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@RWW "imagine, if you will, a publishing company - oh, let's say HarperCollins - telling libraries that after checking out a book a certain number of times - oh, let's say 26 - that they've reached the cap on loans. The book can no longer be shared, and libraries need to return the copy or buy the book again. Sound crazy? Well, that actually is the new policy for HarperCollins, reports Library Journal, detailing the new terms for its e-book loans via OverDrive, the main e-book distributor for libraries.

Google has been scanning millions of books and uploading them so they can be read for free online. There are currently 20 million books that can be accessed for free through books.google.com, with the company's stated goal of having every book ever printed available. The major publishers of the world have been trying to sue them to stop this from the time they began the project. "Lawsuits trying to stop Google Books have been ongoing since 2005, and Thursday, eight years later, a judge finally ruled in Google's favour. Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. district court wrote that Google's scanning constitutes fair use because it alters the form the text appears in, and also uses some clever code to prevent the material from being copied en masse by users. Google Books "advances the progress of the arts and sciences, while maintaining respectful consideration for the rights of authors and other creative individuals, and without adversely impacting the rights of copyright holders."

A report, released by American Library Association (ALA) President Molly Raphael, regarding meetings with e-book distributors during the Public Library Association (PLA) Conference, March 13 - 17.

The Internet Archive, in conjunction with 150 libraries, has rolled out a new 80,000 e-book lending collection today on OpenLibrary.org. This means that library patrons with an OpenLibrary account can check out any of these e-books. The hope is that this effort will help libraries make the move to digital book lending. "As readers go digital, so are our libraries," says Brewster Kahle, founder and Digital Librarian of the Internet Archive

The Teleread blog covers news related to e-books and online publishing. The blog also includes a section specific to libraries, so readers can easily find relevant library news and stories.

A peice about e-book models offered to librarians by the United States' two largest e-book retailers, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

The Pew Research Center began studying how the role of public libraries, as well as the needs and expectations of their patrons and communities, are changing in the digital age. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, grounded by a Library Advisory Group, and conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the first set of reports focus on the rise of e-reading and e-books at libraries.

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Over 2,100 publicly-available ebooks from the University of Virginia Library's Etext Center, including classic British and American fiction, major authors, children's literature, American history, Shakespeare, African-American documents, the Bible, and much more. Each text on this list can be accessed in HTML (web version) for online viewing, and can be downloaded as both a MS Reader E-book for the Microsoft Reader and a Palm-readable text for the Palm Reader. Each text on this list can be accessed in HTML (web version) for online viewing, and can be downloaded as both a MS Reader E-book for the Microsoft Reader and a Palm-readable text for the Palm Reader.

An e-book reader supposed to launch in 2010. The software should be pc combatible. Offers features such as highlighting and annotating books, texts will be stored virtually so reader's notations are available anywhere. Will also have read-aloud feature.

Some interesting thoughts on e-book development