This panel will give an update on exciting research and advocacy efforts happening in the area of ebooks: ReadersFirst, Charlotte Initiative, and Open eBooks.
Readers First is an international organization of nearly 300 libraries representing 200 million readers dedicated to ensuring that library users have the same open, easy and free access to e-books that they have come to rely on with physical books. Towards the end of achieving a better ebook experience, Reader’s First advocates for the following: search and browse a single comprehensive catalog with all of a library’s offerings at once; the ability to place holds, check-out items, view availability, manage fines and receive communications within individual library catalogs or in the venue the library believes will serve them best; Download e-books that are compatible with ALL readers.
The Charlotte Initiative is a Mellon funded two-year research and planning grant, based at UNC Charlotte, that will produce recommendations for the licensing and acquisition of electronic resources, particularly eBooks. Working groups will be convened to discuss, define, and investigate the impact on institutions of three principles for eBook licenses: unlimited simultaneous users, No Digital Rights Management (DRM) either contractual or technical, irrevocable perpetual access and archival rights.
Open eBooks is a new initiative and ereader app that will make thousands of popular, topselling eBooks available to children in need for free, is launching today. The initiative is designed to address the challenge of providing digital reading materials to children living in low income households. A coalition of literacy, library, publishing and technology partners joined together to make the Open eBooks program possible. The initiative’s partners Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), First Book, and The New York Public Library (NYPL), with content support from digital books distributor Baker & Taylor created the app, curated the eBook collection, and developed a system for distribution and use. They received financial support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and content contributions from major publishers.
