Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Pages

Archive for the 'Digital Libraries' Category

An Inconvenient Truth about Scholarly Publishing

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

On June 20 of 2009, I gave what I consider my most significant speech to date, at the Association of American University Presses’ annual meeting, entitled “Scholarly Publishing in the New Era of Scarcity.”  It was the last presentation in the last Plenary session of the meeting, and allowed me to talk about the two [...]

What Were Once Devices Are Now Habits

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009

A few days ago I was riding home on my Xootr push scooter—yes, it’s a tough commute—when an old Ford Falcon pulled up next to me at the light. I noticed the undercarriage splotched with rust, the tires baring their sole, but what struck me most was the backseat, brimming with books, magazines, and yellowed [...]

Purchase on Demand: The New POD

Friday, February 13th, 2009

Purchase on demand is the new POD and is likely to restructure the publishing supply chain.

How Digital Audiobooks in Libraries Affect Retail Sales

Saturday, October 25th, 2008

     Digital media present intriguing growth opportunities for book publishers, but in some instances digital media may interfere with certain market channels. Developing digital marketing strategies requires a great deal of thought. It is important to resist the temptation of “digital millennialism” and assume that “If it’s digital, it must be good.” If not managed [...]

Almost Open Access

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

A recent announcement by Knowledge Exchange appeared on Yale’s liblicense mailgroup. It describes an innovative collaborative project by which universities and governmental sponsors work together in purchasing formally published material in order to reduce costs and improve access to scholars of the member communities. Way back in 2005 I posted a proposal, also to liblicense, [...]

the Kindle and the iPhone dance

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

Now that both the Kindle and the iPhone are out, it’s interesting to look at the very similar business strategy behind the two products. I think most of the E-Ink ebook readers in the market are doomed to failure. They don’t do enough, and what they do, they do poorly. The world gave up on [...]

A reader’s delight

Friday, February 15th, 2008

I was Googling for something completely different today, using four terms and a “quoted phrase,” and had pared down the jillions to only 38 results. At the bottom of the first page of results was an oddity: My Favorite Books. I happened to notice the url: http://infolab.stanford.edu/~sergey/booklist.html And thought: Stanford, Sergey…. and clicked on it. [...]