The Contra Costa County Library has been awarded a $60,000 Bay Area Library and Information Systems (BALIS) Innovation grant to create a mobile platform that will push new and existing library content and services into the hands of cell phone users.

The “Snap & Go” project will allow Contra Costa County residents with mobile phones and a library card to access library materials, enhanced content, and manage their accounts without having to visit a library building or gain access to a computer.

Of particular interest to me since I just heard of QR Codes is that the project will utilize them — a two-dimensional barcode technology to encode information and automatically launch web-accessible functions.

The library will develop a Mobile Patron Support System that will link customers with cell phones to library services and information through QR codes that are attached to library materials including books, DVDs, flyers, posters, library cards, and the catalog.

By taking a picture of the barcode, the phone will launch the library’s mobile website and provide access to three functional areas: detailed, dynamically generated information on titles scanned including reviews, first chapters, and read-alike information; links to library mobile web pages including hours and location information; and links to patron account functions.  Find out more about QR Codes here.  [via ResourceShelf ]

This is a nifty innovation.  Are there other libraries out there doing the same or something similar?  By the way, if you have a QR code reader (such as Barcode Scanner from the Android Market) on your phone, take a snap of the barcode on this post.

Despite problems, eBook checkouts in libraries increased to more than one million in 2009, up from 600,000 in 2007, according to OverDrive, a company offering both eaudio and ebooks to libraries.

“eBooks are quickly proving an unstoppable force, and opening the floodgates have given libraries the chance to increase readership and cater to a new age of information seekers.  Downloading a book in the comfort of home is no longer just a concept for most.  It’s a daily reality.  For libraries, it is still a relatively new venture, riddled with many obstacles, but even more opportunities,” says Project Gutenberg News.

It behooves libraries to attract the digitally savvy new generation.  The transition to digital downloadable books has been gradual for the library.  The New York Public library currently offers over 17,000 eBook titles, just a fraction of their 800,000 circulating print titles, a small percentage of their acquisitions budget.

Why the seeming reticence to stock up on eBooks?  “One obstacle libraries face is the inability to keep up with new devices now dominating the industry.  Although most libraries offer eBooks that are compatible with computers, Sony Reader and a handful of other digital devices, many of their downloadable offerings cannot be read on Amazon’s Kindle or the Apple’s iphone, both very popular e-readers.” 

The fault here lies not with the libraries, but with many of the makers of ebook readers thinking of their devices as a means to SELL books, not as another way to accommodate the reading public.

Another issue slowing down eBook acquisitions for libraries is publishers’ fear that eBook versions of their print copies in libraries will decrease sales of their print editions.  “This decision comes despite the fact that checking out a downloadable eBook greatly mirrors a checkout of a print copy.  Instead of physically walking out of a library with book copy in hand, all is done at home, or anywhere else, with a digital device. The differences, in the instance of library patronage, seem more academic than financial.”  In other words, it’s a non-issue.  Libraries buy a certain number of licenses for ebooks, just as they would buy a certain number of print books.  I wait for my turn to check out ebooks, just as I do for those in print.

We have seen “fear of format” over and over again whether it was a move from tape to CD, videotape to DVD, eaudio, or ebook, downloading or streaming.  I’d like to see businesses understand that new ways of doing the old things are going to happen with technological development.  Figure out what’s going to work for the consumer if you want to thrive, don’t just get in the way.  [via ResourceShelf]

My eye was caught by this PC World article reviewing ebook readers currently on the market (excludes new B&N Nook).

Once again, Amazon’s Kindle readers’ proprietary system makes them less desirable than those that are open to multiple file formats.  If you don’t care that you can only get books from Amazon itself, the two Kindle models rate highly, especially with the included wireless access.

But more and more publishers are releasing ebooks in the ePub or Adobe PDF formats, and devices that can easily handle them, as well as other formats, are looking good.  If, like me, you prefer to borrow library books and are very selective in what you buy, you must choose carefully.  Some devices claim they are compatible with the ePub format, but check out whether that includes DRM protected files that libraries offer.

Even then, you may experience difficulties.  I bought the Sony Reader Touch Edition basically because my library said that Sony was producing ebook readers, including that one, that could manage the files.  The Sony Touch is rated number one in PC World’s review.  Check out the top five here.

I have discovered, however, that the Sony Touch has problems with these protected files.  I can usually load one library book and read it without a problem (and I do like the reader’s feel, options, and portability).  But when I load more than one, I often find that the previously loaded book is no longer readable, but is noted as “protected.”  Or sometimes it’s the book I’ve just loaded that can’t be read.  Or sometimes both.  I have tried loading only books in the ePub format and not include any in the Adobe PDF format (both easily available at my library).  Still have the same problems.  When I transfer a library book to the reader, I never know what to expect.

I had a long discussion with a Sony support person who said the company was aware of the problem and working on a solution which they hope to have within a few weeks.  In the meantime, it was suggested to me that I only have one library book at a time on the reader.  Wow.  Sure hope they DO find a solution or I will have expended a lot of money just to carry around one library book in electronic form instead of print (many of the library books are available in both formats, usually with longer waits for print.)

The Internet Archive (IA) is in the early stages of development of BookServer, with the “lofty goal to essentially create an open web of books where anyone can publish their books and make their content available via search,” says ReadWriteWeb.

According to IA, BookServer is “a growing open architecture for vending and lending digital books over the Internet.  Built on open catalog and open book formats, the BookServer model allows a wide network of publishers, booksellers, libraries, and even authors to make their catalogs of books available directly to readers through their laptops, phones, netbooks, or dedicated reading devices.  BookServer facilitates pay transactions, borrowing books from libraries, and downloading free, publicly accessible books.”

BookServer will provide book publishers and online libraries with the means to more effectively compete with online bookstores like Amazon and Google.  It will allow publishers to set their own pricing and manage the distribution of their books.  A secondary goal of BookServer’s open system is to fight back against the proprietary marketplaces, such as Amazon’s Kindle Store and other booksellers using proprietary formats.  It’s confusing for consumers who face a multitude of choices with limited information about which formats will work on which devices.

RWW notes that “while Google promises its Google Editions store will allow anyone to access digital books as long as they have a web browser and internet access, it’s still unknown at this time how the company plans to make the digital content available offline.  Will it require the use of special web browser plugins to do so? Until Google reveals more about the technical details, it is not possible to know how truly open their online store will be.  And even if their store is 100% open, they are still a company whose ultimate goal is to profit from their work of digitizing books.  BookServer’s goal, on the other hand, is to provide universal access to book data made available in open formats.”

IA says that many will benefit from BookServer:

• Authors find wider distribution for their work.
• Publishers both big and small can distribute books directly to readers.
• Book sellers find new and larger audiences for their products.
• Device makers can offer access to millions of books instantly.
• Libraries can continue to loan books in the way that patrons expect.
• Readers get universal access to all knowledge.

They have provided a slide show called Web of Books on Slideshare to explain how BookServer will work.

On Demand Books announced today that “Google has agreed to provide On Demand Books, LLC (ODB), the maker of the Espresso Book Machine® (EBM), with immediate access to over two million public-domain titles in the Google digital files.  This unprecedented number of reading options is in addition to the current 1.6 million titles already available directly to consumers via the Espresso Book Machine®.”

What Gutenberg’s press did for Europe in the 15th century, digitization and the Espresso Book Machine® will do for the world tomorrow, they say.

The Espresso Book Machine® is a small, patented high-speed automated book-making machine that can print, bind and trim a single-copy library-quality paperback book complete with a full-color paperback cover in a few minutes.  Why Espresso? “Espresso: something made to order, one at a time, at point of sale, quickly.”

They list the key benefits of On Demand Books:

1. Decentralizing the production and distribution of physical books.
2. The ability to offer bookstores, libraries, universities and other retailers, a virtually limitless digital inventory and a more efficient delivery of printed books.
3. Enabling self-published authors to have instant print distribution.
4. Bringing books to underdeveloped areas to encourage literacy.
5. Reducing the carbon footprint by matching supply with demand, eliminating returns and supply chain costs as well as unnecessary pulping of paper.

The Espresso machine can print about 145 pages per minute at a cost of about 1 cent per page.  The machine itself costs around $100,000.  On Demand Books sees it revolutionizing the distribution of books by decentralizing the marketplace for their distribution and giving libraries and bookstores a potentially unlimited inventory.

The machines are only available in a about a dozen locations now around the world, including the University of Michigan Shapiro Library in Ann Arbor, MI, and the Bibliotheca Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt.  By early 2010, On Demand Books hopes to have sold about 35 to 40 machines and the deal with Google should help the company reach its goal.  [via ReadWriteWeb]

You can see a video of how the machine works.

Ever since I noticed that my library has a number of ebooks in Adobe formats (ePub, PDF) that can be downloaded to a computer and read with Adobe Digital Editions, I have been seriously considering getting a compatible eReader so I can take them with me.  Unfortunately, the Kindle is not one of them.

The idea of an ebook reader is attractive to me for several reasons: 1) I like gadgets; 2) I like the idea of carrying around many books on one small device; 3) Every reader I have heard about lately has easy on the eyes eInk and you can adjust the font to suit your needs.  The latter has become more appealing to me as I age.  I can still read small paperback books but they strain my eyes and I much prefer a larger font.  I often get “large print” books from the library when they are available.

And mentioning the library — that is the biggest draw.  I read, or start to read, hundreds of books a year.  Inevitably, some just don’t appeal and I return them partially read to the library.  I really don’t want to buy all the books I think I might want to read.  Owning a book I am sure I want to read and keep is another matter.

TechCrunch notes that Google is challenging the proprietary Amazon Kindle line through several partnerships.  The most recent is with British Interead, bringing the same amount of ebooks to an online store outside the U.S. for the first time (where close to half a million of them are available for free).  Interead is behind the COOLERBOOKS ebook store.  The company also manufactures COOL-ER eReaders, “small, elegant ebook readers that kinda look like giant iPods and cost $249 in the United States.”

The COOL-ER uses E InkR, which gives a “like paper” display, replicating the experience of reading a book.  The reader uses power only for “page turns” which means that a “single charge lasts for 8000 pages and unlike a book, the electronic display allows you to change the text size to suit you!”  The Cool-ER has a bookstore with more than 750,000 titles and supports Adobe Digital Editions.  You can view the specs here.

Google first teamed up with Sony, adding about 1 million public domain books to the technology giant’s eBook Store which has both free and low-cost books.  Sony has several ebook readers that support the books I can download from my library, the newest one being the Reader Touch Edition ($299.99) which is “temporarily out of stock”.  It has a touch screen which is appealing to me.  There is a brief video on the site showing how it works.

A new Google map showing challenges to books in schools and libraries in the U.S. has been posted on the Banned Books Week website.

More than 120 challenges nationwide have occurred since the beginning of 2007.  The cases have been documented by the American Library Association (ALA) and the Kids’ Right to Read Project, which is sponsored by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the National Coalition Against Censorship.  It is estimated that 70 to 80 percent of challenges are not reported.

Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read.  This year’s events will occur from Sept. 26 through Oct. 3.  The website includes a state-by-state listing to help people find displays and events in their area.

Google’s Public Policy Blog is attempting to answer questions about the Google Book Search settlement and what it means for readers as it expands access to books in the U.S.

Authors and publishers with questions should visit the settlement Notice website.

Here’s some basics of the settlement:

• When you find the book you’re searching for, you’ll be able to preview 20% of the book over the Internet from anywhere in the U.S. If you want to look at the whole thing, you’ll be able to go down to your public library where there will be a computer station with access to the whole book for free. And if you don’t want to leave home or want a copy for yourself, you’ll be able to purchase access to an electronic copy of the book. As always, if the book is old enough to be in the public domain, you’ll be able to download the whole book for free.
• If you’re at a university, in addition to your libraries’ free access points, your school can obtain an institutional subscription that gives you access to most books that we’ve scanned. And scholars and students who don’t keep the same study hours as the library will be able to look at any book, anywhere, any time.
• If you are vision impaired, the settlement will open a world of books to which you’ve never had access. Visually impaired people will be able to search for books through the Google Books interface and purchase, borrow, or read at a public library any of the books that are available to the general public in a format that is accessible to the vision impaired.
• If you want to read in foreign languages, you will have access to tens of thousands of more books than you have today. Books in Spanish add up to almost 10% of the books already scanned. If you account for the difference in numbers between books in Spanish and English, the usage per book in Spanish is more than three times what it is for books in English.

“The settlement won’t just expand access to out-of-print books, either.  Because authors and publishers will have the ability to let users preview and purchase their in-print books through Google Book Search, readers will have even more options for accessing in-print books than they have today.”

A partnership between Oxford University Library and Google over the last 5 years has made available on Google Book Search digitized versions of hundreds of thousands of public domain books from the Bodleian and other Oxford libraries, representing the bulk of their available public domain content.

“Most of the digitized works date from the 19th century and range from classic literature to more scientific volumes in fields including Geography, Philosophy or Anthropology. Among some of the works now available through Book Search, you can find the first English translation of Newton’s Mathematical principles of natural philosophy from 1729, the first edition of Jane Austen’s Emma, and John Cassell’s Illustrated History of England. You can search and read the full text of these works on Google Book Search, and download and print a pdf if you wish to,” posts Inside Google Book Search.

“Library users have always loved browsing books for the serendipitous discoveries they provide. Digital books offer a similar thrill, but on multiple levels– deep entry into the texts or the ability to browse the virtual shelf of books assembled from the world’s great libraries,” says Sarah E. Thomas, Bodley’s Librarian and Director of Oxford University Library Services.

Google will continue to partner with the libraries to digitize more content as it becomes available.  Photo by Duncan.  Creative Commons license.

Earlier this month, Amazon introduced the Kindle 2 ebook reader (check out the link in the right sidebar), which produced a flurry of reviews.

John Biggs at CrunchGear says the Kindle is the future, but lists 10 reasons to buy and 10 reasons not to buy.  Your own circumstances will dictate which way to go, assuming you have the bucks to make the purchase if that is your choice.

Biggs reasons not to buy focus mainly on his perception that Kindle is not a good research or reference tool, including for students.  But its great for travelers, he notes, especially those who like to take a lot of books along with them.  The new Kindle 2 can hold 1,500 books, but there is no SD slot for added memory.

There is no mention in the post of the new text-to-speech function, which is being loudly complained about by Roy Blount, president of the Authors Guild.  He feels authors are being cheated by Amazon which is not paying for audio rights, unlike the publishing of traditional audio books.

I confess I haven’t heard the Kindle 2 read a book aloud.  I am a big fan of audio books because I like the acting ability of the narrators, not just the capability of having a voice read to me.  I always assumed that the relatively expensive cost (which I lament) of audio books paid for talented professionals who create a different experience for the listener from that of a reader of the printed work.

I haven’t seen my reason listed anywhere for not buying a Kindle ebook reader, tempted as I am because I love tech gadgets.  It has to do with my reluctance to purchase books, including audio books, that I can get at the library.  The kind of book I like to own these days is unlikely to be satisfactory as an ebook because it would have copious illustrations.  I also read, or start to read, hundreds of books a year.  A fair number of them turn out to be books I do not want or need to own.