Advocates of open access to orphan works cheered the rejection of the settlement, saying it could pave the way for legislation that would let anyone — not just Google — use the books..
“If Congress can wake up to the importance of this issue, there’s a good chance they will pass orphan books legislation, and they will do so in the interest of the general public, not favoring any enterprise,” said Robert Darnton, director of the Harvard University Library
The Authors Guild filed suit against five universities and the digital tower, called HathiTrust, that those universities created to preserve and make available to students and faculty scans of books from their collections.
This week, California took a big step forward in open-source education. Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a proposal to create a website that will allow students to download popular textbooks for free. The legislation contains two bills: One, a proposal for the state to fund 50 open-source digital textbooks, targeted to lower-division courses, which will be produced by California's universities. The other bill is a proposal to establish a California Digital Open Source Library to host those books.
Several universities have recently tried a new model for delivering textbooks in hopes of saving students money: requiring purchase of e-textbooks and charging students a materials fee to cover the costs. A recent report on some of those pilot projects, however, shows that many students find the e-textbooks "clumsy" and prefer print.
While several colleges across the country are pushing electronic textbooks, touting them as more efficient and less cumbersome than regular textbooks, students are reluctant. E-textbooks still account for only 9% of textbook purchases, says Student Monitor, which researches college student behavior.
Cohort 7: a new book on Watergate written by a GW professor. "Professor Thomas Mallon's new book on Watergate focuses on seven figures who played a key part in President Nixon's life and downfall."
There is an event at the GW main campus tonight about careers in publishing. I just found out about it, and thought I would pass it along in case anyone is interested in attending.