually altered.
Compulsory licensing
A proposal that would make downloading digital content from the Internet legal is being promoted by the Computer and Communications Industry Association(CCIA), with members that include companies such as Oracle, Sun Microsystems,Yahoo and Verizon. Compulsory licensing would force content producers such as record companies, movie studios and book publishers to allow all users to access copyrighted works on demand.
The concept comes from long-established radio practice. When radio stations want to play copyright music, the simply find a recording, keep track of what they put on the air and pay agreed-upon royalties to songwriters and publishers.
With compulsory licensing, users of digital devices would pay a small fee whenever they buy computers, CD recording devices, e-book readers and similar equipment. The fees would go to artists, authors, and other copyright owners. This type of payment is already used with blank audiotapes. Whenever a tape is sold, a small percentage of the price goes to record companies.
Digital content producers hate the idea because they feel they would lose all control over their copyright properties. Compulsory licensing, however, may hold bright promise for consumers and libraries, since it might end all the onerous restrictions placed on digital content by laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
UK universities get copying license
The UK Copyright Tribunal has issued a Final Order for a new copying license for universities. The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) which collects licensing fees in the UK has redrafted its licenses to establish a fee of four pounds per full-time student to cover creation of course packs plus illustrated material. The licenses cover both regular and distance learning students.
In the past, UK lecturers typically issued book lists recommending texts for students to buy and also supplementary library readings. Today, the needed materials are being provided to students in course packs that pull together materials from many texts and include considerable copyright material.
Judge upholds DMCA
In the case against Elcomsoft, the Russian software firm that marketed software to remove Adobe e-book reader restrictions, a Federal District Court judge denied motions to dismiss. This means that the trial can proceed, and Elcomsoft will face criminal charges under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Although Judge Whyte agreed with Elcomsoft lawyers that computer programs were speech, he ruled that there was no violation of the First Amendment since the DMCA sought to control the "function" of the software, rather than its "content". The distinction sounds profound, but the meaning escapes this reporter. The judge also ruled that the DMCA does not prevent consumers from making fair use copies of e-books since they can still extract quotes by hand copying or typing, even if electronic copying is forbidden.
Fair use amendment proposed
US Congressman Rick Boucher plans to rewrite section 1201 of the DMCA, which currently states that "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title." The section does not require that the forbidden effort to bypass that control must be intended to infringe on a copyright. What Boucher wants to do is open the way to fair uses of copyright material for criticism, research, and the ability of purchasers to read their e-books on more than one computer.
AOL wins e-book ruling
A US District Court Judge in Los Angeles has dismissed charges of copyright infringement against America Online (AOL). Author Harlan Ellison brought the charges to force online providers like AOL to monitor use of their services for providing unauthorized copies of his stories. Although the judge ruled that there was no direct or vicarious copyright infringement by AOL, Ellison's lawyers noted that there was no ruling on the charge that AOL had knowledge that it was carrying infringing material and had failed to remove that material. The lawyers may be disappointed since, under the DMCA, Internet providers are required to have a policy on copyright-infringing materials, but are not required to block or penalize violators of that policy.
Howard Falk (howf@hotmail.com)is an Independent Consultant based in Bloomfield, New Jersey, USA.
