Caught My Eye 2/8/13

 Reveal Digital Looks to Digitize Special Collections  We reported the launch of Jeff Moyer’ new company, Reveal Digital in our News & Announcements 1/25/13 .  Now, Barbara Quint in this post in Information Today elaborates on this enterprising effort to “create a network of library partners and specialty digitizing services” employing “a new cost-recovery revenue model aimed at permanent archiving and open access.”

• Amazon Wants to Get Into the Used E-Book Business — Or Bury It  This post from Wired reports that” last week, Amazon patented a way to sell “used” e-books, music, videos, apps and other “digital objects.”  The article goes on to quote a number of experts including consultant Bill Rosenblatt, ReDigi founder and CEO, John Ossenmacher and Mike Shatzkin, the Founder & CEO, The Idea Logical Company as to Amazon’s rational and the possible ramifications of their actions.

• Everything You Thought You Knew About Metadata…But Were Afraid to Ask.  This article in Book Business is by Thad McIlroy  an electronic publishing analyst with The Future of Publishing and the co-author of a past ATG “Book of the Week,”  The Metadata Handbook (DataCurate, 2012). In this article, Thad goes over what publishers need to know about metadata to be considered a beginner, intermediate or advanced practitioner.

• The Future of Librarians in an EBook World  Although the focus in this Atlantic Cities article is on public libraries, the essential role of librarians being promoted by author Sarah Goodyear will ring true for most academics.  Ms. Goodyear highlights the funding efforts of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation that seek to build on “human beings and their relationships, specifically, the relationship between librarians and patrons” in grants to libraries in the Northwest.

• OCLC’s Lorcan Dempsey on “The Inside Out Library: Scale, Learning, Engagement”  InfoDOCKET provides this link to information about OCLC VP Research and Chief Strategist, Lorcan Dempsey’s keynote address at the BOBCATSSS Conference in Ankara, Turkey on January 23, 2012.   The slides from his presentation are also available at  Download/View using this link (Be patient, it may take a few minutes to download.)