News & Announcements 4/3/13

 LCA releases issue brief on Kirtsaeng v. Wiley; A new ACRL white  paper; Amazon, publishers move to dismiss bookseller suit; De Gruyter cooperating with Unglue.it on Open Access eBooks NERL to Move to CRL; Gale to unify the humanities through Artemis; and National Magazine Awards 2013 finalists announced.

 LCA Releases Issue Brief: Impact of Supreme Court Decision in Kirtsaeng v. Wiley

“In “The Impact of the Supreme Court’s Decision in Kirtsaeng v. Wiley on Libraries,” Jonathan Band explains the recent copyright decision on the scope of the “first sale” doctrine, its context, and its likely consequences for libraries in the US. In short, the Supreme Court’s opinion is a landmark victory that strengthens the legal foundation of library lending, and the Court’s extensive reliance on the Library Copyright Alliance’s amicus brief shows the importance of library engagement in policy debates. Continued vigilance will be necessary, Band explains, as rights holders disappointed with the Court’s majority opinion could go to Congress for a change to the law…”

Intersections of Scholarly Communication and Information Literacy

ACRL announces the publication of a new white paper, Intersections of Scholarly Communication and Information Literacy: Creating Strategic Collaborations for a Changing Academic Environment. Written by a working group of leaders from many parts of the association, this white paper explores and articulates three intersections between scholarly communication and information literacy. The paper also provides strategies for librarians from different backgrounds to initiate collaborations within their own campus environments between information literacy and scholarly communication. This white paper is issued as both a downloadable PDF and an interactive online format. Readers are encouraged to add comments and reactions in order to help further the conversation.Please join ACRL leaders for a conversation about the white paper and the exciting changes these intersections bring to our work during a panel presentation at the upcoming ACRL 2013 conference from 8:30 a.m.- 9:30 a.m on Friday, April 12, in Indianapolis.

Amazon, Publishers Move to Dismiss Bookseller Suit

Publishers Weekly reports that “in filings this week, Amazon and the Big Six publishers moved to dismiss a lawsuit filed by independent booksellers alleging that Amazon’s use of DRM in its Kindle e-reading program, and publishers exclusive agreements with Amazon, represent an illegal restraint of trade. In moving to dismiss Book House Of Stuyvesant Plaza, Inc. et al v. Amazon.Com, publishers, in a joint filing, argue that bookseller claims against the publishers are without merit, and that the true target of the suit is market-leading Amazon…”

 Academic Publisher De Gruyter to Make 100 Titles Available as Ebooks Through Unglue.it

Digital Book World reports that “De Gruyter, the academic publisher based in Berlin, will be offering 100 titles from its e-dition series at the crowdfunding platform Unglue.it. Each individual title that raises $2,100 at the site will be made available worldwide as open-access content.

Unglue.it is making e-books free and universally accessible to libraries and book lovers alike. It works by users contributing an amount of their choosing to the book titles offered at the platform by publishers. If the minimum funding amount is achieved, the publisher will release the book under Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND)…”

NERL to Move to CRL

“CRL and the North East Research Libraries Consortium (NERL), a nonprofit program operating under the auspices of Yale University, have come to an agreement to relocate NERL operations to CRL. Under this new arrangement, NERL, which licenses major online products on behalf of 28 core member academic research libraries and approximately 80 affiliates, will be managed as a cooperative program under the CRL organizational umbrella…”

Gale to Unify the Humanities Through Artemis

Book Business reports that Gale has “announced plans to unify, over the coming years, its extensive digital humanities collections on one state-of-the-art platform, creating the world’s largest online curated primary source and literary collection.” According to the press release “the new research experience, Artemis, named for the Greek goddess who symbolizes new ideas, discovery, power and “the hunt,” will enable researchers to make connections and realize relationships among content that has never before been possible…”

 National Magazine Awards 2013 Finalists Announced

Book Business also notes that “the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) … has announced the finalists for the 2013 National Magazine Awards… they will be presented on Thursday, May 2, at the New York Marriott Marquis…

Sixty-two publications were nominated this year in 23 categories. Twenty-six magazines received multiple nominations, led by National Geographic with seven, followed by Bon Appétit and New York, both with six. GQ and The New Yorker both received five nominations; Esquire, Harper’s Magazine, Mother Jones and Texas Monthly all received four…”