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Now, this took place in the European Union, not the United States (where software is still "licensed" instead of actually sold), but what it means is that people who pay a fee to have software distributed to them now have right of first sale to that license-- that is, they can redistribute it to another person, just as I can give a book I purchased to someone else.

This is great - thanks for posting.

Creative Commons weighs in on OCLC's recommendation that its members adopt the Open Data Commons Attribution license (linked in the article) for the catalog metadata they share in OCLC.  While CC commends OCLC for encouraging the sharing of data, it points out that a license, even an open data license, can prove problematic when it comes to reusing and recombining data found within OCLC with other sources.  

Interesting.  I wonder what an open-source textbook will be like, or what can be done with it.  Also, the article seems to assume that the information in the textbooks is under the same license.

This article is the first of a series of two. The author describes how they typical arguments on both sides of the ebook debate, from publishers and libraries, do not actually work, since they have their basis in older models of sales and library use of physical items. Since ebooks are leased, not actually sold, the author suggests a pay-by-circulation model, since it is easier to track and will be less risky for libraries. This model would have to be done carefully, or it may backfire. It certainly is more fair, but I wonder how much of the electronic publishing industry remains afloat from selling packages-- that is, large sets of ebooks that have appeal because, among their numbers, they do have high-demand titles. A pay-by-circulation model could mean that libraries can license individual titles from publishers, completely bypassing unknown ebooks that need libraries for exposure.

An article I found interesting both for how the Douglas County Libraries was trying to own rather then license much of their e-resources and store it on a server, but also how they were working with the metadata for those resources, converting it bu a crosswalk from the publication industry's XML-based ONIX (ONline Information eXchange) or simple Excel into Marc.

An interview with William Noel, curator of the Walters Art Museum, which recently featured the Archimedes palimpsest in its collection-- both physical and digital.  What's wonderful about that is that its digital collection is under Creative Commons license. I'm a bit confused as to why Noel thinks that libraries don't want to advertise their collections, unless he's referring to the fact that libraries typically contain copyrighted material in their collections.

Oh, and you can get to the digital exhibition of the Archimedes palimpsest at http://archimedespalimpsest.net/. It's not terribly user-friendly (to quickly look at the images, select "Google Book of the Archimedes Palimpsest"), but being able to access the raw TIFF images is pretty darn cool.

An interesting web vendor that is offering interactive textbooks, which is in some ways the repackaging of the original "multimedia" CD-ROM's of the early 1990's, but now offered as a "book." They claim to be partnered with McGraw-Hill and Pearson, and it looks like a user needs to have a perpetual account to use their material although offline access is allowed. Some features such as streaming video and music are separate from the book so they are not true stand alone files, and purchasing a book as an app is currently only for a handful of titles. The list price of several of the books is very steep, and my main concern is how well the multimedia is integrated with the text and if there is any ability to share or transfer a license, which I can't find listed in their website FAQ.

This was an interesting session about using Apple Configurator to maintain a pool of iPads for circulation to autistic students. The good side is customization can be done and quickly, the downside is a one-to-one ratio for apps licenses and iPads, a steep learning curve to the Configurator software, and being limited to what apps Apple provides.

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.

I'm very heartened by this development, and by the implication that libraries are taking control of their own metadata in order to make the items within their collections more findable, and more easy to integrate with other mediums.

It is amazing what some libraries lend anymore. There is a library in Missouri that lends cake pans. I have seen some libraries lend power tools, guitars and more!

This is starting to sound like a science fiction story just waiting to be written.

I agree about curation. Since we're talking about science fiction now - which inevitably becomes science fact, in the not so distant future we will have desktop biological printers capable of "printing" a seed. Then libraries won't need to keep seed stores, they can just print any seed on demand if they have the DNA on file. Edit: Of course, that just means the e-resource vendors of the future will have another thing to try to license...