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FREE Virtual Conference! October 18-19, 2013 One of the speakers is our teacher from the MOOC (David Lankes). I'll be attending! The dates are set for the Library 2.013 Worldwide Virtual Conference. The third annual global conversation about the future of libraries is scheduled for To be kept informed of the latest conference news and updates, please Altogether, there will be eight conference strands covering a wide variety of timely topics, such as, MOOCs, e-books, maker spaces, mobile services, embedded librarians, green libraries, and more!

A somewhat concerning article about how if you visit an area of the world with a mobile device where your eBooks aren't licensed, the Google Play DRM will delete them. This is akin to traveling to another part of the world with a legally owned Region 1 DVD and device to play it on, and it still erases itself.

Textbook prices have increased several times more than inflation, and it's been an issue for years about new textbooks being required every year with little or no difference. This initiative is largely happening from university bookstores that are trying to stem costs by letting students rent textbooks for large enrollment classes. While a good idea, it seems to only be fighting a flood of costs, in particular as publishers move to electronic textbooks that have the access controlled by them.

A A Here's a sign that e-readers are struggling in the U.S.: E Ink Holdings, the Taiwan-based company that makes e-reader screens for companies such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Sony, just had its worst quarter in four years. This article had some interesting points and the comments brought up some good questions as well. As a former B&N employee it will be interesting to see what they do in the next coming years with the e-reader/e-books.

The social worth of libraries and the need for reading and inspiration is examined, in particular I found it interesting how the private prison industry determined it's future cell needs by the percentage of the population that was illiterate.