Library in Transition

Librarians from the Netherlands tour innovative libraries

Key sentence (influenced by IF Book): "We need to stop thinking about the future of publishing and think instead about the future of reading."

collaboration with Amazon & Google

U21 eBooks is a bold step in a new electronic publishing direction. The multi-media books that you will find on this site are written and designed specifically for electronic delivery, and go well beyond the simple digitizing of text. The on-going series is a collaboration between members of the Universitas 21 international network of leading universities and Melbourne University Publishing. Each book is edited by U21 academics working in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and consists of six to eight essays on international themes that lend themselves to innovative use of new technologies.

" Duke University Press is attempting to shake things up with its new program, the e-Duke Books Scholarly Collection. Modeled on the pricing structure of the e-Duke Journals Scholarly Collection, e-Duke Books offers online access to at least 100 new titles per year to subscribing libraries, in addition to access to many of the press's backlist titles."

INASP's work focuses on communication, knowledge and networks, with particular emphasis on the needs of developing and emerging countries. We respond to their national priorities for: * access to national and international scholarly information and knowledge * capacities to use, create, manage and communicate scholarly information and knowledge via appropriate ICTs * national, regional and international co-operation, networking and knowledge exchange We also advise and advocate for improved policy and practice in achieving sustainable and equitable development through effective communication, knowledge and networks.

eIFL.net is a not for profit organisation that supports and advocates for the wide availability of electronic resources by library users in transitional and developing countries. Its core activities are negotiating affordable subscriptions on a multi-country consortial basis, supporting national library consortia and maintaining a global knowledge sharing and capacity building network in related areas, such as open access publishing, intellectual property rights, open s

American Chemistry Society is going to all digital for its journals

"During the last several years CUL's online collections have grown considerably. Not only has the number of titles available online increased dramatically, but there has been a significant shift among many researchers in how those collections are being used. In her March 2006 memorandum to Cornell's Deans, Directors, and Department Heads, Sarah Thomas explained the rationale for reviewing part of CUL's journal collection for electronic-only access:"

Now, before I describe what I think will be the world of content and publishing in 20 years, I want to make the point that a lot happens in 20 years, because I'm going to describe a world that is pretty different from the one that we're in, and that would raise a lot of skepticism.

The Arcadia Programme is a three-year programme funded by a generous grant from the Arcadia Fund to Cambridge University Library. The grant will enable us to explore the role of academic libraries in a digital age, create new programmes and services, particularly for undergraduates -- and also to improve the external environment of the library.

The e-Depot is a digital archiving environment that ensures long-term access to digital objects which would otherwise be threatened by rapidly evolving software and hardware platforms as well as media decay. It is the dedicated archiving environment for the KB's national electronic deposit collection. In addition, it will include the Dutch web archive and digitised master images. In line with the international nature of information provision, the KB has extended its e-Depot services to publishers worldwide. The e-Depot is supported by sustained research and development efforts geared towards maintaining the integrity of stored digital objects.