Today’s News: Random House says libraries own their ebooks; Georgia archive re-opens; ebook collections grow dramatically; EBSCO scholarships; Summon adds content from Elsevier Scopus; and Cornell Library Department of Preservation and Conservation hosts Chinese librarians; Thomson Innovation adds millions of articles; Portico and the B-on Consortium reach an agreement and People in the News.
Random House Has Positive News for Libraries and Their eBooks
According to this article in GoodEreader, Random House… “reiterated what can be great news for libraries, mainly that when a library purchases an ebook for lending to its patrons, that book is the property of the library. However, the article goes on to say that “not all publishers feel that way. Some have instituted practices in which an ebook can only be loaned a predetermined number of times, and then it becomes unavailable and must be repurchased, essentially artificially factoring in “wear and tear” on a computer file. Others will not even allow libraries to purchase their digital editions, with concerns over how the ebooks will be licensed to the libraries.
Random House, however, has argued that its business model says there’s no such thing as a license on an ebook. Once it’s purchased, it becomes the property of the library, just as its print counterpart always has…”
“Gov. Nathan Deal and Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced today that the state will restore $125,000 to Kemp’s budget to keep the Georgia State Archives open to Georgians for the remainder of the budget year… The extra funding provides for Georgia State Archives to be open to the public through June 30 of next year. On July 1, the Georgia Archives will be transferred to University System of Georgia, pending approval of the move by the General Assembly. This transfer will include appropriations required for operation and assets of the Georgia Archives. Additional staff will be provided by USG at that time…”
Ebook Collections Surging: New Data Available from LJ, SLJ Annual Usage Reports 
“Despite growing frustration with the ebook pricing and availability policies of many publishers, U.S. libraries have continued to respond to growing demand from patrons by rapidly expanding their collections of ebooks, according to LJ and SLJs third annual “2012 Survey of Ebook Usage in U.S. Public Libraries” report, sponsored by Freading…
In 2010, libraries offered an average of 1,500 ebooks. Now libraries offer their patrons an average of about 10,000 ebooks for lending, either as part of the library’s own collection or available through a consortium. And demand continues growing at a brisk pace. Average circulation more than doubled from 5,000 to 11,000 between 2009 and 2010, and then quadrupled from 11,000 to 44,000 between 2010 and 2011. Respondents said they expect ebook circulation to rise another 67 percent this year…”
EBSCO Offers Five Scholarships to Librarians Attending the 2013 ALA Midwinter Meeting
“The American Library Association (ALA) and EBSCO are partnering to offer scholarships to five librarians who plan to attend the 2013 ALA Midwinter Meeting. Scheduled to take place Jan. 24 – 28, 2013, in Seattle, the meeting gives library professionals an opportunity to participate in continuing education programs, attend informative meetings, and interact with colleagues…”
Summon Adds Content From Elsevier Scopus, International Sources
“Serials Solutions… will index content in Scopus, an abstract and citation database from Elsevier, and expose its citation counts in the Summon discovery service. Serials Solutions’ pioneering approach to displaying citation counts in Summon search results—along with pop-ups including links to citing articles within the discovery environment—enables users to interact with this valuable information without interrupting the research workflow…”
Chinese Librarians Travel to Ithaca For Internship With Cornell Library
“The Cornell Library’s Department of Preservation and Conservation will host library staff from four different Chinese academic libraries to teach them about western book binding preservation techniques.
Beginning in November, two staff members from each of four institutions — Renmin University Library, Peking University Library, Tsinghua University Library and the China Agricultural University Library — will participate in the program…”
Thomson Reuters announces addition of 21 million more scientific journal articles in Thomson Innovation
According to KnowledgeSpeak “the Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters has announced the addition of 21 million more scientific journal articles in Thomson Innovation… Users can now opt to access the entire Web of Science backfile from within Thomson Innovation, with coverage from 1898, or select entitlements grouped by date range – and links are available to order the full text of the records or connect to internal holdings and Open Access Publications…”
B-on Consortium in Portugal Initiates Portico Participation
“Portico and the B-on Consortium are pleased to announce an agreement to expand Portico’s digital preservation services to research and academic libraries in Portugal. The B-on Consortium represents about 70 higher education institutions, research institutions, and other public bodies…”
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
ARL Board of Directors 2012–2013 Elected by ARL Membership
Wendy Pradt Lougee, University Librarian and McKnight Presidential Professor, University of Minnesota, began a one-year term as President of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) on October 11, 2012, during the ARL Membership Meeting in Washington, DC… Also on October 11, the ARL membership ratified the Board’s election of Carol Pitts Diedrichs, Director of University Libraries, Ohio State University, as ARL Vice President/President-Elect…”
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