LibraryLaw Blog

What do library folks know about copyright?

Kelli Staley, 'Brary Web Diva surveyed library folks and gives her results here.

Staley found that nearly 80% thought that in order to get a copyright, the author must publish the work (incorrect). On the other hand, just over 80% knew that copyright today lasts life + 70 years (correct). 

See more questions and answers at her blog. Kelli asked 20 questions, using Survey Monkey. She asked members of the Rutgers Online MLIS program, Rutgers’ LISSA mailing list, PubLib list-serv, the SLA-Illinois mailing list, and readers of her blog to participate. She got 278 responses.

Classics and Commons on demand - a Kindle library is now available from Feedbooks

Imagine having a free library of public domain classics in the air, and a device the size of a paperback that can download any title on the list anytime you want.  Imagine the library also has some newer creative commons licensed works.

Done.

Thank you, Feedbooks (and Teleread for telling us). Feedbooks takes advantage of Kindle's fast, free online access -- in a really innovative way.

All the Kindle user has to do is email Feedbook's "Kindle Download Guide" to [user]@kindle.com ONE TIME. That's it. The Guide has live links that then give you instant Kindle access to works by Thoreau, Tolstoy, Austen, Swift, Robert Louis Stevenson as well as Doctorow and Sterling. Searchable by using the KINDLE search function.

A better title for the Guide would be "Classics and Commons on Demand."

This content was exactly something I was thinking libraries could offer, though I was not able to imagine such a cool delivery method. 

Other ereaders can also make use of the guide, but the Kindle's EVDO delivery is what makes this really amazing.  I still stick with my recommendations that libraries get XO's instead of Kindles though.  They are extremely durable, can read more formats without conversion, and they have built-in wireless.  Users will need a hot spot to make use of that, but libraries increasingly offer free hot spots.

RSS feeds at Stanford Copyright & Fair Use site

Stanford Copyright & Fair Use added RSS feeds for cases, legislation, regulations, Copyright Office news, law review articles, google news stories on copyright and copyright blogs.  Also check out its new Fairly Used Blog to alert users about site updates etc.

Kindles in libraries - the importance of ebook standards

I see at least one library is experimenting with Kindles. (Thanks, David Rothman at Teleread). I think XO's would be a much better durable choice.  Kindles are a bit too fragile, IMHO, for library use.

Critically important, though, whatever readers are chosen, that libraries choose ebooks in formats that can be transferred from one device to another.

No reason not to at least use the  .epub  standard for ebooks today. This standard is an unenrypted XML format for reflowable digital books that theoretically should let users read books on any ebook reader. David tells us that mobipocket (which Kindles can read) is finally importing .epub, so Kindle owners can benefit.  Commenters at his blog have mixed experiences with it so far.

Although I think the library's best bet is to stick with unencrypted public domain and creative commons licensed books, there may be some argument for experiment with best sellers and the like. This is where libraries should tread carefully, or we'll box ourselves into some bad corners if we buy books with DRM that only works on one device. Much as I am enamored with the Kindle right now, I don't realistically think that we know that it'll be the ticket 10 years from now, or even 2 years from now. Buying Kindle  DRM'd books means you can only read the books on the Kindle (and other Kindles registered to the same account).  Amazon should work with publishers and the IDPF to come up with an interoperable encryption standard, so libraries and users can buy books, then transfer them (yes, transfer, not duplicate) to other devices.  That way, if a library buys fiction today, it can keep the books tomorrow.

Joe Wickert at Kindleville has a cool idea - unlimited content like Rhapsody offers for music. Now that's something a library could think about if the price is right!  If it was at all comparable to rental collection pricing, that would be worth considering.   

I suppose one could look at purchasing encrypted ebooks that only work on one particular device as if it were a rental. You'd have the use of the book for a while, much shorter than the time you could keep a physical book.  The pricing would have to be quite low, but even then that would make me much more uncomfortable than a pure rental model.  Why? I think because it would shift the rules of the game, leaving libraries in deep trouble when buying books that can't be read again and again without buying them again and again.

Stanford Fair Use page has great updates on new cases

The Stanford Copyright & Fair Use page has been greatly updated with discussion of new fair use cases and other developments in the Overview section by Richard Stim, author of Nolo’s Getting Permission (October, 2007).   Thanks to Rich, Jon and Justia!
 

How to transfer and convert lots of documents to the KINDLE

I stumbled upon a convenient way to transfer lots of documents to my KINDLE. I had a zipped folder of 28 student papers and tried to email the folder to my KINDLE address, just to see if it would magically unzip and convert each item for me.  It did ... each item is ready to read.   A mix of txt, doc and pdf files, all converted for me to KINDLE format.

Instructions to myself (to remember how to do this) and for anyone else with a KINDLE and Windows XP:

1. Open a folder of documents with txt, doc and/or pdf formats, eg. STUDENT PAPERS

2. Select all the files you want to transfer.  If you only want some of the files, may be best to just copy the whole folder to your desktop and delete the files you don't want.

3. Right click. SEND TO ... COMPRESSED (ZIPPED) FOLDER

4. A new folder shows up inside the folder you're in.  It seems to name itself. Remember the name (or rename).*

5. Open Outlook email.  Address an email to [your name]@kindle.com. Attach the zipped folder. Send.

6. Get a cup of coffee. It may take ten minutes or so to transfer.

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*I happened to put the zipped folder on my desktop - don't know if that's part of the secret to making this work or not.   Other than that, I am not a techie and probably can't answer your questions.But go ahead and leave them if you want -- maybe someone else will.  I tried to send a folder with maybe 50 items that was rejected as too large, but maybe by my outgoing mail server.